Badge Requests

[indigo_league]

 What does it take? It changes for each gym! Normally, the games increase in difficulty as you progress, but that wouldn't be any fun if characters could just as easily take on the Gyms that are supposed to be for top trainers only. THEREFORE, the gym leaders aren't going to be pushovers like in the games! In order to win a badge, the mods will take into account your current roster and the attacks and advantages to see whether your pokémon is strong enough to win a badge or not.

Each gym leader has a Regular Team of pokemon and an Elite Team of pokemon you can challenge. It's up to a trainer to decide which team to challenge, but if you take on the Elite Team of six level 100 Pokemon, you'll receive double the prize money. The items, however, are not doubled. Excellent for trainers looking for the extra challenge or those looking to make money fast.

!!! Badges must be mod approved. To earn a badge, please comment on this post. Please don't ask for more than two badges to be approved at once!

JOHTO
Violet City Badge: Zephyr Leader: Falkner Team: Noctowl (L: 30) Honchkrow (L: 32) Pidgeot (L: 35) Rewards: [P10,000] TM Roost Can use Fly outside of battle Elite Team: Pidgeot, Dodrio, Swellow, Xatu, Staraptor, Pelipper	Azalea Town Badge: Hive Leader: Bugsy Team: Pinsir (L: 35) Heracross (L: 37) Scizor (L: 40) Rewards: [P12,000] TM U-Turn Can use Rock Smash outside of battle Elite Team: Scizor, Venomoth, Vespiquen, Yanmega, Galvantula, Heracross	Goldenrod City Badge: Plain Leader: Whitney Team: Girafarig (L: 40) Clefable (L: 42) Miltank (L: 45) Rewards: [P14,000] HM Rock Smash TM Attract Can use Strength outside of battle Elite Team: Ursaring, Granbull, Blissey, Exploud, Tauros, Snorlax	Ecruteak City Badge: Fog Leader: Morty Team: Haunter (L: 45) Misdreavus (L: 47) Gengar (L: 50) Rewards: [P16,000] TM Shadow Ball HM Strength Can use Surf outside of battle Elite Team: Drifblim, Spiritomb, Dusknoir, Mismagius, Gengar, Chandelure
Cianwood City Badge: Storm Leader: Chuck Team: Hitmonlee (L: 50) Hitmonchan (L: 52) Poliwrath (L: 55) Rewards: [P18,000] HM Fly Elite Team: Medicham, Machamp, Hariyama, Breloom, Primeape, Toxicroak	Olivine City Badge: Mineral Leader: Jasmine Team: Skarmory (L: 55) Magneton (L: 57) Steelix (L: 60) Rewards: [P20,000] HM Surf HM Whirlpool Elite Team: Metagross, Bronzong, Skarmory, Steelix, Magnezone, Empoleon	Mahogany Town Badge: Glacier Leader: Pryce Team: Dewgong (L: 60) Lapras (L: 62) Mamoswine (L: 65) Rewards: [P22,000] TM Hail Can use Waterfall outside of battle Elite Team: Abomasnow, Dewgong, Glalie, Froslass, Mamoswine, Walrein	Blackthorn City Badge: Rising Leader: Clair Team: Gyarados (L: 65) Kingdra (L: 67) Dragonite (L: 70) Rewards: [P24,000] HM Waterfall Can use Whirlpool outside of battle A reusable ticket for the SS Anne* Elite Team: Aerodactyl, Charizard, Kingdra, Salamence, Garchomp, Dragonite       *For defeating the Elite team only. Three week paid cruise vacation to be taken whenever and as many times as the holder desires. Boat can be caught from Olivine or Vermilion.
KANTO
Pewter City Badge: Boulder Leader: Brock Team: Rhyhorn (L: 30) Golem (L: 32) Onix (L: 35) Rewards: [P10,000] TM Rock Slide HM Rock Smash Elite Team: Rhyperior, Rampardos, Golem, Omastar, Kabutops, Onix	Cerulean City Badge: Cascade Leader: Misty Team: Golduck (L: 35) Lapras (L: 37) Starmie (L: 40) Rewards: [P12,000] TM Water Pulse Can use Surf outside of battle Elite Team: Quagsire, Lanturn, Floatzel, Lapras, Milotic, Starmie	Vermilion City Badge: Thunder Badge Leader: Lt. Surge Team: Electabuzz (L: 40) Magneton (L: 42) Raichu (L: 45) Rewards: [P14,000] TM Thunder Can use Strength outside of battle Elite Team: Manectric, Electrode, Pachirisu, Magnezone, Electivire, Raichu	Celadon City Badge: Rainbow Leader: Erika Team: Jumpluff (L: 45) Tangrowth (L: 47) Bellossom (L: 50) Rewards: [P16,000] TM Giga Drain HM Strength Can use Fly outside of battle Elite Team: Shiftry, Jumpluff, Victreebel, Bellossom, Roserade, Vileplume
Fuchsia City Badge: Soul Leader: Janine Team: Crobat (L: 50) Ariados (L: 52) Venomoth (L: 55) Rewards: [P18,000] TM Toxic HM Surf Can use Rock Smash outside of battle Elite Team: Crobat, Weezing, Toxicroak, Drapion, Arbok, Venomoth	Saffron City Badge: Marsh Leader: Sabrina Team: Espeon (L: 55) Mr. Mime (L: 57) Alakazam (L: 60) Rewards: [P20,000] TM Psychic HM Fly Elite Team: Jynx, Wobbuffet, Espeon, Gallade, Gardevoir, Alakazam	Cinnabar Island (Seafoam Islands) Badge: Volcano Leader: Blaine Team: Magcargo (L: 60) Magmortar (L: 62) Rapidash (L: 65) Rewards: [P22,000] TM Fire Blast HM Whirlpool Can use Whirlpool outside of battle Elite Team: Torkoal, Camerupt, Magcargo, Houndoom, Magmortar, Rapidash	Viridian City Badge: Earth Leader: Blue Team: Exeggutor (L: 65) Machamp (L: 66) Rhydon (L: 67) Gyarados (L: 68) Pidgeot (L: 69) Arcanine (L: 70) Rewards: [P25,000] TM Hyper Beam A reusable ticket for the SS Anne* Elite Team: Venusaur, Blastoise, Charizard, Tyranitar, Pidgeot, Jolteon       *For defeating the Elite team only. Three week paid cruise vacation to be taken whenever and as many times as the holder desires. Boat can be caught from Olivine or Vermilion.

The Elite Four is now distributing Keystones and Mega Stones to promising trainers! Any trainer who has defeated all eight gyms of a single region will be granted a Keystone and one Mega Stone of their choice. No player will be able to have more than one Mega Stone at a time, and those looking to switch theirs out may do so once every four months. Mega Stones may be used in any casual trainer battle, but as far as gyms go may only be used in Elite battles.

The Indigo Plateau is now open to challengers! To qualify, trainers must have all sixteen badges from Johto and Kanto. Every Pokémon they face will be level 100, and the Elite Four and the Champion have heaps of talent and experience. As such, we will be reviewing Indigo Plateau challenges with more scrutiny than we bring to badge requests. A higher level of strategy is required to win on this field. Show us what you've got!

ELITE FOUR
Bede Team: Mawile (L: 100) Sylveon (L: 100) Galarian Rapidash (L: 100) Primarina (L: 100) Tinkaton (L: 100) Hatterene (L: 100) Rewards: [P30,000] TM Draining Kiss Life Orb	Koga Team: Skuntank (L: 100) Venomoth (L: 100) Toxicroak (L: 100) Swalot (L: 100) Crobat (L: 100) Muk (L: 100) Rewards: [P35,000] TM Venoshock Expert Belt	Bruno Team: Hitmontop (L: 100) Hitmonlee (L: 100) Hitmonchan (L: 100) Hariyama (L: 100) Machamp (L: 100) Lucario (L: 100) Rewards: [P40,000] TM Power-Up Punch Protective Pads	Karen Team: Weavile (L: 100) Absol (L: 100) Spiritomb (L: 100) Houndoom (L: 100) Honchkrow (L: 100) Umbreon (L: 100) Rewards: [P45,000] TM Snarl Ring Target
Lance Team: Salamence (L: 100) Gyarados (L: 100) Garchomp (L: 100) Altaria (L: 100) Charizard (L: 100) Dragonite (L: 100) Rewards: [P60,000] TM Giga Impact A Dragon-type egg with one egg move and one TM move of your choice The League Certificate qualifying the winner to create and lead their own Pokémon "Gym." This Gym is part not of the Indigo League, but the Aurora League.	Aurora League Gym Leaders may choose their own battle specializations, as well as. design their own unique Gym (which will take one month to build from the time of request) and Badge (which will be available as soon as the Gym opens). They will be compensated for their work as Gym Leaders with a stipend that will cover building costs, labor (the Leader's and any Trainers they may employ), and rewards for victorious challengers. We ask that Aurora Gym Leaders think carefully about the location of their Gym and the difficulty level they wish to present challengers. We also ask that they create their own Badge Request page like this one so that others can request battles with them. To officially request an Aurora League Gym, fill out the provided template and comment here.

Please use this form to request a badge or a showdown with the Elite Four! Post your request as a comment to this post. Badges will generally be processed once per week, on either Wednesday or during the weekend. Please try not to PM or IM mods about badges (including elite challenges) unless your request has gone unanswered for more than a week.

!!! Please request badges as your character is actually in the general area of the gym!

