Completed Event Running out of time - GT 2023 Pokémon Challenge

wolf · Aug 18, 2023

Segment 2 Rules
~~Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure - You must put at least one Fairy-type Pokémon in your team (or Pokémon that turns into a Fairy-type in later gens) for this segment.~~
Global: The Prehistoric age - You can only use Grass and Normal-types for the next segment.
Fast catches - For each area, you may only catch the most common Pokémon you can find in the tall grass of by surfing. No other encounter methods are available unless both grass and water to surf on are unavailable.

Spoiler:

I can't surf yet, so I simply didn't catch anything during this segment. I grinded Grovyle and Zigzagoon to 19, the level of Brawly's Makuhita, with the intention of keeping things more challenging. As such, Brawly took three attempts. On the first attempt I used Oran on both Grovyle and Zigzagoon and spammed their STAB moves, losing to Makuhita in the end. Second, I realized I had a Miracle Seed and Silk Scarf, so I proceeded with those instead. While I led with X Defense and X Special to try and sweep with Grovyle, Makuhita landed a crit. Third, I repeated the same strategy, resulting in Grovyle getting defeated by Makuhita anyway. However, Zigzagoon came in clutch, flinching and 2HKOing Makuhita after Grovyle weakened it. Hoorah!

I'll interact with the Poke Ball. If I can move in the same turn, I'll move to Past 11.

Arcaneum · Aug 18, 2023

- ARCANEUM THE BURGLAR
- THURSDAY 17TH AUGUST 2023
- STATUS: MYSTERIOUS
- CURRENT DESTINATION: GOLDENROD CITY
- TARGET DESTINATION: ECRUTEAK CITY
- TODAY ON ARC RADIO: NOVELA - GLOOMY PAIN

Chapter 4 - Peering through the Fog

Global Rules - None
Personal Rule 1 - You may only use Pokémon which were not introduced in the Generation your game is in (Generation 2).
Personal Rule 2 - You must use at least one Electric type Pokémon in your party this segment. (No longer in effect)
Personal Rule 3 - Your Pokémon cannot evolve this segment. (No longer in effect)
Personal Rule 4 - You must change from SHIFT to SET battle style. If you already use SET or do not do this, you are limited to a max level of the max level of the next Gym's ace. This is in affect all game.

Easy peasy! Another quick segment now that I remember how the game works and most importantly - I can use BONGUS again! I immediately give my team a shuffle, so I'm currently carrying Riketsu, Gloom (the good one), BONGUS, Sonic, Magus and the other Gloom just in case. The first stop was National Park, to see what fun awaited me there. I was immediately greeted with one of my favourite Pokémon, Masquerain! That was an immediate catch, welcome to the team Flower! After battling the trainers here, I went straight to my next port of call, which was the strange tree! Now this encounter is randomised as well, so we actually ended up facing a Honchkrow! Now this was actually quite tough, as it was a higher level than all of my Pokémon... but we managed to catch it, so Grunge the Honchkrow joined the fold.

Now things open up a little bit with that out of the way, so I actually made my way back to Violet City from here and stocked up on some Super Potions and Great Balls (items are randomised, which meant the Goldenrod mall had no healing items at all!!!!!) and headed back to Ecruteak.

Just outside Ecruteak was actually a really nice levelling area, so we stayed there for a bit and got everyone to between 18-22, before entering the city. Now we had even MORE options, but to try and save things a little later on, I decided to trek to Mahogany firstly, just so that was a Fly location we had later on.

Then it was back to Ecruteak, where I firstly removed the awful Team Rocket member and got the Surf HM, then off to Burned Tower to let the dogs free! Here I got a really cool pick in CRAB the Kingler and ALSO another fav, Hagane the Venomoth who made the last slot of my party, along with some nice Pokémon to level up against, so we managed to have the team all above level 20.

After doing all of this, I then set off to Olivine City, just to again clear out the trainers en route for later and the such. After some more grinding along the Routes, I decided to chance my arm and see what Morty was packing, to see if I could get an early badge. The battle was pretty tough, I had forgot that part of the randomiser I had included an extra team member for all Gym Leaders/E4, which meant it was a 5 Pokémon team AND he started off with a Garchomp. A few tactical heals later on though and we managed to defeat Morty, claiming our fourth badge and therefore 100 points for Team Gears!

Badges: 4 (Zephyr/Hive/Plain/Fog)

I don't know if anything happened as a result of my last move... but I will move to Past 7 (if I can do that) and stand on the top right tile. Otherwise, I'll go to Past 11 and stand on the one there instead. I also appear to not be on the map.

