Kiryu?:lol;)
Congrats buddy!

So how long until Smogon starts pumping out training regiments for the Sixth Gen's metagame? I wanna be ready to jump in. Hopefully. I still don't understand how competitive battling even works. Or even team building.

I think i have the Geist of competitive battling.

Why does Xerneas remind me of the forest spirit from Princess Mononoke?

Knock on wood but Zubats haven't really been a problem for me yet. :lol

I'm just about to do the fourth gym sooooo it's still a ways off for me. Gotta pace myself here. :lol

Competitive battling isn't worth the effort if you use your actual games (Natures, IVs, Abilities (Especially if your Pokemon's "Optimal ability" is Hidden), EVs, and all that jazz). If you want to go competitive, just use a battle sim online. If you want to work on your team building, just try to cover types well and pay attention to stats.

Because it is :p

They kind of do except the face though.
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__...b6/Xerneas.pnghttp://www.absoluteanime.com/princes...rit%5B2%5D.jpg

After the second gym, the game REALLY speeds up. Although all the stuff with Team Flare is basically just a detour, I'm still grateful for it as I felt like I was running out of track before the tenth hour was even reached. Still, from how rigorous some of you guys search for mons, I'm guessing your game moves at a steadier pace than mine.

Btw, Yveltal is AWESOME. Normally legendaries turn out to be rather uninspiring, but once I used Oblivion Wing, I was smitten. Also I put Chesnaught back into my party as I felt bad.

For me, what kept the pace feeling more normal was that I loved to explore, taking all kinds of side paths and etc. Also helped in that every so often, I'd find a random wild Pokemon that I totally wasn't expecting to find (Like Haunter, Scyther, Gible, or Magneton), so it made me really curious to see who else I could find in the area.

That sounds like a cool attack :lol

Anyway, I did the same with my Chesnaught after I briefly took him out for Noivern.
I know it's not always the smartest idea since most are mediocre, but for some reason, I've always kept my starter on my team.

Anyway, at Victory Road! Team time!

Fluff (Furfrou), Lv69
Lucario (Lucario), Lv 58
Pearl (Lapras), Lv 64
Ares (Charizard), Lv 68
Taylor (Chesnaught), Lv 68
ZONE (Magnezone), Lv 66

Standby:
Battra (Noivern), Lv 53
Goodorah (Goodra), Lv 52
Sail (Aurorus), Lv 58
Metal Alice (Scizor), Lv 53

My main problem with unexpected pokémon, was exactly that, they were unexpected. I'd end up fainting them, before I could capture them, as I wouldn't be prepared, then waste like an hour trying to encounter them again and not seeing them. It bums me out how many great Pokémon have taken me by surprise and I fucked it up. But I guess that is what replays are for.

Right now my team is:

Chesnaught. 49
Yveltal. 51
Dedenne. 51
Hawlucha 52.
Lucario 56.
Blaziken 63.

I think those levels are right, I did them off the top of my head.

I explored every nook and cranny of the game but to me the game still seems short. Maybe it's just what i'm used too because practically every 3DS game is short.