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

[Suspicious Derivative]

Part 13: The Weald Ends With You​

Elsanna heads to Postwick and enters the Slumbering Weald. At the altar, Hop awaits. He says that it feels like he was called there… and Elsanna feels the same way. Hop then decides that it is time for a battle!

I am a bit overleveled compared to him, which makes this an easy battle. I lead with Beary. Close Combat OHKO’s his Dubwool, Snorlax and Cinderace, while Thunder Punch OHKO’s his Cramorant and Corviknight. Against his Pincurchin, I switch to Old who OHKO’s with High Horsepower.

Sonia, or rather professor Sonia, appears and talks for a bit. Hop and Elsanna place the Rusted Sword and Shield back at the altar. However, two guys with weird hairstyles appear, and they take the Sword and the Shield! They reveal themselves as Sordward and Shielbert from the Galarian Royalty.

They claim to be kings, but in reality, they are only fools.​

We can’t let them get away with just taking the items, so this has to be settled through a battle! Hop faces Shielbert while Elsanna gets to fight Sordward.

He is easy to beat. Still leading with Beary, Close Combat OHKO’s his Sirfetch’d and Wicked Blow OHKO’s his Doublade. Against his Golisopod, I switch to Free. Hone Claws, then Drill Peck for an OHKO. His Bisharp is then OHKO’d by Body Press. For winning, Elsanna gets the Sword back!

Unfortunately, Hop lost against Shielbert, so he does not get the Shield back. The weirdos leave, Hop runs after them. Elsanna and Sonia heads to the lab. Sonia introduces her new assistant and since the weirdos was somehow giving of the same energy as Power Spots, it seems like it might be possible to track them through that. Elsanna does so, and it seems like something is going on at the Stadium in Turffield. She heads there and meets Milo, Hop and Piers. The Stadium has been evacuated because a Dynamax Pokémon showed up! The four team up to take it down.

It is a Tsareena. I lead with Code. A Pyro Ball from Hop’s Cinderace and a Max Flare from Code is enough to settle the battle.

Turffield is safe, Milo takes care of the Tsareena. However, there’s more chaos in other places! Hop, Elsanna and Piers head to Hulbury, where another Dynamax Pokémon is causing trouble. The three team up with Nessa to take it down.

It is a Gyarados. I’m still leading with Code as I had hoped it would be a Water-type that was weak to Grass, but no. It is still easy though. I decide to not Dynamax, Hop Dynamaxes his Cinderace instead. The Gyaradoesn’t cause much trouble and we take it down in two turns.

The gang then heads to Motostoke, teaming up with Kabu against a Dynamax Torkoal.

I temporarily withdrew 007 to make this easier, and that turns out to be the case as the Torkoal goes down in 2 turns.

Then it is back to the Lab. Piers and Hop follow along. The weirdoes are here, trying to steal the Wishing Stars from Sonia! Elsanna and Hop decide to stop them, which can only be done through a battle.

We lead with Free and Dubwool, they lead with Golisopod and Bronzong. Drill Peck and Double-Edge OHKO’s Golisopod, Bronzong uses Hypnosis to put Dubwool to sleep. Doublade comes out to replace Golisopod. I switch to Beary, they KO Dubwool with Sacred Sword and Gyro Ball. Hop sends out Cinderace. Wicked Blow on Bronzong and Pyro Ball on Doublade, both are OHKO’d. Their Bisharp, Falinks and Klinklang are then OHKO’d by our attacks as well.

The weirdoes are beaten, but they have still won! Because it turns out that Sonia’s assistant was actually a spy who works for them. While we were busy battling them, she stole all the Wishing Stars, and the three leave us in the dust. Sonia is greatly disappointed in herself. Elsanna, Hop and Piers leave, but Sonia heads out to talk with them before they go.

This quote is so perfect in every way, I love when the games replace regular words or expressions with Pokémon names.​

There are more Power Spot readings at various points in Galar, and we need to show those two weird wannabe-royalty brothers who’s the greatest trainers in Galar, so there’s still work that needs to be done!

...

More next time.

Legendaries caught: 5/10
Stories completed: 2/5
Time: 16:03

Good progress today… but there’s less than half an hour left before I’ve lost the challenge. At this point, I’m unsure if I will even be able to complete the current story before the time runs out. We’ll see how it goes.