!!! To preserve the spirit of the game, obtaining badges using recently-inherited Pokémon (ie, Pokemon received from dropped characters) that massively outlevel your own is discouraged. If this happens, you may be asked by the badge mod to revise your team. Inherited Pokemon that your character has had for a while and are the same level as the rest of your character's team are fine to use!

!!! Remember that you must fight all four members of the Elite Four and Champion Lance in a row. You may heal your Pokémon between battles and take a short break, but you cannot leave without ending your challenge.

<b>Character:</b> CHARACTER NAME | <user name="JOURNAL"> <b>Badge/Gym Leader:</b> NAME OF THE BADGE OR GYM LEADER YOU'RE CHALLENGING <b>Elite/Regular:</b> ELITE TEAM OR REGULAR TEAM <b>Team:</b> LINK TO POKEMON ROSTER <b>Battle Details:</b> MISCELLANEOUS DETAILS ABOUT YOUR TEAM/CHARACTER THAT'LL HELP YOU IN THIS BATTLE (recommended!)

「 NAVIGATION 」

Comments

[amaure]

Character: Emet-Selch | amaure
Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner | Zephyr Badge
Elite/Regular: regular
Team: OOPS ALL ROTOM, but specifically Ghost (57), Frost (47), and Wash (47, not that he'll likely need a third)
Battle Details: Well, besides the obvious level and type advantage afforded by his team of electrically charged ghosts possessing appliances, he will lean further into that by setting the stage with Electric Field. You know, just in case Falkner had any hope that this match up would somehow go in his favor at all. Leading with his Rotom that isn't currently possessing anything, he'll rely on his boosted up electric attacks like Thunderbolt, Discharge, and so on to do away with Falkner's team.

However, he isn't so arrogant to think that he shouldn't be cautious, and so with Honchkrow being the biggest threat here, he'll set up Substitute and Double Team to deal with any Dark-type moves that might threaten Rotom. Then like the others, he will work that electric advantage to dispatch of Honchkrow.

Should he not be able to sweep Falkner with his leading Rotom, he will bring forth his Frost Rotom, and mercilessly Blizzard what remains—that is if Electric terrain by this point has worn out. Knowing full well the accuracy leaves something to be desired, the power behind the move should more than make up for it. If it misses, then he will reinstate electric terrain, followed up with Thunder Wave to paralyze and slow down that Pidgeot, and with lil Frosty man being Timid in nature...the newly formed discrepancy in speed will work to bolster Electro Ball to finish this.

If not, well, there's always Wash Rotom to clean up the mess, eh???

[cyan_maid]

Character: Jane Crocker | cyan_maid
Badge/Gym Leader: Brock for the Boulder Badge
Elite/Regular: ELITE TEAM
Team: Dinah the Audino, Marnie the Seaking, Madeline the Primarina, Ramsay the Leafeon, Dart the Bisharp, and Deva the Indeedee
Battle Details: Jane has literally decided to stack her deck full of type advantages in her fight against Brock. While Dinah and Deva don't have the best advantage against such high-Defense opponents, they do have stat-altering moves that can bring their opponents to heel. Deva's got Calm Mind to boost Attack and Special Attack, and then can use Baton Pass to not only switch out with another Pokemon, but pass that stat boost onto them as well. Dinah has Baby Doll Eyes, Attract (if we can bring gender into play), and Simple Beam, as well as Power-Up Punch, a Fighting type move that is not only super effective against Brock's rocks, but boosts Dinah's attack with every connecting hit.

As for her other Pokemon, they are going all in on moves that will get a STAB - Marnie and Madeline's Water moves, Ramsay's Grass moves, and Dart's Steel moves will slam into their opponents with as much force as possible. We're going for a type advantage overwhelming kind of strategy here.

[shiro2hero]

Character: Shiro | shiro2hero
Badge/Gym Leader: Viridian | Blue
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Here
Battle Details:
The plan here is type advantage, with a whole lot of buffs, should there not be a strong standing advantage. Gengar and Gallade using Confusion, Hypnosis and Protect to help boost and alter the status of their side and the opposing side, respectively. Gallade will also be chipping in with Heal Pulse when its teammates are withdrawn, to assist with keeping HP topped up. From there, it's a rolling matchup, 1:1.

For Exeggutor, Shiro uses Incineroar, and its fire type moves.

Machamp vs Gallade, relying on psychic type moves (confusion and Psycho Cut, with Healing Pulse and Protect if things get hairy)

Rhydon and Gyarados are taken on by Tropius. Tropius' grass type moves versus Rhydon's Rock/Ground and Gyarados' water.

Pidgeot has to take on Aggron's Rock Tomb, Rockslide, and deal with its high defense, plus Iron Defense.

Lastly, Arcanine gets to deal with Marowak, and its ground based moves.

If all else fails, Shiro falls back on the old standby. Mega Aggron, with its Sturdy ability - able to withstand potential 1 Hit KO's with a remaining hitpoint, and keep going.

[cutesneeze]

Character: Catra | cutesneeze
Badge/Gym Leader: Hive/Bugsy
Elite/Regular: Regular team
Team: Grey (Corviknight, 64), Spinner (Sigilyph, 44), Ember (Vulpix, 48), Tank (Shelgon, 63)
Battle Details:
Grey the Corviknight will be going in first against the Pinsir. She'll start off with Taunt to avoid status effects, then Scary Face to slow her opponent down. Then it's Drill Peck and Pluck, refreshing Taunt as needed.

She'll remain out to use Taunt against Heracross, then withdraw to let Spinner the Sigilyph have the floor.

Spinner will open with Sigilyph to raise her defenses, followed by Confusion in hopes of getting lucky with that 10% chance and to take advantage of Heracross's 2x Psychic weakness. She'll then continue with Air Slash in hopes of hitting that 30% Flinch chance, and to take advantage of that sweet, sweet 4x Flying weakness. If Heracross is still up, she'll throw out another Confusion, then return to the Flying attacks with Air Slash, Air Cutter, and Gust.

If Spinner goes down, Grey will come back out with some more Drill Peck and Pluck.

Once Heracross is down, Ember the Vulpix will come in against Scizor. Ember will open with Confuse Ray, then Tail Whip, followed by Will-O-Wisp in hopes of inflicting a Burn. Fire Spin will be next, followed by Flamethrower.

If and only if Ember goes down, Catra will bring in Tank the Shelgon to take up Flamethrower duty.


Character: Catra | cutesneeze
Badge/Gym Leader: Zephyr/Falkner
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Skipper (Pachirisu, 30), Breeze (Galarian Rapidash, 77), Tank (Shelgon, 63)
Battle Details:
Skipper will be going in first against the Noctowl, and will open with Sweet Kiss to confuse his opponent, followed by Charm to lower Noctowl's attack. He'll then use Electro Ball and Spark, in order of priority, to take advantage of that 2x Electric weakness, throwing in another Sweet Kiss every four moves or so to keep the confusion up as much as possible.

Breeze will come in against Honchkrow. She'll open with Agility to boost her own speed, and then use Growl and Tail Whip to reduce Honchkrow's attack and defense. Then she'll use Dazzling Gleam and Fairy Wind to take advantage of the 2x Fairy weakness, with an occasional Stomp thrown in in hopes of causing a flinch.

Tank will come in against Pidgeot, and will start with Scary Face, then Crunch, Leer, Bite, and Double-Edge (taking advantage of his Rock Head ability to avoid recoil damage) in order. If Pidgeot is still up, he'll throw in a Flamethrower in hopes of triggering a Burn for some damage over time, then repeat from the top.

[angewiesen]

Character: Jean Kirstein | angewiesen

Badge/Gym Leader: Soul Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team:
Battle Details: For this battle, Jean is letting his Steel Types shine, since Poison Types normally can't effect them at all and they even resist the secondary Bug, Psychic and Flying Types. He's leading with Rook (Pawniard) because she's slightly under-leveled and he just wants her to get some experience while she can. After that, Pinch (Escavalier) gets a shot, and after that, he hopes to sweep with Edge (Aegislash) and Chess (Corviknight) since Edge is somewhat over-leveled and Chess is really over-leveled. He'll be going straight for the KO with his strongest physical moves since none of Janine's Pokemon have good defenses, and it's best to take Poison Types down down quickly before their various statuses and tricks can build up.

Badge/Gym Leader: Marsh Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team:
Battle Details: Jean's strategy is pretty similar to the strategy above, except replace "Steel Type" with "Dark Type and Bug Type". Jean has heard that Sabrina can be a particularly difficult opponent, so he did a little research on her team, and found that all of her Pokemon can only naturally learn Psychic, Fairy, and Normal Type damaging moves. Rook (Pawniard) either flat out can't be damaged (Psychic vs Dark) or takes little damage (Fairy and Normal vs Steel) from those attacks, so he hopes for her to get far, even though she over-leveled. After her, he plans to deploy Pinch (Escavalier) and Puck (Accelgor) to hit hard with strong physical Bug Type moves, and he has Edge (Aegislash) and Chess (Corviknight) to clean up anything that's left, as they're of a more appropriate level. Like Janine's Pokemon, Sabrina's also have poor defenses, so he plans to hit hard and fast-- Except for that pesky Mr. Mime. If He tries to set up barriers, Jean plans to retaliate with Max's (Lycanroc) Psychic Fangs. If he tries to use Guard or Power Swap, Puck can reverse the effects with her own Guard or Power Swap.

