[Gen 3] Aron the World part 1: Hoenn Throw Down -- Emerald

[SteCisGreendog]

Chapter 9 - Grave Con '23

Forgot to take my pre-chapter stats. Job, use CUT for no reason!

Spoiler:

At the start of this log, I felt I had nothing to say until opportunity presented itself. If my commentary felt harsh in the last chapter, don't worry since this feeling won't last long as I roamed across Route 120 and end up somewhere I needed to go.

A rock. Remember this, everyone.

Oh, a hex maniac? What next, a clown agent?!

"Oh boo hoo hoo, I'm such a baaaaaad boy! Hahaha!"

Hey, no fair! Stop using Whirlwind on Solo!

"You... you... you MUPPET!"

*snort... chuckle*

Okay, now we're getting somewhere. The Aqua goons are heading to the Pyre and I found the Safari Zone. It's all but useless to me because I can only catch the wild Pokémon and not battle them. No need to go in there.

This battle was a close one.

Lilycove City, at last! As far as I know, the biggest town in Hoenn yet not a Gym in sight. What to do first? It turns you can take a quiz from a lady in the Center and then make one of your own. Since no one will ever get to try out this rom, I got to have some fun with it.

But what's the answer?

Don't need this.

Other things of note: Scott took a break from peeping in the Cove Lily Motel, which looks nothing like a motel from the outside. I made sure to sell and store some junk items I picked up on the way before exploring the rest of the city.

Here's Brendan. At least he had the courtesy to ask this time.

Ah ah aaah, that's a double negative.

Iron Tail, Iron Tail, Metal Claw, Metal Claw, Double Edge, Double Edge, Metal Claw... his team fell harder than a house of cards this time. No wonder he wasn't feeling like himself. I almost felt sorry for him as he backpedalled to Littleroot. Of course it won't be our last battle as he has yet to evolve his starter once more.

You're right, pops. He's a right tool... but he's my tool.

The museum. Looks like a blonde centaur to me.

This gent opened up a special custom exhibit upstairs. A painting side quest? That I am on board with!! Shame it's limited to five paintings. Next, to the department store. Not that I needed anything save for potions and stat healing tonics.

Slippers.

Names! I NEED NAMES!!!!

Obvious, really.

Outside of Lilycove was the Aqua hideout where those illiterate goons told me I had to go to Mt. Pyre. Were they that stupid or were they setting up bait (no pun intended)? Times like that made me wish Team Magma was here. Off I go to... the next place.

"*mocking Pikachu* Pi-ka-chu? Muk-a-you!"

"Despite that frightening appearance, you are still just a tree."

This plucky wild Mighteyena almost Swaggered Solo to death. Well played.

Mt. Pyre, or as I call it, Lavender Tower Deluxe. Kinda crowded considering one has to Surf or possibly Fly to get there, and that's not the only thing that bothered me. Was it really appropriate to have Pokémon battles around a place for contemplating the deceased? Should I've brought my Poké Maniac costume and prance around the cemetery as well?! Tasteless, but what can you do? Let's all have a good time now, ya hear?

"You remind me of my daddy, but all gravel, no polish."

"I spoke to your master today, and he told me you suck!"

"You got eight lives left, duchess."

A DATE?! You morbid jer- oh, a DARE! Gotcha.

Fan service for the Wobbufans. Enjoy it while you can. I got Countered.

"You make Benny Hill look funny, and I HATE Benny Hill!"

"Wanna see a neat trick? *chomps the spoon and eats it* That'sh tha' drick!"

"Pfft. That's now how you do the Charleston."

Your teacher's a Pokémon?!

After that hoo-hah, Team Aqua had to be challenged on the summit. Unfortunately, the red and blue orbs were taken and all I got was an earful of lore of the land. At least I know, and knowing is half the... eeeeeer, you've heard it before. Let's finish while I'm in a good mood.


Stats
Pokémon Faced - 101
Resets - 18
Badges - 6
Technical errors - 3


Closing Notes
Look, look! My Pokédex has reached the halfway mark. With the rest of Emerald to march on, I also need to consider Ruby and Sapphire to find the ones that got away. You know, exclusives. I thought this run was another good one, especially with no day job to wear me down on the weekend. Nothing but optimism while I get started on the next chapter.

 

[Amore]

Couple of spoilers if you want them:

Spoiler:

• You won't battle Brendan again. RSE Brendan / May - only rival not to fully evolve their starter.
• The paintings are for winning the hardest contests in each category (Master Rank?). IIRC there's no way to de-condition your 'mon so it would be a challenge to do more than 1 category with Aron - Cool or Tough are probably the best bets. I did it last time I played through - Blaziken Cool, Gardevoir Smart, Salamence Tough, Pelipper Cute, and Milotic Beauty!

You're waaayyy ahead of me again now, I haven't played in a few days - doing co-op stuff on Switch games instead - but you're really tempting me to tear up my teambuilding plan and add an Aron. Its so cute!

 

[SteCisGreendog]

Feedback: I'll refrain from spoilers now seeing as this is the part of the playthrough I will go unaided until I reach Champion. Thanks for the continued support of my journal! It'd be an honour to include an Aron in there but it's entirely up to you. I found mine to stand up to its own very well, for about 95% of the time so far.

Hello, weekend

Chapter 10 - Agent 304

We last left our heroes on Route 123 following the hot tracks of Team Magma as they took off with one of the orbs stolen from Mt. Pyre. How did it go?

Spoiler:

"...Squidward?"

Try harder next time, hmm?

I lost count how many times I cured paralysis lately.

"Moondust is all that's left of you, night lite."

Funny thing was, it took one look at those berry matches to stop myself from picking any more in the game.

Asides from the Grass type loving girl and the berry master, I think it was the master's wife that allowed me to make up a good saying. I did not hesitate one moment to come up with this:

Because obviously I couldn't use the other 'F' word.

Foe MAWILE fainted!

"Someone's having a bad hair day. Eh? Eh?" (drat!)

"Pick me up. Go on - see if you can lift me."

Wait a minute...

Oh, of course! I can Fly there! Where's there?

Mt. Chimney via Lavaridge which was teeming with trainers. Go down the descent and...

...the Magma Hideout opened up. It really was a blocky cavernous sprawl which I didn't mind exploring for the sake of the story.

A good time as any for this milestone!

There was a flaw in Maxie's plans. See if you can spot it.

"At least there's not many of you flapping around."

Maxie's Camerupt thwarted me yet again with Earthquake, but it got done. Now it was time to get back on Aqua's case in their hideaway at Lillycove.

Aw, man! Not again!

No comment.

With the theft of the submarine in Slateport, I was finally granted access to the Aqua Hideout after many false leads. I presumably teleported into the main office below with the number one cherished catching ball in the franchise.

What were you expecting, the Master Ball?

"Is that all the balls you got, faker?"

Archie might've needed that, just in case.

"Watch out! Ozzy's comin' to bite yer head off!"

That's the Admin taken care of. I noticed that this part of the game is where progress to be Champion takes a back seat to story development, so forgive me in advance for recapping bits of Gen 3 you already know about. Mossdeep was just beneath these waves.

"So you climbed a waterfall. Big whoop. You still lost to me."

"Who's calling your distress beacon now?"

The double themed gym rocks, too.

A beauty shot for one of my favourites!

"It's not everyday you see a Pokémon with two asses."

If memory served me correct, the leader battle went like this - my team of 4 fainted save for Solo who cinched it at the last turn.

"Back to the kiln, you mud shaped cretin."

Seven badges in, but the white space on my notes told me not to clock out yet! I checked out the nearby Space Center, which was no nearer to space than Sinnoh, you silly-headed Hoenn people.

A standoff! Why didn't the staff use their Pokémon and save me the trouble? Maybe nothing but Zigzagoon and Azurill...

Well I can't help it, Laurel, Hardy and- uh, who are you, third guy?

When Steve interjects, everybody listens. Boy, didn't he jump in this scene?

It's been a looooong time coming, but we have our first double tag team battle in Emerald. The concept was okay, although Steve had the chance to bring out Aggron and didn't.

Aggron: Curse you, Metang! You're always HIS favourite!!

If I had to admit one thing, it's that I was too much in a hurry to enact a wholesome display of teamwork had Steven brought out Aggron after Skarmory. There's always Ruby/Sapphire.

Magma backtracked from their plan to blast the rocket ship into the volcano and went on to find the rampaging Groudon. Which means I got to chase Aqua's wet tail again. Hoorah.

Take it easy, old man. They're gone!

That's it for this chapter!


