Challenge Pokemon Scarlet Monotype Run (Grass)

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Happy Pokemon Day, everyone!

Shining Bright

This Glimmora was radiating with strange energy! We had never seen Pokemon like this before!

We were tasked with handling Glimmora! I guess we should challenge it to a battle!

Glimmora Terastallized! But to a type that I had never seen before!

With the Tera Jewel being so bright and Glimmora emitting strange energy, I think this might be related to the secret Tera Type discussed in Professor Sada's notes!

Against foes with unknown abilities, testing things out with Guava's Flower Trick should be the safest!

Glimmora then used Rock Slide, which seemed to be boosted by its Tera Jewel! Does this Glimmora have Rock-type Tera Type then?

Guava then sliced Glimmora with Night Slash, doing regular damage as expected!

We broke Glimmora's Tera Jewel, and we still hadn't quite figured out what was up with its Tera Jewel!

Guava then quickly cleaned things up with another Night Slash!

After we defeated Glimmora, the crystal blocking our way started glowing!

The special Glimmora must've been related to the crystal flower around!

Ms. Briar confirmed my suspicion that the Glimmora we saw had the Stellar Tera Type! That sounds interesting for Terastallization strategy!

That Glimmora was quite special, but it was not special enough to be called the hidden treasure, in my opinion!

We also picked up some Stellar Tera Shards! Not my favorite type of Tera Shards, but I think these look pretty as well!

We continued the path after clearing the crystal flower! We found rare Pokemon like Carbink residing here!

We also found another Glimmora around! But this one wasn't glowing with any special lights!

Well, our adventure didn't go that far, since our path was blocked by another crystal flower!

We would probably need to defeat another Pokemon, and it seemed like there was another glowing Pokemon far far away!

Upon closer inspection, the sparkling Pokemon was a Noivern! Not really what I wanted to see!

Just like Glimmora, Noivern seemed to have the Stellar Tera Type as well and Terastallized into that!

Noivern was probably planning something with it setting up Tailwind immediately!

Let's see how shocking Lime's Thunderbolt would be against the wind!

Noivern then recovered its health with Roost! That's why I don't like fighting Flying-type Pokemon!

Lime gave Noivern another zap with Thunderbolt and luckily for us, it was not weakened by Noivern taking Roost!

Not sure what Noivern was planning, but it couldn't set up a second layer of Tailwind!

Another Thunderbolt should do the job!

We broke Noivern's Tera Jewel and then knocked it out! I guess flying dragons weren't that scary after all!

We heard Carmine shouting to us that the crystal was gone after Noivern went down!

This expedition was a little more tiring than I expected, but at least we were making progress!

The Treasure Hunt

Of course, we ran into yet another crystal flower blocking our way!

This time around, we didn't spot any Stellar Pokemon around, so we went deep into a cave to find one!

We finally found a Stellar Pokemon! This time it was a Stellar Sandy Shocks! I guess it makes sense to see Paradox Pokemon under Area Zero!

Well, we had no other choices but to battle the Stellar Sandy Shocks! Pomelo should be able to handle that!

Sandy Shocks struck Pomelo with Earth Power! Pomelo might not be flying anymore, but he could still take that!

Pomelo then cut through Sandy Shocks with Leaf Blade! I'm not sure what Sandy Shocks is made of, but it does not go well with plants!

Just one Leaf Blade was enough to remove Sandy Shocks' Tera Jewel!

Even an intensified gravity would not save you!

We easily defeated Sandy Shocks with another Leaf Blade!

As expected, knocking Sandy Shocks out cleared up the path!

I'm fine doing the work, if it means I get to battle more Pokemon! Especially since they have the peculiar Stellar Tera Type!

Ms. Briar noticed the Terastal energy getting stronger and that must mean we were getting even deeper!

To nobody's surprise, our pathway was blocked by another crystal flower! I hope this is the final one!

Not sure how water flows in the place, but we needed to travel through the water to find a Stellar Pokemon this time!

We found an enormous Stellar Pokemon! A Stellar Garganacl!

Well, I have faith in Pomelo as always! This giant pile of rocks should not be a problem!

Pomelo's Leaf Blade did enough damage to weaken Garganacl! Seriously, he should be a blade master!

We removed Garganacl's Tera Jewel and then sliced it through with another Leaf Blade!

We couldn't see it, but Kieran told us the path opened up!

We collected 51 Stellar Tera Shards so far! That had to mean something good, right?

It seemed like Kieran wanted to tell me something ...

I guess Kieran wasn't happy about me getting to battle all the Pokemon around! We should've left a few for him!

Carmine had been doing some battling while we were gone, and she only had Sinistcha left! Let's hope that nothing bad will happen here!

We didn't find any more crystal flowers, but our Tera Orbs were going crazy with a high level of Terastal energy detected!

The secret of everything seemed to be located here, in this giant crystal!

Kieran and Ms. Briar were both really excited to investigate the crystal! We immediately rushed forward in case anything happened!

The crystals didn't seem anything different from the ones we had been seeing, but we noticed something that looks like a gemstone of some sort!

Could this stone be ... the hidden treasure of Area Zero?

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Hello, everyone! I think you are all super excited about Legends Z-A!
Here's my Mega wishlist for this upcoming game!

Long List Warning

Mega Sunflora, the fan favourite, getting an additional Fire-type and Drought
Mega Sawsbuck, with Forecast changing its primary type based on the weather
Mega Arboliva, with Grass Pelt to go well Seed Sower
Mega Tsareena, x1.5 boosts for kicking moves, may infatuate target with those moves
Mega Flapple and Appletun, to compensate for the fact that Dipplin can evolve further
Mega Hydrapple, to compensate for the fact that Flapple And Appletun both receiving Mega
Mega Vileplume, gains Toxic Chain
Mega Bellossom, gains the Fairy-type and Grassy Surge
Mega Breloom, with an ability granting immunity to Flying-type
Mega Meowscarada, getting Battle Bond because it is the new Greninja
Mega Trevenant, gains Shadow Tag
Mega Torterra, gains Arena Trap
Mega Rillaboom, gains Gorilla Tactics
Mega Iron Leaves, gains Hadron Engine
Mega Tropius, gains Supreme Overlord, because Tropius is the lord of all
Mega Jumpluff, getting a ton of Attack and Wind Rider
Mega Serperior, gains Simple, while keeping Contrary as well
Mega Brute Bonnet, turning into Grass/Poison with Regenerator
Mega Amoonguss, turning into Grass/Dark with Protosynthesis
Mega Cacturne, turning into Grass/Steel with Iron Barbs
Mega Leafeon, gaining the Normal-type and Adaptability
Mega Whimsicott, automatically sets up Tailwind for 8 turns
Mega Meganium, unlike what others suggest, gains a Dragon-type and an Ability that grants immunity to Ice and Fairy
Mega Gogoat X with Grassy Terrain and Mega Gogoat Y with Tough Claws; as the ride Pokemon of Kalos, it gets two Megas
Mega Scovillain, getting Mold Breaker and a free Attack boost when Terastallized
Mega Ogerpon, to compensate for the lack of Tera, gains all Fire/Water/Rock-types at once and boosts its Attack, Defense, Special Defense and Speed
Mega Toedscruel, with Prankster ensuring its status moves go first
Mega Lilligant and Mega Lilligant-H, new ability that doubles the effect of dancing moves
Mega Rotom-Mow, gets Drizzle and now learns Electro Shot
Mega Brambleghast, does not require Mega Stone; automatically Mega Evolve when Tailwind is up
Mega Abomasnow ZA, turns into a bread and gains Well-Baked Body
Mega Lurantis, gets a +2 Speed automatically and can call for SOS partners in battle
Mega Leavanny, new Ability Good As Bug, blocks all attacking moves
Mega Victreebel, new Ability that traps Bug-type Pokemon and gains immunity to all their moves
Mega Shiftry, sets up Sun and Tailwind at the same time and boosts both its Attack and Speed
Mega Ludicolo, gains Drizzle and changes into Grass/Steel
Mega Sinistcha, drinks its own matcha and heals 1/4 HP at the end of every turn
Mega Exeggutor, combines its Special Attack and Special Defense, making Amnesia boosting its Special stats sharply
Mega Exeggutor-A, drops its head to the ground and creates a Mega Exeggutor upon entry
Mega Decidueye, nothing changes, +100 Speed to beat the Alola is Slow allegations
Mega Decidueye-H, gains Sharpness and now learns Ceaseless Edge
Mega Venusaur-Legend, now learns Judgement (behaves like Legends Arceus)
Mega Chesnaught, gains Huge Power and a Grass-type priority move and also Mach Punch
Mega Sceptile-Kalosian, gains an Ability that turns all moves of special types (Pre-Gen IV) into special
Mega Wo-Chien, the only Ruinous Pokemon with Mega; All it does is making Live Reactions

Sorry for the shitposting and the lack of updates. This took longer than I thought.

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Final Showdown

Kieran immediately rushed to pull out the stone, saying that he wants to beat me!

Kieran refused to listen to his own sister! He was getting really stubborn!

I had a feeling ... I was the reason why Kieran had been acting so strange ...

Especially since Ogerpon decided to travel with me ... Things must've been rough for Kieran.

I guess we started out being close friends with Kieran first, but we ended up taking out the Loyal Three with Carmine instead ...

I thought having Pokemon battles would be the best way to solve our conflicts, but I guess not ...

That was the reason why Kieran tried so hard to get the Hidden Treasure! I disagree with his thoughts, but I couldn't do anything!

Even Ms. Briar was on his side, telling him to pull the crystal!

Kieran eventually pulled out the crystal! Will it actually end everything?

The crystal transformed into a turtle Pokemon, like it was some sorts of Pokemon Egg!

The turtle Pokemon looked at me and tried to walk to me!

Kieran wasn't happy about that and immediately threw his Master Ball at the Pokemon!

Kieran successfully caught the turtle Pokemon, as we expected a Master Ball would do!

With strong reasons to believe that the turtle Pokemon is Terapagos, I guess Kieran just caught a Legendary Pokemon!

Well, Ms. Briar wanted to see the power of Terapagos in battles and of course Kieran challenged us to battle!

I guess the ultimate solution to everything is still Pokemon battling! I hope this would the final battle between us!

We sent out our reliable partner, Guava, to fight against Terapagos!

Terapgaos is said to process great power and we didn't know anything about it! This might be a tough battle for us!

Right off the bat, Terapagos transformed into a bigger turtle with its Tera Shift!

Terapgos really seems like a powerful Pokemon! I hope we would still be able to defeat it!

Well, Flower Trick is always the safest move to use against unknown targets!

Huh? Terapagos' shell gleamed and distorted type matchups! Whatever that meant, it would probably be bad news for us!

Flower Trick wasn't very effective against Terapgos! And it didn't do much despite being a critical hit!

Kieran must've wanted to be the hero of the story too! He should have put more faith in himself!

Terapagos struck Guava with Earth Power! Luckily, we resisted that hit!

See? Kieran landed a critical hit in such a critical time too! He's the hero of his own story!

We used Flower Trick again and it was not resisted by Terapagos anymore! We were unfortunately still not doing enough damage though!

Terapagos struck with Earth Power again! Guava still took the hit, but he was gradually getting worn down!

Guava went for Flower Trick again! We were still unfortunately not doing enough, maybe we should change our plans!

Guava was hit by Earth Power again! Does Terapagos not have any other moves?

We changed our strategy and hit Terapagos with U-turn instead!

Guava did great already, and it was time for him to retreat!

This battle wasn't as tough as I thought! Were we really missing something?

We sent in Quince next to handle Terapagos! I always have faith in him!

Terapagos was still going for Earth Power, and Quince was fine taking that hit!

Earth Power triggered Seed Sower and turned the battlefield Grassy! Though that would also gave Terapagos health at the end of each turn!

Terapagos also decided to switch things around and changed to using Zen Headbutt instead!

Quince was fine taking the hit, but he flinched from that! I guess that would be understandable facing the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero!

Terapagos struck with Zen Headbutt again! I guess Kieran would stick to this for the upcoming turns then!

Quince hit Terapagos with Energy Ball, which was boosted by the Grassy Terrain!

Another Zen Headbutt! Quince was still hanging on though, thanks to Grassy Terrain healing him constantly!

Quince used Energy Ball and almost knocked Terapagos out! We should have this!

Kieran was still slamming Quince with Zen Headbutt! At least Quince wasn't scared of that anymore!

With another Energy Ball, Terapagos went down!

We defeated Terapagos!

Out of Control (Cutscenes only)

We defeated Kieran yet another time! Would this finally calm him down?

Kieran was disappointed ... Did we crush his dreams yet again?

Carmine tried to talk to Kieran, but ...

Ms. Briar insisted Terapagos must be able to do more! She thinks it should be able to transform again!

Oh right! Terapagos is said to be related with Terastallization! Maybe it would transform after being Terastallized?

Would Terapagos become the true form of the hidden treasure if it was Terastallized?

Kieran then Terastallized Terapagos!

I was getting a little concerned! Terapagos seemed to glow more than a usual Terastallized Pokemon!

I guess it would make sense for the hidden treasure of Area Zero to be more brilliant than a regular Pokemon!

Terapagos was shining so bright we couldn't even look at it straight! And it seemed to be even absorbing more energy!

Kieran was standing so close to Terapagos! He might be in danger!

Luckily, Koraidon saved him just in time! I couldn't even imagine what would happen if he was struck by Terapagos in its full form!

We all noticed Terapagos might be getting too powerful, and Kieran decided to retreat Terapgos!

Terapagos broke out of Kieran's control and destroyed the Master Ball! I had never seen Pokemon doing that!

If Terapagos couldn't be stopped by its Master Ball, I guess we should just battle in the traditional way! Carmine was here to help as well!

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

The Hidden Treasure (1)

We had no choices but to fight Terapagos! We sent out Guava, while Carmine sent out her Sinistcha to support us!

Well, I was glad to see we finally reached a consensus. Time to stop Terapagos!

If we had Kieran joining in, it would've been a 3-on-1 battle! But Kieran was not confident in himself!

Terapagos put on a barrier with some energy! It was like a Tera Raid Battle!

And Guava was still worn down from the previous battle! Luckily Sinistcha's Hospitality healed him a little!

Guava's Flower Trick did next to nothing to Terapagos! How did that happen!

Terapagos' barrier could reduce our damage, and we would only do significant damage if we Terastallize our Pokemon!

Terapagos hit both of our Pokemon with a shining gleam called Tera Starstorm!

Tera Starstorm did a lot of damage to both Guava and Sinistcha! This was an uphill battle for our side!

Sinistcha then poured some hot matcha on Terapagos, but it didn't do much either!

We couldn't Terastallize yet, so we went for another Flower Trick just to do some damage!

Terapagos went for Tera Starstorm again and knocked Guava out! We barely did anything and already lost a Pokemon!

Sinistcha used Life Dew, but it was a little too late! It only got to heal itself!

We sent in Plum next! Hopefully he would be able to do more!

Our Tera Orb finished charging! We could use Terastallization to power up Plum!

We did exactly that and made Plum blossom even more!

Sinistcha also went for Rage Powder to support Plum! Thank you!

Terapagos' Zen Headbutt was redirected into Sinistcha, who took the hit fairly well!

Plum unleashed a Tera-boosted Giga Drain and finally got to damage Terapagos significantly!

For the next round, Terapagos used Zen Headbut again, and it was enough to finish Sinistcha!

Carmine lost her only Pokemon! Now we were battling by ourselves!

Plum went for a powerful Giga Drain again!

That was enough to break Terapagos' barrier! That should make the remaining battle easier!

The Hidden Treasure (2)

Huh? I had never seen a Terastallized Pokemon lose its power! What happened?

We suspected that Terapagos had the ability to absorb Plum's Terastal energy! That's just unfair!

Terapagos used the Terastal energy to put up another barrier and changed its type!

I guess Terapagos is made of Terastal energy after all, and of course it would have great power using them!

We had no teammates battling with us, and Kieran still didn't want to join us! A 1-on-1 with Terapagos would be even worse!

At least we were getting lucky! Plum avoided an incoming Zen Headbutt!

Without its Tera Jewel, Plum couldn't do that much with his Giga Drain!

Well, we got lucky last time, but we couldn't avoid Zen Headbutt for a second time!

Zen Headbutt was more than enough to knock out Plum! Terapagos is a strong Pokemon!

Pomelo was our next hope! His blades and arrows should be able to pierce through Terapagos' shields!

Terapagos was still going for Zen Headbutt, and it did quite a lot to Pomelo!

NO! Pomelo flinched and couldn't shoot his arrows! Terapagos was too intimidating for him!

Pomelo got hit by another Zen Headbutt and fainted! Poor Pomelo didn't even get to do anything!

We sent out Cherry next! Let's see if her supersweet syrup would be able to mesmerize Terapagos!

Terapagos shot Cherry with its Tera Starstorm, but Cherry was still hanging tough! She should still be able to take one or two more hits!

Taking that opportunity, Cherry struck Terapagos with Fickle Beam! She didn't go all out, but it still did fine!

If we wanted to do more damage, we must power up our Pokemon with Terastallization!

We then Terastallized Cherry and turned her into a pure Grass-type!

Terapagos used Tera Starstorm again! I hope Cherry would be able to take it!

Oh no! Tera Starstorm did so much more damage this time and knocked Cherry out! We just wasted our Terastallization!

We were down to two Pokemon and we sent out Lime!

We set up Light Screen with Lime to try to lower damage taken for our side!

With the Light Screen by our side, Lime took Tera Starstorm just fine! But that was still an extremely powerful move!

At least Lime got Leftovers to give itself some healing! I was just worried that might still not be enough for Lime to take more hits!

Lime still tried its best to zap through Terapagos' defenses with Thunderbolt! It didn't quite work well though.

Terapagos changed its strategy and went for Zen Headbutt instead! At least Lime was still hanging on!

With so little health left, Leftovers probably wouldn't be helpful at all! Terapagos is just too strong!

Lime went for its last resort, Leaf Storm, before it went down!

We knew Lime would have its Special Attack harshly lowered, but we must do what we got to do!

Lime was slammed by Zen Headbutt and went down!

We were down to our final Pokemon, Quince, who also got damaged a lot by Terapagos in the last battle!

But we must still not give up! We Terastallized Quince to try to break through Terapagos' barriers!

Well...

Quince was knocked out, unsurprisingly.

We lost to the full form of Terapagos! I guess the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero is really something!

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

The Hidden Treasure (3)

Well, we were forced to take on Kieran again!

With Cherry out this time, we defeated the first form of Terapagos with relative ease!

History repeated itself and Kieran Terastallized Terapagos again! Carmine and I battled against it with a 2-on-1 again!

Time for the big fight! We sent out Cherry, while Carmine still had her Sinistcha!

Cherry was worn down from the last fight, and luckily Sinistcha was here to heal her!

Terapagos went for Tera Starstorm directly this time and damaged both of our Pokemon!

Sinistcha gave us even more healing with Life Dew! We must stay hydrated!

We decided to go with a different strategy and used Syrup Bomb on Terapagos! It should keep getting slowed down in these turns!

Sinistcha providing even more support with Rage Powder! It is such a great Pokemon to use against Titanic Pokemon!

Terapagos casted another Tera Starstorm! Cherry and Sinistcha might not be able to take care of that many more hits!

Cherry then just provided regular damage with Fickle Beam! We needed a little more than that though!

We had charged up our Terastal power and could finally use Terastallized Pokemon!

Sinistcha used Life Dew to restore health for both Cherry and itslef! Such a great move!

We actually didn't go for Terastallization yet! As we worried about Cherry being knocked out soon!

Terapagos struck with another Tera Starstorm! This move seemed to always be powered up by its Tera power!

That did a lot to Cherry, while also knocking out Sinistcha! Things might not be looking too good!

Since Carmine didn't have any other Pokemon left, we needed to continue fighting on our own!

Cherry used Fickle Beam! She knew we needed bigger damage and decided to go all out for this attack!

Cherry blasted a more fierce Fickle Beam, though it still couldn't do much against Terapagos' barrier!

Terapagos went for Zen Headbutt, and Cherry hanged on with just 1 HP! I guess we should've Terastallized her!

We were prepared for this! Cherry's Rocky Helmet hurt Terapagos!

With 1 HP left, Cherry couldn't do that much other than just using Earth Power!

Cherry was then easily removed by another Tera Starstorm!

We sent in Pomelo next, and I hoped he would be able to do much more this time around!

We really needed to step things up! Let's put Pomelo to great use with his Terastallization!

Pomelo sliced with an extra sharp Leaf Blade at Terapagos! That had got to hurt!

Oh no! Terapagos' Tera Starstorm dealt super effective against Pomelo since he was Terastallized!

We lost our Terastallized Pokemon! But Pomelo did a lot of already!

We sent in Quince next! He should be able to take care of things!

Quince used Energy Ball, which was still not enough to break through Terapagos!

Quince had to take a Tera Starstorm because of that! At least he wasn't Terastallized!

The only one great thing Tera Starstorm did was setting up Grassy Terrain for us!

Quince got to recover some health thanks to Grassy Terrain, but so did Terapagos!

Thanks to the Grassy Terrain, Quince's Energy Ball did a little more than last time!

We finally broke through Terapagos' first shield!

The Hidden Treasure (4)

Terapagos absorbed Terastal energy again! Though we didn't really have that much energy to be abosrbed!

Just like last time, Terapagos put up another shield and changed its type!

And Kieran was still unwilling to help! We must fight through this on our own again!

Terapagos slammed Quince with Zen Headbutt! We should still be able to take more!

But Quince still couldn't do much against Terapagos' second layer of barrier!

At least Quince got some HP from the Grassy Terrain!

And there he went! Quince got knocked out by Zen Headbutt!

And Terapagos took advantage of our terrain as well! That was just rude!

We brought Apricot with us this time! Let's see what she could do here!

Well, Apricot is best at using Fake Out! That should stall things out a little bit!

That gave us the energy we needed for Terastallization!

Let's not waste any turns this time! We immediately Terastallized Apricot!

Well, I forgot Terapagos wasn't slowed down anymore! And it struck us with Tera Starstorm before Apricot moved!

Well, I guess we wasted our Terastallization. Great.

When things get desperate, we always send in Guava to save us!

Guava couldn't be Terastallized yet, so we just went with a standard Night Slash!

Guava probably wouldn't be able to take that many hits, since Tera Starstorm did so much!

Before Guava went down, at least he got to strike with another Night Slash!

And as we predicted, Guava got knocked out by Tera Starstorm! That was rough for us!

I didn't actually want to send in Starfruit while Kieran was still watching, but she was the last Pokemon on the team already!

If Terapagos can take advantage of Terastallization, we can do that too with Starfruit!

Let's see who got stronger Terastal power between Starfruit and Terapagos!

Starfruit unleashed full power with her Ivy Cudgel! It managed to hit through Terapagos' barrier!

Terapagos lashed out with a Zen Headbutt! Even a regular hit did so much!

Luckily for us, Starfruit had a Sitrus Berry to recover some health! She should still be good to go for a few more turns!

Starfruit slammed with another Ivy Cudgel, and it was finally enough to remove Terapagos' barrier!

That was a rough battle, but Terapagos without shields should be easier to handle!

NO WAY! Terapagos took away Terapagos' Teal Mask power by absorbing Terastal energy again!

This was so unfair! Terapagos set up a third layer of barrier!

We really could use some helping hand! But Kieran was still feeling down!

Come on Kieran! I think we would be able to do this together!

YES! Kieran finally decided to step in and sent in Hydrapple to battle alongside Starfruit!

Terapagos put on another shield, but this time we had twice the power to break it!

We had to clean up everything before Terapagos goes crazy again, or else we would all be in danger!

Starfruit was getting weak, and we went for a safer option with Spiky Shield!

Spiky Shield protected Starfruit from another Tera Starstorm!

Thanks to that, both our Pokemon were still in pretty good shape!

Kieran had a similar strategy as I did in the first round! Hydrapple went for Syrup Bomb on Terapagos!

Syrup Bomb should be able to slow down Terapagos!

We hadn't finished charging our Terastal energy, so Starfruit had to use a weaker Ivy Cudgel!

We must hurry before things got too bad for us! Tera Starstorm was just doing too much!

Starfruit used Spiky Shield to try to stall things out!

Hydrapple went for Dragon Cheer and gave Starfruit a boost! We may be able to do bigger damage thanks to that!

But things were still not looking too good, with how much damage Hydrapple had taken!

Starfruit went for Ivy Cudgel again, but she couldn't do much without the power of her masks!

Hydrapple went for Body Press, but that wasn't able to hit through Terapagos' shield either!

Terapagos struck both Starfruit and Hydrapple with a powerful Tera Starstorm.

Starfruit didn't make it.

Neither did Hydrapple.

We lost. Even with the help of Kieran.

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

The Hidden Treasure (5)

(Here we go again... Third time's the charm, right?)

(Oh, shut up please.)

(The first battle with Terapagos was just there to wear our Pokemon down.)

(Ok, maybe if you can shut up for a moment, things would not go bad.)

(I'll be honest, I got tired of the Terapagos battle.)

(Calm the f**k down, woman!)

(It takes a lot to be the hero of the story, I guess.)

(They might have made the Terapagos battle a little too hard, in my opinion.)

(4-on-1 for Tera Raid Battle is rough enough, but 2-on-1 is just brutal.)

