Challenge [Complete] Faster Than You Know – A Slow Speedrun of Sword

[Suspicious Derivative]

Introduction​

Welcome to the world of slow speedrunning. And to this challenge. I have had this idea for a long while but I decided to wait with starting it until now. My “summer vacation” (so to say) has started… but not for real as I am still going to work for a few more weeks. Though I will have more free time now compared to earlier during the year. So I should (hopefully) have enough time to play through this Challenge. I have never done a Speedrun before, nor any other form of Challenge or Let’s Play, so I am a bit inexperienced. But everyone must start somewhere. And I choose to start here!

I want to give a shoutout and big thanks to green_typhlosion since he is the one who gave me inspiration to do this, this is all thanks to his own unique and creative challenges. Though I should mention that I did not get the idea of using music in my posts from him, that was something I had already thought of before reading his Letterlocke Challenge (and besides, the name of this Challenge is taken from a song). Most of the music I include here won’t be related to Pokémon, but it will all be related to this Challenge in some way.


Why Sword? Why not any other game? I mean, Sword sucks… right?

No. An unpopular opinion of mine is that I really like Sword. Even more with the DLC. Despite dexit and other issues, the game is a ton of fun to play. But there are many other reasons too. Since I am playing on the Switch, I can use the screenshot button to save pictures directly instead of having to use a camera. I can also start a new game without having to erase my old file, thanks to how profiles work on the Switch. I had thought about replaying the main story of Sword for a while, and I might as well combine it with a challenge to make it a bit more interesting! Another unpopular opinion is that I like Sword better than L:A (those two are the only Pokémon games on the Switch that I own). I also played through L:A rather recently and there is no way I am ever playing through it again. The game is fun but it has basically zero replayability in my eyes. And the actual battles in Sword are fun, which I can’t say for the battles in L:A. So that’s why.


A slow Speedrun? What does that even mean?

I am usually a slow player, both when it comes to Pokémon and other video games. I dislike rushing through games. I like to take things slowly, play at my own pace and enjoy everything without thinking that I must beat the game as quickly as possible. It hasn’t always been that way though. I used to play very quickly when I was a kid. I remember that I beat all 16 gyms in Crystal in about 16 hours of gameplay on one of my playthroughs of that game. I also beat 6 Gyms in Sapphire in one day when I played through it. But that was long ago. Things have changed since then. Since I play through the games slowly nowadays, I think a Speedrun will be challenging for me.

It took me over 40 hours to beat the main game of Sword in my first playthrough of the game. Looking at the world records for Speedruns of S/S, they are all at around 4 hours. There’s no way I can play through the game that quickly. So I will set my goal a bit lower (or higher, depending on how you look at it).

Previously, I have played through the main game of Sword once. It was in Nov/Dec 2019, when the game was new. I also played through both DLC packs when they were released. But I haven’t played the game that much afterwards. I haven’t played it seriously since June last year, and before going back to it to check some things yesterday, I hadn’t played it at all since October. I have forgotten a lot about the game, though I still remember some things. I looked up some things before starting this challenge, but far from everything. I haven’t planned everything in super deep detail. So I am not exactly going in blind, more like with sunglasses on. I could look up everything beforehand to make it easier, but this is a challenge after all and I think it will be more fun this way. There might even be some surprises along the way, who knows?

I will be skipping cutscenes and most of the story parts despite the fact that I am one of the few who actually liked the story in Sword. This run will mostly focus on gameplay over story, but some story elements will still be talked about. I am planning to do both the main game and the Isle of Armor.


Why the Isle of Armor?

The reason is that when you get Kubfu, it is at level 10 even if you play through the IoA story during the post-game (I learned this the hard way during my first playthrough). Since the opponents in the Towers are at low levels during the main game but higher during the post-game, I decided to do the IoA story alongside the main game. Plus, I enjoyed the IoA story as well. And playing the IoA means we will get to see a lot of Klara! I am planning to do some of the big things in the post-game as well (notably several things in the Crown Tundra, an area which I won’t be visiting during the main game). Those who choose to follow this challenge will also get to decide on some things for me regarding the post-game. But we’ll get there eventually, one thing at a time.

I am also going to use legendaries. Though I honestly don’t think they will be all that helpful. I won’t get Urshifu until after the mid-game I think (and even so, I’m not sure how much I will be using it), and Eternatus only shows up towards the end of the game. I won’t catch any more legends than those two during the main game. In addition to that, I will also do things differently compared to my main playthrough of the game for the most part. How exactly will things be different? I will explain along the way.

My goal is to beat the main story and the main Isle of Armor story (I consider the main IoA story beaten when I have evolved Kubfu into Urshifu), in less than 11 hours. I thought a lot about how much time I should aim for. 10 hours felt too short but 15 felt too much. I was then planning to have less than 12 hours as the goal, but I changed it to less than 11 to make it a little more challenging. Maybe it will be too much, maybe it won’t be enough, I won’t know until I am done with the challenge. Of course, the faster the better, so if I can complete this challenge in 9 or even 8 hours, then that’s just fantastic. If it should take longer than 11 hours to complete, then I consider the challenge to be a failure, but I will still complete it. How long it takes me in real life doesn’t matter though. It will probably take a few weeks depending on how things go, we’ll see.

The challenge will start tomorrow. See you then!

---
​

Edit: Added an idea from green_typhlosion. People are welcome to place their bets and guess long they think it will take me to complete the main game!
The one who gets the closest will win a prize!

Bets so far:

PyProd - 11:00 (bet made on June 13th)
green_typhlosion - 10:13 (bet made on June 12th)
guys the ret - 10:00 (bet made on June 13th)
Total Clefairy - 9:30 (bet made on June 12th)

The main game challenge ended at 8:27, so Total Clefairy became the winner!

 

[Worldie]

It took me over 40 hours to beat the main game of Sword in my first playthrough of the game. Looking at the world records for Speedruns of S/S, they are all at around 4 hours. There’s no way I can play through the game that quickly. So I will set my goal a bit lower (or higher, depending on how you look at it).

To be fair as speedrunner myself... it's not like you'd find such things "fun", all speedrun do is overbuff a single poke with X-items and roll over the game, OR if you use DLCs, rush toward Dynamax Den, grab a level 65 pokemon... and stomp the game from there.

That said, good luck in your playthrough, have fun with the cuddly bear :3

 

[QuentinQuonce]

This sounds fun, nice idea! Will be watching with interest.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

To be fair as speedrunner myself... it's not like you'd find such things "fun", all speedrun do is overbuff a single poke with X-items and roll over the game, OR if you use DLCs, rush toward Dynamax Den, grab a level 65 pokemon... and stomp the game from there.

That said, good luck in your playthrough, have fun with the cuddly bear :3

I read that you automatically continue with the Crown Tundra even if you lose against Peony, allowing you to catch strong Pokémon at the Max Lair. I can see such a strategy being great for serious speedruns, but it feels a bit cheap for me so I won't do it. As for overbuffing a single Pokémon... I won't be doing exactly that as I am going to use several, we'll see how it turns out in the end though.

And thank you! Not sure how much I will actually use Kubfu before evolving it, we'll see.

This sounds fun, nice idea! Will be watching with interest.

Thank you! I hope you will like this, I will try to make it entertaining and interesting.

And now, it is time for the challenge to begin.

I mostly wrote the gameplay parts in first person, and the story parts in third person. Let me know if you think this works or if it is confusing (in that case, I’ll won’t do it in future posts).

I also ended up focusing more on the story than I had planned. Maybe I’ll just have a sort of even focus between gameplay and story in the end. The game also feels more story-heavy than I remembered it.

Part 1: Romance Dawn​

I boot up my Switch and create a new profile. Never done this before and I wasn’t sure which icon and color to choose (why are there no Pokémon icons?) but I eventually settle for some that seem nice. I start Sword with my new profile.

I choose language (English, obviously), then I get to select gender and name for my character. I am going to play as the girl since I played as the boy in my main playthrough. But what should her name be? Hmm… How about a name that it really cute and adorable, yet also potentially disturbing and disgusting?

Perfect.​

Kiss me kill me but I love this name!

After that, we get to the introduction. Rose introduces us to the world of Pokémon! This is one of the scenes in the game which would really benefit from voice acting… He sends out a Cufant and it is so adorable! I want one! I guess I’ll catch one later, or maybe I’ll just catch a Copperajah directly… We’ll see. Rose also talks about the exhibition match between Leon and Raihan, but we don’t get to see that.

But Leon is still as cool as always.​

When the introduction is over, Elsanna finds herself in her room and Hop comes to visit. Second best rival in the game, by the way. I like this guy a lot. Hop reveals that Leon is coming home and that he will be giving Elsanna a present! And one for Hop too. He runs away and I can start playing.

First of all, time to change some settings to make things go faster.

Text Speed: Fast
This is what I usually go with when playing the games, so it won’t be different from what I am used to.

Battle Effects: Off
I usually keep battle effects on when playing through the main story, but then I turn them off at some point during the post-game, always before I start battling in Battle Facilities. But now they will be off during the entire game. Not that I care, the important thing for me in Pokémon is the results of the battle, not how the battles look.

Battle Style: Set
This on the other hand will be very different as I usually play on Shift. It might make some battles harder but it will make things go by faster so that will be great.

Autosave: Off
Because I want to save when I want to (as opposed to when the game wants to) and I really want to avoid that glitch tied to autosave where the game can ruin your SD card.

Skip Movies: On
From what I have understood, the way skipping cutscenes work in the game is a bit weird. The game basically auto-skips all major cutscenes instead of letting you choose which ones you want to skip. But that’s okay for this run.

One setting which I don’t change is whether to give nicknames or not. I choose to keep the option to give nicknames since I will not catch a lot of Pokémon, and I want to nickname the few I actually catch and use. They will get short nicknames, 5 characters at most.

With that done, it is about time to get started for real. Elsanna grabs her hat and bag and heads out!

But first, let me take a selfie.​

She also decides to record the start of her journey. Actually, there’s no time for that! Clock is ticking!

And now, the adventure begins! Here’s some really adventurous music to kick it off.

Elsanna checks her bag and finds out that she already has the Armor and Tundra Passes, nice! No Poké Balls yet, but that’s okay. Outside, a Wooloo is trying to break the gate to the Slumbering Weald… why in the world would it want to do that? But we don’t have time to stop it. Elsanna heads over to Hop’s house but Leon isn’t there! The two friends go to the station in Wedgehurst to get him. Leon is there and the three head back to Hop’s house. As promised, Leon has a present for the young trainers. They will get to pick a Pokémon! The game skips the starter showcase cutscene and Elsanna gets to pick first.

The starter we’re going with is Sobble. The reasons being that it is my second favorite Galar starter, I had always planned to pick it if I were to play through Sword again. It also seems to be the main choice for Speedruns (at least the ones I have glanced at), so that’s another reason. Though I will admit that I haven’t really looked into why it is picked for Speedruns. I later check the stats for Sobble and see that it has a Relaxed Nature, which isn’t very good. But it will have to do! I nickname it 007 since it will evolve into James Bond later on, and Sobble is #007 in the Galar Dex. Sobble will be the main member of the team and likely the one I use the most, but it will not be the only one I use.

Welcome to the team!​

Hop decides to pick Scorbunny, which is a good choice as it is my favorite Galar starter… and the fact that he has it will make it easier to win against him! Which is just what happens next. It is time for the first battle between Hop and Elsanna!

007 manages to 3HKO his Wooloo with Tackle, grows to level 6 and learns Water Gun, which it then uses to 2HKO his Scorbunny. An easy battle. Leon says we have to go to the Professor to get Pokédexes for ourselves, but it seems to be a good idea for Elsanna to go home and say goodbye to her dear mother before continuing on the journey.

Upon arriving at her house, it appears that the Wooloo which previously tried to break the gate to the Slumbering Weald has succeeded in doing so. Hop is worried about the Wooloo, so he heads into the Weald and Elsanna follows him. She gets to battle some wild Pokémon (I guess they can’t be avoided, it didn’t feel so at least). But that’s great since it means we get some extra Exp.

The fog gets deeper further into the woods, and at the end, Elsanna and Hop encounter a mysterious wolf-like creature which looks like it has been damaged in battle.

I, the messenger of loss, have traveled at a cost…​

It challenges Elsanna to a battle but 007 is unable to damage it and the fog keeps getting deeper and deeper… eventually, Elsanna and Hop pass out. They wake up, wondering what in the world just happened. Leon arrives to rescue them and the Wooloo, thankfully.

The gang leaves the Weald, and the gate gets fixed. Hopefully no more Wooloo will try to break it. Now, where were we headed? To get Pokédexes from the professor, that’s it! Hop and Elsanna head out to Route 1. The main path is now blocked by some Wooloo, so Elsanna has to go through the grass. She somehow magically has some Poké Balls in her bag, so she catches a Rookidee, which will be the second member of the team. I nickname it Free, which is a reference to… something. It has a Quiet Nature which isn’t very good. It is funny how both of the Pokémon I have caught so far have Natures which lower their Speed, I guess it is somehow suitable for a slow speedrun.

Elsanna arrives at Wedgehurst again, heading to the Lab together with Hop. They meet Leon again, and Professor Sonia! Or rather future Professor Sonia.

A pleasure to meet you too. When shall we get married?​

Sonia gives them Pokédexes, which is neat. She tells them to go visit the Professor in her house. Before going any further, Elsanna picks up a Rare Candy next to the lab. My natural instincts tell me to explore every corner and detail of the city (that’s what I usually do in Pokémon games), but I do my best to suppress them and I actually succeed! The Pokémon Center can’t be skipped, though. Hop informs about it and offers to show how it works, but Elsanna declines in order to save time. She buys some Potions and Revives before leaving. Unexpected that you can buy Revives this early, but that’s just fine. We leave the Pokémon Center and head out to Route 2.

