Part 26: Eliter: Battle Champion

Part 26: Eliter: Battle Champion



You're challenging the Pokemon League, aren't you? That's why I'm here, too. Let's see who's more worthy of making the challenge with a battle!

Rival Battle








Hey get back here! Ugh, alright let's take this wall down. After trading Snorlax over from HGSS, cause why the hell would you try and catch a Munchlax, you've got a big special blob that gets a wide manner of physical attacks. From Belly Drum to Body Slam, Rock Slide to Ice Punch, it's a great choice that'll take a hit and retaliate in kind. Physical bulk kinda blows, but such is the teddy bear's life.



Thankfully Huevo has enough oomph to take it down.



Very scary Fighting moves.



But I live, and Roserade is as effective as ever. It just can't handle Etrian.



Ah, so this is the illegal mixed ape I've heard so much about. That's annoying.



Still, we have very fast things, so it's not too bad. Kinda.



And then we're done here. If you were thinking I wouldn't use supereffective attacks for this Elite Four, you're outta your goddamn mind. The games are actually hard now.

"to you!"

Darn it! You watch, though! I'll get tougher and win my way through the Pokemon League! Because I'm going to become the Champion, the toughest Trainer! Hikari! You'd better not lose to anyone before me!



Before we go in, of course we look over our team. They've been 6 real hard hitters and it's been a joy to use. Torterra has its problems, but man is it deadly, whacking with Wood Hammer is such fun, and that Quick Claw has been useful the entire time, love using it casually. You forget that he's Modest, but I'm sure we can do something about that, physical coverage is just too prevalent.



Radium has done exactly what I expected him to do, drop bolts because he doesn't have other options. Sure, Return and Crunch have been nice, but lategame when fainting and Revival Herbs are common place, it's not the nuke it used to be, even with the Soothe Bell. No matter, we'll get around that soon enough.



Another physical attacker blessed with more options, Ice Beam would've been great, but the flinch chance of Ice Fang is hard to move away from. And a third Crunch is overkill, but still great. Barely the fastest in our team, being able to slam threats hard has made this a great option.



Adamant Skulletor should be illegal, but it's not and here we are. God I love glass cannons so much, did exactly what it said on the tin, even if the tin disintegrates if you so much as Mach Punch it. But that doesn't matter, when Skulletor is out, something fucking dies. It's a coinflip which side.



Dependable egg birb is dependable, being the only proper special attacker we have, Huevo can solo basically anything if he's fast and lucky enough, which happens wildly often. With practically perfect coverage and space to be lumped with the less than stellar HMs means he hasn't stood out, but was worth the goddamn investment, 10/10 would recommend.



Oh look another glass cannon, I think you guys have figured out my playstyle. A beautiful combo of types and just what I need to get out of sticky situations, Nack has been exactly what I picked him up for and it's been great. X-Scissor was good to get him going, but the excellent options this physical monster has available is just wonderful.











Very well! Trainer, you've indeed collected all the Gym Badges of Sinnoh! Demonstrate the power that brought you here and go for glory!

Pokemon League



Alright, this is it, the big time. Bring all your healing items and juice up your mons with Rare Candy. I lucked into Pokerus, so I think this is gonna be a fun time, if very scary.



I'm Aaron of the Elite Four. It's good to meet you. Oh, I should explain, I'm a huge fan of bug Pokemon. Bug Pokemon are nasty-mean, and yet they're beautiful, too... would you like to know why I take on challengers here? It's because I want to become perfect, just like my bug Pokemon! OK! Let me take you on!

Elite Four Battle





Aaron/Ryō
From arachnid, I suppose, and 令法 ryōbu (Japanese Clethra), a large flowering shrub from east Asia.








