Screenshot [UCL3] Skating Round the Pokerink

[Yami]

Ayy! Good to see you back on here! Good luck!

Bruh you just plowed through the first full game before I even posted my run lol

 

[Honey Badger]

wow, sushi is such a cold-blooded killer

let's see if you can clamp down on johto too

 

[Stormer]

Congrats on beating Kanto Kazz. Looking forward to seeing you do Johto. Good luck Kazz.

 

[Kazzius]

Spoiler: Replies

How bold of you to assume no one saw the bodies

*gasp* Are you saying there's still some witnesses left? Is Frosty still not safe yet?

Ayy! Good to see you back on here! Good luck!

Bruh you just plowed through the first full game before I even posted my run lol

Hey, Yami! Good to see you here too!

Don't worry, I'm sure you'll manage to overtake me easily enough if like the last two times I stop suddenly. History is very much on your side here.

wow, sushi is such a cold-blooded killer

let's see if you can clamp down on johto too

Sushi takes no prisoners, just drills them all.

I hope Johto goes smoothly.

Congrats on beating Kanto Kazz. Looking forward to seeing you do Johto. Good luck Kazz.

Thanks, Johto might be a little more awkward to get done. Definitely need to pay more attention to sorting out catching this time.

In the last episode, our hero Frosty set out on his Pokemon journey, to be the very best! He then almost immediately committed a crime by accident and was soon blackmailed into working for the criminal organization, Team Rocket. After some misadventures, he managed to cover his tracks, and escape to Johto, where he has been laying low for three years.

What shall our wayward hero encounter this time?

Spoiler: Episode 2 - Snow is just ice Crystals. pt.1

So, we've moved onto generation 2. We've had some new ice Pokemon get discovered, and all the ice Pokemon from Kanto make a reappearance here too.

Our newcomers are Smoochum, Delibird, Sneasel, Swinub, and Piloswine. Weavile, and Mamoswine haven't been invented yet, so we'll come to them later. This gives us one of four Pokemon lines to have as the starter.

Name's still Frosty.

As you can see, in the last three years we've managed to invent having a coloured environment, so we don't need to put filters on everything anymore. Very nice.

Also, rudimentary smartphones now exist. They are very basic.

What a time to be alive.

Oh look, a suspicious skulker being nosy. Are they here to bust me, or are they just casing the lab for a robbery? No way to tell!

Elm, my past may have caught up to me. I'm gonna need a death pet to defend myself.

Moment of truth, what new Johto line can I find?

And Sneasel is our lucky winner, replacing Chikorita!

This is an alright outcome. Sneasel has a whopping 35 sp. atk, so STAB is not going to be great for me. Still, at least no Delibird. For the other new ice types, the only way to catch them is the icy path. I can't reach there until I have 7 badges, so it'll be a while. I can catch some older ice types before then though, and there's a chance of getting an egg to hatch out a Smoochum.

I'm just glad I didn't get Delibird to be honest.

Welcome to the party, Kimchi. Let's hope things go smoothly for us, eh?

All I need to do is a short little fetch quest to pay back for getting Kimchi, and I'm clear. Easy.

Compared to inventing phones, I have to say inventing the basics of agriculture was the best thing in the last three years.

Awesome, I never got that paper map in Kanto, so this is a nice thing to own.

Now I just need to go back to Elm.

oh no my cover is blown

The deal is to do the Pokedex thing, and you won't reveal my crimes to the world?

Well, gonna have to go beat the Pokemon League for a ton of money, because relocating to another region is expensive.

Better than doing the Pokedex though.

Err... sure okay. I was coming anyway, but alright.

I finally found you. You can't run forever.

Do your duty, Kimchi! Save me from this mystery man!

Ohhhh, this is bad. This is really, really bad.

*screaming*
Please calm down, sir. I was hoping to meet our consulting detective here. He said he had something big to reveal.

Oh. Nope. Totally never heard of someone like that. That is a description I am unfamiliar with, sir.

*internal screaming*

Nope. All good. I can handle it fine. No trouble here.

I NEED THE BADGE PLEASE

Oh wow. Okay. That went easily.

Great. Seven more, and a league. Then I can be safe again.

 

[Bowser's Family Vacation]

Spoiler: Ending Kanto

Will Frosty ever find a criminal hideyhole? 😔

Good thing Champions can pardon themselves! 😏

Spoiler: Starting Johto

What if Silver just wanted to meet his criminal senpai!?

Although the real criminal was the cost of living all along. 😔

 

[Rico]

On the run into Johto he goes, just keep running Sir!