(At least Carmine is pretty helpful with her Sinistcha.)

(If you don't Terastallize your Pokemon, you can't do any damage.)

(If you Terastallize your Pokemon, you get punished by Tera Starstorm.)

(Slow Pokemon can't do anything if Terastallized. They either flinch from Zen Headbutt or die to Tera Starstorm.)

(And the battle isn't even interesting in the slightest, with Terapagos mostly spamming the same two moves.)

(And since Terapagos is like a Raid Boss, residual damage wouldn't mean much either.)

(I got so tired posting the last two updates, since I was mostly saying the same stuff over and over again.)

(At least this battle explains a lot about why they gave Sinistcha Hospitality and a ton of support moves for Double battles.)

(And also how the new Pokemon, like Hydrapple, does really well in this fight.)

(Tera Starstorm is a great move, but does it really need to hit both targets?)

(Well, 1-on-1 with Terapagos sounds like a great time.)

(I'll be honest, there were a few more failed attempts at this battle.)

+

(Which is why I came up with "strategies" like Infestation + Syrup Bomb on Hydrapple.)

(Syrup Bomb is honestly such a great move to nerf Titanic Pokemon.)

(With how Grass-type resists two of Terapagos' moves, they get hit by Zen Headbutt a lot.)

(Well, you just need to Tera your Pokemon to win this battle, just like any Tera Raid Battles. Right?)

(Oh, never mind. We just took away your Tera.)

(The funny thing is that Terapagos' type change doesn't even mean much, since you won't do big damage without Tera anyways.)

("We have three characters spectating this battle, but let's have the protagonist fight the boss on their own for Phase 2." - Game Freak, probably.)

(Anyways, I don't want to be too negative about this. So, let's change the mood.)

(How's your day? If you are reading this, I hope you're doing great out there.)

(It's Sunday, and that means I can sleep for the whole day, finally.)

(If I have time, maybe I can even play more Monotype challenges!)

(Mono-Grass is actually really fun, and I won't accept other opinions.)

(There are just so many Grass-type Pokemon to choose from.)

(Speaking of fun, I think the Indigo Disk is incredibly fun.)

(I've never been a big fan of Double Battles, but having the whole academy revolve around Double Battles work out really well.)

(In case you can't tell, Salal was eating its Leftovers.)

(The Blueberry Academy is full of great Pokemon in the wild, and the boss fights are actually challenging.)

(Once we leave the Academy, however, it was just a bunch of random wild Pokemon battles and this piece of s**t.)

(Ok, I said I wouldn't be so negative. So, maybe we talk about how awesome Toedscruel is.)

(Toedscruel is honestly a little overhated. It isn't great, but it is really helpful in this run.)

(That high speed is just fantastic. Not that it means anything when it uses status moves.)

(Of your f**king course.)

(Moving last isn't that detrimental, in my opinion. Ignoring Abilities is just actually not worth the trade.)

(At least we have an actually fantastic Pokemon in Rotom-Mow!)

(Rotom is just too helpful to pass on in any forms of casual runs.)

(It's great in utility, great in offenses, great in revenge killing, great with their typings, etc.)

(And Rotom will probably avoid Dexit in like most of the upcoming games.)

(Expect to see Rotom a lot! With how many forms it can take!)

(Another great Pokemon with multiple forms is, of course, Ogerpon.)

(Being the poster child for the Teal Mask part of the DLC, she also has a great presence in the story.)

(I personally don't actually like the Ogerpon story that much, and I'm more than willing to just give Kieran my Ogerpon.)

(But Ogerpon is at least really fun with her form changes from Tera.)

(She also gets three wonderful typings! Poor Scovillain, Ludicolo, Cradily though!)

(With how splashable Ogerpon is, it really does feel like Game Freak intend players to use her.)

(She is also a great Tera user, which makes her a great choice for this battle!)

(Which mask is your favourite? I personally like the Teal Mask a lot.)

(I just really like the green colour. Too bad the Teal Mask isn't as broken as the other masks.)

(Insert positive remarks about entering Phase 3 of this fight.)

(Taking away Ogerpon's masks should be illegal. Is Terapagos hired by the Loyal Three?)

(I really like Kieran as a character. An actually tough rival that makes people want to beat him? That's what people have always wanted.)

(I wanted to send out Cherry alongside Kieran's Hydrapple. But it just wasn't possible.)

(Just imagine two Hydrapple goofing around in front of Terapagos, the destroyer of all worlds.)

(Speaking of apples, I don't know how I came up with this naming theme.)

(But I learned A LOT of names of fruits from this. Who says video games don't teach you anything?)

(I really like using naming themes for challenge runs, mostly because I'm really bad at giving nicknames.)

(I admire people who can make witty nicknames. I'm not one of those people.)

(I couldn't even come up with a clever username, for that matter!)

(Sometimes you can tell how much GF likes that Pokemon just seeing what peculiar moves they get. Spiky Shield is one of them.)

(Dragon Cheer is honestly a neat but strange move. I feel like you would just use Focus Energy most of the time.)

(Terapagos, this is the 7th week in a row you've shown Tera Starstorm in class.)

(I actually only found out Light Screen weakens moves by a lower percentage in Double Battles after I finished this run.)

(It just shows how much I didn't know about Doubles. After knowing more about them, I do find them more fun than Singles.)

(Like, you just click Prankster Tailwind Turn 1 and win. Yay.)

(You also can feel the effort of GF trying to balance the game only considering Double Battles.)

(At least Tera is one of the most balanced mechanics we've had. In my opinion, not knowing that much about competitive.)

(Oh wait, we are actually almost done with this fight.)

(I hope my abrupt OOC narrations didn't ruin your day. I do enjoy monologues.)

(Time for Leif to take over! See you next time!)

The Hidden Treasure (6)

We removed Terapagos' shields, and we must take advantage of that to defeat it!

Guava's Flower Trick was no longer blocked by barriers! Time for us to do big damage!

We finally removed all of Terapagos' HP! That was a rough fight, but we made it!

We were all very nervous! I don't think Terapagos can rampage again!

Kieran decided to let me catch Terapagos this time! Let's hope this would calm it down!

We caught Terapagos, the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero!

It was finally over, and everyone was okay! We stopped Terapagos before it was too late!

I understand why Ms. Briar was so excited about Terapagos, but all treasures are dangerous!

Carmine gave Ms. Briar a hard time, but I know deep down she just cares about us all!

Kieran ... finally admitted he messed up. I think we finally revert him to his old self!

I think Kieran has a lot of greatness in him that I don't have either! We can both be heroes!

After all, Kieran is just a child. I can understand his immaturity at times.

And Carmine finally feels relieved after all that have happened!

I guess we did in fact find a treasure in Area Zero! I guess our Treasure Hunt assignment really never stopped!

I'm just glad we can finally leave this place! I would much rather go anywhere else!

Once we got back to Blueberry Academy, Kieran stopped me for a talk.

He apologized for the mess he had caused for the League Club!

He wanted to be friends with me again!

Hmm... Let me think.

Silly him! I've never considered him anything other than my friend!

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

This is a small update with mostly dialogues, some important dialogues though.

Rainbow-Colored

After a good night's rest, we got called by Ms. Briar to meet her in the classroom!

She had something to tell me about Terastallization! I guess she finished her research from the expedition!

Speaking of the expedition, we did hunt down the hidden treasure of Area Zero! I named him Blueberry!

The adventure was quite tiring, but that wouldn't stop me from going for more expenditures!

Ms. Briar finished writing her book about the Terastal phenomenon! I guess we did contribute a lot to science!

Our Tera Orb seemed to be constantly charged up by Terastal Energy, and we no longer need to charge them at Pokemon centers!

Ms. Briar also took some of the soil from Area Zero and mixed them with those in the Terarium Core!

And that makes wild Pokemon to Terastallize with the Stellar Tera Type here in the Blueberry Academy as well!

We also learned more about the Stellar Tera Type! It doesn't actually change a Pokemon's type, but it can grant powerful boosts to all sorts of moves!

Oh, we were also notified that someone was looking for me around the entrance! We also needed to talk to many people!

Talking to People

We found Amarys in the classrooms, and she thanked me for helping the Club!

We were also told that Kieran completely left the League Club ranking system! I guess he had finally changed ... ?

I too am glad to see Kieran not being so obsessed with beating everyone in the League Club!

As a thank-you gift, Amarys gave me a bunch of flying supplement for Koraidon!

Koraidon, of course, ate them all at the first instance! Not sure if it's good for its health!

That surprised Amarys a lot! The supplement was not meant to be eaten like that!

Well, I was relieved to see Koraidon staying fine! It also seemed to be able to fly all the times!

That kinda reminds me of feeding Koraidon sandwiches after finding each of the Herba Mystica!

We are now able to fly with Koraidon whenever we want! That should be a lot of fun!

We also saw Director Cyrano in the League Club! Is he the mysterious man in blue suit?

Director Cyrano congratulated me on becoming the Champion, but I must also thank him for inviting me to the academy!

I love the Blueberry Academy! Though I also miss the Naranja Academy as much!

Director Cyrano then came up with the brilliant idea to invite special coaches from Paldea!

We can invite teachers, Gym Leader and our friends! Time for us to meet some of our old buddies!

Of course, I agreed to Director Cyrano's idea! We can even have friendly matches with the coaches!

But I guess the coaches are here to teach after all! We must wait for them in the Club room!

The first person I tried to invite was Mr. Brassius! I was excited to tell him about all the Grass-type Pokemon I found!

I'm not an artsy person, but he should be a great teacher for Art lessons!

Ok, maybe don't do that.

We also saw Drayton hanging around the Club room!

Drayton and Kieran were still not getting close, even after all that had happened...

I hope that they would become much closer when time goes on!

We then saw Crispin chatting with Amarys! I guess he wants some of those flying supplements too!

Amarys, however, stopped Crispin cold-heartedly, just like how she usually does.

Cripsin's love for Magmortar is heartwarming, but it might be a little too hot for Amarys.

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Re-rematch against Brassius

After inviting Mr. Brassius as the special coach, he challenged us for another rematch!

We led the battle with Guava, while Mr. Brassius sent out Breloom!

Breloom used Mach Punch, and that did a lot to Guava despite being a weak move!

That was an unfavorable matchup for us, so Guava used U-turn to flee from the field!

We retreated Guava and sent out Pomelo in his place!

Breloom then used Rock Tomb! That didn't do that much damage, but it messed up with Pomelo's feathers!

As a Grass-type specialist, I know Breloom is really weak to Flying-type moves like Brave Bird!

Pomelo unfortunately damaged himself a lot, but at least we got Breloom knocked out already!

We sent out Starfruit next to deal with Vileplume!

Starfruit crushed Vileplume with a fiery Ivy Cudgel! Sorry, buddy!

It pains me a lot to see so many Grass-type Pokemon fainting, but we must still do it!

Lilligant was sent out next, and I think Starfruit would be able to handle that too!

Starfruit used Ivy Cudgel again and crushed Lilligant!

Lilligant was knocked out before it could start dancing!

We changed up our Pokemon and sent in Plum against Tsareena!

Tsareena gave Plum a Trop Kick and lowered his Attack! He should still be fine with that though!

Plum's Sludge Bomb was so close to knocking Tsareena out! It should still not be a problem!

Tsareena then used Stomp on Plum! That would mess up with his big flower head!

See? If you messed up with a big flower, you would get caught by Pollen Puff! Tsareena was then knocked out by that!

Mr. Brassius sent out his Arboliva next, and Plum should be able to handle that as well!

Plum's Sludge Bomb almost knocked out Arboliva! He might just need a little more attacking power!

Sludge Bomb also triggered Arboliva's Seed Sower and turned the terrain grassy! I wonder if the grass would be poisoned by the sludges!

Arboliva used Terrain Pulse, which turned into a Grass-type move in the Grassy Terrain! That meant Plum could take the hit much better!

The Grassy Terrain also gave both Pokemon some HP at the end of the turn!

Plum then finished Arboliva off with a Pollen Puff! That's what flowers do, right?

Anyway, may I interest you with the Arboliva Believers Club?

Mr. Brassius had only one Pokemon left, and that was his Sudowoodo! I believe Cherry would be able to do this!

Just like everytime we fight him, Mr. Brassius Terstallized his Sudowoodo into "Truleewoodo"!

Cherry also used Pollen Puff! Not sure if it would be that great to use against a tree, but it did well against "Truleewoodo"!

"Truleewoodo" used Trailblaze, but Cherry didn't take much damage at all!

"Trueleewoodo" got faster after using that move, but at what cost? It got hurt by Cherry's Rocky Helmet!

To round things up, Cherry used Fickle Beam! She didn't go all out, but it was more than enough to do her job!

We defeated Mr. Brassius' Pokemon and were declared the victors!

I do not understand Mr. Brassius' art, but I do appreciate the art of Pokemon battling!

Having rematches is also a great way to meet our old friends! Who should we have rematch next?

We got Mr. Brassius' newest creation! If it has Sunflora in the name, it has got to be something good!

Can you see my beautiful Sunflora phone case?

Lost in a Forest

Next up we found someone at the entrance of the Academy! Are they the one looking for me?

We really did make a name around the Academy! And the mysterious man is actually called Snacksworth!

Mr. Snacksworth would give students all types of snacks if they complete BBQs!

The snacks might help us find rare and powerful Pokemon! Let's see what type of snacks we can get!

We completed a group quest with other students and received ... a Kyrogre Treat. That doesn't seem like the snack I want!

Terrakion Treat? That sounds a little too rocky.

Latias Treat would be great ... if I want more Dragon-type Pokemon!

Woah! Mr. Snackworth gave us a Virizion Treat! (I only completed 4 group quests and thank Arceus I got this on the 4th one.)

I've never seen a Virizon before, but I know that it is a rare Pokemon that lives in the legend!

What? There is a Virizion living in Paldea? I've never heard about that before! Please tell me more!

According to Mr. Snacksworth, he met Virizion at somewhere with many trees! It's like a forest!

Virizion even listened to Mr. Snacksworth's stories! Mr. Snacksworth is such a lucky person!

Mr. Snacksworth said we might run into Virizion as well, since we got its favorite treat now!

We immediately rushed to Tagtree Thicket, the place with the most trees in the whole Paldea region!

Huh? I do recall seeing such a green Pokemon here! Could it be?

This must be the Legendary Pokemon, Virizion! I can't believe I actually found it!

I wanted to catch this Pokemon, but it would not be an easy task! We had Hawthorn help with Thunder Wave!

Virizion is a Pokemon skilled at using swords! That made it really scary as well though!

As expected, catching Virizion didn't go that smoothly!

But we eventually did it! We caught the legendary Virizion!

White sapote the Virizion is the newest and probably the final member for our team!

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

This episode is brought to you by even MORE dialogues!

Just Peachy

After searching for the Legendary Pokemon in Tagtree Thicket, we went back to the Academy to take a rest!

And then we had a fruit banquet! I want all sorts of fruits!

Hm? I do not remember taking a Pecha Berry. When did this get into my bag?

That reminded me to visit Peachy's over in Kitakami! Let's take a look at their goods!

Oh, I noticed something strange. Had that always been here?

It smelled like a peach and looked like a peach! I do not think it is actually a peach though.

Right when I was trying to observe the strange decoration again, I received a call from our buddy Arven!

Arven wanted to know what I have been up to, and I was more than willing to share my stories!

Arven and I then promised to meet at my house! Time for an old friends gathering!

After Arven hanged up the call, I saw that the decoration had already been gone!

When I got back to my house, I saw Nemona and Penny waiting for me as well in addition to Arven!

I guess Nemona and Penny overheard our call and decided to join in! And I'm totally fine with having more friends over!

We had a great meal together! Time spent with your friends is always wonderful!

Oh, I mostly play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing New Horizon! I guess that would get Penny excited!

Mom prepared desserts for us, and I think my friends would LOVE them!

Mom also told me I received a letter from Kieran! It had been a while since I last saw him too!

Kieran wanted to see me over in Kitakami! I'd love to hear some updates from him as well!

Nemona and Penny rushed down for the desserts! I knew they'd love them!

Arven asked for more about Kieran's letter. I invited all three of them to go with me, since Kieran gave me a few more tickets!

Of course Nemona would say yes! I think she would want to battle Kieran all the times!

Penny also agreed to go there! She wouldn't say no to a great trip!

And Arven also wanted to go there! We formed a Kitakami Trip with the four of us!

That was a fun but short party night! At least we would meet again very soon!

They were all ready to go by the time I reached the gate! They must've been so excited!

Penny was on the phone with her dad! He was probably worried about her going for an adventure!

At least that showed how much her dad cares for her!

With that handled and everyone bringing all the things we need, we set off for the trip!

Trip to Kitakami

We reached Mossui Town! I hope we would have a great time here!

Kieran asked the Caretaker to take care of us! We would not need to worry about where to stay then!

Arven, Nemona and Penny had never been to Kitakami before! I think they would love this place!

The caretaker is as helpful as always! We can enjoy our trip fully with his help!

They wanted me to call Kieran, but Kieran doesn't have a phone! We should try to find him at his house instead!

As expected, Kieran was just waiting for us at his house!

Kieran seemed to be troubled by something, but he didn't tell me! Come on, Kieran, not like this again!

And it was then time to introduce Kieran to my friends!

Nemona started off strong, but I know she was just eager to see someone also good at Pokemon battles!

Penny went for a calmer introduction. I have a feeling they would get along really well!

Arven then also introduced himself! I don't know why but he seemed to be a little more aggressive than usual!

Kieran had taken a break from the Blueberry Academy! He had stayed in Kitakami for a while!

Well, Penny would probably get behind that idea!

Well, Kieran agreed to welcome my friends to his best in Kitakami!

Nemona really believes the idea that Pokemon battling is the best way to know someone!

I think Kieran really should go battle Nemona too! That sounds fun!

Well, Kieran always get challenged by his sister and his classmates, so he would probably always be ready!

Good to know that my friends are indeed getting along!

We went to see the battle and Kieran lost to Nemona! I wasn't too surprised, considering Nemona got the Champion Rank before I did!

Nemona also agreed that Kieran is a strong trainer!

I'm glad to see that the battle teaches Kieran to enjoy battles even if he loses!

Kieran would be able to start having fun again with Pokemon battles!

Huh, I was wondering where Carmine was, but she suddenly appeared out of nowhere!

Not only that! She said nothing other than "Mochi" and was doing a weird dance!

We weren't sure what was happening, but we helped Kieran take Carmine back to their house!

Kieran's grandparents would hopefully be able take care of Carmine! Otherwise, Carmine might be in danger!

We asked for more, but Kieran just said Carmine was probably too excited.

I don't think that adds up! Something must have happened!

Carmine has been behaving like that for a while! That is not normal!

Is that a curse? Is a Ghost-type Pokemon behind this cursing Carmine? This is more of a mystery movie!

But not even Kieran knows any legends like this, especially we handled the Loyal Three already!

We must find the reason behind all these and help Carmine out! Arven, Nemona and Penny also agreed to help!

We would be starting the research on the next day, but we first should have a welcome party!

We were trying to hold the welcome party at the community center, but first we needed some soda from Peachy's!

Nemona was getting hungry, and she already ate something outside! That must've meant she enjoys this place!

The TV in the center was showing an ad nonstop, so we suggested to change the channel!

But we must first find the TV remote to do so!

Find the remote control is not that difficult for me! When it was hiding in a pot of plant!

Since I found the remote, I can change the channel to ...

Wait! Where did Nemona go? She was here just some moments ago!

We called Nemona's phone, but we didn't hear it ring! That must mean Nemona was outside!

It might be dangerous to head outside alone in the dark! Kieran and I decided to look for her!

At the moment we went out, we already noticed something weird!

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Unexpected Battling

We saw somebody outside and we thought they may've seen Nemona walk by!

No matter how hard we tried, those two people just refused to talk to us!

All of a sudden, they started saying "Mochi Mochi" and did the weird dance like Carmine!

The two villagers sent out Ariados and Salazzle against us! I wasn't quite ready for that!

Luckily, we got Kieran by our side! We had Coconut and Poliwrath out immediately, just like a Pokemon Trainer's reflex!

Salazzle would've been a horrifying Pokemon for our Grass-type Pokemon, but Coconut handled it with an Earth Power!

Poliwrath then hit Araidos with Liquidation! Not sure if that is the best way to take care of a spider, but I'll take that!

We were worried about Ariados unleashing poison at us, but it just went spread Sticky Web on our field!

I wasn't expecting the villagers to use Grass-type Pokemon, but Victreebel came in next!

Coconut went for Earth Power again, but it didn't do all that much to Victreebel!

Poliwrath continued to warp itself with water and slammed into Ariados, knocking it out!

Vi

Victreebel tried to paralyze Poliwrath with Stun Spore, but the move didn't land!

Noctowl was then sent next! A bird Pokemon was probably the last thing we needed to see!

Coconut hit Victreebel with Earth Power again, and it was still not enough!

At least we lowered Victreebel's Special Defense, not that it would matter!

Poliwrath finished Noctowl with just one Close Combat! I guess punching a bird can be surprisingly effective!

Victreebel's Stun Spore landed on the second try and paralyzed Poliwrath! That was the strategy of using Grass-type Pokemon, I guess.

Well, Coconut just finished Victreebel off with Flash Cannon! We weren't ready for battles, but we still ended up with victory!

Even after being defeated in battle, the two villagers were still acting really weird!

Kieran said the two villagers were totally fine the day before! Maybe there really is a curse going on!

Oh! I think I saw Nemona at the bridge there!

Before we could reach Nemona, she just ran towards the Kitakami Hall! We must chase her down!

A Grand Battle

We ran off to find Carmine, but we ran into Kieran's grandparents instead!

Kieran's grandparents took care of Carmine already, so I guess they were out for a walk to relax!

Kieran's Grandpa seemed to recall seeing Nemona run by! They might be able to help us!

But Kieran's Grandma didn't our questions! Maybe she didn't notice anything?

Kieran's Grandma just asked her husband to eat some mochi, for no reasons at all!

Kieran's Grandpa had some mochi and went completely silent!

Argh! Kieran's Grandparents started doing the weird dance as well!

We were forced into a battle again! We had Coconut and Poliwrath out against Arbok and Chandelure!

And the only thing they ever said was Mochi! Something's wrong with the mochi!

Arbok intimidated our Pokemon, and they would mean bad things for Poliwrath!

Coconut hit through Chandelure with Earth Power, even though it was floating in air!

Poliwrath then put out Chandelure's flames with a critical Liquidation!

Arbok then screeched at Poliwrath and harshly lowered its Defense! That might be dangerous!

Mamoswine was sent in next! That was a cold-and-hot team roster!

Mamoswine quickly hit Coconut with Ice Shard! Coconut couldn't take the cold at all!

I wasn't expecting Kieran's grandparents to be so aggressive! But I guess they must've been great Trainers too!

Poliwrath went for a Close Combat on Mamoswine, but the mammoth was quite beefy!

Poliwrath had its Defense lowered again! It might not be able to take any hits at all!

As expected, Poliwrath went down in one Gunk Shot after wearing itself down so much!

We had our Grass-Grass combo with Hydrapple and Quince out in the field! Let's trick our opponents with sweetness!

Well, I don't think Hydrapple thrives in cold environment. It went down with an Icicle Crash!

Arbok went for the Screech strategy again! I think Quince could still take some hits after that!

Quince then struck Mamoswine with Energy Ball, knocking it out! Kieran's Grandma had no Pokemon left!

We had bad memories against this Porygon-Z, but finally we got to be its ally!

Porygon-Z's destructive Hyper Beam was for sure enough to knock out Arbok!

We had no choices but to hit our opponents hard! Otherwise, we may be in danger as well!

Kieran's Grandpa then sent in Weezing! Poison-type Pokemon might be annoying to face, but at least we had a 2-on-1 advantage!

Porygon-Z had to recharge after using Hyper Beam! That's the drawback of using such a powerful move!

Quince screamed really loudly with Hyper Voice, but that wasn't enough to take care of Weezing!

Weezing used Sludge Bomb on Porygon-Z! I was glad it didn't aim for Quince!

Porygon-Z then used Shadow Ball on Weezing to finish the fight!

We defeated Kieran's grandparents, but they were still not back to normal!

This curse might be affecting more people than we thought! We got to find out the reason why!

Kieran panicked thinking he might end up with the curse as well! (Seriously, Kieran looks really soulless and creepy in that shot.)

I promised Kieran I would always be on his side! If we stay close together, we should be able to defend ourselves!

Kieran took some time to clear his mind, and we remembered his grandpa eating some weird mochi!

We were out for a while, and Arven called us to check on us!

Arven and Penny also got attacked by villagers doing weird dances! I hope they're ok!

I trust that Arven and Penny would be able to defend themselves against all sorts of danger! They are both strong Trainers too!

Oh no! We heard Penny screaming through the phone! She seemed to have found something weird!

We lost connection to the two of them! They might be in danger!

I think we should go look after Arven and Penny first, as they seemed to have found something!

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Sorry for the lack of updates.
Body still not in the best shape, and I still need more time to prepare for the final section.
Let's hope I would have the energy to post more during the weekend!

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Fighting My Friends (1)

We finally found Arven and Penny! They seemed to be doing fine though, I was worried about them getting attacked!

Arven just accidentally dropped his phone during the call! I guess Penny was just worried about what was going on and honestly, I agree with her.