[fearinahandfulof]

Character: Cassandra | fearinahandfulof
Badge/Gym Leader: Glacier/Pryce
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Blue the Lapras, Snow the Absol, Elizabeth the Aegislash, Licht the Mimikyu
Battle Details: This is not a great dungeon for Cassandra; her pokemon don't have the best coverage of the necessary elements. That means she has to compensate with judicious TM purchases. It's a good thing she has a steady job.

Dewgong: Blue is a bit of a weird choice for this, because he's three levels below Dewgong and he's a water/ice pokemon. However, he is a water/ice pokemon who's known Thunderbolt since he hatched, which means he can actually do some damage here. If he starts to struggle, then Elizabeth will step in - and since Elizabeth has 25 levels on Dewgong and two Fighting-type attacks (Sacred Sword and Brick Break), which both hit one of Dewgong's other weaknesses, Dewgong likely won't last long if she does.

Lapras: On paper, Snow does not seem like the best match, as while she doesn't have any type weaknesses, she doesn't really have a type advantage either. However, she does know Taunt, and more importantly Cassandra taught her Thunderbolt, so she's actually in a halfway decent position here. She'll use Taunt to lock away Lapras's status skills, Double Team on herself, and then she'll start hitting Lapras with Thunderbolt. As they are evenly matched and Snow doesn't have an innate type advantage, there is a chance she will begin to falter; in that case Elizabeth will step in again.

Mamoswine: Licht is another pokemon that doesn't seem ideally suited to an ice dungeon. However, Licht has exactly two weaknesses and Mamoswine can't hit either of them, while Licht can hit a couple of Mamoswine's with little difficulty. Taunt locks away Mamoswine's status skills, and Burning Jealousy and especially Wood Hammer will hit two of its weaknesses, to Fire and Grass respectively, and whittle down its HP. To make things even more challenging for poor Mamoswine, Licht is also immune to all of its Normal-type attacks, and while Mamoswine has no weakness to Licht's Draining Kiss, it doesn't resist it, either.  Mamoswine's high defense may be an issue, but even if Licht does start to run out of PP, then Elizabeth is once again waiting in the wings - this time with Steel Beam to hit another of Mamoswine's weaknesses. She might even have a few Sacred Swords left for the occasion.

Cassandra, as always, is waiting in the wings with healing items.

Badge/Gym Leader: Rising/Clair
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Lily the Pikachu, Blade the Silvally, Rhiannon the Alolan Ninetales
Battle Details: Time to get (more) serious.

Gyarados: It's really too bad about that 4x electric weakness. Lily sympathizes. Unfortunately, Lily also wants to win, so her sympathies in this case are conveyed via Thunderbolts. Sorry, Gyarados.

Kingdra: Honestly, Blade's overleveled for this. On the other hand, Blade has exactly one Fairy-type attack despite being Fairy-typed itself, so its utility is slightly limited. However, Multi-Attack is a very good attack, and Blade's other attacks, while not super-effective, do decent damage in their own right (Poison Fang will probably be deployed at least a few times in an attempt to inflict that status). It will also be using Swords Dance to up its own attack, and potentially Imprison if they have many skills in common.

Dragonite: Given that Blade is both Cassandra's starter and one of her two level 100 pokemon, one might think she'd be deploying it against Dragonite. Not so. Rhiannon's been looking forward to this battle almost from the moment she'd hatched. Rhiannon is actually one level below Dragonite, but as an Ice/Fairy type she has a significant type advantage and a plethora of attacks from both of those elements. She also has a number of status skills that she will happily break out for the occasion (including Aurora Veil to blunt Dragonite's attacks, Nasty Plot to up her own special attacks, and Double Team to increase her evasion), and if her HP runs low, she can always use Draining Kiss - which Dragonite is weak to. And Dragonite's 4x ice weakness is a huge liability against a even a partial Ice-type pokemon with the likes of Ice Beam and Blizzard in her arsenal. Rhiannon will likely try to end this battle with Triple Axel for style points, but only if she can get away with it. She's in this to win.

If Rhiannon somehow falters, then Blade will likely step back in, but that's a huge 'if.'

Cassandra will continue to dole out healing items as needed.

[cyan_maid]

Character: Jane Crocker | cyan_maid
Badge/Gym Leader: Misty for the Cascade Badge
Elite/Regular: ELITE TEAM
Team: Dinah, Poirot, Bettina, Ramsay, Dart, and Madeline, all lv 100
Battle Details: The struggle for Jane has always been that she doesn't have Electric types at high enough levels for these Elite Battles, which is no better exemplified here in her fight with Misty - she has to be creative, and she has to think, and she has to stock up on the healing items as always.

This, however, is at least not a problem against Quagsire, whose 4x weakness to Grass should make it fall quickly to Ramsay the Leafeon's Swords Dance and Leaf Blade combo. He'll stay in the fight (keeping those boosted stats) when Lanturn comes out, hopefully working quickly to cut it down to size, and then he's taking a well-deserved rest for the remainder of the battle.

Floatzel on average have lower Defense/Special Defense stats (as per Pokemon DB) and as such Jane will bring out Madeline against it. As a Primarina, she can take Water Type attacks with resistance and dish out Moonblast and Dazzling Gleam; while Fairy Type attacks don't have a particular advantage, they're also not disaffective either. She will also make use of Sing, Attract (if we can abuse the gender binary yet again), and Baby Doll eyes to trip up her opponent.

Lapras on the other hand will meet the full force of both Dart and Dinah. While Lapras's dual typing keeps it from being weak to Dart's Steel attacks, Swords Dance + Metal Claw or Night Slash is still potent, and if he should fall, Dinah can pick up the slack with Power-Up Punch and Thunder Punch. Hopefully Dart will have dealt plenty of damage to Lapras to keep Dinah from being hurt too badly, so she can wait in the wings if needed against Milotic or Starmie.

Speaking of Milotic and Starmie, both will be fought with two different approaches. Bettina the Crobat will be taking on Milotic, going in for a Confuse Ray + Poison Fang to poison + Venoshock combo, stacking damage with STAB and status effects. Considering that Milotic has a fair amount of HP recovery moves, hopefully these measures in place will be enough for Bettina to make some headway with her Flying moveset arsenal of Air Cutter, Fly, Acrobatics, and Wing Attack. Starmie, on the other hand, is facing off against sweet little Poirot the Kricketune. As long as there are other Pokemon still up and kicking in Jane's team, he will lead off with Perish Song and do as much damage with moves like X-Scissor and Fell Stinger as he can to really dig into Starmie's Psychic typing. Dinah is his backup should this strategy fall through, but hopefully this will be enough to topple Misty's team.

[cyan_maid]

Character: Jane Crocker | cyan_maid
Badge/Gym Leader: Sabrina for the Marsh Badge
Elite/Regular: ELITE TEAM
Team: Dinah, Poirot, August, Madeline, Ramsay, and Dart (all lv 100)
Battle Details: Man we are just slamming down badges this week, huh? Anyway, Jane is going to lead with August the Delphox against Sabrina's Jynx. Tossing up a Sunny Day before letting loose Mystical Fire, Flamethrower, and Fire Blast, he will make good use of STAB against Jynx's Ice typing. That shouldn't be too hard. It's Wobbuffet that Jane has to worry about, and to counter it she'll let August set up a Will-o-Wisp and keep hammering it with Fire attacks. If it looks like he'll be on the ropes, he'll set up Sunny Day again before letting Ramsay the Leafeon take over. Ramsay's superior Speed stat and the STAB from moves like Leaf Blade and Giga Drain should be able to bring Wobbuffet to its metaphorical knees.

For Espeon, Dinah the Audino will come out and make liberal use of Shadow Ball; her status lowering moves are more for Attack than Special Attack, so Jane's not going to bother bringing that stat down when Espeon is likely to focus on using special moves over physical ones. If she can push past Espeon, she'll counter Gallade with Dazzling Gleam, hopefully making a dent before switching off to Madeline the Primarina, who can definitely finish it off with Moonblast. She'll then be returned to serve as backup for the last two opponents, should she be needed.

Gardevoir is going to be fought via a gamble with Dart the Bisharp. While his Dark typing makes her weak to Gardevoir's Fairy moves, Gardevoir is also weak to his Steel moves, and he is going to go out with Scary Face to ensure Speed is lowered, then Iron Head and Metal Claw. Madeline is there to provide backup via her Water type attacks should he fall, but hopefully he can deal some serious damage to Gardevoir before that happens.

Alakazam, of course, gets to face off against Poirot the Kricketune - this is the second time he's come in at the end to be the big damn hero, and he shalln't let Jane's faith in him go unrewarded! He'll start off with Screech to lower Alakazam's Defense and then go to town with X-Scissor, Fell Stinger, and Fury Cutter (the last of which will attack in succession to stack damage). Jane will have healing items on standby as always, so hopefully she won't have to resort to a Perish Song play, but as long as she has another Pokemon standing she will have it on the backburner, just in case.

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

Character: Shinobu Tsukuyomi | un_oiseau_rebelle
Badge/Gym Leader: Storm/Chuck
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: El Diablo Verde the Grapploct, Ran the Lurantis, Kirin the Galarian Rapidash, Midori the Leafeon
Battle Details: Well... he's here, and his pokemon are restless. Might as well.

Hitmonlee: El Diablo Verde is starting this battle off, with castings of Taunt and Octolock. Then he's getting out of the way in favor of Ran, who is admittedly not the speediest or strongest pokemon in Shinobu's roster; however, she does have Aerial Ace, learned via TM. Hitmonlee also takes full damage from Grass, and Ran has access to a number of strong Grass attacks (including Solar Beam) as well as Sunny Day to power up said Solar Beam. El Diablo Verde may need to switch back in a few times to cast Taunt again, and may take one or two swings at Hitmonlee himself.