Great job in Kanto and well done on your first badge of Johto, all going good so far ⛸

 

[Sheepscope]

*imagines Kimchi doing pirouettes to this*

 

[Honey Badger]

go kimchi go!

gotta say the silver saga is already riveting

 

[KirbySSU]

I was hoping you would get Delibird ngl

 

[Stormer]

Dang, Sneasel did really well against Faulkner, despite not having phsycal stab. Good luck on johto.

 

[Kazzius]

Spoiler: Replies

Spoiler: Ending Kanto

Will Frosty ever find a criminal hideyhole? 😔

Good thing Champions can pardon themselves! 😏

Spoiler: Starting Johto

What if Silver just wanted to meet his criminal senpai!?

Although the real criminal was the cost of living all along. 😔

Wait, you mean I could have pardoned myself this whole time I was in hiding? DANGIT WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT! THREE YEARS WASTED!

On the run into Johto he goes, just keep running Sir!

Great job in Kanto and well done on your first badge of Johto, all going good so far ⛸

Thanks! I'm a little worried about how Kimchi will handle things once dinky little scratch starts falling behind though. Hopefully things go well.

*imagines Kimchi doing pirouettes to this*

Haha, yeah. I'm pretty sure Kimchi would love that!

go kimchi go!

gotta say the silver saga is already riveting

Kimchi takes no prisoners, no survivors.

I was hoping you would get Delibird ngl

😨 That would have been an interesting experience. Would be nice to have the only ice mon I can get that could fly though...

Dang, Sneasel did really well against Faulkner, despite not having phsycal stab. Good luck on johto.

Kimchi apparently likes being a lucky killer, eh?

Last time we got our first badge, so how about that second one, eh?

Spoiler: Episode 2 - Snow is just ice Crystals. pt.2

That's not an ice type, is it? Sorry, can't risk it.

Well, I am going to need Kimchi to get all the xp he can find.

*screaming*

Ohhhh, that's, mm. Okay. Okay. We're all fine here.

Totally fine.

Might be useful actually. I have to go through a cave soon.

Oho. Sure, alright. I could use something to eat.

A little steep, but hey I have a bike voucher. It's the same price, and never used. Just ignore the name signed on it, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Than- OH GROSS IT'S AN ACTUAL TAIL

I thought it'd be some kind of snack with a weird name, WHY IS IT A TAIL!? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS!?

Okay. Hikers are super scary, they have rock and fighting types, and I have a dark/ice who can only damage with scratch.

Plan A: Sneak past.

Plan B: I've healed up Kimchi to full, and given him a berry in case I can't sneak through.

KIMCHI MVP 100%

ABSOLUTE CHAMP

Nononononononono not again.

Grab me some extra levels, and ghost busting ability. Who needs leer, anyway?

What? Rocket? No. Never. Not me. This will be brand new information.

Gosh. This really IS brand new information.

...slowpoke tails? That's a... Rocket thing?

...oh no! I'M COMING TOO

Oh how conve-terrible. Terrible. That's terrible.

I gotta find the bike voucher. If that turns up, with my name signed on it, I'm in so much trouble. Can't let that happen, no thank you.

Give me my bike voucher back!
Wait? We got a bike voucher from you? Hah!

Ohhh, no. Not this again.

Okay. Nothing to panic over. You just accidentally helped fund an international crime organisation.

In a way that's easily traceable back to you.

And said organisation knows this.

We can fix this. Find a way out of all of this.

A real hero of Azalea!
Yeeeeaaahhh, a hero. Sure.

Oh, you're really leaning on that hero thing, huh? Mhm. Okay.

Oh, I know you. You're the hero of Azalea! Come to challenge my gym, eh?
Mmm. Yes. That's me. Here to challenge your gym, alright.

'k thanks bye.

*screams*

I. Yeah. They... they have.
Going to help them again?
What? No. I'm not like them. I'm not a bad person, I just didn't have a choice before.
Not a bad person?

What's that supposed to-

Oh. Right.

Just, just gotta keep going.

 

[Stormer]

Oof, making you learn Cut is harsh. Hopefully you can lose it one day and get something better. Like Slash or Headbutt. Good luck with Whitney and that Stab rollout.

 

[Honey Badger]

oh dear, hiker anthony is scary even in a regular run. but hey, kimchi is the strongest.

i think you got scammed on that slowpoketail

 

[Kazzius]

Spoiler: Replies

Oof, making you learn Cut is harsh. Hopefully you can lose it one day and get something better. Like Slash or Headbutt. Good luck with Whitney and that Stab rollout.

