Official Generation I-VIII Travelog Thread

[JFrombaugh]

Playing Shield right now...

I’ve beaten Kabu, did some more padding out my team in the Wild Area before retiring for the night.

My team right now:
-Drizzile
-Yamper
-Roselia
-Kirlia
-Cufant
-Litwick

Off the top of my head, here's some general thoughts so far:

-I faced a lesser of three evils choice for my starter, and I’ll admit, I was not a big fan of Inteleon’s design at first. But I decided that the more I looked at it, and compared it to the other two, the more it slowly, but surely, won me over. I also think Scorbunny fits Hop by far the best (and it forms a pun on “bunny hop”).

-The games have a lot of features that I wish had been implemented sooner. Stuff like the Natures Candies, Wild Pokémon spawning in the overworld instead of randomly, the ability to swap out Pokemon from your Boxes on the go…it’s stuff like this that I am hoping carries over to the (theoretical) remakes of DP on the Switch, not all the sports league stuff.

-The 3D graphics are indeed beautiful, and I really like the Wild Area a lot – I like that you can encounter massively overleveled wild Pokemon in there if you go too far in. But to prevent abuse, they implemented the limit of Level of Pokemon you can catch based on Gym Badges.

-After much internal debate before launch, I decided on #459 for my uniform number, because it’s my Enneagram Tritype. If you don’t know what Enneagram is, please look it up, it’s such a neat little personality system.

-Still not a big fan of the sports theme of the Gym Challenge…at all. Pokémon battles in stadiums as entertainment are nothing new, but this is different – to me, it almost feels like if Battle Royale from Gen VII was made into a Gym Challenge. Call me crazy, but give me the Island Challenge and its unique Trials any day over this. To each his own I suppose.

-(Reads the Pokedex entries for the Hatterne line) I don’t know how loud the crowd noise during a typical Galar Gym Battle is in-universe, but if it’s anywhere near as loud as CenturyLink Field during a Seahawks game then by all logic it should be against the law for any Gym Challenger or Gym Leader to use Hatterene in any official Gym match!

-Also, it seems the Gym Badges are just named after their types. That’s really lazy, frankly. So now we’ve got two Fairy-type Badges in the series, and both of them are named the Fairy Badge.

-Kabu was a good bit stronger than I thought, I wasn't expecting Gigantamax this early on! But I still won relatively easily, thanks in large part to Drizzile and the EXP Share you can't turn off.

-Really looking forward to destroying my new jerk rival Bede’s Psychic-types next time we meet with the Litwick I caught just outside Motostoke. Couldn’t have imagined him using a Galarian Ponyta, despite having looked at the datamine trainers list.

And that’s all for now folks. Didn’t get as far as I was hoping, but the Wild Area stuff & Camping is pretty addicting. So far I would say Galar as a region definitely does not suit me as well as Kalos or Alola, but the actual gameplay & graphics are good.

 

[techitisJ]

Played a lot more today (totally not procrastinating on the rest of my life or anything)

Spoiler: Lengthy Post

Went through the Galar Mine 2 today, meeting up with Bede once more. Hop and I fought with some Team Yell grunts, who really don't seem all that bad, just a bit of a nuisance to everyone. Hop and I met with Kabu, and went back in the direction of Motostoke. On my way back to the Budew Inn, I caught my sixth and final team member, Mystia the Hatenna. Then, in the hotel I had my first rival battle with Marnie.

The next day, I took on Kabu and succeeded with ease, Marion bein a water type and quite strong against his entire team. After that, Hop and I began to make our way to the Wild Area, but not before being seen off by Kabu, Milo, and Nessa. Hop was challenged by Bede, and when I met Bede later in Hammerlocke I learned it did not go well for poor Hop, who is down in the slumps. In Hammerlocke, I encountered Chairman Rose and Oleana again, and was pushed to go to the Vault, which Raihan lead me too. Within the vault, Sonia showed me the tapestries that told the story of the creation of a Kingdom of Galar, and history with the Darkest Day, leaving me even more intrigued with the region. On my way out of Hammerlocke, I got myself a Tart Apple, and used that to evolve Cyder. Cyder evolved into a Flapple, and now had solidified his place on the team now that he could actually battle. I made my way to Stow on Side, struggling a bit with some of the trainers and even the wild Pokemon, so I did a bit of extra training, knowing a gym awaited me.

