Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu, Part 7 - The Elite

Actually, yes.

Today on Pokémon: According to reports, all of my Pokémon quit and are headed to AEW.

We last left off...where the heck DID we last leave off? This is what happens when I don't finish a series: I totally forget what I was doing.

In any case, here's Gym #7, the Cinnabar Island Quiz Challenge. Here you can find heated battles and sizzling quizzes, or vice-versa.

Answering questions correctly lets you bypass the lesser non-leader fights in the gym. This is one of the easiest gyms in the game, since the enemies all use Fire-types exclusively and they can be quickly mopped up by Pokémon strong against that element. It's Erika's gym all over again.

Before fighting the boss, the gigantic-headed Cataluña must answer questions in this SUPER-CREEPY ROOM. The weird thing is...all of the answers are correct.

Dr. Wily looks younger and spryer now that he's shaved off his hair. It's a choice, like The Rock.

The battle begins, as Blaine unleashes the butt-foreheaded Magmar.

Ninetales is significantly more of a threat...so I trot out Graveler with his stone resistance and their fire attacks just plink off.

That...was a super-easy fight. Barely even worth talking about. This should have been like Gym 5 or something, not 7. The only easier boss was probably Gym 4, where you could blitz everything with a Fire-type.

AND NOW... TIME TO RANK THE EIGHT GYM LEADERS IN DIFFICULTY. Your mileage may vary:

If OG Gen 1 where starter isn't Pikachu:
8. Erika
7. Blaine
6. Brock
5. Koga
4. Lt. Surge
3. Giovanni
2. Misty
1. Sabrina

If starter IS Pikachu ala Yellow or LGP:
8. Erika
7. Blaine
6. Lt. Surge
5. Koga
4. Brock
3. Misty
2. Giovanni
1. Sabrina

You get a lot of lategame items that boost the PP, like PP Up and PP Max. There's more boosting of the PP than in a urologist clinic. An item that gives you two more uses of an ability is best-served on one of those overpowered 5-use abilities.

Generalisimo makes another appearance, as our heroes try to suss out what happened to the 8th Gym Leader.

Whoa! It's Blue, AKA Gary. He's surprisingly not-douchey in this game,

They give our heroes a couple of Mega Stones, which allow both of them to digivolve their starters into their Super Shredder forms. This will certainly come into play later.

Pikachu takes a moment to pee. It's adorable!

While he was doing that, the 8th Gym Leader just sorta returned. Who could it be? We all already know, it's Giovanni. Let's get this over with.

Articuno is my MVP in here, as he unleashes BLUE LASERS OF DOOM.

Gym 8 is a lot like those Team Rocket dungeons earlier. It's tedious and full of conveyor belts. The fights in here are pretty high level, which is good for leveling up at least. This place is MUCH more difficult than Gym 7.

At the end of a long hallway lurks Gym 8's leader, the dastardly Giovanni (w/ cat)

How did this guy get to be a gym leader? Did he just throw money at the issue, like the House of Saud?

He's vaguely Vegeta-esque. Notice the unknown fruits he has on the table there. Giant blueberries and strawberries?

This is debatably the toughest of the 8 Gym Leader fights. I'd argue that Misty is tougher due to the level leap at that point, and I also had more issues with Sabrina. See above. This guy could definitely make a case though.

Giovanni attacks with super-tough stuff like Rhydon and Nidoking. Articuno is very very useful here, as his ice attacks burn through the high-defense 'mons that Giovanni employs. His big boss is Persian, as usual, which is a super-OP Normal type if it has a higher level than your 'mons.

He really IS Vegeta. He's ashamed of his loss, and now he'll be mocked by Kuei. KUEI.

At least until the next game, where they're even worse.

Gary immediately moves in and takes over. He was hovering around, like when your best friend starts dating your ex like 5 minutes after you break up.

Time for yet another fight with Generalisimo. NO TURNING BACK NOW

the very worst part of me

the very worst part of me

IS

YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

"This isn't what I wanted to be! I never thought that what I said would have you running from me!"

