You can complete The Teal Mask without doing a single optional fight, going right to Kitakami as soon as possible. A video on doing so can be found here.
For those who prefer to read a reddit post the run goes as follows.
Rules
No items from the bag in battle.
No use of EXP candies or picnics for EXP.
I may not complete any fight not mandatory to complete the Teal Mask storyline.
Tutorial
In the opening there isn't a ton to note for most of the battles themselves. We do need to complete the tutorial to reach Kitakami but as soon as the world opens up we head right for it.
The started we pick is a Fuecoco, whom I dub "R". He is chosen due to having good bulk and fire being a great type in general. Grass has to many weaknesses and we can get another water Pokémon later on.
There is then the mandatory battle against the wild Lechonk, whom I dub "Porky" and will be one of our only team members throughout the run due to the fact that we cannot flee from it.
We then battle Arven which is uneventful. The second battle against Nemona is of note due to us wanting to win with EXP being very finite and all. So I glitch out of bounds of the tutorial, get an Assault vest and Flamethrower TM which gives R enough of an edge to win for us against the Pawmi.
Team Star's battles are free and then we are right into Kitakami.
Early Kitakami
Early Kitakami is a little scary as you can't leave Kitakami after you enter so you could be softlocked here. Luckily, Carmine isn't dangerous after I reteach R tackle to get around Flash Fire on Vulpix and Kieran too is not an issue yet.
Jacq then comes in clutch to offer us a nice egg in these trying times. This egg can be any Sinnoh starter and by process of elimination plus the ability to learn yawn via mirror herb off R, I choose Piplup by resetting over and over again until it gives us the little penguin, whom I dub Untitledgoos.
From here is where battles become more difficult, and will take careful planning to win.
The Real Run Starts Here
Outside the Dreaded Den, we battle Kieran once more, where Porky takes out his poliwag by exploiting a strange AI quirk. For reasons I will NEVER understand, Kieran's ai has Poliwag use haze as we have Porky wear an Assault Vest and spam Echoed Voice, just barely able to get a KO. Why does Kieran use haze despite us having no boosts? No idea! Maybe he sees the vest as a boost he can remove? Regardless next out is Furret and we can counter its digs with protect until Kieran slips up and we land enough hits to KO. The battle is easy from there.
We are only one battle away from unlocking Ogre Oustin', but sadly we need to get past Carmine who has Morpeko and Mighteyna, two very powerful Pokémon compared to our unevolved team. So this is where luck starts becoming a major factor in these battles. In order to defeat these powerful Pokemon, we need to teach R Fire Blast and Sunny Day, using the sun boost in order to one tap her entire team. The biggest issue here is we need R to have a quick claw go off or for Mighteyna to use Howl for us to land a hit on it. Carmine wastes her turn with Howl allowing us to go for the sweep from tehre.
Next up is Kieran yet again. This battle is rough but at least R evolved after the last fight, plus, we are able to allocate our EVs for everyone. R is max special attack max speed, Porky is max attack max hp, and Untitledgoos is max hp max defense for now. This battle against Kieran isn't so bad. Side note this is where I learned EXP powers are based on the Pokémon you DEFEAT not the Pokémon you HAVE, so I use optimal EXP power from restaurants (we can't make our own as that gives exp) from here on out. R can handle Kieran's team with yawn, fire blast/flamethrower, tera, leftovers, and protect. Sleeping every Pokemon aside from Yanma, protecting to heal a bit extra, and of course, Kieran using haze for no reason again (does the ai think it can remove tera or something? Why is it like this?)
Wild Milotic is uneventful, but we switch everyone in once to minmax EXP. At least Untitledgoos finally evolves.
The next Kieran battle is rough. We open with Sunny Day again, not to make our fire moves stronger, but to make Cramorant's surf weaker. Cramorant is the biggest issue in this battle due to its ability allowing it to hit for a set % of our health. In order to defeat it Porky needs to land two Body Slams, either by having the first paralyze or having quick claw proc on the second. When we FINALLY get this to go off we have Untitledgoos carry the rest of the battle with the heavy bulk investment from before. For Dipplin we have to sleep it with yawn and pray that that it doesn't use Syrup Bomb. It often uses Defense Curl the first turn its out, allowing us to yawn, protect, and defeat it with ice beam as Poliwhirl was worn down thanks to leftovers recovery and a similar plan, save for using grass knot over ice beam.
The Loyal Three are… nothing really. Swap everyone in once in each fight for max EXP, tofu pudding meal for level two poison exp power, and rest on Untitledgoos so poison can't wear us down allowing us to win, albeit very slowly, against every single one with ease.
The next battle is the final against Kieran, and the hardest in the run. After this it's just kinda a victory lap.
Final Kieran and Ending
Final Kieran is tough as nails. In order to win we have to change the EVs on Untitledgoos a little to 242 hp, 212 defense, adn 50 speed exactly. This is imporatnt later. R holds the standard leftovers, Porky holds silk scarf and has been taught Giga Impact and Super Fang, and Untitledgoos is running liquidation and aerial ace for reasons that will shortly become clear.
First up is his Shiftry, who goes down to a single fire blast. We protect the first turn Poliwrath is route for more leftovers recovery before bringing Untitledgoos in to tank the liquidation. After this, we HAVE to have Poliwrath use Belly Drum on EXACTLY this turn. This can take a lot of resets, but when he does so we are able to finish it off by Mirror Herbing the Belly Drum and using Aerial Ace. That's right, this is the only use of Mirror Herb in PvE in HISTORY, and physical Prinplup on top of that!
Probopass comes out next but we survive the spark and defeat it with two liquidations (it has sturdy) and finally Dipplin arrives. We get off one Aerial Ace before Untitledgoos faints, allowing R to come in, protect for extra leftovers recovery, and then defeat it with Fire Blast. Finally, we protect one final time against Yanmega before we attack it with fire blast, as due to it having tinted lens we need every ounce of leftovers recovery to survive Bug Buzz. Fire blast takes it out adn we sacrifice R to switch in Porky safely.
Finally, down to our final Pokemon, Porky Teras and using Super Fang followed by Giga Impact, which is JUST enough to defeat Kieran's final Pokemon, Gliscor, bringing up to a down to the wire victory.
Victory is ours.
Ogrepon and final Carmine are free. Ogrepon is only level 20, and with max EVs in attack and speed, Ogrepon can defeat most of Carmine's team allowing R to easily clean up the rest, ending the run with the bare minimum of only 20 battles.
Closing Thoughts
This was a blast, and I intend to do more runs like this. I love pushing RPGs to teh absolute limit, desperate resource management, barely scraping by, and this run scratched taht itch GOOD with me scavenging the region for any TMs and items I could acquire and pushing my limited team to the absolute limit. The rng wasn't fun but that just comes with the territory. Final Kieran took literal days to get it all to line up properly.
I do wonder how a run going all the way to Mochi Mayham would look. I feel you would do part of Teal Mask early to get Munchlax and the EXP charm asap, before going to Blueberry Academy as early as possible even if it means losing to Lacey for the item printer and omni type exp boost meals. This is a run I'm considering and I am open to suggestions for routes. It is also worth noting catching an Alolan form and one other in the Terrarium is mandatory cause of the class and Drayton giving us our pick of the litter and is best grabbed early so they get all the EXP they can from the rest of the game. I am open to input on this as well as I begin to plan this run out.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
by Gen3kingTheWriter