When reaching the next town, I had a rival battle with a rather down Hop, who had swapped out some members of his team. I felt bad for crushing him honestly. But my starter, now Marion the Inteleon, did evolve. After my win I went to the gym where I challenged Bea. Elewys the Corvisquire did most of the work, while the recently evolved Mystia the Hattrem helped out. When I got to the gym leader herself, Elewys had evolved into Corviknight, making the battle with Bea no sweat at all.

Before I went to head to the next gym, I met with Sonia, who offered to take me up to see the mural, when we heard a crash. I ran on up to see Bede trying to destroy the ancient mural with Chairman Rose's Copperajah. I stopped him in his tracks, and his punishment was to be disqualified from the league. The damage was already done though, but breaking apart the mural uncovered an amazing statue of two Pokemon with a sword and shield, and two people, definitely confirming that Galar had two heroes, not just one which is stated. I was practically jumping with joy after that, absolutely living for the use of ancient artifacts and ruins.

I made my way to Ballonlea after that, definitely the prettiest town I had encountered at that point. Very visually aesthetic. I auditioned to by the next gym leader of Ballonlea, but I didn't get called back for an Interview. I did beat the Gym Leader Opal with the help of my Corviknight though. Opal saw me back to Hammerlocke, where she encountered Bede, and dragged him along to audition to be the next gym leader. Redemption arc for Bede?

I made my way along Route 7, where I had another Hop rival battle, where he had again switched out some of his team. He definitely seems to have his head back on though, which I am glad for. Didn't make him any harder to beat though. Alina the Boltund just takes souls anywhere she goes. I made my way through Route 8 after, and decided to take a break on my journey in the quiet, but amazing town of Circhester.

Team:
Marion the Inteleon
Elewys the Corviknight
Duncan the Thievul
Alina the Boltund
Cyder the Flapple
Mystia the Hattrem

 

[Phosphene]

My Blipbug just evolved into a Dottler. Originally I was planning on dropping the Bug-type once I got more Pokemon, however its evolution has really grabbed my attention, especially since it's part Psychic. I want to give it a nickname, but I can't come up with anything better than Dottler. Suggestions would be appreciated.

Also, my entire team right now is male just by random chance. Currently it's Chewtle (Sediment), Dottler, Nickit (Padfoot), Wooloo (Ramsey), Yamper (Ion), and Sobble. Sediment and Dottler are basically permanent members while the rest may be swapped out.

 

[ValorSugarcakes]

Ugh today I battled Nessa and I used a lvl 100 Cinderace my friend traded me. And he kept losing and losing because he kept hurting himself and for some reason. He literally went to sleep for no reason!!!!!!


Welp! We all know why Cinderace is the worst starter.
Thankfully, my Dottler one shot her drewnaw before she dynamaxed it

Then, the next trainer i battled, i lost because my pokemon kept hurting themselves

 

[techitisJ]

Ugh today I battled Nessa and I used a lvl 100 Cinderace my friend traded me. And he kept losing and losing because he kept hurting himself and for some reason. He literally went to sleep for no reason!!!!!!


Welp! We all know why Cinderace is the worst starter.
Thankfully, my Dottler one shot her drewnaw before she dynamaxed it

Then, the next trainer i battled, i lost because my pokemon kept hurting themselves

Traded Pokemon do not obey you if they are above a certain level. This level is dictated by how many gym badges you have. Since you only have two badges and Cinderace is level 100, it's not going to obey you. They will hit themselves, fall asleep, or just refuse to attack most of the time, maybe occasionally hitting it's attacks, but still that's pretty rare.

 

[TheElderKing]

Today in my journey to complete the Gym Challenge I travelled to Stow-on-Side first and Ballonlea later, while adding a Impidimp from the Wild Area to my team for the moment, raising him until he evolved in Morgrem.

