In this update I intend to take on Roxanne, but first, I'm grabbing every possible encounter I can, starting with Seaspray Cave, found north of Rustboro. Honey yields nothing, but the normal encounters here are Psyduck, Tynamo, Zubat, Wooper, Woobat and Stunfisk from the prior versions, plus Redux Noibat, Nacli and Wooper-Paldea. Wishiwashi can also still be fished up here with the Old Rod, but so can Krabby.
The second floor of Seaspray Cave also has new encounters. As Honey doesn't work in caves, nothing there, but on top of the already-existing Seel, Swinub (Which we caught earlier as Swinub is in Oldale too), Snorunt, Sneasel, Bergmite, Smoochum (which we caught earlier as Smoochum is in Oldale too), Vanillite and Spheal, a singular new encounter is available here in regards to prior versions and boy howdy is that one a doozy considering it's Frigibax. There's also something new here, though.
There's a Dewgong here that refuses to fight me until I'm stronger. Spoiler alert: It means after getting the Mega Bracelet, this is how you acquire the Dewgongite. In fact, random bosses like this are how you acquire most of the ER-exclusive Mega Stones.
Leaving that aside for now, I find a cache of Battle Points on the floor (yes, most random drops are either gifts or BP), and then leave, as I can't do anything else here without a Mega Bracelet or Surf.
I move onto Route 116. Honey yields Audino, Pancham (who isn't new) and Purrloin here, and for the regular encounters, Skiddo, Nincada, Starly, Riolu, Joltik, Skitty, Houndour and Scraggy all return from prior versions, but there are new additions here: Mareep, Yamper, Smoliv, and Zorua-Hisui. After massacring all the trainers on the route (Beautifly once again did most of the work, Majestic Moth plus access to Quiver Dance this early is wreaking havoc on everyone), I make my way into Rusturf Tunnel.
Rusturf Tunnel has Whismur, Noibat (regular Noibat, not Redux), Rhyhorn, Teddiursa, Chingling, Drilbur, Larvitar, Roggenrola, Rockruff (who isn't new) and Nosepass as in the prior version, but Rolycoly and Munna can also be found here.
On my way back, I grab the Galarian Gift, then round out my pre-gym 1 encounters with my very last one, Redux Panpour.
Then it's time for Roxanne.
The battle begins with her Onix facing my Pawmo. Arm Thrust bounces right off and in turn Onix just Earthquakes Pawmo away, but at least it didn't set up Stealth Rocks. Dewott comes in and fells Onix with two Razor Shells. Unlike before, though, you don't have to fear Stealth Rocks- it's been removed from Onix's movepool (it is otherwise still identical to before though).
Lileep comes in and finishes off my weakened otter, but not before eating a Sacred Sword to the face. Zorua-Hisui comes in and finishes Lileep off with a Shadow Ball. Lileep is also the same as before.
Roxanne's Lairon is gone, now replaced with a Klawf. This is potentially extremely scary, as with Fatal Precision its supereffective attacks are stronger, it has Shell Armor and Regenerator to ensure it stays alive for as long as possible, and makes triggering its Anger Shell almost a certainty. Using a Rock-weak Pokemon against Klawf is impossible- even if I were to somehow have my Beautifly Quiver Dance against this thing, Klawf would simply Accelerock it into dust. Klawf does Accelerock my Zorua once, but it doesn't finish Zorua off for whatever reason, allowing a second Shadow Ball to finish it off.
Poison Heal Gligar is Poison Heal Gligar. Sadly, because my Zorua is scarfed it cannot burn Gligar with Will-O-Wisp to prevent Poison Heal, so it just fires off a Vengeance-boosted Shadow Ball instead... and one-shots the sucker before its Toxic Orb can even trigger.
Carkoal is also gone, now replaced with the incredibly scary Growlithe-Hisui. Violent Rush makes it hit harder the first turn it's in battle for, Reckless boosts the power of its Recoil Moves, Predator heals it when KOing an enemy, and Rock Head removes the recoil from said Recoil Moves.
...It also has Flare Blitz! Thankfully, its Rock STAB of choice is Strength and not Head Smash, but it also has the powerful Close Combat and Play Rough as coverage options.
Mercifully, thanks to its Choice Scarf, Zorua-Hisui outspeeds, and its Vengeance-boosted Shadow Ball one-shots Growlithe-Hisui before it can attack.