Penny also saw something small and weird! We were not so sure what she was talking about ...

We couldn't confirm Penny's suspicions until we also see the weird thing!

Kieran seemed to know something! Time to tell our friends what we saw with Kieran's grandparents!

Right when we were about to discuss our plans, we saw a purple object floating above our heads!

Whoa! The purple object threw some mochis at us! Is this the mastermind behind all these?

Arven and Penny both caught the mochi with their mouths! They were forced to eat those!

Kieran and I both managed to dodge the shots! We should be okay!

We tried to warn Arven and Penny about the mochis, but it was too late! They both swallowed their food!

And of course, they started dancing to the mochi dance as well! Kieran and I might be the only ones safe from that now!

The purple Pokemon seemed to have some magic with its mochi that allowed it to control those who ate the mochi!

Though I felt like Arven seemed to be still quite conscious of what was going on!

It was unfortunate Arven and Penny were bewitched, but at least we now know the culprit of everything!

But we couldn't battle the purple Pokemon directly! Arven and Penny were blocking the way!

I guess we must battle the two of them first to make our way through!

We started a Multi-Battle with Arven's Greedent, Penny's Umbreon, Kieran's Poliwrath and Guava!

Penny stayed true to her usual tactic and started with a Baby-Doll Eyes on Guava!

Thanks to the Attack drop from Baby-Doll Eyes, Guava didn't do that much to Umbreon even with the super-effective Play Rough!

Poliwrath then just slammed Greedent with Close Combat! Greedent fell down before it could even move!

Arven then sent in his Mabosstiff, who had Intimidate to further lower our Attack!

Penny stuck with her Baby-Doll Eyes strategy, but she went for Kieran's Poliwrath this time!

Since Guava was mostly nerfed, we made a quick retreat with U-turn!

Guava went back to his Poke Ball and let Quince out!

Quince just got sent in and was already doing great! He avoided Mabosstiff's Play Rough!

Poliwrath was not bothered by Umbreon's Baby-Doll Eyes, and instead just knocked it out with a Close Combat!

Fighting My Friends (2)

Next up was Penny's Leafeon! It is so cute, but now was not the time for gushing over Grass-type Pokemon!

Of course I know Leafeon is a strong Pokemon! It tore Poliwrath apart with a Leaf Blade immediately after getting sent out!

Mabosstiff munched Quince with Fire Fang and almost roasted him!

Quince took the hit just fine and took that opportunity to spread the field with grass!

Quince then blinded our foes with Dazzling Gleam! That was a good hit on Mabosstiff!

Though we should beware of the Grassy Terrain healing our opponents as well!

I don't like battling against Incineroar, but battling alongside it was actually pretty comforting!

Leafeon went for X-Scissor on Quince! He almost got cut into half, but he was still hanging on!

Mabosstiff went for Play Rough on Incineroar, and honestly that sounded like a bad idea.

Incineroar then slammed Leafeon with Flare Blitz! Poor thing got burned to crisp!

Maybe we could let Pawpaw reunite with his Leafeon pal after we handled the mochi situation!

Quince then went for Energy Ball and that was enough to finish Mabosstiff!

Arven and Penny were both down to their final Pokemon with Cloyster and Sylveon!

Cloyster tried to put out Incineroar's flames with Liquidation, but it wasn't quite enough!

Incineroar even got a Sitrus Berry to recover some health! Kieran really is a reliable partner!

Incineroar then went for Flare Blitz on Sylveon, but Sylveon isn't as flammable as Leafeon!

Sylveon then blasted some strong moonlight at Quince!

Quince got to barely hang on, but he had his Special Attack dropped from that!

However, that didn't stop Quince from knocking Cloyster out in one hit with his Energy Ball!

Quince did so much this battle, and it was unfortunate he couldn't make it to the end!

But we were not too worried, since Incineroar was there to clean things up with Flare Blitz!

We defeated Arven and Penny, though they didn't seem to snap out from the mochi dance!

We must catch the purple Pokemon before it spreads the mochi weirdness to even more people!

Oh no, it ran away! We must hunt it down!

We went across the village through the apple yard, and I think it might have headed to the Loyalty Plaza!

It should not be able to run away if we corner it in the plaza!

And we also found Nemona after looking for her for so long! Things were looking good!

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

vs "Nemona" (1)

Oh, and of course! Nemona also got hypnotized by the mochi Pokemon!

Well, I guess we would need to battle her anyways, so I hope she's happy.

The purple mochi Pokemon was also there! But we couldn't touch it before we beat Nemona!

And Kieran didn't want to fight Nemona again! I guess he wasn't confident to do so!

To make things worse, the whole Mossui Village was also right here! I think Kieran should handle the villagers!

Meanwhile, I would need to defeat Nemona to free her from the mochi dance!

We had another rematch with Nemona, this time for the safety of Kitakami!

Let's have a fruitful match instead with Guava out against Lycanroc!

Guava kicked off the match with a one-hit KO on Lycanroc with Flower Trick!

As per usual, Flower Trick landed a critical hit, which was what we needed in this situation!

Next up, we sent out Plum to battle against Ribombee! Just like how nature intended!

Ribombee wasn't out here for pollens; it was here for Psychic actions!

Plum then lashed out with a super-effective Sludge Bomb! Flowers can beat bees too, you know!

Nemona sent her Goodra out next, and we had Guava back to the field!

Guava swiftly slammed Goodra with Play Rough, but Goodra didn't go down so easily!

Not sure if Guava got his body stuck with goo, but he managed to lower Goodra's Attack!

Uh-oh! Goodra then hit Guava with Sludge Bomb! Was it poisoned by the mochi?

The Sludge Bomb might've got into Guava's eyes, and he missed his next attack!

Goodra then finished Guava with Dragon Pulse! We lost our first Pokemon!

Starfruit was eager to protect the lands of Kitakami from the purple mochi!

Without any hesitations, Starfruit slammed Goodra with a rocky Ivy Cudgel and knocked it out!

Nemona then sent in her reliable partner, Pawmot! We sent in Pomelo to handle it!

Pawmot tried to freeze Pomelo with Ice Punch, but he wasn't so afraid of ice anymore!

Pomelo then struck Pawmot with Brave Bird, which didn't actually do as much as I hoped!

Not only that, but Pomelo also hurt himself with that! Things were not looking great!

As expected, Pomelo got hit by another Ice Punch! Nemona was picking things up, as we lost another Pokemon!

Well, let's hope that Coconut would be able to clean things up!

Pawmot might be a swift Pokemon, but Coconut struck first with his Earth Power and cleaned it up!

vs "Nemona" (2)

Whoa! When did Nemona catch a Kommo-o? Let's see if Plum would be able to handle that mighty dragon!

Kommo-o shook the field with Earthquake! Plum was still hanging in though! Flowers can adopt to earthquakes rather easily!

Plum then struck Kommo-o with Moonblast! Kommo-o barely took that hit, but at least we severely weakened it!

We also lowered Kommo-o's Special Attack, not sure if it would be helpful in this case!

Kommo-o went for another Earthquake and finished Plum off! He went down, but he had done a lot for us already!

Coconut was sent in again for some swift cleaning actions!

Coconut showed Kommo-o how to shake the earth with his own Earth Power! Kommo-o was then taken care of!

Nemona was down to her final Pokemon, Quaquaval! We saved Quince for this!

Even under the control of the mochi Pokemon, Nemona knew to Terastallize her Quaquaval into Fighting-type!

We also Terastallized Quince into Grass-type to remove his weakness to Fighting-type moves!

Even though Quince lost his Normal-type, Brick Break still did so much to him!

Quince also took that opportunity to turn the field into Grassy Terrain!

Well, I didn't know what Nemona was going for, so we had Quince put up Reflect ...

Quince got some health from the terrain! Let's hope that would help!

Well, that really wasn't too surprising! Quaquaval broke Quince's defenses with Brick Break!

Quaquaval crushed our Reflect screen, our Tera Jewel and our secret ace all at once!

Coconut had been really helpful picking opponents up, and we really needed his help right now!

With the strength of the terrain, Coconut slammed Quaquaval with Power Whip, but it was no longer super effective to it!

Quaquaval then spun with Ice Spinner and took out all of Coconut's health! Ouch!

And that also removed our Grassy Terrain. I guess Quaquaval was going all out against Quince!

Well, we were also down to our final Pokemon, but I trust Starfruit to be able to handle this situation!

We went for a safer option by having Starfruit protect herself with Spiky Shield!

Quaquaval was trying to use Aqua Step, but it was instead damaged by Starfruit's Spiky Shield!

Starfruit then unleashed all her anger and slammed Quaquaval with Wood Hammer!

Starfruit endured the recoil damage and knocked Quaquaval out!

We defeated Nemona, but she didn't seem to be freed from the mochi Pokemon! We must take care of that Pokemon next!

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Peachy Keen

The purple Pokemon lost all its shields! We must take this opportunity to bring it down!

We hoped that defeating the purple Pokemon would make the town back to normal!

We challenged the purple Pokemon to a battle! It finally didn't run away from us!

We took a rest before this, and we started with a fully recovered team leading with Starfruit!

Starfruit got angry as she got sent out in the battle! I guess they had some bad bitter events in the past!

Starfruit decided to go all out in the battle and stabbed the purple Pokemon, Pecharunt, with a powerful Throat Chop!

Pecharunt then bind Starfruit with a Malignant Chain! That looked painful!

Starfruit wasn't hurt too badly though! But I can't imagine it being healthy to her to be chained by that!

Throat Chop seemed to be a super effective move, so we stuck to that for right now!

Pecahrunt was a cunning one! It plotted some sinister scheme with Nasty Plot!

Starfruit went for Throat Chop, while Pecharunt continued to boost itself with Nasty Plot! I didn't like what it was thinking!

And Kieran wanted me to hurry up as well! We might lose control of the town very quickly!

Pecharunt got some sturdy shells to take strong hits! It was still taking Starfruit's Throat Chop just fine!

And then Pecharunt crushed Starfruit with Malignant Chain after its Nasty Plot plans! That might get really dangerous!

In cases like this, we send out Coconut to clean up our foes!

Coconut struck Pecharunt with Earth Power! No more poison mochis for you!

We knocked out Pecharunt, but that didn't do anything! I guess we needed to catch it with a Poke Ball!

We caught Pecharunt, even though it wasn't a Grass-type Pokemon! But I guess it kinda looks like a fruit anyways!

We should be able to free everyone from Pecharunt's poisonous chain!

The villagers seemed to regain consciousness and we could finally understand what they're saying!

Arven and Penny also recovered from the mochi madness!

We explained the situation, and we were all relieved everything seemed to get back to normal!

Nemona, however, had still not waken up yet, and it was starting to worry us!

OH NO! Nemona was still doing the mochi dance! What did we do wrong?

Phew. Nemona was actually also back to herself!

And she seemed to have some vague memory of battling me! Even though she was being herself, that was still an awesome battle!

Carmine was also back to normal, and we were finally able to properly greet her! Though it took us some time to explain everything to her!

After everything settled, we stayed for a few more days and had fun in Mossui!

Kieran and Carmine got along well with the rest of my friends! They are much friendlier to outsiders now!

Arven tried out several dishes in Kitakami, while Penny mostly just played on her phone!

Nemona, as I expected, challenged Kieran and Carmine to battles pretty much whenever they had time!

Kieran got a lot more outgoing after our stay, and he told us he would go back to the Blueberry Academy!

And since Carmine's main duty was to take care of her brother, that meant she would be back too!

I'm glad everything works out so well for my friends!

Back to School

After Kieran got back to the Academy, I paid him a visit in his Dorm Room to make sure he was doing okay!

We can always trust Crispin for his enthusiasm! I think he would get along fine with Kieran, even after all that had happened!

I think everyone just treated Kieran like nothing had happened! That should be great news!

Drayton still wasn't the best friend with Kieran, but I think it will just take time for them!

I also promised Kieran to challenge him after he caught up with study!

And in our PC box, we had Peach the Pecharunt, who is not allowed to control people with its Poison Puppeteer anymore!

Drayton reminded me that I'm also now the BB League President and I should make things spicy for the club!

One way to touch up things in the League Club Room was to talk to our special coaches!

After we battled Mr. Brassius, he suggested we may trade Pokemon!

I certainly do not mind trading for more Grass-type Pokemon!

Mr. Brassius' Sunflora might not be as awesome as Medlar, but it was a living trophy of me proving myself to be the best Grass-type Trainer!

We talked to a few more people in the League Club Room, and of course I didn't forget about my promise with Kieran!
(It's going to take a few days for this update though! Sorry in advance!)

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Friendly Match with Kieran (1)

We challenged Kieran to a friendly match to see if we have improved!

Raspberry and Apricot were out against Dragonite and Politoed! I guess neither of us changed our strategies!

This time we decided to first slap Dragonite with some Fake Out actions!

Raspberry then set up a Tailwind for the team, which also gave Apricot an Attack boost!

Politoed then blasted Ice Beam on Raspberry! That was probably too chilling for him to handle!

But we knew that would happen! Which was why I gave Raspberry a Focus Sash beforehand!

And since Dragonite flinched from Fake Out, it wouldn't be able to take out Raspberry immediately!

To save Raspberry for later rounds, we retreated him and sent out Salal instead!

That was a smart move! Salal blocked the Extreme Speed that was intended for Raspberry!

Apricot then sliced Politoed with Leaf Blade, but it got to barely hang on! I guess Kieran trained up his Pokemon again!

Salal was immune to Extreme Speed, but it still had to take an Ice Beam on its way in! And that did quite a lot.

At least Salal got some health back thanks to its Leftovers!

Salal protected itself for the next round to ensure it didn't get knocked out!

That gave Apricot the perfect timing to unleash a Rock Slide!

That was a super-effective hit on Dragonite, and was enough to finish Politoed off! A good round, I think!

Dragonite then tried to blow Salal away with Hurricane, but its Protect barrier was strong enough to block the hit!

An overall positive round for Salal! Protect really is a good move in Double Battles!

Incineroar was then sent next! It was a reliable partner during our Kitakami trip, but we had to face against it again!

That was the prime time to use Rock Slide, though unfortunately for us, Dragonite avoided that!

At least we got to hit through Incineroar's weakness, after it lowered Apricot's Attack with Intimidate!

Salal blasted a Shadow Ball on Dragonite, but it didn't do all that much damage!

Dragonite then struck Salal with Hurricane, and it didn't have any protective barriers this time around! We lost our first Pokemon!

Incineroar's flaming moves would not be so powerful under the rain, which was why it went for Drakest Lariat! It still wasn't too effective on Apricot though!

We also lost our Tailwind! We must pick up our pace then!

We then sent out Starfruit, who was wearing an appropriate mask in this weather!

Without any hesitation, Starfruit removed Incineroar with an Ivy Cudgel!

Apricot then went for Rock Slide again for the third time and it was finally enough to knock Dragonite out! We scored a double knock-out!

The rain stopped though, and Starfruit's Ivy Cudgel wouldn't be as powerful!

Kieran lost two Pokemon and sent Grimmsnarl and Porygon-Z in at the same time!

We knew Porygon-Z was up to no good, and thus Apricot planned a Sucker Punch on it!

Grimmsnarl then put on a Reflect screen for its team! We should be careful using physical moves!

Porygon-Z went for its destructive move, Hyper Beam, immediately and destroyed Starfruit!

Porygon-Z was still as scary as ever, especially since it was holding a Life Orb!

Friendly Match with Kieran (2)

We then sent in Quince to fill out the empty spot! I think he would be able to handle our opponents here!

At least Porygon-Z would not be able to keep blasting Hyper Beam without resting!

Apricot tried to remove Porygon-Z before it could start moving again, but Leaf Blade didn't do enough damage!

Grimmsnarl struck Quince with Spirit Break! It didn't do that much damage, but it lowered his Special Attack!

Well, Grimmsnarl also triggered Quince's Seed Sower! I guess we had the field advantage now!

Quince blinded our foes with Dazzling Gleam, but he didn't do enough to remove Porygon-Z!

We really didn't need to see Porygon-Z restoring health, but we also got to recover a little bit from the terrain!

Apricot then swiftly cleaned Porygon-Z up with a Sucker Punch! It wasn't so bad this time as it only took out one of our Pokemon!

Grimmsnarl used Spirit Break again, this time on Apricot! She did a lot in this battle already and it was finally time for her to go.

Quince then struck Grimmsnarl with a terrain-boosted Energy Ball, which still wasn't enough!

Kieran was down to his final two Pokemon, but this time he was still having fun!

We sent Raspberry back out again, while Kieran sent out his strongest Pokemon, Hydrapple!

As expected, Kieran then Terastallized his Hydrapple into a Fighting-type! That should mix things up!

Grimmsnarl tried to sneak itself in with a Sucker Punch, but Raspberry wasn't preparing an attack!

Raspberry was just trying to put on a Light Screen to protect the team, especially against the powerful Hydrapple!

Quince used Dazzling Gleam, which hit strong on both opposing Pokemon!

Hydrapple targeted the weakened Raspberry with Fickle Beam and just cleaned him up!

The Grassy Terrain was still healing our opponents, so we should end things quickly!

We were also down to our final pair, and we must send in Plum in that case!

Time for us to strengthen ourselves with Terastallization as well! I trust that Quince can take care of this!

Grimmsnarl went for Spirit Break and that meant Quince's Special Attack was lowered again!

Hydrapple blasted Plum with Fickle Beam and it did so much damage without being an all-out attack!

That was an unlucky time to get a critical hit! We must preserve our health in such dire situation!

Plum picked up the pace and cleaned Grimmsnarl with a Moonblast!

With the power of his Tera Jewel and the Grassy Terrain, Quince unleashed a powerful Energy Ball!

Unfortunately, Energy Ball actually didn't do that much since Quince lost some Special Attack!

We turned the battle into a 2-to-1, and Hydrapple lost the Reflect screen! It probably won't matter that much, but I think we got this!

Plum blasted Hydrapple with bright moonlight for some super-effective damage!

We also got to lower Hydrapple's Special Attack! Luck seemed to be by our side!

Quince followed up with another Energy Ball, but it was still not enough!

Hydrapple then went for another Fickle Beam, and Plum took the hit much better this time!

The grass desappeared from the field, but that won't stop us from winning this battle!

Plum used Moonblast again and Hydrapple was finally knocked out!

We did it, and it was so much fun!

I love this friendly rematch! Friends help each other grow!

Trading Partners (Dialogues only)

We went back to the Club Room after the battle and Kieran gave me a Blueberry Case! That was a special version designed for Blueberry Academy students!

We ran into Drayton, and he was in the mood of trading!

Not usually my style to get a Duraludon, but I'll get whatever my friends want to give me!

Kieran also told me that he was officially dropped from the BB League, and he didn't seem to be too upset!

Kieran now wants to focus with hanging out with friends! That's what the clubs are here for!

I guess Crispin would get to stay in the BB League Elite Four because of that!

For right now, I'll hold the title of the BB League Champion, but I know Kieran might take it back one day! And I'm looking forward to that!

After that, Kieran suggested to trade with me! Of course I'd agree with him!

And we both chose to trade with Applin! We are getting synchronized!

I guess Kieran's Applin will now join Melon, Dragonfruit and Cherry as the Applin family!

We then started a few more trades with other special coaches coming from the Paldea region!

Um, no actually. Last time I collaborate with you, I ended up in a battle with a Blissey and a Smeargle.

We traded for a few more Pokemon! Not everyone sent me a Grass-type Pokemon, but that was okay!

We then got the honor to invite Ms. Geeta to be a guest lecturer in the Blueberry Academy!

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Finale (1)

La Primera had a chat with Drayton! I was honestly surprised to see that she knows him!

La Primera tried to recruit Drayton as a new League member, but Drayton rejected the offer! I think he would be a suitable member!

La Primera is as busy as she always is, but I was surprised to find out that she has business with the Unova Pokemon League as well!

One day I hope to be in La Primera's position as well, scouting for new talents around Paldea!

But before that, we had to battle La Primera! That's just courtesy of inviting someone over!

We challenged La Primera for a rematch! It started with Guava out against Glimmora!

I wasn't expecting La Primera to lead with Glimmora this time, and that would be bad for Guava! So, we had to switch him out to Coconut!

Coconut managed to take the Sludge Wave that was intended for Guava!

Coconut then took revenge and struck Glimmora with Earth Power! We scored our first knock-out!

La Primera sent out her Avalugg next, and Starfruit would be a good Pokemon to handle that!

But to be safe, Starfruit started with Spiky Shield to protect herself! That should allow us to see what Avalugg was trying to do!

Avalugg was trying to press Starfruit with its iceberg body! But it got hurt by Starfruit's Spiky Shield!

Time for Starfruit to go all-out with her Ivy Cudgel! Avalugg took the hit despite it being super-effective!

Avalugg then lashed out with its Body Press again! This time we had no protection, but Starfruit was still doing fine!

Starfruit hit Avalugg with another Ivy Cudgel to melt the iceberg! We knocked out the second Pokemon!

La Primera then sent out her Espathra and I think Starfruit would be able to take care of this as well!

Starfruit struck Espathra with Horn Leech! We weren't afraid of this bird!

Most importantly, Starfruit got some of her health back after fighting Avalugg!

Espathra then struck Starfruit with Lumina Crash! That was so blinding!

Starfruit also had her Special Defense harshly lowered! We must be careful around the upcoming attacks!

For the next round, we couldn't do much since Espathra protected itself! I wonder what La Primera was planning with that!

Starfruit wasted no time and just finished Espathra with another Horn Leech!

La Primera used some different Pokemon this time as well, as she sent out her Dragapult next!

Dragapult went faster than Guava and threw some Dragon Darts at him! It didn't hurt much once, but it hit with a second time!

Guava's Night Slash came really close, but wasn't enough to knock out Dragapult in one hit!

Dragapult shot its Dragon Drats again, and we lost Guava! We must not give up though!

Finale (2)

We sent in Plum next, as I trust him to take care of this nasty dragon!

Plum was hit with a dark Shadow Ball! But flowers need sunlight to survive!

Speaking of light, Plum absorbed moonlight and struck Dragapult with Moonblast! We avenged Guava!

La Primera also changed up her Grass-type Pokemon from Gogoat to Chesnaught! I'm fine with either!

Chesnaught punched Plum and drained his energy! But Plum could take the hit just fine!

Plum went for Moonblast again and it did a lot to Chesnaught! I know the weaknesses of Grass-type Pokemon!

Chesnaught then used Drain Punch again and finished Plum! That was unfortunate, but that's how battles go!

We then sent in our reliable partner, Lime!

Time for us to shake things up and Terastallize Lime!

We changed Lime's Tera type with the Stellar Tera Shards we found in Area Zero! It was Terastallized into the Stellar-type!

Well, our stellar strategy did not account for Chesnaught protecting itself with Spiky Shield! Oh well.

After that, Lime unleashed a Tera-boosted Leaf Storm, which did massive damage and finished Chesnaught!

Lime got its Special Attack harshly lowered though, and it shouldn't stay in the field after that!

We sent in Starfruit back out to handle whatever La Primera has as her final Pokemon!

La Primera was still acting so confident, even though she was done to her Kingambit only! That's why she is the ultimate number one!

Oh no! La Primera's strategy was to save Kingambit for last just so it could gain more strength from its fallen teammates!

La Primera changed things up in more than one way! She Terastallized her Kingambit into a Flying-type, a type I didn't wish to see!

We were trying to scout what Kingambit was trying to do with Spiky Shield, and it ended up being the right choice!

Kingambit still had Stone Edge, and that would be bad news for Starfruit it wasn't for her Spiky Shield!

Since Kingambit lost the Steel-type, it wasn't weak to Ivy Cudgel, but Starfruit did some good damage!

Going for the fiery Ivy Cudgel left Starfruit open for attacks, but Starfruit avoided that Stone Edge with no problems!

With another Ivy Cudgel beating Kingambit up, Starfruit defeated Kingambit!

We beat every one of La Primera's Pokemon and we didn't even use everyone on the team!

I was as excited as Starfruit!

We beat La Primera gain! That should prove me as a great Grass-type trainer!

I am so happy to be approved by La Primera! Our hard work did not go to waste!

We even got a pair of Elite Gloves from La Primera! They are a proof of my abilities like a badge!

We have travelled around the world and battled with so many trainers. I think it is time for me to pause for a while and think of something else to do! See ya!

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Good Things

I should share my Treasure Hunt journey with other trainers in the Academy and see if anyone wants to try to adventure with their favorite type as well! It would be great if I can set up some sorts of academy in my own to help out novice trainers!

This is the end of Leif's journey, but it is most definitely not the end of this thread!
I'll come back with some of my personal thoughts on how Grass-type Pokemon perform in Scarlet/Violet! Stay tuned!

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

And here we go! Here are my thoughts on how Grass-type Pokemon in general as well as individual Pokemon perform in the Scarlet Violet games for both standard playthroughs and Mono-Grass challenges. Do note that these are my subjective opinions from my personal experience, and they very well may differ from yours!