I haven’t included any music in this post yet because I couldn’t think of anything that was suitable. Instead, let’s end this with Vivo.

and we’re finally on page 2 yay

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Part 14: Heavenbound​

The remaining four Gyms can be done in any order, but I’m doing them in the right order just because I feel like it. Doing things out of order isn’t really my thing. So Elsanna heads to the Stadium in Stow-On-Side. The gang meets Bea, there are more Dynamax Pokémon to take care of. But there are multiple of them this time, so we have to take down one each.

Elsanna faces a Conkeldurr. I lead with Quick for once since I haven’t used it much. Dynamax, Max Mindstorm almost OHKO’s, but the Conkeldurr can’t do much back so I KO it the next turn.

Three Stadiums left. Next is Ballonlea. Upon arriving, the gang encounter the new Gym Leader Bede. And he is so skilled that he has already taken care of all the Dynamax Pokémon here! However, he wants to see how skilled Elsanna is, so he challenges her to a battle.

Formerly the worst rival in the game (but way better than I remembered him), now the Gym Leader for the best type! I still lead with Quick… which proves to be a bad decision since Bede leads with Mawile. I switch to Code, Flamethrower for the win, then Shadow Ball on his Gardevoir. Bede continues with Rapidash, I switch back to Quick here. It OHKO’s his Rapidash and Hatterene with Side Shell Arm.

Next is Circhester. Gordie waits for us here. But like at Stow-On-Side, there are multiple Dynamax Pokémon, so we take one each.

Elsanna faces a Gigalith. I lead with Old. It goes similar to how it went against the Conkeldurr. Dynamax, then Max Steelspike almost OHKO’s but not quite, so it becomes a 2HKO.

The gang heads to Hammerlocke for the final Stadium. Raihan is there, and as expected, there are multiple Dynamax Pokémon so we have to take one each again.

The opponent here is a Haxorus. I lead with Beary. Dynamax, and Max Hailstorm actually OHKOs!

With all the Dynamax Pokémon taken care of, it is time to locate the weirdo brothers again. Sonia was going to do that… turns out she tracked them here to the Energy Plant beneath the Hammerlocke Stadium. But she is unable to get down through the elevator. However, her lovely Yamper solves the problem by using its electric powers! Good dog. Down the elevator, and at the bottom, Sordward waits, along with his… fans? Do people actually support this guy? As someone whose favorite Claymore character is Priscilla, maybe I shouldn’t say anything… Anyway, these guys need to be beaten in battle. Elsanna takes care of Sordward while Piers and Hop deal with the fans, and Sonia watches.

I still lead with Beary, which turns out to be a good decision. Close Combat Sirfetch’d and Bisharp, Wicked Blow on Doublade and Thunder Punch on Golisopod, all are OHKO’d.

A load howl is heard, coming from above. It seems that Sordward was merely stalling us so that his brother up above could finish the evil scheme. The gang heads up to the top, where Shielbert has managed to make Zamazenta mad. It won’t calm down and is about to give him a good beating, but Elsanna steps in and saves him. This means she has to fight the wolf.

I made a mistake here as I switched to the Catchers directly after facing Sordward, I had forgotten that you had to battle Zamazenta here. Anyway, I lead with Haru. I paralyze with Thunder Wave, but Zamazenta is somehow still faster afterwards. I manage to 4HKO with Play Rough, Haru survives which is surprising but good.

But the wolf is still raging. It tries to attack Shielbert again, but now Zacian appears and stops it. Zamazenta then rushes off. Hop takes the Rusted Shield and goes after it. Zacian stays, and it seems it wants Elsanna to challenge it! I heal Haru, then it is time. And we need some Wolf-type music to go along with this. What do you mean, Wolf isn’t a type? I guess that’s true. Still, I have the perfect song for the occasion.

There’s also the Acoustic version which is great as well (though I think the original is more suitable for this situation).

I am that is, my Sword shall wield for me.​

Still leading with Haru. It manages to use Thunder Wave and then Flash Cannon twice before falling. I continue with Kraxe who uses Soak, then I switch to Luke. I learn the hard way that Zacian knows Swords Dance. Which is very suitable but also very bad as it will just reset my attempts at using Charm. Luke falls in two hits, I continue with Bloom which manages to Charm Zacian down to -6 and Swipe it down to 1 HP. I throw a Timer Ball… and it is caught! First ball, yay!

I nickname it Skyward which is a double reference. It has a Quiet Nature. Making it follow the pattern. Unfortunately, at this point…

…time is up. I have lost the Challenge. Which was expected after the previous events. So it is a bit sad, but that’s okay. It is all just in good fun. But even if I have lost, I will still continue by completing everything that’s left to do!