Hitmonchan: El Diablo Verde is also on Taunt duty for this battle, although the bulk of the attacking is going to be done by Kirin, who as a Psychic/Fairy pokemon has a dual type advantage. Between Confusion, Fairy Wind, Psybeam, Psycho Cut, Dazzling Gleam, Psychic, and Expanding Force, she can do a lot of damage, while El Diablo Verde periodically switches in to re-up Taunt to keep Hitmonchan's status moves locked down. Kirin also has over ten levels on Hitmonchan in addition to the type advantage, so she's in good shape here.

Poliwrath: Once again, El Diablo Verde is starting things off with Taunt.  This time, though, it's Midori switching in to take advantage of Poliwrath's Grass weakness. Midori has a lot of different attack options (plus Sunny Day to further weaken Poliwrath's Water skills, which she's already resistant to, and Sand Attack to lower its accuracy), as well as numerous additional status moves to keep herself going. And if her HP starts to drop, she has both Synthesis and Giga Drain to top herself back up, with the latter having the bonus of really hurting Poliwrath. Add the fact that Midori has a good ten levels on Poliwrath, and barring unforeseen events, this should go well.

Shinobu, for his part, is keeping various healing items at the ready, just in case.

At the end of the week, after a ferry to Olivine City, it's time for another battle.

Badge/Gym Leader: Mineral/Jasmine
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Raiju the Luxray, Akari the Chandelure, El Diablo Verde the Grapploct, Murasaki the Salazzle
Battle Details: This may be ill-advised.

Skarmory: Skarmory has a glaring weakness to Electricity. Raiju is an Electric pokemon with a couple of levels on Skarmory who is happy to take advantage of both of these facts. She'll try to hit Skarmory with Thunder Wave and then use her Electric attacks to do as much damage as possible as quickly as possible. Her ability being Intimidate is also helpful, as that weakens Skarmory's attacks right off the bat. The one tool Raiju doesn't use is Electric Terrain, because it wouldn't do to strengthen Jasmine's next pokemon.

Magneton: Akari isn't in the most ideal position for this fight, as Magneton has a couple of levels on her. On the other hand, her partial Fire typing does give her a type advantage here, and after a brief assist from El Diablo Verde (Taunt), she'll press that type advantage for all she's worth - mostly with Flamethrower, but she also has access to Inferno and Burning Jealousy. If she's in a decent enough position, she might also employ Curse, with Shinobu healing her to full on the next turn, but this is a somewhat riskier strategy given that she's slightly underleveled, and they'll likely avoid it unless conditions are particularly favorable. El Diablo Verde will cut in to cast Taunt as needed, and even take a couple of swings at Magneton himself, since as a Fighting type, he also has a type advantage. If Akari falters, Murasaki will spell her.

Steelix: Murasaki is starting this one off as well, since her partial Fire typing means she can hit one of Steelix's weaknesses, and her Corrosion ability means she can actually poison Steelix and then hit it with Venom Drench for good measure. However, her weaknesses to Ground and Rock are a problem, so at the first sign of trouble El Diablo Verde will be coming back in. El Diablo Verde lacks those two weaknesses - or weaknesses to any of Steelix's attacks, for that matter - and can hit it with Fighting moves while keeping it locked down with Taunt. Even if Steelix does somehow get a chance to cast any buffs on itself (e.g. while Murasaki is still in), El Diablo Verde has Topsy-Turvy to turn those into debuffs. And El Diablo Verde also has Octazooka, so he can hit Steelix's Water weakness as well.

Shinobu will be (nervously) waiting in the wings with healing and curative items as needed.

[cutesneeze]

Character: Cata | cutesneeze
Badge/Gym Leader: Plain/Whitney
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Rogue (Murkrow, 44), Garnet (Drapion, 62), Alwyn (Leafeon, 62), Dory (Kommo-o, 76)
Battle Details: Let's call it Monday.

Rogue the Murkrow will go out first against Girafarig, and will open with Taunt to lock down those status effects, followed by Mean Look to keep them there. Then he'll make liberal use of Assurance, Feint Attack, Payback, and Dark Pulse to take best advantage of STAB and Girafarig's Dark weakness, throwing in the occasional Taunt to keep the status effects offline. If he goes down before Girafarig does, Garnet the Drapion will come in early to Taunt, Crunch, Bite, and Night Slash poor Girafarig into unconsciousness. If Girafarig goes down first, he'll withdraw to get healed up.

Whether she's already out or is switched in, Garnet will face off against Clefable. Again, the opening move will be Taunt because seriously, let's not with the status effects. She'll follow up with Toxic, then Venoshock, Cross Poison, and Poison fang, with Taunt thrown in as needed to continue avoiding status effects, and the occasional Bite because even though Clefable is resistant to Dark attacks, the flinch chance is useful.

Garnet will stay out just long enough to hit Miltank with Toxic when she switches in, then will withdraw to get some healing by potions and allow Alwyn the Leafeon to switch in. Alwyn will stay just long enough to apply Leech Seed to Miltank, and then switch out for Dory the Kommo-o.

Dory will start out with Taunt and Scary Face, then follow with Dragon Dance to boost her own Attack and Speed, and Clanging Scales and Noble Roar to lower Miltank's Defense, Attack, and Special Attack respectively. Whenever Rollout hits, she'll use Iron Defense to boost her own defense, and hopefully that combined with her Rock resistance and the healing from Leech Seed will let her weather it. Then it's Close Combat, Brick Break, Boomburst, with Taunt thrown in as needed, and the occasional Headbutt worked in to provoke flinch.

If Dory goes down, Garnet - who should be healed up - will come back out to hit Miltank with Crunch, Bite, X-Scissor, and any Venoshock and Cross Poison she has left. And more Taunt. Always the taunting.

If Garnet goes down, Alwyn will come back out and hit Miltank with Baby-Doll Eyes. He's so cute, please don't squash him. He'll Swords Dance to raise his attack, then STAB with Leaf Blade, Razor Leaf, and Magical Leaf, use Synthesis and Giga Drain to heal if Leech Seed can't keep up, and if Rollout comes out, he'll use Copycat to inflict it right back on Miltank.

If Alwyn also goes down, Rogue will try to Peck Miltank's eyes out before he's flattened like the fragile bird he is.

--

Win or lose, Catra's going to hop the Magnet Train to Saffron City afterward, and spend a few days loitering around the gym there before challenging on Friday.

Character: Catra | cutesneeze
Badge/Gym Leader: Marsh/Sabrina
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Nocturne (Liepard, 49), Princess (Mismagius, 68), Dancer (Cofagrigus, 74), Garnet (Drapion, 62),
Battle Details: Nocturne the Liepard will come out first against the Espeon. She's a little underlevelled, but Catra's hoping that the combination of her Psychic immunity and Espeon's Dark weakness will make up for that, and she's brought backup in case the gambit fails. Nocturne will open with Taunt, then use Hone Claws to buff herself, then Growl and Sand Attack to lower Espeon's attack and accuracy. She'll cycle Night Slash, Sucker Punch, and Assurance, repeating Taunt as necessary to keep Espeon's status effects locked down.

If she goes down, Dancer the Cofagrigus will switch in, deploy Crafty Shield, then Night Shade, Shadow Ball, and Shadow Claw Espeon into the ground.

Once Espeon's down, Catra will recall whichever of her team's on the field for healing, and send Princess the Mismagius out to face Mr. Mime. She'll open with Taunt, then deploy Confuse Ray, followed by Shadow Ball, Payback, and Astonish. If her health starts getting low, she'll deploy Perish Song to take Mr. Mime down with her.

If Princess drops while Mr. Mime's still standing, Catra will send Dancer out, with the same tactics as mentioned earlier.

Once Mr. Mime's down, she'll recall whichever of her team's on the field, give them some healing, and send Garnet the Drapion out against Alakazam.

Garnet will start out with Scary Face to slow Alakazam, then follow up with Taunt, then Toxic. She'll Hone Claws to boost her own attack, then proceed to Crunch, Bite, and Night Slash, repeating Taunt as needed to keep the status effects on lockdown. If she goes down, Catra will send out Princess (if she hasn't fainted), followed by Dancer, followed by Nocturne as the Pokemon of last resort, all following similar tactics to those described above.

[bravury]

Character: Ardbert | bravury
Badge/Gym Leader: Hive badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Here! Levels at this time: Purrserker lvl 58, Corvisquire lvl 42, Hakamo-o lvl 51, Fennekin lvl 48.
Battle Details: He'll mainly be relying on his Fennekin and Corvisquire for the fight utilizing their type advantage in battle. Should they fall (being the lower levels of his team) he would swap to Hakamo-o and finally Perrserker. Ideally Corvisquire can sweep Pinsir and Heracross leaving Fennekin for Scizor, but if push comes to shove he'll just rely on pure strength and go on the offensive with his last two Pokemon.

Character: Ardbert | bravury
Badge/Gym Leader: Zephyr badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Here!
Battle Details: He doesn't have any type advantage to help him with this battle, but he does have level advantage (not that he knows). Assuming he's able to win against Bugsy, I wanted Fennekin and Corvisquire to evolve so he'd have Braixen and Corviknight for this fight. He'd lead with his Hakamo-o who may have a hard time reaching Falkner's bird Pokemon but the dragon is nothing if not persistent. Otherwise he's got long ranged attacks with his Braixen's Psybeam and Flamethrower and his Corviknight who could take the fight to the air being a flying type as well as well as being a sturdy Steel type.