Here, Leon appears again and gives Elsanna a ton of Poké Balls. He thinks we should catch lots of Pokémon to complete our Pokédexes… but he will be very disappointed since that won’t happen for at least one of us. Elsanna travels down through Route 2, battling the three trainers here, including a Lass which could probably have been skipped. Since Elsanna was in such a hurry, she forgot to heal at the Pokémon Center before going out here, leaving her team in a pretty bad shape! Thankfully, she has Potions to heal them with.

The duo arrives at the Professor’s House and meet Professor Magnolia. Hop wants an endorsement for the Champion’s Cup, Leon promises to give one to him and Elsanna if they can show him a great battle! So it is fight time again.

Elsanna manages to beat Hop again, all of his Pokémon are easily 2HKO’d by 007. After that, two Wishing Stars fall from the sky, Professor Magnolia makes Dynamax bands out of them and gives to the two young trainers.

Next up, it is back to Wedgehurst for the third time! You have to go back and forth to it quite a few times during the game. Upon arriving, Elsanna decides to waste some time and money at the clothing store since she has a massive interest in fashion. With her new clothes and a big hole in her wallet, it is off to the station!

I forgot to take a picture directly afterwards, so this is from a somewhat later point. I like the default design for the girl in S/S, but I think customization can make her look even better. I will change her outfit many times during the game, will probably not post all of them though.​

Elsanna and Hop travels to the Wild Area… but Elsanna has other plans. Before going any further with the main story, there’s one thing that I really want to do on the Isle of Armor. Elsanna immediately goes back to Wedgehurst and meets an unnamed cute young woman with pink hair. A Slowpoke appears from the Isle of Armor, and it seems like it must be caught in order to proceed.

Hey guys. Is it still 2021 or did I oversleep?​

Elsanna does her best to catch the beast, but it turns out to be harder than expected! On the first attempt, the Slowpoke just won’t stay in the ball and it manages to defeat 007, so Elsanna runs from it to heal at the Pokémon Center. This Slowpoke is also quite strong as it is at level 12, higher than both 007 and Free at this point.

Elsanna then tries again and it goes a bit better even if it is still hard. After being damaged to the point that it is at exactly 1 HP, the Slowpoke eventually stays in the Poké Ball. I nickname it Quick since that is a contradiction just like this whole challenge. It has a Relaxed Nature which is suitable for Slowpoke… and it continues the trend of the team members having Natures which lower their Speed!

Now, to the Isle of Armor!

…except it is not possible yet because it seems you need to actually enter the main Wild Area first. Guess I should have done that while I was still there. Elsanna heads back to the Wild Area, talks to Hop a little and Sonia appears again, giving out the Box Link which is cool but it won’t be used much for this challenge.

Then it is back to Wedgehurst, and we can finally go to the Isle of Armor.

This place is really great. I am a big fan of the DLC areas of S/S, and the DLC on the whole for that matter.​

Upon arriving, a scientist gives me the Pokédex for the Isle of Armor. Neat. Elsanna encounters the pink-haired woman again, who introduces herself as Klara! She also happens to be the best rival in the game and one of the best rivals in the entire series if you ask me. Here’s a video which explains why she is so great:

Klara challenges Elsanna to a battle, and there’s no other way to proceed.

Dear in the headlights.​

007 manages to 3HKO her Venipede with Water Pulse, but takes heavy damage along the way. However, it grows to level 12 afterwards and learns Water Pulse, so that’s great. I consider switching out to Free or Quick against Klara’s Slowpoke, but I decide to let 007 stay in. The result was definitely not what I had expected. Water Pulse does around 40%, Slowpoke gets confused and hits itself. Water Pulse for another 40%, Slowpoke hits itself in confusion again and faints!

This is a Speedrun after all, so you better keep up the pace!​

After such a humiliating defeat, Klara orders Elsanna to ignore the Master Dojo, she then runs away. But we’re not going to obey her. Elsanna proceeds to the Master Dojo, picking up Watts from 2 active Dens along the way. Going through the Wild Areas in the game without the Bike is a bit of a chore, but there’s no other choice right now. Thankfully the Dojo is quite close to the station.

At the Dojo, we are introduced to the boss of the Dojo boss: Honey, who allows us to enter. Inside, all the others at the Dojo meet us and Hyde gives Elsanna the Exp. Charm. This was the one thing I wanted from the Isle of Armor at this point. It will allow the team to get more Exp. and thus grow faster. Mustard wants to battle Elsanna to see if she is worthy, but that won’t happen right now. I know he has a Shinx which is going to be a bad matchup for me now as I have two team members weak to Electric. Since the game does not force you to do the battle (unlike with Klara), we leave the Dojo for now.

Elsanna picks up the Expert Belt west of the Dojo and gives it to 007 for the time being. On the way back to the Station, she spots a Chansey in the tall grass! This can’t just be ignored. I battle it with Free and the team gets a lot of Exp! I also let 007 defeat a wild Rockruff for some more Exp. Then it is back to the station and the main Wild Area.

Once more, going through a Wild Area without a Bike isn’t very fun. Thankfully this is the last time I will have to do that. Elsanna picks up watts from two nearby dens along the way, then arrives at Motostoke! Sonia meets up, invites her to the Pokémon Center where she talks about League Cards and the Opening Ceremony.

…

And that’s where I decided to stop for today. I could have gone further, but I don’t want this to go by too quickly. It is a Slow Speedrun, after all. I also think I spent more time writing on this post than playing the game. But that’s fine since writing this turned out to be a lot of fun! Maybe I included too many pictures today, might try to cut down on them from here on… but it is hard since there is a lot I want to show!

Team:

Time: 1:06

I think my progress today was pretty good. I made it quite far in just a little over one hour! I failed against Slowpoke and when trying to go to the Isle of Armor, those two things cost a bit of unnecessary time. Other than that, things have been going as planned so far.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Going to put a bet in and guess that it'll take you... 10 hours, 13 minutes to complete this. (Everyone else should guess and whoever comes closest to the final result gets a prize of some description.)

 

[BIG ASHLEY]

9:30 on the nose

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Going to put a bet in and guess that it'll take you... 10 hours, 13 minutes to complete this. (Everyone else should guess and whoever comes closest to the final result gets a prize of some description.)

What a fun idea! Why didn't I think of this? Because I was too focused on other things related to the challenge, that's why.

I added the bets from you and Total Clefairy to the first post. Everyone else, feel free to make your bets as well! As you suggested, whoever gets the closest should win a prize... I need to come up with something good. Should it be something related to the challenge or something else? Tell me what you want to win!

In the meantime, the challenge continues.

Part 2: Life@Style​

Elsanna exits the Pokémon Center and meets Sonia again, she talks more about the Opening Ceremony. Elsanna continues towards the lift to the upper level of the city… is that a clothing store to the right? Elsanna enters and changes her outfit a little again, but not much since she is seriously running short on money and it might be a wise idea to save it for something better at this point. She is then stopped by Leon who gives her a Mystic Water. I give it to 007 while Free gets the Expert Belt instead.

Elsanna meets up with Hop and they go to the Gym to register for the Gym Challenge. Now, to pick a number. I go with 649 since I can’t think of anything better. They continue to the Budew Drop Inn where they encounter Team Yell! Those guys are a bit annoying but easy to beat in battle. One of the battles is a multi battle together with Hop. Afterwards, Marnie appears.

Despite her edgy look, she is a happy and kind person.​

She is the third best rival in the game, but one edge she has over Klara and Bede is her kick-ash Battle theme. We don’t get to battle her yet though. Which is good since Morpeko could potentially steamroll the team at this point.

Next up, it is time for the Opening Ceremony. Back to the Gym and… the cutscene gets skipped. Elsanna leaves and outside, a member of the league staff is kind enough to give her the ability to Fly with Corviknight taxis! Really nice. This will be useful later on.

Now, it is on to Turffield for the first Gym! As Elsanna leaves Motostoke, she is challenged by Hop to a battle!

He turns out to be easy, 007 manages to defeat his entire team with ease. Afterwards, 007 evolves into Drizzile! Really nice. Hop runs off and Elsanna continues as well. Out to Route 3 where the Gossifleur are flying around. She manages to avoid all wild Pokémon and all but one trainer. Then it is time for the first Galar Mine and it is mostly the same there, it is longer than I remember but it still goes quickly to get through the place. It only contains one mandatory trainer to beat. At the end of the mine, Elsanna encounters Bede.

This guy talks big but he overestimates himself quite a lot.​

Worst rival in the game if you ask me. But he is still a quite good character, which says something about the quality of the rivals in this game. He is quite easy to beat as 007 manages to OHKO or 2HKO all of his team members. After this battle, Free evolves into Corvisquire! The team is getting stronger. I feel a bit sad for Quick though since it won’t be able to evolve in quite a while…

Elsanna continues out to Route 4. She manages to avoid all trainers and all wild Pokémon despite being chased by some wild Electrike, while picking up some items (notably a hidden Rare Candy). As she is about to enter the city, a Wooloo tackles right into her, knocking her out… thankfully not. It is owned by the Gym Leader Milo, who introduces himself and invites Elsanna to the Gym.

And now, we are finally at Turffield! Before going to the Gym, Elsanna is forced to go and talk to Sonia about the Darkest Day. After that, it is off to the Gym. Hop is standing outside, he has already beaten it. That was quick, he should do a speedrun too! Elsanna enters and the Gym Challenge can start. One of the main reasons I caught Free was to use for this Gym since 007 is weak to Grass. So I’m leading with it. Since it is a Grass-type Gym, have some Grass-type music to go along with that. A criminally underrated song which I am a huge fan of.

The challenge is to chase Wooloo across the fields, and it is quite easy… but a little harder since I am doing it on time! It didn’t go perfectly but I still got it done quite quickly. Had to face one of the trainers but managed to avoid the others. After that, it is time for the Gym Leader, the man without a nose, Milo!

I am a bit underleveled as Free is only at level 18. But I think it will work anyway. Hone Claws twice, then Dynamax and Free OHKO’s his Gossifleur with Max Airstream. He follows up with Eldegoss, it Dynamaxes as well, but Free scores another OHKO with Max Airstream. That was easy and quick, just like I wanted! For winning, Elsanna gets the Grass Badge and a TM for Magical Leaf which none of her team members can learn… but maybe a future team member will be able to?

One down, seven to go!​

Elsanna leaves and heads out to Route 5, where she gets to fight a seemingly unavoidable duo of a Reporter and her Cameraman. They use Helioptile and Klink which is a tad scary but pose no problems. Elsanna continues and gets to the bridge where she meets a Doctor who is assaulted by some Team Yell Grunts trying to steal his bike! Elsanna gives them a hard slap and they run away. As thanks, the Doctor gifts us his bike! Very nice, now things will be going a lot faster!

Elsanna starts cycling over the bridge… but doesn’t get very far as Hop is waiting, inviting us to another battle.

He is easy as always, 007 OHKO’s his Wooloo and Raboot while 2HKOing his Corvisquire. Elsanna continues over the bridge and accidentally gets into battle with a Pokémon Breeder which could probably have been avoided if she hadn’t been in such a hurry… but it doesn’t matter.

She arrives at Hulbury and witnesses a conversation between Rose, Oleana and Bede. Rose invites her to celebrate if she manages to beat the Gym Leader of this city. Which of course is going to happen! But first, Elsanna stops at the Pokémon Center to heal and buy some items. Then it is off to the Gym. Upon arriving, a fisherwoman informs her that Nessa is at the lighthouse, so Elsanna heads over there. She meets Nessa and they talk a little, Nessa is a real beauty… no wonder she works as a model. She heads of to the Gym and Elsanna follows. Time for another Gym Challenge!

It is a Water-type Gym which requires some Water-type music. Something from Oceansong would be suitable… but what? Let’s look at the tracklist… Hmm… I found something! Bad pun intended.

The challenge is to go through a maze with waterfalls which has to be switched on and off. It goes fairly well, Elsanna has to battle two of the Gym Trainers but manages to avoid the third. All three of them are girls, it seems. We screw up a little with the third puzzle but manage to get it right in the end.

Then it is time for the Gym Leader. Since this is a Water-type Gym, I decide to lead with Free again and save 007 as a backup. Just like last time, I am a bit underleveled but I think I should be able to make it anyway.

Nessa leads with Goldeen. I use Hone Claws as it uses Agility, then I 2HKO with Pluck as it attacks me with Horn Attack. Nessa continues with Arrokuda, one of the fishiest fish-like Pokémon ever. It is also 2HKO’d by Pluck but damages Free with Aqua Jet along the way. Lastly, Nessa sends out her Drednaw. Free is heavily damaged at this point, but I let it stay in as part of the plan. Nessa Dynamaxes her Drednaw, it is somehow faster and KO’s Free with a Max Geyser. Out with 007. I Dynamax, but Drednaw is once again faster and uses Max Darkness, bringing 007 to 40 HP and lowering its Sp.def. A Max Geyser from 007 brings Drednaw to around 50%. I fear that 007 will faint next turn so I use a Super Potion on it, another Max Darkness brings 007 to lower HP and it gets another Sp.def drop. But Drednaw’s Dynamax is now over. Next turn, it uses Razor Shell while 007 gets a safe KO with Max Geyser.

Losing can be frustrating, I know that all too well. But it is important to look forward and learn from your mistakes.​

That was way tougher than Milo, but the gang pulled through and we made it! For beating Nessa, Elsanna gets the Water Badge and a TM for Whirlpool which probably won’t be used at all.