With Zacian caught, Sordward and Shielbert realize how wrong they were. They leave with Piers to accept their punishment. Hop calls Elsanna, he has found Zamazenta and is trying to calm it. He is at the Slumbering Weald, Elsanna and Sonia head there. Sonia thankfully gives the alternative to quick-travel directly to the altar, which I accept.

There, Hop is waiting. He eventually manages to completely calm Zamazenta, and then catch it!

The main rival getting the opposite cover legend is such a great concept, another of the many things S/S does right when it comes to story and characters.​

After that, he challenges Elsanna to another battle!

I had switched to the Warriors prior to the battle, but I decided to let Skyward replace Free for the time being since I wanted to use Skyward in this battle. I lead with End. Hop starts with Dubwool. His team is at a higher level now, but I still have the advantage. I use Dragon Pulse but it doesn’t quite KO. Hop uses a Full Restore and I KO with Dynamax Cannon. Next is Snorlax. I switch to Beary which OHKO’s with Close Combat. Hop continues with Corviknight. I switch to Skyward since I want it to shine, but it proves to be a bad idea. Swords Dance, but a +3 Sacred Sword isn’t enough to take down the big bird. I KO it next turn, but Skyward is heavily damaged. Hop sends out Cinderace. I switch back to End which KO’s both it and Hop’s Pincurchin. Hop has Zamazenta as his last Pokémon. It takes down End, I send out Code. It tanks a Crunch which does over 50%, but Flame Body activates. Flamethrower does not KO, but Code survives another Crunch and KO’s on the next turn!

Hop is defeated, but he isn’t sad. He has been thinking about what he wants to do in life, and he decides that he wants to be a Pokémon Professor! Sonia invites him to work as her assistant since her previous one could not be trusted. Elsanna and Hop shake hands.

Even now that Klara exists, I still think friendly rivals are the best rivals in general.​

Sordward and Shielbert appear again, together with Leon and Piers. The brothers with the weird hairstyles apologize for their actions, and Elsanna forgives them. Forgiveness is good, and since it is basically non-existent on the internet nowadays, we need to show more of it IRL… though this is a game. But the point still stands.

The big boys leave, while Elsanna, Sonia and Hop stay. Elsanna gives Hop a kiss and then they go on a date! In my imagination, that is. Over the course of the game, Elsanna has developed a big crush on Hop, but she is too shy to confess her feelings for him.

Either way, this story is over. I think it was really fun. I like travelling through parts of Galar again to team up with various trainers. The ending with catching Zacian and then battling Hop who has Zamazenta is really great. Battling the Dynamax Pokémon at the Stadiums might seem repetitive, but it wasn’t really that bad. I also noticed now that the Dynamax Pokémon you face are all from odd-numbered generations, with the last three being from Gen 5. That’s cool. It doesn't seem to be that way in Shield though, as you face Dusknoir and Froslass there instead of Conkeldurr and Gigalith.

Time for the next story! Which is to Gigantamax Beary. Elsanna heads to the Isle of Armor and enters the Master Dojo, where Mustard awaits… along with Hop! Elsanna blushes heavily and is about to leave again… but she manages to keep her feelings in check and stays. Mustard reveals that Urshifu is able to Gigantamax, but since it doesn’t like the taste of Max Mushrooms, another ingredient is needed. The problem is, Mustard has forgotten what it is! He leaves it to the young trainers to find out. Hop remembers reading in a book that Urshifu likes a special type of honey, and he suggests that we should look in the Forest of Focus. A forest seems like a typical place where you can find honey, right? Hop heads there, Elsanna follows.

…

And their adventure will continue next time.

Legendaries caught: 6/10
Stories completed: 3/5
Time: 16:46

Good progress today. No real delays, but I’m over the goal time. I will still continue though. The question now is how much over the original goal I will get in the end?

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Part 15: Ultimate​

Elsanna and Hop head into the Forest of Focus. Hop has a theory that the secret ingredient they are looking for might be nectar from Lilligant or Applin. Those Pokémon can be found in this forest (though in reality, Petilil and Lilligant do not appear in the forest as encounterable Pokémon). Now, they just need to be found! Near the entrance of the forest, Elsanna and Hop encounter a Petilil. It looks sad, as if it has gotten separated from its parents. Upon seeing Hop, it clings to him as if he were its parent! But that can’t be true… or? Maybe Hop actually has a Lilligant as his secret girlfriend? Elsanna doesn’t ask him though, she doesn’t want to risk getting her heart broken.

Hop stays with the Petilil while Elsanna goes deeper into the forest to look for its parent. At the other end of the forest, she finds a worried Lilligant. She tells it about the lonely Petilil, and it follows her back to the entrance. The two flowers reunite!