Stats
Pokémon Faced - 111
Resets - 19
Badges - 7
Technical errors - 4 (missed Mawile's KO text)


Closing Notes
Not much to say about this, honestly. Not that I'm running our of interest by any means, but the practicality of progressing through Emerald with skill and exploration has to make space for story time, which I feel iffy about. In fact, I made use of the weekend to jot down the next two chapters worth of playtime. It will conclude the mess made by Magma and Aqua then I can do my job at slaying mons with Aron and critique bad writing. As for my latest technical stuff-up, I mistook Mawile for being non-exclusive to Emerald despite not appearing later in Victory Road save for one trainer that used it earlier.

 

[SteCisGreendog]

Chapter 11 - Angry Monsters

I have the Dive HM but no means to use it on my party. What to do, what to do...? Right. One thing for it - I needed another buddy to use it for me. Making use of the Good Rod I got a long way back and some water in Petalburg City, I had just the Pokémon in mind. Based on my pre-planning for this challenge, I needed a...

Spoiler:

Corphish named- ah, it was a great name but how was it spelt? It sounded like 'mactappets' so I named it 'McTapids.' I can check the spelling later.

I happened to be messing around in Lavaridge when Brendan steered me right.

I was sure this conluded the Meteorite arc. Good for him.

Furthermore, I switched bikes for reasons I couldn't remember when Wattson pushed me into checking out New Mauville. Not now, pops.

When I first named my Corphish, I was adamant that the quest will go no further unless I got the spelling of its nickname right. It was from an extremely obscure kids show that <1% of the current population can remember. Well I found the right spelling and paid the Name Rater a visit to change it for me.

*deep breath* Glad that's taken care of. Solo, will you do the honour of introducing our newest member of the clan?

Solo: Sure. Ferbus, McTappets, Job, McTappets, Guffin, McTappets, McTappets, Ferbus, McTappets, Job, McTappets, Guffin. And I'm Solo.

Thanks... I guess.

Look, I know this is a Solo Challenge. I'm getting to the good stuff soon. Last thing to prepare for was giving Surf to McTappets and remove it from Ferbus so the latter can use Dive.

YES! Finally moving on to Route 124!

"Next time we meet, I'll make earrings out of you."

Captain Obvious does it again.

The stolen sub was found and enabled me to catch up with Team Aqua in the Seafloor Cavern. Nothing noteworthy other than taking a few names from those trainers that talk complete gibberish.

"More like a Sea-pawn, guppy!"

"What's floppy, tired and blue all over? You after meeting me."

"You're no bully - you are simply a dumb, disturbing, misunderstood damn freak."

Iron Tail, Iron Tail, Iron Tail, done!

Nice going, dweebs.

Plot heavy from here on out but I didn't mind becuse it's my first time to play it out. Calming the angry monsters was next in the agenda and to do that was going to the Cave of Origins in Sootopolis City by sea.

SteC: Solo, what can we do?!
Solo: *growling Aron noises*
SteC: Uh, yeah... um, thanks.

Wallace, former gym leader had his hands full and wanted to help out, so much so I had to find the Sky Pillar myself. No big deal.

Stupid, sexy trainers.

"Love for sale! Love for sale! Get your love right now!"

The backwater town known as Pacifidlog. Something tells me the name was truncated due to the character count, so that's what they call it.

Ooooooooh, boy. We'll get to this later.

Sky Pillar was just to the northeast of Pacifidlog. According to Hoenn tales of yore, the region needed a third official to break up the feud between Groudon and Kyogre, and that must be the place.

Well, no ♥♥♥♥!

You're the one I've been looking for!

"Monsieur Snugglefuzzy Chubsworth III - is that you?"

Just kidding. It's Rayquaza. We got our referee!

As I mentioned right from the beginning, this travel log assumes that you played enough Emerald to know the story. I'll spare the gorgeous cutscene involving the beasts and give you the last two screengrabs to close this chapter.

And there is much rejoicing. Except for Maxie and Archie.




Stats
Pokémon Faced - 117
Resets - 19
Badges - 7
Technical errors - 3


Closing Notes
I liked this part. Having not even played Ruby or Sapphire with exception for the shiny Aron hunting, I was pleased to finally have his region's story played out to me like never before. The 3DS remake didn't count - I stopped at the sandy route, remember? I wondered how the legendary cutscenes compare to the earlier versions. There's only one way to find out; first, Emerald must be beaten, then I can check out all those rematches for unencountered Pokémon. And shoot, should've used a special kind of ball to catch Cophish with, dangit.

 

[Amore]

Oh you're in simultaneously the best worst part of the game, imo. I absolutely love the Dive areas - so chill - but even I, a Gen III baby, have to admit there's maybe too much on the surface

 

[SteCisGreendog]

FEEDBACK TIME: as for this part of the game being the best/worst part ever, I've had no strong opinions towards it. I mean, if anyone had complained about the land count - being the land dwelling creatures we are - then Hoenn would've turn into Waterworld by now:

Chapter 12 - Not Enough Strong

And so ends one share of action - onto the next one! Rayquaza's arrival and resolve of the legendary Pokémon saw leaders of Team Aqua and Magma leave the site with their tails between their legs and returning the orbs to Mt. Pyre. Let's see if they actually did that.

Spoiler:

Sho' nuff, they did!

Eh, it sounded much like the old one to me. Where are the orbs, anyway?

Back to Sootopolis to take on the final gym with the eigth badge up for grabs. You know, not meaning to beat a dead horse and all that, you can say all you want about the water content in the region. I have learned something far, far alarming than the diving, the surfing, the waterfalling...

WHAT IS YOUR F*£#!NG PROBLEM, GAME!!!??!!

*deep breath* Thank you. Let me continue...

If one should slide across the cracked ice and fall through the floor below, they are greeted with this shindig. If this could prove anything, then it's that Juan has a harem. That's... kinda freaky. For that matter, what was Wallace like? I whupped the trainers' aforementioned BS for completion's sake before getting to the freakster himself.

"To add insult to injury, I defecated in your pond you call 'home'."

I wished I could give detail on the battle, but I was too miffed at this point and happy enough to move on. Roll call...

"If you're ready to lose in more terrible fashion, come back and see me."

"What have we here? Another pretender to the throne."

"Wanna know the worst part about your thrashing? I survived that."

Here's proof of my achievements thus far.

What's behind that shrubbery?

Thanks, but no tha- oh, what the heck.

Are they brothers, mothers or lovers?

I can think of worse.

Read my lips: crew-say ou-yay.

After a short tour around the rest of Sootopolis (they don't get around much, know what I mean?), the Pokémon League was the next destination.

Ever Grande City (more like 'Ariana Grande' City, amirite?). Scott 'not Wozz' showed his mug here for one last ego stroke before I step into the Victory Road.

Well, looks like Wally Winker has grown a set, boys!

No need to thank me at all, Walliam. What's that? One more match? Pssh, sure thing you little pipsqueak. Hit me where it HURTS, boyo!

Ooooh my god, what have I done...?

Wally's been training behind the curtain, and a fairly missed opportunity to see how far he has grown since the last meeting. I knew he was dead set on challenging me because of a certain trick up his sleeve that I can't believe I ever realised it until then.

Magneton. Aron has met his match.

Oh, darn. But wait. Here's what I did next...

HA!

Delcatty proved to be a pain too, stacked with status inducing moves like Sing and Charm, also bearing in mind Magneton's Supersonic before it wore out. Too bad his Gardevoir was a pushover in comparison.

"Save the last dance for your Maker! Hahahaha!"

It was fun, honestly.

With that done, time to trek the Victory Road.

Hallelujah, my brothers and sisters!

"Go ahead and cry 'uncle,' uncle"

"This is my happy place; you stay away from my happy place!"

Confusion is the new Paralysis, G.

Um... I would have loved to wing through the Road like I did with Granite Cave. Ah, it just wasn't possible. Flash was sorely needed here and off I backtracked to the hiker there for the final HM in my collection.

Congratulations, Guffin. You are now a lighthouse. Speaking of lighthouses and similar tall shaped structures, I may have some unfinished business around Hoenn. The Victory Road can wait. My Solo needs buffing up. Try and guess what it is before the next part.