In other words, we fought for the zillionth time, I won. Let's just move on quickly. I hope that jackass doesn't end up being the final boss. Not sure who else could be, though.

Surfin' Cataluña must show off the 8 badges to get to Victory Road. She also shows off sick board skills. Rad to the max!

This is it, the final dungeon. It's still a good place to level up, though it's a lot more tedious now with the new system of capturing instead of fighting.

The big fight in here is Moltres, the elite bird of fire. It's the counterpart to Articuno, but I've never been able to get as much use out of Moltres for whatever reason. Fire-types just aren't that useful in the endgame in my experience, probably because of the abundance of Water-type attacks in the Elite Four.

Much like Articuno, you have to win a boss fight with him before you can do the ball-throwing minigame.

It's a BIRD SHOWDOWN, not unlike when the dragons faced off in Game of Thrones. Mine is the evil blue-breathed one.

After clearing the dungeon and defeating Moltres, we arrive at...

...Elite Four HQ. Home of The! Elite! The The Elite!

It's going to be a Superkick Party, and Pikachu is prepared to dish out punishment.

State of the party after the final dungeon. We're super-underleveled. As I recall you generally want to be high 50's at this point. The fact that we're in such bad shape after that dungeon doesn't bode well.

The key to victory here is bringing enough restoration items to get through five bosses in a row. Because much like the Four Horsemen in wrestling, there are five of 'em.

This is a good amount to bring. Actually, it might be on the low side. Seriously. These fights make the player go through potions like Scott Hall goes through toothpicks. If he'd stop flicking them, maybe he wouldn't run out.

Each room in here is home to a boss. They're all just sorta sitting there. Is that what they do all day? Just sit in these rooms? What about when they have to go to the bathroom? Some kid could run by.

Doesn't this get boring? You know what, maybe I don't want to be elite!

So, you're The Elite, huh? Where oh where is Billionaire Ted? Where's the NA-CHO MAN?

Lorelei primarily uses ice-element Pokémon. I've probably covered it in the other times I've covered Gen 1, but I like the way the Elite Four in this Gen all use types that weren't covered by the first 8 trainers. This means you've got virtually everything represented:

Brock - Rock
Misty - Water
Lt. Surge - Electric
Erika - Plant
Koga - Poison
Sabrina - Psychic
Blaine - Fire
Giovanni - Ground

Lorelei - Ice/Water
Bruno - Fighting
Agatha - Ghost/Poison
Lance - Flying/Dragon

Not really represented - Normal, Bug

Later Gens would repeat the same elements multiple times, sometimes even within the first 8 bosses. Gen 2 almost immediately has Normal and Bug element bosses, as well.

Lorelei attacks with the world's most "how is this still a thing" Pokémon.

And somewhere, Mr. Popo sat up and realized that he finally found his someone.

I'm oversimplifying a bit with the Type lineups above, because a lot of the Elite Four Pokémon are dual-type. Lapras (her final boss 'mon) is Ice/Water in addition to being high HP, which poses weakness problems for most of my lineup.

In other news, she's got Dewgong, Jinx, Slowbro, Cloyster, and Lapras. Several of these have Psychic as a side-element which, again, poses problems. The Elite Four lineups tend to be able to hit very hard against Pokémon that they're weak to.

Next up is Bruno, who lurks in a dojo. This means he's at least doing something while he waits in this room all day. He can work out and train for fightin'.

Unfortunately all of his working out isn't going to make his Pokémon any stronger. They're all Fighting-types, specifically...

...Onix (he returns), Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, and...Poliwrath? How'd he get in there? The "boss 'mon" is Machamp, of course.

Agatha is the oldest trainer in the game, at 34.

Her theme is Ghost, but nearly all of her 'mons have Poison as well. The lineup is: Arbok, Gengar, Golbat, Wheezing, and the big boss...

...another Gengar! "That first Gengar is stealing my heat!" he says.

This might be a good time to bring up that Gengar always reminded me of WWE Superstar Edge:

I mean, the resemblance is uncanny!