So cute! But I am biased as I love Lilligant.​

As thanks, it gives us some of its nectar. Hop gives it a taste, but sadly, it wasn’t quite what we were looking for. So the young trainers continue by looking for an Applin instead. Further into the forest, they encounter one. But it spots them and escapes… by rolling away! That’s really cool, and it makes sense since it would be hard for Applin to move in any other way. It climbs a tree, but Elsanna shakes it down. It lands on her head… and drops some nectar in her hair. Hop decides to lick it off. Seriously, the screen went black here, which leaves it up to our imagination how he managed to taste it. It was probably because they didn’t bother animating this rather unnecessary scene, but still.

However, it isn’t the right thing either. It seems that nectar in general was the wrong answer. So what could it be then? The answer is of course honey! And what is a Pokémon that produces honey? Vespiquen. Could there be any Vespiquen at the Isle of Armor? Since there is a place named Honeycalm Island, it seems possible. Elsanna and Hop head there. It is inhabited by many Combee, and some Lilligant too.

Super adorable! I want one! But we don’t have time for that right now.​

In the middle of the Island, there’s a huge tree. Elsanna decides to shake it… and gets into battle with a Dynamax Vespiquen!

I lead with Code. Flamethrower to deal damage, Code tanks a Max Airstream. I expected the Vespiquen to be faster afterwards, but nope. I use Overheat and miss, the queen uses Attack Order. I then use Overheat again and hit, but it doesn’t KO. Vespiquen KO’s Code instead. I send out Free who 2HKO’s with Drill Peck. I guess I should have Dynamaxed sometime during the battle, but I didn’t.

After the battle, Elsanna obtains some Max Honey! Could this be what we were looking for? Elsanna and Hop head back to the Dojo. Mustard confirms that this was the secret ingredient. He then challenges Elsanna to a battle! But first, it is time to give Beary the ability to Gigantamax. One of the students cooks up some special Max Soup from the Max Honey and Max Mushrooms. Beary takes a taste and finds it delicious! It gulps down the rest in a flash, and with that, it has gained the ability to Gigantamax! I guess the story can technically be considered done here, but that wouldn’t be very fun, would it? So I decide that the story isn’t over until after the battle against Mustard! As an extra rule, I must Gigantamax Beary during the battle.

Since two Legendary Pokémon are about to face off, have some legendary music to go along with it!

He leads with Mienshao, I lead with Code. Mienshao uses U-Turn and gets burned by Flame Body before switching out. Lycanroc comes in and is hit by Flamethrower for less than 50%. I switch to Old, Lycanroc sets Stealth Rock. It then uses Stone Edge but it misses since it is still the worst move in the game. Iron Head OHKO’s. Mienshao comes back in. Since it is Burned, I expect Old to survive at least one hit. Which is just what happens, Old tanks a Close Combat and KO’s with Play Rough. Mustard continues with Corviknight. I switch back to Code which takes some damage from Stealth Rock but none from Body Press. Flamethrower for the OHKO. Mustard continues with Luxray. It survives a Flamethrower but hits hard with Crunch, Code also survives though.

I have a plan for the rest of the battle so I decide to it in motion. I switch to Beary, which takes a little damage from Stealth Rock and Crunch. Now, time to Gigantamax! Show us your new power! Max Knuckle, Luxray is down and Beary gets an Attack boost! Mustard has two Pokémon left, his next one is Kommo-o. Not what I was prepared for. Can I even OHKO it? Actually yes, since Beary knows Ice Punch. Max Hailstorm for an OHKO, it also causes the Hail to start but that doesn’t matter. Finally, Mustard’s own Urshifu. It Gigantmaxes, I use Max Lightning but it survives, it uses Max Knuckle but Beary survives.

Two big bears in a cool fight.​

My Gigantamax ends. But I am still faster. Thunder Punch for the KO. Elsanna has beaten Mustard! The rest of the Dojo inhabitants come out to congratulate her!

But most of them are shocked, even Honey! Hop is the only one who expected this outcome.

Klara is still a bit of a jerk, but she’s a lovable jerk.

Fair and square, for real this time? The answer is actually yes, since Klara doesn’t cheat during the post-game rematches with her. Though I don’t think I’ll battle her again on this file.​

And now, at long last, the Isle of Armor story is finally over for real. I think it is really fun and I appreciate how you can choose when to do it. You can do the first parts alongside the main game (like I did now) or do everything during the post-game (which I did on my main file, though I didn’t really have a choice there). As for the post-game parts I did now, it was short but fun. I liked going on a small adventure with Hop (and I know Elsanna liked it even more), then facing off against Mustard in a great final battle with two Gigantamaxed bears!

