Challenge My first Challenge Run: Pokémon Sun with moves with a display power of 40 or less.

[TpOi2006]

Pokémon Sun with moves with a display power of at most 40​

Part 0: An Overview
Hello to all who will read this. I am TpOi2006, and since this is my first challenge run, I’ll give a brief summary of myself and my experience of Pokémon before starting the run. Massive props to Green_Typhlosion for inspiring me to do one of these; their Floette-Eternal run was in such amazing detail (do read it or any of theirs if you haven’t already), and I hope to honour it.
Back to my story.

I came into Pokémon through the anime, and I can still remember the first episode I ever watched; the one in Pokémon Advanced where May catches her Wurmple, which would eventually become the Beautifly which featured so extensively in her contest arc. I then got into the mainline games in late 2016, when I received Pokémon Sun for Christmas, and proceeded to pour over 300 hours into it before moving on to Ultra Moon. Following that, I neglected the old account, and proceeded to reset it for a few failed Nuzlocke attempts which fizzled out due to lack of enthusiasm on my part. My desire to play the game through again with no pressure led to this idea.

Part 0.5: The Run explained
Obviously the title explains some of the story, but not all of it. So I will attempt to clarify here. When entering the Pokémon summary interface, you can see the moves of each pokemon, with details regarding accuracy, category, potential side effects and, very importantly for this run, move power. Here it shown below for Growlithe’s Ember.

As you can see, the power displayed for Ember is 40, which makes it legal for this run. Any other move without a number greater than 40 next to the power statistic is legal for this run, which includes status moves. This means that Z-moves will only be able to used off of status moves, though I may change the rules regarding this if it becomes too easy. Other rules regarding other moves may also be implemented if I become over-reliant on them (Everyone reading this can probably think of a few potential culprits.

Now for the rules for the beginning of the run:
- I can only use moves with a base power not exceeding 40.
- Z-moves off of attacking moves are banned.
- The use of items from the bag in-battle is banned; Held items, Pokéballs and items outside of combat are allowed (you can guess another one of my influences from the wording of this!).

If there are any other rules that you think I should implement or that I haven’t clarified well enough, please respond. I’m new to this, so any help would be massively appreciated.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Cheers for the shout out, and looking forward to seeing how this unfolds. Gonna be pondering for a while which status moves will be most effective for this run...

 

[Nokocchi]

A couple questions on the legality of the following:
-Status moves like Nature Power, Metronome, Mirror Move, Mimic, and others that either become or copy moves with more than 40 power allowed or banned?
-Multi-hit moves or moves less than 40 base power displayed but can do more than that
-Move with low displayed power but can increase under certain conditions like Stored Power and Power Trip
-Moves with fixed power or fixed range of power that is not displayed as a specific number like Seismic Toss, Night Shade, and Psywave
-Moves that are physical or special but only really exist to bounce back damage, so Bide, Counter, Mirror Coat, and Metal Burst.
-Technician, which can increase the power of all of the allowed moves (Alolan Meowth is available early on)
-Skill Link, which can turn the even the weaker, 15-power multi-hit moves like Fury Attack into a 75 power attack that breaks study/sash(Pikipek is catchable almost immediately)

 

[TpOi2006]

A couple questions on the legality of the following:
-Status moves like Nature Power, Metronome, Mirror Move, Mimic, and others that either become or copy moves with more than 40 power allowed or banned?
-Multi-hit moves or moves less than 40 base power displayed but can do more than that
-Move with low displayed power but can increase under certain conditions like Stored Power and Power Trip
-Moves with fixed power or fixed range of power that is not displayed as a specific number like Seismic Toss, Night Shade, and Psywave
-Moves that are physical or special but only really exist to bounce back damage, so Bide, Counter, Mirror Coat, and Metal Burst.
-Technician, which can increase the power of all of the allowed moves (Alolan Meowth is available early on)
-Skill Link, which can turn the even the weaker, 15-power multi-hit moves like Fury Attack into a 75 power attack that breaks study/sash(Pikipek is catchable almost immediately)

At the moment I don’t think I’ll ban any of those. All were considered, but allowing them will make the run more fun to play for me. I may ban some later if I find myself overly reliant on one or two strategies though.