[amaure]

Character: Emet-Selch | amaure
Badge/Gym Leader: Whitney for Plain Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Rotom, Heat Rotom, Wash Rotom
Battle Details: Emet will start with his regular Rotom facing off against Whitney's Girafarig. With its higher speed, he'll place down a substitute first to take whatever attack she might lead with, but then follow it up with electric terrain. From there, assuming the substitute was able to withstand another attack, or that his Rotom could, he'll then hit the Girafarig with a powered up Thunderbolt. If the Girafarig still stands, it will be hit with another thunderbolt—but if the Girafarig is able to knock Rotom out, he'll swap to Wash Rotom to finish it off.

In the event that his Rotom was able to defeat the Girafarig, then depending on who Whitney decides what he does next. If it's Clefable, then he'll keep Rotom out and use Thunder Wave immediately. Should that paralyze Clefable and afford him another turn, he'll reinstate Electric Terrain. However, if Rotom was defeated by the Girafarig, then he will simply use Thunder Wave to paralyze with Wash Rotom before swapping to Heat Rotom. From there he'll use Overheat, since even with Electric Terrain going, Overheat has more power from the STAB bonus. Taking advantage of Clefable's paralysis, he'll follow up with Hex, that is if Overheat didn't take the poor thing out already.

When Miltank is swapped in, Emet will have Heat Rotom Thunder Wave. With it being likely that Whitney will spend this first turn using defense curl, this affords him time to reinstate Electric Terrain. Now, erring on the side of caution, should the paralysis only serve to slow Miltank down, and not interrupt defense curl nor the probable roll out, Heat Rotom is likely able to survive enough to get one more Overheat in before being taken out.

With Wash Rotom left, he'll be taking no chances with Hydro Pump, and instead taking full advantage of Discharge being buffed. From here, he'll basically aim to trample Miltank down between paralyze slowing it down, interrupting Roll Out's combo, and the powered up Discharges.

[fingersandteeth]

Character: Steven Durante | fingersandteeth
Badge/Gym Leader: let's stab Sabrina
Elite/Regular: regular plz
Team: Penny (Drifblim 74), 2000 Leagues (Dhelmise 73), and Ursula (Cursola 64)
Battle Details: Okay so. Honestly, it's a good thing that Steven is constantly picking up new ghosts, because that's the only reason he isn't stuck fighting the elite team for this gym. He's got some mid-ranged spoops that aren't ridiculously overleveled for the gym and yes, he is going to be using them.

Anyway, Penny is the main pokemon he's going to be sending up against both Espeon and Alakazam. Sadly, he's going to have to be a little careful with Penny's moveset because Espeon is a bitch and has Synchronize as its common ability and that's also one of Alakazam's ability options.

ANYWAY, Penny's got Phantom Force and Shadow Ball to hit either opponent hard and Thief to make off with their held items, should they have any. If it looks like she's about to go down, she'll Destiny Bond right before her opponent lands the final blow.

For Mr Mime, 2000 Leagues is the main opponent, because he's got a bunch of handy Steel attacks to go with his Ghost, even though he's not a Steel-type. Metal Sound to reduce special defense, Anchor Shot to keep Mr Mime from switching out, then lots of Heavy Slamming into our mimey friend.

Ursula is back-up for either of the other two and will be lobbing Shadow Balls when she's switched in and scaring the shit out of them with Night Shade, plus Poltergeisting if she suspects they have an item. Disable to keep them from using effective moves in a row.

(And, of course, if Ursula goes down while 2000 Leagues is still up, he's going back in to smack with Shadow Ball and Phantom Force too.)

[insidegalra]

Character: Thace | insidegalra
Badge/Gym Leader: Sabrina/Marsh
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: link But specifically, Lv 73 Sharpedo, Lv 68 Klefki, Lv 77 Honedge, Lv 74 Meowstic (non-battlers: Alola Vulpix, Whismur)
Battle Details:
Held items: Black Glasses for Sharpedo. Sitrus Berries for everyone else.

Thace was not planning on challenging this gym! So he's not quite as prepared as he usually is, but his Pokemon saw Catra's win earlier in the day and want to have a go too! Because he and his team haven't drilled this until everyone knows what to do flawlessly, Thace might need to step in with some suggestions from time to time. He's not going to make it too easy, however, and any verbal commands will be things like "offense!" "Defense!" "Status!" etc with the usual "switch." Like always he's made sure he's stocked up on healing items for this.

He'll arrive with Vrig on his back in her sling, Vruli in her little sling-pouch against his chest, Zaivar on his belt, and Acxa and Athvrix to his left and right, respectively. And one Lure Ball in hand, because Korvulk the Sharpedo doesn't give a damn about making statements if there isn't ample water to swim in.

Zaivar the Klefki goes first against Espeon. Crafty Shield and Imprison are set right away, and then they spam Foul Play. If their health gets a little low, Zaivar will use Draining Kiss, and rely on the berry.

Athvrix the Meowstic is this match's heal-staller, so if any of Thace's team need to get healing items, they'll be switched with her. She'll hit the Espeon with Shadow Ball a time or two and switch back out to let the main battler have the stage again.

In the unlikely case that Zaivar has exhausted PP or for some other reason can't continue, Korvulk will get in to finish it.

If Korvulk is in already, he'll stay long enough for Taunt, while Zaivar gets healed and has Leppa berries applied (if necessary). Otherwise Zaivar will switch with Korvulk briefly for the same reason. Zaivar's first move on coming in is Crafty Shield again. Then Metal Sound! Then Flash Cannon so, so much. Zaivar will refresh Crafty Shield as necessary, and use Draining Kiss for health. If Mr. Mime should get some of the defensive skills up (Protect, Light Screen) Zaivar will switch to Astonish.

Athvrix will switch in briefly for healing if needed. If Zaivar should need backup, Vrig will head in with Swords Dance and Iron Head to finish it. (and Spite, if Sucker Punch comes into play)

Against Alakazam, Korvulk will come back in to stay this time. Taunt first, then Agility. Screech and Scary Face come into play if Alakazam still outspeeds Korvulk after Agility. Otherwise, Crunch! Korvulk will spam it, refreshing Taunt as necessary. If necessary, or if he's just getting bored of Crunch all the time, Korvulk will throw in a Focus Energy + Night Slash combo.

If Korvulk needs healing, Athvrix will switch in for a Sucker Punch or two.

If Korvulk needs backup, Athvrix will finish using up her Sucker Punches, and some Shadow Ball until her health is low. If Alakazam still isn't down, Vrig will come in with Night Slash, and maybe Shadow Sneak and Fury Cutter.

As always, if Thace is out of healing items and all of his Pokemon are close to fainting, Thace will forfeit rather than let one faint.

[cyan_maid]

Character: Jane Crocker | cyan_maid
Badge/Gym Leader: Lt. Surge for the Thunder Badge
Elite/Regular: ELITE TEAM
Team: Dinah the Audino, Poirot the Kricketune, August the Delphox, Ramsay the Leafeon, Dart the Bisharp, and Deva the Indeedee
Battle Details: This is another battle where Jane doesn't have anything that'll give her a clear-cut advantage, which is good! It helps solidify strategy over brute strength. We'll have plenty of healing items on standby as always.

That being said, Dinah is going to take the lead against Manectric. She's got good base Defense and Special Defense, so she can tank hits from the speedier opponent, and she can use Simple Beam to disable Manectric's ability (money is on it being Static since that's the more common one of its possible abilities). Even if Dinah does get paralyzed, she can use Refresh to cure herself, and for this battle she's going to go all out on Power-Up Punch, continually boosting her own Attack until it can't go any higher, and then slam into it with Fire Punch to hopefully get that 10% chance to inflict a burn.

She'll stay out for Electrode and use similar tactics, disabling its ability and keeping herself unparalyzed, but Jane is mostly betting on Electrode using Explode or Selfdestruct - after fighting Manectric, Dinah is likely to not survive the hit, but she can take the KO for the team if it comes to that. If it doesn't, hopefully her already boosted stats from Power-Up Punch can fell this one pretty quickly before Jane switches out.

Pachirisu will get the old Swords Dance and Leaf Blade combo from Ramsay, stacking STAB and Attack boosing against its lesser base Defense stats, and Strength will come in if need be as well. Magnezone will be the one Pokemon that meets a definite type disadvantage in August, who will lead with Calm Mind to boost his Special Attack and Special Defense before unleashing his usual Mystical Fire, Flamethrower, and Fire Blast barrage. He'll hopefully be around to set up Will-o-Wisp on Electivire and keep hitting with his boosted Special Attacks, and if he goes down Jane will switch to Dart, who will quickly toss up Iron Defense and lash out with Metal Claw. The hope is that he can then go on to face Raichu, but it's unknown if he'll make it through that fight on his own. In that case, Jane still has Poirot to back him up, unleashing Perish Song right at the start and then lashing out with Sing and repeated Fury Cutters.

Deva is mostly on the roster for this battle as a backup! She can use Calm Mind in combination with Stored Power to unleash a boosted attack, and moves like Psychic and Psybeam will only benefit from the previous Calm Mind usage. Hopefully with precautions in place, and with leaning on each other for support, Jane can overcome the Lightning American!

