Lots of progress since my last post! After beating up Mela I moved on and took down Titan Orthworm with Crocalor, who took very little from Iron Tail and smacked it back hard with Tera-boosted Incinerates. Arven using Toedscool here rather than Scovillain is... a choice, since Mega Drain does little to the worm, who it has Earth Eater to ignore any Ground moves. But we won! The battle even made me low-key like Orthworm, who I initially wrote off as too goofy looking to take seriously. I just like their happy vibes that they display in-game, what can I say?
Moving on from Orthworm I headed to Tagtree Thicket for Team Star Navi Squad's beatdown, before realising that actually Kofu and the fourth gym should've been my next destination? So off to Cascarrafa I went, my team a bit over-levelled once again but I would've been under-levelled for the Team Star fight so better off this way me thinks! Kofu was not much of a challenge - my newly evolved Mabosstiff made quick work of his Veluza, Grafaiai one-shot his Wugtrio and Kilowattrel finally got to Terastallize and one-shot his Crabominable. Our highest level was 32, so only 2-3 levels higher which I figured would be fine. Apparently not. Luckily that Team Star battle I've mentioned a few times was much more of a challenge!
Atticus was a real pain to fight - Kilowattrel had no real issues against Skuntank but Naclstack was almost one-shot by Revavroom's Iron Head, luckily avoiding the flinch to land a Salt Cure. Crocalor swapped in and KOed with Heat Wave after tanking a Bulldoze, before Muk came out. Naclstack was outsped and KOed easily, so Tinkatuff + Kilowattrel swapped in and out to claim a win with Flash Cannon + Volt Switch. Poison Starmobile managed to be weakened by Kilowattrel, Tinkatuff and a revived Naclstack before Crocalor was able to win with Tera + Blaze-boosted Heat Wave. A tough match! All of Team Star have been difficult battles, much more so than the gym leaders and especially the Titans. Wild.
From there I moved onto the 5th gym and Larry, who is absolutely an icon but still not above Clive/Clavell in my eyes! His team was pretty easy to beat - my newly evolved Skeledirge 2HKOed Komala but fell asleep due to Yawn, Mabosstiff won took down Dudunsparce with Crunch but was paralyzed by Glare in the process, and we went bird v bird when Kilowattrel Terastallized against his (also Terastallized) Staraptor in the battle of the No-Longer-Flying-Type-Birds! Thunderbolt 2HKOed, as did Facade, but Kilowattrel is stupidly fast (and big, seriously is anyone else's Kilowattrel really large?) so we came out on top! I then beat up Nemona and her joke of a team in front of her idol, and made my way to Montenevera ready to take on Ryme. And that's it!
TMs have been wild in this game I must admit - a bit of exploring and battling led to me suddenly getting Thunderbolt, Hyper Voice, Poison Jab, Surf, Earthquake, X Scissor and Brave Bird? Yet every so often I get useless rubbish like Confuse Ray? What? I have been holding out hope for Ice Fang or Play Rough TMs for Mabosstiff, and Air Slash for Kilowattrel, but beyond that I'd say my team's movesets are done already. I could make the TMs (and probably will) but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Will do in due course! Not much new to say about my team - very happy everyone is fully evolved now because they're all super badass and cool. Nobody feels weird, everyone is holding their own, it's all good!
Scarlet Team:
Rockodile the
Skeledirge, Level 41
♂
Lonely Nature | Blaze
Torch Song, Flamethrower, Shadow Ball, Round
Banksy the
Grafaiai, Level 41
♀
Bashful Nature | Pickpocket
Slash, Poison Jab, U-Turn, Low Kick
Colossus the
Garganacl, Level 41
♂
Hardy Nature | Purifying Salts
Salt Cure, Rock Slide, Earthquake, Recover
Fang the
Mabosstiff, Level 41
♂
Mild Nature | Intimidate
Crunch, Snarl, Trailblaze, Fire Fang
Stormbird the
Kilowattrel, Level 41
♀
Quirky Nature | Volt Absorb
Thunderbolt, Brave Bird, Roost, Volt Switch
Menace the
Tinkaton, Level 41
♀
Bashful Nature | Mold Breaker
Gigaton Hammer, Flash Cannon, Play Rough, Brick Break