Which pokemon can beat FRLG's bosses by themselves?

[There Is No Arceus]

Hi guys, i've decided to pitch all the gen 1-3 pokemon against FRLG's bosses to see who can get the furthest by themselves without too much overleveling. Basically the idea is to pitch them all against brock, then everyone who beat Brock gets to face the Cerulean rival, everyone who beats him faces Misty, and so on and so forth. I am of course not doing actual full playthroughs with all 387 of these mons but rather hacking them in just before the relevant fight.

Here are some rules i will pose for this challenge:

1. I will be treating them as if they are my starter, so only levelup moves and TMs/move tutors available before the relevant boss are allowed. Same for held items; they must be available before the boss fight.
2. The level cap is 1.1 times the level of the boss's ace, rounded down
3. Bosses will be challenged in level cap order if there are multiple bosses that can be accessed at the same time. If the level caps are identical, I will start with the boss whose defeat opens up more of the world.
4. Each pokemon gets 10 tries to beat the boss, though i may give up after 5 if i see no pathway that could possibly lead to victory.
5. No items in battle; held items are allowed
6. All my pokemon will have perfect IVs, EVs spread evenly across the board, and a neutral nature. playing around with stats isn't fun for me; i prefer to mess around with movesets instead. This spread means Hidden Power is always a max power Dark move.
7. In cases where my pokemon's gender is relevant, it will be the gender it's most commonly found as, or female if is gender ratio is 50/50
8. In the interest of being able to focus on the battle at hand and not having to plan ahead, i will pretend that pokemon can relearn levelup, TM and move tutor moves at will, and can switch abilities at will. That way i'm not stuck with an ability that worked against Brock but was useless after.
9. The TMs for Double Team, Flash and Attract are banned, though pokemon may use these moves if they are part of the pokemon's levelup learnset.
10. Deoxys's attack and defense forms are considered separate pokemon. Normal and Speed forms are not in FRLG and will not be taken into account.
11. Only pokemon with the ability Pickup may use items that are gained through that ability.

I was originally going to start a youtube channel for this challenge, but i ended up not doing that because talking to a screen feels too weird. So instead i'm making this thread here. Because of this, I have already played out the battles vs Brock, though i will still give highlights of those fights here. For every boss that follows, I will record here how each pokemon does while i am doing the fights.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

The first two rival fights can be lost or skipped with no consequence, so we are skipping those in this challenge.

Before we even face Brock, there are unfortunately three pokemon I have to disqualify: Regirock, Regice and Registeel. At level 5, these pokemon only know the move Explosion, which means they cannot level up or win any battles. As such, they fail to get past the bug catchers in Viridian Forest. Everyone else has made it through though and is now ready to face off against the Rock-Solid Pokemon Trainer, as he is apparently known. There are no useful items before this point; everyone just has their levelup moves to work with.

Before i start describing any fights, i should describe Brock's team. His level 12 Geodude knows Tackle and Defense Curl, and his level 14 Onix knows Tackle, Harden, Bind and Rock Tomb. Both are extremely defensive on the physical side but very frail on the special side. Onix is the only one with a STAB move, but the AI sees tis as a speed control move and will thus only use it if it is slower than my pokemon, or if it sees a kill.

Virtually all pokemon that get a fighting, fire, dragon, water, ice, grass, ground, steel, dark or psychic move or a fixed-damage move had an easy time; i will not be describing these fights unless something noteworthy happened. That includes the pokemon that got TM10 Hidden Power through Pickup. Pokemon that resist Normal moves also had an easy time. In general, i'm only describing a winning strategy once regardless of how many pokemon won using it, unless something noteworthy happened. I will however go into detail on every loser here, so if a pokemon is not mentioned here, that means they're going on to fight the next boss.

Charmander, despite having Metal Claw, could not win on his first attempt. He had sustained too much damage by the time he reached Onix, and went down. However, on the second attempt, the enemies missed every single one of their moves and went down easily. I probably should have used Ember, but this was before i figured out that even resisted special moves deal massive damage. Charizard also lost on attempt one with the same strategy, because of his double weakness to Rock, but he got an early attack boost in attempt 2 and managed to kill the enemies.

Caterpie obviously failed, as did Metapod, but Butterfree wasn't all that good either. his double weakness to Rock meant that even Confusion was not enough to get through. In the end, i would Sleep Powder the Onix and then use those sleep turns to Confusion him to death. After this, Weedle and Kakuna followed their brethren in defeat, and Beedrill also had a rough time. It only gets Focus Energy and Fury Attack at this level; i tried to use focus energy to get more fury attack crits, and to get more struggle crits, but i never had the HP remaining to deal with Onix no matter which strat i tried.

Pidgey unfortunately did not do well either. Pidgey’s strategy was to sand-attack until i was unhittable, but while this worked against the Geodude, i could not get it to work against the Onix. Pidgey’s other moves are tackle, quick attack and gust, so nothing to deal damage. I tried with Struggle, but this also failed. This, combined with the results the cocoons and Beedrill had with struggle, led me to abandon Struggle strats for a while. Pidgeotto’s moveset at this level is the same so the strategy was the same, unfortunately to the same results. Pidgeot, on the other hand, outdamaged Geodude for the first few turns, allowing me to get some quick attacks in before he defense curled and i resorted to lowering his accuracy. So i ended up facing Onix with decent health, and my sand-attacks caused him to miss enough that i was only just able to eke out the victory.

Next up is Rattata, and he actually had two strategies at his disposal. First, i tried to power through with Guts-boosted Hyper Fangs, getting poisoned off wild Weedle. This strategy however leads to too much loss of health, allowing Onix to overpower me. The other strategy is Tail Whip. Get Geodude to -1, then hit a Hyper Fang as he Defense Curls. In the winning try, i actually got a crit against Onix as he was as -1 Defense, so there’s no guarantee this would work otherwise.

Spearow never stood a chance. The moves it gets at this level are Peck, Leer, Growl and Fury Attack. My strategy was to growl Geodude’s attack down a few times, then use Fury Attack to get damage in. I could consistently get past Geodude this way, but Onix knows Bind, against which Attack drops don’t matter. He could also hit me with supereffective rock tombs, which deal massive damage even after a few growls. Leer also barely helped; his defenses are too great to deal meaningful damage. Even in a lucky run where he missed his first two rock tombs, i could not beat him. Fearow gets these same moves, but got extremely lucky with Rock Tomb misses and got itself the victory.

Surprisingly, Pikachu did not have a tough time. I could not use Thunderbolt to activate the sprinklers, but i could use Double Team to make myself unhittable and Growl to make their hits do nothing even if they did hit. Tail Whip softened up the Onix a bit so our favourite yellow mouse dodge-tanked its way through. Sandshrew tried something similar, but replacing Double Team with Sand-Attack and not lowering the Onix's defense made the strategy not work, so he fell. Clefairy's strat also revolved around getting them to do nothing, but through a combination of cute charm and sing this time. This allowed me to wail on them and get the win after several attempts. Clefable on the other hand opted for the randomness of Metronome, pulling a Fissure for the win.

Zubat unfortunately didn’t do too well. His only tools at this level are Supersonic, Leech Life and Astonish. I could usually get past the Geodude only for Onix to two-shot me with Rock Tomb. Even when i got to the Onix at full health due to confusion and Flinch luck, he would easily take me down. For its evolution Golbat though, things went much better due to one extra tool: Screech. Golbat could lower the rocks’ defenses to the point where Astonish and confusion actually did meaningful damage, allowing her to KO after a few tries.

That brings us to a case i thought was hopeless: Paras. Paras has only three moves at this level: poisonpowder, stun spore and scratch. I thought Onix would outdamage me for sure, but because Onix has the offensive stats of a room temperature stick of butter, the combination of poison and Scratch actually got the better of him. The AI’s stupidity with regards to Rock Tomb definitely did not hurt either. Unfortunately, things went less well for its bug kin Venonat. Venonat could often get past the Geodude with Supersonic, Disable and Tackle, but even if it arrived at Onix with full HP, it could never bring him even below half. Venomoth on the other hand had an extra tool to use: Silver Wind. I did not have the PP to spam it against Geodude, but it was effective in killing Onix.

On to our next problem child: Psyduck. Psyduck unfortunately does not learn any water moves at this level, unless you count Water Sport. It’s only real tools were disable, tail whip and scratch. Against Geodude i quickly figured out that disabling Tackle allowed me to reach Onix with more HP than if i tried to disable Defense Curl and tail whip his defense down. Against Onix however, no amount of tail whips allowed me to outdamage him after Wrap, so i stood no chance. Golduck had the same tools to work with, but due to its higher stats, it was actually able to get enough Tail Whips in against Onix to outdamage it and gain the victory with just 2 HP remaining.

At this point, i figured out that i could simply paralyze my pokemon to make sure they were slower than the Onix, at the cost of being unable to move a quarter of the time. So, in the interest of fairness, i went back to some of the pokemon that had failed previously and i tested whether this would make a difference. I gave them two extra tries each with this new strategy, but only Beedrill managed to capitalize on that and grab a victory, with its Focus Energy Struggle strat. This caused me to rediscover Struggle, so i started actively using it again from here on out.

That brings us to Tentacool. Tentacool has no water moves at this level; in fact the only moves it gets are Poison Sting, Supersonic and Constrict. My strategy here was to first confuse them and then try to poison them with poison sting, and then dealing chip while the poison and confusion did the real work. It took all 10 attempts, but eventually, Tentacool made his way past Brock.

Farfetch’d only got 3 moves: Peck, Sand-Attack and Leer. We’ve seen this strategy fail in the past, and to no surprise, it failed again. I tried both paralyzed and unparalyzed, but the result was always the same. I even tried using Struggle out of desperation, but to no avail.

That brings us to Seel. Unlike its evolution Dewgong, seel gets no water or ice moves, in fact we got only two moves to work with: Headbutt and Growl. Headbutt is actually a decently strong move, but it has little PP, so the strategy was to get a few growls in and then start fishing for crits. In the winning attempt, i had actually burned through all my Headbutt PP against Geodude, so i had to waste my growls and take down Onix with just struggle. This surprisingly worked, and we got the victory. Grimer and Muk then won simply by using Poison Gas and then Hardening up until the enemies were dead.

Gastly was an interesting case. Geodude could not affect it at all, but Onix’s only move that did anything was Rock Tomb, causing him to spam it. Lick could not outdamage him, so the strategy i ended up settling on was to curse him and then put him to sleep, hoping the sleep would last long enough for him to die. That brings us to Exeggcute, who does not get any offensive grass moves, but it did get a grass move that helped immensely: Leech Seed. Through seeding and Reflect, i was able to outheal all the damage they did to me.