Stats
Pokémon Faced - 121
Resets - 19
Badges - 8
Technical errors - 3


Closing Notes
It was another one of those parts when I wanted to hurry through after being entertained with a gripping story with the legendaries. Trainer battles may just be my least favourite features of Pokemon as a whole because of the sheer droll I have to sift through between actual battling. I'm beginning to wonder if Gen 3 began the trend of awful flavour text to this day, hammering in the S-word from every third NPC, given the memory capacity in the Game Boy Advance to string so many characters in the text boxes; more so than Gen 2. It's crazy that I overlooked this until I reached young adulthood with Black/White. Makes me curious to try out Crystal so I'm wasn't kidding myself all along. Apart from that, everything else is fine. Excited more than ever to reach the post-game and clean house before moving on to- ah, I won't reveal my next version just yet.

 

[SteCisGreendog]

Before I reveal this chapter, here's something I want to share. Not being satisfied with any spreadsheets I was looking for online for tracking my solo challenge led me to make one myself. It's limited and, dare I say primitive, compared to the polished sheets I passed over and it focuses only on Hoenn in gens 3 and 6 but for now, it tells me enough of what Pokémon I need to beat on Emerald before starting over on another Gen 3 title. I'm going to guess Kanto will be next after this and skip Ruby/Sapphire as it will feel like retreading the same steps as Emerald, only for that starter and one of the Eon Twins. I did my research.

Spoiler:

Chapter 13 - Birth of a Legend Hunter

We last left off the chapter learning my final HM Flash for Guffin the Castform at Granite Cave. Not yet ready to explore the Victory Road, I took a detour looking for bigger fish to fry - lacking an appropriate expression. So, off to Waterworld!

Spoiler:

Hit a milestone level stat.

I figured Slateport would get me to Route 134 the quickest but to no avail; blocked by the current.

Huh. Didn't expect that.

So instead, go thru Pacifidlog Town.

Oh...

It turned out to be an elaborate water maze through the route because not every sea route had to be a straightforward corridor. I had a feeling something was there waiting for me... I suggest to you, dear readers, to keep me in suspense until it is found.

"Now you can add sucking to your many talents."

Oh God-fricken... F%&K YOU!! You'reannoying!

So, um... sorry you heard or read that, or whatever. Try as I could to keep profanity to the bare minunum, this - this - was strongly warranted. Crap like this really tests my tolerance, I don't know about you readers.

Solo, go kick some ass. "Roger."

"You meditate one whole month for this?!"

"Happy Hour is over, so get lost."

On the other hand, some scripted lines aren't mindless patronising for my team's power level and actually go out of the way to entertaining my adult mind. I couldn't agree more as I battle this trainer who roughed himself onto a tiny island as I ate peanut butter dark 'n' white chocolate sandwich as I played this.

See?

Ugh. Dragon Trainers. No capes.

Recently I've come to dislike Dragon Trainers for their designs and their quirks. To me they seem so flashy and showy, because whoever said 'let's train dragons while looking like super heroes with no special powers to speak of?' Then it's the case of shutting up their big mouths and exposing them as frauds beneath their expensive looking costumes. Same unpopular feelings towards Dragon type specialists like Lance, Claire, Raihan and Hassel - well, Hassel's hair is okay - while it's obvious that I have beaten them before and will beat them again. To quote my favourite RPG Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion, dragon trainers are 'all flash, no fury.' But but BUT... there is one rare exception as we'll find out in a later chapter.

"Keep dreaming, bagels. You'll always be falling in style."

"I - mustache - you to leave. Hahahaha!"

Six attempts through Route 134 later, this was probably what I was looking for. A small diving area in the middle.

Inside was... nothing I expected or wanted to do again. But I have to do it again. See, I later learned that I needed two specific Pokémon in my party as the first and last members to open the passageway. There was nothing I could do at this point so I left and surfed towards my next destination, the Alleged Abandoned Boat.

Makes ya think, hmm?

What followed here was a scavenger hunt for shiny keys to open the one room containing something of value. And it's a...

SCANNER OH BOY WHAT AN INTERESTING SCANNER

In case you're wondering, I took the Deep Sea Tooth from the scientist. Not that it's any use for me.

Other odds and ends included the Trick Master's house from earlier on to earn a Rare Candy, which I never give to my mons.

Another was shutting down the generator in New Mauville, all for a Thunder Stone.

And thirdly, climbing the pesky crumbly Sky Pillar for 15 rounds with Rayquaza. Hold up, what?

Now this is more like it! My solo Pokémon's first ever legendary encounter and one that will rank high in Aron's unassisted battle records. No videos were recorded, sorry, but these shots will prove how this fight went down. Their levels were almost evenly matched. In this one battle, Rayquaza almost had Solo beaten if not for one flaw in its character - confusing itself with Outrage. It then Rested itself to recovery which meant it ate more Iron Tail in its dreams.

Instead of breaking up fights, you just got into a real one."

No catching. Those are the rules - Aron has to beat everything! Ray's done, and I'm done, too.






Stats
Pokémon Faced - 117
Resets - 19
Badges - 8
Technical errors - 3


Closing Notes
Truth was, I almost combined the notes from the playthrough after this to make one long chapter of pre-Pokémon League preparations. I thought better of it and showed you the Google Sheet I had made for this challenge instead. It was this point where I started to research on all the available Pokémon to catch fight that I had overlooked. This is done so I can turn the habit of starting over less of a chore on a different version.

 

[SteCisGreendog]

Chapter 14 - Da doo ron-ron-ron, Da doo ron-ron

That is the sound a singing Aron makes.

The Pokémon League was in sight, I could almost taste it. Conversely, I haven't lost sight on the real purpose of this challenge to defeat every Pokémon species with a solo team in my first ever playthrough of Emerald, so the next logical step was to take on the Titans following Rayquaza's defeat at the hands of one Aron. Even if I had to include two voluntary witnesses to the fray - the next task.

Oh, let's get to the point. I need a Relicanth and a Wailord, found respectively in Routes 124/125 (underwater) and Route 129.

Spoiler:

Thankfully there are no new trainers to lose my mind over here. As you know, Wailord has a 1% chance of appearing in a wild encounter in this area. The anticipation of meeting a rare creature was rather enjoyable with the fast forward key held down on my emu while doing this. 10 minutes later...

THAR S/HE BLOWS!

Um...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Trust me, one of you here is more than enough."

...

...

...

I don't meme, so you can make your own reaction.

Guess I got too carried away. Ignoring the level gap and getting unlucky with a critical hit that I didn't need robbed me of the opportunity of catching Wailord on the first go. Let's try that again. Oh yeah, I never used save/load states at all in this playthrough. I saw no sense in controlling every aspect of my journey.

Another 12 minutes this time.

Kercher!

Although an Ultra Ball didn't work, a Poke Ball did the job of catching it. Funny how I haven't stocked up on Premier Balls. Lacking any decent name for my fresh catch, I resorted to my experience laden professionalism and christened it 'Hugh Jazz', in honour of the late Hugh Jazz Simmons.

Over to Routes 124 for Relicanth.

As luck would have it, one was waiting for me in the very first encounter with a 5% chance of appearing! This is an old, old, ooooold Pokemon and the name 'Job' was already taken, thus Relicanth was called 'Bible.' So why didn't I stay around to KO another Relicanth while I was busy? That's a good question...

Back to the Sealed Chamber to work the magics.

Was it this way, or that way? Choose option A, B, C, or D.

I didn't need my Klefki to open this trunk.

Um, what was special about this shot?

I was already wet from all that deep sea diving, so tracking Regice first was the logical choice. Each of these caves required a little task to follow on the engraved walls which I won't go into.

"Looks like you left your fighting spirit in the ice age."

Too bad about them being Level 40. I expected more of a fight like with Rayquaza.

This isn't Regirock's dwelling! Oh well, one Claw Fossil in the books.

Foe REGIROCK fainted!

"If you can't rocksteady, shut up already. Darn!"

(Crap, forgot the screenshot! That was my only chance!)

Last was Registeel. Less of a pushover due to its Steel typing. It was still an easy battle, though.

"Even I managed to make a dent on you; your pride, that is!"

With all that out of the way, it was back to Victory Road. It was disappointing to me somehow because the cave was full of these Cool Trainer posers and HM traps, and nothing much else. Not even a legendary to reward myself for going the extra mile (like Moltres in Kanto's Victory Road). No matter, I was more than happy to put these posers out of their misery and bag some new Pokemon for Solo to overcome.

Especially this guy.

I beaten Mawile before, but now I can rectify those early comments that I missed previously. Come to think of it, I missed one more here. Can you spot it below?

"You know what I think? You'd be much cooler with nine heads."

"Math question: what's three minus three?"
Foe LANTURN defeated!

"Got to stop myself before I break you. You could zap us out of existence. Heheheh." (oy oy oy)

"This is where I leave you - prickling with guilt."