It's time to meet the rest of the dex in this update, and guess what, Bugs are good now. Not in DP, oh no, we'll talk about those teams later on, but with a Speed increase, this fly gets quickly out of control. Its movepool doesn't really match, the best special move it can get STILL is Ancientpower, Air Slash and Bug Buzz are still a little bits away, but at least you have, uh, Silver Wind and Air Cutter? Yeesh. Well it has some good stuff, Giga Drain, Shadow Ball, U-turn, Roost, so while it can't take a hit, or Fly you around, it's perfectly fine until you unleash its potential in the postgame.



You can see how scary this madlad's team is, ignore the second levels for now, they're the rematch ones, which is a pretty poor debut considering barely anything changes, but I digress. We'll be going all out in this challenge, so battles will be short, but sweet.





Emerging from the dark, Drapion might not hit massively hard, but it makes up for that with some attack variety and a way to do lots of crits with Night Slash and Cross Poison. Oh wait, the former is an egg move and the latter is postgame level up. Well at least you can tutor the elemental fangs and give it Poison Jab. There's also Rock Slide and Earthquake, so what's the problem? You even get Bug Bite for STA- wait. So you don't get a crit machine, but you still get a big bad bug that's not a bug. Just how it should be.



Speed can only take us so far, since Nack can't do too much against a Heracross. Interesting it didn't go for Close Combat.





Yas queen, don't slay, I need to win. If you were blessed with a female, then you'll get an early defensive Bug/Flying type. Hrm. The main draw are her three signature moves, though Defend Order is relearner and Attack Order is good, but will be a while after you're stuck with Power Gem, least you've got Bug Bite from Combee. Otherwise, there's Sludge Bomb, Aerial Ace and Air Cutter, depending on how you want to do things. Uh, then there's Ominous Wind via tutor? Unfortunately this queen bee doesn't have much to her, a shame they thought her unique moves were enough.



Even with those defenses, a 4x Rock weakness is just awful.



But I think you came to see how great Bug-type Pokemon can be. I hope you also realized what you're up against in the Pokemon League. Battling is a deep and complex affair...



We lost because I wasn't good enough... that's it! Back to training camp! Let's hear it for me! No... that was wrong... anyway... go to the next room! Three Trainers are waiting for you. They're all tougher than me. Go on, go to the next room. I'm going to become a top-level Trainer who can't be outclassed with my beautiful and tough bug Pokémon!



Wasn't too bad, but it's still a hectic first fight. By the way, you ever wondered why I use Aaron for various avatar related purposes? Not on the forums, obviously, I like my shitty avatar just fine, but for others. Well, it's a bit embarrassing, but when I was first doing this whole online forum stuff, obviously I started with Pokemon and this was around the time of Platinum, so I thought, hey, this guy's entry animation is great, I'll use it. And then the more I thought about it, the more I realised that Aaron is pretty close to how I look. Minus the apple stalk, obviously. I think he's a pretty cool guy. Did you care about my online backstory? Well, me neither. Onwards!



You're quite the adorable Trainer, but you've also got a spine. Ahaha! I'm Bertha. I have a preference for Ground-type Pokemon. Well, would you show this old lady how much you've learned?





Bertha/Kikuno
From earth and 菊 Kiku (chrysanthemum), which originate from east asia.






Big fish, big hammer, cardboard dead. I think I've mixed that up.





Lotta elemental coverage around, let's get rid of it. Gliscor is interesting in that it learns no STAB via level up, but that's not a problem, Earthquake and Aerial Ace are easy and early TMs and you get the elemental fangs through relearner and if you evolve it before 31, get Night Slash and Swords Dance basically immediately, with U-turn and X-Scissor shortly after. Add in some TMs like Rock Slide and Brick Break and you've got a speedy hitter that can take anything that's not Surf or an Ice attack, it really is that easy. Imagine if it got a better ability too, it'd be pretty damn ridiculous.

And one of the last reasons to have a friend, Golem is a real hard hitter that dies to any proper special move. From the elemental punches, to Gyro Ball, to all the main physical moves you can think of, while it might like Trick Room, it works just fine without it, and will be an excellent choice if you can evolve it immediately. It even learns a bunch of special moves for Choice Spec- ah just kidding.