 

[TpOi2006]

This has been a while; school took way more of my time than anticipated. Anyway, onwards…

Part 1: Welcome to Alola!
As I start my game the standard things occur: I pick my playname and my trainer appearance. It’s a little strange given it’s from what looks to be a pre-recorded briefing, but whatever. My mother asks me to help pack, and the introduction screen then cuts to an unknown girl attempting to flee from a group of Stroomtrooper-esque workers with a large bag. When she is finally cornered, the bag starts glowing, and whatever is in the bag releases its energy, with the scene panning into the introduction scene for the game. Following this, I am woken up by our family cat courtesy of my mother, and enter the room to meet Professor Kukui, and I learn that he and my mother already know each other. Speaking of, I don’t know who my father is… Regardless, he announces that it is time for me to start my journey as a Pokémon trainer, which involves getting my starter Pokémon from the island Kahuna. After grabbing my hat and bag, I exit my house and promptly get ribbed by Kukui for essentially losing a coin flip (How was I supposed to know which way to go from I house I’ve never left before?). After this, Kukui leads me to Iki Town, explaining the various interactions between man and ‘mon.

When we enter the town, the Kahuna is surprisingly not there to greet us. Kukui remains unfazed, telling us to go search for the Kahuna, who according to him, looks “just like a Kahuna”. Informative… I head to the upper half of town, where I see the battle court and an entrance to assumedly Mahalo Trail. I also see the strange girl from the intro clutching the same bag, telling whatever’s within it to be quiet. I follow her, presuming that she’s also meeting the Kahuna. After the short climb up I notice her horror as the Pokémon within the bag leaps out on the bridge and promptly gets attacked by 3 rowdy Spearow. Common sense would dictate that I leave now. Without a Pokémon I am merely a lump of meat. But the girl begs for my help, and I cannot say no to that hair. Seriously, what conditioner does she use? Anyway, I run onto the bridge with reckless abandon, and use my lump of meat of a body to shield the girl’s Pokémon. Remarkably, none of the Spearow make contact with me, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Pokémon blows itself up, destroying the bridge below us in the process. My death appears certain. But at the speed of lighting (or a very fast bat) a strange yellow Pokémon saves me. I don’t know why but I can’t complain. It looks a little terrifying, and could just have easily let me fall into the river below (then electrocute me). One of the many great designs in this generation.

The girl then thanks me for my deed, and gives me the random sparkling stone on the ground that materialised out of seemingly nowhere. It’s the least she could do, but her hair makes up for it. She then introduces herself as Lillie, and then requests for my accompaniment on the way back. Fair enough, so I do. When we arrive back in Iki Town, A crowd has formed, announcing Kahuna Hala’s return. Why is this notable? I don’t know, but I don’t mind, as it means I’ll get my Pokémon soon. Hala then greets me and shows me my choices. Now for one of the most important choices of the whole run. Who do I pick. Litten is sensibly ruled out due to not getting a dark moves and not having many good physical moves, at all. If move learning was like Gen 9, I’d take Rowlet immediately; good mixed attacking stats combined with good coverage and priority shadow sneak the moment I evolve. However, this isn’t the case, and I’d be stuck with astonish as my STAB, which is frankly embarrassing. As a result, Popplio is my choice, with a monstrous Special Attack Stat of 126 and a good STAB Combination. I name him Maneskin (no special characters unfortunately), and find out he has a calm nature, which is above average. Maneskin then accepts me as his trainer, and turn to leave town, only to be intercepted by Hala’s Grandson, Hau. He then asks me for a battle, which I gladly accept, and Maneskin proceeds to drown Litten with his supermodel energy.

Following this, Hala notices my Sparking Stone, and tells me that he‘ll refine it over the next day, then give it back. I was going to use it as a paperweight, but oh well… I return home and experience peak Game Freak dialogue, with my mother saying that Maneskin is cute and cool, regardless of which option you pick.

The end of the day marks the end of this chapter. Chapter 2 should be coming tomorrow; this is far more enjoyable than I realised. Any feedback on writing is massively appreciated; this may end up very wordy without intervention, and I don’t know how much people want to read.