Which brings us to our next problem child: Lickitung. Lickitung has only three moves at this level: Lick, Supersonic and Defense Curl. The strategy here was to confuse my opponents and then raise my defenses. Lick is not a not very effective move, but with a base power as low as 20 it might as well be. It also has a chance to paralyze, which is bad against the Onix. Surprisingly though, we got lucky on attempt one, with Onix not going for Bind often and missing his rock throws, as well as several crits on our side. Thus, we were barely able to scrape by and get the win.

After this came one of the pokemon with the most unbalanced stat spreads ever: Chansey. Chansey may have abysmal attack and defense, but she does have the tools to make it past. Namely, she gets Growl and Softboiled. This let her tank even their physical hits with ease, and allowed her to out-chip her foes. Electabuzz gets no useful moves here so i started struggling immediately, and i ended up getting through with 5 health remaining. That brings us to another safari zone pokemon: Tauros. Tauros would spam Rage to constantly power itself up and overpower Brock's rocks.

Magikarp did as well as you'd expect, but surprisingly Gyarados didn't get a free win either. He only gets Thrash at this level, meaning i had to deal with confusion luck to get through. I did win on the second try though, bringing us to one of gen 1's most interesting mons. As i’m sure you’re all aware, Ditto is a rather unique pokemon, but that uniqueness worked out for it here. After transforming into Geodude, it took only 1 damage from the enemy attacks, so it could easily waste its 5 PP for Tackle and Defense Curl, and then start outdamaging the foes with struggle.

Eevee and its evolutions all get the same moves at this level: Tackle, Sand-Attack, Tail Whip and Helping Hand. Some of them struggled a while to get the required misses, but in the end this strategy got all of them to victory. Of special note is Flareon, who got Onix to miss all ten of its Rock Tombs.

On to gen 2. Hoothoot’s strategy of Growling them down and then pecking at them proved ineffective. If i even made it to the onix, i’d be so damaged i’d fall to a single Rock Tomb. I tried Struggle, both paralyzed and non-paralyzed, but nothing could carry this bird to victory. Its evolution Noctowl gets these exact same strats, and failed just as hard with them. Another pokemon that never stood a chance was Ledyba. Not only does this pokemon have abysmal stats and a horrendous moveset of Tackle, Supersonic and Comet Punch, it also carries a double weakness to Rock. Even if i could reach Onix with over half my health left, it would just one-shot with Rock Tomb. Its evolution Ledian similarly never stood a chance; even if i reached Onix at near-full HP, a single Rock Tomb took me all the way to the red. Spinarak is a similarly awful pokemon. Its only real tool is Poison Sting to poison them, so i tried both with that and with Struggle, but even when Struggle crit against Geodude, Onix would still easily take me out.

Unfortunately, unlike its evolutions, Pichu is not equipped to deal with these foes. Its only damaging moves are Electric type, and its abysmal stats make Struggle unviable as well. My strategy was to use Sweet Kiss to confuse the Geodude and then start struggling, but this had the exact level of success you would expect. Unfortunately, it was not the only gen 2 electric type to fail; Mareep’s moveset at this level is Tackle, Growl and Thundershock. This moveset obviously didn’t bring victory, so i tried with Struggle. There were a few times when Struggle got close to killing the Onix, but it would always end up paralyzed from Static, causing it to spam Rock Tomb. In the end, Mareep could not win in 10 tries.

Hoppip and its evolutions may not get grass moves at this point, but they do get Poisonpowder and Synthesis, allowing them to easily outstall the defensive rocks. However, for a pokemon like Yanma, with a double weakness to Rock and only Normal moves in its arsenal, the only option was to Double Team up and hope Onix missed every single one of his Rock Tombs. Unfortunately, while Flareon could make it happen, Yanma couldn’t within 10 tries. The struggle doesn't end there for gen 2 bugs, cause Pineco did not do well either. Pineco’s moveset at this level consists of Tackle, Protect, Selfdestruct and Take Down. Yup, this pokemon with a weakness to Rock gets only Normal moves and no stat altering moves that might help it, and it can’t even waste all of its PP and start struggling because of Selfdestruct. Naturally, this ended in failure.

However, gen 2 is also home to a bug that did stand a chance: Shuckle. Shuckle at this level gets Constrict, Encore, Wrap and Withdraw. My only option was thus to copy Brock and Bind my foes to death. Against Geodude i could consistently encore Defense Curl to avoid damage and Withdraw up to +6, but against Onix i would have lost if it consistently went for Bind whenever its Bind ran out. It did not though, allowing me to outdamage it. The fact that his Rock Tomb missed on the final turn also didn’t hurt.

That brings us to Sneasel. Sneasel at this level has Screech and a bunch of normal moves. While we have seen this strategy win in the past, it was never on a frail ice-type. It became clear after only one try that going in non-paralyzed would never work, but even when paralyzed to lower my speed, it took many tries before i could Screech the Onix down to where my Quick Attacks did meaningful damage. This did eventually happen though, getting Sneasel past Brock. It's now time to discuss one of my favourite ice types, who unfortunately had all the cards stacked against him. Not only does Delibird have a 4x weakness to Rock, it only learns the move Present, which is a Normal-type move with a chance of healing the opponent. So yeah, Delibird lost and there was nothing I could do to help it.

That brings us to one of the most unique pokemon out there: Smeargle. Smeargle knows only one move, Sketch, but that move can be used to permanently copy opponents’ moves into Smeargle’s moveset. Unfortunately, there are no pokemon you can fight before Brock that carry moves that aren’t not very effective. So i had to make do with the cards i was dealt. I sketched Harden off the Metapod in Viridian Forest, Poison Sting off of Weedle, Sand-Attack off of Pidgey and Bind off of Brock’s own Onix. With these moves, I would poison and bind the enemies and then stall them out for a win. Next up was Tyrogue. Tyrogue may be a fighting type, but at this level, it only knows Tackle. This move, even when boosted by Paralysis-induced Guts, could not bring us past the Geodude, so i tried with Struggle. This pokemon has absolutely abysmal stats though, so even though i tried both with and without the paralysis, i could not lead the baby Hitmon to victory.

The gen 2 boxart legendaries actually proved to be interesting, as their moveset at this point only contains Whirlwind and Safeguard. They would Whirlwind the Onix out so as to struggle him to death first and not risk falling into Rock Tomb range. This worked out for them, though Ho-Oh did need to be paralyzed. On to gen 3.

We'll start off with the Wurmple family. Wurmple, Silcoon and Cascoon unfortunately didn't do too well, though their evolutions did manage to win. The seedot line also wasn’t blessed with a great movepool at this point. Seedot learns Bide, Harden, Growth and Nature Power, which turns into Swift. Unfortunately, Seedot does not have the HP to make Bide work for him, and Nature Power doesn’t even have enough PP to get past the Geodude. I tried a few times with Struggle, but in the end, i had to conclude that this was hopeless. Seedot cannot beat Brock. That means it’s time for Slakoth, which as most of you will know is an absolutely terrible pokemon. Its ability means it only attacks once every two turns, and its stats do not remotely make up for this. However, he does have one very important tool: Slack Off. By healing every time his health got low and regularly yawning the enemies to sleep, he was able to scratch his way to victory. Getting a crit against Geodude didn’t hurt though.

Next we'll discuss one of the few families where the base form has a far easier time than either of its evolutions: the Nincada line. Base form Nincada is a fairly bulky pokemon who carries Harden, Sand-Attack, Fury Swipes and Scratch. It was able to sand-attack their accuracy down and get a few defense boosts in, in order to use Fury Swipes and get the victory by the skin of its teeth. Now let’s talk about why Ninjask is much worse at this. Not only does it have lower defenses than Nincada, not only does it exchange Nincada’s neutrality to Rock for a 4x weakness, but it also has the ability Speed Boost, which means that i am always going to outspeed the Onix and it will always go for Rock Tomb, even if i am paralyzed. Nincada could make do with just two hardens, but Ninjask needed all six, and even then Rock Tomb still did massive damage. Fortunately in the second attempt, i could get Rock Tomb to hit only once, and so i managed to eke out a victory with just 5 HP remaining. For Shedinja, Harden wasn’t going to help. Its only hope was if it could get Onix to miss every single one of its Rock Tombs. Unfortunately, despite being able to get a first sand-attack off on the switch-in, Shedinja was not able to pull a Flareon, and thus went down in defeat.

Delcatty tried copying Clefairy's strategy, but its moves are not the best for the job. The only moves it gets are Growl, Attract, Sing and DoubleSlap. Even if the enemies did nothing every single turn, DoubleSlap would run out of PP before the enemies were dead. On my first attempt, i had forgotten to sufficiently drain the PP for Attract and Growl beforehand, so i could not struggle and lost. On the second attempt however, i started struggling when my DoubleSlaps ran out, and i managed to beat the Onix with that. Which brings us to Electrike. Electrike’s strategy revolved around Howling for attack boosts, but unfortunately it only had a weak tackle to work with. This was not the recipe for success, so i tried howling and then struggling. I tried with different amounts of Howl PP, until one attempt with 4 PP had Electrike get crits against both the Geodude and the Onix for a lucky victory.

On to the Pikaclones: Plusle and Minun. These pokemon get the moves Growl, Thunder Wave, Quick Attack and Helping Hand at this level. I saw no reason to even bother with these moves and went straight for Struggle. For Plusle, this worked out; after several attempts, i managed to struggle them down with just a single HP remaining. Minun, however, wasn’t so lucky. His lower attack meant he just couldn’t get the damage in that was needed. And so, only one of the pikaclones made it through. Swablu also didn’t have it easy. Its moves at this level are Peck, Growl, Astonish and Sing. The strategy here was obvious: keep them asleep and growl their attack down for when they do wake up. Against Geodude, Astonish would also help get flinches in Geodude’s wake-up turn, but against Onix it didn’t take long before i was slower. Keeping him asleep did allow me to outdamage him though, and i ended up winning in one try due to some lucky Wrap misses at the end. Feebas also didn't do to well, just like its Kantonian counterpart.

For Absol, i had to use a new strategy to get past the Geodude with decent health. You see, it gets no dark moves here, but it does get Taunt and Leer. I would taunt it so it does not defense curl, so i could get its defense down. Unfortunately, you do not get a notification in this gen when Taunt ends, but i did get enough leers in beforehand to take him out with Quick Attack.