Stow-on-Side and Ballonlea both looks nice, though for the latter I’d like it to be a bit bigger and not locking some houses to the view as worn Turrfield.

The fight with Allister was interesting, as I used my Orbeetle (so far the MVP of the team) to set up screens for the advantage of Morgrem and Hattena, the latter two which defeated Gengar in combo (I’m pretty sure the latter would’ve resisted Gengar’s exclusive Giga move while Dynamaxed and with Light Screen on, but I don’t get why Gengar used that move against Morgrem and Max Darkness against Hattrem. While super effective as well, it’s not STAB and I doubt it comes from a stronger Dark move).

Beating Bede as he was destroyed the wall in Stow-on-Side was quite easy with Orbeetle, but it was interesting to see what lied under the historic wall.

Opal wasn’t that easy to deal with, as Orbeetle, Cinderace and Toxtricity all gained advantage against different Pokémon of her lineup, and the screens Orbeetle places allow me to cover for the other two defensive’s fault.

Corvisquire evolved in Corviknight after the battle...and now I’m considering placing him on the reserve team when I get Dreepy, or even earlier for Barraskewda and Frosmoth.

While the typing is great and better then Orbeetle’s, and I know she wasn’t fast or that strong offensively, I probably caught with quite low IV in attack, as Corviknight’s base stats is a bit higher then Orbeetle’s special attack, and at the same level with neutral nature, the latter’s stats is higher.

Corviknight has lots of HP, but Orbeetle is faster, with better defensive stats, and as a screen setter I think he’s more useful then the former for me, considering I might also have Hatterene as a bulky mon.

 

[Dizzard]

Finally got a Sinistea and Clobbopus through max raid battles. Just defeated Kabu so I'm in Hammerlocke now.

So I decided to bench Yamask and Toxel (they probably won't be on my team again, but they're my first pick for team members if there are sequel games....and I get the sequel game)

Drizzile Lv 29
Clobbopus Lv 29 (I was so happy to see that max raid battle pop up, it took forever to find one....its worth it though Clobbopus and Grapploct are probably my favourite new Pokemon this gen)
Impidimp Lv 28
Sinistea Lv 28
Sizzlipede Lv 27
Applin Lv 24 (probably need to find its evolution item sooner rather than later if I want Applin to actually participate in battles)

I'm half tempted to bench Drizzile and put Yamask or Toxel on the team instead to be honest...I'll probably just keep my starter though. Maybe I might do a second run through at some point with Grookey, Yamask and Toxel.

I think this is my final team, max raid battles have been a big help. I don't usually finalize my team this early.

 

[TheElderKing]

Finally got a Sinistea and Clobbopus through max raid battles. Just defeated Kabu so I'm in Hammerlocke now.

So I decided to bench Yamask and Toxel (they probably won't be on my team again, but they're my first pick for team members if there are sequel games....and I get the sequel game)

Drizzile Lv 29
Clobbopus Lv 29 (I was so happy to see that max raid battle pop up, it took forever to find one....its worth it though Clobbopus and Grapploct are probably my favourite new Pokemon this gen)
Impidimp Lv 28
Sinistea Lv 28
Sizzlipede Lv 27
Applin Lv 24 (probably need to find its evolution item sooner rather than later if I want Applin to actually participate in battles)

I'm half tempted to bench Drizzile and put Yamask or Toxel on the team instead to be honest...I'll probably just keep my starter though. Maybe I might do a second run through at some point with Grookey, Yamask and Toxel.

I think this is my final team, max raid battles have been a big help. I don't usually finalize my team this early.

You can evolve Flappin soon, you’ll find the npc that give you its evolution item in Hammerlocke.

 

[Dizzard]

You can evolve Flappin soon, you’ll find the npc that give you its evolution item in Hammerlocke.

Yeah thanks I found it a while ago. Good thing I have Appletun now, it looks like it'll help out a lot more in battle. Also Appletun is ridiculously adorable in Pokemon Camp.