So that’s another story done. Now, there’s just one left. The Regis. Elsanna changes her team to the Catchers, kisses Hop goodbye and heads back to the Crown Tundra one last time. From Freezington, she heads out into the wild… and accidentally starts the Sword of Justice story. I guess that since this didn’t happen earlier, you need to complete the story with the wolves before it can start? Either way, Sonia appears and talks a bit about the Swords of Justice, but since we won’t be doing this quest, it doesn’t matter.

Elsanna heads down to the Iron Ruins. She gets a call from Peony who of course has a cool name for this story.

But those ruins are for Registeel, and since I am going to do the Regis in order, it is not time for this place yet. Elsanna continues down to the Giant’s Bed where the Rock Peak Ruins are located. The clue on the door says: "Let the first Pokémon hold a never-changing stone." I give an Everstone to Haru since it is currently in the lead. Elsanna inspects the door again, and it opens. She heads inside and I give the Wide Lens back to Haru. Elsanna steps on all the panels on the floor, they start to glow. Once all of them are glowing, the statue in the room starts glowing as well. Elsanna interacts with it, and Regirock appears!

Haru starts by using Thunder Wave to Paralyze it. I am a little afraid Flash Cannon will do too much damage or even KO (especially if it gets a Crit), so I use Play Rough instead. Three times, and the two first are Crits! Then I switch to Kraxe who uses Soak, continuing to Bloom who uses Worry Seed and then Charm to lower Regirock’s Attack, which was necessary since it had used Curse a few times. I use False Swipe a few times, but Regirock is very bulky, even more now thanks to having used Curse. I swipe it down to around 10%, then I start throwing balls. I catch it in the first Timer Ball!

I name it Pumice. It has a Modest Nature, which means it is not a follower of the pattern.

One Regi down, three to go. Elsanna heads back to Freezington to heal and to turn on the following Pokémon feature since it is needed for the next Regi. She continues by flying to Snowslide Slope and heads to the Iceberg Ruins. The clue on the door is: "Walk together with a living crystal of snow." I withdraw the Cryogonal I caught a while ago and put it in the lead position, which means it is now following Elsanna. She interacts with the door, and it opens. Inside, I deposit Cryogonal since I don’t need it anymore (sadly, since it is such a cool Pokémon). Like last time, Elsanna steps on the panels, the statue activates and she talks to it. Regice appears!

Still leading with Haru, Thunder Wave to Paralyze. Regice uses Amnesia but I still fear that Flash Cannon will do too much damage, so I use Play Rough here as well. Once it is weakened a bit, I switch to 007 who uses Soak, then to Bloom who uses Worry Seed followed by Swiping it down to 1 HP this time around. Regice doesn’t have as high Defense as Regirock, so it goes quickly. I try to catch Regice with Dusk Balls, but no success. I switch to Timer Balls and catch it on the first one I throw!

I name it Arctic. It has a Careful Nature, thus following the pattern from Pumice as both have terrible Natures compared to what is good for them. It would have been great if their Natures had been swapped. Doesn’t really matter though as I’m not going to use them for anything, and Mints exist anyway. Elsanna heads back to Freezington to heal and turn off the following Pokémon. There are still two Regis left to catch.

…

And I’ll get them next time.

Legendaries caught: 8/10
Stories completed: 4/5
Time: 17:30

I know I have lost the challenge, but I’ll post some thoughts on the progress anyway. Everything I did this time around went very well, no major delays or screwups. I am also exactly one hour over the goal. But there’s not much left to do, the remaining things shouldn’t take too long. My plan is to do the remaining things tomorrow.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Part 16: This Duality​

Elsanna heads down to the Iron Ruins again. This time, her objective is to enter them. The clue on the door reads: "Let ring out the piercing note that will wake the giant of steel." Should be simple enough, right? Yet when I did this on my main playthrough, I had no idea what to do and I actually had to look it up as I couldn’t figure it out on my own. But now I know, and I will never forget it. Elsanna whistles, and the door opens. She heads in, steps on all panels, interacts with the statue, and Registeel appears!

Haru Paralyzes it with Thunder Wave, I then switch to 007 which uses Surf twice before using Soak. Then to Bloom which uses Worry Seed and Swipes it down to 1 HP. I start by throwing Timer Balls, but no success. I switch to Dusk Balls instead and after just a few of those, Registeel is caught!