Overview (Grass-type)

Just like how plants grow everywhere around the Earth, Grass-type Pokemon flourish pretty much everywhere in the Paldea region. You can find a Grass-type Pokemon from grassfields, to deserts, and even on snowy mountain, making them easy to slap on a team. The Paldean region features over 20 families of Grass-type Pokemon, and many of these Pokemon have great type combinations to offset the poor type matchups brought by the Grass typing. This generation introduced 7 (counting final evolutions only) new Grass-type Pokemon which all have their own merits: Meowscarada, Wo-Chien, Brute Bonnet all have great base stats and abilities to back up their relatively poor typing; Arboliva and Brambleghast are both powerhouses that can heavily dent your opponents without even needing coverage; Scovillain and Toedscruel both have rare or unique type combinations that work great for the Grass-type.

Speaking of types, Grass is commonly regarded as one of the worst defensive types in the games as it has 5 weaknesses and is tied with the Rock-type for having the most weaknesses. That, however, doesn’t stop Grass-type Pokemon from being great support and defensive Pokemon. With options like Leech Seed, powder moves, draining moves like Giga Drain or Horn Leech, Grass-type Pokemon are surprisingly good at staying alive. That being said, Grass-type Pokemon may struggle against Starmobiles from the Team Star Bosses as they are immune to negative status moves. Some other tough battles for Grass-type Pokemon include the Ice-type Gym, the final two Elite Four members and the secret bigboss at the end of the story, especially if you are playing Scarlet. With how many weaknesses Grass-type Pokemon have, this is not that bad, since you have decent matchups against some other tough fights like the Ground-type and the Dragon-type Titans, which can be really rough if you do not have the type advantage.

In terms of moves, Grass-type has both ups and downs in this game. Special-based Grass-type Pokemon never run out of options with fantastic moves like Giga Drain/Energy Ball/Leaf Storm etc. all being highly available. They are as always safe options, but they also didn’t gain too much in this game. Supportive Pokemon are, as mentioned, still doing fine with their plethora of options. Unfortunately, they lost access to Aromatherapy and Synthesis still did not regain Move Tutor status. These, however, did not hurt too much in terms of single-player gameplay. Physical-based Grass-type Pokemon, however, largely depend on their movepool. Seed Bomb is one of the better physical Grass-type moves as TM sitting at only base 80 power, while Bullet Seed is also usable thanks to the new Loaded Dice guaranteeing good hits. The new move Trailblaze comes with a great secondary effect, but its 50 base power makes it difficult to slap on most Pokemon. Speaking of TMs, Leaf Blade lost its TR status and not every Pokemon that needs it gets it now. Horn Leech, Petal Blizzard and Power Whip are awesome on certain Pokemon, but are also not found on every Grass-type Pokemon’s moveset. And then the most disappointing move distributions go to Wood Hammer and Solar Blade, which somehow manage to be more common on non-Grass-type Pokemon. All in all, while every Grass-type Pokemon in the game finds great moves to use, some of them would certainly want some even better options.

Grass-type Pokemon bloom in the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC. The first part, the Teal Mask, basically revolves around Grass-type Pokemon; the second part, the Indigo Disk, brings back a lot of Grass-type starter Pokemon from older generations. With three brand new Grass-type Pokemon introduced by the DLC and many fan favourites returning, the Grass-type becomes the second most abundant typing for the whole game, only behind the Water-type. With the DLC waves introducing new TMs as well, the Grass-type sees three new TMs across the two DLC parts. The aforementioned Solar Blade and Petal Blizzard receive such an upgrade and thus a better distribution. The former is good on specific Pokemon that fits well on sun, while the latter is just a strong option especially helpful in Double Battles. Grassy Glide was also made a TM in the Teal Mask, which seems to be particularly helpful for one particular Pokemon only, though it also works with specific archetypes. At least the newcomers introduced throughout the DLC all have their own signature moves that work great in battles, and they rarely require the use of TMs to be good.

Unfortunately, outside of their easy accessibilities, Grass-type Pokemon have it rough for the DLC. Your main rivals and the important wild Pokemon battles in Kitakami all feature Pokemon strong against Grass, while none of the important fights in the Blueberry Academy are especially advantageous for Grass-type Pokemon either. Not to mention the fact that some of the Grass-type Pokemon brought back in the Blueberry Academy requires a lot of grinding and are often unable to catch up to the faster and stronger environment of the Academy. The good side is that Grass-type Pokemon have even more tools for Double Battles, which is where it truly matters. Standard Double Battle moves like Fake Out, Rage Powder and Tailwind are of course great, but Grass-type Pokemon go beyond those as they easily fit on specific archetypes like Sun teams or Trick Room teams. Overall, Grass-type Pokemon are like plants in real life, trying their best to survive even in the harshest environment.

With so many different Grass-type Pokemon to choose from, a Mono-Grass playthrough is surprisingly fun. Since it is such a common type, you can pretty much build a full team of Grass-type Pokemon without duplicates right when you start your Treasure Hunt. Dual-type Pokemon are doubly amazing in Monotype runs, and Paldea is chuck full of those. Among the 50 Grass-type Pokemon obtainable (assuming you have access to the Hisui region and counting different forms as different Pokemon) in the whole game, 39 of them are dual-typed. Of course, quality over quantity and some of these dual types severely lack in quality. For instance, the Grass/Dark-typing contributes to 5 different families of Pokemon, and it does not even offer that much defensive value for the Grass-type and is offensively redundant with the Grass/Ghost Pokemon. Fire has always been the biggest enemy of Grass-type Pokemon, and it is no exception for this game. Some Grass-type Pokemon in Paldea (Toedscruel) can deal super-effective STAB against Fire, while some other (Scovillain and the Applin family, Appletun can even resist Fire through its Hidden Ability) are neutral to Fire defensively, but none can do both. This situation only gets better with Ludicolo and Ogerpon joins the roster in Kitakami, making these Pokemon pretty much compulsory on your team. The lack of Grass/Steel Pokemon, as well as the late availability of the Whimsicott family, also means that mono-Grass also struggles a lot against Dragon, which can crush Grass-type Pokemon with their sheer power. Fighting also ends up being annoying to deal with in the base game due to the lack of good resists in Paldea (Jumpluff is the only one other than the ghosts, since Tropius is non-existent). Other common problems include the plethora of birds flying around Paldea and all the Scyther/Scizor you will have to fight. At least Rotom-Mow can deal with birds really well and Scovillain roasts the bugs fairly easily.

That being said, building a mono-Grass team isn’t that tough. Grass-type is a rather balanced type in the sense that there are plenty of physical attackers and special attackers, fast sweepers and bulky but slow Pokemon, etc. It almost feels like each and every Grass-type Pokemon fulfill a different role and teambuilding is highly customizable depending on the upcoming tough fights. While the Grass-type is still a horrible offensive typing, there are good enough coverage options brought by Meowscarada, Arboliva and many other Pokemon. The Teal Mask is rough. The returning Pokemon aren’t exactly amazing, and you need to beat the whole Part 1 to get the good Grass-type Pokemon. But before you do that, you need to first fight three Poison-type Pokemon that can poison you with any attacking moves they like. There is a lack of Grass-type Pokemon that are immune to poison, limiting the options you can use to handle the Titans. Things get much better in the Indigo Disk. Sun-based teams are fantastic as setting up the weather is much easier in Doubles, and there are so many Grass-type Pokemon having great abilities that work with Sun, most notably Chlorophyll, Solar Power and the new Protosynthesis. Tailwind-based strategy works even better for the two Grass-type Pokemon that have the new Wind Rider ability, giving them a free Attack boost when riding the Tailwind. The synergy provided by Grass-type Pokemon is so amazing that using a Mono-Grass team doesn’t really feel like a hindrance.

Overall, Grass Monotype run in Scarlet/Violet is a fun experience. Each run would feel so unique and different thanks to the vast number of combinations in team roster. Despite being regarded as one of the worst types in the game, Grass-type really shows its good traits for being a balanced type excellent at team support.

Meowscarada

Starter Pokemon are in general useful in Pokemon journeys and Sprigatito is no exception. Being gifted at the start of the game, Sprigatito is one of the earliest fast attackers you can get. Despite pure Grass being a less than stellar typing, raising up a Sprigatito is not difficult at all. Sprigatito has the classic starter evolution levels at 16 and 36, which means it won’t need to worry about falling behind as the story progresses. Having Hone Claws at Level 10 is also a great boon, allowing the grass cat to boost its Attack stats easily. The Sprigatito family also never runs out of offensive moves, thanks to learning Bite, Seed Bomb (at Level 20 !) and U-turn during the early levels. That is not mentioning the great TM moves it learns, like the plethora of Grass-type TMs, Acrobatics, Shadow Claw and many other. Choosing Sprigatito also comes with another benefit: you prevent other trainers from using the grass cat themselves. While all three starters are good Pokemon in battle, Meowscarda is by far the scariest one if faced against in a battle, and you definitely do not want to see it in the hands of Nemona.

Once Floragato reaches Level 36, it evolves into the wonderful Meowscarada. With a fantastic 123 base Speed and a great 110 base Attack, Meowscarada can threaten most Pokemon in Paldea with at least a 2HKO. Thanks to its access to Nasty Plot, Meowscarada’s base 81 Special Attack isn’t the worst, but you really should just stick to its physical side. Meowscarada is easy to use, just attack, take a hit, attack again if you need and KO your foes, switch out (Forget this one if you want to play it in ‘Set mode’). Grass/Dark has an awful defensive profile, but it works fine in the offensive side, thanks to the additional type advantages over Ghost- and Psychic-types (Fairigiraf and Espathra appear for way too many times). It also has an advantage over the Ghost-type and the Psychic-type Gyms, while its Double weakness to Bug doesn’t matter much, as Katy is way too weak level-wised, though you would need to face heragain at a higher level. It, however, has a rough matchup against the final Team Star Boss, Eri, and doesn’t have notable advantages in the League other than Rika. It should be noted that Meowscarada isn’t the only Pokemon with that typing available and that there are a few replacement options if you opt to go for another starter instead. Meowscarada can also shed its awful typing with some of its nasty tricks. Its Hidden Ability, Protean, is still a good ability even after being nerfed. However, it would basically be locked behind post-game, and isn’t too amazing since it would mostly be using Grass-type moves anyways. And if you want to become a pure Grass-type, Terastallizing is not a bad option if you want extra oomph on its Grass-type moves, or as an emergency option against Fighting-type or Fairy-type Pokemon.

Meowscarada shines when it comes to moves. Its signature move, Flower Trick, is perhaps one of the best Grass-type moves of all time. Indeed, Meowscarada mostly just uses Flower Trick in battle, which scores critical hits against most targets guaranteed, effectively making it a base 105 power move. That basically outclasses Petal Blizzard, another great Grass-type move that it can learn through breeding/Mirror Herb. Do note that, while they all have their own drawbacks, Power Whip, Wood Hammer and Solar Blade all have a higher base power even factoring in Flower Trick’s critical hit effect, which makes some other Pokemon better at dealing Grass-type damage than Meowscarada. Meowscarada’s secondary Dark-typing also means it can use Knock Off and Night Slash with STAB. However, since no trainers put held items on their Pokemon, Night Slash is the superior option at a mere 70 base power. That, coupled by the fact that Meowscarada would not have Tera-Dark without using Tera Shards, makes Meowscarda rely on the Grass-type side more, which means it is helpless against foes that can take Flower Trick well (basically everything that resists Grass, which is a lot). Play Rough and Acrobatics are decent options as coverage, especially since they turn tables around Fighting-type Pokemon, which Meowscarada would be weak to after evolving. U-turn isn’t the competitive-breaking move in single-player playthroughs, but it does make Meowscarada a fantastic lead that can get out of unfavourable matchups easily. Brick Break, Shadow Claw, Thunder Punch are some other great moves that it can learn, but their low powers mean they have rather limited uses. In terms of utility, Meowscarada is blessed with dual spikes, which are actually not that great since opponents do not like switching around and many of them have something that can deal with T-spikes. It also has Leech Seed and Worry Seed, but you most probably want Meowscarada focusing on offenses instead. All in all, Meowscarada is a reliable offensive Pokemon thanks to its high speed and damage output, supported by a decent selection of moves.

Meowscarada doesn’t gain much in its trip to Kitakami, outside of some unwanted competitors. Shiftry is perhaps the only other Grass/Dark that can rival Meowscarada’s speed and power, but Meowscarada is still mostly the better option. Knock Off being distributed to more Pokemon isn’t ideal, but Meowscarada gets Lash Out, which is at least slightly stronger than Night Slash even if it is unlikely for Meowscarada to take advantage of its secondary effect boost. Other than that, Meowscarada is just like most other Grass-type Pokemon, helpless against most of the dangerous foes around Kitakami, especially the wild Pokemon. Thanks to its Dark-typing, Meowscarada is particularly useless against Okidoki and Fezandipiti; while Munkidori can still strike for supereffective damage with its other STAB anyways. It also doesn’t offer much to the dangerous four-part battle, as it struggles against the Fire-type Ogre, which is the hardest part. Meowscarada also doesn’t have too many great matchups against the Ogre Clan members, especially since most of them run some forms of coverage preying on its multiple weaknesses. It does at least do great against the Water-type specialist and the toughest battle during that quest. Other than that, Kitakami folks are overall not too impressed by Meowscarada’s elusive tricks.

Meowscarada at least has some good news brought by the Blueberry Academy. It gains two new moves: Triple Axel and Throat Chop. The former is a wonderful coverage that works so well with its natural STABs, while the latter is yet another upgrade to its Dark-type STAB. The Blueberry Academy, however, also sees some unfavourable changes for the grass cat. First, most Pokemon are now properly trained and might hold items as well. Suddenly, Meowscarada’s 2HKOs might fall short and become a 3HKO, even with its critical hit shenanigans and coverage options. Play Rough’s 90 base power, would especially seem to be less effective over time. Previously, Meowscarada’s 76/70/70 bulk would allow it to survive many non-SE hits, allowing it to function well as a fast attacker to clean up your opponents before they can do so. In the BBA, however, many Pokemon can just simply delete Meowscarada in one hit, especially since they also come with coverage moves now. Second, Meowscarada’s hit-and-run tactics do not work so well in the Double format as you do not have the ability to switch after each KO and your opponents can also double target your Meowscarada if they want to. Meowscarada also doesn’t offer much in the events after you are crowned the BB Leauge Champion. It technically has a type advantage against the big boss Pokemon, but that thing is just so strong it won’t matter in the slightest. The Epilogue sees a bunch of Poison-type Pokemon being used, and they are usually bulky enough to take some hits from Meowscarada, including the final fight which features an exceptionally physically bulky Pokemon. Meowscarada still does its job in the second half of the DLC, albeit not as good as it used to, but at this point, you probably have feelings with your starter so you shouldn’t ditch it anyways.

In a Mono-Grass Run setting, Meowscarada doesn’t behave too differently from a standard playthrough, though there are even fewer reasons to not use this thing. Coverage moves are especially important in monotype runs, and we know Meowscarada has tons of those. Meowscarada’s Play Rough is one of the few options Grass-type Pokemon have against Dragon-type Pokemon, and it is by far the fastest attacker among all those who can do something against these nasty dragons. Its Power Gem is also one of the few Rock-type moves a Mono-Grass might have and again it is the fastest option. That, coupled by its access to Thunder Punch and later on Triple Axel, makes it an answer to Flying-type Pokemon if you do not want to use Rotom-Mow. It does have a few downsides though. Relying on Flower Trick so much to do damage is a little awkward in a Mono-Grass team, as every team member would have decent Grass-type damage output. Though it is totally reasonable to pick Meowscarada as the main Grass-type offense option among all the grasses you have. Meowscarada’s Grass/Dark typing gave it so many rivals, which all turn into teammates in a Monotype run. There are several Grass/Ghost Pokemon available as well, which offensively prey on the same Pokemon as Meowscarada does. As previously stated, coverage options are key and you do not want to waste too many slots on your team for Pokemon with redundant typing. That being said, Meowscarada probably outclasses all of its siblings unless you are specifically building for certain archetypes. That brings us to the third point, which is how Meowscarada does not synergize too well with other Grass-type Pokemon. With the lack of appropriate Ability and moves, it does not offer much to sun teams or Tailwind teams, which can potentially be faster and stronger than a Meowscarada can be on its own. With its merits, Meowscarada is still a fantastic option in a Mono-Grass run thanks to its fast attacking style, though it isn’t by any means an essential presence.

Jumpluff

Hoppip is the first wild Grass-type Pokemon you can find, and it would be an easy fit on the team if you need a Pokemon dedicated for supporting its teammates. Hoppip’s abysmal base 35 Attack and Special Attack would not be scoring any KOs, which means it mostly relies on Poison Powder or Leech Seed to provide steady residual damage. It also learns Stun Spore and Sleep Powder at Level 10. Combing that with its low damage output, the Hoppip family provides great utility in catching Pokemon. If you do not wish to raise up Hoppip all the way through, you can find wild Skiploom and Jumpluff rather easily at the later parts of the game. However, one of Hoppip’s most valuable traits is how it is available at the early game. If you are not catching Hoppip right off the bat, you might as well just skip over this family.

Skiploom evolves into Jumpluff at Level 27, giving you a fully-evolved Pokemon at such an early time. Jumpluff, however, is way weaker than your average fully-evolved Pokemon thanks to its unimpressive stats outside of its amazing Speed and decent Special Defense. Grass/Flying isn’t a terrible offensive typing outside of its inability to hit Steel-types, but Jumpluff really wouldn’t go anywhere with its base 55 Attacking stats. That being said, thanks to it learning Bullet Seed and Acrobatics naturally by Level 30, it can still dish out meaningful damage with its high-power moves. The unfortunate thing is Bullet Seed requires the new Loading Dice to be reliably strong, which does not fit well with Acrobatics. That means Jumpluff is mostly running 1 Attack + 3 Status sets. Jumpluff’s low offenses become more obvious once you hit the forties, as your opponents just get much bulkier. At this point, Jumpluff should shift to a more defensive role. Its 75/70/95 bulk is underwhelming on the physical side, and not the best on the special side either. Grass/Flying’s biggest problem is its five weaknesses, one of them being a double weakness to Ice and Ice-type Pokemon are extremely common right when the difficulty of the game picks up. Jumpluff is also weak to its own type and Flying-type Pokemon are practically everywhere to be seen in Paldea. It should also be noted that Jumpluff is a poor user of Tera, as defensive Tera is not too helpful in single-player, and it is mostly locked to Tera-Grass or Tera-Flying anyways. It shouldn’t be a primary Tera user until it finds a perfect opportunity to take advantage of. Jumpluff is overall not the best at surviving, which does harm its uses more than the lack of offensive power.

Jumpluff’s lackluster offensive presence and mediocre defenses put it in an interesting spot. Its main objective in battles is just use a status move and peace out. The good thing is it does in fact have a number of wonderful tools. As aforementioned, Jumpluff learns the powder moves at a lower level, and it is actually the fastest user of Sleep Powder out in Paldea, as well as one of the faster sleep inducers bar Iron Valiant. We all know how dangerous sleep is, and Jumpluff actually makes good use of Acrobatics, its one good offensive move, to threaten Grass-type Pokemon that are immune to Sleep Powder. Putting opponents to sleep also gives Jumpluff more time to set up its other moves, or to switch out to a stronger teammate. For switching out, Jumpluff learns U-turn naturally, which isn’t exactly great with Jumpluff’s poor Attack, but it can be particularly helpful for scouting and for working around Intimidate. Jumpluff also learns Cotton Spore and Memento through levelling up, which are great options for nerfing your foes, making it safer for its teammates to pick things up. Charm and Reflect work similarly for providing physical defense for the team, while the newly gained Light Screen works great for special attacking foes. Jumpluff’s high Speed also makes great use of Encore to lock your opponents into suboptimal moves, although it also has a limited use in single-player campaign due to the lack of good moves to lock them into. Giga Drain from TM or at Level 43 and Strength Sap from breeding both give Jumpluff a little more longevity , but the former doesn’t recover that much thanks to the low damage and the latter might not work against certain targets. Speaking of breeding moves, Cotton Guard and Worry Seed are some other options that may work depending on the team. We have not mentioned Jumpluff’s ability up to this point, and that is because of how mediocre they are all. Infiltrator is not worthwhile as a Hidden Ability, due to the lack of notable Subsitute users and Jumpluff does not care about screens. Chlorophyll and Leaf Guard are both great, if the sun is out, that is. Leaf Guard is probably the better one, as Jumpluff really does not need to boost its Speed further up in the main game and immunity to status conditions can be surprisingly helpful. This gives Jumpluff a potential team slot for sun-based teams and a decent use of Sunny Day if you do not wish to use Drought user. Finally, it should be noted that Jumpluff’s status moves would not work against Team Star starmobiles, harming its uses in Team Star fights. Its supportive role is also limited once you have reached Level 50 or higher, as you would probably be better off with just another offensive Pokemon, making Jumpluff a better Pokemon as an early to mid-game temporary team members.

Jumpluff did not change too much in the Teal Mask expansion. If you wish to catch more Pokemon in Kitakami, Jumpluff still works well with its status-inducing moves, allowing you to catch even high-levelled Pokemon at ease. It also gains access to Lunge, another move to nerf your opponents’ Attack that is probably inferior to Charm and Reflect unless you just wish to avoid getting taunted. Other than that, Jumpluff basically functions the same, which doesn’t work too well in the land of Kitakami as everything becomes much stronger. That, along with the fact that many Pokemon start running coverage in the DLC, means Jumpluff’s supposed “strength” over Fighting or Ground types are mostly obsolete and its dual typing starts to become more of a hindrance. This is especially notable if you are going for the Ogre Clan members, as Jumpluff struggles even against the ones it is supposed to be great against. Its interfering strategy might be harder to pull off, since it really cannot take hits from the stronger foes around, as pretty much every important Pokemon around has something strong against Jumpluff to use. Jumpluff overall has an unremarkable journey in Kitakami, just like pretty much every other Grass-type Pokemon.

Pokemon with great support utility are not a must-have in the main game, but they are of much higher demand in the Double-oriented Blueberry Academy. Jumpluff has always been a decent user of Tailwind, but that move is difficult to take advantage of in single battles. With most Pokemon you need to face being much faster and stronger, Tailwind gives you a great speed advantage in the course of adventuring in the BBA and is easier to utilize thanks to the Double format. That isn’t the only thing Jumpluff can do. It regained access to Endeavor, which can be utilized well thanks to its high Speed, though it may require the need of Focus Sash to do so. It also previously has access to the mostly useless Helping Hand, Rage Powder and Pollen Puff, which now allows it to strengthen or protect its allies, making it a wonderful partner to Pokemon with high offensive power. Jumpluff’s other tricks are still effective: Encore to hinder your foes, screens for protective uses, Sunny Day and even Rain Dance for weather support, Sleep Powder for the worst status condition in the game, Switcheroo for removing items on the opposing team, etc. In fact, Jumpluff’s biggest issue seems to be its 4MSS, as it is capable of supporting the team in so many aspects. All it really boils down to is how you wish to use Jumpluff, and what type of Pokemon it is fighting alongside. You mostly need a supporting Pokemon for the BBA, especially if for speed control. Outside of fellow cottonball Whimsicott, who gets Prankster and a more useful secondary typing, there aren’t really that many Pokemon that can rival Jumpluff’s toolset. Though it should be noted that Jumpluff has a few edges over Whimsicott, like access to Sleep Powder and a straight up immunity to Earthquake. Once you leave the BBA for a short trip, however, Jumpluff reaches rock bottom and provides no uses against the ultra big boss as you need something to do more damage. Even if we go back to Double Battles during the Epilogue, Jumpluff struggles to coordinate with its partner Pokemon and isn’t too great at the final battles either. That being said, Jumpluff will not complain about the Indigo Disk expansion with it being so easy to use for most of this wave of DLC.

Jumpluff has a useful niche in a mono-Grass playthrough thanks to its interesting typing. Fighting-type Pokemon in Paldea are pretty strong, and Grass-type lacks answers to them. Within the Paldea region, the only other Pokemon that can deal with Fighting-type are Brambleghast and Tropius, which are both not easy to fit on teams. Jumpluff finds success with its higher Speed and better usage of Acrobatics in that regard, making it pretty much the best option to use against Fighting-type Pokemon, and particularly in the tough Eri fight. Other than that, however, Jumpluff still more or less plays the same, except it shares some of its utility moves, like powder moves and Leech Seed, with its teammates. Jumpluff also loses its uses in catching Pokemon, as almost everything to catch would be immune to the powder moves. Jumpluff finds great allies in a mono-Grass team, as many Grass-type Pokemon benefit with sun in one way or another, and Jumpluff might be the most reliable manual sun setter around thanks to its high Speed. Its access to Tailwind is also great, since this generation introduces two great Grass-type Pokemon to abuse Tailwind. That being said, Jumpluff doesn’t offer too much in terms of type matchups, as it struggles heavily against common problems like Fire, Steel and especially Ice. It does, however, mitigate the common double weaknesses to Bug that many Paldean Grass-type Pokemon has, and is probably the best answer to the dangerous Heracross that a mono-Grass team can have. Overall, Jumpluff still works fine as a team member in a mono-Grass run, finding success on and off depending on the environment around it.