I think I'm happy with my team now, I think this gens new Pokemon definitely didn't make it easy to figure out my team.

 

[burgoboop]

got the 2nd badge a little bit ago. spent like a half an hour trying to catch a damn stunfisk though, apparently they're like impossible to catch? whatever, i just wanted to catch it because it was pissing me off tbh, it's going into a box and staying there forever now.

my team so far (its been hard for me to choose just 6 pokemon but this is what im going with for now):
sirfetch'd lv 23 (this dude wrecks everything lol)
toxel lv 21
dottler lv 23 (also wrecks surprisingly since i wasnt going to originally keep it on my team)
thwackey lv 24
linoone lv 22
carkol lv 23

overall ive been happy with all the pokemon ive used so far, besides toxel because it does hardly anything lol, just trying to evolve it at this point.

 

[Dizzard]

Finally got a Sinistea and Clobbopus through max raid battles. Just defeated Kabu so I'm in Hammerlocke now.

So I decided to bench Yamask and Toxel (they probably won't be on my team again, but they're my first pick for team members if there are sequel games....and I get the sequel game)

Drizzile Lv 29
Clobbopus Lv 29 (I was so happy to see that max raid battle pop up, it took forever to find one....its worth it though Clobbopus and Grapploct are probably my favourite new Pokemon this gen)
Impidimp Lv 28
Sinistea Lv 28
Sizzlipede Lv 27
Applin Lv 24 (probably need to find its evolution item sooner rather than later if I want Applin to actually participate in battles)

I'm half tempted to bench Drizzile and put Yamask or Toxel on the team instead to be honest...I'll probably just keep my starter though. Maybe I might do a second run through at some point with Grookey, Yamask and Toxel.

I think this is my final team, max raid battles have been a big help. I don't usually finalize my team this early.

I decided to give my team some nicknames.

Raven the Drizzile (I'm not sure about this one, since its basically a term for a male spy that seduces others to get information....I still like it as a name though)
Kimura the Grapploct (based on a submission technique in jiu jitsu)
Luci the Morgrem (Short of Lucifer, also I may have watched Disenchanted)
Senzei the Centiskorch (play on Sensei with a z sound)
Mollie the Appletun (based on a variety of apple)
Cuppa Jo the Sinistea (I just thought it was funny but its also a cute name)

 

[CynthiaLover]

I meant to post an update yesterday, but things got away from me. So, I'll shorten it while also adding it more that I did today.

Spoiler: A bit long

I managed to beat the three "starter" Gyms. Milo was cakewalk, Nessa was so-so (Baxter evolving into Boltund just beforehand really saved my bacon), and Kahu was bit of a wall with his fully-evolved team, though I beat him with some hit-and-run tactics (mainly from Torpedofang the Arrowcuda) while Skyla the Corvisquire owned his G-Max bug with a well-timed critical hit Max Airstream. Anyway, now that I had more of the Wild Area to explore, I explored and caught as much as I could, getting into a LOT of Max Raid battles to fill out dex space and maybe find some more teammates. I actually had to backtrack for a bit to find a Farfetch'd, as I completely missed them on Route 5 (I didn't even realize Route 5 had a lower section the first time around), so I spent some time grinding up Gustav the Farfetch'd in Galar Mine 2 against the surprisingly menacing Galarian Stunfisk, and I ended up triggering his evolution into Sirfetch'd completely by accident thanks to a battle with a Shuckle (I had looked it up on Serebii, but I didn't quite understand what it meant until accidentally pulling off the requirements in said Shuckle battle). By this point, Blitz had evolved into Cinderace and was spearheading most of the high-level fights.