All of Hoenn's pseudo-legendaries and non-regi legendaries got through with ease, meaning that of the 384 pokemon that reached Brock, a grand total of 352 made it through, while only 32 faltered. Next up, the survivors will be taking on the Cerulean rival. I will detail every pokemon's exploits there, though it will come in smaller chunks rather than in the form of this massive post, as i still need to do those battles.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Time for the first set of fights against the Cerulean rival

For this fight, we will gain access to all the items, tms and tutors one can get before facing either the Cerulean rival or Misty. Specifically, we got TM39 Rock Tomb from Brock, then we went east onto Route 3 and found an Oran Berry. We then found a Persim Berry near the pokemon center before entering Mt. Moon. In Mt. Moon, we picked up TM09 Bullet Seed and TM46 Thief before choosing the Helix Fossil and leaving the cave on the other side. There, we found TM05 Roar as well as the move tutors for Mega Punch and Mega Kick. Once we hit Cerulean, we used the Berry Crush minigame to get ourselves as many PP Ups as we need.

And with that, we're ready to head north and face our rival. Which pokemon will be facing which rival team will depend on their primary types: Grass, Bug, Steel, Ice, Fighting and Normal types will face the Charmander team, Fire, Poison, Ground, Psychic and Ghost types will face the Squirtle team and Water, Rock, Electric, Dark and Dragon types will face the Bulbasaur team.

So let's have a look at what we're up against. The rival leads with a Pidgeotto at level 17 who knows Gust, Sand-Attack, Quick Attack and Tackle. This bird will pose a massive threat to any first-stage mon weak to it, and may pose issues to many others due to sand-attack. Keen Eye means i cannot use accuracy-lowering strats like i did against Brock. Second up is a level 16 Abra with just Teleport; this pokemon is dead weight and will be irrelevant in most fights. Third is a level 16 Rattata with Tackle, Tail Whip and Quick Attack. This one can get annoying by lowering our defenses, but is overall the least important of the pokemon that can do anything. I do need to avoid statusing him though; Guts would be bad. Lastly, there's his starter, which depends on my type. It will be level 18, putting my level cap at 19. If we're facing Charmander, it will carry Scratch, Growl, Ember and Metal Claw. STAB Ember is the main thing to watch out for here, though it growling my attack down may also cause problems. Squirtle will have Tackle, Tail Whip, Withdraw and Water Gun, playing a defensive game. Bulbasaur will carry Sleep Powder, PoisonPowder, Vine Whip and Leech Seed, going for a status chip game.

Our first pokemon, Bulbasaur, did not have an easy time. Its strategy was to put the Pidgeotto to sleep, seed it and then get a few growls in before tackling. On the first attempt though, Pidgeotto woke up a bit too often and got sand-attacks in, allowing the Charmander thereafter to finish me off as i missed my moves. On the second attempt though, i did not get hit by a single sand-attack, so after taking down Pidgeotto, i could put the Charmander to sleep and seed it before dealing Tackle chip. He did get a guts-boosted Ember in that did half my health, but after that Blue sent out his Abra, so i could use Leech Seed to get back to full health before dispatching the Rattata. Ivysaur and Venusaur used this same strategy to get the win, though it took each a couple of tries due to sand attack luck.

Charmander has less status moves to work with, but it made up for that in raw strength. Mega Kick was a two-shot on both Pidgeotto and Squirtle and a one-shot on Rattata, allowing for a first-try victory. This obviously meant its evolutions could win as well. Squirtle also gets access to both Mega Punch and Mega Kick, and could two-shot the pidgeotto, but due to a combination of bad accuracy, sand-attack and Bulbasaur putting me to sleep, it took a whole 5 tries before both Pidgeotto and Bulbasaur were dead. I had only 15 HP remaining, so i set up all my Withdraws against the Abra before taking out the Rattata with Torrent Water Guns. Wartortle used this same strategy, but it actually took him far longer; apparently i had been very lucky with Squirtle because a Leech Seed missed. For Wartortle, the saving grace came when Bulbasaur went for Poisonpowder, preventing me from going to sleep and allowing me to beat the rest of his team. Blastoise however could just one-shot the Bulbasaur and win in one try.

Butterfree took a page from Bulbasaur's book and used Sleep Powder to put its enemies to sleep, before Confusioning them down. CompoundEyes meant that accuracy was barely and issue. and he could grab a first-time victory. Unfortunately though, its counterpart Beedrill didn't have it so easy. The only moves it can get at this point are Focus Energy, Fury Attack and Thief, so te strategy was obvious. I would go for Focus Energy to fish for crits and then start attacking. I tried this numerous times and even pulled out the Focus Energy Struggle set that got the victory against Brock, but nothing worked. Pidgeotto and Charmander would always deal too much damage with their STAB supereffective moves; i never even got to see Abra or Rattata.

After that, it was time for a family reunion. Pidgeot has much better stats than Pidgeotto though, so after tearing through its younger sibling, it could just Gust down the rest of Blue's team. So after that reunion, it's time for a mirror match. Unlike Blue's Rattata though, mine has good moves. Specifically Hyper Fang. I went in paralyzed for the sake of Guts and used Hyper Fang to one-shot everything except Charmander, who got taken out by Quick Attack the next turn. Getting a crit on Pidgeotto didn't hurt though.Its evolution Raticate straight up got a one-shot sweep.

Fearow did not have things much harder. Keen Eye meant no accuracy shenanigans, allowing me to peck all my foes to death in one try. On to the first pokemon without a type disadvantage to not win in one try. Ekans gets only Wrap, Poison Sting, Leer and Bite, three of which proved useless. I did outspeed all the foes, so i would just spam bite and hope for enough flinches. Intimidate was useful against Pidgeotto, but it did not stop the enemies from overpowering me in my first attempt. On try two, i got the flinches though and the foes went down. Would have fallen if not for my held Oran Berry though. After this, Arbok's much higher stats allowed it to use the same strategy for an easy win.

On to our favourite electric rodent. Pikachu could Thundershock down the Pidgeotto before Mega Kicking Rattata's face in. It then set up 6 Double Teams against Abra, which helped me avoid Bulbasaur's shenanigans and get myself the win. Raichu does not have Double Team, but it didn't matter as he got a one-shot sweep with Thunderbolt and Mega Kick.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Sandslash was able to easily Rock Tomb down the Pidgeotto without taking any sand-attacks, and for some reason Squirtle kept using status moves rather than just attacking. This allowed me to eventually get a crit and take it down. i then set up 6 defense curls vs abra because why not, and took out the Rattata.

Nidoran-F got very lucky with Poison Point, poisoning the Pidgeotto on turn one. This allowed me to outdamage it and get past with over half health. Rattata went down in one Double Kick, and to my surprise i also outdamaged Squirtle, double kicking it at first and switching to Thief after it used some Withdraws. It probably could have won if it consistently attacked me though. Nidorina didn't get the poison, nor did she need it to outdamage Pidgeotto. Nidoqueen, on the other hand, felled Pidgeotto with Rock Tomb and then Mega Kicked squirtle's face in. Nidoran-M did not get insane poison point luck, but it did get one tool its female counterpart did not have: Focus Energy. Using that, its Double Kicks got one crit after another against Pidgeotto, and this also allowed me to crit through Squirtle's Withdraws. This worked out for Nidorino too, though Nidoking deployed the same strategy as Nidoqueen.

Clefairy and Clefable were able to use their STAB mega punches and mega kicks to get through, though Clefairy did need a crit on Charmander. Vulpix, on the other hand, could not win, because it could not win the 1v1 with Squirtle. Even when i arrived at Squirtle at full health, i would come out of that fight with a mere 10 HP remaining. And even then, i had only achieved that by immediately roaring out the Pidgeotto, so it just came back and killed me. After 5 attempts, i decided this was hopeless and gave up. Vulpix is out. Ninetales however did have the stats to outdamage Squirtle, and it also got Confuse Ray to work with, which combined allowed for a first-try victory.

Jigglypuff and Wigglytuff followed in their future-Fairy cousins' footsteps, Punching and Kicking their way through. Golbat could easily bite through all of Blue's team, which brings us to our next problem child. Oddish may have Sleep Powder like Bulbasaur, but its only offensive moves are Absorb and Bullet Seed. These moves never even got me past Pidgeotto, and the few times Blue randomly switched in Charmander showed me how hopeless this was even if i could kill the bird. Oddish is out. Gloom has better stats and was able to outspeed the Pidgeotto, meaning i did not have to predict when it would wake up to keep it asleep for the longest possible time. However, all this meant was that it could occasionally get past Pidgeotto; it would still get wrecked by Charmander after. Gloom is out. Vileplume does not get Sleep Powder, but it does get Mega Drain, which made all the difference. After two failed attempts, i got one where i crit my Mega Drain on Pidgeotto, allowing me to reach Charmander with over half health and my Oran Berry intact, and to Mega Drain him down. Abra was third, allowing me to absorb some of its health so i could power through Rattata.

Paras was outsped and two-shot by Pidgeotto's 4x effective Gusts. There was nothing i could do. Paras is out. Parasect could tank one more Gust, but even if i managed to kill the Pidgeotto, the Charmander would just kill me. Parasect is also out. Venomoth however did have useful tools to get past these foes. It would use Disable to get rid of Gust and Ember, then it would spam Confusion to take them down. In the winning attempt, i got a crit against Pidgeotto, allowing me to proceed with just a sand-attack and no damage. Charmander however managed to reduce my HP to just 9 because Disable kept missing. Rattata then barely missed out on the kill, with its Quick Attack leaving me with just 1 HP as my Silver Wind one-shot it. I also had Supersonic to work with, but that proved to be a waste of time.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Diglett could Rock Tomb down the Pidgeotto with ease, but against Squirtle, i had to play the Magnitude lottery; Dig wasn't doing enough and allowed him free turns to Withdraw. On attempt 7, i got a Magnitude 10 to OHKO the squirtle, after which Rattata went down to a Dig. Dugtrio didn't need to play this lottery; its digs were strong enough. Meowth powered through with the Hidden Power TM it picked up, getting an exorbitant amount of crits in the process. Seriously, i got 3 in the same battle. Anyway, Persian does not get Pickup, so it instead powered through with STAB Pay Days, surviving Charmander's last Ember with just 3 HP remaining.

Golduck got confusion to power through the Pidgeotto and Bulbasaur. Unfortunately though, i got put to sleep and leech seeded on attempt one, meaning that by the time i had killed Abra, i had so little health left that Rattata could finish me off. On my second attempt, Bulbasaur just tried his supereffective move, which proved his undoing. Mankey had Rock Tomb for the Pidgeotto and Charmander and Mega Punch for the Rattata, allowing it to get through on 2 HP remaining. This obviously worked for Primeape as well.

Growlithe had far less trouble than i anticipated. Intimidate meant that Pidgeotto could hardly damage it, and while Squirtle's Water Gun did massive damage, it sometimes went for Withdraw instead, and i often flinched it with Bite. On the winning attempt, Squirtle never attacked me, allowing me to reach Rattata with near full health and take it down. The same thing happened to Arcanine on attempt 1, allowing an easy victory.