- PREVIOUS LOGS

Spoiler:

- POKÉMON PARTNERS

Spoiler:

Janp · Aug 18, 2023

~~Updating the thread. Check back in a few minutes.~~ Okay, everything is ready. Thanks Loomie again for taking care of the thread while I was out of time.

Explorer of Time: You check the Poké Dex and only see a following description of an unkown Pokémon: This Pokémon traveled through time to come from the future. It bolsters grass and trees with its own strength, and it can heal wounds, too.
Devalue and wolf: You both agree to interact with the yellow computer and Poké Ball together. While the computer doesn't seem to do anything, the Poké Ball opens up and Celebi jumps out. You both suddenly feel like you can bend the time to your will. Check your PM, please.
Arcaneum: You move to Past 7 and steps on the first tile you see. Nothing happens, but you can see some of them being lit up.

Future 15: There is that same mysterious machine again! What is it doing here?

Jbsundown · Aug 18, 2023

Badge 6, complete!

Thankfully it was Friday, as that's the only day a Lapras can be obtained in Union Cave, or else APRICRN would have had to wait a while, given that no ice pokemon appear that can be reached yet in these parts of Johto! Once the Lapras was secured, APRICRN went to clear out the Lake of Rage before attempting Jasmine's gym. After a couple of tries, she was successful and secured the badge!

I'd like to pick up the stone if that's possible. Then move to Past 10 please

Janp · Aug 18, 2023

The Running out of time in Pokémon Sapphire

SEGMENT 2

Well, this got into fun territory quite fast. Two Global Rules hit me out of nowhere. I know I could let the second one take its effect in the next segment, but I think using both of them at the same time would be bigger fun. And since I love math logic, I decided that both "only Grass and Normal-types" and "only Fighting and Psychic-types" rules apply at the same time.

Meaning had to get a brand new team. The question is, is this even possible? Well of course it is. I introduce to you Janna, my very cool and naughty Shroomish. Well, since it was the only Pokémon on my team, she didn't stay as Shroomish for long. And I also had to level up to be able to beat Brawly's Pokémon in 5 turns each. Which was quite a deed, but possible once Janna evolved.

Now, I'll hack the computer and will add the hardest Global Rule to the event and then move to Future 5.

Team

Janna, Naughty Female Breloom
lvl 24, Effect Spore
- Mach Punch
- Leech Seed
- Headbutt
- Mega Drain

Mewtwolover · Aug 18, 2023

Segment 8 completed, defeated Juan with Manectric and Swampert. Swampert used protect twice during the battle.
Action: I'll move to Future 16.

Janp · Aug 18, 2023

~~I have suspiciously enough time (read: I'm ignoring the huge pile of work I have to do) to make another update today. So check back in few minutes.~~ Okay, time for another bunch of update! Also just a note: Because of the lag, I prioritized updating rules over the map. So you might not quite be in the right room.

jbsundown: Picking up the stone, you instantly get the knowledge of the whole history of the mankind. You also feel like you know exactly what to do so humanity can survive in the future. Check your PM please.
Janp The hacking wasn't successful. Boring...

Arcaneum · Aug 18, 2023

- ARCANEUM THE BURGLAR
- FRIDAY 18TH AUGUST 2023
- STATUS: VIGILANT
- CURRENT DESTINATION: ECRUTEAK CITY
- TARGET DESTINATION: CIANWOOD CITY
- TODAY ON ARC RADIO: SIGRID - DON'T FEEL LIKE CRYING

Chapter 5 - The Friends We Made Along the Way

Global Rules - None
Personal Rule 1 - You may only use Pokémon which were not introduced in the Generation your game is in (Generation 2).
Personal Rule 2 - You must use at least one Electric type Pokémon in your party this segment. (No longer in effect)
Personal Rule 3 - Your Pokémon cannot evolve this segment. (No longer in effect)
Personal Rule 4 - You must change from SHIFT to SET battle style. If you already use SET or do not do this, you are limited to a max level of the max level of the next Gym's ace. This is in affect all game.
Personal Rule 5 - If I used any healing item during my previous Gym battle, I cannot use any items this segment. Otherwise, I must remove half of my healing items.

Zooooomin' alo- wait, REMOVE HALF MY HEALING ITEMS?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I JUST BOUGHT THOSE! ksdmflkvadsfv Goddamnit. Well I guess it's time to go dump these items somewhere... grumble.