It feels strange to get another badge so quickly after the first one, that hasn’t happened to me in many years. I guess I need to get used to it.​

Elsanna leaves the Gym and is greeted by Oleana, who invites her to the restaurant to celebrate with Rose. She goes there and Rose talks about Dynamax for a bit. He is in a hurry, so he leaves quickly. Elsanna goes out and continues to the second Galar Mine. There, she meets Bede, who is up for another battle.

It proves to be another easy victory. Free uses Hone Claws, then manages to OHKO his entire team with Power Trip. Bede is frustrated and walks away. Elsanna continues by battling some regular trainers, some could probably have been avoided. She does manage to avoid all of the hidden Stunfisk at least!

Halfway through the cave, she meets Hop who has encountered Team Yell. Elsanna and Hop team up for another multi battle which turns out to be surprisingly tough, but they win in the end. At the end of the cave, they meet Kabu who scared the Team Yell Grunts away. He invites the two young challengers to come and challenge him in Motostoke.

Elsanna heads out to Motostoke Outskirts and finds an Amulet Coin. I give it to Quick for the time being since it isn’t holding anything right now. Elsanna is in a rush and accidentally gets into battle with one of the trainers here, but nothing special happens apart from that. She enters Motostoke and heads back to the Inn where Marnie awaits, now eager to battle.

She turns out to be tougher than expected. Her team is at quite high levels, which overwhelmed me. I lead with 007, using Water Pulse on her Croagunk was a bad idea as it had Dry Skin. 007 manages to defeat it, but it has 4 HP left afterwards. Next is Morpeko, I switch to Quick and try to defeat it, but fails. It manages to seriously damage Free as well, I would have gotten a KO at one point if Marnie hadn’t used a Super Potion. I decide to sacrifice Free and use a Super Potion on 007 instead, who then finishes both Morpeko and Scraggy.

As a bonus, I also got to see Marnie say “Hmm, I think this move expresses my feelin's. What do you think?" when she lets her Morpeko use Bite. Perfect.

After that, Elsanna heads out and continues to the Gym. Hop is waiting outside. As the speedrunner he apparently is, he has already beaten the Gym and gotten the Badge. Elsanna should be doing that as well. But not right now, there’s another thing to be done first. I have decided to do the majority of the Isle of Armor story at this point. So Elsanna flies back to the Master Dojo. Time to battle Mustard!

His Mienfoo and Shinx are both at level 13, giving me an easy victory.

Afterwards, he gives Elsanna a Dojo Uniform which she decides to wear for the time being. Somehow, Klara hasn’t gotten one yet, so Mustard decides to give her one as well. But just as she is about to receive it, some Fastpoke appear to steal it from her! It turns out that the first of Mustard’s trials is to catch up to and defeat those three Fastpoke. And to get Klara’s uniform back. So Elsanna sets out to do that.

She manages to defeat them quite quickly but it takes a little longer than I had wanted. Doesn’t matter much though. I should mention that I really love the concept of using fast Slowpoke for this trial, it is really fun because it is a contradiction like Quick and this whole challenge. Another thing I noticed now was that all of the three Fastpoke were faster than 007 despite only being at level 17. My guess is that the game made them always move first to further build on the joke.

First trial complete! The trial was to catch all three Fastpoke, but Mustard decides that anyone who caught at least one will pass.

Very generous of the old man, indeed.​

As a reward, I get to choose a Kanto starter… or one of two, since Charmander isn’t available. Not that it matters as I wouldn’t have picked it anyway. I should be picking Squirtle since I went with Bulbasaur in my main playthrough, but I’m going with Bulbasaur here as well. The reasons being that I already have a Water-type, and Bulbasaur has better synergy with the rest of the team. I know it will be very useful for one thing that will happen later on. It also happens to be my favorite Kanto starter. I forgot to nickname it since I was in such a rush, but I later go back to a Pokémon Center and nickname it Bloom. I forgot to check the Nature as well, will do that tomorrow instead. Wouldn’t surprise me if it also has a Nature which lowers Speed. I teach it Magical Leaf from the TM I got earlier.

The second trial is next, and it is about finding some Max Mushrooms. Elsanna walks out and Mustard recommends her to go through the Forest of Focus and take a look in the Warm-Up Tunnel. So that’s where we are headed next.

…

But that will happen tomorrow. I’m stopping here for today.

Team:

Time: 2:38

Good progress today as well. There were a few minor screwups along the way, but nothing too serious.

Tomorrow is Monday which means it is back to work for me and I won’t have as much time to play as I have had during the weekend. Updates will probably be shorter during weekdays, they might not happen every day either.

 

[guys the ret]

I'm betting that you'll finish in 10:00 hours.

 

[PyProd]

Betting on 11:00.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Part 3: Rivals
​

Checked the Nature of Bloom, and it is Quiet. Who would have guessed? The trend continues.

Forgot to mention yesterday that it is way more fun to go through the wild areas now that I have the bike. Anyway, Elsanna heads through the Forest of Focus and arrives at the Training Lowlands. She spots another wild Chansey in the grass and defeats it, but it doesn’t give much Exp. since it is only at level 15. She continues to the Warm-Up Tunnel and spots a cluster of Max Mushrooms! But just as she is about to pick them, Klara appears. She demands that Elsanna gives her the mushrooms, but the answer is of course no! But Klara doesn’t accept that, so this will have to be settled through a battle.

I lead with Free. Hone Claws once, then Power Trip OHKO’s her Slowpoke. Pluck 2HKO’s Slowpoke and OHKO’s Whirlipede. After the battle, Bloom evolves into Ivysaur! Neat. Klara leaves in order to find mushrooms somewhere else.

Before going back to the Dojo, Elsanna takes a quick detour to Challenge Road, picking up some items. Then back to the Dojo. At first, it seems like Elsanna was the only one to complete the trial, but Klara suddenly arrives and explains that she also found some mushrooms. Which means that there are only two trainers left in the competition!

The meal is served, Mustard explains the secret behind the Max Soup. Elsanna can feel the Gigantamax energy build up within her… but unfortunately, the soup doesn’t work on humans. Though it is still tasty! (Or so I imagine). Afterwards, it is time for the third and final trial. Which is a battle! Between Elsanna and Klara as they are the only ones who got this far. The winner will get the Secret Armor of the Dojo!

Since this is the final battle against Klara, have some Poison-type music to go along with it. It will be a real classic since I couldn’t think of anything better.

I just fought her, and now it is time again.

Fair and square, sounds good.

“Somehow”, indeed. This is yet another reason as for why I love Klara.​

This battle was way tougher than I had expected. I lead with Free again, using Hone Claws and then OHKOing her Slowpoke with Power Trip. Out comes Weezing. It lives a Pluck and uses Clear Smog. Free uses Pluck again while it uses Clear Smog once more, but Free doesn’t do much damage so I switch, first to Bloom to absorb the Toxic Spikes (this was the final reason as for why I picked it), then to 007 who KOs Weezing with Water Pulse. It then takes down her Whirlipede. Now, Klara only has Slowbro left. She is going to Dynamax, so I do the same with 007. A Max Geyser does more than 50%, Slowbro uses Max Ooze, gets a Crit and 007 faints. Not good. I send out Quick but it doesn’t do much damage and survives with 3 HP from another Max Ooze.

I sacrifice Quick while using a Revive on 007, Klara’s Dynamax ends. Out with 007 and Water Pulse to land the final hit… except Slowbro’s Quick Draw activates, defeating 007. Out with Free to land the final hit then… but Quick Draw activates again, and Free faints. Now I only have Bloom left. I send it out while using another Revive to bring 007 back to life once more while Slowbro defeats Bloom. I go for Sucker Punch this time (should have done that last time) hoping for a KO. Which I get. And so, I have beaten Klara!

Afterwards, Klara is honest and admits that she cheated, but Mustard is kind and forgives her. Though as a “punishment”, she must look after the Dojo Pokémon for six months. Klara’s story is over, but we have not seen the last of her yet! It will be a while until next time though.

Since Elsanna won, she receives the Secret Armor, in the form of Kubfu! It joins the team and I nickname it Beary since I couldn’t think of anything better. It is a bear, after all, so why not? It has a Naughty Nature, making it the first team member to not have a Nature which lowers Speed.

Welcome to the Challenge!​

The next part of the IoA story is to get more friendly with Kubfu… but I am going to wait with that. I’ll continue with the main story instead, but once Kubfu is at level 25-30 or so, I will return for the final part of the IoA story. But now I have completed the Pyroar’s share of the IoA story, so that’s great. The final parts should hopefully go quickly once we get there.

Elsanna changes back to her original clothes, then she heads back to Motostoke. Before going to the Gym, she heads to the stylist to change her hair and style a little. It has been a while since I last did this in my main file, but it feels like there are a lot more options for the girl than for the boy. But that’s okay, I guess that’s just how it is.

Blue is one of my favorite colors. Elsanna seems to like it as well. Also noticed now that this new look makes her resemble Dawn to an extent.​

Then it is finally time for the third Gym! Since it is a Fire-type Gym, I put 007 in the lead. And for once, I am actually overleveled. To go along with the theme of the Gym, have some Fire-type music. Daybreaker Boogie is a banger which I can never listen to too many times.

The Challenge in this Gym is to catch or defeat wild Pokémon, which is really unique. You get 1 point for a defeat and 2 for a capture, the goal is five points. Elsanna defeats 2 Vulpix and 1 Sizzlipede. She also captures a Litwick which I name Code as it is a ghost in the code. It has a Relaxed Nature. Sigh… Anyway, Gym Challenge complete, time for the Gym Battle!

Kabu, the hottest trainer in Galar! He starts with Ninetales, it lives a Water Pulse and uses Will-O-Wisp to burn 007, then follows up with a Quick Attack before falling. I have already been through one tough battle today, don’t want another one. Next is Arcanine, I Dynamax and OHKO it with Max Geyser. Kabu’s last Pokémon is Centiskorch. He Gigantamaxes but 007 gets another OHKO with Max Geyser. Battle over. For beating Kabu, Elsanna gets the Fire Badge!

Not going to include screenshots of the badges anymore, so have a regular picture of the badge instead.

Elsanna leaves and meets Hop, then she gets a TM for Will-O-Wisp from the league staff. She and Hop head out, about to go back to the Wild Area. But before going there, Kabu, Milo and Nessa appear to show their support for the young trainers.

Thanks guys.​

Elsanna and Hop leaves. In the Wild Area, Bede appears and challenges Hop to a battle. They walk away to battle alone. Next destination for Elsanna is Hammerlocke. But before going there, she takes a small detour to Watchtower Ruins to pick up some items, such as a Max Revive. Then it is on to Hammerlocke. It takes some time since it is a long journey, but I manage to avoid all Pokémon along the way. I even spot the Pokémon Breeder – twice! Not sure how she can be in two places at once. Doesn’t matter though. Not battling her since there’s no time for unnecessary battles now.

Elsanna arrives at the gate to Hammerlocke and gets her badges checked. Bede arrives as well, bragging about how he managed to beat Hop, who is nowhere to be seen. Upon entering the city, Bede meets up with Rose and Oleana, he then has some urgent business to discuss with Oleana. Rose invites Elsanna to talk with him at the Stadium.

…

End of the journey for today.

Team:

Time: 3:25

Good progress today as well. I did what I had planned to, it took a little longer than I had expected but that’s okay. The second battle against Klara didn’t go as well as I had thought, but I still won in the end and that is the most important thing here. I’m feeling optimistic about the Challenge, 3 badges won in about 3 and a half hour! Even my 10-year-old self would have been happy about this.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Part 4: Fighting Fairies​

Elsanna heads into the Stadium to talk with Rose, then out again. It is not time for this Gym yet. She continues exploring the city a little, picking up some useful items and taking a quick trip to the clothing store to upgrade her outfit… but not that much since she doesn’t have a lot of money at the moment.

She continues to the Vault where she meets Raihan as well as Sonia who talks a bit about the old legends of Galar. Before leaving the city, Elsanna heads down to the Move Tutor who teaches Water Pledge to 007. Then it is out to Route 6.

The road is blocked by two Team Yell Grunts which need to be defeated. They prove to be more annoying than expected. There is strong Sunshine on the Route, which lowers the power of 007’s Water Pledge. I eventually beat the Grunts, but it takes longer than expected. After that, Elsanna has to fight a mandatory Beauty which is also annoying with her fairies. But we beat her too. Afterwards, 007 evolves into Inteleon! Finally! It also learns Snipe Shot which I teach it over Water Pledge since it has 5 more PP. I realize I could just have skipped the Move Tutor altogether… but it doesn’t really matter.

Elsanna continues along Route 6 and manages to avoid all optional trainers. She arrives at Stow-On-Side… then heads back out to Route 6 to pick up a hidden Rare Candy which I forgot about. With that obtained, it is back to Stow-On-Side, and on to the Stadium! However, Hop stands in the way and demands a battle.

His Cramorant proves to be a pain to take down. I start with 007, but the blue bird catches a Pikachu as it uses Dive and I don’t want 007 to get paralyzed, so I switch and try to take it down with Free and Bloom instead, but it doesn’t work. I eventually switch back to 007 and manage to land the final hit. Hop’s Silicobra, Toxel and Raboot are then OHKO’d by Snipe Shot.

Back to the Pokémon Center to heal, then it is on to the Gym! This is a Fighting-type Gym, so I’m leading with Free here. And have some Fighting music!