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Sunflora

Sunflora is a low-tier sh*tmon that no one ever thinks to use it competitively. With its awful mono-Grass typing being so bad offensively and defensively and its lack of interesting coverage, Sunflora will not see the light of success even in the lowest of the lowest tiers. Wait a minute, this isn’t about competitive success and let me check … Sunflora is actually not that bad? Well, first thing first, Sunkern holds the crown of having the lowest base stat total among all Pokemon you can find within this game, and it certainly lives up to that title. With a base 30 in every one of its stats, Sunkern is easily one of the weakest Grass-type Pokemon around in every possible way. Its only saving grace is having Growth and Mega Drain early on when the Pokemon around are still not that strong yet, allowing it to pull up some setup while keeping itself healthy. Raising a Sunkern is no easy task, but the good thing is you do not need to level it up to evolve it. Sunkern evolves into Sunflora with the touch of a Sun Stone, which is available as early as you beat Brassius at around Level 19.

Sunflora is, thus, one of the earliest fully-evolved Pokemon around. With a promising base 105 Special Attack, Sunflora is able to crush pretty much everything it sees during the early parts of the game, including Grass resists that have flimsy Special bulk. Because of that, Sunflora is especially helpful against the Electric-type and the Water-type gyms, which features powerful Pokemon at their levels, while Sunflora has some type advantages going on for the gyms. Sunflora can even pump up its power thanks to its Solar Power Ability, which boosts its Special Attack when the sun is out. Otherwise, you would opt for Chlorophyll, which patches up its abysmal Speed. It might be a bit of a dilemma to choose between these two as Sunflora would love to enjoy both abilities at the same time, but either one would be good enough. Early Bird, while useful in certain occasions, is generally not worthwhile as a Hidden Ability. Sunflora does require sun to function to its fullest, but that isn’t too difficult to work with, as there are several good sun setters around Paldea as well. That isn’t the only team support that Sunflora would need, as its uninteresting mono-Grass typing and a poor 75/55 physical bulk would suggest a suboptimal survivability. As Sunflora doesn’t really have many ways to boost up its Defense, a good partner would ideally be one that can provide physical barriers and more useful resists for the team, like most Steel-type Pokemon. Sunflora’s biggest problem is, of course, how it doesn’t compete with pretty much any other Grass-type Pokemon around. By the time you reach level 40, when most Grass-type Pokemon have fully blossomed, Sunflora will start to look less brilliant than it already is. It also has unimpressive matchups against most of the important fights after that point, especially the Gym rematches and the secret boss fight. Though, by that time, your Sunflora should’ve had enough EVs that it may still perform better than many of its competitors. If you are sticking with your Sunflora up to that point, you may as well just keep it for the rest of the journey.

Sunflora stays loyal to its Grass-typing, in that it doesn’t seem to learn many other moves outside of this type, which works well for its early availability. First of all, it should be noted that Sunflora is a decent abuser of Tera-Grass, since it is so dedicated to using Grass-type moves anyways, though there might be some other better choices of using this mechanic. It does not have too many outstanding moves that other Grass-type Pokemon have, learning the drain moves, the seed moves and several high-powered moves. The notable advantage, is how early it learns these moves at. Ingrain at Level 4, Leech Seed at 13 and Giga Drain at 22 means Sunflora can work around its poor bulk and stay alive at battles pretty much right after it evolves. It then learns the powerful Petal Dance and Solar Beam at around Level 30. Remember that switching around is not difficult at single-player and that you can still get a free switch after a KO even if locked by Petal Dance, Petal Dance’s drawbacks are not that terrible especially since Sunflora has no better moves to use anyways. Solar Beam, on the other hand, fits better for sun-based strategies and is more flexible in general. Speaking of which, Sunny Day at Level 39 is a possible addition, seeing how Sunflora doesn’t learn anything else notable other than the even mightier Leaf Storm at 43. By the time your reach the forties, you are finally open up for some coverage options, namely Dazzling Gleam, Earth Power and Sludge Bomb, nothing more unless you want to count Tera Blast/Hyper Beam. These three moves are by no means perfect coverage for Sunflora, considering how common steel-armored birds are. It is a shame that despite Sunflora revolving around weather so heavily, it does not learn Weather Ball, at least not yet. It also has some interesting utility such as Light Screen and Encore, though it is clearly not the best user of these moves. If you need a Pokemon to fire off strong Grass-type moves, Sunflora is a good choice. There are no doubt other good choices as well, but if you really pick Sunflora over its rivals, it will not disappoint.

The Kitakami expansion brings justice to Sunflora as it finally allows Sunflora to learn Weather Ball, which would offer a much better coverage out in the sun. The problem is, Sunflora just can’t catch up with the tough environments in Kitakami. As previously noted, Grass-type Pokemon just do not do well in this wave and Sunflora has nothing special to offset its typing. Sunflora has basically no advantages over any important fights when Poison-type and Flying-type are everywhere. It certainly still works well in sun, but setting up weathers might not be as easy when Titanic Pokemon can one-shot so many Pokemon and that one fight features a Fire-type Pokemon that would take advantage of your sun as well. If there is a time to drop Sunflora, the Kitakami border might be a fit for the job if you haven’t done so prior to that.

With the Indigo Disk comes more Double battles, Sunflora manages to find more breathing space. Weather-based teams are always easier to use in Doubles and Sunflora is completely fine firing off powerful Solar Power-boosted Solar Beam or Weather Ball. Sunflora should also stick with Solar Power, as it can now make use of its poor Speed when Trick Room becomes more prevalent. The problems with Sunflora are still more or less the same ones. First, it has a poor matchup against three of the Elite Four members, and two of them would even resist your Fire-Weather Ball. Sunflora’s other coverages might still work fine, though it would still struggle in these important battles. Second, if you have not noticed, Sunflora requires heavy support; sun, Trick Room, standard redirection tactics, healing moves for offseting Solar Power HP drop, there are so many you can’t even name them all. The Indigo Disk elevates the difficulty so much that building so heavily around one single Pokemon might be rougher than just using some other better Pokemon. These issues do not seem to get better with the expedition trip and the Epilogue, as they both feature some Pokemon that Sunflora really would not want to see. In an ideal situation, Sunflora does have an amazing firepower thanks to Solar Power, which might be a little difficult to pull off in practical situation. Again, if you are dedicated to using this adorable sunflower, you would find a way to make it work for sure. While mostly seen as a joke, Sunflora is at the very least not the worst Pokemon you can use in your Scarlet/Violet journey, an achievement that its fellow Solar Power plant cannot dream to claim.

Remember monotype teams desperately need Pokemon with good coverages, and Sunflora has none of those? Let’s be real, it is already difficult enough to justify using Sunflora in a casual playthrough, and it is just even worse in a Mono-Grass run. Sunflora offers next to nothing when every Pokemon on the team is capable of dishing out Grass-type damage while being able to accomplish much more than that. Sunflora’s merits are still right there, but they are just not valuable enough to occupy one-sixth of your team slot. It is, however, one of the few Grass-type Pokemon with a good Ground-type coverage and that can potentially work as a niche, except Arboliva is even stronger with its Earth Power. Of course, Sunflora is still a great member on sun-oriented teams thanks to its abilities. Not having auto sun on the team is unfortunate, but manual sun isn't difficult to use for a mono-Grass team with tons of Pokemon to abuse the weather. Not many Grass-type Pokemon have their power boosted by sun, so at least there is a good reason to use Sunflora. Other than that, Sunflora fails to provide defensive uses due to its mono typing, making it especially difficult to put on the team during tough type matchups. Honestly, no one expects Sunflora to be particularly helpful and it is fine to have just the slightest niche to be used.

Sawsbuck

The first thing to note about the Deerling family is that they are basically everywhere, and they are available at pretty much every level. Sawsbuck can even be found roaming around the earlier areas, and it is never too late to consider putting it on the team. If you decide to catch Deerling right off the bat, however, you do give yourself a neat early-game fast attacker that handle foes of all types. Outside of how adorable it is to play dress-up with the deer, Deerling is notable for having base 75 Speed, coupled with a decent base 60 Attack. It will take a few more levels before Deerling gets good, but once it reaches Level 16 for Bullet Seed, the good moves just keep coming. Deerling is capable of dishing out strong neutral hits thanks to its Normal/Grass typing and is really easy to use in general. It will fall short for a while at high twenties, but it doesn’t take much to make through Level 34 for it to evolve into the amazing Sawsbuck.

Sawsbuck is basically just a larger version of Deerling, amplifying its Attack and Speed. Its stats aren’t exactly the best, but they will work fine in the context of single-player playthroughs. Base 95 is more than enough to outspeed most of your opponents and that allows Sawsbuck to function well with its job. Normal/Grass is normally not a great typing to desire, but Sawsbuck is mostly here to dish out neutral damage with its Normal-type moves. Not many Pokemon can take its Take Down or Double-Edge, when it also has Grass-type moves to deal with Rock-type and even Ghost-type. Sawsbuck doesn’t care about type matchups when it really just clicks the same moves every time anyways. What do you mean Larry’s Flying-type Pokemon can take out Grass-type Pokemon easily? Sawsbuck just slam with its Normal-type moves and not many of them can take that. Even Poppy isn’t a big issue thanks to its coverage options. Sawsbuck is the kind of Pokemon you send out when nothing else can take care of the opponent. Its 80/70/70 bulk isn’t amazing but is more than enough to take many neutral and even super-effective hits, though it is mostly let down by the sheer number of weaknesses it has and the fact that it keeps wearing itself down in battle. However, even if Sawsbuck loses the 1-on-1, it would have heavily dented the foe before it goes down. In terms of abilities, Sawsbuck has some decent choices between Chlorophyll, Sap Sipper and Serene Grace. Chlorophyll is a neat Ability, but Sawsbuck really doesn’t need the extra Speed and it isn’t a fantastic Sun abuser anyways. Serene Grace does not work too well with Sawsbuck’s moveset and is not worthwhile to get out of your way obtaining it. That leaves Sap Sipper as the best option most of the time, getting a free Attack boost can be surprisingly helpful when your opponents use random Grass-type moves, as Sawsbuck really does not mind having extra oomph on its neutral hits.

Sawsbuck’s promising offensive profile would not be as impressive without support from a decent moveset. Sawsbuck keeps learning powerful Normal-type moves: Level 20 or pick up a TM around Klawf for Take Down, Facade and Body Slam for later TMs, Headbutt as Egg Move and Double-Edge at Level 44. Double-Edge is clearly the strongest option, while Body Slam and Headbutt both bring interesting secondary effects without recoil damage. Sawsbuck’s Grass option is a little less exciting, with Bullet Seed at Level 16 being one of the best choices thanks to Loaded Dice. Horn Leech upon evolution is much weaker, but it gives Sawsbuck a decent healing that works well with the recoil moves it likes to use. Sawsbuck is overall more Normal-inclined, making Silk Scarf a good item if you do not want to go with Loaded Dice + Bullet Seed. Sawsbuck’s reliance on its STAB moves means it is a great user of Tera. Tera-Normal Double-Edge tears through most of the Paldean Pokedex and removes five of Sawsbuck’s weaknesses, while Tera-Grass can be useful as well. Steel-type is unfortunately a major obstacle, but Sawsbuck does have some options against them as well. Double Kick will suffice during the early game, while Dig or Stomping Tantrum would be a slightly stronger choice once you pick up their TM recipes. Zen Headbutt at Level 24 and Play Rough from TM are both able to flip matchups against Fighting-type Pokemon, with the former being able to hit bulky Poison and the latter being able to deal with nasty dragons. After Sawsbuck evolves, it can also remember Megahorn, which is really powerful if you need a Pokemon to dish out Bug damage, though it doesn’t offer too much in terms of type effectiveness. Wild Charge and Smart Strike are some other options, but they are in general not too helpful as they are weaker than STAB Double-Edge even on a super-effective hit. Sawsbuck isn’t all about attacking though, it has some other tricks up its sleeves. Its reliance on its STAB moves means that Sawsbuck doesn’t need all four moves to be attacks, freeing a moveslot for Swords Dance, further powering up its damage output. The TMs for Charm and Thunder Wave are available early on, and they work great to nerf your opponents thanks to the deers’ high Speed. Overall, Sawsbuck is a decent Pokemon with a wonderful movepool that makes it highly customizable, and it works well in different roles thanks to its good speed tier.

Grass-type Pokemon have it rough in the Teal Mask, but Sawsbuck is still mostly doing fine. It receives an upgrade to its Ground-type coverage to the much stronger High Horsepower, which is particularly helpful against the three titans. Do note that High Horsepower is just barely stronger than STAB Double-Edge against Poison-type, and there aren’t many Steel-type for you to try out this new toy. It is a shame Sawsbuck cannot learn Solar Blade, which would have been a perfect fit for Chlorophyll sets. Sawsbuck’s fast attacking strategy also falls off a little in the stronger and faster Kitakami. Certain foes like Kieran’s Yanmega can just outspeed Sawsbuck easily and do not mind taking a Double-Edge or two. This is especially notable for the final boss fight, which features a much faster Pokemon that can crush Sawsbuck easily. Sawsbuck also doesn’t do too well against the Ogre Clan members with their well-trained Pokemon, though it can still work as a blanket check against slower dangerous foes.

Sawsbuck isn’t exactly well equipped for Double Battles, which is a bad news when you bring it over to the Blueberry Academy. On the plus side, it has access to Petal Blizzard, which is a much stronger Grass-type STAB that does not take up your item slot that can also hit multiple targets. Throat Chop is yet another coverage option that is mostly used to deal with Ghost-type Pokemon. While Throat Chop and Double-Edge go well together, there aren’t actually that many Ghost-type Pokemon for you to face in the BBA that would require Throat Chop to handle. Other than these, Sawsbuck still runs pretty much the same moves, as it does not have too many AOE attacks other than Bulldoze and Petal Blizzard. Sap Sipper can now find more opportunities to trigger with Petal Blizzard being more common, while Chlorophyll might be more helpful since sun-based teams are easier to use in doubles and that Sawsbuck would actually enjoy the Speed boost now. Sawsbuck does not appreciate the high bulk level in the BBA, as that heavily impacts the effectiveness of its neutral hits. It also struggles to power through most of the Elite Four members, especially since Amarys has some Steel-type Pokemon that do not care about High Horsepower. It also gets slower than many dangerous foes, but that is easy to fix with some forms of speed control. Sawsbuck’s bulk is still rather flimsy, but it still manages to take a hit or two before going down bar some crazy powerhouses (We’re looking at you, LO Adaptability Hyper Beam Porygon-Z). Sawsbuck actually does fine with the revisit to Area Zero, since battles go back to the Single style. For that matter, it has an acceptable matchup in the boss fight thanks to its good Speed and a good synergy with Tera. For your second visit to Kitakami, Sawsbuck also does fine thanks to most Pokemon around not being that fast and you have a helpful ally to battle with it. All in all, Sawsbuck isn’t buck wild tier of good, but it is certainly good enough to warrant a spot on your team, working great as a reliable team member.

Sawsbuck’s good traits translate well to a mono-Grass run. The biggest issue of the Grass-type is how its moves get resisted by so many Pokemon, which can be easily solved by Sawsbuck’s great Normal-type moves. Fire-type? Double-Edge. Flying-type? Double-Edge. Poison-type? Double-Edge. Steel-type? Well, maybe we’ll leave that one for some other teammates. Play Rough is a great coverage to deal with Dragon-type Pokemon that prove to be one major roadblock for mono-Grass teams. Wild Charge isn’t too interesting in a standard playthrough, but it is much more useful to handle Flying-type Pokemon. Deerling and Sawsbuck work well filling up team slots if you do not know what else to put on the team, thanks to their flexibility. The Normal-typing works really well on offense, but it is not great defensively. Sawsbuck offers nothing more than an immunity to Ghost and a weakness to Fighting. Fighting-type is already a tough enough type to face for mono-Grass, and having another weakness is certainly not ideal. In that regard, Sawsbuck also faces some competition with Arboliva, but these two Pokemon work so differently it isn’t a big deal. Outside of that, Sawsbuck just does not synergize with its teammates too well outside of sun-oriented teams, though that is completely fine as Sawsbuck still does its job well. Sawsbuck isn't a necessity on a mono-Grass team, but a fast attacker with decent coverage certainly would not hurt and Sawsbuck will always be there to help.

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Tsareena

“When under attack, it secretes a sweet and delicious sweat. The scent only calls more enemies to it.” from Pokemon Shield seems to sum up Bounsweet really well. Having base stats comparable to Sunkern and a complete lack of useful moves other than Razor Leaf and Magical Leaf, Bounsweet is incredibly difficult to use in battles. Steenee learns a bit more moves mostly through TMs but is mostly useless as well thanks to its low attacking stats. Your best bet with this two is to hope that they get to Level 28 as quickly as possible when it learns Stomp to evolve. Alternatively, you can just catch wild Steenee at mid-to-late twenties around the East and West Provinces, or just wait to find a special wild Tsareena in one of the toughest locations in the whole Paldea. In general, if you are trying to use Tsareena, do not expect Bounsweet or Steenee to fulfill a similar role in the early levels.

Steenee learns Stomp at Level 28, which makes Tsareena one of the earliest fully-evolved Pokemon available in Paldea. If that doesn’t sound impressive enough, then Tsareena’s base 120 Attack surely will. Tsareena has the third highest Attack among all Grass-type Pokemon in Paldea, only behind Breloom and Brute Bonnet. Tsareena’s high Attack is also supported by an acceptable base 72 Speed, which is usually enough to allow Tsareena to go first against EV-less opponents. Speaking of going first, Tsareena’s biggest draw has got to be its Signature Ability, Queenly Majesty, which prevents itself from getting hit by priority moves. Queenly Majesty can have some surprisingly uses when your random trainers like to randomly use random priority moves. Tsareena isn’t too weak to priority from the mono-Grass typing, but its 72/98/98 bulk is good enough to take some powerful hits, and Queenly Majesty lets it avoid getting trapped by priority moves afterwards. With Queenly Majesty being such a good ability, there aren’t many reasons to opt for Leaf Guard or Sweet Veil despite these two abilities having their uses as well. Leaf Guard can be useful when used with sun, while Sweet Veil just gives security against sleep-inducing enemies.

Tsareena’s level-up moveset looks like every other mono-Grass Pokemon, not learning too much other than Normal or Grass-type moves. That is completely fine, as Tsareena shines with its Grass-type moves. Remember Tsareena is available at Level 28 with a 120 Attack? Well, it also comes with Trop Kick and Power Whip at evolution. Trop Kick provides utility with a guaranteed Attack drop on the opponent, while Power Whip basically deletes every Pokemon you run into at such a low level, provided you connect the hit. You really do not need anything else, since Power Whip will be more than enough all the way through your Treasure Hunt. With the aid of Tera-Grass, Power Whip can tear through even resists. It is like Sunflora all over again, except Tsareena has way more options. Tsareena’s, uh, interesting hobby of kicking enemies gives it access to some kicking moves. Low Kick and Low Sweep are both good TMs decent for early levels, with the latter having an additional effect of slowing the foe down. At Level 58, Tsareena would learn one of the strongest Fighting-type moves, High Jump Kick, which is always helpful against Fighting-weak opponents and you do not need to worry about your opponents switching to a Ghost-type. Other than that, Acrobatics and Play Rough are some other coverage options that work well. Zen Headbutt isn’t extremely strong, but it can be quite handy for the wild Tera Tsareena in the Socarrat Trail which has Tera-Psychic, allowing it to flip matchups against Poison-type Pokemon, though that one is exclusive to the late game. Trailblaze might seem redundant with its other Grass-type moves, but Tsareena would really enjoy the +1 Speed. Tsareena’s attacking options aren’t fantastic, especially since it does not learn any moves that can boost its Attack outside of Acupressure, no Growth, no Bulk Up and definitely not Swords Dance. That and its access to Queenly Majesty suggests a unique mixture of offense and utility. Charm, Reflect and Light Screen are always decent defensive options, while Swagger and Teeter Dance are some funny ways to hinder your opponents. Rapid Spin and Taunt’s effects are unfortunately not too helpful in single-player, but they are not the worst either. With all being said, Tsareena finds some tough competition with Pokemon like Breloom and Lilligant-H being able to accomplish similar achievements, but Tsareena is definitely a useful addition to the team, if you do not wish to use any of its rivals.

In the land of Kitakami, Tsareena struggles but still performs fine thanks to its good bulk. First of all, Tsareena received Solar Blade as an alternate attacking option. It is a tad bit stronger and more reliable than Power Whip under sun, but Power Whip will still suffice. Knock Off is another useful addition, considering your rivals start to put held items on, though it isn’t a must-have quite yet. Speaking of rivals, Tsareena is pretty good in the Kieran fights as he runs several Pokemon with priority, while Carmine also has some Fighting-weak Pokemon than can be crushed by High Jump Kick. While Tsareena doesn’t quite die to every strong foe around with its great defenses, its Grass-typing leaves a lot to desire. Most of Tsareena’s best attacks don’t do much to the three Poison Titans, forcing it to run the weak Zen Headbutt to do damage. Despite its high Attack, Tsareena still gradually shifts to a more supportive role, which means it may not find too many uses in the important fights, but it can still be pretty effective setting screens against slightly weaker foes.

Tsareena just gets even better in the Indigo Disk expansion. Queenly Majesty has always been a great Ability, but Tsareena doesn’t quite make the best use of it on its own. However, in Double Battles, Queenly Majesty protects allies from priority moves as well, which makes Tsareena a fantastic partner for faster and frailer Pokemon. Kieran is back again for more trouble, and he has some strong priorities that would be annoying to deal with, while Fake Out and Sucker Punch are still quite common around the Academy. Since weather, Tailwind and Trick Room are all viable strategies for Doubles and they all dislike getting ruined by priority moves, Tsareena makes for a great addition for these archetypes. Tsareena works especially well with sun, thanks to its access to Solar Blade and Synthesis. Outside of that, U-turn can be especially helpful for team support with screens, while Knock Off is much more useful when everyone holds items. Helping Hand and Aromatic Mist are some interesting moves that would probably be not too helpful in general. Tsareena also has yet another new STAB option in Petal Blizzard, which is particularly helpful in this wave of the DLC to hit multiple targets at once in sacrifice of the high power offered by Power Whip. Tsareena has so many Grass-type moves to choose and that is what I’d call “The winners keep winning”. Speaking of winning, Triple Axel is an actually great coverage that works well with Power Whip and High Jump Kick, which makes the Wide Lens or even Zoom Lens some good item choices. Tsareena, otherwise, doesn’t provide too many advantages in the Elite Four League, and notably falls off after you beat Kieran. The big boss in the deep cavern is a little too fast and too powerful for Tsareena to handle, while its utility isn’t of much need either during the Epilogue. Overall, Tsareena proves to be a useful member for the DLC thanks to its unique flavour of attack and support.

As a mono-Grass type, Tsareena shouldn’t be expected to be of much use in a Monotype run. Fighting-type coverage is usually reliable and effective, but it synergizes poorly with the Grass-type. Fighting-type moves are of very low value as it is resisted by too many common Grass-resists. Grass-type teams fear bugs and birds, and Tsareena can do nothing against them. Tsareena’s team slot is usually better occupied by other powerhouses who can run more useful coverage moves against Grass-answers. Tsareena needs to wait until the BBA to be more valuable, as Queenly Majesty shenanigans are still much appreciated. Mono-Grass teams commonly run some forms of speed control, like Tailwind + Wind Rider or Sun + Chlorophyll, which can be ruined by strong priorities, and Queenly Majesty can protect allies against Dragonite’s Extreme Speed as always, making the big dragon a little less scary. Unfortunately, Tsareena is pretty outclassed in general, which is more of an unfortunate byproduct brought by the mono typing. Overall, Tsareena isn’t a great choice for a fruitful Mono-Grass run and is probably better off with some other runs.

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Gogoat

Skiddo can be found roaming around outside of the Eastern Gate of Mesagoza, but this family of grassy goat is available in some other mountainous areas as well. It is up to you when to recruit them, and it doesn’t matter much since the goats can usually catch up with the team quite easily. Skiddo has average stats across the board, which work fine as an early-game option. Skiddo is a mixed attacker with good bulk, and it works with pretty much any moves you want to put on it. Skiddo never runs of out good attacks from leveling up or TMs, which make it incredibly easy to use. Growth is a good boosting move to support Skiddo’s mixed stats, while Bulk Up as a TM right after you leave westwards from Mesagoza is an alternate option focusing on the physical side. Skiddo has no issues handling the early game, and only suffers a little from high power levels at the late twenties. But it shouldn’t be too difficult to raise one up to Level 32 to evolve into Gogoat.

Gogoat has a grand base stat total of 531, beating Meowscarada by 1 point, though the two of them differ a lot in terms of stat distributions. Gogoat’s gigantic base stats mainly go to its 123 HP, supported by workable 62/81 on defenses. Gogoat is one of the bulkiest Grass-type Pokemon around, which grants it high longevity in battles, being able to switch in and out whenever in need. The mono-Grass typing does give it five weaknesses, but it also doesn’t have any dreadful quadruple weaknesses to avoid. It would not like certain fights like Grusha and Larry’s second fight, but it can be a decent backup even in these tough fights. Gogoat also has a good 100 Attack and 97 Special Attack, which might not be the best, but they are more than enough to be used in single-player. Gogoat’s only flaw is its 68 Speed, which outspeeds many Pokemon already especially with some investment, but isn’t reliable enough. Gogoat only comes with Sap Sipper naturally, which is a good Ability granting it an immunity to its own type, as well as giving it another way to boost its Attack up. Grass Pelt is a neat Hidden Ability that only triggers in Grassy Terrain. It usually isn’t a wise idea to go out of you way setting Grassy Terrain just to boost your Defense by 50%, but Grassy Terrain does see another setter in Arboliva this game. Finally, Gogoat can make good use of Tera-Grass, as it has nothing to lose in defensive typing and it would certainly enjoy the extra power on its STAB moves.