I nickname it Tungsten. It has a Naive pattern, thus following the pattern from the previous Regis but not the main pattern for the challenge. Elsanna heads back to Freezington to heal, then it is finally time for the last Regi. She flies to the Rock Peak Ruins at Giant’s Bed and continues from there. First to the Giant’s Foot, then to the Roaring-Sea Caves, further to the Frigid Sea and she finally arrives at Three-Point Pass, where the Split-Decision Ruins are located.

Split ruins, split decisions, split feelings.​

The clue on the door here is: "When gather the three giants, the door of destiny shall be opened." I withdraw the three Regis I have caught so far and add them to my party. The door opens. Elsanna heads in, and I deposit the Regis again. In these ruins, you get to choose which Regi you want to catch by stepping on the panels so that they match the pattern on the head (or what it should be called) of the Regi in question. I wonder what happens to the Regi you don’t choose, does it just disappear? Either way, I’m going after Regidrago this time since I caught Regieleki on my main file. It turned out that getting the pattern right was harder than expected. I thought I did everything right but it just didn’t work! In the end, I had to look it up, and it turns out that the rather simple solution was that you should not step on one of the middle panels.

So that wasted a bit of time. Once it is solved, Elsanna heads up to the statue and Regidrago appears!

I forgot to take a picture right as it appeared, so here is one from the start of the battle.​

Haru is in the lead as always, which is great this time since it is a Fairy-type and thus immune to Dragon-type moves. It Paralyzes as usual, then uses Flash Cannon which deals a bit of damage and gets a Sp.def drop. I am afraid that a potential Crit might KO, so I switch to 007. It uses Surf and Soak before it gets defeated! I continue with Bloom who uses Worry Seed as usual. I then Swipe Regidrago down to 1 HP, but it is quite bulky because it has so high HP. Once that is done, I start throwing balls and it is quickly caught in a Timer Ball.

It has a Quirky Nature. I nickname it Quest. Many of the nicknames I choose for Pokémon are inspired by songs or things related to music, Quest comes from this song:

Spike is a dragon, and Regidrago is a Dragon as well. Or at least a Dragon-type. This song was inspired by the MLP episode Dragon Quest, which is obviously named after the game series of the same name. According to what I have heard from some other Pokémon fans, the Pokémon games took a huge amount of inspiration from the Dragon Quest games (I can’t speak for this myself as I have never played any Dragon Quest games). With this nickname, we have come full circle.

The story and the challenge is technically over at this point… but not really. I can’t consider it done until I have reported to Peony about the Regis. So Elsanna heads back to him and leaves her report for the Regi story. Now it is finally over! Except not since Peonia appears, she and Peony talk for a while and then head off to the Max Lair for a real family adventure. Now it is finally done! Except not? Except actually yes, for real this time!

Yeah, that’s just the right word.
​

Legendaries caught: 10/10
Stories completed: 5/5

And the final time is:

17:51! Which means that the time for the post-game Challenge is 5:06! And my final time ended up being 1:21 over the goal.

Before I stop playing for the day, Elsanna finds a note on the floor. It seems to have been dropped by Peony. She heads to the Max Lair to talk to him about it, but he doesn’t recognize it. As they talk, several trainers come running out of the Max Lair, saying that weird creatures have appeared. They don’t even look like Pokémon! Could they be aliens? Peony gets interested, and the UB quest starts! However, I won’t complete it. Truth be told, I haven’t even completed it in my main file.

Elsanna leaves, and as she heads outside, she gets a call from Leon! It is an invitation to his and Sonia’s wedding! In my imagination only. In reality, it is about the Galarian Star Tournament. But I won’t be doing that on this file. Sorry Leon, you’re still great though.

And with that, the Challenge is over.

…

But we’re not done yet. First, some short thoughts on a few more things.

The Regi story. I like it. It is probably the most basic and simple of the legendary stories, so it was quite suitable that it was the last one I did. Looking back now, it is interesting how the Regis have appeared in four different regions: Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova and Galar. They also appeared in the Ultra Space Wilds in US/UM, so Alola to an extent as well. I should also mention that when it comes to catching legendaries, I prefer the traditional way over Dynamax Adventures. The Ultra Warp Ride in US/UM was okay as well, I like it better than Dynamax Adventures but I like catching them the traditional way the very best.

Regarding the time for the post-game challenge… I think 3:45 was a little too low. Many of the post-game challenges took a bit longer than expected. Even if I hadn’t screwed up on some points (notably with gathering Dynite Ore and chasing down Articuno), I don’t think I would have been able to make it under 3:45. I think a better time would have been 5:00 or something. In that case, I still wouldn’t have made it, but I would at least have gotten close. I might even have been able to make it if I hadn’t screwed up.