The Gym Challenge is to travel down through three stages in a spinning teacup, there are three mandatory trainers along the way. Getting through the labyrinth could have gone better but it still went okay, at least the trainers were no problem. They are all easy for Free to beat, and after beating the last one, it learns Drill Peck! Stronger and better than Pluck, a nice upgrade. Then it is time for the Gym Leader.

The gutsy Galarian girl, Bea! Free is slightly underleveled but I think it should work anyway. I have a plan. Hone Claws against her Hitmontop, then Drill Peck for an OHKO. After that, I Dynamax and Free OHKO’s her three remaining Pokémon with Max Airstream. That was easy and went fast, the plan worked! For beating Bea, Elsanna gets the Fighting badge!

Afterwards, Elsanna receives a TM for Revenge, but that won’t be used for anything. Worth noting now is that at this point, my playtime is at a little over 4 hours.

If this had been a serious speedrun, it would have been over by now. But it is not. So I’m slowly speeding on!​

Outside the Gym, Elsanna encounters Sonia who talks about an old mural here in the town. A loud noise is heard, and it seems to be coming from the place where the mural is! Elsanna and Sonia head there, where they find Bede. Turns out the lunatic is trying to destroy the mural! He challenges Elsanna to a battle.

Beating him is easy, thankfully. I lead with 007 which OHKO’s his Duosion, Hattrem and Ponyta while 2HKOing his Gothorita. After the battle, Bloom evolves into Venusaur! Nice.

Rose and Oleana appear, they express their disappointment in Bede and disqualify him from the Gym Challenge. He is shocked. It seems like the mural didn’t take too much damage, at least… except that it did, it collapses and reveals two statues behind it. Depicting two heroes and two wolves with a sword and a shield.

Way cooler than the mural if you ask me.​

Elsanna leaves and heads to Glimwood Tangle. This place is quite short and getting through it takes less than a minute, there are no mandatory trainers along the way. Now we’re in Ballonlea!

This place has a really fantastic design, it is a shame there’s literally nothing to do here except for challenging the Gym.​

Elsanna heads to the Gym where she encounters Marnie, who has beaten the Gym. Now, it is time for us to do the same. This is a Fairy-type Gym and while Bloom has an advantage in terms of type, it doesn’t know any Poison-type moves. So 007 stays in the lead. Fairy-type music, eh? I don’t really know. For the lack of something better, have some Kiwi.

The Gym Challenge is to battle trainers while Opal asks a question during every battle. Getting the right answer gives a stat boost while the wrong answer gives a stat decrease. This also double-serves as a test to see if anyone is worthy of becoming the new Gym Leader since the old hag lady is looking for a successor. Elsanna has no such interest, but personally I think it could have been cool since Fairy is my favorite Type.

Neither the questions nor the trainers cause any problems, and after beating the second trainer, Free evolves into Corviknight! And learns Steel Wing! Not bad. I’m still keeping 007 in the lead though, with Free as a backup. Gym Challenge done, Gym Leader battle time!

Opal, the woman whose aging progress is the opposite of a Manakete (surprisingly suitable since she is a Fairy-type trainer, never thought of that before). Yes I know that the answer about her being 16 is a joke, but it is funny! Anyway, she continues asking questions during the battle against her, with the same effect as during the previous battles. 007 manages to KO her Weezing, I then switch to Code against her Mawile but it gets 2HKO’d by Crunch. I send out Free which sets up with Hone Claws and then gets more boosts because I manage to get the answers right. It eventually KO’s her Mawile despite Iron Defense Boosts, then it OHKO’s her Togekiss with Steel Wing. Only Alcremie left. I wasn’t sure if I needed to Dynamax here, but I did it anyway since it is fun! Max Steelspike scores a solid OHKO and Opal is down! For beating her, I get the Fairy Badge.

And a TM for Draining Kiss, which none of my team members can learn. However, Elsanna was not suitable for becoming the new Gym Leader. But that’s okay since she has other dreams. She exits the Gym and is accompanied by Opal as they head to Hammerlocke. They meet up with Bede and Opal takes in immediate interest in the guy, kidnapping him to see if he can be her successor.

Elsanna continues east and encounters Sonia. There’s apparently something going on in the city, Leon appears and heads off together with Sonia to have a look at the problem. Elsanna is glad that the adults are taking care of the business since she doesn’t have time! She encounters Hop who challenges her to a battle.

Another battle which took some extra time. Free takes care of his Trevenant while 007 defeats his Cinderace. His Boltund then causes some delay since it uses Roar to shuffle around the team, but I beat it eventually. I try to beat his Snorlax with Beary and Quick, but it is too strong so I beat it with Free in the end. Finally, 007 finishes his Heatmor.

Elsanna continues out to Route 7 (I had seriously forgotten that this place existed, I thought you went directly from Hammerlocke to Route 8 and that Route 8 was Route 7). We manage to avoid all trainers but Elsanna gets chased down by two Liepard which 007 defeats. There were also some Team Yell Grunts at a point but they seemed optional so I skipped them. Elsanna continues and arrives on Route 8.

…

And I’m stopping there for now.

Team:

Time: 4:38

Some screwups this time. First against the Team Yell Grunts and the Beauty on Route 6, then during both battles against Hop. And some other, minor ones. But even so, I think I made really great progress! 5 badges in considerably less than 5 hours, 10-year-old me would have been very impressed!

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Part 5: Rock the World​

On to Route 8! This place has a rather interesting layout. It is basically a corridor (but with ladders, so you must climb up and down). This means you might easily run into wild Pokémon, and trainers are difficult to avoid. At least one of them was unavoidable. There are also many optional parts, so it is easy to go wrong if you just want to get to the end. Elsanna voyages along the Route, picking up several items as well as fighting two trainers and some wild Gurdurr that chase after her. After a while, she arrives at Circhester. Unlike Ballonlea, this is a rather big city. It looks pretty nice too, love the design of it and the wintery vibe it gives. Elsanna goes to the Pokémon Center to heal, then to a man in a house who gives her a TM for Icy Wind, which I teach to 007.

Before going to the Gym in this city, there’s another thing that should be done. We are going to complete the main Isle of Armor story. Maybe I should have done this even earlier since Beary is actually a little overleveled at this point. But it doesn’t really matter, it will just make things go faster! Elsanna flies back to the Isle of Armor and puts Beary in the lead. It isn’t friendly enough with her yet, so the two go to have a look at the view together on some places at the Isle of Armor.

Nice view, indeed.​

After going to three of these places, they head back to Master Mustard, and Beary is now friendly enough towards Elsanna! They head out with Mustard, it is now time for the final challenge. Beary has to fight its way to the top of one of the Towers. I’m going with the Tower of Darkness since I picked the Tower of Waters in my main file.

The Tower of Darkness.​

Elsanna enters with nothing but Beary in her party. It has a moveset of Brick Break/Aerial Ace/Headbutt/Bulk Up and I gave it the Expert Belt to hold, so this shouldn’t be too difficult. Beary manages to OHKO the first four trainers, then it is up to the fifth floor and the final battle.

Which is against Mustard. But this time, he is serious. He also has a Kubfu, but it is at a lower level than Beary. I use Aerial Ace for about 90%, he does the same but only hits for 30%. Another Aerial Ace and I have won!

For clearing the challenge in the Tower of Darkness, I get to evolve Beary!

You have done well so far, but bear with me buddy, we still have a way to go.​

Then it is back to the Dojo. We are done with the Isle of Armor for the time being, but there is more to be done here in the future. It will be a while until we get there though. Before leaving, I turn off the following Pokémon feature since I don’t like it.

Back to the Gym Challenge. For once, Elsanna can go straight to the Gym without being interrupted by anyone. Inside, she meets Hop who tells us about his glorious victory against the Gym Leader! Except not, since he lost. He heads out and Elsanna takes on this Gym Challenge. Since it is a Rock-type Gym, we need some Rock-type music. Rock is a music genre, and it happens to be one of my favorite genres as well. There are a lot of Rock songs I like, picking something was hard. Since I have yet to feature something from PrinceWhateverer, have one of my favorites from him. Edit: Forgot I had actually done just that in the first part! Well, have another banger by him anyway.

The Challenge is to find the right way over the sand, while using a detector to scout for pitfalls. It is fun but a bit stressful since I am on a timer. It doesn’t go super well but we manage to make it in the end. Not sure if any of the trainers could be avoided, Elsanna battles all of them anyway. First with Beary, then with Bloom. Once we are done, it is time for the Gym Leader battle!

The Gym Leader is Gordie, the hardest man in Galar! And the cutest and best and most handsome man ever… according to his mom, that is. Three of my team members have an advantage over Rock, but I lead with 007. However, Gordie leads with Barbaracle, so I U-Turn out to Bloom which then tanks a Shell Smashed Razor Shell and OHKO’s back with Magical Leaf. Next is Shuckle. I use Magical Leaf twice, then Growth and another Magical Leaf for the KO. Then it is Stonjourner which is OHKO’d by Magical Leaf. Finally, Coalossal. I decide to sacrifice Bloom, Coalossal Gigantamaxes and survives a Petal Blizzard without problems before OHKOing Bloom with Max Flare. I send out 007, Dynamax and gets an OHKO with Max Geyser even in the Sun. Gordie is defeated, Elsanna gets the Rock Badge!

Just two badges left!

I have also realized that since I will never play Shield, I will never get to battle Allister or Melony, or try their Gym Challenges. But I guess that’s okay, the old days when I always got every Pokémon game and both versions from each pair are over… and honestly, I think it is for the better.

Elsanna also receives a TM for Rock Tomb before leaving. We’ll probably not use it for anything though. Outside, Sonia is waiting and invites Elsanna to a restaurant in Circhester in order to celebrate the victory. Wo-hoo! Elsanna is hungry after the Gym so she is looking forward to it!

…

But the celebration will have to wait since I won’t continue until tomorrow.

Team:

Time: 5:26

Great progress as usual. I could have done better with both the Gym Challenge and the battle against Gordie, but even so, I think this went very well. Lately, things have been going faster than I had expected. I am now halfway to 11 hours and it definitely feels like I should be able to complete the challenge in time.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Part 6: The Fault in our Silence​

Elsanna heads to the restaurant where she meets Hop and Sonia, they talk a little about the legends of Galar and have a great meal together! Then it is off to the Hero’s Spring. Here, Hop challenges Elsanna to a battle!

007 2HKO’s his Dubwool, Pincurchin is next and I U-Turn out to Bloom which manages to defeat it. Next is Cinderace, so I switch back to 007 for a safe OHKO with Snipe Shot. I then switch to Beary against Snorlax and it is safely KO’d with Brick Break. Hop’s last Pokémon is Corviknight. Beary scores a 2HKO with Wicked Blow while tanking a Drill Peck. After the battle, Code evolves into Lampent! Nice. Now if I can just find a Dusk Stone somewhere…

For some reason, the background of the battle was out in the wild even if the battle took place in the middle of the city.​

Hop and Sonia leave while Elsanna heads out to Route 9! However, the path to the water is blocked but a pair of Team Yell Grunts. They are fortunately very easy to beat. Afterwards, the Doctor who gave Elsanna the bike before upgrades it so that it can now travel over water! Really cool. Makes me wish that was possible IRL as well, I wish I had a bike like that…

Elsanna heads out on the water part of Route 9. This is a bit of a maze with many optional areas. I have seen some theories about how Circhester and the surrounding areas were the first areas in the games to be created, and since they are quite well designed, that might be true. Anyway, Elsanna manages to avoid all trainers on the Route, she accidentally bumps into a wild Mantine and Wailmer but it doesn’t really cause any delay.

She arrives at Spikemuth! But the entrance to the city is blocked, even the police can’t get in. But Marnie calls for us and says she can let us in through a secret passage… if we battle her first.

She leads with Liepard which is easily OHKO’d by 007. I then U-Turn out to Beary against her Morpeko and get an easy KO. Scrafty is next and unfortunately, it survives a Brick Break and KOs Beary through Swagger confusion and Brick Break. I send out Bloom to KO Scrafty, then Free takes care of her Toxicroak. With that, we can actually enter Spikemuth!

Just like Ballonlea, this place has a great design (reminds me of The Under in Colosseum) but there’s nothing to do here except to challenge the Gym. At least during the main game. In the post-game, you can have daily rematches with Marnie, which is a good reason to go back here for some training.​

Elsanna takes on the Gym Challenge immediately. It is simply to make it to the end of the city while battling Team Yell Grunts along the way. I lead with 007 even if Beary might have been the better choice in order to give it some more training. Doesn’t matter much though. Elsanna eventually makes it to the end and meets Piers, who is holding a concert for anyone who wants to listen. The music is neat...

But there’s no voice. Only now do I realize how empty this scene actually feels. This is one of the two instances in the game which would really benefit from voice acting, the other being the introduction where Rose is speaking. But it seems like Pokémon isn’t really ready for that quite yet. Maybe in Gen 10?

Anyway, Piers is a musician so we need some music to go along with that. But what? Rock, punk, glam, metal? I thought about The Sound of Silence since this scene was too silent, but I decided to go even further and arrived at something that is inspired by The Sounds of Silence, and it is Silent! And Autumn Blaze, yay!

Piers, the seventh Gym Leader in S/S as well as the first Dark-type Gym Leader in the series! He is also the big brother of Marnie and the leader of Team Yell. He really has a lot of roles. This Gym is a little special since you can’t Dynamax, and Piers has a unique battle theme too!