It is no secret that Game Freak plays favouritism when creating Pokemon, but not many people realize Gogoat is one of their favourite kids. If Gogoat’s BST of 531 isn’t obvious enough, then its vast movepool should be the definite proof you would need. At first Skiddo doesn’t do much that other Grass-type Pokemon don't, outside of the aforementioned Bulk Up. Leech Seed and Synthesis at the low levels at least make Skiddo pretty good at staying alive, while Milk Drink from Egg moves or at Level 58 for Gogoat is an interesting option as well. Then at level 26, it learns Bulldoze, which is a much-appreciated coverage that also fixes its low Speed. As if that isn’t good enough, Gogoat can also remember Earthquake right after it evolves, making that one of the earliest accesses to this powerful move in the whole game. Speaking of evolution, Gogoat learns Aerial Ace at evolution, which isn’t the strongest move around, but it would suffice for the mid game. Gogoat’s only problem is it learns STAB moves at quite a slow pace. You need to get to Level 30 for Seed Bomb, which would be your only STAB choice for a few levels unless you want to go with Bullet Seed. It would then learn Horn Leech at Level 47, which is pretty late for its underwhelming power, but it pairs well with Gogoat’s good bulk and its Bulk Up strategy. Leaf Blade at Level 55 is your final option, having a higher power than Seed Bomb, while offering a good critical hit chance.

Gogoat’s movepool is so good I need to start another paragraph to talk about its TM moves. Play Rough is a great move if you do not have other Fairy-type users. Rock-type moves are always fantastic coverage, especially for Grass-type Pokemon, and Rock Slide is a good one. Wild Charge doesn’t do much other than hitting Flying-type Pokemon, though it is at least stronger than Rock Slide in that regard. Between these two moves and Gogoat’s access to Earthquake, Gogoat finds itself plenty of options to use against Grass-resists. That does make things a little awkward as you wouldn’t really want to use Gogoat against Pokemon strong against Grass, but that is a valuable trait for pulling off Bulk Up strategy and Gogoat naturally has enough bulk to take some super effective damage as well, allowing it to win 1-on-1 even with unfavourable matchups at times. Brick Break and Zen Headbutt are some other weaker options, but they can be helpful depending on the team. Trailblaze gives Gogoat another way to fix its Speed, which works well in conjunction with Bulk Up, though that one is usually not necessary. Gogoat’s main issue, which isn’t a big issue, is how its good 97 Special Attack is often wasted unless you need to work around a negative Attack nature. It isn’t a bad idea to run mixed attack sets, with the special moves being able to threaten a lot more specially frail Pokemon. Gogoat is a good user of Growth, seeing as it has good attack stats on both fronts. Leaf Storm packs a punch with its high base power, and Gogoat doesn’t mind the Special Attack drop afterwards. In fact, Gogoat doesn’t learn a single special move levelling up and the only non-Normal non-Grass special moves it learns are Mud-Slap, Mud Shot and Surf. Mud Shot is, of course, inferior to Bulldoze most of the time, while Surf isn’t really needed due to hitting the same super effective targets as Grass and Ground. In terms of status moves, Gogoat doesn’t learn much more. The most notable one is actually Grassy Terrain, which gives Gogoat a way to activate its own Grass Pelt. Grassy Terrain giving passive healing synergizes well with the bulky attacking style Gogoat enjoys, and Grassy Seed, Terrain Extender or even Leftovers would be good held items to use as well. Assault Vest is another good item choice that synergizes well with Gogoat’s great Special bulk, though you would need to give up Bulk Up for that. One main issue with Grassy Terrain is how it nerfs Bulldoze and Earthquake, but Gogoat has some other Ground-type coverage options in Dig and Stomping Tantrum. They are indeed weaker than Earthquake, but they would be necessary if you are taking advantage of Grass Pelt. In conclusion, Gogoat still probably runs Bulk Up and then whatever attacks you like, which at least earns it the title of the GOAT.

Thanks to the mono-Grass typing, Gogoat does have some rough matchups in Kitakami. Well, let’s take a look at these matchups, shall we? Carmine’s Leavanny and Ninetales have no hopes taking Rock Slide or Earthquake for the latter. Kieran’s Yanmega and Cramorant hate Rock Slide and Wild Charge. His Gliscor is a little bit rough, though Surf is always an option. The Loyal Three are all weak to Earthquake, if you do not mind hitting your ally for friendly fire, though they can still be pretty rough since Gogoat hates being poisoned by Toxic Chain. The only real issue is Firepon, which is something that 80% of the Pokemon would not want to deal with anyways. Other than that, Gogoat’s bulk is just almost always good enough to take strong hits, while its wide array of coverage options allows it to lash back at these strong foes. Unfortunately, with so many strong foes around, Gogoat can’t quite pull off Bulk Up as well as it did in Paldea, and its unimpressive physical bulk starts to become more notable without a Defense boost. That, in addition to Horn Leech being a terrible option against most things, means Gogoat loses out quite a bit of longevity, though that can be mitigated by Gogoat’s other recovery moves. Gogoat itself didn’t change much, outside of gaining an alternate Ground-type coverage in High Horsepower to go with Grass Pelt, but its good traits maintain a great use even in the tougher and stronger environment of Kitakami.

By now we know that Gogoat adapts to harsh environment easily and the Blueberry Academy is no exception. Earthquake and Rock Slide are even more helpful here since they can hit multiple target, although Earthquake may require careful team planning to work around that. Sap Sipper can now be triggered by your ally’s Petal Blizzard, which is especially helpful for the +1 Attack that Gogoat really needs. Grass Pelt, on the other hand, depends on if you want to build for Grassy Terrain or not, since terrain are just in general doubly powerful in Double Battles. Other than these, Gogoat just gained Throat Chop, which isn’t too necessary unless you have a desperate need for Dark-type moves. When Trainer AIs seem to avoid taking on bulky Pokemon like Gogoat, Gogoat finds a comfortable time staying long in battles, especially with the help of Horn Leech. Gogoat is far away from perfect though, as the Blueberry Academy brings a lot an even higher power level and several unfavourable matchups. Amarys proves to be a big problem with its bulky Steels, while Dragonite and Incineroar don’t mind Rock Slide that much. The spread damage multiplier especially hurts the effectiveness of Rock Slide, which won’t do much without an Attack boost. Googat finds it harder to set up with Bulk Up, since it is riskier to do so against two foes at once, but that is still possible when given the right support. Gogoat would then struggle even more for the revisit of Area Zero, as it is a little too slow to threaten the big boss Pokemon. After that, Gogoat finds better uses in the Epilogue. Earthquake is still a powerful tool if you do not mind hitting your allies, while the final Single Battle allows Gogoat to function like it did in the base game. Gogoat might not be the ideal partner for going through the Indigo Disk expansion, but its ability to trade hits with opponents allows it to perform as the reliable backbone for the team.

Mono-typed Pokemon usually don’t perform well in Monotype runs, as they provide no defensive niches. Gogoat, for instance, offers nothing other than a Grass immunity, which isn’t exactly necessary for a team full of Grass. However, Gogoat’s ability to fight toe-to-toe with Pokemon strong against Grass is invaluable. Fire-type Pokemon are the nemesis of mono-Grass team when Toedscool isn’t exactly the best Pokemon to use, and Gogoat gets just the right coverage to handle them. In fact, Earthquake, Rock Slide and Play Rough covers all Grass resists other than Grass itself. Since Gogoat has the bulk to take strong hits and can even bulk itself up before things go bad, Gogoat easily flips bad matchups into a workable one. Even if Gogoat ultimately goes down to these strong threats, they would usually be left weak enough for the team. Speaking of which, Gogoat doesn’t have too much to work with the team, but there are some interesting tricks to play with. Grass Pelt is easy to trigger when you can stack Gogoat with Arboliva, and the whole team would enjoy Grassy Terrain anyways. Sap Sipper needs to wait until the BBA to become reliable with Petal Blizzard teammates. Gogoat isn’t a must-have on mono-Grass team, as it can be easily replaced by anything with a more interesting typing. However, its offensive profile will prove to be very useful in the rough times, making it at least a worthwhile backup team member.

Arboliva

The Smoliv family is the definition of a late bloomer. Being available right outside of Mesagoza, Smoliv can be readily found around Level 8, and it won’t be useful until thirty more levels. Smoliv’s stats aren’t that terrible, having a clear Special-inclined distribution. The problem is, it doesn’t learn that many good moves to utilize those Special Attack. Smoliv primarily learns physical moves through levelling up, with Mega Drain at Level 20 being pretty much the only good move early on. You need TMs to teach it Swift and Magical Leaf, but there might be some better uses of these TMs since Smoliv is still pretty weak with these moves. For being such a weak Pokemon, Smoliv evolves pretty late at Level 25, and things still won’t get much better after that. Dolliv actually has some good stats as a middle-staged Pokemon, but it still doesn’t learn any good moves other than 34 for Energy Ball. It doesn’t even get any good status moves either, with Charm being possibly the only notable one. If you want to skip over raising Smoliv, at least you can find some Dolliv in the Tagtree Thicket and the Eastern Paldean Sea, though raising Dolliv to Level 35 will still be a pain for sure.

Being such a hassle to obtain, Arboliva rewards patience with its great attributes. Arboliva has the highest Special Attack among all Normal-type and Grass-type Pokemon you can find in the base game, sitting at an amazing 125. This Special Attack can be further boosted by its signature Ability, Seed Sower, which creates Grassy Terrain when Arboliva is hit. Being a terrain setter, Arboliva pairs well with Unburden user, like Hawlucha, since Grassy Seed is readily available. Like Sawsbuck, Arboliva is great at hitting neutral targets just with its STABs. With the help of Tera-Normal or Tera-Grass, Arboliva can even muscle through Steel-types as they generally can’t take special hits all that well. Tera-Normal removes several weaknesses and Tera-Grass pairs well with Seed Sower, though Arboliva doesn’t need Tera to be powerful. However, unlike Sawsbuck, Arboliva is a slow Pokemon that underspeeds most of the opponents you’ll see. Its slow hitting style means it needs to make good use of its 78/90/109 bulk, which is enough to take a few hits, but Arboliva is still prone to getting worn down over time. At least Arboliva can make use of Grassy Seed to boost its Defense up for free. Arboliva’s typing also gives it a grand total of six weaknesses, which result in many unfavourable matchups. In terms of important fights, Arboliva misses out on the Water-Gym and the Rocky Titan for being such a late evolution. Arboliva provides next to no benefits in the remaining fights, as even the Ground titans do not care much about it and being weak to Eri is just simply unfortunate. Arboliva’s best showtime is the Gym rematches, as it continues to have bad matchups with the League and the secret boss fight.

Arboliva’s main strategy revolves around terrain with Terrain Pulse being exclusive to it. Terrain Pulse doubles to an impressive base 100 power under Grassy Terrain, outperforming many other Grass-type options. It is otherwise a weak 50 base power move, unless you want to pair Arboliva with another terrain. Other than this, Arboliva mainly uses the standard moves you expect for any Normal-type or Grass-type Pokemon. Energy Ball and Giga Drain are the most useful ones in the Grass-type front, while Leaf Storm and Petal Dance are stronger options with drawbacks that can be removed by simply switching. Arboliva doesn’t learn many Normal-type moves on its own, and it requires TMs for Hyper Voice or Tera Blast. Hyper Beam is a more destructive option that deletes pretty much everything it sees and remember that you still get a free switch-out if Hyper Beam knocks out an opponent. Another interesting “Normal-type” move is Weather Ball from Mirror Herb, which turns more powerful under different weather conditions. Together with its Hidden Ability, Harvest, Arboliva functions well as a bulky attacker in sun thanks to this great Fire-type coverage. But, if you are using Arboliva, you really should be using Seed Sower. Arboliva still has other coverage options, mostly Dazzling Gleam, Pollen Puff and most importantly, Earth Power. These three moves should be more than enough to cover most of your resists, though not having much against Flying-type is unfortunate considering their abundance in Paldea. Arboliva can also provide support for the team with screens or Encore, but it is a little too slow to use these moves effectively. Speaking of slow, Mirror Coat can be really funny against strong special-attacking foes. Strength Sap and Memento are also some interesting options obtainable from Mirror Herb. Arboliva, with its massive Special Attack, steadily provides strong damage output, while its Seed Sower Ability also makes for a great candidate for a team support role.

With how most foes have something good against Grass in Kitakami, Grassy Terrain isn’t really the most useful tool around. You are potentially giving grounded opponents free passive healing, while your boosted Grass-type moves are still not going to do much. This is especially unfortunate for the Ogerpon fights, as Ogerpon enjoys boosted Grass-type moves itself. Arboliva’s Normal-typing also gives it added weakness to Okidogi and an awkward matchup with Poliwrath. The Loyal Three will certainly be rough as Arboliva does not like being poisoned, but it also has Earth Power to punish them as well. Outside of the bad matchups, Arboliva still functions pretty much the same, acting as a bulky powerhouse that crushes through anything in its way.

Arboliva has some neat tools suitable for the Double Battles around the Blueberry Academy. Terrains are as always doubly effective in doubles, allowing Grassy Terrain-based strategies to be formulated with the Unburden Ability and the move Grassy Glide. Grassy Terrain is also helpful for Earthquake-weak allies, giving them some forms of security. Game Freak notices how good terrains are, and they put several trainer battles utilizing different forms of terrains. Seed Sower allows Arboliva to cover opposing terrains after getting struck by a hit, giving it an advantage over the Surge abilities or Prankster-terrain combo. Seed Sower’s ability to trigger more than once per entry basically secures Grassy Terrain being up most of the time and Arboliva does not even need Terrain Extender to extend its control of the field. Ice Spinner, and even Steel Roller, pop up from time to time, but Arboliva can set up terrains again after the removal. Unfortunately, Arboliva’s good bulk also comes back to bite a little bit, since AIs tend to prioritize targeting frailer Pokemon over Arboliva, and occasionally, Arboliva would be left unharmed for a few rounds. As such, triggering Seed Sower manually with a weak widespread move from a teammate might be a good option, since Arboliva resists common AOE moves like Earthquake, Surf or even Discharge. Speaking of widespread moves, Arboliva finds good uses of Hyper Voice and Dazzling Gleam to hit both opponents at the same time. Despite the damage reduction, Arboliva’s STAB Hyper Voice still hurts a lot on neutral targets and Dazzling Gleam still threatens all the dragons roaming around. Alternatively, Alluring Voice is a new addition that would not have its power reduced, and it can effectively punish setup attempts. Arboliva also finds new use of Pollen Puff, providing team heal at times in need, which can be useful if you are running Assault Vest. If you do not wish to use Grassy Terrain, Arboliva still works fine with other terrain setter thanks to its access to Terrain Pulse, while Harvest strategy always works with sun-based teams. Arobliva unfortunately does not find notable uses in terms of important fights, but it underspeeds Amarys’ team and may make her regret her Trick Room strategy with Earth Power. The other battles are still not going to be too easy though, even including your expedition trip, as Arboliva’s bulk starts to look less impressive from time to time and giving your opponent free healing isn’t exactly ideal. Arboliva then picks up the pace again in the Epilogue, as its Earth Power or just even Hyper Voice are really helpful covering for all the Poison-type around. Arboliva overall has a good run in the DLC as a slow bulky attacker, as its powerful Special Attack just cannot go wrong. It enables some fun strategies with Seed Sower, though Arboliva is good enough just doing nothing other than attacks.

When your whole team is filled with Grass-type Pokemon, setting up Grassy Terrain is of course invaluable. The 20% power boost, however, is often not enough, and you really do not want to see a Scizor getting free healing at the end of each turn. Defensively speaking, Arboliva also offers no utility for a mono-Grass team outside of screen support and healing, although a lack of quadruple weaknesses does allow it to take many super effective hits for the team. On the offensive front, however, Arboliva shines with its access to Earth Power and Dazzling Gleam, which are enough to cover most Grass-resists. Its coverage is especially good thanks to its superb Special Attack. This trait is especially notable for your trip to the BBA, as the strong trainers there use Pokemon weak to these coverage. Even if nothing else seems to work well, STAB Hyper Beam is always available as a last resort which seems to be pretty effective to remove other tough foes for Grass. Weather Ball and Harvest still make Arboliva a decent choice for sun teams, though mono-Grass would probably prefer Seed Sower instead. Arboliva isn’t the only Pokemon with good coverage to support a Grass-team; for that matter, we have already seen some other Pokemon with access to Ground-type moves and Arboliva might need to compete for that team slot. Arboliva often proves to be the superior choice, since its good attributes just simply can’t go wrong and Grassy Terrain support will at the very least provide a good enough reason to justify its use.

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Scovillain

Every trainer from the Paldea region has accidentally stepped on a Capsakid before, which at first seems like an unremarkable pure Grass-type Pokemon. Despite its small body, Capsakid has some promising attacking stats for an unevolved Pokemon with base 62 on both fronts. Capsakid makes good use of its Attack with Bullet Seed and Bite, and that’s pretty much all it can do. Capsakid’s biggest problem is its poor bulk. When most Pokemon around has enough to take a few of Capsakid’s hits, its inability to take hits back is a huge liability. Using Capsakid is not easy as it struggles to find weak Pokemon to prey on, but the good thing is you do not to raise its level at all to evolve it. By picking up items around Levincia, or shopping after receiving 3 Gym Badges, or catching a bunch of Pokemon to fill in the Pokedex, the Fire Stone is one of the earlier available evolutionary stones for you to use. Capsakid can then receive a much-needed upgrade and evolve into Scovillain at a reasonable level.

Scovillain caused a few heartbreaks when the game was first datamined. The Scovillain has one of the most unfortunate stat distributions, being a slow mixed attacker with poor bulk, resembling Hoenn Pokemon like the fellow Grass-type Cacturne. Scovillain is a tad bit faster though, having a base 75 Speed, which is actually fast enough for single-player purposes. Scovillain’s most notable trick is to double this average Speed in strong sunlight, making it a fierce sun sweeper. You cannot be a good sweeper without great attacking stats backing you up. Scovillain has great mixed Attacks with both at base 108, which is of course further powered up by sun thanks to its secondary Fire-typing. Scovillain is the first Grass/Fire Pokemon since forever, and these two types work out well. Defensively, most of the weaknesses cancel out and Scovillain is only weak to Flying, Poison and Rock, while it still has four different resistances. In theory, Scovillain should have more targets than your usual Grass or Fire Pokemon with its peculiar typing. In actual practice, however, Scovillain finds itself in an awkward position more often than not. As a Grass-type, it is supposed to handle Rock, Ground and Water, but it actually resists none of these and is in fact weak to Rock. As a Fire-type, it does not resist Bug or Ice, which is equally unfortunate. This would not have been a big issue if Scovillain has some forms of bulk, but it has a pitiful 65/65/65 that is worse than some of the NFEs around. Scovillain just doesn’t work well as a dedicated Grass or a dedicated Fire, often requiring another Pokemon of these types. Scovillain struggles to find favourable matchups outside of the Ground titans and the Steel-type users. Scovillain still is pretty much suited for sun-based teams only, since you would not really want Insomnia or Moody anyways. Insomnia has its use but is mostly redundant with the Grass-typing, while Moody is pretty boring to use. At least Scovillain’s ability to have both its power and speed boosted by sun is unique, giving it a genuine niche and a fun way to be used.

If you are thinking Scovillain’s flaws stop here, you’d be in for a nasty surprise. Scovillain somehow gets more problems with the moves it received. We’ll start with the good things. Remember Scovillain is obtainable before you hit the thirites, Scovillain’s evolution move of Flamethrower is extremely powerful at that time. It also learns its signature move, Spicy Extract, at evolution, which is a little weird, but you might as well keep it if you don’t have anything better to use. Otherwise, Scovillain has a standard level up moveset as a Grass-type Pokemon. Learning Sunny Day on its own is wonderful, though there might be several other methods to put the sun up instead. After Bullet Seed at 21, Scovillain won’t get any more STAB moves for a while, until it hits Level 44 for Seed Bomb. Four more levels, and Scovillain would learn its best two moves, Solar Beam and Overheat, which are both powerful options best suited in sun. Scovillain also learns Zen Headbutt and Crunch through leveling up, which suffice as coverage though they are both a little too weak in that regard. When we move on to TM learnset, we would find … basically nothing new. Giga Drain and Energy Ball are some reliable options over Solar Beam, while Fire Blast is pretty much the only good move in the Fire-type spectrum. Scovillain does have a good STAB combo, so these moves are not terrible. Do note that Scovillain evolved from a Capsakid would be locked to Tera-Grass, when Tera-Fire is usually the better one in terms of power and utility. You need to catch Scovillain in the wild to hope for Tera-Fire at around Level 40 or higher, which might be a little too late to join your team. Scovillain’s STABs sound great at first, but they are actually resisted by Fire and Dragon-type Pokemon. Scovillain at least gets Stomping Tantrum for Fire-type, but that often stays at base 75 power as Scovillain would not want to fail its previous moves. Dragon-types, however, are something that Scovillain really struggles against, and are probably better left for teammates to handle. Scovillain’s access to Leaf Storm seems like a great choice for a mixed attacker, but Scovillain can’t afford having its Special Attack dropped. Judging its STAB moves, Scovillain mostly has access to special moves, when its strongest physical moves are Bullet Seed and freaking Fire Fang. Its coverage moves, however, are exclusively physical-based. This often just results in a specially-inclined Scovillain not being able to do much with its weak coverage, putting its great Attack to a waste. Finally, Scovillain has an interesting combo of Leech Seed and Will-O-Wisp, which isn’t too useful given its poor longevity. Other than that, Scovillain’s other status moves are simply not worth it. Scovillain ends up being a disappointment not living up to its hyper and it has an awkward role to justify any dedicated team slots, but it certainly still finds some use as a strong attacker.

Scovillain’s stats look even less impressive in the massive land of Kitakami. Its bulk has never looked good, but it simply cannot catch up with the harsh environment around when most strong foes can threaten to take it out in one hit. Its Speed become more notably slow when opponents start to throw in investments. Even its promising attacking stats fall short at times, especially when fighting the Titan Pokemon. Scovillain still struggles to find good matchups thanks to its awkward typing, and it somehow stands poorly against all three masked forms of Ogerpon. Speaking of Ogerpon, Scovillain’s hard endeavours to venture through Kitakami reward it with a rival stealing its unique type combination and Firepon pretty much outclasses Scovillain in all sorts of way. Though Scovillain is still the superior choice when it comes to the sun sweeper role, which is why it was a crime Game Freak decided to not give it Solar Blade for an actually good physical sun-based set. All Scovillain got instead are Grassy Glide, Burning Jealousy and Lash Out. The former two are mostly inferior to Scovillain’s other STAB options, while Lash Out can possibly be stronger than Crunch at time. Scovillain, in general, would much rather stay in Paldea, where it can pull off its strategies more comfortably.

Scovillain didn’t change much for the Blueberry Academy, which is a bad thing because it wasn’t that good to begin with. Scovillain barely has any moves that function differently in doubles. Due to a lack of Heat Wave, Scovillain has to resort to Burning Jealousy for the double-hitting effect or stick to Fire Blast and Overheat for better power. Scovillain has the rare and precious redirection support in Rage Powder, but its poor bulk unfortunately means it won’t make good use of that unless it really wants to sacrifice itself for its teammates like a hero. The one saving grace of all these is how sun teams are actually good, and Scovillain performs really well in that. Solar Beam and Fire Blast under sun are still enough to cover everything outside of Fire or Dragon, which are unfortunately two of the types used by the BB League. Scovillain also needs some more support than just setting sun. Standard Double-battle moves like Fake Out, redirection or just healing would be much appreciated as you want Scovillain to stay healthy for its sweeping potential. Scovillain at the very least gets Temper Flare this time, which is its newest strongest physical Fire-type move. Scovillain would then stay unimpressive for the Area Zero trip and the Epilogue, where its flaws pretty much stay unsolved. It is difficult to play as the villain in a children’s game like Pokemon, and Scovillain hopelessly loses to its rival, Ogerpon, who happens to be the heroine of the story.

Having a unique type combination that cancels out so many Grass weaknesses, Scovillain holds a mono-Grass team together thanks to its defensive and offensive utilities. Within the base area of Paldea, Scovillain is one of the few Grass-type that isn’t Fire-weak and is probably the best answer to Bug-type and Ice-type Pokemon as well. Its awkward matchups are not big issues anymore, since its Grass-type teammates can handle Grass-weak opponents just fine and you do not need Scovillain to handle them. Scovillain is pretty much necessary on Grass team just so you don’t auto lose to certain Pokemon. Scizor, a normally strong threat for Grass-type Pokemon, can be easily roasted by Scovillain’s Flamethrower. As if that isn’t enough to justify its use, Scovillain’s sun-based strategy synergizes well its fellow Grass-type, making it an easy fit for any sun-based teams. Scovillain does have it rough in the DLC, as more type combinations are brought back. Ludicolo solves the problem against Fire-type and we don’t enough need to mention Ogerpon with its three amazing typings. Using Scovillain still works well though, as that frees Ogerpon up to take its Wellspring or Cornerstone Masks, which are both valuable for a mono-Grass team. While Scovillain still has some fatal flaws that restrict its effectiveness and it still needs to compete with Ogerpon, Scovillain overall enjoys monotype runs, where its good traits brought by its weird typing are more helpful and appreciated.