You thought Rhydon was crazy before, what if you added a hi-vis jacket? It has terrifying physical stats so it gets washed away by an special attack, but if you let it get off a hit, it'll definitely annihilate you. While it's signature move ain't much to write about, by this time it'll learn Hammer Arm, Stone Edge and Earthquake naturally, with Megahorn still to come. Sounds like a good set, along with Poison Jab from relearner. And of course it learns basically every TM and tutor move, so pick and choose what you're missing and have a good time! I mean, it's obvious from looking at it what it does, and it goes even beyond that! Works better in Trick Room, obviously.



I even went for the physical move so you could do something back. Oh well, see ya!





From the sand it lunges, Hippowdon is a good Tyranitar altervative, since it doesn't have a bunch of extra weaknesses, but doesn't have as much oomph to it. The best its got is Crunch, Earthquake, Rock Slide and the elemental fangs from the relearner, but that's about it, aside from Superpower or Iron Head from tutors. Sounds pretty good, so have fun with your Sand Veil Garchomp, but there's not much else to note, unless you wanna sweep in Trick Room?



Your Pokemon believed in you and did their best to earn you the win. Even though I've lost, I find myself with this silly grin!



I like how you and your Pokemon earned the win by working as one. That's what makes you so strong. Ahahaha! I think that you can go as far as you want. The Trainer in the next room is a much more formidable opponent. You really must have your wits about you. However, I think you can go as far as you desire. Ahahaha!



Pretty simple fight, but some of them were pretty scary, hence the all out attacks. I could probably get far without supereffective hits, but it only gets harder from here.



You had me counting the days on my fingers waiting for you to come. I heard from Volkner what you did in Sunyshore. You managed to light a fire in that guy's heart again. How could you not expect me to look forward to seeing you in battle? You're facing a Fire-type Pokemon user with me. Let Flint see how hot your spirit burns!





Flint/Ōba
From "flint sparks the fire" and 大葉 ōba (Shiso), purple mint leaves from east asia. As well as オーバーヒート (Overheat).






Well this isn't going to work out. We've met most of the mons in this team, for a change, so we can talk strategy, since these matches are getting pretty hard.



Will Quick Claw let Etrian come out on top?



Yes. Kinda.



Turns out Flareon can survive a Stone Edge. When Skulletor is burned.



Can't your home planet need you after the battle???





With an explosive entrance, Magmortar is a fiery duck that has some mixed utility to it, at the cost of middling Speed. It can spend all day using Lava Plume or Fire Blast, mixed in with Psychic, Thunderbolt and Focus Blast, but it gets all the good physical stuff like Rock Slide and Earthquake to give it a few more options. Hell, there's even Solarbeam or Iron Tail if you're feeling fruity. And you're always feeling fruity. While it cannot take a physical attack, and has all rounded stats which are slowly going out of favour, this is still one special threat.



Pretty terrifying, but a speedy hitter helps a lot.



I don't believe it! I lost! I didn't take you for granted... but I didn't expect you to win! I'd never even considered it! I'm blown away by this! You are your Pokemon are hot stuff!



... ... ... ... ...whew... ...burnt right down to cinders... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...keep going...



Only one more member to go and then we're done! Yep, nobody after this, haha...



I've just finished reading a book, you see. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lucian. I am a user of the Psychic type. I must say, you've already proven yourself to be outstanding by coming this far. They say I am the toughest of the Elite Four. I'm afraid I will have to go all out against you to live up to that reputation.





Lucian/Goyō
From lux (Latin for light) and illusion, and 五葉松 goyōmatsu (Japanese white pine), a popular bonsai tree.