The challenge is over, but there’s more to be said about it. Tomorrow, I’ll make one final post with some more thoughts and some bonus things as well!

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Congrats on finishing! Looking forward to the final post.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Congrats on finishing! Looking forward to the final post.

Thank you so much!

Here’s the final post as promised.

The End​

Even if the Challenge ended yesterday, I still played a little today. There were a few things I wanted to do.

First of all, Elsanna headed back to the Max Lair. She embarked on another Dynamax Adventure and finally caught Suicune!

Third time’s the charm! This was a pain. But I still love you Suicune, you are the best Johto legendary and the mascot of the best Johto game. Naughty Nature, very suitable because of the pain it was to get it. I nicknamed it Clear since it is Crystal Clear. This third attempt went extremely well. Elsanna and her NPC partners only lost one “life” on their path to Suicune. I guess Dynamax Adventures are easier when they aren’t done on a timer, which makes it easier to do the right decisions. Or maybe I just had more luck this time.

I also caught the Wailord that can be found in the Workout Sea at the Isle of Armor.

Catching it was easy, I only needed Haru. It has a Naive Nature. It is at level 80, making it one of the highest-leveled Pokémon I have on this file.

I also decided to do the post-game rematches with Marnie, Klara and Peony. Not going to describe them in detail, they were all easy and I won without issues. One thing I had forgotten but learned again now was that before you can have a rematch against Klara, you need to go to the Potbottom Desert where she is doing some secret training with a Slowpoke.

Though it seems like the training isn’t going particularly well…​

That’s all I did today. In the end, my very final playtime ended up at exactly 19:00, which is cool.

Now, to the bonus things. First of all, I noticed that both Haru and the Cryogonal I caught (later nicknamed Freeze) both have a Mark!

Like with shinies, I don’t care much for Marks and I have never hunted for them, but this was still quite cool. The odds of getting this Uncommon Mark is apparently 1 in 50 according to Serebii, so it isn’t super rare. But since I only caught/obtained a total of 35 Pokémon on this run, I think I got quite lucky with two of my Pokémon having this Mark.

I also want to show some other screenshots I never included anywhere. First, Elsanna’s face upon getting ambushed by the Vespiquen. It was priceless.

I didn’t include this screenshot during that part of the story since it isn’t very good, I took it just as the screen faded to black.

Another thing I noticed is that Circhester looks really beautiful during the night.

I never noticed this before since I rarely play during the night.

There’s also a quote from Rose which I didn’t include earlier.

Seeing as this was a Speedrun, he was completely correct.​

And I suppose I should showcase all of the story-related legendaries I caught during the post-game, with their nicknames as well!

Skyward is at level 71 because it grew a level during my battle against Hop.

Now, some thoughts on the Pokémon I used during the post-game. First, the Catchers.

Haru was very useful against most of the legendaries. Prankster Wide Lens Thunder Wave is a near-guaranteed way to paralyze almost everything, and it worked. It could also chip the HP of the opponent with Flash Cannon and Play Rough.

The main purpose for 007 and Kraxe was to use Soak, which always worked as intended. Other than that, they could also cause chip damage with their other moves.

Bloom was very useful with Worry Seed to change the Ability of opponents, and to Swipe them down to 1 HP. Charm was also great to lower their Attack.

Luke wasn’t used quite as much as Bloom, but when it was used, it had a similar role with using Charm and False Swipe.

Song was mainly useful against the Birds to lower their Att/Sp.att. Otherwise it wasn’t used very much.

Overall, the Catchers worked as intended. I never had to change the weather against any of the legendaries. This was something I had feared I would have to do against the birds since the weather can be varied in the wild areas (Hail or Sandstorm would have been the worst), but thankfully, I never had to do it.

As for the Warriors, I want to say some things about three of them.

Just like during the main game, Quick was not used very much. But I definitely feel that it got considerably better after evolving. More bulk, a second typing and better offensive stats meant that it was an improvement on the whole. Still a slow Fastpoke though.

Old wasn’t used a whole lot either, but I think it still worked very well. Steel is a great type both offensively and defensively, it also has a great offensive movepool.

Code was a lot better with Flamethrower and Energy Ball, allowing it to pull of regular sweeps at times.

I already posted my thoughts on the other members of the Warriors and my opinions on them haven’t changed, so I won’t say more about them.

