lyssabn

Okay, Sunday came around, and I got the Return TM. Then Victory Road is just a short trip. I face Silver again, but defeat him without too much trouble. I do like his team. With Silver defeated, I reach the Indigo Plateau, heal up, and stock up on healing items. Before I take on the League, though, I duck back into Victory Road for a bit more leveling. Karen's Houndoom sets my level cap for entering the Elite Four at 47, and my team ranges from 41 to 46 when I start the grind here.

I head into the Elite Four with my team all at level 47. I teach MagicianII Shadow Ball and lead with her against Will. I also gave her a Bitter Berry, which cured the confusion from Will's first Xatu. I have to switch out when the second Xatu confuses her again. Unfortunately, Carp II misses several Thunders in a row, so I have to rely on Glutton II to take out most of the rest of Will's team.

For Koga, I teach Fire Punch to MagicianII and Judoka and give the former a PSNCureBerry and the latter a Quick Claw. Once again, I lead with MagicianII. Psychic takes out Ariados, Fire Punch takes out Forretress, Psychic takes out Venomoth, Crobat, and Muk. Each in one hit. MagicianII levels up to 49 mid battle. Turns out brute force and speed can overcome strategy.

Before Bruno, I restore MagicianII's Psychic PP with an Ether. She's my lead again for this match, and I give her a Berry for a bit of health restoration in case she doesn't 1HKO all of his team. Psychic 1HKOs the whole team, although Hitmontop did hit her with a Mach Punch that didn't do much damage.

Karen is going to be for Judoka, who I give a Blackbelt. Cross Chop takes Umbreon out. Vileplume paralyzes Machamp, which proves a big pain, but several Fire Punches and an Earthquake or two manage to eat through its healing anyway. A Vital Throw (despite paralysis) takes out Murkrow. I bring out Carp II to take on Houndoom, although a Max Potion means she takes a chunk of damage, so I swap in Alligator to finish Houndoom off. Judoka gains a level.

I have 4 Rare Candies, which I can use now to level up some of my team up to Lance's ace at 50. I use them on MagicianII and on Glutton II. MagicianII gets a PRZCureBerry and Ice Punch and Thunder Punch TMs. Another Ice Punch replaces Fire Punch for Judoka, who holds the Blackbelt. Carp II receives Strength and holds a Mystic Water. Glutton II and Bat also receive PRZCureBerries, while Alligator holds a NeverMeltIce. Carp II will be my lead against Lance. I'm lucky enough to land my first Thunder to take down his Gyarados before it can set up Rain Dance. I switch in MagicianII against a level 47 Dragonite and eat a Thunder. Ice Punch takes that and the other level 47 Dragonite out, as well as Aerodactyl, outspeeding all of them. Thunder Punch deals with Charizard, but it takes two hits, bringing MagicianII dangerously low. So now, I switch to Glutton II and am lucky enough to hit my first Blizzard, which 1HKOs the level 50 Dragonite, despite its dangerous Outrage. MagicianII levels up to 51.

Mary and Professor Oak show up to interview me, but Lance rescues me, taking me in to register me and my team in the Hall of Fame. Here's my team and their final moves with the Hall of Fame entries following:

• Carp II (Gyarados), holding Mystic Water: Surf / Waterfall / Strength / Thunder.
• Judoka (Machamp), holding Blackbelt: Cross Chop / Earthquake / Ice Punch / Vital Throw.
• MagicianII (Alakazam), holding PRZCureBerry: Psychic / Recover / Thunder Punch / Ice Punch.
• Glutton II (Snorlax), holding PRZCureBerry: Return / Blizzard / Thunder / Rest.
• Alligator (Feraligatr), holding NeverMeltIce: Ice Punch / Strength / Whirlpool / Surf.
• Bat (Crobat), holding PRZCureBerry: Wing Attack / Bite / Fly / Confuse Ray.

(As before, the play time is exaggerated by the use of the fast-forward functionality in MGBA.)