Today's segment features the absolute bore that is swimming around Whirl Islands and getting to Cianwood, so we can get Fly and start actually moving around at a nice pace! What made it worse is that the water encounters were pretty terrible. We did manage to pick up a nice Electivire (Dragon/Electric) though, so welcome aboard Exacta the Electivire! They were also some nice EXP for some of my mons, so between that and the trainers, we're rocking a nice squad (minus Hagane) of level 25+. I did, because I am silly and forgot Shellder evolves via Water Stone, spend a long time getting Riketsu up to level 33, before realising this. So in a slump, I land on Cianwood City...

...and find a Water Stone in the shop there! That was an instant purchase, and now Riketsu the Shellder has become Riketsu the Exploud! I was struggling to level Hagane up a bit here, so decided to pop back to Olivine and grab the Good Rod and see what that got me.

This is where the influx of new friends come in.

Firstly on Route 40, we managed to get a Rampardos (Normal/Bug) encounter, so that was an instant pickup, say hi to Pumice everyone! Then I decided to hang out around Olivine and see what else came up there, to see if it was good levelling. During that, I managed to catch the following new friends:

- Cranberry the Ninetales (Fire/Bug)
- Jizai the Electrode (Poison/Bug)
- Pollen the Gloom (Poison/Dark)

At this point, Hagane had some comfy levelling and managed to catch the rest of the team up, so it was time to see if Chuck would go down! A quick fishing stop also netted us the last friend of our segment, Slash the Metapod (Fire)!

Chuck was actually not too bad, although leading with a level 31 Claydol was a bit rough. After a bit of back and forth though, it was another victory for us! One Storm Badge get!

Badges: 5 (Zephyr/Hive/Plain/Fog/Storm)

If I can do it this way around, I want to step on the green tile and then go to Past 8, please.

- PREVIOUS LOGS

Spoiler:

- POKÉMON PARTNERS

Spoiler:

Janp · Aug 18, 2023

I'll gracefully ignore Aaron's post (which I'll update in a moment) and will announce that the new Global Rule just dropped!

Jbsundown was put in front of difficult choice: Choose a type or combination of two types. Everyone on your team, including yourself, must play all of their next segment with a Pokémon of that type or type combination on their team, but it's unaffected by all other rules.

And so, all members of team Team Apricorns will have to play with a Rock/Ground or Ground/Rock-type Pokémon* on their team for the next segment.

*or pure Rock or Ground-type if you can't get this combination.

Mewtwolover · Aug 18, 2023

Final segment and therefore the whole GT challenge completed! Defeated Champion Wallace with Swampert, Manectric, Machoke and Glalie. Swapert once again used those two protects.

Janp · Aug 18, 2023

~~Updating the thread~~. Dona. Tomorrow will be a little bit slow for me when it comes to updates, so I'm trying to get as many of them today.

Arcaneum: You step on the green tile and... nothing happens. It's really just a random tile. Or is it?
Mewtwolover: The moment you finish your run, you're given a powers over reality for a short moment. Check your PM, please.

tenthcompanion · Aug 18, 2023

Global rule: none for my third segment
Personal rule: must have a water type on my team

A mandatory water type for the fire gym? Nice 😎 I caught a magikarp right away and rearranged my team a bunch. Comfey, Pancham, Stufful, Grookey, Toxel and Magikarp. I went through the gem mines and Magikarp evolved… but also I found a Shellos and Gastrodon is awesome so bye bye Gyarados!

Kabu was a bit tougher than I expected because of his fully evolved Pokémon. My basic stage pokemon were a good level but still just kinda weak. I ended up stalling out Kabu's gigantamax Centiskorch and then KOing it with my dynamaxed Shellos. Fire badge get!

Action: stand in awe at the celebi in the room? Interact with it if possible. Or else move to past 11 since the computer in here has been tried already

Arcaneum · Aug 18, 2023

- ARCANEUM THE BURGLAR
- FRIDAY 18TH AUGUST 2023
- STATUS: SAD
- CURRENT DESTINATION: CIANWOOD CITY
- TARGET DESTINATION: OLIVINE CITY
- TODAY ON ARC RADIO: STEREOPHONICS - DAKOTA

Chapter 6 - I Don't Want to Say Goodbye...

Global Rules - None
Personal Rule 1 - You may only use Pokémon which were not introduced in the Generation your game is in (Generation 2).
Personal Rule 2 - You must use at least one Electric type Pokémon in your party this segment. (No longer in effect)
Personal Rule 3 - Your Pokémon cannot evolve this segment. (No longer in effect)
Personal Rule 4 - You must change from SHIFT to SET battle style. If you already use SET or do not do this, you are limited to a max level of the max level of the next Gym's ace (This is in affect all game)
Personal Rule 5 - If I used any healing item during my previous Gym battle, I cannot use any items this segment. Otherwise, I must remove half of my healing items. (No longer in effect)
Personal Rule 6 - If I used a Grass Type during any previous segments, I must use only use moves I learn during this segment in this segment. Otherwise, I cannot return to any previous locations in my game unless it is for story/healing purposes.

