I obviously skipped a large chunk of story to get to the Elite Four battle, but even in my original plan I skipped here immediately after the first Rival encounter. I just like the feel of it through the eyes of two little kids who were probably in way over their heads without magical RPG powers. I also apologize if this comic seems to depressing, but don’t worry, it’ll all work out in the end, I promise.

The two original Pokemon we see here are Geracles and Chroliage, both belonging to a steel type trainer. In case you’re wondering, Flamingo got them past that to the water type trainer and then to the bug type trainer with Galamel’s help. In case you’re wondering, the “bug” trainer has a Gengar because I sort of promised someone I’d put one in here somewhere and the part I originally planned to put in a Gengar was unfortunately cut, like all the good parts. So we get one more nag for the road with the odd setup for our buggy trainer who I only have a vague idea of, but I kind of like the idea of having a Gengar in a bug team, so let’s enjoy this while it lasts.

OCD count: 21

Also, I struggled over deciding whether to use “black out” or “white out” before I realized how fitting a conundrum I was in. It pleased my obsessive compulsiveness for once so you can add one to the imaginary anti-OCD counter as well.