Hopefully, yeah. I don't think the move reminder exists yet though, so there's a decent to good chance it'll be too late to get slash by the time I get to the move forgetter. Ah, well. I'll figure something out.

oh dear, hiker anthony is scary even in a regular run. but hey, kimchi is the strongest.

i think you got scammed on that slowpoketail

Yeah, these hikers are jerks. With their good defence and SE attacks. And, I just thought I was buying candy... 😨

Time for everyone's favourite gym, Whitney and her murdercow!

Spoiler: Episode 2 - Snow is just ice Crystals. pt.3

So, in Pokemon Crystal you can get the odd egg from the day care.

Unlike with Elm's egg, the contents is random. It can be any one of the new babymon from generation 2. A list which includes Smoochum.

Not the best odds, but with a little luck...

OR I CAN JUST GET A SHINY SMOOCHUM OKAY

Welcome to the team, Fro-Yo. I know you aren't Sorbet, because Sorbet wasn't shiny.

Much better TMs for sale than back in Kanto.

Weirdly, Jynx doesn't learn any psychic moves naturally, while Smoochum does.

Now that Fro-Yo is caught up to you, Kimchi, it's time to go to Whitney.

Is this the moment where things go wrong?

No surprise here. Kimchi moves fast and hits hard. Didn't get an attract messing things up too.

Overlevelling yeah!

Alright, Fro-Yo, you can do this! If Miltank starts using rollout, just use sing! You'll be saved.

Then again, you could just be faster and finish things with two ice punches. That also works.

What? I-I'm not mean!

*sniff*

A-are you... crying too?
N-No!

Yeah. I do feel a little better now, actually.

Thanks.

You want to learn psychic? Then you can't evolve yet.

So glad we invented agriculture. Science is incredible.

Here, you fabulous dancing tree, drink up.

OH NO WHAT HAS SCIENCE WROUGHT

oh no

I... have?
Yeah. I'm in a great mood! Apparently this detective I hired figured out who this crazy person who attacked me was. Been waiting a few days for him to call tho- Hey wait? Why are you running away?

Better go find him. I need to get out of this town quick.

Oh hey. Can I challenge you- hold up.

...

Ghost man, can you see ghosts here?
What? No.

Haha. You think you can spook me by appearing here, eh?

You're not even real! Ha.
You aren't unlucky like you think you are.

I... whaaaaAARGHH

Oh hey, guess they're learning we managed to invent colour.

Already halfway there now.

Even with STAB, I think the physical shadow ball is better than the special faint attack, Kimchi.

Now before I would've gone east to grab the Red Gyarados.

But for some reason, Kimchi can learn surf. Which'd be terrible for Kimchi. Since I can't legitimately get a surf slave to catch the Gyarados with, I'll just have to go west instead. Find another way to handle this problem.

Not just agriculture, kids. We even invented animal husbandry.

Veterinary medicine is a little off still.

Just grab this.

Go over here.

And reconnect with an old friend.

Glad to have you back, Chowder. Shame your CLAMPS aren't quite what they used to be.

 

[Kazzius]

Only almost a month? Season 1 had a 6 month break in gen 2, I'm getting way better.

No replies, so straight to the action!

Spoiler: Episode 2 - Snow is just ice Crystals. pt.4

Get Chowder that ice typing, and that'll clear up the existential threat you could bring.

Finally, still so weird you can't learn any psychic moves after you evolve.

Wait. Hold up. You're just asking me for a favour?

No blackmail? No threats?

Yeah, sure. Okay.

Sorry, Kimchi. At least this one does decent damage?

Not a problem.

You know what? Not being threatened to do things for people is pretty nice.

There you go, Chowder. I'm going to need your help with this next gym.

Just two more gyms left.

Ah, Frosty. Nice of you to join us. We have a certain... problem we need you to tidy up for us.
Wait, wait, wait. Please-
And since you're officially one of us, well, it'd be a real shame if this problem caused us, and by extension you, some legal trouble.
Well, yeeeessss....
The Red Gyarados. Catch it. We can't afford for it to be found.
uhh, oh. You need me to just catch a Pokemon? Nothing else? Yeah! Sure, I can do that.

And if you don't...
Hey, if all it takes is catching a Pokemon to keep me safe, then I'm not going to complain.

Shiny Gyarados found.

Shiny Gyarados caught.

*screams*

*screams louder*

Of course, if you hadn't caught that Gyarados, this would've been settled already.
Ahaha... see, funny story about that-

I didn't-

You're just walking away annnnd I've been pressganged. Okay. Okay. This is fine.

You've been in a tight spot before, Frosty. Just gotta come up with something that can distract him from anything incriminating he finds there.

Super easy.