I lead with Beary, it is a little underleveled but it has the type advantage at least. Piers leads with Scrafty which isn’t exactly optimal, especially since Beary lost against Marnie’s Scrafty earlier. This Scrafty also has Intimidate! But I decide to give it a try. I let Beary use Bulk Up three times while tanking a Brick Break and getting its accuracy lowered two stages by Sand Attack… which wasn’t very good. I then land a OHKO with Brick Break. Next is Obstagoon. I try to hit it with Brick Break, but I seriously miss ten times in a row, or maybe even more. No kidding. Thankfully Obstagoon can’t damage Beary that much (why does it know Shadow Claw, for that matter?). I finally land a hit, on a turn when Obstagoon uses Obstruct… which Beary ignores, thanks to Unseen First. Next is Malamar. I consider switching out but I use Wicked Blow which lands and gets an OHKO. Finally, Skuntank. Here, I switch to Free which 2HKO’s with Drill Peck. Elsanna has beaten Piers, and for that, she gets the Dark Badge!

Just one left! Elsanna also gets a TM for Snarl, which we probably won’t use for anything. She leaves Spikemuth and outside, something is going on. Various Pokémon are randomly Dynamaxing! Thankfully Leon is there to take care of the situation so Elsanna doesn’t have to do a thing. Normally this is seen as a criticism towards the game (which I agree with, by the way) since it is a “tell, don’t show” situation. But now that I am doing a speedrun, I appreciate how Leon is taking care of things since it saves a lot of time!

Elsanna continues to Route 7 again where she gets to battle a trainer which probably could have been avoided if she hadn’t been in such a rush. But it isn’t too bad. She arrives at Hammerlocke again and speaks with Leon, Sonia, Professor Magnolia and Hop. Then they leave. Now, it is time for the Hammerlocke Stadium and the final Gym!

…

Next time.

Team:

Time: 6:03

Good progress today as well. I got really unlucky against Piers and I could have done better against both Hop and Marnie, but things still went very well. I'm starting to think that the goal of 11 hours was way too high, but the challenge isn't over yet...

Tomorrow is Saturday which means no work, I should have plenty of time to play instead.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Part 7: Kauma​

Elsanna enters the Hammerlocke Stadium… and gets directed to the Vault, since that is where the Gym Challenge will be held. The Challenge is once again to battle Gym Trainers, but this time with a twist. All battles are double battles, and all of the opponents use Weather as a part of their strategy. Rain, Sun, Hail, in that order. They also use a Dragon-type each. I lead with 007 and Free as they are at the highest levels of the team. The opponents prove to be no problem, which isn’t too surprising since they only have 2 Pokémon each. Once they are beaten, it is back to the Stadium and the Raihan battle! He is a Dragon-type specialist, and we need some Dragon-type music for that. Flamethrone Legacy is a really great modern classic… crazy to think that it has been 5 years since Guardians was released. Time goes way too fast, even outside of this challenge.

The final Gym Leader in the game, the attention-seeking Dragon user Raihan! This is a Double Battle featuring Sandstorm which is really cool. I wish there were more Gym Leaders in the series who use alternate strategies like this. I keep 007 and Free in the lead, Raihan leads with Flygon and Gigalith. I let 007 use Icy Wind, which unfortunately misses against Flygon. Free hits Gigalith with Steel Wing. Flygon uses Thunderpunch on Free and Gigalith sets Stealth Rock. Next turn, 007 uses Icy Wind again. It hits Flygon but it doesn’t KO, Steel Wing does more damage to Gigalith but it doesn’t faint either. Don’t remember what Gigalith did here but Flygon hits 007 with Thunderpunch, which combined with the Sandstorm damage leaves it at very low HP.

I let 007 U-Turn out to Bloom, defeating Flygon in the progress. Meanwhile, Free KOs Gigalith with Steel Wing. Raihan sends out Duraludon and Sandaconda. Duraludon Gigantamaxes and uses Max Knuckle on Free, I target Sandaconda with Magical Leaf and Drill Peck, it falls. On the two following turns, Duraludon keeps attacking while I take it down to around 40%, it eventually beats Bloom and the Gigantamax ends. I send out Beary. No need to Dynamax so I let Beary use Brick Break for a solid KO. Elsanna has beaten Raihan! For that, she gets the Dragon Badge.

All Badges obtained!​

And a TM for Breaking Swipe, which won’t be used for anything. Elsanna leaves the Stadium and takes a quick detour to the Wild Area. First to Lake of Outrage where she finds some items, notably a Dusk Stone which I use to evolve Code into Chandelure! Then to Axew’s eye where she founds a TM for Air Slash, I teach it to 007.

Then it is back to Hammerlocke. Elsanna and Hop take the train to Route 10. It is a fairly long Route and it features many unavoidable trainers. Most of them cause no problems, but at the end, she faces the reporter and cameraman she faced once before. This time, they prove to be harder to take down. I switch out Free since it is weak to Electric, the opponents then manage to beat 007 and Beary, but Code and Quick are sent out to save the day! Situations like this makes me happy that I have so many reserve Pokémon. And they often turn out to be really good when I give them a chance to be used.

After that, Elsanna arrives at Wyndon! It is a quite big city with a fair bit of content. But we don’t have time for all of it. Though there are a few things to do before going to the Stadium. First, Elsanna heads to the Pokémon Center to heal her team and buy some items. She continues by picking up a hidden Rare Candy in the park, then she heads to the clothing store to get a new outfit. I considered going to the Move Tutor and teach Hydro Cannon to 007, but I decided not to.

Afterwards, it is off to the Stadium! First out are the semifinals. Elsanna’s first opponent is Marnie.

I lead with 007, Marnie opens with Liepard which 007 OHKO’s with Snipe Shot. Next is Morpeko, I U-Turn and OHKO out to Beary. Marnie sends in Scrafty. Why does this always happen? Sigh. I let Beary use Bulk Up twice, it tanks a Brick Break and gets its Speed lowered by Scary Face. Scrafty is then faster and uses Swagger, Beary hits itself. I use a Full Restore since I actually want Beary to win this time, then Close Combat for an OHKO. Marnie sends out Toxicroak and I switch to Free, Hone Claws twice while Toxicroak uses Sucker Punch followed by Swagger, getting Free all the way to +4. Free then successfully uses Drill Peck for a solid OHKO. Marnie’s last Pokémon is Grimmsnarl. She Gigantamaxes, I Dynamax and OHKO with Max Steelspike.

Then a very short break and it is time for the next opponent, Hop!

I like battling him since he changes his team between every match. Here, he leads with Dubwool. I still lead with 007 which uses Snipe Shot but I don’t get a KO, Dubwool uses Body Slam which paralyzes! Not good at all. I U-Turn out to Beary, Hop uses a Full Restore so Dubwool survives. Beary uses Bulk Up and does not get paralyzed from Body Slam, then Wicked Blow for a OHKO. Hop continues with Snorlax which gets OHKO’d by Close Combat. Next is Corviknight, I switch to Code which OHKO’s with Overheat. Hop continues with Pincurchin, I switch to Bloom which 2HKO’s with Magical Leaf. Finally, Cinderace. I decide to sacrifice Bloom, Cinderace Dynamaxes and OHKO’s with Max Flare. I send in 007 but I decide to not Dynamax. Unfortunately, it is slower and gets fully paralyzed, getting 2HKO’d by Max Airstream. In retrospect, I should have used a Full Restore when sacrificing Bloom, that would have allowed things to go better. Cinderace’s Dynamax ends. I send in Code which tanks two Pyro Balls while 2HKOing with Shadow Ball.

Hop is disappointed by his loss, but that’s just how it is. We leave the court and since it will be a while until the finals, Leon invites us for dinner! Hop and Elsanna go to the hotel, but Leon never appears. They go out to look for him with Piers and Marnie. They meet up Oleana who reveals that Leon is at Rose Tower, discussing important things with Rose. But Oleana won’t let us go there! A special key is needed to get there with the monorail, and Oleana hands it to a member of the League Staff who runs away to hide somewhere in the big city!

I had forgotten about this part of the story, so it was a bit of a surprise. Elsanna and the gang goes to look for the member with the Key. I screwed up a bit at first since I thought he could be anywhere in the city and not just near the station, but then things went better. Elsanna has to find and battle him three times, none of these battles are any problems though. After the third defeat, he runs away to hide at the station among three identical guys. But the gang follows him there and Piers spontaneously starts a concert (still no voice, sadly), which forces the League Staff members to submit. With the key, Elsanna and friends head to Rose Tower!

There, they are challenged by various members of Macro Cosmos in League Staff suits. Elsanna and Hop make their way to the top, having Multi battles against the Macro Cosmos members along the way.

I realized now that when you battle at the Battle Tower during the post-game, you don’t need to see the elevator scene every single time (unlike in the Battle Towers in Gen 2-4) which is really nice as it saves time.​

At the top, Oleana stands in the way. She does not allow anyone to interfere with the discussion between Leon and Rose, so she enters rage mode and challenges Elsanna to a battle!

I like how she usually is calm and collected, but can really angry at times. This is not a woman you want to mess with… unless you can beat her in a battle.​

She leads with Froslass, 007 OHKOs with Snipe Shot. Next is Tsareena, I U-Turn out to Free which tanks an Acrobatics without issues uses Hone Claws, it then gets hit by Attract and is unable to move for several turns while having its HP slowly chipped away. It eventually lands a KO with Drill Peck. Oleana continues with Salazzle, I switch to 007 to OHKO with Snipe Shot. Next is Milotic. I try to take it down with Air Slash but it survives 4 hits and uses Recover, so I switch to Bloom which KOs with Magical Leaf. Finally, Garbodor. I love how Oleana has four pretty and feminine Pokémon and then a Garbodor as her ace. I have always wondered what the game developers were trying to say with that.

I decide to let Bloom stay in just to see how it goes. Since Oleana is going to Gigantamax, I Dynamax… only to find out that it is a Gigantamax for Bloom as well. The Kanto starter you get from Honey has the Gigantamax factor, I had forgotten that. Anyway, I use Max Strike twice while Garbodor uses Max Quake twice. Both are at low HP but Garbodor is now faster thanks to having Weak Armor. I use Max Guard on the last turn of our Gigantamax in order to not take any more damage. Our Pokémon get back to normal, Garbodor then uses Toxic Spikes while Bloom lands a KO with Double-Edge.

Oleana is disappointed in herself for losing while Elsanna and Hop can finally speak with Leon and Rose. However, their discussion is already over. Elsanna, Hop and Leon head back to the hotel. There, they eat dinner and rest. After that, it is back to the Stadium and the next round of the tournament!

…

But we’ll get to that tomorrow.

Team:

Decided to show Free here for once, since I have previously always had 007 in the spotlight.

Time: 7:21

Good progress as usual. I think I could have done better in pretty much all of the important battles, but playing the way I do is way more fun than just one-shotting everything with a single Pokémon.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Part 8: Guardians​

Time for the finals! The participants are Elsanna and all of the Gym Leaders except Opal. Before things can start, it is time for another opening ceremony. However, Bede appears to interrupt and challenges Elsanna to a battle!

007 OHKO’s his Mawile with Snipe Shot, I then U-Turn out to Code against his Gardevoir. Unfortunately, Code is slower but still tanks a Calm Minded Psychic before KOing with Shadow Ball. I decide to let Code stay in against Rapidash, but it is still slower and the horse KOs with Psycho Cut. Out with Free to save the day. Hone Claws, then Steel Wing for an OHKO. Bede’s last Pokémon is Hatterene. He Gigantamaxes, I Dynamax and OHKO with Max Steelspike. Bede lost, but he is still happy that he tried. Now, the finals can start for real!

Elsanna’s first opponent in the finals is Nessa. I forgot to gave her a title last time, so how about this: Nessa, the prettiest woman in Galar, the splashing beauty queen who is always voted as one of the top three waifus of Galar! Or something. Anyway, I lead with Bloom… which proves to not be as great as I thought since Nessa leads with Golisopod. I use Growth as it uses Swords Dance, then Magical Leaf, forcing it to do an Emergency Exit. In comes Pelipper. Nessa really made sure to have a way to handle Grass-types, guess I should have trained an Electric-type instead.

Pelipper has Drizzle which sets up Rain, but Bloom is faster and gets an OHKO with Magical Leaf. Nessa continues with Barraskewda and Seaking, both get OHKO’d by Magical Leaf as well, though they are faster and Barraskewda damages Bloom with Ice Fang. Next is Golisopod again, it damages Bloom even further with First Impression before falling to another Magical Leaf. Finally, Drednaw. We both Gigantamax, Bloom is faster and OHKOs with G-Max Vine Lash. A short break afterwards, then time for the next opponent.

Which is Bea. I lead with Free, Bea leads with Hawlucha. I use Hone Claws followed by Drill Peck for a clean OHKO, though Free has to tank 2 High Jump Kicks which hurts pretty badly. Free then manages to OHKO her Falinks, Grapploct and Sirfetch’d with Drill Peck. Bea’s last Pokémon is Machamp. She Gigantamaxes, I Dynamax and OHKO with Max Airstream.

Back in the waiting Room, Elsanna gets cheered on by Piers and Marnie. Piers just lost against Raihan, which means he is Elsanna’s next opponent.

I just faced him yesterday and now it is time again. But this time, it is a Single battle where he has a different strategy. He leads with a Torkoal which has Drought, I send out 007. Snipe Shot still OHKO’s in the Sun. Next is Goodra. I go for Icy Wind which doesn’t do that much, Goodra uses Rain Dance. I use Snipe Shot next, Goodra uses Thunder which really hurts but doesn’t KO or cause paralysis. Another Snipe Shot and it is down. Flygon and Turtonator are then OHKO’d by Snipe Shot. Lastly, Duraludon. It Gigantamaxes, I decide to sacrifice 007 instead of switching. But it still tanks a Max Knuckle and I hit with Icy Wind twice before 007 falls, leaving Duraludon at around 50%. I send out Beary. No need to Dynamax so I just KO with Close Combat.