Anyway, after catching all that I could and hunted for over 2 dozen Max Raid Battles (netting a lot of good Mons in the process), I made my way to Hammelocke. Did all the story events and moved on, collecting as much as I could and buying out the entire TM stock. I caught mostly everything, including adding a Galarian Yanmask to my team named Ruins, at least for now. It took a bit to figure out how to evolve him, but I managed to evolve him, thinking he'd help against Bea. Beat Hop again and it looks like he's starting to get some good character development, especially since his team changes took me by surprise. Then it was time to take on Bea. The challenge itself was easy (and fun), but the battle proved why she's my favorite of the Gym Leaders here. While Kahu did cause me trouble, I won without any "casualties". Bea, not so much. Her Sirfetch'd took down BOTH my Runerigas AND Gustav, even with a BURN from Ruins' Will-O-Wisp, though when it came to Gustav it was more of a double KO, as the burn damage finally took her Sirfetch'd out just after it beat mine. How did she pull this off? She nailed critical hit after critical hit in rapid succession. That girl is GOOD. And her luck was still pretty solid when it came to Skyla the Corviknight against her G-Max Machamp, as the latter scored a critical hit G-Max Chi Strike that shaved off 2/3rds of Skyla's HP. Skyla still won, but, wow, Bea packs a mean wallop. She was also one of the more graceful losers in the games, which I like, unlike Nessa's semi-temper tantrum. Since I got the Revenge TM, I taught it to both Ruins and Gustav (since Gustav's best Fighting move was... Rock Smash, and his strongest move is Knock Off, so it was a very nice upgrade for my fighting duck). Fought Bede at the ruins. Heheh, take that, loser. No more Gym challenge for you for trying (and, shortly afterward, succeeding) in destroying a historic site. Sure, he has a sad backstory, but as they say, "There are those who have sympathetic backstories, and those who are sympathetic" (I hope I remembered that quote right, but it was at least along those lines), so it doesn't justify his actions and smugness. But, whoo, that felt good to see his stunned face when he learned his Gym Battling days are D-O-N-E! Anyway, after that I managed to get through Glimmerwood Tangle and stopped for the night.

My team are as followed:

Blitz the Cinderace
Skyla the Corviknight
Baxter the Boltund
Torpedofang the Barraskewda
Gustav the Sirfetch'd
Ruins the Runerigas

Oh, and @SpinyShell . How does Viral sound for Orbeettle? It looks like a digital bug, and a virus is a digital bug, so how does that sound? Just throwing out that idea for pun. I'll show myself out now.

 

[JFrombaugh]

Just got my 6th badge.

My Team:
-Inteleon
-Roserade
-Chandelure
-Gallade
-Dracovish
-Copperajah

Some more updates:

-Allister is still one of my favorite Gym Leaders of this Gen, mainly because his design reminds me of Gorillaz & because of how he goes against the stereotypes by being a super-shy boy who dislikes making public appearances and wears his mask for Gym Battles. The bumper car Gym puzzle was pretty fun, too.

-I was looking forward to Glimwood Tangle after the livestream, and I can tell you it does not disappoint! Had a great time trying to get through the stereotypical fairy forest.

-Even though I was very surprised by Opal's design (as was most everybody else on this board), I must admit that I actually really like her as a character! Turns out I may not have been so off the mark with my original theory that she might have synethesia or something similar, judging by how she always rambles on about the color pink. The quiz & Gym Battle with her was actually kind of funny, I wonder if it's set up so that a couple of the questions are actually impossible to answer correctly (like the one about her age), thereby semi-justifying why you didn’t make the cut to become her successor.

-Oh such karmic justice, Bede got disqualified…Wait, WHAT?! Has the old lady finally gone off her rocker?! Bede is probably the LEAST fairylike Trainer I have EVER seen...well, at least in this Gen. What’s next, Silver owning a Togetic in Let’s Go Johto?

-I thought for sure that Melony & Gordie would use Abomasnow & Gigalith respectively, and it would be a Hail team or Sandstorm team depending on version. But anywho. I felt kind of bad about Dynamaxing Chandelure in this battle - hope nobody in the crowd instantly fainted from the life-draining flames of the Dynamax Chandelure. Her Lapras gave me some trouble with its G-Max move that set up an Aurora Veil, but in the end Gallade won the day.

-And speaking of Melony, I can't be the only one who doubts it was a coincidence that her name was spelled "Melony" instead of "Melanie".