Poliwag was on much shakier ground. Its strategy was to use Hypnosis to put its enemies to sleep and then start wailing on them with Water Gun and DoubleSlap, but if Bulbasaur put me to sleep even once, that would spell doom. Hypnosis is also not the most accurate move, which combined with Pidgeotto's sand-attacks allowed for plenty of opportunities to put me to sleep. On attempt 6 i got the luck i needed though, allowing me to beat the Pidgeotto and the Bulbasaur. A crit against Rattata sealed the deal and allowed Poliwag to continue on. Its evolutions had less trouble, as they had Mega Punch and Mega Kick.

Time for another family reunion. Fortunately, Kadabra is a much more powerful pokemon than Blue's Abra, using confusion to power through all the opponents. Sand-Attack-induced mises did mean i ended up with only 1 HP remaining. Alakazam obviously won as well. Just for shits and giggles, i disabled Abra's Teleport at the end and forced it to do something.

Machop went in pre-poisoned so that Guts would allow for a one-shot sweep, using Rock Tomb and Karate Chop. Did get a crit against Charmander, though that probably did not matter. Machoke and Machamp achieved the same results. Bellsprout however had a rougher time. Its strategy was to put the Pidgeotto to sleep and get 2 growths in, which would allow it to two-shot the pidgeotto. I'd then put Charmander to sleep and kill it in a few hits as well. The problem was that Sleep Powder is inaccurate and Charmander did over half to me with Ember, so it took a few tries before this finally worked. I then set up my remaining 4 growths against Abra because why not, and proceeded to wreck Rattata. Weepinbell used this same strategy, though it was more consistent due to higher stats. Victreebel however does not get Growth, but it does get all new tools: Stockpile and Spit Up. Unfortunately, Stockpile does not raise your defenses in this gen, but it does give you a 100BP Spit Up to work with. I would put the Pidgeotto to sleep, stockpile and spit up to get it to low health, and then stockpile once more before taking it out with a Thief. I'd then OHKO the Charmander with a spit up. Abra was next so i got 3 stockpiles in in order to OHKO the Rattata with a 300BP move.

I should probably note that everything is holding an Oran Berry unless i specify otherwise.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Tentacool's strategy was to first take down the Pidgetto and Rattata with Acid spam, and then confuse the Bulbasaur to try and prevent it from putting me to sleep. This took several tries, but in the end, i won because of Liquid Ooze of all things. I had reached Bulbasaur with quite a bit of health left, but before i could confuse me it seeded me and put me to sleep. The damage Liquid Ooze did to him while i was snoozing, in combination with a self-hit after i woke up and one final acid, allowed me to win with just 1 HP remaining. Tentacruel didn't need to bother with confusion; it could just power through with Acid.

On to Brock's boi Geodude. Geodude had a surprisingly easy time against the rival. Pidgeotto obviously posed no issues, but the pokemon i thought would be tough, Bulbasaur, just missed a Sleep Powder, allowing me to crit a Mega Punch for the OHKO. It took Graveler more than one attempt though; i now outsped the Bulbasaur, but i could not OHKO it so if it put me to sleep, that was game over. Eventually though, he just used a Vine Whip at the start to bring me all the way to the red, which allowed me to get the kill. Golem however got Mega Kick, which did one-shot the saur. Ponyta and Rapidash then destroyed their enemies with Stomp.

Slowpoke had a rougher time. It carried confusion which could potentially two-shot Bulbasaur, but because i was slower, he would usually just put me to sleep and wail on me until i was dead. Even if he went for Poisonpowder, the vine whip that followed would deal so much that i was unable to take out the Rattata and Abra after. Eventually though, on my 10th and final attempt, he missed two sleep powders in a row, allowing me to two-shot him and kill the two mons that followed. Slowbro however could just outspeed and one-shot the bulbasaur. Magnemite and Magneton resisted every move the rival's pokemon know, so obviously they had an easy time.

Doduo was surprisingly able to just power through with Peck, winning with just 2 HP remaining. This obviously worked for Dodrio as well. Seel's Icy Wind two-shot the Pidgeotto, but it was a range to two-shot Bulbasaur, and Sleep Powder was a major problem. Even Poisonpowder or Leech Seed generally were enough to make a win impossible. In attempt 5 though, Bulbasaur went for both Poisonpowder and Leech Seed, missing the latter. This allowed me to get the kill with enough health to survive the following fights with Abra and Rattata. Dewgong had STAB Aurora Beam rather than non-Stab Icy Wind, so it one-shot everyone that mattered and two-shot Rattata.

Grimer and Muk would Rock Tomb the Pidgetto and then set up 6 Hardens and Minimizes against Abra, so that they could kill the other enemies with impunity. Shellder however was in an even worse boat than the water types mentioned so far, as Icicle Spear is usually much weaker than the moves they used. Sleep was essentially a game over. Eventually though, on attempt 8, a poisonpowder combined with two 5-hitters from icicle spear meant i could two-round Bulbasaur and kill the others with enough HP remaining. Cloyster got Aurora Beam, making things much easier.

On to one of gen 1's more unique families. Gastly's only move that could hurt Pidgeotto was Thief, but this outdamaged the pigeon, allowing me to take it out easily. Squirtle liked to go for Withdraw, but i didn't care as Night Shade deals fixed damage and allowed me to take him down easily. Rattata couldn't hurt me, so i placed a curse on him for shits and giggles. Haunter and Gengar repeated this and won easily.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Onix had a rough time as expected. On most attempts, Bulbasaur would put me to sleep and then two-shot me; it was a three-shot for me to kill him. Even if Bulbasaur went for Poisonpowder or Leech Seed, the damage from that would put me in KO range in a single turn. On attempt 6 though, he missed three consecutive sleep powders, allowing me to kill him even though my rock throw missed once. The other enemies obviously couldn't do anything, so i won and Brock's ace lives to fight another day.

Drowzee and Hypno got through using Confusion and Mega Kick, and Krabby also had a surprisingly easy time. ViceGrip could two-shot both Pidgeotto and Bulbasaur; so because Bulbasaur went for Poisonpowder instead of Sleep Powder, i got a first-try victory. Kingler did get put to sleep, but on attempt 2 i woke up quickly enough to kill the saur.

Voltorb's best move was Sonicboom; its other offensive moves, Tackle and Thief, did considerably less even if i got a Screech in. Unfortunately though, Sonicboom did not prove enough as sand-attack and sleep would get the better of me. Voltorb's only other move is Charge, which is useless, so after 10 tries i had to conclude that Voltorb is out. Electrode was in a similar boat; its tackles did slightly more than Sonicboom after screech, but not enough to justify using a turn on screech. Its defenses are higher though, allowing me to wake up from sleep and KO Bulbasaur with just 1 HP left on attempt 3. Bulbasaur was the last pokemon, so this was a victory.

Exeggcute had an easier time than expected. It could put its opponents to sleep and then simply confusion them to death. Exeggutor went and got himself burned while doing this, meaning he almost fainted against the Abra, but he managed to pull through.

Cubone and its mother used Rock Tomb and Bone Club to wreck their foes, bringing us to Hitmonlee. It only just missed out on the OHKO on Pidgeotto, which led to an accuracy drop. Because of this, i was too scared to use Jump Kick during the fight. It didn't matter though; Abra was next and allowed me to get 6 meditates in, so i wrecked everything else. Hitmonchan did not get Meditate, but it did get Keen Eye, allowing it to power through without worrying about accuracy. After this, Lickitung Rock Tombed and Mega Punched its way through.

Koffing gets the moves Poison Gas, Smog, Tackle and Thief. It also gets Selfdestruct, but that's an instant loss. So Koffing's strategy was to poison its foes and then deal damage with Thief. This went well enough against Pidgeotto, but Rattata has Guts. Fortunately i did not need the poison to three-shot him and move on to Squirtle. Squirtle likes to go for Withdraw, which was perfect as i don't care about its defense stat. He did attack me eventually, but i still managed to win with 3 HP remaining. Weezing actually lost his first two tries due to insane accuracy luck, but eventually he got through too.

Rhyhorn had an easy time, mainly because Squirtle decided Tail Whip was a better game plan than, y'know, killing me. Seriously, Squirtle is so much easier than Bulbasaur, it's insane. Rhydon did actually get hit by water gun, but since it outsped and two-shot the turtle, it could not get two-shot itself. On to Chansey, whose attack stat is so garbage that Rock Tomb was a 4HKO against both the Pidgeotto and the Charmander. My superb HP fortunately meant i could easily tank even their physical moves, and i could Softboiled if the damage grew too much, but this did mean Pidgeotto got a ton of sand-attacks in. Because of this, i ran out of PP for my offensive moves against Abra and i had to stall until he struggled himself to death.

Tangela had an easy time; he may be weak to their types, but he has tools to deal with them. He would use a Sleep Powder on the Pidgeotto, use Ingrain and then set up a few growths. With these special attack boosts, it could use Thief to sweep through the opponent's team.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Kangaskhan swept through with Fake Out, Rock Tomb and Mega Punch, which brings us to Horsea. Horsea only gets three moves at this point: Bubble, Smokescreen and Leer. With these moves, i often could not even beat Pidgeotto, let alone the Bulbasaur that came after. I tried with Struggle too, but this yielded the same results; Bulbasaur would always wipe the floor with me. Horsea is out. Seadra also gets water gun, which in combination with its better stats made all the difference. It could easily get past Pidgeotto, and a few Smokescreens meant Bulbasaur would barely hit me as i slowly chipped it down. I needed a few attempts to get it right, but eventually victory was mine.

Goldeen could get past Pidgeotto with Horn Attack, and while Peck was a range to 2HKO bulbasaur, i got the range. Seaking then did the same thing, earning them both the victory. No idea why these pokemon learn Peck, but it worked out here. Staryu was able to use Camouflage to get rid of its water type, becoming pure normal. This had the added effect of making Bulbasaur come out last, meaning Leech Seed and PoisonPowder were far less dangerous. It would use STAB Tackles to take down its foes and Recover to heal up when needed. Unfortunately, Staryu has garbage attack so the Tackles did not do all that much, allowing him to get many sand-attacks in and thus allowing Bulbasaur to still take me out when it came out. Water Gun was not an option, as it would often cause Blue to switch Bulbasaur in early. On the 10th attempt though, Bulbasaur poisoned me rather than putting me to sleep, allowing me to do the damage needed and take him out. Misty's ace Starmie got the much stronger Swift to work with, though unfortunately it did not get camouflage. Bulbasaur went for Poisonpowder on attempt 1 though, making for an easy win.

On to Ash's stepdad. Mr. Mime would set up a substitute to block the accuracy shenanigans, then it proceeded to use Confusion to sweep through the enemies. Scyther however had a harder time. It would set up a focus energy to get some crit Quick Attacks, but its weakness to both of the pokemon that matter meant it would often not get the crits it needed. On attempt one, i actually managed to kill both the Pidgeotto and Charmander, but the burn meant i died against the Abra. On attempt 3 though, i got the luck i needed and critted them to death.