I'm sure I only used this once.

Now, now, it's totally not cool to cheap out on Full Restore, COOLTRAINER HALLE. You're merely delaying the inevitable! See? Posers. All of 'em.

Good ol' Solo. Ever the fighter 'til the very end.

YES! Made it through to the other side! You know what's coming next, don't you?

Stats
Pokémon Faced - 136
Resets - 19
Badges - 8
Technical errors - 5 (missed Regirock and Lanturn's fainted messages)


Closing Notes
It sure was embarassing to skip those crucial fainted messages - including one from a legendary of all things. Other than that, an enjoyable run and commentary with less BS than I usually have to put up with in Hoenn. The next part will be the Elite Four and Champion along with post-game cleaning up, and a dilemma concerning as to how I would on earth I will finish my challenge on a national level. That's a clue right there.

 

[SteCisGreendog]

Chapter 15 - The Lead-Headed League

Meanwhile, in Victory Road...

A grinding session helped my Solo reach level 98. Why not 100? The suspence...

Lairon: Scram!

Here's something that I did in preperation for the League. I actually took on the Elite Four and the Champion a week earlier behind the scenes, and won after 5 tries. This was done to take notes of the opponent's teams and their levels. As I congratulated myself with an earl grey tea, my conscience ebbed in to tell it like it was: "nice work, SteC. Now do it again with one Pokémon. ONE. You know who." I knew then that my team of HM buddies weren't going to cut it for my personal goal otherwise they will take the undeserving credit in the Hall of Fame only for reviving Solo. That's not what I am going to show you. This is a series of battles that only Aron can do alone, and with this battle plan in mind, I am ready to face the League.

Spoiler:

Solo, living up to its name, with a Macho Brace/Silk Scarf/Lax Incense for comfort.

I assume you know the Hoenn Elite Four like the back of your hand unlike me, and for this occassion, I would quite like to know a little more about the talented foursome. Headcanons at the ready. #1 is Sidney, who strikes to me as a Ronald McDonald performer by day (the colour scheme does give it away), perceived badass by night who cannot shake the stigma of his goody day-job and must be seen committing acts of badness to save his 'true' image among his peers, like kicking over trash cans and spitting gum on the pavement. So I ask you: does this gentlemen possess a mean strike, or is it all smoke and mirrors?
I have an overactive imagination...

Now let's talk strategy. Despite the trouble I had from his Dark type team in a couple practice runs, I trounced him with my one-mon band with planned exchanges of Double-Edge and Iron Tail, saving Metal Claw for weaker Pokémon. Both moves were a gamble. My Pokémon takes recoil damage from the former and the latter move has 80% accuracy rate. Iron Defense, while useless, also served as a handicap as well as the equally useless Sturdy ability while Rock Head would have been practical. Thus, for the majority of this travel journal, Solo had three moves at hand instead of four. I ever entertained the idea of giving him a TM to replace Iron Defense given how confident I was with his abilities. And hey, Solo's general stats were perfect and I rolled with it.

Phobe was #2 and 'possessed' quite a challenge on one run. Why a hula dancer gained an attraction to the ghost typing is a mystery to me... anyway, one of her Bannette had Solo on the ropes with the Curse and Grudge combo that made the battle difficult to manage as it went on, with Solo's HP slipping away at each turn. She even cleverly reduced the PP of one of my resources. That was impressive. A good battle while it lasted.

Foe DUSCLOPS fainted!

"Next time, try two eyes." (fiddlesticks!)

I had thoughts about Sidney and Phoebe, but I don't have ♥♥♥♥ on the Elite #3 Glacia, whose rich lady trait is about as transparent as the representation of the Ice types in Hoenn. Much like the ghosts, even though they are free for the taking in Mt. Pyre. As for Ice types, you have to work harder to buff up a sea lion or go spelunking deep in Shoal Cave (yet unexplored) to claim those Pokémon. To me, she is only an enigma. Rant aside, her team wasn't anything to write home about either.

"Goo goo g'joob your butt outta here, blubber boy."

"Harder than steel, my foot. Your stones are still cold after this."

#4 was more of a task than the first three combined, and I sheepishly admit to be using save states in case something went horribly wrong with my party preperation, like the wrong held item. Remember my quibble about Dragon type specialists being more of the showy side? Drake, however - the rough sailor around the edges - is my kind of Dragon trainer. Forget mysterious cape fetish superheroic duo Lance and Clair, forget Drayden's bear trap beard, forget Iris and her oversized ballgown, forget the vain selfie soccer sucking Draihan, forget the bawling teacher "don't need no" Hassel. Drake is the least pretentious dude I had the honour of facing and didn't appear to stand out too hard in my eyes.

Man, I really have a bad case of the chinwag today. On with Drake's match. It took a handful of resets to put his team down, with Flygon being the troublemaker with STAB Earthquake (or 'Housequake' if you're a Prince fan, lord rest his soul). It went more smoothly in the pre-planning stage, it really did.

Flygon can rocksteady.

"You must be really enjoying yourself in that shell, huh?"

"That 'sound' you call singing? It's the 'pits!' Hahaha!"

"My dream's better than yours, you overgrown kiwi."

Damn stairs.

I would comment on something like the morons irl who climb 2 steps in each stride (I don't, and neither should you), but I've said too much already.

Who was #5? There's no #5, cause here comes the Champion. Wallace 'not Gromit', whom I met before, took me to task with some dirty moves; rinse, wash, and repeat. And Surf. The undocumented battle with my full team took one attempt with a victory (and a fainted/revived Aron which was not the way to go in this challenge); this run took 25.

Gyarados has Solo's number, car, girlfriend, and apartment, because Surf and Earthquake were part of its moveset. I can't remember it using the other two moves.

The Lax incense I held must be broken because all of Tentacruel's Hydro Pumps connected. Lame.

Critical hits meant certain death.

"Now, don't freak, but you have a chipped scale."

So taxing was the battle, I only got to see his Whiscash twice and Milotic three times in this whole run. Eventually, with all things, something has to give, and the reigning Champion had to yield defeat. After a total of 30 resets, I beat him and become the new Champion of Hoenn!

...and here comes Brendan and Prof. Birch coastin' on my blood, sweat and tears like any other gopher/mouthpiece/supporting character.

See what I mean? Pick your frickin' moment to check on my dex, will you, Birchy? This is an emotional moment for me.

I endured all of this to show you this screen to prove my Aron's single handed victory with no aid.

NOT the end! The postgame was next, and I intend to continue.

A hero's rest at Littleroot Town rewarded me with a Nationalised Pokédex and an S.S. Ticket to who know's where that I used right away from Lilycove. Either that, or I'm grounded for being too good for this region (I always found that funny).

Aw, don't you f*cking start, old man.

Brendan right here has just pulled the biggest one-two dick move on me. First, by taking credit for my Pokédex upgrade, which has actually naffed up my tracking of all species in the region, and second by telling me he's bailing on the battling to stand by his old man in the lab. That meant no Sceptile to record. What a real pal. Jerk. Backstabbing Judas. Politician.

I chose red. Too bad there wasn't an orange option.

It's Scott again, hawking on about something about his battle palace before leaving the S.S. Ship. But this isn't 'the Scott Show,' it's 'the Aron Show,' so shove it.

The cruise, by the way, could no way ever be compared to the S.S. Anne in Kanto; except being too big, this is too small with 8 cabins and a hull down the lower deck. Still, good to see ol' Briney reappear. I wondered what happened to him.

At Slateport. Next.

The obligatory cruise segment opened up the way to the Battle Frontier. I've heard things about that place, and it was time I checked it out with my own eyes.

Battle Frontier was... freaking huge. Yet I still found Scott hiding away no problem. I only stuck around to observe the facilities and that's about it. No battles yet. The next place was far more interesting to me; Meteor Falls.

Level 100! One last look at those stats.

Oh- shhh... it's him. Okay, tread quietly.

When it comes to teasing, I thought Steven Stone's pre-battle scene could never be topped. That's what I like about him. He puts it tentatively and cool without sounding pushy or forceful. I can't think of anyone who can do it better. If you're wondering why I was excited for this battle, you'll find your answer soon enough.

The former champion's first poké was Skarmory, but switched to his... *disgusted sigh* mascot partner, Metagross, to deliver the weakest Earthquake Solo ever felt, lacking any STAB. On the other hand, Metal Claw increased my attack stat in a slight pinch. So far, so good. The drama hadn't kicked in yet.

Meta G can't rocksteady.