 

[Honey Badger]

frosty's gonna just walk into the team rocket hideout with lance. what could go wrong?

maybe lance is scared of fro-yo?

 

[Kazzius]

Only almost a month? Season 1 had a 6 month break in gen 2, I'm getting way better.

No replies, so straight to the action!

mmm this aged well

I'm going to go with the idea of keeping up the same plot over and over in each region bummed me out, then inertia. But hey, deadlines work so what are you gonna do?

Forget plot, embrace RESULTS

Spoiler: Johto

So, where was I before?

Oh, Lake of Rage. Goody.

Shiny clause + HM usage.

Enjoy knowing whirlpool for the rest of your career Protein.

Oh wait. I did that bit before in the one above. Whoops.

nvm

Skipping the rocket stuff I guess.

Everyone else has all caps for names, I'm really out of it I guess.

Still, got to sweep Clair with a (overlevelled) Delibird. That's always fun. Thank you, hidden power dragon.

oh huh, no pics of much else.

Look at what was the E4

Also, dragon champ ain't nothing to Fro-Yo.

frosty's gonna just walk into the team rocket hideout with lance. what could go wrong?

maybe lance is scared of fro-yo?

Fitting final reply huh?

So, Johto down.

 

[Kazzius]

Oh, wait.

While I'm here.

Spoiler: Sapphires Shine like Snow

Next round over in Hoenn.

So, new gen 3 ice types? Not many.
We have Snorunt /Glalie, and Spheal/Sealeo/Walrein. Both are findable in Shoal Cave, so pretty easy to make sure I get all of this gen covered.

Speaking of, I never managed to get Swinub/Piloswine in Johto. I'll have to make up for that at some point.

Random.org decreed that Snorunt shall be my chosen one.

Starting with STAB is always nice. Also, what's a rival?

Fun Fact: Can't get into double battles without a double. Makes catching a Spheal pretty important.

Also: Guess what I got. I got the PKRS.

So gotta get ready for that first... rock... gym. Oh good.

THIS IS FINE

OH GOOD FIGHTING GYM NEXT

not shown: Shaved Ice downing heals like they're nothing

As is tradition. Gen 3 Hoenn game corner roulette is rigged in player's favour. Get an autofire and turbo and rake in the free coins and buy the great TMs.

Really going to need them for the magneton that resists everything I can throw at it, and hits Shaved Ice like a snowplow.

Always fun. But don't worry, its FIRE next. Everyone's favourite overheating Torkoal.

Ah yes.

This is Ladle. She smashes rocks. And will one day also surf and push boulders.

Free status heals? Yes please. Confusion and Infatuation can be annoying.

Grinded out that last level just for Flannery's Torkoal.

Needed it too.

Finally, time for some nicer gyms.

Flying next! Gonna be real easy.

Castform technically has an ice form, so this ticks that box.

0 problems. Didn't even use ice beam for the Altaria, I just brought in powder snow.

Now, interestingly there's a slight issue going foward.

You see, shoal cave is a skippable area, and technically I can only use Ladle for bypassing necessary requirements. I can surf over to Mossdeep, because if I don't the game cannot progress. I don't let myself grind the trainers, or go back for heals at a Pokemon Centre though, because it isn't strictly necessary. As such, a strict ruling would be that I can't go to Shoal Cave since it is skippable and thus unnecessary.

However, I also need a second Pokemon for the gym.

So, I can either use Ladle to bypass a surf section to get a necessary second Pokemon, or by entering a battle to bypass the necessary second Pokemon.

My call here is that doing the surf is one "illegal" move, whereas having a Marill in a battle could mean drawing fire from Shaved Ice, which with status moves could be meaningful and thus multiple "illegal" moves. Therefore, getting a Spheal would be a lesser crime.

I'm sure it'll be fine.

So, everyone welcome Muktuk!

And then appreciate my roubd ice team, while it lasts.

Bringing Muktuk up to speed.

Grabbing the badge.

Now I can go grab strength, finally.

Sorry Muktuk, you'll be playing HM mule for this region.

Annoying, but crunch makes it doable.

And here we go.

 

[Kazzius]

Keep Going

Spoiler: Snowy in Platinum

Next game, lets go.

New Ice types in play are the Snover line, and a few new evolutions tacked onto existing lines. There's Mamoswine, Glaceon, Weavile, and Froslass.

Why Platinum? I can get an Eevee in Hearthome, and I can have a Weavile a little earlier in this game. Also, much more wintery which is nice.

random.org has decided I should get a Swinub to work with, allowing me to get the line I missed out on from Crystal.

Mudslappin'

Such a great grinding area for an ice type.