Leafeon

Eevee has not missed a game ever since its rise to stardom, and it is usually readily accessible. In this game, while a little bit uncommon, Eevee can be an early addition to the game found at Level 11 around Katy’s Gym. On the Eastern side of the region, the Leaf Stone is a reward for playing Sunflora Hide & Seek after beating Brassius, and Delibird Presents will also start selling them once you received any 3 Gym Badges. Leafeon can thus be usable at around Level 20, a relatively low level for its promising base stats. Do note that Leafeon evolved from a wild Eevee would have Tera-Normal, which is workable but not great. If you want Leafeon with Tera-Grass, you need to wait until you reach Larry for some rare wild Leafeon spawns.

Every Eeveelution is blessed with three good stats and cursed with three poor stats. Leafeon got a reasonable distribution with Attack, Defense and Speed being the good ones. Leafeon’s 110 Attack coupled with 95 Speed make it a good fast attacker option if you didn’t go for Meowscarada. Leafeon’s offensive profile is not as good though, as it lacks a secondary typing to cover for the poor offenses offered by the Grass-type. Leafeon struggles against most Grass-resists, especially Flying-type and there are plenty of those flying around. Thanks to its promising stats, Leafeon still does fine in your Treasure Hunt, but it noticeably has a rough time during the Elite Four, where most Pokemon are strong enough to take its hits. Its wonderful 130 Defense is largely let down by its poor 65 HP. It still can take multiple physical hits, providing a reliable backbone against strong physical attackers. Its special bulk is quite unfortunate, but it is fast enough to outspeed many Special attackers and youcan leave the other ones for some other teammates. Leafeon has two sun-related abilities, Leaf Guard normally and Chlorophyll for Hidden Ability. Chlorophyll is usually not necessary since Leafeon is quite fast, and Leaf Guard will suffice if you understandably do not want to hunt for its Hidden Ability.

As its name suggests, Leafeon is pretty good at using its leaves to attack. Leafeon immediately learns Razor Leaf at evolution, followed by Magical Leaf at Level 25, and these two moves would be enough for the early to mid game. After that, skipping Giga Drain at Level 40, you would finally learn Leaf Blade at … Level 50. Granted, Leafeon’s level-up movesets used to be much worse than this, but the large gap still needs to be filled by TM moves like Bullet Seed or Seed Bomb. Leafeon also unfortunately does not learn more stronger Grass-type moves, despite being the poster child of the Grass-type. Leafeon mainly learns Normal-type moves other than that, and it learns a ton of those thanks to its pre-evolution. Regardless of when you evolve Leafeon, it can remember how to use Double-Edge right after. Since you can get one at around Level 20, Leafeon’s most notable achievement is being one of the earliest users of this base 120 move, on top of having Tera-Normal for a further boost. Speaking of boosts, Leafeon’s most notable tool is its access to Swords Dance at Level 45, which should be earlier than when you pick up its TM. Leafeon makes for a strong setup sweeper, but it needs some better coverage to do so. Leafeon shares a common problem with its siblings in that they do not learn too many moves outside of their types. Its primary coverage move is Dig, which works fine in single-player but may be a little too slow in terms of real-life time for impatient players. X-Scissor is your next best option, although it offers poor synergy with other Grass-type moves. Last Resort is stronger than Leaf Blade with STAB, but it may be difficult to utilized at times. Quick Attack is quite weak, and priority moves aren’t necessities. Body Slam offers a good paralysis chance that Leafeon can make use of, while Bite’s flinch chance can also come in handy, but these two are probably not on top of your priority list. Leafeon’s inadequate selection of coverage moves means it is hard stopped by most Bug-type and Flying-type Pokemon, especially the ones that have Intimidate, a trait you don’t want your sweeper to have. Leafeon is thus forced to mix things up with its support options. Charm and Baby-Doll Eyes work great to nerf your opponents’ Attack, amplifying Leafeon’s great physical bulk. Leech Seed at Level 20 and Yawn from breeding are both good options to slow your opponents down, weakening strong foes for your teammates to deal with. Leafeon unfortunately doesn’t have too many options to patch up its poor Special Defense, with Calm Mind being the only way and that isn’t really something you want Leafeon to run. Finally, as Leafeon wants sun to function, manual Sunny Day and Synthesis can be some decent options since Leafeon doens’t have much else to use anyways. Leafeon isn’t as flashy as some other Grass-type options, but just like other Eeveelutions, Leafeon is good enough for its own type and works explendily if you have a strong need for Grass-type Pokemon.

With how Leafeon provides nothing other than its Grass-typing, it is not meant to have a great time in Kitakami. Kieran’s Flying-type Pokemon are always annoying, when Gligar/Gliscor take hits well and Yanmega preys on Leafeon’s poor Special Defense. The Loyal Three will make sure Leafeon won’t have time to set up Swords Dance, and Dig might give them free setup turns too. You can always good back to Double-Edge for hitting neutral targets, but that probably isn’t why you would be using a Leafeon. Leafeon is at least acceptable in the four-part battle thanks to its high Defense and a good matchup in the final three sections. While sun teams aren’t doing the hottest yet, Leafeon is at least great on them. Leafeon receives Solar Blade, giving it a strong STAB in general that works particularly well under sunlight. Weather Ball might be a good coverage in sun, but Leafeon can’t really make good use of it. Other than that, the most important upgrade it receives would be Knock Off, which is stronger than Bite and will be useful later. Leafeon still manages to do what it excels at with its promising stats, it is just unfortunate that its strengths aren’t really needed in the harsh environment of Kitakami.

Leafeon stays true to its Grass-typing and, by extension, the bad matchups brought by the type. Gaining basically no new moves in the Indigo Disk expansion, Leafeon still struggles against Flying-type as well as the majority of the BB Leauge. It wouldn’t be a big problem if Leafeon packs high power, but Leafeon’s selection of weak moves other than Solar Blade becomes more notable when the average Pokemon around it keep getting bulkier. Leafeon is still good in sun teams, which are at least easier to use in the doubles format. Ability Patches are more readily accessible, which give Leafeon a great time to switch to Chlorophyll and it would not need to worry about the high speed level in the BBA. Leafeon is also still great at taking physical hits, but the common widespread special attacks would prove to be big problems. Leafeon, in general, doesn’t like Double Battles all that much, though it can still work well with great standard support like Drought and redirection. Leafeon finally has a fine use in the expedition trip thanks to its good speed tier. Its resistances to Earth Power and Water Pulse work well as it also doesn’t mind Zen Headbutt much. It, of course, crumbles to Tera Starstorm, but it can usually unleash a big hit or two before going down if sent out in the right timing. Leafeon would then go on and have an unremarkable trip back to Kitakami outside of a family reunion with Penny’s Pokemon. If you really want to use Leafeon or if there are no other Grass-type you want to use, it would be at least usable throughout your journey. Otherwise, Leafeon isn’t really a great candidate for a team member when competing with other great Grass-type Pokemon out there.

Pure Grass types have it rough in Monotype runs, when the type needs multiple good type combinations for defensive uses. Leafeon’s access to X-Scissor and Dig are basically meaningless when you desperately need answers to Flying-type Pokemon. Leafeon brings nothing to the table in terms of coverage, when even Sunflora has a better Ground-type move to use. You are mostly likely using Meowscarada, and that makes sure Leafeon would not find a place on the team as a fast attacker. Leafeon is mostly notable for being an early option with strong stats, and it falls off once everything else around it reaches their final evolution. Leafeon's access to Swords Dance is neat that would have been even better if the move is available earlier on. Leafeon’s good Attack and Defense aren’t of much use, as there are plenty of bulky Grass-type Pokemon that can do the same. Leafeon is really only needed for dedicated sun teams, but even on those teams, Leafeon needs to compete with other Leaf Guard or Chlorophyll Pokemon. It is just simply unfortunate that with the way Eeveelutions work, they are more suitable to work with Pokemon of other types instead of a full team of their own types. Leafeon, as a result, does not do well in a mono-Grass run, and should only be considered if there are no other better fits for the team.

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Flapple

Applin is an extremely common Pokemon scattered around the Paldea region, though its tiny body might be easy to miss when hiding in leaves. Applin can be found in a wide range of levels, and it is most suitable to join the team at the high twenties, since the evolutionary items required are available once you beat 3 Gyms. Applin’s low stats and narrow movepool means it wouldn’t provide much use in battles, and you should evolve it right away. Flapple and Appletun would thus be good additions to the team as early as Level 26, and not after you hit the forties.

Flapple can be evolved from Applin through the use of Tart Apple, and it is not even version exclusive this time around. Flapple’s most notable strength is its base 110 Attack, on par with fellow Grass-type Meowscarada and Leafeon, followed by a good base 95 Special Attack. Flapple is a mixed attacker skewed towards the physical stats and makes good use of its offenses with its Grass/Dragon typing. Dragon-type moves are useful for dealing neutral damage, while the Grass-type finds a few super effective targets. This unique typing brings some issues though, as Flapple fears Grusha’s Ice-type attacks and cannot do much against Ortega’s bulky Fairies or Poppy’s Steel-type. Flapple’s base 70 Speed is enough for your average Pokemon, but opposing dragons can prey on Flapple’s weakness before it can even move. This causes problems for the tough Hassel fight as well as the secret big boss battle. Outside of that, Flapple doesn’t have too many unfavourable matchups though it should be careful about Ice-type coverage on Fighting or Water-types, as its 70/80/60 bulk is not that great. Berries allow it to stay longer in battle as it has two great abilities to work with them. Ripen doubles the effects of berries, turning Sitrus Berries into 50% heal, which can be triggered easily with Flapple’s bulk. Figy Berries and the like recover for 66% HP, though they are a little riskier, only activating at ¼ HP or below. Flapple’s other standard ability, Gluttony, is mostly inferior to Ripen, as Gluttony Figy heals less than Ripen Sitrus. Gluttony pairs better with stat-boosting berries, which are rare and obtained at a much later time, and Ripen also makes great use of those as well. Flapple isn’t well known for those two Abilities, as it reaches a new power level with its Hidden Ability, Hustle. Hustle is really strong, but Flapple doesn’t need Hustle to be good and the lowered accuracy can be frustrating to use. Going out of your way to get Hustle is not necessary for single-player uses, but it can be quite funny to see tough foes wrecked by a tiny apple if you manage to get Flapple with its Hidden Ability.

Flapple’s battle strategy revolves around Dragon Dance, which is learned at Level 24, much earlier than other dragons that would need to wait for its TM. Flapple shines bright at mid-game levels, finding many opportunities to set up Dragon Dances, amplifying its great Attack and workable Speed. Even in later parts of the game, where power level gets stronger, Flapple can still make the most out of its 70/80 physical bulk and its several resistances to set up against physical attackers. Flapple can’t start sweeping without neat attacking options. Unless you have an absurdly low levelled Flapple, it should be able to remember Acrobatics right after it evolves, giving it a base 110 power Flying-type move at as low as Level 8. Flapple can run Acrobatics freely without held items or set up Dragon Dances until it got low enough to eat berries to get the full effect of the move. Flapple will take a little while to get some good STAB moves though. It won’t learn its signature move, Grav Apple, until Level 32, but it is an amazing move once you reach that level. Even the sturdiest Pokemon, like the several Starmobiles you need to fight, would not like having their Defense dropped by a base 80 power move. Before that, Flapple might need to consider using TMs for Trailblaze or Bullet Seed. Trailblaze isn’t necessary when you already have Dragon Dance, and Bullet Seed is unreliable as Flapple does not want to hold Loaded Dice. Flapple learns a bit more Dragon-type moves, but those have their issues as well. For a long time, its only Dragon-type moves would be Dragon Breath from Level 20 and Dragon Pulse from Level 28, both are strong options at their levels that unfortunately do not match well with Dragon Dance. Wait until Level 44, and Flapple learns Dragon Rush, a strong physical Dragon-type move with a shaky accuracy. Flapple’s underwhelming selection of Dragon-type moves means it mostly use Acrobatics and Grav Apple. Tera-Grass has a better use powering up Grav Apple to punch bigger holes on strong opponents, while Tera-Dragon is mostly a defensive option removing some of the Grass weaknesses. Flapple has some other moves in its movepool too, Recycle offers a second use for its berry though Flapple is usually fine just eating once, while Fly at Level 40 offers an alternate Flying-type option that can work with held items. Leech Seed and Acid Spray in the lower levels are some decent ways to nerf your opponents, if you do not have other better moves to use. As a setup sweeper, Flapple has a notable lack of ways to deal with Steel-type Pokemon. Sucker Punch from Mirror Herb is the only move Flapple has that is not resisted by Steel, and unfortunately that move isn’t very strong as a coverage. Flapple can also work around Steel-type’s high Defense by putting special moves on. During the late game, TMs of Leaf Storm and Draco Meteor are great options to break through specially frail foes with Flapple’s Special Attack, and Flapple can go back to using physical moves afterwards. These two moves open up a hit-and-run strategy for Flapple if you do not want to go with Dragon Dance, as its access of U-turn allows for smooth pivoting. Outrage is always a powerful option for a one-time nuke, and it unfortunately does not match too well with setup sets. Other TM options include Pounce and Air Slash, while Heavy Slam is mostly useless with its feather weight. Flapple is alright as a Grass-type Pokemon, while it is a little too slow to be an effective Dragon. It certainly has more than enough to be a good setup sweeper and the synergy between its Abilities and moves is just too sweet to give up on. Sometimes, Flapple wishes it has the movepool of Appletun, with access to Ground-type coverage and even having Body Press would be nice, but Game Freak can be really cruel sometimes.
(EDIT: Substitute is a great move to work with Dragon Dance, since it is a reliable way to cut Flapple’s HP into berry-eating range and protects Flapple from paralysis or burn.)

Kitakami’s powercreep and speedcreep are not nice to Flapple. Flapple’s below average bulk greatly limits the opportunities it can find to set up, but once it manages to do so, it would still be able to break through its opponents since Dragon Dance is just that good. The Loyal Three’s hostilities towards Grass-type do not help, as Fezandipiti resists Flapple’s STABs and the other two are just too powerful to handle. Flapple gained nothing notable other than Dual Wingbeat, another Flying-type option to work with items if you do not want to Fly. Its Dragon-typing at least makes the final battle a little better, with Tera-Dragon having a wonderful matchup against the fearsome Firepon, which allows Flapple to set up or wear down the masked ogre with Grav Apple. Flapple also has a fine time against the Ogre Clan members, as it would be able to find some setup opportunities in each fight. Flapple in general starts to struggle more in the first wave of the DLC, mostly thanks to the higher power levels, but things could’ve been worse. At least Flapple didn’t get its role stolen by another Grass/Dragon type.

Flapple’s low bulk and mediocre Speed continue to fall apart when it arrives the Blueberry Academy. Dragon Dance is a risky strategy in Double Battles, especially when opponents use held items and often have coverage to prey on Flapple’s six weaknesses. Flapple also gained no useful tools, sticking to its usual moves, meaning that it has nothing to offer against Amarys and Lacey. Drayton and Kieran both have strong and fast Dragon-types, while Cripsin’s special-hitting Fire-type Pokemon are just way too powerful. Flapple also has it rough when ¼ of the Academy is covered with snow. Things are not all bad though, as Tailwind and Fake Out are all great options to help things out. The BBA rewards creative strategies, and Flapple might very well be the sole reason Gravity teams are workable. Flapple has always paired well with Gravity, since it would love to patch up the lower accuracy of Dragon Rush and Grav Apple turns into a base 120 power move under strong gravity as well. As Flapple does not learn the move itself, it couldn’t take full advantage of Gravity all that well in single battles. With Gravity seeing a wider distribution as a TM in Kitakami, Flapple finds it much easier to pair up with a Gravity ally to unleash its full power. The Clefairy family with Follow Me (and Friend Guard for Clefairy), Farigiraf and Indeedee with anti-priority tools, Stonjourner and Garganacl with Wide Guard are just some examples of fantastic partners. You want Flapple to be the ultimate powerhouse under Gravity, and switching to Hustle is a great idea. Factoring in the accuracy boost from Gravity, any moves with natural 75 accuracy or above would be multiplied to 100 or more even when Hustle is in effect, and it just so happens that Dragon Rush is at 75 accuracy normally. Flapple unfortunately cannot run Fly and you may not want to run itemless just for Acrobatics, but they are plenty of other Pokemon that suit Gravity well and you can always leave those for your teammates. Flapple then has a minor role in the Area Zero trip due to its low Speed and Gravity is difficult to pull off during the Epilogue. Flapple’s multiple flaws start to hinder it more during the Indigo Disk, but at least it manages to be the superstar of Gravity teams. There are always plenty of strong dragon competitions, but Flapple somehow gets to stay unique and there is no reason to feel sour about the newly introduced dragons hogging the spotlight.
Having a unique type combination, the Applin family is meant to be important for a mono-Grass team. The apple dragons take neutral damage from opposing Fire, the nemesis of Grass-type. That isn’t why you want Flapple though, since Appletun is a better choice in that regard. Flapple is notable for its early access of Acrobatics. Since mono-Grass lacks good resistances to Fighting, Flapple is a great answer to early strong Fighting-type Pokemon thanks to its workable Speed. It is also technically the best answer to opposing Dragon-types, but most strong dragons are capable of knocking Flapple out before it can flap its wings. Its neutrality to Fire is still great, and it works fine taking Fire-type hits when needed. It would appreciate having a bit more Dragon-type moves to deal neutral damage to Grass resists, as the plenty of Grass-type moves it gets are not in high demand in a team full of Grass. Flapple falls apart when there are more options opened up, such as when the DLC waves bring in Ludicolo, Ogerpon and Whimsicott, not to mention the new and fancy Hydrapple. The lack of great Gravity users means Flapple cannot take advantage of that easily. Flapple can still work great if there are no better teammates around, but it is generally not needed after you leave Paldea and Flapple would much rather play with Pokemon of other types.

Appletun

Evolving from Applin with the Sweet Apple, Appletun is the sweet and gentle counterpart to the attack-oriented Flapple. Appletun is a slow special attacker supported by a 110/80/80 bulk. Appletun has more than enough to take powerful neutral, and even super effective hits. Defensive Pokemon won’t go far just sitting around taking hits, but Appletun has a promising base 100 Special Attack to lash back at its foe. The Grass/Dragon typing does not work too well for Appletun’s bulky build, as it needs to be careful around its six weaknesses, especially the quadruple weakness to Ice. Tera-Grass or Tera-Dragon would both serve fine as defensive Tera when in need, depending what weaknesses you are worried about. Its base 30 Speed means it would go slower than most things around it, though it is perfectly fine doing so. Appletun also gets great abilities to work well defensviely, sharing Ripen and Gluttony with Flapple. Appletun makes even better use of Ripen, as it can take even more strong hits when it gets to recover more than half HP from a berry. Figy Berry variants are similarly effective once you pick them up from mid-to-late game, and Appletun has enough bulk to stay at the right health range to trigger these berries. Stat-enhancing berries can also be triggered easily, but the boosts might take too long to take effect with Appletun’s good bulk. It is a shame Leftovers do not actually get doubled by Ripen, as Appletun pairs well with this item if not holding berries. Gluttony works fine, but it is yet again outclassed by Ripen. Appletun’s most unique trait perhaps comes from its Hidden Ability, Thick Fat, which lets it resist Fire and shrinks its weakness to Ice to a regular one. Thick Fat is a great Ability to use in game as AI trainers are often fooled by it, and it works extra splendidly with the use of Tera. It should however be noted that Appletun still has six weaknesses even with Thick Fat, and it still often stacks weaknesses with its teammates. Going out of your way to obtain Appletun with Thick Fat might not be worth it yet, and Appletun is expected to struggle a lot in the snowy region. Other than that, Appletun makes good use of its great bulk and stand strong even against strong targets.

After Appletun evolves, it should be able to remember Leech Seed and Protect, provided it is higher than Level 16. In fact, Appletun seems to be created for stalling opponents. Recover at Level 24 allows for more direct healing, while Recycle gives Appletun more berries to eat. Appletun also makes use of dual screens from TMs to get even better longevity while Leech Seed continues to snap passive damage on foes. Appletun plays pretty passively with it relying on healing options so much, but it can also turn things around with its good Special Attack. Appletun learns its signature move, Apple Acid, at Level 28, which is oddly asymmetric with Flapple’s learnset. Apple Acid is a base 80 power move that lowers the foe’s Special Defense. Appletun’s main purpose is to last longer than its opponents, and Apple Acid ensure its foes would go down before it does. Another Grass-type move that suits Appletun is Giga Drain, which puts its offense to support its bulk. Running two Grass-type moves may feel redundant, but Apple Acid’s secondary effect works great with Giga Drain’s draining effect. Though it should be noted that the draining moves are not as effective with Appletun’s gigantic HP stats. Some other Grass-type moves to consider include Energy Ball at Level 44 and Leaf Storm for even later. These are both strong moves, but Apple Acid would usually suffice in the long run. Appletun has fewer options in the Dragon-type spectrum, with Dragon Tail being the only available one early game, until Level 40 for Dragon Pulse. Draco Meteor TM can be found later on, but Appletun doesn’t really like the harsh drawback. Appletun doesn’t get Dragon Dance, but it still gets some interesting setup moves: Growth, Curse and Iron Defense. Iron Defense pairs well with the Body Press TM, though Appletun isn’t the best user of this strategy with a base 80 Defense. Growth and Curse suggest Appletun to adopt a mixed attacking strategy, as the apple dragon learns a few good physical coverages like Earthquake and Iron Head. Earthquake is particularly helpful since Grass-Dragon-Ground is not resisted by that many Pokemon, and Appletun’s base 85 Attack is workable with such a strong move. However, most of the Steel-type Pokemon that you want Earthquake to deal with have high Defense to take the hit, and you are probably better off wearing them down with Apple Acid. Appletun completely lacks special coverage, and it mostly needs to make things work with both its offense and defense. It can be quite passive at time, and it may not be suitable for impatient trainers, however its reliable Pokemon means it can handle all sorts of situations. Sometimes, Appletun wishes it has the movepool of Flapple, as it would not mind having Acid Spray or Air Slash, but Game Freak can be really cruel sometimes.
The stronger power level in Kitakami makes even Appletun sweat a little bit. Everything around gets something strong against the apple dragon, and it is difficult taking hits that way. Appletun also dislikes getting poisoned, which gives it rough time in the Loyal Three battles. At least Appletun answers Ogerpon pretty well, taking hits with its great defense and having multiple tools to wear it down. Game Freak seems to be pushing physical sets on Appletun, as it gained Gyro Ball, High Horsepower and Grassy Glide. Gyro Ball at least makes for an interesting option with Curse, but Appletun basically gained nothing, other than an unwanted sibling. Dipplin is a newcomer who functions similarly to Appletun, but as for right now, the competition doesn’t quite stop Appletun from being good.

Appletun’s stalling tactics are not easy to pull off in Double Battles and battles in the Blueberry Academy are too fast for it to keep up with. Appletun shifts to a more supportive role, opening up holes for its teammates to follow through. Apple Acid is always a good move to lower Special Defense, allowing special attacking teamamtes to pick things up. Providing screen support is neat too, as Appletun’s great bulk secures the screens to be put up. Bulldoze can also be a neat option for speed control, though that one requires some coordinations with its allies. Helping Hand is usually not necessary, but it can be useful for unleashing big hits. Thanks to Thick Fat resisting Heat Wave and weakening Blizzard, Appletun has pretty good resistances to the common spread moves, which allows it to still stay in battles for long. Appletun at least has a decent matchup against Crispin and a workable one with Amarys, underspeeding her Trick Room team. The other matchups are rougher though, with Drayton’s full team of dragons, Lacey’s cute fairies and Kieran’s ace Pokemon, Hydr … Hydrapple? Hydrapple is very much the reason why you won’t be using Appletun, as it undermines Appletun in all sorts of way. Hydrapple has all the neat tools Appletun wishes to have, and Appletun didn’t even gain Dragon Cheer. If you wish to use Appletun, it still works well with its longevity, but it is still quite passive and can constantly slow things down. Maybe if Appletun grows a few more heads, things would have been better, but who knows.
Appletun has a major role in a Grass monotype run thanks to its unique type combination and ability. In Monotype runs, neutralizing your weaknesses is already invaluable, and Appletun somehow manages to resist Fire with the aid of Thick Fat. Using Appletun against Fire-type Pokemon almost feels like cheating, since it completely flips the type chart to your advantage. Even without Thick Fat, Appletun is still one of the best defensive answers to Fire-type thanks to its great bulk. Its low Speed unfortunately creates more problems against opposing dragons rather than helping them. Appletun isn’t flawless though, as it still cannot do too much against Fire-type Pokemon, and it offers no other defensive utilities against other types. It also unfortunately does not learn too many non-Grass-type moves, which make its offenses feel useless when everything else has some Grass-type damage. Appletun’s support moves of Leech Seed and screens are similarly not in high demand for a Grass team. Appletun’s niche also gets lost when more Pokemon with great type combination are introduced throughout the DLC waves, and of course, Hydrapple would eventually come along and take away pretty much everything. Appletun still makes for a great team member, with its great bulk and useful Fire resistance, but it isn’t the end of the world without it. Still, Appletun enjoys the success it has with a mono-Grass team.