Finally, Lance. He leads nothing, because he isn't even the champion (yet). Also, it's funny that he calls himself the Dragon trainer (and most of us remember him as such) because 4 out of 5 of his Pokémon are actually Flying-type. He's more Dragon-themed when he shows up in later gens.

This guy was a real badass in the original game, with his Vegeta hair. The lineup here is a simple one that relies on brute force rather than elemental strategy. You've got Seadra, Aerodactyl, Gyrados, Charizard, and the big boss:

Dragonite. Though all things considered, the deadliest of his force for me was Aerodactyl. Took more casualties to that fight than any other single 'mon in the Elite Four series.

Professor Oak shows up with his stone-grimace. "THE TRAINERS KEEP GETTING YOUNGER WHILE I STAY OLD" he screeches.

Lance spoils who the final boss is. Though really, I guess we all should have seen it coming. I was hoping for Ash Ketchum. Or maybe even Prof. Oak. How have we not fought Prof. Oak in any of these games yet?

The long walk to the real final boss. I wish Lance hadn't just spoiled who it is. Thanks, LANCE.

Uuuugh. One of the lamest rivals in the series, bested only by Gen 3's Brandon (who wasn't the final boss). Get outta here, Generalisimo!

This guy has a very diverse (and high-level, 57ish) lineup that includes Pidgeot, Vileplume, Rapidash, Marowak, Slowbro, and Jolteon. If playing the Let's Go Eevee version, he's got the turncoat Raichu instead of Jolteon. This is the only trainer fight in the regular game that actually uses all six slots.

All of my powered-up starters get a workout here, though they need to be used judiciously because even they can be one-shotted by the wrong types. Also, I hate having to fight Marowak. We saved it from Giovanni and the vile Generalisimo already twists it to evil! SAME AS THE OLD BOSS.

Rapidash the flaming horse is the easiest to deal with of his lineup. Fire 'mons really do post very little threat in this gen. Water attacks just do too much damage to them.

When the coast is clear of water-types, I break out Charizard and finally use his Mega Evolution. This turns him into Viserion, and he hits much harder for a bit.

In pretty good shape here at the halfway point of the war. If at all possible you want to keep Pokémon low-health rather than zero-health so that they can be used to revive someone else on a particular turn and whatnot.

Jolteon has been his signature Pokémon for a while. Though oddly enough he doesn't use his Mega Evolution on it.

Lastly, he sends out his final minion...Pidgeot? Really?

OH SNAP. He chooses this time to dish out his Mega Digivolve. Luckily, Mega Pidgeot isn't too bad of a final boss. He pecks furiously, to no avail.

He's thrilled at his loss. It means Cataluña will make an even better wife.

GET OUTTA HERE, GENERALISIMO

Well, that's it for this game. It was fun. Not sure why it took me six months to get back to the last couple of parts. As for the cast...

Giovanni became a motivational speaker and gave TED talks on his escape from Team Rocket.

Blaine tried to take over the world, but failed.

Koga joined the Elite Four after ousting one of their members.

Lt. Surge tried to re-enlist and was denied. He now streams Call of Duty full-time.

Erika..doesn't really do anything.

Misty became a shorts model.

Sabrina went to jail after trying to assassinate a presidential candidate.

Brock became a sidekick on a TV show.

Agatha died of old age. She was 44.

Gary/Blue became the Gym 8 leader.

Lorelei got laid a lot. And I mean a LOT.

Bruno and Lance became a couple and turned the tide of Kanto supporting gay rights. They later welcomed a son, Bruce.

Generalisimo went back to whatever it is Generalisimo does when no one is looking.

Pikachu became a Boss Pokémon in the champion's lineup.

Cataluña defended the Pokémon championship and never married. Though if she did, it'd be that heartthrob Brock.

That's it... Or is it? Not quite, actually. We've got postgame to do, so stay tuned.

Other Let's Go Pikachu Posts

Pokemon Yellow

Pokemon FireRed

Pokemon Go