So, despite the fact that I have six Pokemon that could take down Raihan himself with minimal difficulty, anyone who's ever overleveled will know that Pokemon that are a level high enough, even if it's just over, tend not to listen. So, with no badges under my belt, and a highly overleveled team, to the point where almost every command I give them will be instantly ignored, I wandered into… the Wedgehurst boutique. For a makeover of course. After decking myself in a somewhat gothic look, I set out to the tall grass on route two, after hearing Leon's instructions on how to catch a Wooloo. The first pokemon in my party is Octoling, a level 60 Malamar with the ability Contrary, and a moveset consisting of Foul Play, Night Slash, Psycho Cut, and Slash, plus a Dynamax level of 5. She stood at the front of my party, and, so far, with a few minor exceptions, is the only pokemon I've used. With her Lax nature, she holds a good defense, a less good special defense, and the team record for most naps, both in general and a single battle. Bravo. Nonetheless, we powered through the three trainers on route two. Rather luckily, I might add, and afterwards, I got to Professor Magnolia's house.
A lot of story stuff happened after we went inside, and when coming back out, my pokemon were fully healed and ready to fight Hop. The first round was Octoling VS Wooloo, who got taken out in about three turns with a single slash attack. Next was Grookey, who quickly began to take out it's primal rage on Octoling. And what did she do? She indulged in her favorite hobby for the first time: napping. I found this hysterical, as, until now, the only disobedience like that I had seen was from Ash's Charizard. I found myself laughing pretty hard, even while Hop's Grookey was scratching, branch poking, and growling like there was no tomorrow (even though all that did was up her attack stat, which was nice. Eventually, though, she woke up… only to fall back asleep. Wah wah. That was less comical, and in the end, I switched out to my second party member to take out the rest of Hop's team: my Weavile, Killer Frost. After a few instances of disobeying and a pair of Icy Wind attacks, Grookey, and afterwards Rookidee, were incapacitated. Hop was defeated, and we got our endorsements from Leon and a pair of wishing stars from the sky(?). After a good night's sleep though, and the gift of a dynamax band from Professor Magnolia, we were back on the road.
Hop raced us to the Wedgehurst train station, and was obviously shocked when we didn't catch a singular Pokemon. No Nickits, I know. Nonetheless, after getting camping gear from our respective mothers, hopping onto our train and riding to the wild area station, and getting Pokemon Box Links from Sonia (thanks Sonia), I hopped into my first max raid den with Octoling to see how that would go. It went better than I expected, since we got the NPC trainer Ivy and her Weavile, and, due to her being so fast, and knowing Ice Shard, AND us being level 60, making Weavile level 42, she one-shotted our target Pokemon, Vullaby. That Vullaby immediately got tossed into my box, and me and my party continued to Motostroke (after testing out camping and getting my tent color changed.
Sonia greeted us afterwards, and after making a league card, increasing my gothic look with a few more clothes and a change of hair and makeup, and picking my league number after registration (666, the dark type is known as the evil type in Japanese), I progressed on to the Budew Drop Inn. Team Yell was blocking the check in counter, to ensure that Marnie would win the league by eliminating any threats in the form of trainers. Now obviously, Octoling and I jumped in to fight them so everyone had a place to sleep. In the first two fights, both of which were one-on-one, Octoling disobeyed more often than not, took a number of tackles, and fell asleep between the two fights. Nonetheless, with a night slash to the Galarian Zigzagoon, and a slash to the Nickit, both trainers went down. Then came the double battle alongside Hop. I kid you not when I say that Hop and his Wooloo did next to everything in that fight, using tackle and growl non stop. He single-handedly took out the Zigzagoon, but not before it got a lick off and paralized Octoling. Now, you may be thinking that this was a good thing, and that's exactly what I thought as well. The first words out of my mouth after that happened were, "Well, on the bright side, at least she can't fall asleep now." The next words out, however, as the next round began, were "I stand corrected", as Octoling immediately proceeded to doze off out of spite. She woke up eventually, and claimed the fight by knocking out the opposing Nickit with a foul play, but that was all she did during that fight.
The next morning was the opening ceremony, where we were introduced to every gym leader but Piers. Now yes, If I could, I would fight Bea instead of Allister just to give it a bit more of a challenge, but I already had Pokemon Shield on hand, so… yeah.
The opening ceremony was surprisingly quick, and within a few minutes, I was headed towards Route Three and Turrfield stadium. But first, Hop challenged me to a battle, which, of course, I have no choice but to accept. I mop the floor with his team of Wolloo, Grookey and Rookidee, before he gives me a copy of his league card and runs away. I'm allowed to head onward.
I luckily managed to avoid the very first trainer on the route; we don't need the experience and I don't need the annoyance that Octoling is going to give me. Unfortunately, the next trainer, Schoolgirl Hannah, is unavoidable, and I end up fighting her and her Pancham. Octoling ignores me on the first turn, as was expected, and proceeds to take a nap. What was not expected was that Hannah's Pancham would use Circle Throw, and drag out Killer Frost. Annoyed with Octoling, I decide not to switch back out, and am I glad I did. Killer Frost immediately follows orders, and a single Metal Claw is all it takes to KO Hannah's Pancham.
After the battle, I do what may be the smartest thing in the history of smart things people do when doing ridiculous Pokemon challenges: I head back to Motostroke, buy 10 awakenings from the western Pokemon Center, heal up my party, and come halfway on the bridge back to Route Three before I realize how late it is (my time, not Galar time). I pop open the menu and save, deciding to pack it in so that I can take a night-long break from Octoling and this challenge.