The Artful Nuzlocke Ep11:The Final Gym.

Episode 11: Viridian City
(Lv. 50 Cap)

After another successful episode, attention now turns to the final Gym.

Viridian City’s mysterious leader has finally returned.

Unfortunately, before getting anywhere near him, there’s still the small issue of grinding levels.

The Grind

The level cap for the final Gym is 50, which means there’s still a fair amount of work to do before taking on Giovanni.

As mentioned last episode, Zak replaces Kaa in the team.

Painful, admittedly, after dragging Kaa through most of the run — but having a Psychic type this late into the game is difficult to ignore.

I spend a while deciding where to grind levels.

The main options are heading back to the Sevii Islands or farming the Weezing Bikers north of Cycling Road for decent experience.

I settle on One Island for grinding, mostly because the hot springs make it painless.

I rebattle nearby trainers with the VS Seeker, run around until it recharges, heal, and then do it all again.

Thrilling stuff.

It’s very repetitive, but effective.

By the end of it, the entire team is around level 46 before entering the Gym.

Giovannis Gym.

The mysterious Viridian Gym leader has finally returned after years of disappearing.

Convenient timing for me, considering I need the badge to reach the Elite Four.

It turns out to be Giovanni.

Shocking development.

I make my way through the Gym clearing every trainer along the way, needing all the experience I can get before the leader battle.

By the time I finally reach Giovanni, almost the entire team is sitting at level 48.

Obviously I can raise them to 50 but this feels good enough to move forward with — especially with strong Water and Grass types ready for a Ground Gym.

Giovanni is a Ground-type specialist, which unfortunately for him lines up very badly against my team.

I lead with Sprout. He leads with Rhyhorn.

One Razor Leaf later, one Rhyhorn down.

Next up is Dugtrio, and I swap Sprout out for Calypso.

There’s no reason to risk taking a super effective Earthquake at this point.

Calypso takes the hit comfortably enough, and one Surf removes Dugtrio from the equation.

Two down. Three to go.

Nidoqueen follows and goes down to a single Surf as well.

At this point, I’m starting to question whether this is actually the final Gym.

Nidoking is slightly more awkward.

I’m not sure whether it outspeeds Calypso, so I play it safe and heal first.

Earthquake does respectable damage, but another Surf handles it comfortably enough

That just leaves an over levelled Rhyhorn, which goes down in one hit just as the first one did.

For the final Gym battle, that feels surprisingly straightforward.

Giovanni insists it was “truly intense,” which is generous.

I don’t think I ever really got out of first gear.

Maybe I overlevelled. Maybe I expected more resistance.

Either way, the Gym challenge is finally over.

The full video of this “Battle” is above if you want to watch Giovanni spend eight turns making poor decisions.

On Route 22, I have my penultimate rival fight with Ink.

This is where things start to feel serious again — one bad mistake here could still derail the entire run.

I head down Route 22 for the second time to face Ink again.

Last time I was here, the team was Sprout, Sky and Bam.

Now I have a team that should be worthy of taking on the Elite Four — as long as I don’t mess it up.

Ink approaches for another battle, apparently unaware the Pokémon League is in the opposite direction.

I lead with Calypso vs Pidgeot with the thought process Ice v Flying is powerful and I was right it goes down in two hits to Aurora Beam.

He sends in Exeggcute next, so I swap to Hotdog.

Flamethrower fries the eggs, and suddenly it’s two down.

Two down and its looking good so far..

Next comes Rhyhorn, so Sprout comes in.

It dodges Take Down and removes Rhyhorn with Razor Leaf.

Three down.

So far, so good — but the real problems are still waiting.

Next up is Alakazam, and this is where I get caught out.

Sprout is still in, which is about the last Pokémon I want facing a Psychic type.

I swap into Hotdog, hoping Bite can get me out of trouble.

Alakazam uses Calm Mind on the switch.

Not ideal.

On the next turn I go for Bite, but Alakazam gets a Psychic off first. It does a ridiculous amount of damage — well over 100 HP — and Hotdog only just hangs on.

Bite lands, but barely does a quarter in return.

That’s when the panic properly starts. Hotdog can’t stay in, but I also need something that can take another Psychic.

I swap into Zak, hoping Psychic won’t hit quite as hard.

The first Psychic does solid damage, but nowhere near as much as it did to Hotdog.

For a moment, it actually feels manageable again. Zak survives comfortably enough, and it finally looks like I might be able to stabilise the fight before things get completely out of control.

I go for Headbutt, Alakazam uses Psychic again.

Critical hit.

Zak goes down instantly.