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Toedscruel

Tentacool dominates the marine environment of many other regions, often irritating trainers for how common they are. Toedscool, on the other hand, is a rare spawn and can be pretty difficult to hunt down despite appearing in many different areas. Toedscool can be found strolling around Level 20, but you might not want to recruit the Woodear Pokemon immediately. Toedscool severely lacks good moves early on, and it won’t be able to do much damage with its base 40 Attack and base 50 Special Attack. Toedscool’s main purpose is to provide support for the team and not to be your main attacker, which means that it often needs to faint itself for the team in big fights. Toedscool doesn’t do much on its own and takes hard efforts to level up to Level 30. Things don’t really go better after it evolves though, and Toedscruel has a long way to go before it gets better. Alternatively, the Socarrat Trail is home to Toedscool and Toedscruel at around Level 50, and they are much easier to find. At that point, the mushrooms will already have all the moves they need, but they also won’t have as many EVs as they’d like. Toedscool and Toedscruel are some oddballs, and we have barely just scratched the surface.

Being ecologically similar to Tentacruel, Toedscruel has the exact same stat distribution of being a fast special wall. Toedscruel’s amazing 80/120 special bulk means it can take multiple strong special hits, even super effective ones. Its base 65 Defense is a letdown, but its physical bulk is not the worst, just a bit unreliable. Toedscruel makes good use of its bulk with the wide array of support options it gets, which are effective using its base 100 Speed. Toedscruel isn’t blazingly fast, but it is enough to outspeed the majority of Paldea. However, Toedscruel is pretty weak to priority thanks to its low Defense, especially Ice Shard. Toedscruel’s typing is its biggest draw, though it isn’t exactly ideal for a wall, with Grass/Ground bringing in four weaknesses. Toedscruel is basically a Grass-type that loses its Poison weakness and is quadruply weak to Ice. Toedscruel mostly wants to avoid Ice-type and Flying-type, though some strong physical-hitting Bugs and Grasses can be annoying as well. Of course, that would mean Toedscruel mainly struggles against Grusha, Larry and the secret big bosses. Toedscruel in theory can take on most dangerous foes around the region, but it needs some good tools to make good defensive use and that is where things go downhill. Toedscruel can only come with the Mycelium Might ability, which forces status moves to go slower in exchange of an ability-ignoring effect. The negative priority is of course unfortunate, as it puts Toedscruel’s great Speed to a huge waste, but that isn’t the biggest issue. Mycelium Might is effectively Mold Breaker that doesn’t work with most of the moves. Its biggest uses include casting status-inducing moves on Pokemon with abilities blocking them, like paralyzing Limber Persian or putting Insomnia Murkrow to sleep; lowering stats on Pokemon with Clear Body, like Dragapult; taunting Oblivious Slowbro and that’s it. Without Magic Bounce users around, Mycelium Might approximately affects twenty Pokemon out of the hundreds of Pokemon you’ll see. To say Mycelium Might is situational greatly exaggerates its usefulness and Toedscruel basically has a pure negative ability on all-time. Toedscruel is thus a poor user of status moves, and it pretty much has to run offenses with its unsatisfying base 70 Attack and base 80 Special Attack. At least Grass/Ground has a pretty good offensive profile, with so many Pokemon being weak to either of the types. Toedscruel unfortunately does not make great use of Tera, even though it would love the power boost. Tera-Grass brings in too many weaknesses, while Tera-Ground causes issues with Water and Grass. Toedscruel is mostly a disappointment, especially since it faces stiff competition with fellow Ground-types Clodsire and Ting-Lu as special walls.

Toedscruel’s unfortunate limit on status moves means it best fits attacking moves with secondary effects as utilities. Either through TM or at Level 24, Toedscool/Toedscruel’s best option early on is Mud Shot, which allows it to slow down foes for slower teammates to take on. Another move that fits Toedscreul perfectly is Acid Spray, allowing it to basically double damage of future special moves. Mud Shot and Acid Spray form a nasty strategy to wear down strong opponents without negative priorities and find a particularly good use against the Starmobiles since they are basically immune to other status moves. Outside of Mud-Slap for accuracy cheese, Toedscruel’s only other Ground-type damaging move is Earth Power, but it needs to wait thirty more levels for that. Earth Power will be significantly stronger than Mud Shot, though the added effect is not as reliable. In terms of Grass-type moves, Toedscruel mostly learns the draining moves, with Mega Drain at 16 and Giga Drain at freaking 48. Giga Drain will not hit very strong, but it is a good way to make sure Toedscruel stay alive. Other Grass-type moves mostly lack good secondary effects. Leaf Storm is the strongest move in the movepool, which still hits hard despite the low Special Attack and Toedscruel can still help out the team even after a Special Attack drop. Bullet Seed, Seed Bomb and Power Whip are some moves to consider; the former two are mostly mid-game options and Power Whip is still a strong hit coming from a low Attack stat. Toedscruel is not here to deal physical damage though, and these moves should not be of high priorities. In terms of coverage, Flash Cannon is available early on before you even fight Klawf. It won’t be too helpful once more options open up, as Flash Cannon only hits the specially-bulky fairies and you don’t want to fight Ice-type anyways. Foul Play may also work well, as it punishes opposing physical attackers, but that move is generally not too reliable. Toedscruel’s other coverage options are pretty late-game, with Dazzling Gleam and Sludge Bomb being possibly useful depending on the team. Knock Off from Egg Moves is a great utility that doesn’t find too much use in the land of Paldea. Mirror Coat can be a good trap for special attacking foes to fall into as well, if you like going that way. If you do not mind the negative priorities, Toedscruel also has a great selection of status moves. Powder moves like Poison Powder and Stun Spore are available early on and can take advantage of Mycelium Might. Spore takes a few more levels at Level 40, but it is of course a fantastic move worth going last for. Toxic is mostly inferior to Poison Powder, as Toedscruel isn’t trying to stall for turns. Toedscruel can also use Hex well in conjunction with these statuses. Leech Seed from Egg moves is not affected too much by negative priority, and it matches Toedscruel’s bulk well. Screens do not match too well with Toedscruel, since they are only negatively affected by Mycelium Might, being unable to weaken attacks on the same turn. Toedscruel is still fine using Light Screen as it stands well against special attacker; Reflect, on the other hand, is riskier but it would be really helpful to patch up Toedscruel’s lower Defense. Boosting yourself isn’t a bad idea, but Growth at Level 44 is too late and Acupressure is too random. Dual spikes are of course neat tools, but you do not want to go slow with those moves, and they are not that great in single-player anyways. Trick Room is a funny option, just because it already has negative priority. Tickle, Screech, Substitute, Taunt, Confuse Ray are all some workable moves greatly hindered by Mycelium Might. Toedscruel unfortunately wastes most of its movepool, and it is forced to go with offenses, something that it isn’t great at. Toedscruel is really weird, and I’m not even talking about its tentacles.
Thanks to its high Speed, Toedscruel survives its trip to Kitakami. Toedscruel gained Lunge as a new move, which fits perfectly as an attack with a guaranteed Attack drop and thus works well with Toedscruel’s low Defense. Knock Off starts to see more utilities, but isn’t the best yet. The Flying-type Pokemon lurking around are not great, as Toedscruel still lacks effective ways to deal with them. Toedscruel doesn’t like being poisoned, but it has a pretty good matchup against the Loyal Three as they are all weak to Ground. Munkidori’s special attacks and Fezandipiti’s weak moves also do not threaten Toedscruel too much. Toedscruel unfortunately does not fight well against Ogerpon, as the fearsome ogre’s physical moves are just too much to handle. Toedscruel still has an overall satisfying run to Kitakami, being able to threaten most foes with its good Speed, achieving much more than your average Grass-type Pokemon.

Moving after one foe is bad enough, and moving after two foes is downright horrible. In the Blueberry Academy, a place full of Double battles, Toedscruel does not want to risk using status moves as its physical bulk starts to look less impressive. At least Toedscruel has Rage Powder, a status move that doesn’t bother with Mycelium Might. Toedscruel’s rare access of redirection gives it a good niche to protect teammates from strong special attacks. The problem is, Toedscruel doesn’t like to attract physical moves, and there are several widespread special hits that cannot be redirected into. Toedscruel at least still finds good use of Rage Powder, as its only other options are the same attacks it has been using. With the bulk level increasing so much in the Indigo Disk, Toedscruel really shouldn’t be expected to do much damage. It resorts to using Lunge and Mud Shot to nerf its foes, while Knock Off picks up uses since so many opponents hold items now. Skitter Smack, newly gained in this wave, works similarly to Lunge dropping Special Attack instead, but the lowered power and accuracy means it isn’t going to be that useful. Toedscruel is overall rather weak powerwise, and it can be helpless against setup foes. Thanks to the Ground-typing, Toedscruel finds good matchups against Amarys and Crispin, though keep in mind that Crispin’s leads are both Ground-immune and Toedscruel won’t like taking Fire-type hits. Toedscruel will still fall apart against other strong foes, and Kieran can still crush through Toedscruel’s flimsy defense. Toedscruel surprisingly finds good uses in the expedition trip, since it can take Tera Starstorm alright. It is also fast enough to use Lunge or Skitter Smack to lower the big boss’ stats, though it needs to be careful about Zen Headbutt. Toedscruel is also fast enough to threaten the big boss, being able to break through the shields effectively after Tera. Toedscruel also likes the revisit to Kitakami, with so many Poison-type Pokemon around, though its supportive strategy isn’t really needed when it isn’t up with its teammates. Toedscruel won’t be the most amazing Pokemon on your team, but at least it has a good typing and good support options that allow it to be useful at times.
Some Pokemon has surprising synergy with Pokemon of its own type and Toedscruel is one of them. The Ground-type has some redundancies with the Grass-type offensively, but it most importantly hits Fire and Poison hard, which is more than enough to secure a team slot. Toedscruel is the only Grass-type Pokemon in Paldea that has STAB options super effective at Fire. While Toedscruel itself is weak to Fire as well, it can at least make good use of its Speed to threaten a kill on the opposing Fire first and not that many Fire-type Pokemon can take an Earth Power well. There are also only two other Grass-type Pokemon that aren’t weak to Poison, and those two Pokemon don’t do well offensively. Toedscruel is thus, without competition, the best offensive answer to Poison as well. As if those good traits aren’t enough, Toedscruel’s super effective STAB on Steel will always be useful as well. While Toedscruel doesn’t offer much use against other Grass resists, those can always be left for other teammates. Toedscruel doesn’t offer much synergy outside of its typing, mainly due to it not having much to do with weather as it can’t even learn Sunny Day. Toedscruel manages to be useful just by virtue of its typing, and it still is useful when more options open up. Torterra cannot dream to be as effective as Toedscruel with its low Speed. Ludicolo and Ogerpon give some good competitions, but these Pokemon do not mind coexisting with Toedscruel. Exeggutor may answer Poison, but isn’t good enough otherwise. Toedscruel for sure has a better run in a mono-Grass team than a regular playthrough of Paldea, adding yet another layer of strangeness to this dear wood jellyfish.

Breloom

Shroomish was first introduced as an early-game Grass-type option, which is why it has some great attributes as an early-game Pokemon that maintain throughout generations of games. Shroomish is a bulky Grass-type Pokemon that learns multiple moves to wear its opponents down, like Leech Seed and the powder moves. With its poor offensive stats and typing, Shroomish wouldn’t be able to do much for direct damage, but it can still handle Grass-weak targets alright. Shroomish finds a comfortable place in the early game, though it isn’t that found that early in the Paldea region. You can find wild Shroomish at around Level 18, which is the perfect timing for a few levels before it evolves. Alternatively, wild Shroomish and wild Breloom can be found later on around Medali, and Breloom will still make a great fit for the team at that level. Shroomish and Breloom overall receive some good treatments in the Scarlet/Violet games and are pretty easy to use.

Breloom’s biggest attraction is its gigantic base 130 Attack, higher than any other Grass-type Pokemon and just a few points behind other powerful Fighting-type Pokemon like Koraidon and Slither Wing. Breloom is the king of Grass-type offense, as there are no special attackers than can rival Breloom’s damage output either. Breloom technically isn’t the only Grass/Fighting-type available, but it is the first accessible one and will be the only one obtainable within the Paldea region itself. Offensively speaking, Grass/Fighting hit super effective damage against seven types, including common ones like Normal or Water, and defensive ones like Rock or Steel, making Breloom’s STAB combination really helpful against many enemies. The inability to hurt Poison, Bug and Flying is a little rough, but Breloom can hit them with coverage or just leave those for teammates. With an early evolution level at 23, Breloom destroys everything it sees at such a low level, and it also happens to be a great addition before the Electric and Water Gyms. Breloom naturally comes with Tera-Grass if evolved from Shroomish, which allows for an even greater Grass damage output. Tera-Fighting is rarer but is arguably better defensively and is more used as a way to remove some of the weaknesses. Breloom can also be caught with Tera-Rock around Medali, which pairs extremely well with Breloom’s original types both offensively and defensively. This Tera-Rock Breloom is probably the best option, if you do not mind waiting a bit for the mushroom kangaroo. Breloom’s investments in its Attack mean it has nothing left for its defenses. Breloom is barely bulkier than its pre-evolution, with a disappointing 60/80/60 bulk. Breloom still has enough physical bulk to take a hit in a pinch, but it certainly struggles to face any forms of special attackers. The great offensive typing also brings in a quadruple weakness to Flying and five more standard weaknesses. In battles, Breloom often needs to hope to kill its enemies before it gets knocked out itself. With an average base 70 Speed, Breloom is not the slowest option around, but it can be ineffective against some faster and stronger targets. Breloom mostly struggles against Tulip and many Starmobiles, particularly Ortega’s. The Elite Four is a mixed bag, with Breloom doing great for the first two and bad for the latter two. At least Breloom can match up well against the Top Champion’s team, but many other tough fights later on will prove to troublesome as there are more fast Pokemon around. Breloom’s poor defensive use also means its two great standard abilities are wasted, as they are most useful on something bulkier. Poison Heal is rather situational, as the Toxic Orb is post-game only; Effect Spore is luck-based, but it can put on a nasty status effect on the opponent before Breloom falls. Breloom’s best ability is, of course, Technician, but it is locked behind as a Hidden Ability and might not be available early on.

We’ll first look at Breloom without Technician, as it is likely the way you obtain it. Breloom’s moveset does not utilize its strengths all that well. The only two Grass-type physical moves it gets are Seed Bomb at Level 44 and Bullet Seed from TM. These two moves are not the strongest moves around, even when equipping Loaded Dice, Bullet Seed would sometimes be weaker than other Grass-types like Tsareena using Power Whip. Brelooms learns a bit more Fighting-type moves, but they all have some issues as well. Brick Break and Drain Punch feel weak, and Breloom does not take great advantage of their secondary effects. Mach Punch patches up Breloom’s underwhelming Speed, but it is way too weak to even threaten frail targets. Close Combat is of course the strongest option, though Breloom really does not need to have its defenses drop. Dynamic Punch and Focus Punch are unreliable, and Breloom does not have the bulk to play with these moves. Breloom’s coverage options also have some issues. Gunk Shot is the strongest one, but Poison-type coverage might be difficult to fit. Rock Slide offers great type synergy, but it is not strong enough. Zen Headbutt and Thunder Punch are overall not too useful either. Breloom really feels limited by the moves it gets, as it mostly learns moves with lower power, i.e. moves that fit with Technician. With Technician, Breloom is suddenly open to many more options. Bullet Seed now has above 100 power when firing at least 3 hits and is guaranteed at least 150 power with Loaded Dice. Force Palm is now a reliable Fighting STAB with base 90 power and a chance to paralyze if the foe is not knocked out, an alternate option if you do not like the negative effects of the other moves. Mach Punch is still rather weak at base 60 power and might not be as useful as you think. Rock Tomb is now a base 90 power move that also lowers Speed, which is way more than enough to work as a coverage. Grass/Fighting/Rock hits everything in Paldea for at least neutral damage, except Croagunk and Toxicroak, and putting on a fourth attacking type might not even be necessary. Of course, the problem with Rock Tomb, is how it is mostly used to fight things that are strong against Breloom, which means Breloom needs to hope to outspeed its target first. Alternatively, Aerial Ace also offers nice combination, as Grass/Fighting/Flying isn’t resisted by much either. Breloom finds it more comfortable to use Aerial Ace, since it is super effective against things that Breloom won’t mind facing, like Grass and Bug. Bulldoze is also base 90 power now, but it is mostly just used to deal with pesky Poisons and should not be considered before other options most of the time. Pounce is another option, though Bug-type coverage isn’t too needed. Keep in mind that strong moves like Close Combat and Gunk Shot are always up for consideration as they are stronger than Technician-boosted moves. Breloom often needs only three attacks, which frees it for a setup move at the end. Swords Dance is the more destructive option that makes better use of Mach Punch, while Bulk Up makes use of Breloom’s workable physical bulk and works for a bulkier play. Setup moves aren’t necessary for Breloom’s massive Attack, and status moves might be considered instead. Spore is without a doubt the most notable one, and Breloom can now remember this move at any levels, while Toxic, Poison Powder or even Leech Seed can be helpful with their residual damage as well. However, within the context of single-player, where trainers do not switch around, status moves do not help Breloom all that much. Faster foes are still going to strike Breloom before it can Spore, while slower foes are not big problems regardless. However, the access of Spore and a Technician-boosted False Swipe does make Breloom a wonderful Pokemon for catching Pokemon. Breloom has a wide array of tools, as if they are tailormade by Game Freak, which makes Breloom really easy to use. Its poor Speed, however, is quite problematic due to its poor defenses, and occasionally, even a base 130 Attack might not be as good as it seems.
Breloom does not like battling against Flying-type and Poison-type Pokemon, which happen to be most of the things you need to fight in the Teal Mask expansion. The Loyal Three are major roadblocks for Breloom, since they have dual resistances to Breloom’s STAB and have more than enough bulk to take its coverage options. Bulldoze can hit for super effective damage, but the low power would not be satisfying, not to mention that Breloom would not last for two seconds against the Loyal Three’s attacks. Poison Heal in theory is a great counter to Toxic Chain, but Breloom won’t even get poisoned when it faints in one hit anyways. Kieran’s Flying-type Pokemon are also big problems, as they all outspeed Breloom and can aim for the quadruple weakness. Not even Tera-Rock can save Breloom from Yanmega’s brutal Air Slash because of Tinted Lens. At least Kieran’s other Pokemon are good preys for little Breloom. Even Carmine can be an issue later on, with Ninetales roasting Breloom before it can move. Leavanny and Sinistcha don’t give a sh*t about Breloom’s STABs and the later has more than enough bulk to take coverage as well. The Ogerpon battles of course are rough as well, since Ogerpon outspeeds Breloom easily and is bulky enough to take hits. The overall higher power level and the faster environment restricts Breloom in all sorts of way. The sad thing is Breloom didn’t even gain any new moves in return, making it an overall unpleasant trip.

Breloom’s Speed is starting to look less and less amazing. With almost every Pokemon in the Blueberry Academy running Speed EVs, Breloom often needs to go after both of its foes, and it very well may faint before it can use a move. Technician Mach Punch can theoretically solve that problem, but that move is still not going to be that effective when everything around has decent bulk as well. Breloom has basically no useful tools for Double battles, outside of a pretty strong Rock Slide. Lacey and Crispin both have a full team of things Breloom doesn’t want to see, while Drayton can crush Breloom through sheer power. Even Amarys has a few anti-Fighting options that can make Breloom’s day worse, though having Mach Punch for that fight would definitely be neat. Breloom just in general cannot take too many hits, when there are two opponents on the field taking advantage of its plenty of weaknesses. It still has a powerful Attack, and it can still unleash strong hits when provided support like redirections and Tailwind. You would likely want something that can be more of a balance, rather than something so specialllized in offense only. Whether it is worth the trouble is up to you decide, but Breloom is clearly single-inclined. That being said, the single-battles in the Area Zero trip might not be too pleasant, as the big boss Pokemon is too fast and strong for Breloom to handle. After that, the Epilogue is pretty rough as well, when there are so many Poison-type Pokemon around. Breloom feels forgotten in the Indigo Disk, as it yet again has no new moves and gains only more unfavourable matchups.
Breloom’s fantastic Attack and good secondary typing for offense are … completely wasted in a mono-Grass playthrough. In Monotype runs, you want something that can handle tough matchups for that type. Fighting is a usually great type for attacking, but it offers nothing aiding the Grass-type. Flying-types are great problems for mono-Grass. While Breloom has one of the strongest Rock options available in Technician Rock Tomb, it cannot hope to take a Flying-type move first before executing the Rock Tomb. Bug-types also pose great threats, and Breloom does not help in matchups against Scizor or Slither Wing. Breloom is only useful dealing super effective damage to Steel-types, which can be handled by Scovillain or even Toedscruel. Even other Grass/Fighting like Lilligant-H or Chesnaught are more useful to the team with their interesting options. If Breloom has some more Speed, then its wide array of coverage can be more useful, but with what it was given, mono-Grass really isn’t the showtime for Breloom.

 

[DetectiveTogekiss]

Happy Easter Monday, everyone! Let's celebrate this holy day with the holy Pokemon itself, shall we?

Arceus-Grass

Being called “Pokemon God”, Arceus is one of the most scarce and sacred Pokemon of all time. However, we know that Pokemon lores don’t always equal to how good a Pokemon is and Arceus’s holy origin is certainly let down by its poor performance in Scarlet/Violet.

When given a Meadow Plate, Arceus transforms into, without a doubt, its best form Arceus-Grass. The Grass-typing works well with several Pokemon, as we’ve seen powerhouses like Sunflora and even Shroomish rock the typing pretty well. Arceus-Grass, however, suffers a lot from its unimpressive stats. Arceus-Grass’ bulk might look pretty promising at first, but if you want something with a gigantic HP, Gogoat can do the job just fine. For the defensive stats, Arceus-Grass has a lower Defense than Gourgeist-Small, the frail and speedy one. Well, Arceus-Grass has got to be better in Special Defense, right? Wrong! Wo-Chien has a better Special Defense, and we know that even Wo-Chien isn’t that good outside of making live reactions. Arceus-Grass is unamazing, and the typing doesn’t work well with it either. Arceus-Grass is weak to Fire, Flying, Poison, Ice and Bug, which means that it matches poorly against Mela, Larry’s two fights, Atticus, Grush and most importantly, Katy. In fact, Arceus-Grass simply doesn’t stand a chance against Katy’s Tarountula, let alone the fearsome Teddiursa. Arceus-Grass performs equally bad offensively with its less than stellar attacks. It is forced to run mixed attacks because of its equally bad mixed offenses. Physically, it is weaker than some seaweed clinging on an anchor, who offers three STABs in total by the way. On the special side, Arceus-Grass cannot dream for Exeggutor’s power level, who also has a regional form with equally amazing Special Attack. Since Arceus-Grass is restricted by a dull offensive STAB, it is resisted by many Pokemon around the region as well, like the many Corviknight flying around. The poor offensive and defensive profiles wouldn’t be big problems if Acreus-Grass has a decent Speed. Unfortunately, it is not that fast, being hopelessly outsped by Electrode-H. Some Pokemon have bad base stats that can be saved by an amazing Ability, and Arceus-Grass has, basically nothing! Arceus-Grass’ poor attributes in general means it won’t find much use and you’d be forgiven if you never thought of putting it on your team.

In terms of moves, Arceus-Grass still has it rough. Arceus-Grass learns no Grass-type moves levelling up, and only learns Judgment at Level 100, which is too late to be useful. Its main coverage options are Extreme Speed and Earth Power, which do not work too well with the Grass-typing. Earth Power is useless against opposing Bug-type and Flying-type, which makes Arceus-Grass hard walled by Combee. Extreme Speed is a good priority move, but priorities are not that helpful in single-player, as Extreme Speed would not do much to Rock or Steel-type, not to mention Ghost-type. Recover might sound nice, but it is hopelessly outclassed by, wait for it, the Max Potion! Why bother running Recover, when you can pop a healing item at the start of the turn? Arceus-Grass learns some more moves by TMs, but they are still not useful enough. Just like many other Grass-type Pokemon, Arceus-Grass gets access to Bullet Seed. The problem is, Arceus-Grass cannot hold Loaded Dice to make sure Bullet Seed hits for enough times, making it an unreliable option. Arceus-Grass, however, lacks access to other strong Grass-type TM moves. It doesn’t learn the powerful Leaf Storm or Solar Blade, which makes other Grass-type Pokemon like Bellossom or Meganium better options for Grass-type damage output. Arceus-Grass also cannot learn Nasty Plot, which would’ve a great way to boost its Judgment. Setup sweepers like Decidueye and even Cacturne are just better in the long run, with how easy it is for them to build up momentum. With how poor the moves Arceus-Grass gets, it is no wonder why most players do not plan to recruit this Pokemon in their playthrough.

Arceus-Grass faces several issues from its stats to its moves, but we have not even looked at its biggest problem. It cannot be found in the Paldea region! In fact, you cannot catch this Pokemon wild even accounting for the DLC waves. So, you really should not go out of your way to get one of these. Oh, and I almost forgot to put the picture on, so here you go:

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Happy April Fools!