Elsanna has beaten Raihan! Now, for the final match against the unbeatable Champion, the man, the myth, the legend, Leon! Elsanna heads out to the stadium again where Leon is waiting. The battle can start…

…But it gets interrupted by an announcement on the big screen. Rose is up to something. The cutscene got skipped so I’m not really sure what he said. Anyway, Leon heads off to stop him. Elsanna talks to Hop and they decide to go back to the Slumbering Weald in order to hopefully find the Sword and Shield Pokémon.

They head there and meet Sonia. Hop and Elsanna go deep into the Weald again. Feels like it has been a long while since we last were here, but in reality, it has only been 9 days. Like last time, the fog gets deeper and deeper.

Too bad Defog doesn’t work here, it would have been helpful.​

At the end, they see not one, but two wolf-like creatures. The same as the one they saw last time as well as another one.

Breathing… I embrace the feeling… Of despair that keeps me… Standing on my own…​

They then disappear. Elsanna and Hop head deeper into the Weald and arrive at something that looks like an old altar.

This place is way more beautiful than I remember.​

Here, a Sword and a Shield lie at the altar. However, they seem to be old, rusty and worn out to the point that they might break at any moment. But maybe they are just what we need to solve the current situation? Elsanna picks up the Sword while Hop takes the Shield, they then head to Hammerlocke and the Stadium. Inside, Oleana begs Elsanna to go down to the bottom of the Stadium to protect Rose! She does so, and upon meeting Rose, he challenges her to a battle!

He is a Steel-type user which shouldn’t be too difficult to handle. He leads with Escavalier, 007 2HKO’s with Snipe Shot. Next is Ferrothorn. I really want Code to shine here, but it will be difficult since neither of its current Fire-type moves are particularly good. Ember is weak and Overheat is bad for sweeping. But what if I Dynamax? I U-Turn out to Code which KOs Ferro with Ember. Next is Perrserker. I Dynamax and use Max Flare to OHKO both it, Klinklang and his Gigantamax Copperajah… which reminds me that I have yet to catch an elephant myself, but there will be time for that later on. Either way, Code managed to pull off a sweep and Rose is down!

Elsanna leaves to go up to the top. I screwed up here as I thought you needed to take the elevator back to the upper level first, but it turns out you just had to talk to Hop at the Energy Plant to continue. At the top, Leon has been fighting Eternatus. The beast is weakened, and Leon is about to catch it. Which he does! Except not, since it not only breaks out of the Poké Ball, it also breaks the ball in half! It challenges Elsanna to a battle, I beat it with 007 and Beary… but this only makes the beast stronger! It then awakens and assumes its Eternamax form. For this moment, have some battle music. I used a song by Jyc Row yesterday but I think this situation deserves another one by him which is very suitable for the situation.

Eternatus starts a battle against Elsanna and Hop, but their Pokémon are unable to damage it. What should we do? Hop gets an idea. What if we use the Sword and Shield from before? Elsanna and Hop raise them, and in the Slumbering Weald, the wolves awaken! They jump in to join the fight. Using the power from the Sword and Shield, they assume their true forms! Have some pictures from the whole situation below.

This is definitely my favorite moment in the game, and I think this is my favorite boss battle in the entire series. Battling against Eternatus in a Max Raid-style battle alongside Hop and the wolves… epic!

The battle itself went fine. I lead with 007 which used Icy Wind, Eternatus took a few turns to go down and it managed to beat 007 along the way so I sent out Beary instead. On the second last turn, it survived with very little HP left, but it fell on the next turn. Once it is down, Elsanna throws a Great Ball and captures it!

The Darkest Day is over, and we can return to the World of Light!​

Eternatus is beaten and the wolves return to the Weald. Elsanna and the gang leave. I should mention that there is one big thing I have always misremembered from this part of the game. I always thought the battle against Eternatus happened at the top of Rose Tower, not on top of the Hammerlocke Stadium. Turns out I have been wrong this whole time.

Things are back to normal, Elsanna finds herself at the hotel in Wyndon. I add Eternatus to the team, replacing Quick for the time being. I nickname it End since it is the end of the world, and check its Nature… Quiet. Just as I should have expected. I have collected a bunch of Rare Candies during the journey and I think I should distribute them to the team now before the final challenge. For the time being, I give 4 to End. There’s still 3 left, not sure if I should give them to 007 or any other members, we’ll see.

Afterwards, Elsanna heads to the Stadium. One final challenge remains!

…

I could have completed it today as well, but I decided to wait with it until tomorrow. This might be a Speedrun, but rushing things too hard isn’t fun. It has been epic enough for today as it is, better save some greatness for next time as well!

Team:

Decided to give the spotlight to Beary today.

Time: 8:12

The end approaches. I can now safely say that I will beat the main game in under 11 hours. Probably under 9 hours as well, which is even better! Unless the battle against Leon takes longer than it should. But I don’t think so.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Part 9: Above the Clouds​

Before heading into the Stadium, I give two of my Rare Candies to 007 and the last one to End. This way, both of them are at level 65, just like Leon’s Charizard. After that, it is finally time! Elsanna heads into the Stadium. Half of the crowd is cheering for her, the other half cheers for Leon. It is time for one of the greatest battles in the history of Galar. The battle between Champion and challenger, adult and child, sun and moon, star and firefly… I have a very fond memory of my battle against Leon in my main file. As I had trained 15 Pokémon during the game, the level curve had finally caught up to me and I ended up being underleveled against him to the point that I almost lost. How will it go this time?

We also need some music to accompany us! How about Battle Royale? It is a new song so I haven’t listened to it a lot yet, but it feels suitable here.

The unbeatable Champion, Leon! I lead with 007, he starts with Aegislash. It uses King’s Shield first, then I hit with Snipe Shot for less than 50%, it uses Shadow Ball which deals a ton of damage. But it is now in Blade Forme and it doesn’t change back, so 007 KO’s with another Snipe Shot. Next is Dragapult. Since it is likely going to be faster, I switch out to Free… which proves to be a mistake as Dragapult uses Thunderbolt, guess that’s why Leon went with it in the first place. Free is slower so Dragapult 2HKO’s with Thunderbolt.

I send out End to see how it goes. I gave it an Assault Vest to boost its Sp.def a bit. Dragapult is faster and uses… Dragon Breath. It doesn’t do much damage, but End gets paralyzed. It then KOs Dragapult with Dynamax Cannon. Leon continues with Haxorus. I am unsure if End will be able to take a hit, but I let it stay in. Unfortunately, it gets KO’d by Outrage. I send in Beary next. Haxorus is faster but Beary survives, Wicked Blow does unfortunately not KO. Haxorus gets confused but successfully uses Outrage again on the next turn, Beary is about to faint… but is saved by the power of friendship! It lives with 1 HP left and KOs with Wicked Blow. Next is Rhyperior. Close Combat doesn’t KO and Beary falls to an Earthquake.

I send out 007 again to KO with Snipe Shot. Leon continues with Rillaboom. I U-Turn out to Code, but it gets KO’d by the combination of Drum Beating and Knock Off. I send in Bloom. I use a Max Revive to revive End, my plan was then to beat Rillaboom and use a Max Potion to restore 007 to full HP while sacrificing Bloom against Charizard. However, Bloom falls before it can defeat Rillaboom. I decide to try to just End everything instead. End KO’s Rillaboom with Flamethrower. Leon only has Charizard left. It Gigantamaxes, is faster, and uses Max Rockfall… which doesn’t do a lot of damage. End uses Dynamax Cannon which does way more than 50%. This means I have pretty much won! Leon uses a Full Restore while Charizard has to take another Dynamax Cannon. It then uses Max Airstream while End uses Dynamax Cannon for a KO! Leon is beaten, and Elsanna is the new Champion!

Leon is sad and disappointed at first, then he becomes happy. I love this little detail.​

Man, this was a great battle. Just like on my main playthrough, Leon was tough to beat. No wonder he is the unbeatable Champion.

I’m almost inclined to agree with you here, mate.​

After the battle, Leon congrats Elsanna on becoming Champion! She enters the Hall of Fame… except not, since Galar doesn’t have a Hall of Fame. There would normally be a cutscene after beating Leon, but it gets skipped. My playtime isn’t displayed anywhere either. So the final playtime will be what the game displays once I can start playing again. I watch the credits roll while listening to the music. It is pretty good, happy but with a melancholic undertone, a combination I like.

Afterwards, Elsanna finds herself back in her home. I open the save screen to check the playtime, and the result is…

8:27!

A very good result. Looking back now, 11 hours as the goal was way too high. I honestly thought it would take longer to complete this challenge. At some points, I was even worried that I wouldn’t make it. But it turns out that I had nothing to worry about. I didn’t do things as quickly as possible, I did the Isle of Armor story and Elsanna decided to go to the clothing stores to upgrade her outfit several times… but even with all of that, it didn’t take as long as I had expected. In terms of real-life time, it only took me 10 days. Overall, I guess you could say it went… faster than I knew.

Playing through Sword again also made me realize how fun it was. This game is great despite all of its issues and I’m really happy about both this run and my main playthrough. I really like Sword and I can appreciate it a lot more now. I’ll make another post in another thread with more detailed thoughts on that later today.

As for the bets, congrats to Total Clefairy who got the closest and won the competition! I’ll send you a PM to discuss your prize.

And so, the main story is over. However…

The Challenge is by no means over! With the DLC included, S/S has a great post-game and it would be a shame to let it all go to waste. For now, Elsanna is visited by professor Magnolia who gives her a Master Ball. Will it be used for anything? Probably not, but who can say for sure?

No team picture today, I’m saving it for next time. Tomorrow, I’m going to make a post with my thoughts on the team, the challenge so far and the plans for the post-game. See you again then!

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Congrats! Looks like my guess fell far short, haha.

Amusing luck with the natures of all the Pokemon you caught. I thought that doing the IoA alongside the main story would make you incredibly overlevelled but you never seemed to be that far ahead.

A few thoughts:

[Ballonlea] has a really fantastic design, it is a shame there’s literally nothing to do here except for challenging the Gym.

Agreed, visually it's stunning and my favourite of all the towns in Galar, but it just feels so barren.

This is definitely my favorite moment in the game, and I think this is my favorite boss battle in the entire series. Battling against Eternatus in a Max Raid-style battle alongside Hop and the wolves… epic!

It really is. I've still not played this moment and it's one of the few things that makes me want to get the games.

On to Route 8! This place has a rather interesting layout. It is basically a corridor

What, like all of Galar's routes then? /s

Just like Ballonlea, [Spikemuth] has a great design (reminds me of The Under in Colosseum) but there’s nothing to do here except to challenge the Gym. At least during the main game.

It's kind of sad Spikemuth is the sole town representing Wales. I've been to the area in Wales Spikemuth supposedly represents and don't see much of a connection. Would have been nice to have had Cardiff or even Aberystwyth represented, but Cardiff's status as a relatively thriving capital city would probably detract from Wyndon and Aberystwyth is too sunny and cheerful to be a fitting location for a Dark-type gym leader.

Mind you, at least we got Wales at all. Still annoyed that there isn't a location in Galar representing anywhere on the south coast like Brighton, Devon, or Cornwall. I guess this is the downfall of Game Freak basing a region on the area you live, they can't recreate it perfectly and things are always going to be missed. Though I do remain slightly bitter that we never got a third, Northern Ireland-based DLC where two factions of trainers are in conflict and we have to befriend the orange-and-green mythical Pokemon that resides there and bring peace to the area.

I can dream.

I love how Oleana has four pretty and feminine Pokémon and then a Garbodor as her ace. I have always wondered what the game developers were trying to say with that.

Interesting that she shares three Pokemon with Lusamine too. I've always thought the implication was that she's a nice-looking woman but has ugly depths. It's a neat design choice in any case, it's refreshing to battle a female villain for once whose ace isn't a cute or flower-themed Pokemon.

This has been fun to read, and congrats again on finishing! Looking forward to your writeup.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Congrats! Looks like my guess fell far short, haha.

Amusing luck with the natures of all the Pokemon you caught. I thought that doing the IoA alongside the main story would make you incredibly overlevelled but you never seemed to be that far ahead.

Thank you! And my own estimation was a bit off as well.

Yeah, that was a bit ironic with the Natures.

I also thought I would get overleveled, not because of the IoA but rather because of the Exp. Charm. And I was overleveled for quite a long while, but the level curve has a pretty big spike in final parts of the game. The semifinals start with Marnie and Hop both having their aces at level 49. Then during the finals, it goes up to 55 for Raihan's ace. After that, Rose's ace is at level 57, Eternatus is at level 60 and Leon's Charizard is at level 65. So I guess it is not too strange that I got underleveled there.

It really is. I've still not played this moment and it's one of the few things that makes me want to get the games.

If you do decide to get or at least play the games, I hope you will enjoy it as well! As for getting the games... despite being a huge fan of Sword, I'm not sure if I can recommend it. We all have different preferences when it comes to Pokémon games, and while Sword does a lot right for me, I won't deny that it has some issues and I can definitely see other people being more annoyed by them (as well as by things I don't consider to be issues with the game) than I am. So I'll leave it up to you.

What, like all of Galar's routes then? /s

I should have explained myself better here. Route 8 is very narrow while other Routes like 3 or 4 for instance have much wider spaces to walk in, making it easier to avoid wild Pokémon in those Routes than in Route 8.

It's kind of sad Spikemuth is the sole town representing Wales. I've been to the area in Wales Spikemuth supposedly represents and don't see much of a connection. Would have been nice to have had Cardiff or even Aberystwyth represented, but Cardiff's status as a relatively thriving capital city would probably detract from Wyndon and Aberystwyth is too sunny and cheerful to be a fitting location for a Dark-type gym leader.