Thankfully this was another quick segment, so in theory as long as I balance my levels correctly, I shouldn't have to actually enforce my rule at all (as I can use any move I wish until I learn my first move). So I decided to bring in Slash the Metapod to get some levels and then spread the rest of them around my team, so they got between 1-3 levels each.

First up was clearing out the Lighthouse of the pesky trainers, so I could start that quest off. Flying through it was a breeze and after a quick trip to Cianwood to get the medicine, it was one lift trip up and then Jasmine was awaiting me at the Gym.

Now very stupidly, I hadn't actually fought these Gym trainers yet... meaning a whole two battles I missed out on! So it was straight to Jasmine who thankfully had some extremely awful Pokémon (Spearow, Caterpie and something else) so she was incredibly easy. Another badge and another segment done!

There was however, one very very big problem.

After spending so many painstaking hours training up Sonic the Vibrava and Slash the Metapod, something both funny but harrowing happened.

Firstly, Slash went through and evolved... into a Sunkern. This was now unusable due to the fact I cannot use Pokemon introduced in Gen 2.

So that was Slash now out of the game, as Legendary Pokémon are not allowed to be used.

And THEN to top things off, in the same battle, Sonic the Vibrava evolved into... Manaphy. Something else I can't use now!!!!!

Which meant in one battle, I had managed to permanently lose two of my Pokémon without any assistance from any of the rules I currently have. Lol!

Good thing I have some backups!

Badges: 6 (Zephyr/Hive/Plain/Fog/Storm/Mineral)

I would like to go back to Past 7 and stand on the purple tile this time please.

- PREVIOUS LOGS

Spoiler:

- POKÉMON PARTNERS

Spoiler:

Explorer of Time · Aug 19, 2023

I beat Burgh by sweeping him with my Charmeleon and finished Segment 3. It's very late so I'll post my full update tomorrow morning.

Current team is Lv. 32 Charmeleon, Level 22 Ponyta, Level 22 Houndour, Level 24 Staravia, Level 23 Shiny Kricketune, Level 22 Koffing, more details when I post the full update.

I move north to Future 7 and check the gate.

Janp · Aug 19, 2023

As I suspected, I couldn't get around to update earlier. Updating the thread now, so check back later.

Okay, quite a lot happened. Mewtwolover used their newly found power in the form of Global rule "Time heals all wounds", which says: "Pick one rule from your personal list, it will not apply anymore to anyone." and erased Creationism from the existence. Which means it no longer applies and can't be aquired by any means.

But that's not all! Devalue and wolf used their combine power to create new Global rule using their regular rules. Wolf decided to pick a really easy rule to follow, while Devalue wanted to see the world burn. The new Global rule is: You have to put a Fairy-type Pokémon (or Pokémon that turns into a Fairy-type in later gens) on your team until the end of the game. It has to use Explosion or any of its variants in each Gym Battle OR it can only use the strongest attack (your choice if tied) the whole game.

tenthcompanion: You manage to touch Celebi, which teleports you to Future 7. The Celebi disappears right after that.
Arcaneum: Do you know the definition of insanity? Anyway, not even this one does anything.
Explorer of Time: The gate is out of power for now.

Juno · Aug 19, 2023

segment three

Not a very eventful segment challenge-wise despite being the longest so far! Firstly, since the new rule I got this segment was to have a fire-type on my team and I cannot encounter one yet, I confirmed with Loomie that I will just start using that next segment + the new rule I get after.

I started this segment a few days ago and then Janp came back with a ton of updates, but I think that still means I finish this segment witih the rules I started it on, so!

Plug along the main story with Team Aqua shenanigans, and I spent my first money here:

Speaking of money, this is also when I start kind of grinding for cash - I know I get the Amulet Coin in about 2 badges but I wanted to see if it was possible for me to get to 100 000 Poke Dollars for my first rule before then. There were some Cut-access areas I previously neglected, so I taught Donkey Thief and went back to rob some rich people to get me closer.

_excellent

I'm also using his Pickup to find and sell Super Potions - not great money but it's something. So I started the segment with under 20 000 Poke Dollars and ended with just over 60 000.

I then thought about doubling back for a Geodude, but I think I can take Watson with just Thelonius, so I evolve him and do that.