Grab infinite money, as many god plates as I want, and a healthy supply of heart scales for move reminding.

Little nervewracking with a Roserade. Magical leaf HURT.

Surfing, waterfalling and cutting all in one place.

Grab a little powerboost.

And now I can finally use a second teammate. Also, less important, but I maintain Sundae is the best name I've made in this set of runs, and will likely continue to be so.

*sigh* this is going to be annoying.

Sundae doing work with that bite.

Skip ahead of next gym for a second for Truffles' ultimate form.

Way easier battling with Truffles now. Love all the bulk.

Not too tricky.

Easiest gym leader so far.

Ah, now that I'm getting ready for badge 7, I can finally try this catch some Pokemon.

New catches.

Bring them up to speed. Had to run to the other side of the region for that dawn stone, as well as the move reminder. Plus the game corner. I miss being able to fly.

Need to wait a little longer for a Weavile still.

Ice trainer supremacy.

Also I somehow got the PKRS again. Not quite sure how that happened twice to me.

Found this claw in some random office building, so final team is now formed.

I took a few wrong turns though, not sure how that happened. Back to the main action.

Guy has some coverage, makes things much more annoying.

E4 beatdowns. Nothing too bad, though Flint was a little concerning with flare blitz Infernape.

And region down.

 

[Kazzius]

I don't need no replies, I got progress!

Spoiler: White as Ice and Snow

Here we go, game 5, Unova!

Who are our new ice types? Well, there's the obvious answers of the Cubchoo line, famous for being polar bears; the Vanillite line, famous for being the go to example of people complaining about new Pokemon designs for being an ice cream cone; and Cryogonal, who is a literal snowflake.

But wait! There's technically another. And our bizarre new entry into ice types is Frost Rotom. Despite being a gen IV Pokemon, Rotom rather oddly didn't get type changes when changing form back in gen IV. Meaning Rotom technically counts as a new ice type.

Normally I get a random Pokemon out of the new ice lines, but due to the strangeness surrounding Rotom, I will be discounting them from the random list however. I shall just hope to get my hands on one in a future game.

Now who is our starter?

Well, I'm not the biggest fan of any of the three, but I guess Cubchoo would be my preferred

Not important, but I actually won the Tepig battle thanks to a lucky freeze from powder snow right at the last possible moment

So Barbecue is promising to be better than I worried about

1 badge get

Finally something without ice typing attack

These toddlers too powerful, need to get another Pokemon to let me through. Meet Peppermill, my first encounter after meeting the twins.

Second badge get

Already overlevelling to deal with revenge Watchog

Unova really did have the first city to really feel like a big city. Nice visuals in game.

Less tricky than gym 2

Barbecue meets his final form, and a good physical ice attack. Icy wind just doesn't work with his stats.

badge 4, no trouble

Naturally

and brought up to speed

Ground gym no trouble at all

Same with flying

Maximum custard

And grab a new friend.

Now it was about here when an obvious issue with me team lineup became apparent to me.
Custard and Cookie do not have a varied moveset that works well with my overlevel and smash things approach to UCL. Their attacking moves? Ice beam, and mirror shot. Nice STAB, but that's about it. Barbecue on the other hand is being great. Icicle smash, bulldoze, rock tomb, rock smash/brick break.

Much more useful with varied threats. Lack of variety means more reliance on brute force STAB against enemies, which is not great. Sure, Cookie has confuse ray, which is a great move. But I want something that'll be effective quickly against each enemy, not slowly most of the time.

Too bad hidden power is hard to unlock here.

Complaining aside, it does make all three of them fantastic ice counters

And here is where my Rotom forms would be if I could get a Rotom.

fast + ice beam = no dragons

So, here was where I noticed the next issue. I should have picked Pokemon Black.
Pokemon White means battling the FIRE dragon instead of the ELECTRIC dragon. Which is a big deal for an ice trainer.

Solution?

As always for me in UCL, it is to send in overlevelled mons. The E4 will be weaker, but the others? I'm a little more concerned. Barbecue has a fair bit of health and defenses, but he's slow. Cookie has no defense, and Custard isn't super durable either.

This is only just high enough for my anti-Reshiram plan.

Good thing Cookie has really good Sp. Def.

Also hidden powers are psychic for Cookie and grass for Custard.

And that's the damage taken with an almost 20 level advantage.

Thankfully Cookie could just about handle two fusion flares from Reshiram without falling. That with confuse ray and healing was enough for ice beam to whittle it down. After that, Barbecue mostly took the rest of N's team alone.

Wait hold on, neither of these guys was the Champion! Did I mess up?

Oh, well. That's fine then.

Guess I'm headed to Kalos next then.