And that's all for now. Need to give my eyes a break, and then order some Pizza Hut for dinner. At this rate, I’ll probably beat the game by sometime in the middle of next week...depending on how much work tires me out each day.

EDIT: I had Dracovish along for the ride leveling up, not Dracozolt. That's the one you get from combining the two Shield-exclusive fossils. My bad.

 

[Phosphene]

So I just beat Milo's gym. I was really nervous about fighting him because

1. I only had two Pokemon on my team, Dottler and Drednaw,
2. Both were level 23 and it seemed like my opponents' levels were catching up to them,
3. I wasn't going to use Dynamax and I was worried my Dottler would be unable to handle Eldegoss's Max Moves.

Despite my fears, Milo was super easy. I set up Light Screen and Reflect on his Gossifleur and took it out easily with Psyshock. Max Overgrowth did almost nothing to my Dottler, and what little damage was dealt was quickly healed by the Leftovers I gave it. I stalled out Eldegoss's Dyanamx stage by first using Struggle Bug and then setting up the dual screens again. After it de-Dynamaxed it was really easy to beat.

Current team:

Spoiler

How does Viral sound for Orbeettle? It looks like a digital bug, and a virus is a digital bug, so how does that sound?

It sounds pretty cool, thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Lt Surge]

I woke up very early on Friday morning to start my adventure before I had to go to work. After work (and several cups of coffee later) I continued my adventure. Picked Grookey and spent several hours just exploring and catching Pokemon. Didn't start to do the gym challenge until today, where I have cleared the water gym just recently. I keep getting distracted with catching new Pokemon. I absolutely love the fact that you can see most Pokemon in the overworld like in LGPE.

 

[Poneto]

Shield here, got three badges and omw to Raihan, but made a quic stop off at the Wild Area as I refuse to go any further without gettng a single Gigantamax of my own. I got a G-Max Butterfree in the end; not what I was looking for but I'll take it! Team is as follows:

• G-Max Butterfree
• Perrserker
• Galar Stunfisk
• Runerigus
• Obstagoon
• Galar Weezing

Also in reserve I have my stater, Inteleon, and my G-Max Meowth + Eevee gifts are doing some Poke Jobs for me. Everything is around level 50 because of how easy overlevelling is in the Wild Area--whoops!

 

[Sakuraa]

Spoiler: Longish

Made more progress today; we were thankfully able to defeat Nessa. After doing some grinding, including taking part in my first Max Raid Battle were I was able to get lots of Exp Candy, we were strong enough to take her on. I must apologize to my Applin, Seulgi. I mocked her for only knowing Withdraw and Astonish, but had she not been able to raise her defense so much to survive Drednaw's headbutt's, she definitely would have lost. The Corvisquire I've been lugging around took care of Goldeen and Arrokuda easily, but I sent out Irene the Raboot to Dynamax against Drednaw. She knows Double Kick, so she was able to use Max Knuckle. Sadly, it did very little damage and she went down after two Max Geysers. Everyone else was able to chip away at Drednaw little by little until it was left with red health before Seulgi was left. Several Withdraws, a bit of healing, and a few Astonishes later and she won it for us. I was happy that I was able to get that win with one of my permanent members.

After the battle I ran into Mr. 'I was endorsed by Chairman Rose, therefore I am better than ever other competitor'. I still really do not like Bede. He's snobby af, but doesn't even have the strength or relevance to warrant his attitude. His precious Chairman can't even remember his name, despite the fact that he remembered mine and he didn't even endorse me. I'd almost feel bad for Bede if he wasn't so annoying. Also, his team just sucks. Seriously, what's with the team full of Psychic types? Thankfully, I'm still carrying around a Theivul and she made quick work of Bede, but dude, get some diversity in your team. Any dark, ghost, or bug-type can sweep you.

I was happy to see Marnie again. And I thought it was hilarious that Team Yell grunts showed up out of nowhere to cheer for her in our battle and they got sad when she lost Marnie is so sweet. I was under the impression that she'd be kind of cold and distant, but she seems really nice. I definitely like her more than Bede so far. I also like that she has all of her Pokemon in Dusk Balls.

