Lando enters Lush Jungle with Bam Bigelow (his strongest Fire type), Singe (a Fire/Poison type with quadruple resistance to Grass), Redrum (who's beastly), Vampiris (a grass type wall), Scotty (the pokémon to lead the expedition), and Yo Adrian! (a strong lowbie who's probably the best tagalong.) Natasha (Bug/Water type), Joey (he's kinda peaked), and the Water types (Lucy VanPelt, Lisbeth Sala, and AquaSpectrum) are staying behind. Lando does his best to give his pokémon plenty of playtime with him, but he's keeping those five behind because he's venturing into an area that is very unsafe for them.
Yo Adrian! proves to be a fantastic intern, thrashing any challenger that thwarts her attempts to forage for ingredients for Mallow's Trial. Lando is feeling pretty confident...until Totem Lurantis shows up. Lando launches Bam Bigelow who starts out strong with a Z-Move. With Totem Lurantis's HP in the yellow, it summons Castform, who casts Sunny Day. Lurantis's Solar Blade plus Sunny Day's Headbutt put Bam Bigelow's HP in the red. Lando switches out to Singe, hoping its defenses can buy Lando some time to heal Bam Bigelow and hopefully do some damage. Nope. Singe is killed in a couple of turns and Lurantis casts Synthesis. Yo Adrian! rashly runs into the fight in order to prove that her dominance in the Trial wasn't a fluke, but she too is destroyed by a Solar Blade and a Headbutt. Loyal Scotty, who still feels the need to prove his worth to Lando comes out barking...and is quickly killed. Lando hopes Vampiris can maybe use Leech Seed, but an X-Scissor from Lurantis and a super-effective attack (Lando can't remember what) from Castform annihilate her like Round-Up kills weeds.
Redrum is up, and he is tough enough to withstand this double team onslaught without dying. This actually allows Lando to heal Bam Bigelow, finally! Unfortunately, Redrum is unable to do much damage, because this battle of attrition consumes a lot of potions and even this brazen gangster can't hang with this dominant duo. Redrum manages to knock off a bunch of Castform's HP before he goes belly up.
It's all up to Bam Bigelow again, now. He hits Lurantis with Fire Fang and halves its HP...but it casts Synthesis and fully heals itself! And now Castform can use Water Gun! Come on! Luckily, Bam Bigelow is able to shake off the water like it's nothing, despite it being super-effective! Every time Bam Bigelow halves Lurantis's HP, it casts Synthesis. This battle of attrition continues and Bam Bigelow nearly meets his maker once or twice.
Lando rethinks his approach and has Bam Bigelow knock out Castform in a couple of turns, as part of a gamble. See, Lando knows the Totem will summon another companion and he chances that the companion will be something other than Castform. The gamble pays off and Lurantis summons Trumbeak. Okay, the gamble almost pays off, because though there is no more Sunny Day, Trumbeak's Plucks pack a punch and its Supersonic confuses Bam Bigelow, who hurts himself once or twice. Lurantis finally exhausts its Synthesis, allowing Bam Bigelow an opening. He hits with Fire Fang, which burns Lurantis! His last Fire Fang, plus the burn from before, kills the Totem! Now it's on to Trumbeak. Despite its powerful Pluck docking half of Bam Bigelow's HP, the cat prevails!
Bam Bigelow truly is a cat with nine lives! Lando thanks Nuzlocke fate for his Trainer ID# endowing him with a Litten as his starter.
Lando's journey has been filled with pyrrhic victories, but this one is easily the most pyrrhic. He lost five pokémon to Totem Lurantis and he thought his entire run would actually end right there! The loss he is most crushed over is Redrum, believe it or not. That Sylveon was a true gangster with high HP, strong attacks, and tough defenses; but despite his most valiant efforts, he could not overthrow The Don. Vampiris is a crushing loss too, as she proved to be more forceful than she looked and Lando desperately wanted to evolve her with a Sun Stone. But to lose Singe, Yo Adrian!, and Scotty, who still had so much potential is a huge blow. Scotty especially never got to have his big moment to shine. Poor guy had just been standing in the shadows as "old reliable." He was the kind of dog who'd heel with you for the long haul.
Once again, it's time to lick the wounds, seek out a new pokémon team member in Lush Jungle, rebuild the team, and move on to face Kahuna Olivia. But first, Komala Coffee. Oh, and a sweet malasada for Bam Bigelow. They're his favorite.