Get that dual screen shit outta here. Uh, right, Gallade, if you fancy using your first physical Psychic, then this is a great choice, so long as you get a male. The relearner gives it Leaf Blade and Night Slash immediately in time for the 5th gym, which is very nice, and if you evolve it before 31, you'll get Psycho Cut, with Brick Break or Drain Punch to round out the STAB, since Close Combat is a far away postgame dream. And this is before you add in all the other physical moves, Ice Punch, Rock Slide, X-Scissor, False Swipe, it's a very, very versatile mon that you can adapt to whatever challenge is next. Its typing covers its weaknesses very nicely so it could probably take a hit, definitely give it a try if you haven't already!



Good thing Etrian is so tanky, lets it actually live the recoil once in a while!



Oh hey, Espeon hits really goddamn hard, who knew.



Hmm, opposing Bronzong are almost always Levitate, but we don't have a Fire attack...



Let's just be illegal instead.



Oww, Huevo is the only one who can really take a hit, especially since it outspeeds Nack AND THEN hits a Focus Blast. That's also illegal. Anyway, Alakazam just doesn't change, aside from losing the reason for elemental punches. It has Focus Blast and Energy Ball to cover for them, kinda, but it's fast, hits hard, dies, what a surprise. It'll learn Psycho Cut before Psychic, for some reason, but you get Calm Mind along the way, so no moaning! Be grateful your summer friend still returns your discord @s.



You getting past the three before me was no fluke. Your power is real.



However, that doesn't mean you're done with the Pokemon League. There remains the Champion. I should warn you--the Champion is far stronger than the Elite Four. Now, go on. Step through the doorway to your final battle. I'll be reading books until the next challenger arrives. That will calm my nerves, so that I may deal with all situations without panicking.



Well that was a nice starter, glad there wasn't too much resistance. But let's be real, this is what you've been looking forward to the entire LP. Me too. Because I'm about to get fucking destroyed, and that's exactly how I like it.

Champion Challenge



Thank you for Mt. Coronet. And for the Distorion World. I'm truly grateful. Together, you and your Pokemon overcame all the challenges you faced, however difficult. It means you've triumphed over any personal weaknesses, too. The power you learned... I can feel it emanating from you. But that's enough talk. Let's get on with why you're here. As the Pokemon League Champion, I accept your challenge!

Champion Battle



Cynthia/Shirona

From synthesis, combining different elements, which she does in her team, as well as from the Greek goddess of the moon, Artemis, a parellel to Cyrus, whose name refers to the sun.

Also from 白南天 shironanten (white-fruited nandina), a tall evergreen shrub that is pink during the summer and a deep red during the winter.






Pretty scary team, imagine if you faced this with a weaker team in DP where she was even stronger? Well, that doesn't sound like something I'd do, so let's deal with Spiritomb. It has no weaknesses, so it'll sure to give me a heart attack, a sheer one at that, but it can't avoid flinches and doesn't do too much back. We'll have to pick this team apart one at a time.



This would be a little easier if I had some physical STAB, but maybe I'll get a lucky cri-





LITTLE EARLY FOR THIS DON'T YOU THINK?! While not as broken as Gen 1 Mewtwo, boy does this monster get close. With fantastic Atk and Spd, it even has enough HP to bolster its defensive stats. Obviously getting STAB Earthquake is crazy, but if you wait one level on Gabite, you also get an early Dragon Rush, which has a low accuracy specifically to nerf this mon as an opponent, imagine if it used Outrage! Its SpAtk is also fine enough that it can run Fire Blast over Fire Fang and even throw out a Draco Meteor then solely use physical attacks. You could almost say it's an unstoppable monster that needs to be banned, it can even live a couple Ice attacks and you can add in some Sand Veil bullshit! If you added any more crazy dragons into the game next gen, then you might have to add an entire type just to counteract them! But that sounds silly. There's really not much to say, this monster gets all the stats and moves it needs to effortlessly blow away all of the competition.



Still, I knew this was coming, so I made preparations, this is your moment, Nack, can you OHKO this monster???



Oh. Oh shit.



Thankfully Nack outspeeds, otherwise the best strategy against this thing is dodging Dragon Rush. Uh, that's about it. Good luck!



I keep expecting the physical fighters, but I suppose we fought one of those... many moons ago.