Now I need to make some eggs for the next segment of my Genlocke, which will I think be Sapphire (mostly choosing on the basis of having the copper Laties even though that's not until post-game I think).

To celebrate getting this far, I'm going to introduce a sort of reward system for lines that make it through multiple generations, as is sometimes done for Genlockes. Essentially, starting with a family's second offspring (when I get to, for example, Carp III), I get to apply some benefit to them as I continue. I might have started off with bonuses for 1-time Hall of Famers, but I didn't decide whether or not to do bonuses until now. I can only choose one bonus for each qualifying Pokémon each generation (although I can choose a bonus that only requires fewer generations of Hall of Fame ancestors than the Pokémon has, and breeding mechanics make it possible for some bonuses to be inherited). Here's the initial draft set of reward options (I reserve the option to revise them if this turns out to be silly in some way or I realize there is something I should have included but forgot):

• 2+ Hall of Fame ancestors: Choose the Pokémon's Nature or Ability (not including hidden abilities).
• 3+ Hall of Fame ancestors: Give the Pokémon an Egg Move.
• 4+ Hall of Fame ancestors: Give the Pokémon its Hidden Ability or one perfect IV of my choice (or a 0 IV if I want that for some reason).
• 5 Hall of Fame ancestors: Choose two benefits from the 2 to 4 Hall of Fame ancestor options.
• 6 Hall of Fame ancestors: Choose one benefit from each of the 2, 3, and 4 Hall of Fame ancestor option sets, and one additional benefit from any of those three option sets.

Anyway, soon I'll start on Pokémon Sapphire Version! I'll include the notes on which Nature/Ability I chose for Carp 3, Glutton 3, and Magician 3. See you next time!

At this point, it's possible to do the next three gyms in any order, I think. Due to the level caps, it makes the most sense to do Chuck, then Pryce, then Jasmine (possibly doing the Team Rocket HQ before Chuck), so I think that's my plan: Team Rocket Hideout, then Chuck, then Pryce, then Jasmine.

So, it turns out that, due to my Dupes Clause, the only Pokémon that I can catch on the cave floor of Mt. Mortar are Machop (during the day) and Marill (at night). It would have been impermissible to try to intentionally make this situation happen, but since it happened organically, I end up guaranteed the rather improbable outcome of a copper Machop, which I name Judoka. And am faced with a quandary: Judoka would be incredible versus Karen, who is definitely the Elite Four member I have the least of a plan for, but I don't know who I'd want to drop for her. After a lot of thought, I think it's Oni, since Electric-type moves are only rarely necessary, so I can just rely on coverage moves from e.g. Carp II and MagicianII. Gonna have to catch her up on levels, since she's only level 14 now.

On Route 42, surfing, I run into a Goldeen and catch her. Name of Goldfish. The Gym in Mahogany Town is currently closed (not that I want to battle its leader yet anyway), so I head north onto Route 43, where I catch a Furret named Ferret. Oh, hm, given how high level the Red Gyarados is (30, the same level as Chuck's team), I go and swap Alligator temporarily for Oni so I don't have to level my main team quite that high yet.

I get Oni to level 30, when she evolves, and then go deal with the Red Gyarados and gain the Red Scale. Lance asks for my help investigating the strange radio signal from Mahogany that is forcing the Magikarp to evolve. The Rocket Hideout goes pretty simply, except... foolishly, I try to capture the first Electrode, and it selfdestructs after two failed ultra balls and takes Dinosaur II down. Mistakenly thinking I can get the Protect TM at the department store (wrong store), I go to Goldenrod and catch an Ariados on Route 37.

So, what I'm going to do is level Glutton II to 30, where Showdown's damage calculator thinks it should be safe even against a crit self-destruct. And also teach her Detect just in case Showdown is forgetting about the half-defense part. Actually, it turns out she can't learn Detect, but it worked out fine. Now I need to figure out how to adjust my team...