Jynx had a far easier time, using Powder Snow on the Pidgeotto and Rattata and Mega Punch on Charmander. Electabuzz then used Thunderpunch and Mega Punch to get through, and Magmar repeated that approach with Fire Punch. Pinsir could Rock Tomb down the Pidgeotto and Charmander and kill the Rattata with ViceGrip for an easy win. Tauros would repeat that strategy, only replacing ViceGrip with Horn Attack.

That brings us to one of the most interesting mons for the early game: Gyarados. Gyarados still only learns Thrash here, but unlike with Brock, the enemies do not resist it. So i would Thrash through their team, using my Persim Berry to avoid confusion. After that, Lapras used the only slightly weaker Body Slam to mow through the enemies. This means it's time for another interesting pokemon: Ditto. Ditto's gimmick of transforming into its foe did not work out here; the stats of a level 17 Pidgeotto are not enough to get past said Pidgeotto in addition to two more pokemon. I tried both Transform and Struggle, but i always faltered by the time i reached Charmander. Ditto is out.

On to the fifth and final Kanto starter. Surprisingly, Eevee's tackles proved strong enough to get past all my foes without the need for any strategy. Vaporeon however has to deal with Bulbasaur rather than Charmander, so i had to contend with sleep and leech seed strats. My strategy was to get a tail whip in against the guy and then wail with Tackle. Eventually, i got a crit and managed to get him down with decent health left, allowing me to sweep through the rest of the team. This worked for Jolteon as well, and Flareon just had to contend with Squirtle who is a joke. Thus all the OG Eeveelutions have gotten past the Cerulean rival.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Porygon blasted through with Psybeam, bringing us to the fossils. Starting with Lord Helix, Omanyte had two moves to use against Bulbasaur: Bite and Rock Tomb. Both were a three-shot, and Bite had the chance to cause a flinch, so i used that. On only my second attempt, our lord and saviour used his divine powers to get two flinches in a row, so Bulbasaur could do nothing. Everything else obviously went down easily. Omastar had similar luck on attempt 3, except that it got a Sleep Powder miss instead of a flinch. Kabuto was able to two-shot the Bulbasaur with Rock Tomb, and it could tank a single Vine Whip, so if i did not miss and did not get put to sleep, i won. This happened in attempt 6. Kabuto could not get this to happen, but an early wakeup combined with Bulbasaur going for Leech Seed rather than Vine Whip meant i could eventually get past, with enough HP to kill the remaining mons. Aerodactyl obviously had it the easiest of the fossils, being able to OHKO Bulbasaur with Wing Attack.

Snorlax headbutted his way through, meaning it's time for the gen 1 legendaries. Articuno would use Gust and Powder Snow to take out its foes, even getting a freeze on Pidgeotto. Zapdos was put to sleep by Bulbasaur, but for once it didn't matter as he could do nothing to me and i could Peck him to death once i woke up. Moltres had nothing to hit Pidgeotto supereffectively, but it didn't matter as Wing Attack proved enough for the sweep.

Dratini's movepool and stats are far from the best at this level, so it took many hits of Twister to kill Pidgeotto. This meant many sand-attacks, so against Bulbasaur i opted to start with a Wrap to get consistent damage, even if i got put to sleep. I did not get put to sleep, but i did get poisoned. His crappy damage output against my dragon type though meant that i could beat him down before he could do to me; Bulbasaur was last so the poison didn't kill me afterward. If Dratini could do it, Dragonair obviously could as well, and Dragonite gets Rock Tomb for Pidgeotto making things even easier.

Mewtwo obviously wiped the floor with them, and Mew used Rock Tomb and Mega Punch to get through as well, meaning we're on to gen 2.

Chikorita unfortunately never stood a chance. Sometimes i could beat Pidgeotto through a combination of Reflect, Poisonpowder and Tackle if he used sand-attack often enough, but whenever this happened, Charmander would easily finish me off. Chikorita is thus the first starter to be out. Bayleef doesn't get any extra tools, and while its better stats allowed it to consistently beat Pidgeotto, it could not deal enough damage to Charmander. Thus, Bayleef is out. Even Meganium had a rough time, but eventually a crit against Charmander got me the victory.

Cyndaquil did not have quite as hard a time. It would Ember down the Pidgeotto, then get a few Smokescreens in to get Squirtle to miss his water guns. I would then start quick attacking, switching to Ember once his defense was too high from Withdraw. It took several attemps, but eventually this strategy got me past the Squirtle. Two Quick Attacks against the Rattata and victory was mine. Quilava did not get quick attack, but Tackle worked just as well, even if a crit from Rattata left me with just 7 HP at the finish line. Typhlosion had Mega Punch so i did not bother with accuracy shenanigans there.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

I just realised that my pokemon can go in pre-paralyzed to shut down Bulbasaur's whole strategy, so in the interest of fairness i'm giving 2 extra attempts to the pokemon for whom this might make a difference, that being just Voltorb. Unfortunately this did not work out; the paralysis just meant i couldn't get enough hits in to even defeat Pidgeotto. With that, we return to our regularly scheduled programming.

For Totodile, things never worked out with or without paralysis. If i went in paralyzed, the lowered speed and the chance to do nothing meant too many sand-attacks, and if i went in without paralysis, i would just get put to sleep and killed. Even if i was not put to sleep, my moves of choice (mega punch and mega kick) were too shaky in the accuracy department to get the win. I got past Bulbasaur only once, and even then, leech seed damage caused me to die to the Rattata. Totodile is out. Croconaw and Feraligatr could take more hits, meaning they could generally survive and kill the Bulbasaur even if they were put to sleep.

Sentret has Keen Eye, so i didn't have to worry about accuracy shenanigans. The winning strategy here was to first set up a defense curl, and then to use a few Fury Swipes to take out the Pidgeotto. Rattata went down to two quick attacks, and i managed to take out Charmander in just one Fury Swipes thanks to a crit and many hits from the move. Furret's higher stats meant i didn't have to go for the unreliable Fury Swipes and i could quick attack everything down.

Ariados had no good moves. Its only offensive moves are Thief, Night Shade, Poison Sting and Constrict, and its only other moves are speed-lowering moves, which barely help. I would thief down the Pidgeotto, but it would generally take more than half of my health. Night Shade gave the best damage against Charmander, but it was never enough. It would always kill me. Maybe this could have worked if Pidgeotto went for several sand-attacks and i never missed, but that did not happen within 10 tries.

Crobat is Golbat but better, so like its younger sibling, it could bite its way through. Chinchou however was less blessed in the moveset department. It gets Bubble, Water Gun, Flail, Supersonic and Thunder Wave to work with. I could consistently get past the pidgeotto, but my tools weren't very good against Bulbasaur. The only real damage i could do were confusion self-hits, so i would generally confuse him and then paralyze to reduce the chances of him hitting me even more. I did not go in paralyzed, as sleep did not matter that much when your main strategy is making the opponent do nothing. Unfortunately, i could never get the luck i needed; occasionally i could kill him with a high-power Flail, but that would just mean Rattata could Quick Attack me to death. Chinchou is out. Lanturn got considerably luckier though; on just its second attempt, Blue switched in Bulbasaur almost immediately, so no accuracy shenanigans. i could then get him to do nothing almost every single turn while the confusion weighed him down. The other foes went down to Water Gun, meaning Lanturn could win.

For Cleffa, the raw power of Mega Punch and Mega Kick was not enough. It had to first put its opponents to sleep with Sing so it could wail on them enough. Occasionally Cute Charm would also help. On attempt 5, i could get them to do nothing just often enough to get the win with 1 HP remaining. For its counterpart Igglybuff, things actually went better when i did not use sleep and instead just powered through. For Togepi, Hustle meant i had the power to take them down with Mega Punches, but it also meant more accuracy shenanigans than usual. It did eventually work though. Same goes for Togetic, who got it in one try.

Natu doesn't have the best moveset, getting Peck, Leer, Night Shade and Thief. For once, Rattata was a bigger problem than the starter, as Night Shade doesn't affect normal types and i had to resort to Peck. The many turns it took to take down Pidgeotto also led to many sand-attacks. Eventually though, i beat the rattata with enough health to Night Shade down the Squirtle as it kept using Withdraw. Xatu's pecks were more powerful, so it was more easily able to power through.

Flaaffy and Ampharos were able to get through with Thunder Wave and Mega Punch. For once, my paralysis strat actually paid off, and i could stay awake and outdamage the saur. Bellossom on the other hand was less blessed. She only had access to Absorb, Sweet Scent, Stun Spore and Magical Leaf. I had to paralyze them and hope they rarely attacked while i battered them with not very effective moves. At least i didn't have to deal with accuracy shenanigans. I actually got the luck i needed on attempt 3, where Pidgeotto went for several Sand-Attacks and Charmander never attacked me, allowing me to take them down.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Marill would set up a Defense Curl and then Rollout through Blue's entire team, as would Azumarill. Sudowoodo threw a rock at the Pidgeotto and could use Mega Punch to two-shot Bulbasaur; took only 2 tries. Politoed could put its foes to sleep and then Mega Punch them into oblivion.

Hoppip had a far harder time. Its typing meant a weakness to both Pidgeotto and Charmander, and it doesn't exactly have great stats. It did however get some good moves to deal with them. It would put its foes to sleep with Sleep Powder, then hit a few tail whips to lower their defense. Tackle then dealt damage, and i would use Synthesis after they got a hit in to heal back up. Unfortunately the shaky accuracy of Sleep Powder coupled with Sand-Attack meant this strategy was far from consistent. I also could not avoid putting Charmander in Blaze, at which point its embers would deal more than i could heal with synthesis. Eventually though, on attempt 8, lady luck smiled on us and we got the win. Skiploom also took 8 attempts with this strategy, but Jumpluff could make it work in just 3.

Aipom's STAB mega punches proved sufficient, bringing us to Sunkern. Sunkern is a grass type with terrible stats and no moves to make up for it. It gets Absorb, Growth, Mega Drain, Ingrain and Bullet Seed. These moves could not even get me past pidgeotto in the first five attempts, at which point i gave up. Sunflora at least had Pound to work with, but while Pound and Ingrain could often get me past Pidgeotto, i always fell to the Charmander that followed. Sunkern and Sunflora are out.

Wooper similarly stood no chance. Bulbasaur would always outspeed and one-shot me. Wooper is out. Quagsire however could outspeed and one-shot the saur with a crit Mega Punch. Espeon then used Confusion to make short work of its foes, but Umbreon had more trouble due to facing Bulbasaur. I ended up using a sand-attack to try and get him to miss, then i battered him down with Pursuit. This worked on attempt 2, meaning all of the eeveelutions are still in this race.