Amaura is the same as ever, but that doesn't save it at all from Zorua-Hisui's Vengeance-boosted Shadow Ball, and it drops in one shot.
...Did Zorua-Hisui just single-handedly wipe out two thirds of Roxanne's team? Yes, yes it did. Already making a good impression, there!
I then head out towards the grunt that stole the Devon Goods, before realizing that I forgot some encounters before Roxanne; the Rustboro City encounters, those being NidoranF, NidoranM, Petilil, Cottonee, Jigglypuff, Eevee and Glameow as in prior versions, plus Stunky (which we already caught earlier) and Milcery in this version. Honey also does yield encounters here, but it's just Audino, Nidorino and Nidorina.
Before confronting the Aqua Grunt, I bring my party up to the level cap of 25, resulting in Rockruff and Goomy evolving into Lycanroc-Dusk and Sliggoo-Hisui, respectively. I then mop the floor with the Aqua Grunt and return to Rustboro. Before moving on, though, I check the Adoption Center, and indeed...
There are five more Redux forms available to me; Weedle, Whismur, Stufful, Solosis and Abra. I opt to grab Weedle right now, and add it to the team over Beautifly.
Redux Beedrill (Ice/Poison, by the way) is very cool. And that isn't just a pun on its ice-typing. It also learns a new move, Toxic Needles, a Poison-type Multihit move, which goes very well with Beedrill-Redux's Skill Link! I also look through its status screen and find something very interesting...
Beedrillite R? Redux Beedrill has a Mega? That's something to consider down the line!
Beedrill-Redux's stats are also looking plenty impressive right now, too! I make its moveset Peck (now a Multihit move) Toxic Needles, Icicle Spear and Pin Missile, to maximize the amount of benefit I can gain from Skill Link.
Then I go take on Rustboro!May.
The battle begins with Swellow staring down my Lycanroc-Dusk. Accelerock puts Swellow in the dirt.
Second is May's starter, her Grovyle. It takes heavy damage from Accelerock, but survives, allowing it to blow Lycanroc away with Leaf Storm. I bring in Redux Beedrill to try and knock it out, but May switches out.
In comes Rapidash, who immediately falls to Toxic Needles, but it does get a Flame Body proc on my frosty bee. Grovyle returns at this point, and is promptly annihilated.
In my previous playthrough, May had a Tsareena, but this time, since she has a grass-type starter, she instead has a Starmie. I switch into Sliggoo, who tanks through Starmie's Blizzards and Psybeam like they're nothing, and Dragon Pulse it into the ground.
That's a new one! May's got a Runerigus now! Sliggoo goes down, but not before Scalding the thing (no burn, though). It also tanks through Redux Beedrill's Icicle Spear thanks to the burn before falling prey to Dewott's Razor Shell.
With May defeated, I make my way back into Petalburg Woods. I end up catching Exeggcute, Aipom and Venonat from the Cut Trees there, allowing me to head into the expansion areas of Petalburg Woods, yielding new encounters; The regular form of Kakuna, Metapod, Venipede, the regular forms of the Elemental Monkeys, Bounsweet, Skorupi, Tarountula, Nymble and Spearow. Honey encounters are Audino, Regular Beedrill and Butterfree.
Breloomite can also be found here.
The furthest area of Petalburg Woods that can be accessed right now contains Oddish (who isn't new), Bellsprout, Yanma, Croagunk (who isn't new), Misdreavus, Murkrow, Emolga, Dewpider, Slowpoke-Galar, Toedscool and Shroodle. Honey encounters are Audino, Emolga and Goomy. Poliwag and Slowpoke can also be fished up here in the water.
I then make my way to Dewford and start scouring Dewford Meadow. The honey encounters are Audino, Swirlix and Spritzee, and the regular encounters are Cutiefly, Oricorio, Flabebe, Galarian Ponyta, Herdier, Comfey, Combee, Butterfree, Swirlix and Spritzee, with Herdier replacing the Clefairy that could be found here previously.
Dewford Manor is also a thing. It contains Gastly, Regular Solosis, Litwick, Misdreavus (which isn't new), Rattata, Hoothoot and Mime Jr as before, but has added a whopping 4 new encounters to the list: Wimpod, Hatenna, Sinistea and Poltchageist. No Honey, though.