Mind you, at least we got Wales at all. Still annoyed that there isn't a location in Galar representing anywhere on the south coast like Brighton, Devon, or Cornwall. I guess this is the downfall of Game Freak basing a region on the area you live, they can't recreate it perfectly and things are always going to be missed.

Interesting thoughts. I have never been to Wales myself (only England and Scotland), but I understand your disappointment. And I agree that it is annoying if they miss out on important aspects if they make a region based on your home region/country. If they were to make a future region based on my home region or country, it would probably be missing a lot of notable things as well. This is why I want them to stop making regions based on real-life locations and instead make a new region that isn't based on anything IRL. But that's probably never going to happen.

Though I do remain slightly bitter that we never got a third, Northern Ireland-based DLC where two factions of trainers are in conflict and we have to befriend the orange-and-green mythical Pokemon that resides there and bring peace to the area.

I agree. If they had done such a third DLC pack which also brought back all the previously dexited Pokémon, it would have been the perfect way to end S/S (and Gen 8 on the whole). It is a bit sad that they didn't, but I'm still happy with what we got.

Interesting that she shares three Pokemon with Lusamine too. I've always thought the implication was that she's a nice-looking woman but has ugly depths. It's a neat design choice in any case, it's refreshing to battle a female villain for once whose ace isn't a cute or flower-themed Pokemon.

Yeah. One thought I had was that if she had a Trubbish as an early/first partner Pokémon and have kept it with her ever since then. Maybe it can be seen as a symbol of how she has "worked herself up from the trash". Or something. In Twilight Wings, it was shown that she had a Trubbish in a flashback when she was younger, which made me think this might have been the case.

This has been fun to read, and congrats again on finishing! Looking forward to your writeup.

Thanks again! But as said, it isn't finished yet!

Now, for some thoughts on the Challenge so far and the future of it.

Challenge:

As said, 11 hours was way too high. I could have gone for 9 and still made it. Maybe I would even have been able to make it under 8 hours if I had rushed things a bit harder. But either way, I beat the challenge!

My original thoughts were that I needed one hour for each Gym, two hours for the Isle of Armor, and then one extra just in case. But as I played, I felt that the game picked up pace a lot once you get to Hammerlocke for the first time. Basically, the other half of the game went faster than the first.

Some battles were a bit harder than expected. I think the following are the most notable:
Klara #3 – Really tough, I got unlucky and misplayed a bit which almost cost me the battle
Piers – Only because I missed so many times against him
Leon – Tough but very memorable

Looking back, I think many of the battles could have gone a lot better. Not only those three, but several others as well. The battles slowed me down a bit, but as said at an earlier point, I think it was more fun to play the way I did as opposed to just nuking everything with one overpowered Pokémon.

Team:
First of all, here’s an image of the team directly after beating Leon:

No room for Quick, sadly. It was at level 58 or something IIRC.

Here are some short thoughts on the 7 Pokémon I used:

007 was one of the most reliable members of the team. I can now see why Inteleon is the chosen starter for Speedruns. Water is a great typing, and when backed by STAB and Mystic Water, it could dish out serious damage in most situations. U-Turn was also really good as it allowed me to sneakily switch while dealing damage at the same time. A really great team member overall.

Free was another great team member. It was especially helpful against Grass-types which 007 is weak against. It could also handle Fighting- and Fairy-types very well in most situations. It had good bulk which allowed it to tank hits, it could also dish out some serious damage, especially if it managed to set up with Hone Claws first.

Quick the Fastpoke wasn’t used very much, sadly. It is also notable for being notoriously difficult to catch. That said, it was useful in some of the occasions where it actually got to fight. I might have used it more if I had been able to evolve it. Since I will evolve it during the post-game, there’s a chance it might see more use.

Bloom was the underdog (or underplant?) of the team. I wasn’t expecting it to be particularly good, but it was way better than I had expected. The Gigantamax also surprised me as I had forgotten about that. Grass was a useful type in many situations, both offensively and defensively. I wish it had gotten a Poison-type move through level-up though, I will make sure it gets one during the post-game.

Beary turned out to be surprisingly good as well. I didn’t expect it to see much usage, and I almost never used it as a Kubfu. But as Urshifu, I decided to give it a chance in some situations, and it was surprisingly useful. Despite often being underleveled, it could hit hard with powerful moves. Fighting is a great offensive typing. Wicked Blow was also great in order to get a guaranteed Crit.

Code was a random last-minute addition to the team as I had originally not planned to use it, but now I ended up doing so anyway. I love Chandelure. It is very strong, but I really wish it learned a better Fire-type move through level-up. Ember is weak, Inferno is inaccurate to the point that I never used it, and Overheat is really strong but bad for sweeping. I’ll be sure to teach it something better in the post-game. Mystical Fire at least, maybe even Flamethrower if I can find a TR for that. Still, it was really useful in some battles, notably against Rose.

End didn’t contribute a lot as it only appeared towards the very end of the main game. But it did help quite a bit against Leon by being an ace against his Charizard and taking down a total of three members of his team!

Post-game:

Now, for the post-game. I am planning to do five of the legendary stories, which are the following:
- Zacian and Zamazenta
- Gigantamax Urshifu
- Calyrex and its horse
- The Regis
- The Galarian Legendary birds

I will not to the Swords of Justice. The randomness of finding their tracks feels like it would be very difficult to complete on time.

For the Regis, I will not catch Regigigas. Just the original three Regis + one of the new ones.

I will not use the Master Ball, just to make it a bit more challenging.

Now, to those who are following the thread, it is time for you to decide on some things for the post-game!

1. In which order should I do the post-game stories?
It will be done like this: The first person decides which story I’ll do first, the second person decides which I should do second, and so on until the fourth. The one that remains afterwards will be the fifth and last story I do.

2. Suggest nicknames for the Pokémon I will catch!
Which are going to be the following: Zacian, Calyrex, Regirock, Regice, Registeel, Articuno-G, Zapdos-G, Moltres-G.

You do not need to be restricted to just 5 characters. Suggest whatever you want, be creative! I will use the ones I like the best, unless there are none I like for a specific Pokémon. In that case, I’ll come up with nicknames for them on my own.

As for the horse and the final Regi, I’ll decide on nicknames for on my own.

3. Should I evolve Quick into Slowbro or Slowking?
This will be done through voting. Vote for which you want me to evolve it into! The alternative that gets the most votes will win. In case of a tie, the first vote will be the winner. Voting ends on June 24th, 3:33 PM (UTC+01).

4. What should my goal be in terms of time? Feel free to leave a suggestion!
Like with the main game, the post-game challenge will be done on time. But I’m not sure what I should aim for. I have been thinking about it a lot but I’m not sure. 4 hours, 5 hours, 6 hours? Even more or even less? So feel free to leave a suggestion and I’ll keep thinking about it myself as well.

In the meantime, I’m going to do some preparations in the game. Once they are done, and once the four things above have been decided, the post-game challenge will begin!

 

[QuentinQuonce]

I vote that you go after Calyrex first, it's a fun story. And I vote that you nickname it Menisculis.

I also vote that Quick be evolved into Slowbro! I prefer the original Slowking over Slowbro but Galarian-wise, something about Slowking just doesn't quite work for me.

The various postgame quests all seem very quick (pun not intended) so I say you should get them all done within 3 and a half hours, for a total of 12 overall.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

After taking a break from the Challenge for a few days, it is time to get back to it! Though I haven’t been on a break from the game as I have been playing it a lot, doing preparations for the post-game challenges. Playing without being on a timer has been really relaxing. While this Challenge is fun, I definitely prefer my standard way of playing. Super chill and no stress or rush at all, really nice. But no more of that now.

First of all, some updates!

Elsanna went on another shopping spree and burned most of her money to get a lot of new clothes! She is super excited to show off her new look! And now that she finally had some time over, she created a League Card as well!

This will probably be her final look… maybe. Who can say for sure?

I have also caught a bunch of new Pokémon that will help during the post-game. If all goes to plan. Meet the new team members!

Haru the Klefki. Knows Thunder Wave, which will always go first thanks to Prankster. It holds a Wide Lens, which gives this strategy a 99% chance of succeeding. It can also use Sunny Day to change the weather. Docile Nature.

Kraxe the Golduck. Knows Soak to change the type of opponents, and Rain Dance to change the weather. But most importantly, it has Cloud Nine, allowing it to cancel the effects of Hail and Sandstorm. Lax Nature.

Song the Emolga. Knows Charm and Eerie Impulse to lower the offensive stats of the Pokémon I am going to catch. It also has Rain Dance to change the weather, and Thunder Wave to paralyze opponents. And it is cute! Calm Nature.

Luke the Gallade. Knows False Swipe, Sunny Day, Charm and Thunder Wave. This lets it Swipe down opponents to 1 HP, change the weather, lower the attack of the opponents and paralyze them if that hasn’t already been done by other team members. Mild Nature.

Old the Copperajah. It will not have any role when it comes to catching legendaries but I wanted to use a Copperajah somewhere as it is my favorite Galar Pokémon. Adamant Nature.

None of the new team members have Natures which lower Speed, how is this possible? I have no idea.

I have also made some updates to the old team members:

007 now knows Surf and Ice Beam which are better offensive moves than Snipe Shot and Icy Wind. It also has Rain Dance to change the weather when catching Pokémon, as well as Soak to change their typing. This allows it to be a stand-in for Kraxe if necessary.

Bloom now knows Sunny Day, Worry Seed, Charm and False Swipe. This lets it change the weather, the Ability of the opponent, lower their Attack and Swipe them down to 1 HP. It will mostly have a similar role as Luke.

Beary now knows Ice Punch and Thunder Punch for better offensive coverage.

Code now knows Flamethrower and Energy Ball. It finally has a good Fire-type move! And better coverage as well.

Quick is now a Slowbro! See images further below. It has also learned Shell Side Arm and Ice Punch.

Free knows Body Press for better coverage.

End knows Sludge Wave which is better than Cross Poison.

All have been trained to level 70 or above.

Those 12 Pokémon have been split in two teams. One which will assist in catching the legendaries, the other will be used in battles. Below are the teams, with fancy names as has become the norm for my teams in Gen 8:

Catchers in the Rye: 007 / Bloom / Haru / Song / Kraxe / Luke

The Great Warriors of Galar: Beary / Quick / Free / Old / Code / End

Next, the results from the questions and suggestions I asked for. I know this challenge isn’t super popular but I had honestly hoped for more than one reply. Thankfully I can always rely on the great green_typhlosion!

First, the order of the stories. Calyrex was picked to be the first, and as for the others, I used a randomizer. It gave the following result:

1. Calyrex and its horse
2. The Galarian Legendary birds
3. Zacian and Zamazenta
4. Gigantamax Urshifu
5. The Regis

So that’s the order I will do them in.

As mentioned above, Quick has evolved into Slowbro! As that is what the voting came down to… or rather what green_typhlosion decided it should evolve into!

It would have been perfect if it had had Quick Draw, but sadly, it doesn’t. But that’s still okay.

As for nickname suggestions, feel free to come up with more of them! It isn’t too late until I have caught the Pokémon in question.

Finally, the time. 3:30 is a good suggestion. From what I can remember, the Calyrex and Zacian stories were quite long but it has been a while so my memory might just screw it up. Or they might just have felt “longer” since I played through them slowly. I don’t think that teaching Beary to Gigantamax will take that long though. As for the birds and the Regis, it is basically just “go up to legend and catch it”, so those should be easy. However, it can also take a while depending on how the battles go, they might be over in five minutes or they may take up to 20 minutes. It is hard to say. Guess we’ll see.

Either way, I thought it over and decided to go for a little longer than 3:30. My new goal is to complete all the stories in under 3:45. My current playtime in the game is 12:45, so I must be done before the clock hits 16:30. If not, then it will be a failure, but just like with the main game, I’ll complete everything even if I won’t make it on time.

No bets this time since I can’t think of any good prize that is different from last time. Though you may of course guess anyway if you want to.

With all if this said, it is time for the post-game. I’ll start on it tomorrow. See you then!

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Part 10: Let it go​

From the Hammerlocke station, Elsanna heads to the Crown Tundra! Except for the fact that it is not possible. It seems like the first time you go to either of the DLC areas, you need to go there from Wedgehurst. Precious time, all flying away! Oh well. Elsanna heads to Wedgehurst, and from there, she takes the train to the Crown Tundra!

A lovely and beautiful wintery landscape.​

Snow! Have some underappreciated snowy music to go along with that.

Upon arriving, Elsanna receives an update to her Pokédex from a scientist. Unfortunately, we won’t be completing this Pokédex either. Elsanna heads out and sees an argument between a girl and her dad. The girl decides to distract her dad by forcing him to battle Elsanna, which is just what happens!

Just like his brother Rose, Peony is a Steel-type user. He only has two Pokémon… I thought it would be five, but I guess I must have mixed it up with the team he uses during rematches in the post-game (after clearing the legendary stories). I lead with Code, he starts with Copperajah. I OHKO with Flamethrower, his next Pokémon is Aggron. It tanks a Flamethrower, recovers with Sitrus and deals a ton of damage with Stone Edge. Another Flamethrower and it is down. Elsanna has beaten Peony.

In the meantime, his daughter has run off somewhere. She talked about going on a Dynamax Adventure so Peony heads there, Elsanna follows. Along the way, she captures a Cryogonal since we will need one later.

Inside of the Max Lair, Peony has a long discussion with the scientist. In the end, he runs into the Lair all on his own. Elsanna decides to follow. Time for a Dynamax Adventure! I wish this could have been skipped since it just takes some extra time without any real reward.