I also just noticed the fact that Bede wears bright purple and uses only Psychic Pokemon, while Marnie wears a lot of black and uses mainly dark-type Pokemon.

Now, time to grind so we can face Kabu. We've got no one on the team to help with fire-types so.....yeah, this'll be fun.

 

[IncineROAR]

I'm on route five about to battle Hop again... this kid is getting on my last nerves.

Current team:

Meowth (Galarian form, caught him and swapped him out for the Kanto Meowth), lvl 17
Chewtle, lvl 20
Yamper, lvl 22
Corvisquire, lvl 21
Drizzile, lvl 22
Theivul, lvl 19

 

[CynthiaLover]

-Oh such karmic justice, Bede got disqualified…Wait, WHAT?! Has the old lady finally gone off her rocker?! Bede is probably the LEAST fairylike Trainer I have EVER seen...well, at least in this Gen. What’s next, Silver owning a Togetic in Let’s Go Johto?

Ehh, it's not entirely Farfetch'd. Both Ponyta's and Hatenna's final forms are part Fairy, and that's half his team at that point in the game. And, remember, not all fairies in lore are nice creatures, so a jerkish Fairy user is plausible, and in-character with fairy nature lore-wise. Just FYI.

 

[techitisJ]

Instead of doing homework I decided to play all day, but alas I now must be an adult. Since I will probably be working at this for the rest of the day I won't be playing till late tomorrow, so I did a lot today.

Spoiler: Major Story Spoilers + Lengthy Post

During my break I did a ton of max raids and grinded up some candies to get my Pokemon up. I got everyone up to level 44, and Mystia evolved into a Hatterene. I challenged Gordie, getting through pretty easily with Marion and Cyder, and went down Route 9 to Spikemuth. Team Yell proved themselves to be a side distraction, and their plot with Marnie and her older brother Piers was pretty wholesome. After beating Piers, the Dynamax shock happened and Hop and I went to go help Leon, but Leon had taken care of everything, so I just focused on getting through Raihan.

The double battle idea with Raihan was awesome, and he proved to be pretty tough. It's that Duraludon that definitely made me miss having a fire type on my team. Still, I won, and I took another wild area break to train up. I then went up through Route 10, and arrived in Wyndon.

The Champions Cup was super fun. Don't get me wrong, the Elite 4 is cool too, but the tournament style, and getting to face my rivals on the big stage! So cool! I fought with Marnie and Hop, and then Hop and I went back to meet Leon for dinner, but the champion never showed. We found he was having an important meeting with Chairman Rose, and Oleana was doing everything she could to stop us. It was tricky, going against all those steel type Pokemon without ground or fire type attacks, but I did it. We made it through, and listened in as Chairman Rose tried to insist to Leon that they needed to cancel the Championship match.

Of course, Leon did not, so we went to battle the next day, after I took down Bede, Nessa, Bea, and Raihan, but our match was interrupted by Chairman Rose bringing on the Darkest Day. Leon goes to try to stop him, and Hop and I know we can find a way to help him. We go to the Slumbering Weald to ask the legendary Pokemon for help, but are met with only an illusion, and what remained of the heroes sword and shield. We took those with us, as we went to go help Leon at Hammerlocke stadium. Chairman Rose tried to interfere, and I struggled through a hard battle with his steel types, but I managed to push through. We went up to help Leon, who tried to catch Eternatus, but the Pokeball busted open with a massive attack. Leon called his Charizard to protect us, but he got hurt in the attack. While Hop helped his brother, I tried to take Eternatus down. Then, Eternatus gigantamaxed, and Hop came to help out, but our attacks did nothing.

Hop thought to hold up the sword and shield we had collected, and doing this summoned the legendary Pokemon Zacien and Zamazenta. The two legends, Hop, and I, slowly worked to take down Eternatus. Finally when it was down, I managed to capture the beast.

Team:
Marion the Inteleon
Elewys the Corviknight
Duncan the Thievul
Alina the Boltund
Cyder the Flapple
Mystia the Hatterene