I think I'll use Bat in place of Dinosaur II. Both learn Fly and can deal with Grass types at the Elite Four. Now I head to Olivine City, where a sailor gives me HM04 Strength, and another man gives me a Good Rod.

On Route 40, I caught a Tentacool that I named Jellyfish. I manage to surf to Cianwood City. On the way, Bat evolves to Golbat. I fish up a Krabby there, but due to a crit I KO it. Judoka evolves into Machoke. At this point, I do a tradeback to another Silver save to evolve MagicianII and Judoka.

North of Cianwood, I saw Suicune. Eusine showed up and challenged me to a battle, but Carp II, Alligator, and MagicianII took care of him. Chuck is ultimately an easy battle for MagicianII, who takes out his Pokémon with one Psychic each. Afterwards, his wife gives me HM02 Fly. Bat hasn't evolved to Crobat yet, so I surf back to the mainland. The Mahogany Gym is next, but that's for next time.

Northward bound! I catch a Pidgey named Pigeon on Route 35. On Route 36, a girl tells me that when she sprinkled a little water on the strange "tree" blocking the route, it wiggled a little. She heads back to Goldenrod to ask her sister for her Squirtbottle. The sister thinks it's too dangerous, but since I have the Plain Badge, she lends it to me. The "tree" doesn't like it and attacks, so I defeat it and it skedaddles. I get a call from Picknicker Liz who found a Leaf Stone to give to me.

I make it to Ecruteak City. At the Pokémon Center, Bill, creator of the Pokémon Storage System, tells me about his Time Capsule for trading with the past. Somebody gives me an Itemfinder. I teach Dinosaur II the Dig TM I found in the National Park before venturing into the Burned Tower.

Somebody named Eusine tells me he came to the Burned Tower looking for a Pokémon called Suicune. In the tower, I catch a Koffing that I name Smog. Silver is here. After a somewhat challenging battle (he's getting better at battling I think!), I fall into a hole. There are three legendary Pokémon who wake up and then leave.

With my team at level 25, I take on Morty. Alligator takes out Gastly and one Haunter, then Morty brings out Gengar and I swap in Glutton II, who manages a Blizzard before being put to sleep. I switch to Oni, who finishes off Gengar. And then Carp II deals with the remaining Haunter.

Before I leave Ecruteak, I battle the Kimono Girls at the Dance Theater, who apparently you fight one at a time in this game, so it's much easier than in the remakes. And a man gives me HM03 Surf, which I teach to Carp II and Alligator.

I hit a Bellsprout a little too hard on Route 36, and KO it, so no new Pokémon there for me, alas. I run around a bit and a Togepi hatches from the Egg. I name it Baby. I call the Professor and he wants me to bring it back to show it to him, so I do that and he gives me an Everstone. On my way back to Violet City, Butterfly evolves to Metapod.

That night I caught a Zubat and named her Bat, and swap her in for Glutton II for a bit. I reached Union Cave and caught a Wooper that I named Salamander. On the other end, I break up some Team Rocket grunts in the Slowpoke Well, and catch a Slowpoke of my own that I name Hermit.

At some point Butterfly evolved to Butterfree. While I trained before facing Bugsy in the Azalea Gym, DinosaurII evolved to Charmeleon, and MagicianII evolved into Kadabra. In the morning I catch a Spearow on Route 33 that I named Sparrow. I did swap Glutton II back into my team beforehand in place of Shrew II since Shrew will have a hard time at this gym and I don't need Dig right now.

I try leading with Butterfly for the battle against Bugsy, but unfortunately she can't really make a dent in Scyther, so I put it to sleep and bring in Dinosaur II, who handily dispatches it with a Flamethrower.

Afterwards, on my way out of town into the Ilex Forest, Silver shows up and demands I battle him. Butterfly takes care of his Gastly and Zubat, while I bring out my own Bat to deal with his Bayleaf. He sure calls me weak a lot for losing against me every time we meet.