Whoops, wrong screenshot (take that, Omegagross)

"You can't fool me - you're really two Metang 'doing it.' "

Nothing of note came from Steven's Armaldo and Cradily, and later Skarmory after absorbing the most punishment. I couldn't remember Claydol doing anything useful, either.

"You may walk and swim, bug lizard type thing, but you sure as heck can't win!"

"This is one tide that's not coming back."

Oooooh, here it comes...

YES! It's the dream battle I've been waiting for!

No rush to beat Steven's Aggron as I wanted to enjoy every moment of Aron challenging his superior. Solarbeam and Thunder were okay choices for non-STAB moves but neither posed much danger. He seemed to favour special attacks that did little damage.

I was having too much fun to care about Full Restore.

Or this.

Getting closer...

"Time you go find another mountain, and- *sniff* I'm sorry... ... ...I love you. *sobs*"

Best fight of my life. Solo thought it was to. Now what?

A well-deserved bath! I was satisfied, but not satisfied enough to put down Emerald just yet. There's more to do in the next chaper - see you then!

Stats
Pokémon Faced - 149
Resets - 49
Badges - 8
Technical errors - 6 (missed Dusclops' fainted messages)


Closing Notes
This is what I call my 'gloat post,' meaning how happy I was with accomplishing this much of Emerald to date. Putting up the post did mean more work than usual; Imgur had cacked up the order of the screengrabs I took. That made copypasting fun for the while (sarcasm). The battle with Steven is an instant highlight for sure and didn't dampen the zingers I caught beforehand - struggling with the Champion and the Pokédex upgrade. That's where my own primitive google sheet comes in handy to act as the regional dex and as a checklist to find those missing species. It is now time to complete at least the Hoenn portion of the dex before I consider it done.

PS. My first ever 'four job fiesta' in FFV went well, thanks.

 

[SteCisGreendog]

Chapter 16 - The Species List

The last chapter saw me and Solo take over the League, the Champion, and the former Champion in a high profile series of battles to show the region who's #1. What some of you call the 'postgame' is what I call 'winding down' in my goal of beating all the Pokémon species with my sole partner. It sounds like I did most of the work getting to the postgame, which is certainly true, but believe me when I say it's a different kind of work in a progressively harder sort of way. By the end of this travel log, you'll understand what I mean.

No more gloating, let's get back to work.

The fearsome Seviper building above meant one thing - I returned to the Battle Frontier to mark off some fairly elusive Pokémon in this run, and then some.

Spoiler:

One bad thing about the National Dex was that I had this on starting up the Pokédex option from the menu. Riding on my coattails, are you? P*$$ off.

There, that's better.

The Weather Institute was key to encountering Kyogre and Groudon in their lair. Naturally the watery one wins the coin toss.

The effects of Sturdy came to play for this ONE TIME in the entire playthrough. I can't blame them. Sheer Cold is not a pretty sight.

"Phew - give me something to drink."

Now there's no downpour, there was 1% less water than before. Apparently, I forgot to battle and beat a Relicanth while catching one for opening the Sealed Chamber.

"Your makeover is long overdue, now I whupped you."

Next my notes told me that the Desert Underpass by way of Fallarbor Town was worth checking out. Much like the legendary hideouts, I consider them niche locations that serve little purpose other than finding this one poke that cannot be found anywhere else. Just like me.

Solo: Aren't I taller than that?

"You're rubbish - can't even get my face look right."

*checks the spreadsheet * 'Ey up. We have an outsider. Ditto's not part of this region, but... from somewhere else! This was foreboding news that's gonna send ripples in my work for years to come...

Oh, come on! I was supposed to pick one fossil and stay with one. That's cheating, game!

After some shopping at the Mart, I returned to the Battle Frontier to find more of those 'niche' areas. This was one of them.

"I dunno who's been planting your seeds, but you're not welcome here."

Another mystery visitor... again, I'll allow it. That is, allowing myself to pass down the waterfall and into the Artisan Cave. What was the point of doing it?

This was the point.

"If you paint me a picture that doesn't stink, then I'd gladly appreciate it."

Solo was growing concerned. Who were those strangers, and what do they want with us? No matter, as we were both back in familiar territory at- hold on, what do my notes say? *reads them* Oh, good gravy, no. It says I fancied taking on the Battle Tower and lost horribly to baby Pokemon - multiple times?! Groan. Nope. Not covering that, not now, not ever. Not until the next chapter. So anyway, we travelled to the Route 111 desert for a pretty rare treat.

"Plucked, pricked and prinned, you cactus-eating pumpkin!"

Petalburg Forest had a surprise for me.

"Awww, did we keep you waiting? *chuckles*"

Ditto for the Fiery Path.

"I wouldn't even poke you with a stick. Gross!"

Up ahead Route 115 than usual.

Aw crap. This wasn't an area I visited before. There's a good chance that one of those dimwits will say the 'S' word but you won't hear a comment from me this time. I just came here for:

a balloon.

"Lousy singer. Even David Gray puts me to sleep."

This happened on the route above Mossdeep. Thanks to the handy dandy Pokenav (wink).

"Four arms, and you still can't get the job done!"

Shoal Cave. I somehow missed this in the pre-League run. With water being an oh-so running theme in this game, the cave was explored in two levels; one with the tide in, and the other with the tide out. The tide was high in my first visit, so I went no father than picking up some Shoal stuff for the old man, and goodness me I'm tired of typing this paragraph.

Ah, I was looking for the Super Rod!

Found these at Evergrande City.

"Who needs a rubber ducky when you're around? "

Mt. Pyre for a double whammy. Fun fact: the Chimecho was found on my third encounter on the summit! You can't teach that!

"Personally, I don't gave a muk about any one of your tails."

"If that ain't the lunch bell, then I don't care."

Hey, I forgot about this place.

Late to the party, I know. The fella should have been pissed for waiting this long.

Another break, I think.

Apparently, the Trick House opens up a new escape room for every badge you earn. Might as well do it all seeing as I got this far.

I guess the downside of the Trick House is hoarding so many useless items. I had to clean out my inventory at the Center and Mart whilst doing this.

This would have been useful, if I HAD ANY ROCK MOVES!!!

"Check me out - with that sparkly thing you do, you make me look like a million bucks."

Uugh. What is it with the red and blue motif around here?!

In other words, I made somebody go into retirement. That made me feel bad about beating Brendan again.

Nice way of handicapping myself even more, huh?

Later in the day, I revisited Shoal Cave when the tide was low and got to where I needed for another elusive Pokemon. I certainly hope that black belt wasn't standing there this whole time.

"Uh, um... we met before, or something?"

Ice as nice, but sadly underused in the sunny region of Hoenn. Even Solo had no recollection of meeting the poor dude, and its later evolution is one of my favourites. Afterwards, I fancied adding another feather in my cap along Route 119.

YES! Practicing and perfecting the Acro Bike never felt so good.

No, no, nooooooo!

Yes, yes, yessssss!

The infamous wild Feebas, met after roughly 40 tries with a Super Rod and caught with a... geez, a Luxury Ball, was it?

Stick around with us, Sweeney. You'll be #6.

This was entertaining. For about 10 seconds.

Loooong chapter, but I'll wrap it up soon with the next two encounters. It was finally time I checked in Route 118 because the weather man told me so.

"Hey, you. Your skill was as dry as your charisma. Go get me a drink!"

Hoenn is significantly wet again. Yaaaay.

The dex tells me I'm missing something.

I was just going by messages online that this was one of the optimal areas to find the roaming Eon Pokémon of my choice. Outside Mauville, Max Repel, Fly, minus level 40 Pokémon at head of party. Everything seemed in check, and 10 minutes later:

Latias! Solo wasn't suitable at level 100. Of course, Sweeney could not react fast enough to Latias' speed, so it fled. I was naive to find a few tricks before the hunt can begin.

Quick Claw? What's that?

Latias was later found at Route 129. Turned out that Solo possessed the killer instinct of higher speed stats in my party, including the poor Latias.

"So, what's it like to be caretaker for the blue guy?"

OOOOOOH, THAT'S SAVAGE

TO BE CONTINUED...



Stats
Pokémon Faced - 162
Resets - 49
Badges - 8
Technical errors - 6


Closing Notes
It was hugely satisfying to mark off all those Pokémon I didn't face before. Lot's of work have been put in between this chapter and the next and all of it concerns the Regional vs. National Pokédex issue. If I dropped enough hints of what's to come next then it means I'm doing my job well. Thanks for reading, and be sure to read the travel journals from the other members. It's fun comparing our different journeys.