Route 106 got a massive overhaul, having Inkay, Buizel, Drifloon, Crabrawler, Emolga (previously caught), Exeggcute, Alolan Grimer and Sneasel (previously caught) from the past versions, but Chatot has been removed from the encounter list. In turn, however, a ton of new encounters have been added: Wattrel, Tadbulb, Grimer and Cramorant. Honey doesn't yield anything.
Granite Cave's first floor has Geodude, Makuhita, Regular Abra and Timburr, alongside the previously-caught Zubat, Aron and Axew, and its new encounters this version are Phanpy, Timburr, Clobbopus and the previously obtained Farfetch'd-Galar.
The lower floors have Mawile, Sableye, Onix, Carbink, Cubone and Bronzor on them, with the only new addition being the previously-obtained Aron.
As before, Steven's Room is First Floor, except replace Geodude with Beldum. I accidentally engage Steven before I'm ready, though, so i'm forced to wing it, since he challenges us.
My lead matchup is the worst one possible, my Redux Beedrill against his Metang, so I swap into Sliggoo.
My Sliggoo gets a lucky Scald Burn allowing it to just barely outpace Metang's Earthquakes and win out.
Steven's Lycanroc-Midday promptly cleans up my steel slug. Zorua-Hisui comes in disguised as Dewott and Shadow Balls Lycanroc into dust.
In comes Steven's Dhelmise, who suffers the same fate.
Cradily walls off my Zorua's Shadow Ball and puts it into the red with Giga Drain. Not wanting to lose Zorua yet, I swap into Pawmo who immediately gets Scalded and barely lives... but gets burned and promptly faints to that. This does afford me a free switch into Beedrill, though, whose Banded Icicle Spear puts Cradily in the dirt.
Dugtrio-Alola comes in, but suffers the same fate as Cradily.
Heatmor comes in, and walls off Beedrill's Icicle Spear before annihilating the frost bee with an Iron Tail to the face. This invites in my own Lycanroc, who lays Heatmor flat with a Strength to the face (Strength is now 100 BP Rock-type move that lowers the user's defense after use, and is Lycanroc's strongest STAB until it gets access to Head Smash). This leads to Steven's defeat, and he hands me a Honedge.
I then head back to the mainland for a second to grab some Cut Tree Pokemon I missed: Fomantis, Spinarak and Cherubi.
After that, it's off to Slateport. Beedrill and Sliggoo really strut their stuff here, with occasional assistance from Pawmo, Zorua-Hisui or Lycanroc. There are also two Galarian Gifts here: The beach contains Galarian Yamask, which is new, while the soda pop house contains Yamper, which isn't.
I also have enough BP to grab three more Reduxes, so I grab Redux Abra (Dark-type, becomes Dark/Fighting when evolving into Redux Kadabra), Redux Solosis (Fire/Water-type) and Redux Stufful (Normal/Fairy-type).
Before fighting Brawly, I grab Route 110's encounters. Honey encounters are Audino, Ekans, Doduo and Morpeko. The regular encounters are Electrike, Gulpin, Plusle, Minun, Trubbish, Magnemite, Pachirisu, Helioptile and the previously-caught Salandit for returning ones from the previous versions, but new to 2.0 are Cyclizar, Varoom and Elekid.
After cleaving through the Dewford Gym, it's Brawly time.
First up is Brawly's Gallade, staring down my Zorua, disguised as Lycanroc. One Shadow Ball puts Gallade in the dirt.
In comes Pawmot, who makes the mistake of attempting to Mach Punch and falling for Zorua's Illusion, allowing an easy KO by throwing two Shadow Balls at it.
Lucario comes in and makes the exact same mistake, its Fighting Spirit-boosted Extreme Speed completely failing to accomplish anything, and thus down it goes to Shadow Ball.
Toxicroak comes in... and again, makes the mistake of aiming a fighting move at my disguised Zorua, letting it Shadow Ball for free.
In comes Lilligant-Hisui, who uses a Focus Sash to survive Shadow Ball and DOESN'T fall into the same trap as the rest of Brawly's team, dropping Zorua with Leaf Blade. Beedrill comes in and cleans up the fighting flower.
Brawly's last Pokemon is his Hitmonchan. It doesn't get to do anything before Beedrill unloads an Icicle Spear salvo in its face, bringing it down immediately.
...I think the AI might have issues with Illusion, because Zorua-Hisui was allowed to wreak WAY too much havoc there. Either way, that's where I'll send off this update. If Lycanroc wasn't also weak to Grass, Zorua-Hisui may very well have ended up sweeping here.