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

Character: Shinobu Tsukuyomi | un_oiseau_rebelle
Badge/Gym Leader: Rainbow/Erika
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Fuyu the Aurorus, Akari the Chandelure, Murasaki the Salazzle
Battle Details: 

Jumpluff: Fuyu's Rock/Ice typing will hopefully help her here, given that Jumpluff has a 2x weakness to the former and 4x weakness to the latter. Mist will protect her from stat changes, while Thunder Wave will hopefully slow Jumpluff down by inflicting Paralysis on it, thereby netting Fuyu some free turns. After that, Fuyu will move on to offensive moves like Ancient Power and especially Freeze Dry and Aurora Beam. If Fuyu manages to freeze Jumpluff, then so much the better. If Fuyu starts to struggle at any point, she will be spelled by Akari, who will break out Taunt, Fire Spin, and Flamethrower.

Tangrowth: Akari will also be around for Tangrowth, using Taunt to shut down its status moves, Fire Spin to lock it in place and add some extra damage, and Flamethrower to do the real damage. Akari has enough levels on Tangrowth at this point that she shouldn't struggle, but if she does, Murasaki is waiting in the wings.

Bellossom: This battle is Murasaki's, and as she has over ten levels and type advantage over Bellossom, the odds are good here. Taunt shuts down Bellossom's status moves, Poison Fang may badly poison it, Venom Drench will further weaken it, and Venoshock, Fire Whip, and/or Flamethrower should do the rest.


Badge/Gym Leader: Cascade/Misty
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Arashi the Morpeko, Raiju the Luxray, Midori the Leafeon
Battle Details: 

Golduck: The first thing Arashi does is cast Taunt to shut down Golduck's status moves. Then she casts Agility on herself and breaks out Spark and Rising Voltage, hitting Golduck right in the Electricity weakness. Neither of those moves are particularly powerful, but Arashi is also level 53, and that probably isn't going to help Golduck at all.

Lapras: Lapras's Ice skills could be a problem for the Grass-types, which is why Shinobu is sending out Raiju instead. Raiju's Intimidate ability weakens Lapras's attack right off the bat, and her Rising Voltage and Spark will do decent amounts of damage. She may or may not add Electric Terrain to power herself up. Thunder Wave could also potentially paralyze Lapras, making Raiju's job a bit easier.

Starmie: This battle falls to Midori, who has access to Sunny Day to weaken Starmie's Water attacks and various Grass attacks to hit one of Starmie's weaknesses. In particular, Leaf Blade and Giga Drain are likely to see a lot of use. Sand Attack and Baby Doll Eyes may be used to add insult to injury (especially Sand Attack).

For both of these challenges, Shinobu will be on the usual item caddy duties.

[cyan_maid]

Character: Jane Crocker | cyan_maid
Badge/Gym Leader: Janine for the Soul Badge
Elite/Regular: ELITE TEAM
Team: Dinah, August, Bettina, Dart, Marnie, and Deva (all lv 100)
Battle Details: While Jane has some Pokemon that offer a type advantage in this fight, she's not going to solely lean on that to rely on a victory; her previous battles have shown that a challenge can not only be rewarding, but a whole lot of fun, so she's going to try and mix it up a little this time.

Marnie the Seaking is going out against Janine's Crobat first, tossing out Aqua Ring to help replenish HP continously - the Crobat is likely faster than her, and will likely go for a Supersonic or Confuse Ray, and Jane is hoping to beat Janine to the punch with something that'll keep Marnie's health up. From there, it's an all-out barrage with Waterfall, Surf, and Water Pulse. If things get desperate, they can fall back on Horn Drill, but Jane is not expecting it to hit since it only has a 30% accuracy rate.

If Marnie goes down to Crobat, hopefully it's not before landing some serious hits on it, and Deva the Indeedee will provide backup by cleaning up house; since she's Psychic/Normal, she has an edge over Poison types, and is likely to stick around to face off against Wheezing. Once it's out, Deva will lay down a Psychic Terrain and then a Calm Mind to boost her own power and unleash Psybeam and Psychic, hopefully bringing Wheezing down before the five-turn limit for the terrain effect wears off. This might be enough for her to bring Toxicroak down as well, considering its 4x weakness to Psychic attacks, but after that Jane is definitely switching Deva out to rest.

Against Drapion, Jane brings out Dinah the Audino, who will start out with Baby-Doll Eyes since it lowers Attack stat and has increased priority; then she'll lay out a Simple Beam to nullify Drapion's ability. Once that's done, Dinah has free reign to use Power-Up Punch repeatedly, boosting her own Attack and hopefully wearing Drapion down enough to knock it out. If this isn't enough, Dart the Bisharp will take over for Dinah with Swords Dance and Metal Claw, and will stay out to make sure Arbok is whittled down with his own improved stats and attacks, tossing up Iron Defense when Arbok comes out as an added layer of protection which will hopefully carry him through to defeating his snakey opponent.

Venomoth will have to contend with Bettina the Crobat, whose Flying type attacks are numerous, fast, and hard-hitting against a 2x weakness. She'll toss out Confuse Ray first, just in case, and then go in with Acrobatics - since Bettina is not holding an item, the power of this move is boosted to 110, which should KO if not severely damage her opponent. She also has Air Cutter, Air Slash, and Fly should that not be enough.

August the Delphox is here as Jane's ace in the hole - he's the Psychic type she's had the longest, and while it took him a significant amount of time to hone his abilities, he is at a point in his life where he's very sure in himself. If Jane's Pokemon begin dropping or seem too worn out to go on for much longer and she still needs to set up or push through the current opponent, August will be dishing out Psychic and unleashing a Future Sight should he be close to switching out again.

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

Character: Shinobu Tsukuyomi | un_oiseau_rebelle
Badge/Gym Leader: Thunder/Lt. Surge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Tonbo the Flygon
Battle Details: It's Tonbo the Flygon's time to shine... or so he hopes.

Electabuzz: Tonbo has four major advantages going into this gym battle: 1. He's a partial Ground-type, 2. He's level 63, 3. He's completely immune to Electric attacks, and 4. His weaknesses, to Ice, Dragon, and Fairy, are not ones that Lt. Surge's team can hit. And Tonbo has several moves to choose from to make Electabuzz's life difficult: Bulldoze, Dig, Earth Power, Earthquake, Scorching Sands, and more - plus Sand Attack to ruin its accuracy. All of this combined means Electabuzz's chances of a win are relatively low.

Magneton: To the above strategy, Tonbo can add Flamethrower to hit Magneton's Fire weakness in addition to its Ground weakness. Tonbo will start with Sand Attack, throw in Laser Focus to guarantee a few criticals, and lay right into those weaknesses. Tonbo having over twenty levels on Magneton will likely not help its chances either.

Raichu: Subtract Flamethrower and add Bug Buzz, Bite, and Crunch to all of Tonbo's Ground attacks. Raichu's Double Team will likely be an issue, but Tonbo will pay Raichu back with Sand Attack again, along with copious use of Laser Focus to get those critical hits. 

Shinobu, for his part, will be watching Tonbo like a hawk and being very generous with healing and curative items. This includes PP-restoring Leppa berries if necessary.


Badge/Gym Leader: Soul/Janine
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Arashi the Morpeko, Murasaki the Salazzle, Hashi the Toucannon
Battle Details: Poison vs. Poison (and a few other elements), basically.

Crobat: Arashi lacks an immunity to Poison, and its Aura Wheel switches between Electric and Dark, which isn't ideal. Fortunately, Aura Wheel is Electric element half the time, and Arashi has other Electricity attacks to compensate anyway, enabling it to hit one of Crobat's weaknesses. Arashi also has Taunt, which will lock down Crobat's status attacks, Torment to keep it from using moves consecutively, and Agility to boost its own speed. Arashi also has eight levels on Crobat, which will add to its advantage. All of that together will hopefully allow it to win the day.

Ariados: Ariados's partial Bug typing isn't going to do it any favors, because that gives it a Fire weakness, and exploiting Fire weaknesses is one of the things Murasaki does best. The other thing she does best? Poison Poison-type pokemon, which she will also happily do, while enjoying immunity to Ariados's own Poison attacks. She also has Encore and Disable, to force Ariados to use one move repeatedly or to randomly shut down one of Ariados's moves. With luck, that move will be Psychic, because that could still hurt Murasaki despite the Salazzle being fourteen levels higher than Ariados. If Psychic does become a problem, Hashi is waiting in the wings to exploit Ariados's weakness to Flying-type attacks.

Venomoth: Venomoth gets the same strategy as Ariados: Murasaki, if she's still hanging in, will use Taunt, Disable, Encore, and/or Torment to try to lock down Venomoth's more troublesome moves while using Fire Whip and Flamethrower to hit its Fire weakness and trying to inflict Poison via Corrosion and Poison Gas or Toxic. Venomoth's Psybeam is a potential issue, but if it becomes too much of one Hashi will swap in again. Still, Murasaki has a type advantage and eleven levels on Venomoth, so hopefully that will enable her to prevail.

Shinobu will be playing item caddy again, with an emphasis on Poison curatives and healing items.

[insidegalra]

Character: Thace | insidegalra
Badge/Gym Leader: Fog/Morty
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: here But the primary battlers are, Alola Ninetails Acxa (81), Klefki Zaivar (78), and Sharpedo Korvulk (84)
Battle Details:
Held items: Acxa-Leppa berry, Zaivar-persim berry, Korvulk-Black Glasses

Thace will stock up on plenty of healing items and status healing items before the match, including as many Leppa berries as he could find, buy or trade for, and will enter the gym following behind his Alola Ninetails, Acxa. On their sling against his back and chest respectfully are his Aegislash and Whismur, along with his Meowstic and Klefki at his side. Then there’s his Sharpedo (in his ball, because he doesn’t make statements unless there’s water present) as backup. Thace will be even quieter than usual in this match, because he’ll be using hand gestures and a flashlight to communicate with his team. (He’ll clear the flashlight with Morty first, of course.)

