Xisode 3: Screw this I'm using the exp share.

OK, remember what my party looked like last post? Just forget all of that. Things are finally starting to get interesting. So last time we left our intrepid hero he was setting out on route 10 after obtaining the 2nd badge. Things were pretty uneventful until we reached route 11, which I am officially dubbing "The Crematorium." We set of confidently despite the team's levels being noticeably low relative to our competition's since we turned off the exp share. This is also the part of the game where other trainers start using evolved pokemon and you're all "what the hell, when did machoke get so strong." Regardless, we set off, and things start smoothly, but my goodness can things fall apart quickly.

Admittedly, I hadn't been as meticulous at keeping my whole party as evenly trained in the past. Some of the team was falling behind, whether because their potential was stunted by their nature, or I was expecting to swap them out in the future, half the team was dragging a bit in levels. Another reason is I had three distinct showstealers. Colby the Quilladin, as my new starter got favored, Smithers the wartortle had the nostalgia of being my first starter ever, and Fetch the Fletchinder is a badass fire bird.

The hint that disaster was imminent was when we started a double battle against a Mr. mime and a machoke. Cornhole took the machoke down to about half with one take down (ha) and I thought a second would finish the job, but the machoke hung on with a single pixelwidth of hp. One super effective low sweep and Cornhole became my first casualty. Shaken but determined, the team pressed on. I'm sorry I said you looked like a digimon! I take it back!
death count: 0 1

After the rude awakening, I looked at the state of my team and took stock of the array of levels present. We'd need to do some serious grinding if we were going to make it. It was also time for my first route encounter. After adding Grover the Sawk to the team, we stuck Chalmers out in front and set to grinding. The very first encounter was another Sawk. A quick assessment of the situation lead me to conclude this was not a good fight for Chalmers. Sawk don't evolve so they are decently overpowered early game, and Chalmers was still weakened from catching Grover. Attempt to flee.
Can't escape.

Oh no.

low sweep.

0 hp.

death count: 1 2

And just like that, in the span of 3 battles, we were down two teammates. Continuing on was harder this time, but I took bitter solace in the fact that Chalmers hadnt been able to keep up with the rest of the team for a while now, and it was only  a matter of time. I know I'm terrible.
To fill the gaping holes in my roster I went to the box and brought out Grover the Sawk (who I still hold partially responsible for Chalmer's death) and Trundle the Tyrunt. Lets do this.

After a little more grinding on the crematorium, I stumbled across another new gen 6 feature, a sky battle trainer. They're essentially what they sound like; pokemon battles in the sky. Only flying types or pokemon with levitate can participate. I'd done a couple before this and theyd gone smoothly despite excluding most of my team. Magpie and Fetch were both solid and I figured they could handle themselves. Unfortunately, my oponent had 3 flyers and the first was the electric/flying emolga. One thundershock and I knew I was in trouble. I had to make the terrible choice of who to sacrifice of my two birds in order to make it through the battle. Magpie made the ultimate sacrifice in weakening the emolga enough for Fetch to finish off before succumbing to the BS game mechanic. At least I had managed to save my core three teammates...

death count: 1 2 3

Soon afterwards, I discovered a new pokemon called hawlucha.

At first I was all "what", then I figured it was a psychic type like xatu. its actually fighting/flying. because its a HAWK LUCADOR. anyway, still no big deal, Fetch the Fire/flying has type advantage. oh wait, except it knows rock tomb. 4x super effective.

death count: 1 2 3 4

Well, I made it more than 5 minutes without a death and even added a few new dudes. including Grumble the Snubble, Qwop the slowpoke, and... this thing?
Bunkle the Carbink. So mysterious I couldnt even find a decent picture of him on google. I had literally never seen this pokemon when I ran in to him in a cave. I dont even know if it evolves yet. He does know a couple neat moves like stealth rock and reflect, so thats cool. And I'm really starting to enjoy the fairy type's resistances. Welcome to the team, Bunkle.

So everything encompassed so far on this post has happened on a single route with a cave. Ughhh. I finally reach the next city and discover it has a fighting gym. This is disconcerting because I had recently lost both of my flyers (tear...) and didnt have any super effective moves. At this point, I threw away my pride and started using the exp share again. Grumble quickly evolved into Granbull (who is pure fairy type now, resistant to fighting, woo!) and I started leveling Qwop for his confusion. Before the gym however, I had a rival fight. Pretty unexciting, except Trungle the Tyrunt overcame his debilitating type advantage to kill himself in his confusion when he only needed a single bite more to win.

death count: 1 2 3 4 5

Now I have a team full of noobs and two significantly overleveled starters upon entering the gym both of whom evolved at the end of the rival fight. Hellooooo blastoise and Chesnaught. I've never been a fan of granbull, but Grumble impressed me by kicking serious butt despite not have any super effective moves. Qwop did really well against the first two pokemon of his first battle, before being promptly anihilated by a Hariyama that knew knock off (dark type move).

death count: 1 2 3 4 5 (its not even funny any more) 6

The 3rd gym battle was the most stressful I've had by far. Bunkle set up well with reflect and stealth rock, but lost too much health to switch back in, so he was effectively out. Essentially, he had to "get clear" because he "couldnt do any more good back there." The three match-ups of the battle consisted of meinfoo vs. chesnaught, hawlucha vs. Granbull, and machoke vs. blastoise. No super effective moves on either side meant every fight was a brutal slugfest between beefy 'mons (the only type I seem to be able to keep alive) that left everyone I used in the red or low yellow. Fortunately, every member of team Habberdash triumphed, and we were able to exit the gym with no more casualties. Pressing on, I have a formidable 5 man team, but no bench to speak of. We'll see who has what it takes to join this elite fighting force. Next update will be shorter I promise.

Habberdash's team:

Bunkle, Grumble, Grover (who is half a murderer and will never see a single battle if I have any say in it)


Smithers, Colby's full evolution. Guys, Chesnaught is so badass you have no idea.

Badges: 3
Deaths: ....6