Please stop clowning all over me, the clown.



As the fights get harder, Radium hasn't been having an easy time, what with not having the best move for his stats.



But Pokerus lets him drop the thunder!!!



Hah, you were expecting a special Floatzel? How ridiculous! Milotic is a big ol' wall of Water, but can hit back just fine and take special hits, even if they're supereffective. Hydro Pump really surprises, but Surf is also just fine, as well as Ice Beam and Dragon Pulse, I suppose, not much else, but with Recover, Aqua Ring, Safeguard or Refresh, it probably won't go anywhere and that's where the fun begins.



Well okay I guess I'll use someone else.



There's been a fair few Full Restores in this fight, always are, but thankfully our team hits hard enough it's not a big deal. Doesn't really apply to Milotic.



A few Def drops made it much more manageable, we're onto the last mon!



Against a tired team, finally a Roserade shows how scary it can be.



This is his first appearance, but I've been trying to use Skulletor this entire fight, problem is everything is pretty fast and tends to carry supereffective coverage. Like think of her team, only Spiritomb doesn't have something like that. Real shame, but Etrian can close this out!



Probably didn't matter, but we're outta here, and without Curse strats! Just endless Revival Herbs, like always.



And just now, you became the most powerful of all the Trainers. You are now our newest Champion!



You gave the support your Pokemon needed to maximize their power. And you guided them with certainty to secure victory. You have both passion and calculating coolness. Together, you and your Pokemon can overcome any challenge that may come your way. Those are the impressions I got from our battle. I'm glad I got to take part in the crowning of Sinnoh's new Champion! Come with me. We'll take the lift.

Hall of Fame




Oh, hello Professor Rowan.

Hm! A child I enlisted for my Pokedex project has come this far... it's only natural that I come and witness the child's crowning glory. Hikari! I shouldn't call you a child anymore. You've grown into a real Champion!

Professor, you still enjoy the enthusiasm kids bring to your research, don't you? Hikari, step this way, please. Professor Rowan, please join us.



If your last time here was when I became Champion, then yes, that would be quite a long time ago. Hikari, welcome to the Hall of Fame. Your names will be recorded in posterity here. What you are leaving are the memories of your adventure so far. It's time to record you names. You and your Pokemon. Remember, your Pokemon are partners that grew with you through many challenging battles. This machine will make a permanent record of your achievement.

Champions






















What a team, what a game. It's always so crazy to reach this point, thinking that the whole thing is over. But this is Gen 4, we know that's not the case.

Ending



It's a slow credits sequence cycling home. From an island. Uh, anyway, wow, another one done! I was glad to have the Etrian Odyssey break, cause I was looking forward to this, and it was an absolute beauty.



Thanks for continuing to follow me. I don't wanna know how long I've been doing this stuff, it's been over 4 years, but I'm only still halfway through the series? Well, I'll catch up eventually!



There's a few flashback images, but none of its personal stuff, so it's whatever. Like I said at the start, Platinum is one of my favourite games, Sinnoh is my favourite region, that hasn't changed. I will say that this LP went exactly how I was expecting, I did kinda know basically everything about this game already, so that takes out some of my excitement. But god this is just a million times better to play than all the others so far.



Cheers to all those who submitted, posted, read, criticised, corrected, you know the drill, I always act like we're done here. Oh no. OH NOOOOOOO, this game is far from over, and while I always want to move onto my next LP by the time we reach this bit, it still doesn't make it any less fun.



I hope I was able to show why this game is great, that you don't really need to hassle with HM slaves, that it has amazing moments even if it's not crazy quick gameplay. I adore this game, I had great fun with the team and I'm stoked we saw all 210 Pokemon, I nervously counted before the Elite Four like always, but catching everything as I go is always a new experience for me, and it always felt like something new was just around the corner, great fun.



But that's all for now, there will be a little bonus thing next update, but after that, we're diving straight into the postgame, there's a whole new zone to explore, after all!