This battle is going to be an odd one, which Thace will actually explain to Morty before the battle and ask Morty and his team to put all their effort and skill into it. Thace’s Alola Ninetails hatched deaf and blind in one eye, and it’s been a long and hard road to earning self-confidence, so she’s asked Thace if she can challenge Morty (mostly) alone, with the exception being a concession on her part to let one other Pokemon be switched in as per Thace’s usual heal-stall strategy (Acxa even chose the single move that was allowed while she was being healed; it was a difficult decision). If/When she’s too beat up and tired to safely continue without fainting, Thace will switch her one more time so they can talk. If she’s not satisfied with her performance, Thace forfeits.*

So after all this is explained, Thace will share a forehead bunt with her and she’ll go out on the field. Thanks to her Hidden Ability, a hail storm will start up right away! Barring speed increasing items used on the ghosts, she’s faster than all of Morty’s team, thanks in part to the level advantage. Also thanks to the level advantage, Sheer Cold has a much better chance of being successful (66% against Haunter). So that’s what she’ll lead with!

If it’s not successful, she’ll set up Mist, then Aurora Veil, and then spam Blizzard which always hits in hail storms. If her opponent freezes at any time, she’ll spam Hex until they unfreeze, to save Blizzard’s PP. Because Spite exists, she’s carrying a Leppa Berry, which will kick in first time she runs out of PP.

If she needs healing or more PP for Blizzard, her chosen helper is Zaivar the Klefki. The only move they’re allowed to use is Metal Sound. If forced somehow to use another move, the battle is automatically forfeited. (I think this would be so unlikely as to be all but impossible, but just in case Morty has some trick up his sleeves)

Once Haunter is down, she’ll be switched out for healing and/or Leppa Berries (unless Sheer Cold was successful or she came back in less than two turns before Haunter fainted). If Zaivar is switched in, they’ll use Metal Sound, then Acxa will come back in. Her first move will be Sheer Cold again. The chance of success is slightly lower, but still decent.

If Sheer Cold isn’t successful, she’ll spam Blizzard some more, only stopping to refresh Mist, Aurora Veil, and the hail storm with the Hail TM that Thace had ordered from Celadon specially for her. Again, if freezing is a thing, she’ll switch to Hex for a bit. As always, if she needs healing, or more Leppa berries from Thace, she’ll be switched with Zaivar again. During this battle, Thace will take a moment to top off Zaivar’s HP.

After Misdreavus is down, Acxa is switched with Zaivar again, even if she’s only one HP down from her max, or not full PP for Blizzard. Zaivar will use Metal Sound twice, before switching with Acxa. Acxa will try Sheer Cold once more (if she has PP for it. Spite’s existence makes that murky), and otherwise stick with the same strategy. Blizzard all the way, with pauses to refresh Mist and Aurora Veil, or a few Hex if freezing happens. With hard work, luck, and a lot of healing items and Leppa Berries, Gengar might go down after a challenging battle.

*Forfeit triggers:

—If Acxa can’t defeat Haunter, she won’t be satisfied with her performance.
—If Acxa struggles to defeat Haunter, and can’t defeat Misdreavus, she won’t be satisfied with her performance.
—If Acxa struggles to defeat the first two, and can’t continue at all against Gengar, she won’t be satisfied with her performance.
—If Acxa is forced to withdraw against Gengar within her first two attack turns, she won’t be satisfied with her performance. If she makes it past that, she will be satisfied, and backup will trigger:

Backup: Korvulk the Sharpedo will be allowed to finish things if Acxa is satisfied but can’t quite finish Gengar. Honestly, he shouldn’t have any problem at all, with the level advantage and both Offensive and Defensive advantages due to his typing. He’ll just use Taunt and then spam Crunch while tanking damage.

Thace will be so very proud and supportive of her regardless, but if a forfeit happens, he’ll promise to come back after he and Acxa have trained some more. If Acxa wins, Thace will thank Morty for all his help and cooperation.

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

Character: Shinobu Tsukuyomi | un_oiseau_rebelle
Badge/Gym Leader: Volcano/Blaine
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Tonbo the Flygon,  Tamago the Azumarill, El Diablo Verde the Grapploct (backup)
Battle Details: Merrily we roll along... Shinobu will likely hit Cinnabar Island right before the Halloween event, so he'll barely have time for this.

Magcargo: That 4x weakness to Ground attacks is tragic, especially since Tonbo has no qualms about ruthlessly exploiting it with his plethora of them. Magcargo also can't hit Tonbo's weaknesses and is eleven levels weaker than Tonbo, so it's at a real disadvantage here.

Magmortar: While Tamago does have a slight level advantage over Magmortar (and an even slighter level advantage over Rapidash), that's not his major advantage here. There are actually four other things that are liable to tilt the battle in his favor: his partial Water typing; his Thick Fat ability, which halves any damage he takes from Fire attacks; Rain Dance, which further weakens his opponents' Fire attacks and strengthens his own Water attacks, and the aforementioned Water moves (most notably Surf and Hydro Pump). If he does start to struggle at any point, Tonbo can swap back in to target Magmortar's Ground weakness; alternatively, El Diablo Verde can come in to use Surf on his own, although he lacks the same-type attack bonuses that Tamago and Tonbo enjoy from their respective elemental affinities.

Rapidash: If Tamago is still hanging in there, he'll continue against Rapidash using the same basic strategy; otherwise, either Tonbo or El Diablo Verde will take point here, with Tonbo using Ground attacks - Dig and Earthquake in particular - and El Diablo Verde using Surf (and Topsy-Turvy to reverse any of Rapidash's stat buffs). Tonbo and El Diablo Verde also have greater level advantages than Tamago does - six levels in Tonbo's case and thirteen in El Diablo Verde's - which may aid them as well should they need to enter the battle.

Shinobu, as always, doles out recovery items as needed.

[cyan_maid]

Character: Jane Crocker | cyan_maid
Badge/Gym Leader: Blaine for the Volcano Badge
Elite/Regular: ELITE TEAM
Team: Dinah, Marnie, August, Bettina, Madeline, and Deva (all lv 100)
Battle Details: Blaine is Jane's last badge, and boy, he's got a big storm comin'.

She's not pulling any punches by leading with Marnie the Seaking - Water Veil keeps her from being burned, and tossing up Aqua Ring at the start is an easy slow HP restore as she unleashes Water Pulse, Waterfall, and Surf on her opponents. If she goes down, Madeline the Primarina comes out with Sparkling Aria, Hydro Pump, and Surf to keep up the assault, and Jane is hoping that their combined efforts will be enough to take down Blaine's more defensively sturdy Pokemon like Torkoal, Camerupt, and Magcargo.

Still, she's not going to push them too far, since Pokemon all have their limits.

Houndoom will meet Bettina the Crobat in the pit, and Jane is going to rely on Bettina's speed to get Houndoom poisoned via Poison Fang, and then worn down via Venoshock, which gets a power boost when the opponent is poisoned. Magmortar are known for generally lesser base Defense stats than their Special Defense, so to counter it, Jane will bring out Dinah to push Power-Up Punch, boosting her own Attack stat, and Refresh if she takes on a burn.

As for Rapidash, Jane will lead with August the Delphox, who should be able to tank Rapidash's Fire attacks with ease while dealing out Psychic and Psybeam. If he's about to go down, he'll let out a Future Sight attack and let Deva the Indeedee tap in, and she'll toss up Psychic Terrain and Calm Mind before unleashing Psychic and Psybeam on her own. This is hopefully just enough to get the edge over Blaine.

[cutesneeze]

Character: Catra | cutesneeze
Badge/Gym Leader: Fog/Morty
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Cania (Houndoom, 50), Rogue (Murkrow, 59), Sand (Persian, 60), Nocturne (Liepard, 59)
Battle Details: Cania, Rogue, and Nocturne will come armed with a Persim berry each, Sand will have a Chesto berry

Cania the Houndoom will go out first to face off against Haunter. She'll open with Taunt, then Howl to boost her attack. She'll Bite and Feint Attack and Payback, refreshing Taunt as needed, and will fall back on Foul Play and Beat Up if her PP starts running low for the other moves.

Once Haunter's down, Rogue the Murkrow will switch in to square off against Misdreavus. He'll Taunt to open, then Tailwind to boost his speed. He'll use Dark Pulse, Feint Attack, Payback, and Assurance, and get in a couple Sucker Punches where he can, refreshing Taunt and Tailwind as necessary.

Once Misdreavus goes down, he'll stick around long enough to hit Gengar with a Taunt, refresh Tailwind, then switch out with Sand the Persian.

With Sand, Catra's hoping to take advantage of the combination of his immunity to Ghost-type moves and the fact that despite his normal typing, he has a fair number of Dark-type moves. He won't get STAB with any of them, but it's an experiment. He'll open with Payback to take advantage of the speed boost from Rogue's Tailwind, then make liberal use of Bite, Assurance, and Dark Pulse, weaving in some Taunts to keep Gengar's status effects locked down as much as possible. If he goes down, Catra will send in Nocturne the Liepard to hopefully finish the job.