 

[SteCisGreendog]

Chapter 17 - Game B for 'Battle'

This is a short part that happened between the playthrough on the previous chapter. Most importantly, it also details the moment that made me rewrite the rulebook on my challenge.

Remember the bit about me hanging around the Battle Frontier to find Sudowoodo and friends? It was that moment when I tried out a couple of facilities for curiosity's sake. I chose the Battle Tower first because a guy with glasses told me to.

Spoiler:

*meek nerdy cheering intensifies*

Don't eat it, ma'am- too late.

So anyway, inside the Tower when I had my intelligence insulted yet again.

Say those exact two words at me again and I will show you why they call me 'Toothless Tom.'

First, I chose the Single / Open Level option with Solo, and... huh. I needed 2 more, then? Okay, Ferbus and McTappets can join in. They're both seriously underlevelled but it will be fine. How did my team do? Read on, and I will apologise in advance for not capturing the screens for every new species introduced to battle. Even if each fight uses three Pokémon on each side, I made it a point to only document new Pokémon knocked out by Aron, just like I had done up to the League. I thought of this run as a feeler of what to expect in future.

ROUND ONE The first trainer threw out these hapless victims:

"Get back in the egg, you're not ready yet."
Foe WOOPER fainted!

"Wipe that smile off your face - you're done!" (oh, horseapples!)

"With that coin on your noggin, I can't tell if you're poor or begging."

ROUND TWO A Bellsprout? Don't make me la-

-laugh? Oh. Oooooh...

Back to ROUND ONE with the same Single / Open Level Settings. Did you see Bellsprout's level matching my Aron's? My comrades stood no chance against the dumb garden weed.

"This is Hoenn, not boring brown bird land."

"From the mountains, are you? Better not let my Uncle Agg catch you there."

Watch your language!

ROUND TWO began with a kick in the- um, steel face with the deadliest move since Surf and Earthquake, Hi Jump Kick.

Hmmmmm...

ROUND ONE it is, then. Luckily, Tyrogue forgot to kick.

"Less brawling, more crawling, baby."

Then another infant did me in.

Starting over. By the way, when Solo goes down, my whole team goes with it.

"Needles to say, you're not good enough."

You can see where this is going.

I'm outta here.

The flippity flop are you talking about?

So I never got past round two on the first leg. Big whoop. After those four tries at the Single Battle Tower, I stopped torturing myself and headed out to the Seviper shaped building. Going by memory here, you navigate through one of three doors with a slight clue from what's at the other side; anything from a single battle, a double battle, a status infliction, health restore, or no battle. At five rooms in I was doing well until:

Eh, not good.

Try again?

Here's something for all you Eeveelegions (tm) out there. *blow kiss*

"I asked for this victory well done, not that well done, you hothead!"

And as for the Misdreavus? Yeah, it punked me.

With that, my short reign at the Battle Frontier was over. I...am not qutting just yet! From there, I went on to fill out my Hoenn Pokédex from Route 111 to catching the roaming Latias from the last Chapter. As for what I am going to do next, I suggest reading the closing notes.

Stats
Hoenn Pokémon Faced - 162
National Pokemon Faced - 174
Resets - 49
Badges - 8
Technical errors - 7 (missed Wooper's fainted message)


Closing Notes
Man, if the Pokémon League made me look like Muhammed Ali, then the Battle Frontier made me look like Reggie Strickland. I'm still glad I gave it a knock because it helped me adjust the scope of my challenge, especially with two Pokédexes to consider. Hey, did you know that these battles do not add new Pokémon data to the dex? It's shocking, and I'm also glad I have my spreadsheet to count on tracking the extra info. My stats are changed to reflect the new stuff above. Now you see what a complete mess the National dex has done to my progress.

Right then, I could simply end the game with recording the entire Hoenn dex omitting a few impossibles. That's 'Game A.' Or I can continue and focus solely on 'Game B' which will be discovering all the available species in the Battle Frontier (not necessarily complete the BF, but enough to find all new Pokémon for Aron to KO). For that, I am going to rebuild my team at lvl 50 and have at least 3 mon required at minimum for the new challenge. Breeding the strongest set of Pokémon and throw in another Aron since Solo is at max. level. It'll be fun, won't you think so? :>

 

[RomHack Gaming]

This might be my favorite thing that I've found on the entire site so far. You my friend are way too dang funny! I've only read through chapter one so far (as well as the latest chapter because I was curious hehe) but I'm definitely going to be going through the whole thing! I love the way you have aron talk smack about every pokemon he faces lmao. My favorite line so far is, "You blend in nicely in the foliage where no one will notice your shameful face" poor treecko...

 

[SteCisGreendog]

Chapter 18 - Beebies and Rock-Head

Hot off the heels of knocking out Latias, two goals were on my mind. If I want to include the Battle Frontier as part of my 'gotta beat 'em all' challenge, then I need to do it right. At the same time, I still had many more Pokémon left unchecked in Hoenn. This was where the Match Call system on the Pokénav came in handy. First, some feedback for Romhack Gaming ~

It's been a fun series - well, the first of many more to come - and allows me to pay homage to my favourite guy and many of its friends from the generation I overlooked. The insults are meant in jest and are not taken too seriously, with some minor exceptions if one can read between the lines.

Spoiler:

As you can see, I was clocking up some willing Gym Leaders itching for a rematch with double teams, but that's not what I was going for. Instead were legions of trainers whom I left my mark on (lacking an expression here) by registering their calls. Before being bothered to look up their names from the menu, I had the habit of travelling around Hoenn on foot from Littleroot Town a couple of times to register more NPCs and getting into rematches with others. With enough rematches, rarer battle Pokémon will eventually come into play like Machamp in Chapter 17, and Exploud below.

"SHUT UP, I'M TRYING TO GLOAT!"

The discovery of a red herring known as Altering Cave. Look it up if you can't recall what it was supposed to do. Zubat city, baby!!

Obviously.

Wait, when did this happen?

This was the one with the shards, right?

My wilderness days couldn't last long; over a dozen rematches have only netted me Exploud with more grinding to continue. I decided to pursue the near perfect team for Battle Frontier but without getting into the IV/EV thing.

They said Electrike has the 'it' factor. I was sure there're better ones.

Oh, I just had another awesome idea (wink). Without a Pokéblock Case, that will have to be put on ice.

Sure, the Battle Frontier is the icing on the cake and all, but what about the other faculties, Trainer Hill and Battle Tent? No screenshots showing my miserable first attempt was prove enough that I clearly didn't learn my lesson. I swagged these two with Solo, though.

"HFC - it's finger lickin' bad!"

"Holy flamin' Fabio, you're awful!"

Now for my team. Obvious choice, really. Steven Stone's Beldum in Mossdeep City.

'Favorite?' Steven, you're a goddamn liar, and you know it!

My new team will be promising. Time to make the babies. A Ditto for egg type compatibility and Slugma for the Magma Armor ability for quick hatching.

Foolishly I included Feebas with the hope of evolving into Milotic, then I learned how it's done and passed on it. Never mind though, I also needed another Aron to meet the level 50 requirements of the battle facilities.

A White Flute, for some reason...

*cursing curse words*

The following took a span of 5 days over the last week to grind my team to level 50. Unfortunately with my first Pokémon being Trapinch to Flygon, my idea wasn't baked well at the time as I overshot the mark by six levels. In any case, I would have to raise another Trapinch since I lacked the save states that had the Flygon under level 50 (isn't that right, Latios?) I did not make the same mistake with Bagon, Aron and Beldum.

PokéManiac Steve seems to be based on a certain someone. Hmmmm, can't put my finger on who...

"Try wearing a suit of armor next time?"

Aw, shoot, back at Trainer Hill for old time's sake.

"I won more fights than there are spots on your back."

Bagon passed the grind with flying colours!

Next was the new Aron named 'Nora.'

As if I need Lairon! Remember what the whole point of this challenge was?

Hang on, why did I let Solo keep Take Down? It's weaker.

Nora's at level 50. Next up: Beldum.

The best thing about holding off Metang's evolution was that it learned Meteor Mash at level 50 before I let it become Metagross. I stopped there because I wanted to at least try the Battle Frontier with 3 Pokémon at mininum. If I needed more support and variety, I can always come back to train Shuppet and Trapinch, or even more if I had to. And that wraps it up for this chapter.