And yeah, that's about it!

To future 7, please!

pokémon on hand

DONKEY
Linoone, M
lvl. 31

Ability: Pickup

Cut
Thief
Mud Sport
Headbutt

THELONIUS
Makuhita, M
lvl. 26

Ability: Thick Fat

Tackle
Focus Energy
Fake Out
Vital Throw

pokémon in box

SHREK
Grovyle, M
lvl. 17

Ability: Overgrow

Pound
Pursuit
Absorb
Quick Attack

previous segments

segment one
segment two

rules

personal

⋆ A thousands-years old vampire - As long as you have at least 100 000 Poké Dollars, any Pokémon that knows HP-draining moves is unaffected by any of your rules.

⋆ Fast catches - For each area, you may only catch the most common Pokémon you can find in the tall grass or by surfing. No other encounter methods are available unless both grass and water to surf on are unavailable.

⋆ Courtney - You have to put at least one Fire-type Pokémon on your team for this segment.*

^{* = not possible this segment}

global

⋆ The Medieval age - You can only use Fighting and Fairy-types for the next segment, or in alternative, only Normal-types.

badges

Explorer of Time · Aug 19, 2023

Blaze Black 2 Redux
GT 2023 - Ruin Maniac Horatio
Segment 3 (Virbank Docks -> Castelia Gym)

Once again, I had to ditch my entire team and train up a whole new set of six Pokemon. I got a Charmander from the harlequin at Virbank City, then leveled him up a bunch, evolved him into a Charmeleon, and caught a new team of Pokemon. First, I caught a Ponyta and Houndour at Floccesy Ranch, a Starly (which evolved once) at Route 19, and I also caught a shiny Kricketot that I could actually use while looking for a Starly. Finally, I caught a Koffing at the facility south of Virbank.

Of these, I ended up overleveling the Charmeleon, since he's the only one I have any interest in taking to the League, and I assumed I'd end up ditching most of this team after Burgh, so I didn't put too much effort into the rest.

I ended up sweeping through Burgh's entire team with Charmeleon, but I did lose to two non-boss trainers. The first was the school kid who was president of the Battle Company, who kept draining my health with his Mr. Mime faster than I could damage it, and the second was a trainer in the Castelia Gym who had a Pinsir with Moxie that built up because I was trying to level my underleveled Pokemon and didn't take it seriously enough the first time.

Segment 3 Rules:

Spoiler:

Team

Spoiler:

Next up, Segment 4:

Spoiler:

tenthcompanion · Aug 19, 2023

~~Oh gosh what fairy types can learn explosion~~
Gonna get me a Galarian Weezing with a tippy top hat

Alex_Among_Foxes · Aug 19, 2023

Back at it again! (copy-pasta'd then edited for my convenience)

What you want to do on the map: Literally ANYTHING please. I don't care what, just let me mess around with something! Or move into a room with something to mess around with!

Let's rock and roll.
Edit: Well... After an uncountable number of resets, Lt. Surge is FINALLY down... This one was not quick, OR easy.

My Pokemon for those who care:

Spoiler:

Mankey, lvl 20, current moves: Fury Swipes, Leer, Low Kick, Karate Chop.
Mankey, lvl 17, current moves: Scratch, Fury Swipes, Low Kick, Karate Chop.
(A barrel o' Mankeys lol)

Edit: Got my *new* rules and I'm ready to go again! 👍

Spoiler:

Janp · Aug 20, 2023

I'm going to slowly work on the update while having a breakfast. So it will take probably a little longer. But I just want to note that for Towards The New Future, you don't have to limit yourself to Fairy-type Pokémon that can learn Explosion (there are 2 of them iirc). You can also use Explosion's variants like Self-Destruct or Misty Explosion. Or you can just use the strongest attack available for you on that Pokémon.

Okay, the thread is updated with new rules.

Explorer of Time: I think you forgot to post where you want to move next.
Alex_Among_Foxes: You kick one of the machines in here. The kick kickstarts it and you are transported to Past 6. Or I hope you got to Past 6, since I'm editing this on a phone and the map shows a little differently than on PC here.

Completed Event Running out of time - GT 2023 Pokémon Challenge

The Running out of time in Pokémon Sapphire

SEGMENT 2

Team

Mewtwo worshiper

Mewtwo worshiper

Glass Cannon

Advocate of Ideals

segment three

To future 7, please!

pokémon on hand

Ability: Pickup

Ability: Thick Fat

pokémon in box

Ability: Overgrow

previous segments

rules

badges

Advocate of Ideals

Glass Cannon

A lover of Foxes