Murkrow pecked its foes to death, surviving with just 8HP and poison. Slowking also had an easy time, using Confusion to get past. Misdreavus's only consistent source of damage was Psywave, but this proved sufficient against both the foes that could actually hurt her. Unown's hidden powers also proved sufficient, especially because Squirtle decided not to attack me. That brings us to another interesting pokemon: Wobbuffet. Wobbuffet could counter and mirror coat down the Pidgeotto, Rattata and Squirtle easily enough, though for the latter i did have to predict whether it'd use tackle or water gun. Abra, on the other hand, posed a problem. It has no attacking moves for me to counter, so i ended up having to stall it out of Teleport PP. I could then counter its struggles, which got me the win with 9 HP remaining.

Girafarig then got a one-shot sweep with Stomp.

(forgot to hit "post reply" on this one, but fortunately the site had saved everything i had written)

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Forretress has an easier time than would be expected of a pokemon with a 4x fire weakness. Ember would deal about 3/4 of my HP, but i outsped and take down was a two-shot, so if i arrived at Charmander with enough HP, i could defeat it. This happened on my third try. It helps that Forretress resists all of Pidgeotto and Rattata's moves. Dunsparce would then Rock Tomb its foes into oblivion. That brings us to Gligar. Gligar could easily kill Pidgeotto with Rock Tomb, but trying to power through Squirtle was not a recipe for success. So instead, i would sand-attack its accuracy into oblivion, and then start spamming Thief to take it out. I could then harden to +6 against Abra and take out the Rattata.

Jasmine's boy Steelix could just rock throw its foes to death, and Snubbull and Granbull mega punched their way through; for the latter it was a one-shot sweep. For Qwilfish though, the strategy was to make myself unhittable. I would set up six minimizes against the Pidgeotto, then take it out. Abra was next, so i figured i might as well get in 6 hardens as well. From there, neither Bulbasaur nor Rattata could do anything, so i won easily.

Scizor shares Forretress's typing, but its movepool wasn't as great. Charmander was a range to 2-shot with quick attack, but i could tank one ember. On attempt three, Charmander opted for a growl rather than an ember on his first turn, allowing me to get the three-shot in. Blue's other pokemon could barely hurt me, so i won. Shuckle may have piss-poor offenses, but it was still able to two-shot Pidgeotto and three-shot Charmander with Rock Tomb while taking barely anything from their attacks. Heracross's 4x Flying weakness proved not to matter, as it could outspeed and OHKO Pidgeotto with a guts-boosted Rock Tomb. It then proceeded to sweep everyone else.

Sneasel was immune to Pidgeotto's accuracy shenanigans due to Keen Eye, and it could shut down Bulbasaur's shenanigans with Taunt, allowing it a rather straightforward victory with Quick Attack spam. Teddiursa would then power through with Mega Punch, while Ursaring went for Rock Tomb instead. Slugma however had a harder time. It easily disposed of Pidgeotto with Rock Throw, but it could not win the 1v1 against Squirtle. Squirtle would consistently outdamage me even if it often went for useless moves. My only hope of outdamaging him was to try and burn him with Ember and thus get more chip, but i could not get this strategy to work within 10 tries. Rock Throw also wouldn't work, as it barely did anything after a few withdraws, and Yawn did not keep him asleep long enough. Slugma is out. Magcargo may have a double weakness to water, but its higher stats meant that it could put Squirtle to sleep and kill it before it woke up.

Swinub could Powder Snow down the Pidgeotto and Rock Tomb down the Charmander. On attempt 1 though, i missed a Rock Tomb, allowing Charmander to get me down to 4 HP and allowing Rattata's Quick Attack to kill me. On attempt 2 though, everything went to plan. Piloswine however could execute this strategy to perfection on its first try. On to another pokemon i thought would be problematic. Corsola has a 4x weakness to Grass, but its STAB Hustle-boosted Rock Tomb proved powerful enough to 2-shot Bulbasaur. Helps that it went for poisonpowder on attempt 2. Remoraid however gets only Water Gun, Thief and Lock-On at this level, so its fights with Bulbasaur went about as well as you'd expect. Remoraid is out. Octillery also gets Constrict and Bullet Seed, which made all the difference you would expect. I tried both paralyzed and non-paralyzed, but i could not win. Octillery is out.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Mantine did not have an easy time. Its moveset of Bubblebeam, Supersonic, Bubble and Tackle got it past Pidgeotto, Rattata and Abra with ease, but i would run into trouble against Bulbasaur. If it got a Leech Seed off, then my chance of winning was basically zero. So i tried to confuse him and beat away at him, but this failed time after time. Finally though, on attempt 7, Bulbasaur decided not to use leech seed for some reason, and i was able to beat him down until i won. Skarmory may have a weakness to fire, but its pecks were still enough to easily take out the Charmander as well as the other guys. Houndour and Houndoom might have had a rough time if they wee up against Squirtle, but they were up against Bulbasaur, so they had an easy time.

Kingdra was in a similar boat to Mantine, carrying Bubble, Water Gun, Smokescreen and Leer. One leech seed and i was done for. So the strategy was to smokescreen his accuracy into oblivion and then beat away at him. This ended up working in attempt 4, where all his leech seeds missed and i grabbed the win. With Phanpy, i could Rock Tomb down the Pidgeotto, and Rock Tomb also outdamaged the Squirtle because it didn't always attack me. After squirtle though, i was left with very little HP, but because Abra was third, i could get in 6 defense curls to survive the Rattata. Donphan carried the more powerful Horn Attack, so it won with ease.

Porygon2 made it through with Psybeam, and Stantler's STAB tackles were enough, which brings us to Smeargle. Smeargle is always an interesting pokemon because it has to scavenge its moves from opponents you fight. I could not find the movesets for the Mt. Moon trainers online so i won't be carrying any of their moves. In the end, i sketched icicle spear and horn attack off misty's gym trainers, sing off the jugglypuff before mt. moon and sand-attack off of the rival's own pidgeotto. In the end, Sing and Horn Attack turned out to be all i needed. After this, Hitmontop easily Revenged his way through.

I think that whoever came up with the idea for Smoochum should be in jail, but i'm still giving the pokemon a fair shot. Its icy wind made short work of Pidgeotto, and it could deal with Charmander with a Mega Punch and a Mega Kick. Rattata would have killed me with two quick attacks, but he ended up getting frozen, allowing Smoochum to claim the win. Elekid could thunderpunch and mega punch past its foes, and its counterpart Magby did the same but with Fire Punch. That brings us to another pokemon i hate: Whitney's stupid cow. It got rock tomb to deal with both Pidgeotto and Charmander, so it unfortunately had an easy time. Blissey's attack may be hot garbage, but due to its sky-high HP and access to Softboiled, it was able to outlast its foes and chip them down with Mega Punch.

On to gen 2's legendaries. Raikou obviously got through Pidgeotto and Rattata with ease, but while it had Bite to deal with Bulbasaur, it was seeded and put to sleep, meaning it only had 7 HP left when the saur went down. Entei had an easier time as Squirtle tends to be more straightforward and doesn't even attack half the time, which leaves Suicune. Its moveset of Bite, Leer, Bubblebeam and Roar doesn't give many tools to deal with Bulbasaur's shenanigans, but luckily it went for poisonpowder on turn 1 rather than sleep powder. This meant i could just overpower it with Bite and grab myself the win.

Larvitar had all the cards stacked against him. It has a double weakness to Grass, and its only moves are Bite, Leer, Sandstorm and Screech. It cannot even make use of its ability Guts because it gets no physical moves. My only hope against Bulbasaur was to spam Bite and hope i got the flinches i needed to make it through. It took all ten attempts, but eventually i got the needed flinch luck. Pupitar was in much the same boat, except that its higher stats and Shed Skin meant that poison and sleep weren't an instant game over. It got the needed luck in attempt 3. Tyranitar on the other hand got access to Mega Punch as well as STAB Rock Tomb, so it won with ease.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Against Brock, Lugia and Ho-Oh had to make do with just Safeguard and Whirlwind, but now they have access to a third move: Roar. Yeah, these guys resorted to Struggle. This proved to not be an issue though; their legendary stats meant they were able to tank all the hits that came their way and survive even the struggle recoil. It didn't even matter that Ho-Oh was weak to Squirtle. Next battle, these two will have actual moves, so their struggles end here. Celebi doesn't get Bullet Seed for some reason, but its Confusion proved enough to get through its foes. Helped that he was up against Squirtle and not Charmander. Anyway, on to gen 3.

Treecko gets Rock Tomb, but its crappy stats, weakness to Pidgeotto and Charmander and accuracy shenanigans meant it took 6 tries to make it work. Charmander was a 2-shot, and while Pidgeotto did not go down in 2 hits, a followup Quick Attack sealed the deal. Rattata then went down to a Mega Punch and a Quick Attack. Grovyle used this same strat to win in 2 tries, due to a crit against me on try one. Sceptile also got bad luck on try 1 with a burn, but attempt 2 brought victory.

Torchic gets Rock Tomb for Pidgeotto, but the first few tries i got sand-attacked a bit too often, allowing Squirtle to dodge my mega punches and take me out. Eventually though, i got a crit on Pidgeotto for the one-shot and punched the squirtle to death. Rattata then went down to a Blaze-boosted Ember. Combusken and Blaziken had Double Kick to work with, so they got through much more easily.

Mudkip on the other hand had a rough time. Sure, it had Rock Tomb for the Pidgeotto, but it had nothing for the Bulbasaur that followed. My rock tombs dealt about a third to him, and he could just put me to sleep and kill me. Even if he did not put me to sleep, he'd do so much damage that Rattata's Quick Attack could finish me off. Maybe this could be won with a few lucky crits or lucky sleep powder misses, but i could not make this happen. Mudkip is out. Marshtomp however had a better chance, as its STAB Mud Shot could 2HKO the Bulbasaur. The moment Bulbasaur did something other than put me to sleep, i grabbed the win. Same thing for Swampert.

Poochyena's strategy was to use Roar to get Abra out, and then set up 6 Howls. +6 Attack was unfortunately not enough to OHKO Bulbasaur, but on attempt 8 an early wakeup allowed me to kill him anyway. Mightyena used the same strategy to get a one-shot sweep on try 1. Zigzagoon didn't need the Hidden Power TM it picked up; its Headbutts were strong enough. Same goes for Linoone. Beautifly on the other hand didn't have the easiest time with Pidgeotto. He outdamaged me, so i ended up going for Paralysis at the start to get him to not attack as often. After several tries, i managed to beat him with Gust, and the Charmander thereafter was a 2-shot, so i got through, only barely surviving Rattata's Quick Attack. Dustox does not get Stun Spore, all it could do was spam Confusion and hope the enemies got confused. This actually worked on attempt 3, where they hit themselves often enough to let me win.