Stats
Hoenn Pokémon Faced - 165
National Pokemon Faced - 178
Resets - 49
Badges - 8
Technical errors - 7


Closing Notes
Here's an interesting fact. Did you know I have been playing through this with the sound turned off? I'm sure I wouldn't miss the trumpety tones of a wet fart as I have no sentimental value of the score, and the 'bump' on collision would have infuriated me to no end; so pleased they removed that sound effect from Gen 8. Nothing else to add than that.

 

[SteCisGreendog]

Chapter 19 - Four Moves of Doom

Thank you, thank you very much.

This was the moment I've been training up towards. Trying out all seven features of the Battle Frontier to plan my next moves to 'beat 'em all' with Aron. More than one Aron, mind you. What I've done here was I attempted one run at each place; the Tower, Dome, Pike, Palace, Arena, Pyramid and Factory with my team of three. The first three buildings were logged last Sunday while the rest were done on Friday on my week off from work in the summer holidays. Hence this will be shown in seven mini-parts to keep you amused as of today, I will be taking a three day vacation to Mie until Wednesday. For some reason I like saying 'day.'

Open the spoiler to see its full contents. :>

Spoiler:

THE AGONY

Preperations

Spoiler:

These three were ready. Are their stats/natures optimal? I won't go into any of that now, you be the judge.

I'm ignoring your advice this time and going back to the Tower, old chum.

BATTLE TOWER

Spoiler:

The order of Pokémon mattered a big deal here. You pick up these things as you go along.

There's a punchline here - where's Groucho Marx when you need him?

Briana's Exeggcute. I didn't think trainer names were important but I took note of them anyway.

"Never bring eggs to a rock fight."

Ah! One for the Hoenn Dex!

"You Beldum, I break 'em. Move along now!"

Famous last words. Nah, I'm ignoring their names to move things along.

No point in using Aron for a poke it's beaten before, so I switched to another member to preserve its health.

Man, it was tempting to have a go at Totodile, one of the Johto starters. There's always next time.

If another poke other than Aron knocks them out, it does not count towards my score. The rules are still honoured here.

Nora couldn't cut the mustard against Bulbasaur, even without the type disadvantage.

It's Larvitar. I consider it as Aron's more famous rival, and seriously needs a dressing down over the years.

"My daddy can beat your daddy, dirt eater."

Oh my gosh, these flippin' starters! What's going on?!

Ooooh, no. Not having no rat put me over.

"Go sharpen your teeth elsewhere, vermin."

No wall was too high for my girl.

"Don't feel bad - you make fine omelettes."

Knocked out of the seventh round thanks to a giraffe.

BATTLE TOWER: LOSE

Something tells me the Tower is going to sting for a long time. No matter. When I have a better understanding of how the other facilities work, then the Tower will not be so unforgiving.

BATTLE DOME

Spoiler:

Here's the Battle Dome. They have the foresight to look into the upcoming opponent's Pokémon and battle style for me to plan out.

"I almost saw myself in you out there. Almost..."

This turned out to be a very close one, unlike the Kabutops in a later round.

"Ditch the freeloading guppy, will ya?"

"If that isn't a wig, then I'm a mothermukin' Skitty!"

One Kabutops went down before, but another was used by the trainer in the next round. How lucky!

"All that swimmin' and slicin' didn't go hot for you, huh?"

My first Frontier victory happened here in the Dome. As for Nora, I am sooo proud of her.

BATTLE DOME: WIN

Following that win, I wasn't completely elated. It didn't justify the loss at the Tower and I wasn't sure if the Frontier was worth continuing. So it made sense to make my next attempt at the Battle Pike where I also attempted before.

BATTLE PIKE

Spoiler:

A Squirtle, another starter and an instant type weakness. What good is my Aron if it doesn't hold up against flagship Pokémon like Squirtle and the others? And it's doing the worst disco dance I've ever seen.

*shrugs*

In fact, I happened to pass through the Pike without a struggle save for a Charmander which Nora also lost to. The game of luck isn't my cup of tea, which was why I preferred Hades over Fall Guys as I remarked on Chapter 3 (which I happened to pick up again recently). It wasn't so lucky to have my solo mon taken down by all three Generation One starters, was it? A hollow victory for Battle Pike.

BATTLE PIKE: WIN

It was as this point when I severely doubted my abilities in the Frontier. The use of save states have actually added to the frustration as it seemed like the same sequence of moves and accuracy are played out at each load and did not appear to be so random as I thought. Some very dark thoughts lingered over my head, things like: I want my mummy. I want my Game Boy. I want my Horlicks. I want to eat good cheese again. Maybe take a few days off to forget all this and come back with a clear mind? That's what I did, and wait 'til you see what happened next.

Five days later... THE ECSTASY

BATTLE PALACE

Spoiler:

The Battle Palace piqued my interest. Inside, it turned out that move selections were not chosen manually. Eh, what have I got to lose?

Both Pokémon had the habit of stalling with this message for some reason. The Ariados turned out to be easy to KO.

"Your silly string is no match for me, party boy."

"Little Tommy says he doesn't want to sleep with you tonight."

"Stopped you on your tracks, didn't I?"

You know what? It was exciting. It's turned out good, so far.

Oh, ho ho! It gets better. *cracks knuckles*

Did I get 'em? Yeah, I get 'em. Very close, too.

"Listen, when you ever find a way to turn yourself into a steel type with that wacky genetics thing you do, come back and tell me, alright?"

Now it's getting exciting.

Come on, Mudkip was practically done! The 'Starter Clause' is in full swing here, everyone. *fumes* I had to switch out and move on. Similar story for Torchic in the next battle.

Lotsa close calls this time around.

"Another day, another trouser snake."

This screen shot meant one thing - I WON!

BATTLE PALACE: WIN

That was a great mode! I could tell I wasn't depending it all on luck. Next, I took on the Battle Arena (Toshinden).

BATTLE ARENA

Spoiler:

So here, I only have three moves to impress the judges, and then my victory is determined on several factors. Okie dokie.

"I said-a hip, hop, the hippie, the hippie to the hip hip hop-a don't stop and BEAT IT!"

"What smells and looks like a fart cloud? You!"

"Who's my little widdle poo-poo?"

PA: "phffff, lady, please stop harrassing the competitors, phffff."

What I wanna know is, how this guy has leads to Mew. Hmmm.

And then, something terrible happened.

I ACCIDENTALLY PUSHED A BUTTON TO RESET THE ROM

Looks like I had to start from the beginning. So did that mean the last few battles did not count to my list? Well that's where you're wrong, because the National Pokédex does not record any Pokémon discovered in Frontier anyway, so turnaround is fair play. I'll allow it!

"Merry Fudgin' Christmas to you too!"

"You kiss like I spit dirt from 100 year old filings."

"Ooh, I can see your guts. Big surprise."

Not a chance.

For the record, I took note of several Pokémon that Aron did not get to beat in all my battles so far - most of them did not warrant a screenshot. For instance, in my second Arena run, I had to miss out of the following because Nora either fainted, was too weak to fight, or type disadvantage; Poliwhirl, Pidgeotto, Farfetch'd, Drowzee, Vibrava, Magby and Hitmonchan. These poke will remain on my radar for next time.

Oh, and Dunsparce too because Nora didn't knock them out. Dang.

With that, the Arena has been cleared! I may come back soon.

BATTLE ARENA: WIN

BATTLE PYRAMID

Spoiler:

Smells like Egypt in here. That means I'm in the Battle Pyramind. Navigate nine floors to the top with your item bag removed and pick up new items along the way. I got worried because I thought my level 50 team was not qualified to take part... until I took away their held items. Odd because I half expected the game to kindly take them off me automatically.

Nice finds on the first floor.

Trainers had one Pokémon each and wild ones appear at any time. Truthfully I didn't mess around by way of screenshots and let the results speak for themselves.

"Sheesh, looking at you gives me a headache."

"You're a nasty bird, and I like that. But you're not from here, so I don't like you."

"Low voltage. Guess there's no longer any danger."

Hey, uh, a little cramped in here, innit?

That was some pinch.

"You're no threat to me, you oversized pot plant."

"Your anger is enough to charge up my cave and RUIN MY SLEEP!"

I got into a few pinches, but came through and reached the top of the Pyramid on the first go with 5 Battle Points. The most points I received thus far. Nice one!

"AIIEEEE AYAYAYAY PRAY-A SHIIBAAAA, PRAY-A SHIIBAAAA AY AY AY AY, etc"

BATTLE PYRAMID: WIN

At that point, I considered stopping because of the low chances I would have chosen an Aron from the Battle Factory (only rental Pokemon are allowed there). But sure enough, after 4 resets, there it was:

Looks like I'm doing it!