As for another bonus thing… I had many ideas for what to name the parts of the Challenge. There were some names I had planned to use at some point, but they never ended up being included. Coming up with cool names is easy (I took a lot of inspiration from other things I am a fan of, some are also ideas of my own), but finding names that were suitable for what I did in the game in every part was harder. Here are the scrapped names:

Awakening
First Night Alone
Legends of the Night
White Clouds
A New Side of the World
Into the Wild
Friendship is Alive

There were also a few details I forgot to include in some of my posts. Like the nicknames for the first three Regis, they are obviously related to their elements. There are probably also various errors and mistakes in some of my posts, I usually just proofread the posts once or maybe twice before posting them, so there are bound to be errors. I wish I could have been more meticulous, but I just didn’t have time for it. Though at the same time, I think I usually end up proofreading my posts too many times before posting them here on the forums, so maybe it was a good thing it didn’t happen this time around.

Some more thoughts on the Challenge itself. As a slow player, I enjoyed doing a Speedrun as a change of pace. I think it was good for me to step out of my comfort zone for once. However, I think I set the goal too high for the main game, and too low for the post-game. I managed to complete the main game challenge with 2:33 left to go, but I got 1:21 over the goal for the post-game. Which means I completed one part of the challenge but not the other. But that’s still okay, this was all just in good fun. In terms of real-life time, it took me three weeks in total, which is about what I had expected.

This challenge was very fun and exciting… sometimes I got a bit too excited, as you might have seen in some of my posts. But at the same time, it was also very exhausting. During the weekdays, I usually didn’t have much free time left after playing and making the post here on the forums. So I’m really glad I decided to do the challenge now during the summer when I have more free time, it wouldn’t have worked otherwise. I also think it was a good decision to do it now instead of waiting until my real vacation starts (which was my original plan as I would then have had even more free time). Now that this challenge is done, it will hopefully allow me to relax more during my vacation once it starts.

Fun as this was, I’m not planning to do another challenge anytime soon. If I do, it will definitely not be until after Scarlet/Violet. Which means it won’t be until next year. I have some different ideas for future challenges. Slow Speedruns for other games, and some completely different ones. I’m not sure what, when or even if any of them will happen. We’ll see in the future.

As for Sword, there are of course a ton of things left to do in the game. But I’m not going to continue playing it. I feel done with the game once more. I won’t do anything more in it right now, and it is unlikely that I’ll return to this file again. There are more things to do, but there are actually several major things I haven’t done in my main file either. Like catching all the legendaries/UBs in Dynamax Adventures, obtaining all TMs, beating Restricted Sparring with all types… and a lot more. Still, there’s no denying that Sword is an extremely fun game. Playing through it again has further cemented it as my 6th favorite Pokémon game on the whole. Maybe I’ll do a third playthrough of it again at some point in the future, not sure though.

With all of this said, Elsanna bids you farewell.

Decided to take a real photo for once, as opposed to a screenshot.​

…

So what’s next for me? My real vacation starts in two weeks! Wait, that’s not what I wanted to talk about here.

Switch-wise, I am going to move on to some other games. There’s one game I own which I haven’t started on yet, so my plan is to play through it now during the summer. Then there are several others I am interested in as well. Including some which haven’t even been released yet. XC3 releases at the end of the month and my hype for it is quite big! On the whole, there are three more games I want to at least complete the main story in before S/V are released.

Pokémon-wise, I am planning to do a playthrough of Black 2 sometime soon. But it will be a very casual playthrough and not a challenge, so I will not post about it here on the forums. I’m also continuing with my Battle Facility project. I haven’t gotten a lot of progress done on it lately as I have been busy with this challenge and other things. But I have gotten some things done. Still stuck in the Emerald Battle Dome though. Once I have something new and notable that’s worth reporting from that project, I’ll make a post about it in the appropriate thread. Aside from that, I don’t think I’ll play any other Pokémon games until I get Scarlet or Violet… still haven’t decided which one to get, but after seeing the cover legends, I’m leaning more and more towards Violet.

I’m also going to take a break from the forums at some point soon, it will last until I have played through the main game of S/V. It won’t be a complete break though, but I will stop following most threads here in OI. Though I’ll still continue on my Battle Facility project and post about it from time to time. I’ll also keep an eye out for challenges by other people.

To those of you who followed this challenge, thank you! I hope you enjoyed it. Personally, I had a lot of fun both playing and writing this, and I hope you had fun reading it as well!

To end all of this, have a song. One that is made by a rather controversial artist. But this is my favorite song by him. It was also the last track he made before he quit making music (at least under this artist name), and I think it is very suitable as an ending song.