[angewiesen]

Character: Jean Kirstein | angewiesen
Badge/Gym Leader: Volcano Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team:

Battle Details: The Volcano Badge, AKA: The One Where Jean Realizes Most of his Pokemon are Weak to Fire Types.

Because of his unknowing penchant towards Steel and Bug Types, Jean found himself at a bit of an impasse as he made his way to Cinnarbar/Seafoam. His solution? Train the shit out of the Pokemon he did have that at least lacked a weakness to Fire.

To level 100.

Yep. Along with his Gyarados and Lycanroc, that had type advantages, Jean picked the rest of his team simply because they were closest to hitting their maximum level. We're gonna brute force the shit out of this.

The Gyarados comes out first to make quick work of that Magcargo, because being 4x weak to Water is a bitch. Jean plans to battle Finn (Gyarados) until she faints, and then bring in the Lycanroc to try and steal a speedy victory with moves like Accelerock and Stone Edge. If that fails, Jean has his own Rapidash, impervious to Fire with it's Flash Fire ability, sneakily packing Scorching Sands to hit with Ground Type damage. After that, his Pidgeot, Zebstrika and Seviper are just going to have to try their hardest at what they do best, as none of them have a particular advantage against Fire Types.

Badge/Gym Leader: Earth Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team:

Battle Details: This is the battle that Jean has been looking forward to the most, ever since he started and he's done his homework. For this battle, against the first (and only) leader that doesn't keep a monotype team, Jean has a counterpick for each individual Pokemon.

Pinch (Escavalier) is up against Exeggutor. Bug and Steel resists both Grass and Psychic as well as normal (in case of Egg Bomb shenanigans). Bug Type attacks hit for 4x weakness. The combo of Swords Dance and X-Scissor Is particularly deadly here. If Blue tries to stall, Jean will stack buffs until an OHKO is assured.

Machamp is up against Sabre (Gallade). Machamp isn't known for pulling tricks, so Jean plans to attack head-on with Gallade's superior speed. Surprisingly, Machamp's defense is lower than it's special defense, so the main attack Jean will be relying on is Psycho Cut

Chess (Corviknight) will be facing the Rhydon. Any attempts at Earthquake or Fissure will be laughed at. Jean will mainly be attacking with Steel Wing and the tricky Body Press that takes advantage of Corviknight's high defense stat.

See a Gyarados, break out the Electric Types. Jean's starter, Domino (Zebstrika) will take it on. It's not that popular of a Pokemon, so a lot don't realize how insanely speedy it is, hitting close to a 120 base speed stat, which handily outdoes Gyarados. It's main attack will be Discharge, and once it's opponent is in fainting range, Jean will finish with Wild Charge. Since his own Gyarados knows Earthquake as a method of defense against Electric Types, Chess is Jean's second pick against Gyarados, if she's still healthy. Her strongest attack is Brave Bird.

Max (Lycanroc) is up against Pidgeot. He resists both Normal and Flying moves, and hits weakness with Rock Type moves. Accelerock and Stone Edge are Jean's favorite go-tos, but if Pidgeot tries to stall with Roost, Jean will have Max Howl up until an OHKO is possible.

Finally, Finn (Gyarados) is up against Blue's Arcanine. Jean knows an Arcanine is nothing to sneeze at, fast strong and bulky, but he's got nothing but confidence in Finn. He's carefully trained her since she was a little Magikarp, and they have a strong bond. He'll start with Rain Dance to strengthen his own attacks while weakening the Arcanine's, and then using Waterfall, which is both accurate and strong, while taking advantage of Gyarados' insane attack stat.

Hopefully everything goes according to plan!

[epitaffio]

Character: Vinegar Doppio | epitaffio
Badge/Gym Leader: Zephyr/Falkner
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Cristina the Morpeko, Pesci the Gyarados and Reno the Politoed
Battle Details: Both because he's still unused to Pokémon battles and because a certain someone is exceedingly cautious, a type advantage wasn't enough for Doppio to challenge the gym - he made sure to train his Pokémon to a higher level as well, to ensure the scales were firmly tipped in his favour. Cristina has several Electric-type moves, like Spark, and Pesci has Ice Fang, both of which Doppio and Diavolo have found work exceedingly well on wild Flying-types, but if they somehow still end up in a pinch, Reno's Hypnosis might be able to rein in the situation and buy him more time to sweep in peace.

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

Character: Shinobu Tsukuyomi | un_oiseau_rebelle
Badge/Gym Leader: Earth/Blue
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Akari the Chandelure, Kirin the Galarian Rapidash, Midori the Leafeon, Raiju the Luxray,  Arashi the Morpeko, Tamago the Azumarill
Battle Details: Starting off with the harder battle before moving on to the breather round:

Exeggutor: Akari has a few skills that can help her here: Taunt to shut down Exeggutor's status attacks, Confuse Ray to inflict confusion on it, and the ability to hit at least three of its weaknesses (Fire, Ghost, and Bug - which Exeggutor has a 4x weakness to, although Akari won't get STAB damage with Skitter Smack). Akari also happens to be level 91 to Exeggutor's level 65, which isn't going to help the latter either. And if Exeggutor actually makes physical contact, Akari's Flame Body ability may leave it with Burn status on top of everything else. Given all of this, Exeggutor is unlikely to prevail here.

Machamp: Machamp is weak to Flying, Psychic, and Fairy. Kirin can hit two of those. She's also level 88, which may not put her over Machamp in terms of attack strength but will surely help; what will also help is that she takes only 1/4 damage from Fighting attacks. Psychic, Psycho Cut, and Dazzling Gleam are her main damage-dealers, once she's done buffing herself with Agility.  Shinobu will be watching her health carefully, though, because most of what she has is attacks. This may come down to attrition - though if things do get bad, Tamago may come in to Bounce on Machamp a few times, just in case.

Rhydon: Midori - freshly equipped with a Miracle Seed and a Solar Beam TM purchased during Shinobu's initial trip to the Seafoam Islands - will be taking on Rhydon, debuffing it with Sand Attack and Charm and buffing herself with Swords Dance. She also has access to Sunny Day, and she'll use that before laying in with the aforementioned Solar Beam attack. She can also fall back on Leaf Blade, and Giga Drain to top her HP up if need be. Given that Midori is level 95 and Rhydon has a 4x Grass weakness, though, she may not need to.

Gyarados: This is Raiju's fight. She leads off with Electric Terrain to amp her Electric skills, followed by Scary Face to lower Gyarados's speed and Thunder Wave to hopefully paralyze it. She also has Intimidate, which will lower Gyarados's Attack stat, but Gyarados also having Intimidate will affect hers as well, so she's liable to rely more on Discharge and Rising Voltage (both of which run off Special Attack, not Attack) to do the bulk of the damage here. She'll also be using Charge to buff those two attacks even further, doubling the damage dealt and raising her own Special Defense in the process. Raiju is also level 85 to Gyarados's 68, which may also give her an edge.

Pidgeot: Raiju will likely be starting off here as well, with another casting of Electric Terrain, before swapping out for Arashi.  Arashi does have a slight complication in that Aura Wheel is a Dark attack half the time, but the other half of the time it's Electric, and Arashi does have Rising Voltage to fall back on. Arashi also has Taunt, and will be using that to shut down Pidgeot's status moves right off, and buffing itself with Agility. Of course, Arashi is also only level 72, so if it starts to struggle against Pidgeot it will toss off one more Taunt and then make way for Raiju's return - and this time, Raiju won't have to worry about Intimidate, while being able to take full advantage of her own Intimidate ability to depress Pidgeot's attack.

Arcanine: This battle falls to Tamago, who has six levels on Arcanine, partial Water-typing (and thus STAB on all his Water skills), the Thick Fat ability to halve any Fire damage he takes, and Rain Dance to further weaken any Fire damage and boost Tamago's Water damage.  Aqua Ring also enables him to restore 1/16 of his own health per turn, although Shinobu will be watching him carefully anyway. Hydro Pump and Surf are his main offensive tools, although he also has Whirlpool to help him along by trapping Arcanine and draining its HP over successive turns.

Shinobu remains the team's item dispenser.


Badge/Gym Leader: Brock/Boulder
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Mani the Milotic, Myrtille the Azumarill, Aoi the Samurott
Battle Details: This one isn't so much about strategy as it is trying not to curb-stomp Brock's pokemon too hard.

Rhyhorn: A 4x weakness to Water is not great for Rhyhorn, especially as most of Shinobu's Water pokemon are at least twenty levels above it. The one exception is Mani the Milotic, who is actually two levels below Rhyhorn but still has a type advantage and STAB for his Water skills, plus Aqua Ring and Life Dew to keep himself healthy and Whirlpool to trap Rhyhorn and drain its HP. That said, Shinobu is still going to be watching Mani's health carefully, and will be swapping in Myrtille if it looks like Mani can't keep up. Unfortunately for Rhyhorn, Myrtille is a partial Water-type with STAB on all her Water moves. Also, she's level 50. So that's going to be even less great for Rhyhorn.

Golem: The good news is that Golem doesn't have a 4x weakness to Water. The bad news is that it's still only level 32 to Myrtille's 50 and its special defense stat is kind of terrible... and Myrtille has Surf. That's probably going to hurt.

Onix: Onix, sadly, does have a 4x weakness to water and is only level 35 to boot. It'll have to get very lucky to take down Myrtille and even if that happens, Aoi the Samurott is next in line. Aoi is also Water-type and has STAB for her Water skills, and is level 58. And has Surf.

Shinobu will still be dispensing items as needed.