I pick an Obstagoon from the Pokémon you can choose from at the beginning. Since I have nobody else to play with, I have to go with AI partners. From what I can remember on my main file, they are fairly intelligent here in Dynamax Adventures. But maybe I was wrong. They were pretty stupid this time around, sadly.

I can pick from Fighting and Psychic for the first opponent. I wanted to go for Psychic, but I accidentally select Fighting! Not good. Thankfully, we beat the opponent (a Mienshao) without issues. Next up, I picked Ghost. It was a Drakloak which we also defeated without issues. The third type I picked was Water, and it was an Araquanid… which was a pain to beat. It took a long while, and it took two of our “lives” as well. But we beat it in the end. After the battle, I swapped my Obstagoon for it.

Finally, the boss. It is Suicune. It seems pre-determined that you always face Suicune as your first opponent in Dynamax Adventures. We try our best to defeat it, but it ends in a failure. At the end, it only has a slight sliver of HP left. It then attacks twice in a row (cheater!), defeating two members of our team and taking our two last lives. The Dynamax Adventure is over… and this was honestly very disappointing. Since I lost, it just felt like an even bigger waste of time. At this point, I had already played for over 25 minutes. Since I didn’t catch Suicune, I kept the Drakloak I caught instead.

However, it seems like you do not need to win in order to continue with the story. Which is great! On the way out, Elsanna meets Peony’s daughter again, who introduces herself as Peonia. Her dad was originally going to take her on an adventure in the Crown Tundra, but she isn’t interested. Instead, she wants to have fun in the Max Lair. So she suggests that Elsanna takes her place to adventure alongside Peony! Which Elsanna of course accepts.

Outside, Elsanna meets Peony again, who agrees to the idea of her being the replacement for Peonia. Peony heads off to Freezington, Elsanna follows along.

This place is neat. Small and calm, I like villages like this.​

In the village, there’s a strange statue of a horse and something riding it. Elsanna takes a look at it before Peony invites her to their base. He talks about the adventures he is seeking, giving her some clues and notes.

Just like me, Peony seems to like coming up with cool names for things. I really approve of that. It is also suitable that this story became the first one he mentioned since this is the first story we will be doing.​

Elsanna picks up a strange “pillow” in the house and takes it outside. She places it on the statue, which makes the statue look more complete. Afterwards, a strange creature appears. It challenges Elsanna to a battle. Still leading with Code, it goes down easily. Afterwards, Peony appears. The creature takes over his body and uses it to speak. It reveals itself…

The main legend of the Crown Tundra.​

It then sends Elsanna on some missions. First, she has to gather info from the villagers if they still remember Calyrex. Which they do, but only as a fairy tale or a legend. Then, she has to find if anyone knows any way to get Calyrex’s beloved steed back. They do, but it turns out that in order to do that, we need carrots! And in order to get carrots, we need carrot seeds! And in order to get them, Elsanna has to trade 8 pieces of Dynite Ore to the man at the garden. The problem is, she only has 3.

I guess this it was rather important to win the Dynamax Adventure after all. If I had done that, I think I should have obtained enough Dynite Ore. Sigh… Now, how should this be solved? If this wasn’t on time it would have been no problem… but quite a lot of time has passed already, and this won’t exactly make it go faster.

Reading some tips online, it seems like it might be faster to farm Dynite Ore from high rank Max Raids than from Dynamax Adventures. So I decided to try that. However, it doesn’t go very well. First of all, I try to beat a Crobat and then a Jolteon in 5-star raids, but both of them manage to beat me. This reminds me of the fact that I don’t like Max Raids. They are a prime example of “unfair” battles, which I am not a fan of.

I then manage to beat a Piloswine in a 4-star raid, but it only gives one Dynite Ore. I guess this will take longer than I had thought, so I decide to try Dynamax Adventures again. Elsanna enters, she decides to give Suicune another try… but the results are the same as last time. Not going to describe it in full detail, but just like last time, we manage to get to Suicune at the end. We got it down to low HP, but then it cheats its way to victory by attacking multiple times in a row. Bleh. At least this gives us 3 more pieces of Dynite Ore.

Elsanna leaves and I decide to try a regular Max Raid to get the final one. We beat a Dedenne in a 3-star raid, which gives the final piece of Dynite Ore. Back to the village and we obtain the carrot seeds! Elsanna speaks to Calyrex who has two ideas of where they should be planted. Elsanna knows exactly where she is going to plant them.

…

Decided to end here today. I wanted to complete the Calyrex story in just one day, but it didn’t happen.

Not going to post my team at the end of every post anymore. Instead, some other info about my progress.

Legendaries caught: 0/10
Stories completed: 0/5
Time: 14:01

As for today’s progress… let’s just say that it was a complete and total failure. Nothing went particularly well. I don’t have time for failure!, as Lysithea would have said. Because of that, have some sad horse music.

I got some things done, but it took way longer than I wanted. One hour and 16 minutes of playtime and I have yet to catch a single legendary. I didn’t even manage to catch Suicune. The post-game challenge is off to a bad start, I really hope it will go better from here on.

 

[Zowayix]

I completely forgot both a Dynamax Adventure and Dynite Ore were required to complete the Crown Tundra story...

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

I completely forgot both a Dynamax Adventure and Dynite Ore were required to complete the Crown Tundra story...

I remembered that you had to do a Dynamax Adventure, but I had completely forgotten about the Dynite Ore being required. After the events from yesterday, I wish that hadn't been the case, or that the required amount had at least been a little lower.

Part 11: Carolus Rex​

Elsanna decides to not be discouraged by yesterday’s failures, so she continues by heading to one of the fields to plant the carrot seeds. Which field? The one at Snowslide Slope. I’m going for Glastrier since I picked Spectrier in my main file. At the field, Elsanna plants the seeds. Calyrex then appears and performs a silly dance, which causes the seeds to sprout! However, only one carrot grows. Still, it seems to have been enough, because an icy horse runs by.

A long time ago, when the Three weren't One… There were creatures of ice and despair…​

It seems to be headed off towards Freezington. And since it seemed to be in a violent mood, that’s not good at all. Elsanna and Calyrex head back to the village. The horse stands in the middle of the village, the villagers are terrified of it. Elsanna approaches, and the horse challenges her to a battle! I lead with Quick but I switch to Code which OHKOs with Overheat. The horse has learned its place and runs off again.

Calyrex has seen its beloved steed again! But in order to continue, it needs the Reins of Unity to tame the horse. And that requires two things. A White Mane Hair (which the horse fortunately dropped), and a Radiant Petal (which Calyrex manages to create by using every last inch of its power). With these two items, Elsanna heads to the Major. Unfortunately, he is unable to create the Reins. Fortunately, Peony appears and shows how it is done! You can always count on Chief Peony!

With the Reins, Elsanna and Calyrex head to the Crown Shrine. Going through the Tunnel to the Top is a bit confusing and I go wrong at one point. For all the places in Galar that are just linear corridors, this one surely isn’t. Elsanna finally arrives at the top. There, she and Calyrex lure Glastrier to appear by using the carrot. Once Glastrier has appeared, Calyrex manages to tame it. After that, it is finally battle time!

And have some ice-horse music for an Ice-type horse!

I won’t describe this battle in detail (don’t remember all of it anyway) but it was really tough. Calyrex is at level 80, way higher than the Catchers in the Rye. I manage to paralyze it, change it into a Water-type and lower its Attack and Sp.att. Changing its Ability with Worry Seed does not work, I guess As One is one of those far too many Abilities which can’t be changed or removed. Calyrex it is very strong and bulky, which is made even worse thanks to the fact that it has Iron Defense, making it hard to Swipe it down. The good thing is that it is very slow, allowing all of my team members to outrun it even before I paralyze it. I eventually get it around to about 10% HP, and then, I manage to catch in the second Timer Ball!

Calyrex is caught, and with this, its story is over. I really like this story. As green_typhlosion said, it is a fun story. Calyrex as a character is great. I really like how it gets the focus in its own story and how it directly interacts with the player by talking (through Peony). Overall, a really enjoyable story.

I nickname Calyrex Menisculis as suggested by green_typhlosion. From what I can find, the name is from a character in the book series The Edge Chronicles. Which I haven’t read, but it is a cool reference anyway. Elsanna goes on a short detour to the nearest Pokémon Center, she separates Calyrex and Glastrier. I nickname Glastrier Frhorzen (Frozen horse). Calyrex has a Quiet Nature, while Glastrier is Brave. Those two do at least follow the Nature pattern from the main game, will future legendaries do the same as well? We’ll have to see.

So that’s one story down. It took a bit longer than expected due to all the failures yesterday. At this point, the clock is at a little over 14:30. Just two hours left. No time to waste, so we’re continuing directly with the next story. Which is the legendary birds. Elsanna heads down to Ballimere Lake and Dyna Tree Hill.

…

Stopping here for now.

Legendaries caught: 2/10
Stories completed: 1/5
Time: 14:35

Unlike yesterday, I think my progress so far today has been really good. Just some minor delays. I’m making a shorter post now because I’m planning to continue playing and make another post later today if all goes to plan.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Part 11: Carolus Rex​

I nickname Calyrex Menisculis as suggested by green_typhlosion. From what I can find, the name is from a character in the book series The Edge Chronicles. Which I haven’t read, but it is a cool reference anyway.

Oh, do! They're phenomenally good reads.

And I'm amused that the -Speed nature pattern is *still* occurring.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Oh, do! They're phenomenally good reads.

Thanks for the recommendation! We’ll see when/if I get around to it though… there are so many other books I want to read. But I’ll keep them in mind!

Part 12: Taking Flight​

Elsanna heads up to Dyna Tree Hill… and the cutscene gets skipped. I’m glad this function works in the DLC as well since it saves time. Even without watching the cutscene, I know that the birds flew away, one to each of the wild areas. Peony calls Elsanna, he came up with a fancy name for this new story.

And we need some Flying-type music (sort of). A classic this time around. I think the song title is fitting for these birds, at least.

I’m going to do the birds in order. First, Articuno. It is here in the Crown Tundra, so we can just stay here for the moment. From what I remember in my main file, it was the hardest to track down. Unfortunately, the same thing happens here. Finding it is hard, and once I succeed, it creates an illusion so that I have to find the right one out of three. I fail the first two times, but succeed on the third. It takes a lot of time though. But then, the battle can finally start!

I forgot to take an image as it appeared, so here's one from the battle instead.​

It proves to be tough. I paralyze it, change its Ability, lower its Att and Sp.att to -6 and Swipe it down to 1 HP. Thankfully, there is Misty Terrain in the area where I am fighting it, making my team immune to its attempts at using Psycho Shift while I can Thunder Wave it freely since it is a Flying-type! Catching it still takes a while though. It escapes from many of the Balls I throw at it, but finally stays in an Ultra Ball! I name it Psychone (Psychic + one), decided to follow the patterns of the actual names for the birds but with their new types mixed in! Sassy Nature, following the pattern.

Articuno is down, but it was a pain. It took more than half an hour to chase it down and catch it, which is not good at all. Oh well. Next is Zapdos. It can be found in the regular Wild Area. From what I remember, it was the easiest bird to track down. Elsanna heads to the Wild Area, heals her team, and then it is on! Tracking down Zapdos proves to be easy as expected, you just need to chase after it until it gets tired, which goes fast. It takes less than five minutes, then the battle can start!

Catching it goes easy as well. I paralyze with Luke, use Worry Seed and Charm with Bloom before Swiping it down to 1 HP, then it only takes a few Timer Balls before it is caught! I name it Fightwo. It has a Bashful Nature, thus breaking the pattern.

On the whole, Zapdos went very fast, which is great. Finally, we have Moltres. Which can be found on the Isle of Armor. Elsanna heals her team, then heads to the Master Dojo. When it comes to tracking the birds, Moltres is sort of in-between. On my main file, I remember that it was easier than Articuno but harder than Zapdos. And that proves to be true here as well. Moltres flies around the Isle in a set route, you need to get in front of it in order to fight it. Once it has spotted you, the battle will start.

From the Master Dojo, Elsanna follows the black bird at a distance. I partly remember how it flew last time, and using my memories from that, we manage to track it down within a few minutes. Funnily enough, I get to fight it out on the sea!

However, it proves to be annoying to catch. It also knows Nasty Plot, which means that Song needs to keep using Eerie Impulse to keep lowering its Sp.att. I lead with Luke which paralyzes with Thunder Wave (can’t use Haru since Moltres is a Dark-type), then I let the team do their magic with Soak, Worry Seed, Charm, Eerie Impulse and False Swipe. It takes many balls before it is caught, though. But I finally catch it in a Timer Ball! It was also a quite close call since it only had 7 PP or something left afterwards. I nickname it Sinisthree. Impish Nature, another pattern-breaker.

And with that, Elsanna has caught the birds! She reports back to Peony who marks this story as complete. It wasn’t as story-heavy as Calyrex’s story, but still fun… except for hunting down Articuno, which was a pain. Elsanna changes her team to the Warriors since they will be needed for the next story.

…

Which will begin tomorrow.

Legendaries caught: 5/10
Stories completed: 2/5
Time: 15:32

Not quite as good progress this time. Tracking down Articuno wasted a lot of time, sadly. Zapdos and Moltres mostly went easier, thankfully. I have caught half of the legendaries but I have three stories left, and there’s less than one hour left before the goal. And next up is the story with Zacian and Zamazenta, which is quite long. Sadly, I don’t think I will make it in time. But I won’t give up yet! I’ll try my best and we’ll see how it goes.