Pokemon Blue Nuzlocke Time! (Part 15.00)
Elite Four grinding - begin!
(Also, I'm of two minds about this grinding. One is that it was unnecessary - you'll see. The other is that it was absolutely necessary for one specific Pokemon - you'll see.
There's something wonky about the game balance when you only really have to fear one Pokemon on a team - and that Pokemon had the full potential to sweep. To my mind, this is because that Pokemon was one of the few with a moveset that both packed high-power moves and didn't confuse the A.I. By picking Squirtle, I may actually have gotten the easiest Rival starter-Pokemon - Mega Drain has low power, but Venusaur is equally helpless if it wastes time on a Solar Beam against a Pokemon that outsped it. Rival!Blastoise at least has Hydro Pump and Blizzard (though it could easily waste time on Withdraw, and Bite is subpar as an endgame move - equivalent to STAB Mega Drain, but inferior to, say, Strength or Body Slam), and Rival!Charizard has both Fire Blast and Slash. Fire Spin can also be bad in Gen 1 due to wonky Wrap mechanics, though Rage... -_- Uh, never mind.
Blizzard and Fire Blast display that RB!Gary isn't above using TMs. However, he doesn't seem to have put much time into setting up good movesets. Ember on Arcanine? Really, Gary?)
( No Elite Four in this part, alas - just the grinding beforehand. Next two posts will contain the true end of the run! )