the very best, pt. xxvii

25 Nov, 2025

We're back! I had some schedule disruptions and some truly nasty insomnia and, uh, rather fell behind in the month of October, which is a bit unfortunate since I was originally on pace to finish this up before the new Pokemon France game came out. Very near now! Two-ish episodes I think! Let's continue.

Victorious

Part 2 of Victory Road is a little more straightforward, helped by the fact that the final three trainers are just a back to back gauntlet at the very end. Having beaten our rival in the previous installment, this really does feel like a victory lap, like that bit in Celeste where you're counting down flags to the summit.¹

Victory Road: Pokemon Trainer Petra

Petra has a level 57 Slowbro and a level 57 Altaria. This is an entirely respectable spread; Slowbro, as longtime fans of The Very Best might suspect, is a bit slower than I would like, but it's tanky enough to make up for that and hits hard enough that it's not wasting your time; Petra's given it a very solid spread of moves in Surf, Psychic, Ice Beam, and Flamethrower. Altaria seems to be set up to stall with Sing and Roost along with Dazzling Gleam and Dragon Pulse, which you can certainly imagine being pretty annoying if you don't have the muscle to take it out quickly. Skill Rating: 4/5

Petra is practicing her Ranger pose, describing it to herself, but she is fortunately willing to take a break to battle us. It's funny and/or interesting that she is describing the official XY trainer artwork for the female Pokemon Ranger; this is the kind of meta throwaway joke that I really appreciate. Coolness Rating: 3/5

Victory Road: Veteran Inga

Inga has a level 61 Talonflame. Talonflame is great (though better, of course, if it has its Hidden Ability, which hers does not), and this one has the classics in Brave Bird and Flare Blitz, on top of Quick Attack to finish off weakened opponents and Me First. Now, Me First is pretty gimmicky and not the sort of thing I'd want to be relying on, but it did turn my Aerodactyl's Rock Slide around on me and nearly one-shot me as a result. For the most part, though, all you need with Talonflame is Brave Bird and Flare Blitz, and she's got those. That x4 Rock weakness hurts, but I still give Inga an edge in a lot of matchups here. Skill Rating: 4/5

Inga is contemplating what use Pokemon have for Trainers. I feel like Ace Trainers and Veterans are more given to this sort of philosophical pondering. "If Pokémon can so easily fly and swim," she asks, "what use do they have for us Trainers? Surely Pokémon don’t stick by our sides simply to have battles like this," she opines upon her defeat. It's a good question: what do they get out of this? Coolness Rating: 4/5

Victory Road: Pokemon Ranger Ralf

Ralf has a level 59 Crobat; he's given his Crobat a pretty solid moveset, including Double Team for evasion spam. I'm not really sold on evade spam as a strategy for Crobat; the longer a battle wears on the less likely that high speed score is to matter. I think I see the vision (Air Slash spam for flinch, maybe hope that Cross Poison gets a poison off), but the time spent setting up Double Team is essentially just downtime. I'd give him more points if he had another fourth move here. Skill Rating: 3/5

Ralf has also gone philosophical: he started out to protect those that he loves but has become consumed with the thrill of battle. Has he lost his way? No, Ralf, you haven't, this is a world populated entirely with people consumed by the thrill of battle. He thinks our battle has taught him what battles are supposed to be about, but I'm not really sure what lesson he's learned here. Coolness Rating: 2/5

Victory Road: Veteran Gerard

Gerard has a level 57 Banette and level 59 Leafeon. The setup here seems to be having the Banette set up paralysis with Thunder Wave in the hopes to buy Leafeon some time to set up Swords Dance. I can see the vision, at least. Skill Rating: 3/5

Gerard, in contrast to our previous two trainers, has been coming up with his new theme song where he just sings "Vet Vet Veteran all the way!"; he tells us that if you spend time having fun with your Pokemon, "Every day is so packed with excitement you don't have time to get old!" Okay, Gerard. Coolness Rating: 2/5