Lotad's only real move was Nature Power turned Swift, which was a 4-shot on Pidgeotto so i had to hope he used enough sand-attacks for me to outdamage him. Even if i won, Bulbasaur would come after and usually put me to sleep, leading to my swift demise. After a few attempts though, i crit both the Pidgeotto and the Bulbasaur to get through to the Abra. I used Absorb on him to recover some of my health, so that i could safely Swift down the Rattata. Lombre gained one extra tool in Fake Out, which allowed me to deal some minor chip to Pidgeotto before Swifting him down. I don't know whether fake out made a difference, but either way i won on try 1. Ludicolo does not get Fake Out, but he does get Mega Punch, which he used to get the win.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Nuzleaf and Shiftry could use Rock Tomb to take out the Pidgeotto and Charmander, then they used Nature Power turned Swift to avoid accuracy issues against Rattata. Taillow and Swellow powered through with Guts-boosted Wing Attacks, bringing us to Wingull. Wingull's Keen Eye protects it from accuracy shenanigans, so it could get a growl in against Pidgeotto to avoid most big damage. It could then wing attack everyone else down, though the Bulbasaur at the end would sometimes get uppity with its sleep moves. Pelipper could obviously repeat that same strategy, even one-shotting the Bulbasaur.

Ralts could have played the evasion game with double team, but i opted to first see what would happen if i just spammed Confusion, which got me the win. I thus opted to repeat this with Kirlia and Gardevoir. Surskit on the other hand did not have an easy time. I thought it would be good for him that he would face Charmander rather than Bulbasaur, but in the first 5 attempts he never even made it that far. His only moves at this point are Bubble, Sweet Scent, Quick Attack, Water Sport and Thief, none of which did serious damage against Pidgeotto. Pidgeotto thus had the time to 3-shot me with ease. Even in the one attempt where i beat the Pidgeotto, i was so badly damaged that Rattata's Quick Attack finished me off. Surskit is out. Masquerain had this same garbage moveset, but it had much better stats as well as a much better ability in Intimidate. This allowed me to spam Quick Attack to kill the Pidgeotto every time. For Charmander, i would start with a Water Sport to weaken his Embers (never thought i'd ever use that move), then i'd Quick Attack him to death also. It took 4 attempts, but eventually i got past them with enough HP to tank Rattata's Quick Attack and two-shot with Quick Attacks of my own.

Shroomish also had a rough time. Its strategy was to hit a Leech Seed for some extra bulk and then to start Tackling, but the Charmander would consistently outdamage me even with Leech Seed recovery. Effect Spore also didn't help as they used no moves that made contact. In the end, i had to accept that this was hopeless. Shroomish is out. Breloom on te other hand could use Mega Punch and Mega Kick to sweep through its foes.

Slakoth may be a garbage pokemon that does nothing every other turn, but it was strong enough to one-shot all its foes with Mega Kick on the turns when it did move, so it made its way through. Vigoroth isn't so lazy so it obvs made its way through as well, and while Slaking does slack, its legendary-level stats made this a cakewalk. Nincada however had a less easy time. Fury Swipes could two-round both the Pidgeotto and the Charmander if the move decided to cooperate, but charmander could two-shot me back fom full health and we were speed-tied. There was a clear path to victory if lady luck allowed it, but she did not allow it within ten attempts. Nincada is out. Ninjask neededless luck, as it was not 2HKOd, and a high roll from Fury Swipes meant i could finish the foe with Scratch. This eventually worked out in attempt 9. I would then harden up against the Abra so i could tank a quick attack from Rattata. Whismur and its evolutions then mega punched their way through.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Makuhita and Hariyama swept through with Rock Tomb, and Azurill Slammed them down with its Huge Power, which brings us to Roxanne's boy Nosepass. Nosepass didn't really have any tools to deal with Bulbasaur, but Bulbasaur decided not to put us to sleep for some reason. Instead it missed a Poisonpowder and hit a vine whip for half. this allowed me to 3-shot him with Rock Throw. The other pokemon obviously posed no threat, so i won. Skitty's strategy was to get the enemies to not move, through a combination of Attract and Sing. This allowed her to get a few Tail Whips in, weakening them enough to take them out with DoubleSlap. Delcatty did not get Tail Whip, but it did not need it; in fact i did not even bother with sleep.

On to the Granite Cave crew. Sableye's Mega Punches proved enough to beat down the Pidgeotto and Bulbasaur, especially since i did not get put to sleep. Rattata can't hurt me, so that was a win. Mawile could two-shot both Pidgeotto and Charmander with Rock Tomb, but Charmander could also two-shot in return so hitting both my moves was essential. This happened in attempt 3 though, granting me the win. I noticed afterwards that i accidentally went in at level 17, but if she can win at that level, she can win at level 19 as well. Finally, Aron and its evolutions had the good fortune to be up against the Charmander team, so they could just Rock Tomb their way through.

Meditite and Medicham followed in Aron's footsteps and Rock Tombed their way through, but Electrike had more trouble. I'd get a few howls in and then spam Quick Attack against the Pidgeotto, but it took a few tries before i managed to get past this way. The Rattata thereafter was little issue, and i set up all 6 of my howls against the Abra before facing Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur was not a one-shot, but because he went for Poisonpowder and thus did not put me to sleep, i was able to get the two-shot. Not sure why i didn't use Howl to get Abra out early. Manectric has the same moves, so with him i did Roar Abra in and set up 6 Howls before quick-attacking everything. Plusle's Sparks swept through the first three pokemon, but Mega Punch did less than half on Bulbasaur and he put me to sleep. I was at almost full health at that point though, so i just woke up a little later and finished things with another mega punh followed by a quick attack.

Volbeat could play the accuracy game and spam double team; he was so unhittable that he did not even need Moonlight. Once i was at +6, my Mega Punches made short work of Blue's Team. Illumise does not get Double Team, but its Mega Punches proved enough in combination with Moonlight. Roselia also did surprisingly well. When i looked at its moveset and saw nothing to hit Flying or Fire for neutral damage, i thought this was hopeless, but a few Growths allowed me to outdamage both the Pidgeotto and Charmander with Mega Drain. Gulpin and Swalot could easily beat Pidgeotto with Sludge and then set up 3 Amnesias against Abra. Rattata went down to a Sludge as well, and i killed the Squirtle with Bullet Seed for shits and giggles.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Carvana could Bite its way through, though the crit against Bulbasaur certainly helped. Sharpedo got Rock Tomb for Pidgeotto and Bulbasaur missed his sleep powders, so he had an even easier time. With Wailmer, my strategy was to build up Rollouts against the Pidgeotto so as to easily kill the Bulbasaur; this did not work out exactly as planned, as i ended up missing a rollout vs pidgeotto and only being at the second stage of rollout when bulbasaur came out, but he went for leech seed which allowed me to kill him anyway and roll through the rest of the foes. It took Wailord a bit longer due to misses and being put to sleep, but eventually on try 3 i got the one-shot on the saur.

Numel had a surprisingly easy time. Rock Tomb took care of the pidgeotto, but while i had a double weakness to Squirtle, i could still tank one water gun. Since i outsped, i could use Magnitude twice, landing a magnitude 8 and a magnitude 10 for the win. My oran berry meant i could still tank one of Rattata's Quick Attacks, and it went down to a single magnitude. As for Camerupt, i will never know whether it could tank a Water Gun, as Squirtle went for Tail Whip instead. For Torkoal, the strat was less straightforward. White Smoke meant i was immune to accuracy strats, so pidgeotto was barely an issue and went down in a few embers. I could not outdamage the Squirtle though, so i settled on a strategy of dealing chip with Fire Spin while using Smokescreen to make myself unhittable. This worked out, and i got in 6 Curses against Abra to easily take out Rattata.

Spoink and Grumpig barreled through with Psybeam, and for Spinda Mega Punch was enough, which brings us to the Trapinch family. Trapinch's Rock Tombs made short work of Blue's team, except for Squirtle who went down to Faint Attacks. Vibrava and Flygon then repeated this strategy. For Cacnea however, there was no hope. Charmander outsped it, and could two-shot if i knocked him into Blaze range, which Mega Punch always did. I had no other moves that could deal any meaningful damage. I could have won had i crit the charmander, but that never happened. Cacnea is out. Cacturne however gets Mega Kick, which allowed it a one-shot sweep.

Swablu could have put its opponents to sleep with Sing, but i opted to first look what would happen if i used Fury Attack. This got me the win. Altaria had the good fortune to be up against Bulbasaur, so it had an even easier time. Zagoose would set up a Swords Dance and then Slash through the enemies, and while Seviper's tools aren't quite as insane, its STAB Poison Tail was still more than enough to deal with its foes. Solrock and Lunatone beat Pidgeotto with Rock Tomb and Bulbasaur with Confusion.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Barboach had Rock Tomb for Pidgeotto, but against Bulbasaur, all it could do was Magnitude and hope for a high roll. I needed a magnitude 10 or for him to miss a sleep powder. Unfortunately, the only time i got magnitude 10, it missed, and the only time he missed sleep powder, i got two very weak magnitudes and still lost. Barboach is out. That brings u to the cutest pokemon of all time: Whiscash. Whiscash fortunately only needed a magnitude 8, which he got on his first try. Everything else went down easily.

Corphish also gets Rock Tomb for Pidgeotto, but like Barboach and Whiscash, it had big troubles with Bulbasaur. My ViceGrip was a three-shot, but on attempt 3, Bulbasaur missed a sleep powder and i got a crit, allowing me to get past and sweep the team. Crawdaunt got this same moveset but could two-shot without a crit, so even though he ended up poisoned and seeded, he go the win. Baltoy and Claydol then made their way through with Rock Tomb and Psybeam.

On to te gen 3 fossils. Lileep does not get Rock Tomb for some reason; in fact its only moves were Constrict, Astonish, Acid and Bullet Seed. These are all weak moves and Lileep has no offensive stats to speak of, but the enemies did not deal a lot of damage in return either. Bulbasaur would however put me to sleep a lot; the only way for me to win was hope he missed a lot and Acid got a lot of defense boosts. If he got a leech seed off, it was over, and flinch strats with Astonish wouldn't work as we were speed tied. It took until attempt 7, but eventually i got the luck i needed to get Lileep past the rival. Cradily however got Ingrain, negating pretty much all damage they did to me and allowing for an easy win. Anorith did get Rock Tomb, and with that move, it could easily sweep, as could Armaldo.