BATTLE FACTORY

Spoiler:

Again, just a quick summary of victories and key points.

"Don't let my grandpa know you're claiming his airspace."

(Man, if I read another Pokédex entry that starts a sentence with the words "This Pokemon..." in that order, I'm going to rip the heck out of this game 'til I live long enough to be 100)

No, Delibird! What have you done?!! That's one Ice Ball too many!

Oof, Petal Dance was a powerful move.

"Do your arms ever get tired?"

Next, something incredible happened...

"*singing* You're not the leader of the pack! *ROOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR*"

A Charmeleon? Could it be...? That's right, the 'Starter Clause' has been broken! YEAH!

And then I lost the next round to a Doduo.

BATTLE FACTORY: LOSE

I felt a bit wary of the Factory. After all, one loss can affect my streak in the long run should I actually be polished enough to face the Brains from each building. I shall focus on my strengths instead and tackle the Palace, Dome, Arena and Pyramid first to ensure myself.

Stats
Hoenn Pokémon Faced - 169
National Pokemon Faced - 203
Resets - 54
Badges - 8
Technical errors - 7

Frontier Stats - Win/Loss
Palace - 1/0
Arena - 1/0
Dome - 1/0
Pyramid - 1/0
Pike - 1/0
Factory - 0/1
Tower - 0/7


Closing Notes
I don't think I will be covering the Battle Frontier this extensively for my next few chapters, but now you see how it felt going in for the first time. See also that I edited the Stats to cover all my BF victories and losses to give a sense of what I'm going to focus on next time. My goal is still to cover as much of the National Dex beaten with Aron as possible and the Frontier was giving me a sense of progression as I spend more time there.

 

[RomHack Gaming]

Favorite insult from chapter 2, "So your skill is teleporting? Mine is hitting you very hard." I can tell you love aron the most but do you also like his evolutions?

 

[SteCisGreendog]

Chapter 20 - Dandy Beatings

Feedback time for Romhack Gaming. Glad to know you're enjoying the series and thank you very much for the question. I love Aron's evolutions equally and I'd have liked to use them in this challenge. I don't think it's so bad now that I'm in the postgame, but the reliance on HM 'buddies' and keeping a low Dex count prevented me from using Lairon and Aggron to assist Aron. In fact I never thought about them until you mentioned it.

Well, look-ie here, I DO have a save state from the Pokémon League. I would have to pick the blue orb this time... which I didn't do immediately, because if I did, you'd be reading something like 'Foe LATIOS fainted!' by now. No, my friends, this will have to happen another time. Let's hope that load slot will still be there in XX weeks time. Looking back on my victorious run in the Battle Frontier, I made a point to get through the Battle Arena some more with the naive feeling that I could pick up some easy wins while taking names of the unbeaten Pokémon.

Spoiler:

This old man remarks on your squad's IV/EV rates. I have a sinking feeling that I'm going to come back to this many times.

So back to the Arena...

"Who's up for a little basketball, eh?"

A victory ending in a referee's decision does NOT count to Aron's victory count. Something told me this was going to be a pretty demanding feat.

The 'starter clause' from last chapter is back in full tilt, baby! *grunt*

"Not so tough now, are you, tough cat?"

Not being a native to Hoenn, I wasn't so bothered about this deal.

Magneton has to rank near the top of Aron's most challenging Pokemon to beat, Magnet Pull and all.

Another trainer thankfully had a Quilava that I could overcome. So much for the 'starter clause':

"Next time you fire, look at me in the eyes!"

"If it makes you feel any better, Intel is underpowered."

So I says, "CUM AWN, AH'LL BREKK YER PHOOKIN' HEAD IN!" *R-rated curse*

This was one loss I took, but fortunately the only one I incurred. From a trash talking Physic breaking character, no doubt. I don't know, it's comparable to the Aron not being able to KO the opponent's Pokemon by referee decision. I had to soldier on to see the end of this.

This was a really clever move in Chimecho's part. I was sure in this whole playthrough that Metal Claw didn't trigger once (not that I was holding out for it) and the Choice Band Nora was now holding powered up my Metal Claw for some solid hits throughout the round.

A Swalot! I missed out on KO'ing that son-of-a-gun and I needed it badly.

I was actually preferring the Hoenn guys to Kanto/Johto at this point.

"If those antlers aren't chipped by now, then that means I'm not doing my job."

Murkrow was challenged and beaten against all odds, thanks in part to Sableye's earlier beatdown and the miracle that was Nora's Sturdy ability.

"Hey... you! You must be responsible for my bad performance lately!"

Critical hits were common as heck here.

"It slices, it dices, it doesn't do much else."

Dude, I can't help it!

"All that technology and they use you to look up memes."

Four more straight victories meant one thing - facing the Tycoon. She's looking a bit of a space dandy, standing out from all the characters I met thus far. Talks like one, too.

Well... that didn't go my way. I mean, I did win the battle, but Nora didn't put up a single fight against the Heracross, Umbreon and especially Shedinja that she brought out. I had to make do with the Silver thing and somewhat handicapping myself with tougher, newer opponents and their Pokémon. What did I get myself into?!

Spare a thought for all the ungrateful Pokémon who let their ego get in the way of putting Aron over:

Spoiler:

Ninjask
Qwilfish
Dunsparce
Gligar
Hitmontop
Noctowl
Gorebyss
Dratini
Togetic
Bayleef
Cloyster
Poliwrath
Primeape
Miltank
Snorlax
Ursaring
Ivysaur
Heracross
Umbreon
Shedinja

Losing to these rightly suck and added the sense of uncertainty to my Option B (beat all National Pokémon). Option A on the other hand is getting close, and to show you how, these are the 32 Pokémon left in Hoenn for Aron to battle:

Spoiler:

Sceptile
Torchic
Blaziken
Mudkip
Marshtomp
Swampert
Masquerain*
Alakazam*
Shedinja
Golem*
Bellossom*
Swalot
Magcargo*
Weezing*
Grumpig*
Vibrava
Lileep
Anorith
Castform
Pichu
Raichu
Golduck
Phanpy
Donphan
Wynaut
Heracross
Huntail
Gorebyss
Metang
Latios
Jirachi
Deoxys

*can find these with Match Call

Stats
Hoenn Pokémon Faced - 170
National Pokémon Faced - 211
Resets - 55
Badges - 8
Technical errors - 7

Frontier Stats - Win/Loss
Palace - 1/0
Arena - Silver
Dome - 1/0
Pyramid - 1/0
Pike - 1/0
Factory - 0/1
Tower - 0/7


Closing Notes
Previously I took some time off this for a little break earlier this month and take part in the Get Together festivities on the forum. I got into one more playthrough (this one) before my holiday, and looking back it it, I'm still having massive doubts about beating all 386. I don't plan to keep at this for too long and burn out. For this reason, I am totally dedicated to clearing the 202 Hoenn mon before I deem this challenge complete. The others can be found in other games, but isn't that obvious?

 

[SteCisGreendog]

Chapter 21? - Stuck at the Crossroads

Yes, you've read the title right. This is no ordinary chapter as you'll find out below.

I'm clearly stuck on the remaining part of my solo challenge with Aron. Looking back at the previous 2 chapters will give you an idea of what I've been working up til now. If, on the other hand, you took a wild guess and screamed 'BATTLE FRONTIER' at the top of your lungs, then you're correct and can relate to the headaches I've been having with the breeding and competing mechanics which I had no choice but to dive in deep with all its intricities.

Deep breath

So... as this series based challenge has been my big pet project on the forum, the Emerald Battle Frontier to beat the remaining 30 Hoenn Pokémon with my solo runs the risk of becoming yet another pet project, and a timely one at that. Two months since the last post and I have recently dove back in to breeding a handful of the best teams for the job including Aron (best IVs) and currently Bagon (not perfect yet), and... what can I say? It's quite a slog, and I hate to keep everybody including myself waiting for the next installment on the same game or on another system.

Here's the deal. I want to let the community decide wether I should continue with the Emerald BF training above, or begin my next game for the Aron vs The World challenge on FireRed/LeafGreen while keeping Emerald open on the interim. I have reasons for this;

• I don't wish to abandon Emerald over the BF as I will make a commitment to breed and battle as I have done this week
• FireRed/LeafGreen don't have a Battle Frontier to invest 20 years to *lol*
• It gives me something to do around the winter holidays.

Over to you, PokéCommunity. I'd like to know what you think of my next step forward. It's a great reason to be trying things out and I refuse to let it fade away.