I never beat pokemon Pearl until now and the post-game is
AWESOME! Pearl was my first ever pokemon game, and back then I didn’t like 4th
gen as much. But I’d say it has to be my favorite as I grew to appreciate it.
Also I’m not a whiney chicken anymore… so that’s sweet. :3

Now that the day of reckoning hath arrived, I’ll devote my
next project to the team that made me champion. And yes, I still remember the
majora series and my comics. But I swear this will be quick! T^T I even
went so far as to replicate the team on pokemon showdown and it’s decent for
the most-part. So here is my honorary sinnoh champions celebration!

It was a peaceful day on Twinleaf Town… other than Clint
dragging me to the lake for some shiny Gyarados, but it was still a nice day. We
came across a briefcase and were attacked by wild Starly, and we used two
pokeballs in the briefcase, and in mine was none other than a Chimchar. For 9
levels that is…

Infernape! The flaming monkey! You can’t get better than
that. While I still think chimchar, in fact, looks completely stupid (poohead) Infernape
was my pick for my starter in the long run, and his name was Locomotive. A fire
and fighting type, it of course has blaze, increasing fire moves at 1/3 health,
and a hidden ability, iron fist, increasing the power of punch-based moves.
STAT TIME!

HP: 76
Attack: 104
Defense: 71
Sp. Attack: 104
Sp. Defense: 71
Speed: 108

Truly the example of the short-lived beauty of fire types.
Seriously, he’s frail as a froakie in a highway. But he does make an excellent
sweeper, being fast and powerful. Be sure to use him wisely. Now the movepool.

Starts with scratch and leer, and here’s the movepool in
order if you were to evolve it as soon as possible.
Lvl 7 Ember: 40 STAB damage and 100 accuracy, it has a 10%
chance of leaving burns.
Lvl 9 Taunt: Prevents the use of non-damaging moves. This
CAN be useful, especially considering the speed of Infernape, but it’s a huge
gamble being weak to hits as he is.
Lvl 14 Mach Punch: You get this move for evolving into
monferno right away, it’s a move that does 40 STAB damage and 100 accuracy that
works like quick attack, going first most of the time. But again, infernape is
fast, really fast. You’ll outspeed a lot of things, so invest in a stronger
move later.
Lvl 16 Fury Swipes: You do 18 damage 2-5 times, and it has
80 accuracy, so of course it’s a risky move, but better than scratch.
Lvl 19 Flame Wheel: A physical attack doing 60 STAB damage
and 100 accuracy, and has a 10% chance of leaving burns.
Lvl 26 Feint: A very weak move doing only 30 damage, but it
works on protect and detecting foes. However that’s another problem, IT ONLY
DAMAGES PROTECTING AND DETECTING FOES.
Lvl 29 Punishment: This is a dark type attack doing 60
damage, but every time the foe raises a stat it does an extra 20 damage. This
gets very powerful if the foe keeps gaining power.
Lvl 36 Close Combat: This is the first move to learn as
Infernape, it does a whopping 120 STAB damage and 100 accuracy, but lowers
defense and sp. defense when used. Try using it when you need to, and use other
attacks whenever you don’t need to completely pwn the enemy’s face.
Lvl 42 Fire Spin: A typical move to learn as a high level
fire type, it initially does 35 STAB damage, but it traps the foe and does
damage every turn for 5 turns as long as Infernape, as long as he’s active that
is. That’s the thing, he’s a sweeper not a staller. Best to keep the
flamethrower TM around.
Lvl 52 Acrobatics: A flying move doing 55 damage, but does
double that if you aren’t holding an item. If there isn’t a specific item you
have in mind for Infernape, rather than stick a lum berry on him for
competitive keep this move.
Lvl 58 Calm Mind: This move increases sp. attack and sp.
defense, but I’d prefer swords dance any day.
Lvl 68 Flare Blitz: Its final move, this does 120 STAB
damage and 100 accuracy, but does 1/3 recoil. Also has a 10% chance of burning
foes. Use this or flamethrower.

So that’s it for leveling up, here are some good TM’s. I
already mentioned 2 ideal ones.
TM17 Protect: Yes, protect… being wimpy as he is in the
defensive, you may want to check for super-effective moves more than ever.
TM26 Earthquake: Good ol’ earthquake, doing 100 damage,
ideal when you’re on your own or have a levitator or flying type buddy in
double battles, and easy to teach pokemon.
TM31 Brick Break: This move puts klefki to shame, as it
breaks the effects of reflect and lightscreen while doing 75 STAB damage.
TM35 Flamethrower: 90 STAB damage, 100 accuracy, and 10%
chance to burn. Ah, classics…
TM40 Aerial Ace: This was my wild card in the pokemon
league, I taught it to locomotive to take out double team users, and unless you
have no need for it under the harsh dictatorship of smogun, it’s pretty dang
useful. Flying attack, 60 damage, always hits.
TM61 Will-O-Wisp: When you know Infernape is going down, be
sure to leave a parting gift with your enemy.
TM65 Shadow Claw: A ghost move doing 70 damage, 100
accuracy, and has a high critical rate.
TM67 Retaliate: It does 70 damage, but doubles in power if
an ally fainted in the last turn.
TM75 Swords Dance: Here it is, use your speed to your
advantage and close combat like there’s no tomorrow! Doubles your attack, then
triples, even quadruples.
TM80 Rock Slide: Attacks all adjacent enemies, 75 damage, 90
accuracy, a 30% chance to flinch.
TM84 Poison Jab: 80 damage, 100 accuracy, it has a 30%
chance of poisoning enemies too.
TM89 U-Turn: Sometimes retreating is the best option, but if
you’re fast like Infernape, you can leave one last hit before going. 70 bug
damage for some reason, lets you switch with an ally after using it.

And that was Infernape. He has lots of options so do what
you want with yours. Use EV’s to raise it’s speed, then focus on either attack
or sp. attack, but you probably should focus on attack. Also use a naïve or
hasty nature to raise speed, and who cares about its defenses anymore? ML out,
gonna catch my first pokemon next…

"Frail as a Froakie in a highway" lol. That was classic.

I agree that Pearl's post-game is pretty sweet, although it's not my favorite (that's Emerald's with Heartgold/Soulsilver close behind). I'm also among those that enjoyed Pokemon X/Y's post-game. But I'm in the camp that believes that Pokemon contests should never have been removed from the games. Those were pretty sweet and fun, and added a whole lot of depth to the games. Pokemon X's post-game should have capitalized on the Super Training, attention given to Pokemon, and the mini-games, and combined them with Pokemon contests. I hope to see a blesses combination of the two in the next games.