Victory Road: Artist Vincent

You know the drill. Artist means Smeargle; this one has Thunder, Blizzard, Hydro Pump, and Fire Blast, but I'd bet money that most people have never seen him use a single move. Skill Rating: 1/5

Vincent is wondering what color different strategies are. We use all the colors, apparently, which is kind of interesting because all I did was use Earthquake to one-shot him. You don't have to glaze me, Vincent; I am pretty good at this but that's not why I won. Coolness Rating: 3/5

Victory Road: Ace Trainer Michele

Michele has a level 57 Magcargo and a level 58 Scizor. The vision here, much like Gerard, is pretty clear: use Yawn whenever the opposing Pokemon isn't asleep, and then you get some free hits on the opponent until they manage to KO you, at which point you can probably set up Swords Dance for free with Scizor. It's not flawless, but it's respectable. Skill Rating: 3/5

Michele is extolling the virtues of battling: it lets you meet strong trainers and Pokemon! This feels a little circular to me--surely the point of meeting strong trainers and Pokemon is to battle them?--but that's not the point. She's right: if you want to meet people, you just gotta go out and do it. Coolness Rating: 4/5

Victory Road: Hiker Corwin

Corwin has a level 56 Torkoal and a level 56 Golem. Nothing remarkable to report here; it's standard Hiker fare. At this point in the game you really need better if you don't want to lag behind. Skill Rating: 2/5

Corwin is hiding out atop a waterfall (well, "hiding", it is very obvious); he's mostly giving standard Hiker lines ("I'm almost at the summit!"), and offers some solid, if generic advice when we beat him: "To be unprepared is to be inviting danger!" It's true; you gotta be prepared. Coolness Rating: 3/5

Victory Road: Veteran Timeo

Timeo has a level 57 Trevenant and a level 59 Gigalith. I'm a little unimpressed with this spread--Gigalith is very slow, and Trevenant's spread is overall fairly mediocre--but with Sturdy on Gigalith and Trevanent using Curse, I think Timeo is able to punch above his weight class here. Still not great, but respectable. Skill Rating: 3/5

Timeo is another entry in the genre of "I have trained my body to perfection, how have I lost this battle that does not use my body in any way", usually reserved for Black Belts. It's even less impressive in a Veteran. Coolness Rating: 2/5

Victory Road: Veteran Catrina

Catrina has a level 57 Glaceon and a level 59 Snorlax. This is a combo that just kinda works; Glaceon could probably stand to have some coverage moves, but ice is pretty strong offensively, and then Snorlax is respectable, with a pretty good spread of moves and enough defenses and HP that it can probably last a few hits. Another entry in the category of "the best strategy is being strong". Skill Rating: 4/5

Catrina says that ours will be a battle of youth versus wisdom (with us on the side of youth), but then when we win she tells us we must have gained a lot of experience. Yeah, I guess. She likes seeing promising young people, though; very encouraging overall. Coolness Rating: 4/5

Victory Road: Veteran Gilles

Our final opponent in Victory Road, Gilles comes at us with a Skarmory at level 55, an Umbreon at level 55, and an Alakazam at level 57. This is one of those cases where he fields them in the wrong order, I think; the Umbreon knows Toxic (and Moonlight, for that sweet sweet toxic stalling strat), and Toxic is one of those things you should probably be using early to get the most mileage out of it. I'd like to see the Skarmory just continuing the stall strat, but alas, it's purely offensive; still, the Alakazam is a strong choice for sweeping a weakened team. **Skill Rating: 4/5*

Gilles knows that he's the last trainer here and gives what feels like an abbreviated Gym Leader speech. He suggests that we should join the Veterans in the final gauntlet here but immediately says "No, you've got better things to do! Go on ahead with all your might!" (He says "with all your might" a lot.) I like Gilles.

And that's Victory Road sorted! I've spent the last of my money buying more Revives and Full Restores than I could ever need, because that's traditional; next time it's on to the Elite Four, and after them, the Champion! I remember the Champion, in previous times I've played with this ruleset, being quite difficult, so . . . I guess we'll see! I'll see you then, friends.

#pokemon #the very best