Milotic however had a rougher time. Its only moves were Water Gun, Water Sport, Wrap and Refresh. I could not outdamage the Bulbasaur with these moves, and even in the few tries were i did get past the saur, i had only 2 or 3 HP left so Rattata could just finish me off. I tried going in with just enough Water Gun PP to kill the Pidgeotto so i'd strugge against the Bulbasaur, but with this strat, i'd never have enough HP to make it to the end. I didn't expect a great pokemon like Milotic to fall so early in this series, but it is what it is. Milotic is out. Castform had a much easier time, being able to Powder Snow down the Pidgeotto, Ember down the Rattata and Water Gun down the Charmander.

Kecleon could Rock Tomb his foes down, which brings us to the Mt. Pyre crew. Shuppet's only move that could damage the Pidgeotto was Thief, which dealt less than his gusts did to me. I could therefore only win if i endured a few Sand-Attacks. This meant my Night Shades were very inaccurate against Squirtle, so even if he wasted a lot of time with Withdraw, i usually still got killed. Eventually though, in attempt 7, i got all my night shades to hit while Squirtle just wasted time. Blue's rattata can't hit ghosts, so this was a victory. Banette could however outdamage the bird, so i easily won on attempt one. I even have enough HP to curse the Rattata, just for shits and giggles. Duskull would have been in the same boat as Shuppet if it wasn't for one move: disable. This allowed it to neutralize Squirtle's only move that could hurt me (Water Gun), and allowed me to just wail on him. Dusclops however got Rock Tomb, making outdamaging Pidgeotto a lot easier. Tropius made it through with Stomp after a few tries, and last of the Mt. Pyre crew is Chimecho, who easily powered through with Confusion. (Tropius is an honorary Mt. Pyre pokemon due to its pokedex placement)

Absol was able to shut down Bulbasaur's shenanigans with Taunt, and a crit against said saur led to an easy victory.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Wynaut may get the same tools as Wobbuffet, but it does not get the same HP stat. Even in tries where everything went perfect and i never missed a counter or mirror coat, i did not have the HP to counter them to death. Abra would always survive with a sliver left. Wynaut is out. For Snorunt, Icy Wind could take care of the Pidgeotto, and while Charmander had the type advantage, i got a headbutt flinch against him which allowed me to outdamage and get the kill with enough HP left to deal with Rattata. Glalie didn't need a flinch; it was powerful enough by itself.

On to gen 3's many late-game water types, starting with Spheal. Spheal was up against the Charmander team, so it could just Powder Snow down the Pidgeotto and water gun down the Charmander. This obviously worked for its evolutions as well. Clamperl however was in a rougher spot. The only moves it gets are Clamp, Water Gun, Whirlpool and Iron Defense. Obviously these moves could not dent Bulbasaur, especially since i just discovered Clamp and Whirlpool don't stack. Bulbasaur would always just put me to sleep and kill me, if e didn't just kill me outright. I also tried with Struggle, but this also did not work. Clamperl is out. With Huntail, i know i could have won if i hadn't gotten luck-screwed in every single attempt. I could easily kill Pidgeotto with Rock Tomb, and Rock Tomb was a two-shot on Bulbasaur. I had good enough stats to survive a few vine whips, so a miss with sleep powder or even an early wakeup would mean i win. I did get an early wakeup sometimes, but whenever this happened, i just missed my rock tomb and got killed anyway. I know this is possible, but due to extreme bad luck, Huntail is out. That means it's up to Gorebyss to bring the family honour. She gets confusion and did not get extremely luck-screwed, so she made it through in a few attempts.

Relicanth surprisingly got a first-try victory despite its double grass weakness. its Rock Tomb was a two-shot against the Bulbasaur and Bulbasaur could not two-shot me in return, so an early wakeup from Sleep Powder meant i could kill it. Everything else was a one-shot with Rock Tomb. Luvdisc however wasn't so lucky. It gets just Tackle, Water Gun, Charm and Agility, so it could not put a dent in Bulbasaur at all. Luvdisc is out.

That means it's time for the gen 3 pseudo-legendaries. Bagon gets Headbutt and Rock Tomb, so neither it nor its evolutions ran into any trouble. Beldum on the other hand did have problems. Its only move is Take Down, so because of the recoil, i would always faint by the time i reached Rattata if Charmander didn't manage to finish me. Beldum is out. Metang however gets Rock Tomb, which meant it could easily kill all of its foes with that. Same for Metagross.

Time to finish up with Hoenn's legendaries. Latias's only damaging move was Psywave, but it had Wish to heal up and Safeguard to shut down Bulbasaur's shenanigans, so it won on try 1. Latios gets Memento instead of Wish, which is obviously not helpful, but it fortunately didn't need healing as the enemies dealt very little damage. Kyogre's AncientPower made short work of Pidgeotto, and its STAB Rain-boosted Water Pulses proved enough to two-shot Bulbasaur. I did get put to sleep, but i easily tanked the supereffective vine whips, so he died when i woke up. Groudon had a similarly easy time, killing the bird with Ancientpower and the rest with Mud Shot. Rayquaza ancientpowered and twistered, Jirachi overpowered everyone with Confusion, and finally, both Deoxys-Attack and Deoxys-Defense powered through with Rock Tomb.

And there we have it. Of the 352 pokemon that made it to the Cerulean rival, 320 made it through while 32 faltered. Next up will be the SS Anne rival. I thought Misty would be next, but apparently the SS Anne rival has a lower level cap than her so we're facing him first.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

Time to move on to the SS Anne rival.

For this fight, we will have access to all items and TMs available before fighting either the SS Anne rival or Misty. Since our last fight, we have gone up Nugget Bridge and into the grass to the west, where we got a Twistedspoon off a wild Abra. From there, we headed east, luring Camper Flint away in order to get TM43 Secret Power. We save Bill and get the SS Ticket, then we headed back to Cerulean. We forget to fight the gym and instead head through the burgled house, beating the Rocket Grunt and getting TM28 Dig. We head down Route 5 and through the tunnel to Route 6, where we find a hidden Sitrus Berry on the ground. Once we arrive in Vermillion, we head straight for the SS Anne, and start exploring the ship. During these explorations, we find a Pecha Berry, a Cheri Berry, a Chesto Berry, TM44 Rest and TM31 Brick Break.

When we head to see the captain though, we run into our rival again. So let's look at what pokemon he is carrying this time. Blue leads off with his level 19 Pidgeotto, carrying the moves Tackle, Gust, Sand-Attack and Quick Attack. This is the same moveset as last time, so i don't expect this foe to be tougher than in the past. What will be tougher is Blue's level 16 Raticate. It has actual moves this time, carrying Tackle, Tail Whip, Quick Attack and Hyper Fang. Hyper Fang is really strong, and Quick Attack can often finish off pokemon with little HP left, so i expect this to pose much more of a challenge than Rattata. It has the ability Guts like last time, so i should avoid paralyzing, burning or poisoning it. The biggest upgrade though is that Blue has evolved his Abra to Kadabra, which is now level 18 and carries Teleport, Confusion, Disable and Kinesis. Kadabra's Confusions will undoubtedly hit hard, and it can also screw around by disabling my main attacking moves. It also has synchonize, meaning status is dangerous here too. Blue's ace will depend on my pokemon's type, and will be at level 20, putting my level cap at level 22. Crarmeleon will carry the moves Smokescreen, Growl, Ember and Metal Claw, so there's now 2 mons on his team that will pull accuracy strats. Wartortle has Withdraw, Bite, Bubble and Water Gun. He will probably still be the easiest to face, though the added coverage from Bite will prove challenging to some pokemon. Ivysaur has Sleep Powder, PoisonPowder, Leech Seed and Vine Whip. This is the same moveset as before, but Ivysaur himself is tougher than Bulbasaur, having higher stats and all that.

Like last time, Grass, Bug, Steel, Ice, Fighting and Normal types will face the Charmeleon team, Fire, Poison, Ground, Psychic and Ghost types will face the Wartortle team and Water, Rock, Electric, Dark and Dragon types will face the Ivysaur team.

Bulbasaur may have a type disadvantage against three of my opponent's pokemon, but he still managed to use the rival's own strategy against him. I would put my opponents to sleep, seed them and then start spamming Secret Power, or Razor leaf if that wasn't not very effective. I had defeated the Pidgeotto, Kadabra and Charmeleon before my Sitrus Berry even activated. Of course, it helped that Kadabra wasted time by disabling Secret Power rather than attacking me. Ivysaur and Venusaur could obviously reproduce these results.

Charmander had a rougher time, i experimented a bit with smokescreening the wartortle versus just powering through, but it would constantly outdamage and kill me. Eventually though, i got an attempt where he just kept using Withdraw, allowing me to hit a few mega punches and mega kicks to get myself the win. Raticate and Kadabra easily went down thereafter, the latter to a single Mega Kick. Charmeleon and Charizard are stronger, so they could just power through their foes with ease.

Squirtle may have been up against Ivysaur, but i now have tools to deal with Ivysaur. Mega Kick was a range to two-shot, so with the help of a Chesto Berry to stay awake, i was able to kill it in a few tries. Raticate did some serious damage thereafter, but Kadabra just kept missing Disable, allowing me to kill him and get the win. Wartortle and Blastoise are strictly better versions of Squirtle, so they could power through the foes in one attempt each.

Butterfree's CompoundEyes gave it more accurate sleep powders, allowing me to put the enemies to sleep and beat away at them to once again prove how broken Sleep is. Which brings us to a family reunion. Pidgeot is far stronger than its younger sibling, and it gets access to Secret Power, allowing me to easily sweep through the enemy's team. Rattata is weaker than its older brother, but unlike my rival, i can go in poisoned. Thus, Guts-boosted Hyper Fangs tore through his team. Raticate was also easily able to win the mirror match, overpowering Blue's Raticate and Hyper Fanging through the rest of the team as well.

Fearow easily powered through with Secret Power, bringing us to Ekans. For Ekans, Kadabra was a massive problem as his confusions dealt a lot of damage and would instantly get me to sitrus berry range, and though i often could get past him because he likes to waste time disabling Secret Power, i would generally fall to the Raticate that followed. In the winning attempt though, Kadabra missed his disable and i got a crit Bite on turn one, allowing me to kill the kadabra without taking damage. Raticate did get a Hyper Fang in, but Wartortle just kept withdrawing, allowing me to kill it and get the win. Arbok outsped and crit the Kadabra, allowing it to win with ease.

On to the fourth Kanto starter. Pikachu still has access to double team, which it would use 6 times against the Pidgeotto before using Thundershock, Brick Break and Secret Power to get through. Raichu does not get Double Team, but its Thunderbolts proved strong enough to just power through. That brings us to another rodent, Sandslash. Sandslash finally has a STAB move to work with, so after Rock Tombing down the Pidgeotto, i could spam Dig to beat all the other enemies. Getting a crit against Wartortle also didn't hurt.