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

[hurricane_clown]

Character: Karako Pierot | hurricane_clown
Badge/Gym Leader: Faulkner (Zephyr Badge)
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Honk!
Battle Details: Karako's team is a bit underlevelled, but he's like... a child, and so he doesn't care. Luckily, Karako is leading with Gigglesnarl, his Galarian Meowth. He's doing this because Gigglesnarl was his starter, and they get along like a house on fire. However, Gigglesnarl is also pure Steel type--which means he's not taking loads of damage from Flying or Normal type, or even Psychic type attacks. First turn (against Noctowl) is Fake Out, because Karako knows at least that much. After that is Taunt, mostly on Gigglesnarl's initiative--but that does shut down any Hypnosis or Roost attempts, so that's not too bad. After that, it's Metal Claw and Pay Day, alternating with Hone Claws and occasionally Fury Swipes. Basically Gigglesnarl is just doing what comes naturally. He's also holding an Oran berry, though, so.... maybe that'll work out for him. Whether it does or not, Karako will withdraw him as soon as Noctowl faints OR Gigglesnarl is about to.

Shockprong, his (shiny!) Luxio is swapped out, with her Intimidate Ability lowering her opponent's Attack. The first turn is actually totally wasted because Karako is giving Gigglesnarl a Soda Pop, but after that, Shockprong is free to... uh, Spark the heck out of a motherfucker, which is Karako's entire remaining strategy. If she falters, he'll swap her out for Gigglesnarl and repeat the process (although after Fake Out comes a Soda Pop for Shockprong. Then Gigglesnarl gets to become a whirlwind of claws and.... more claws a second time.

The biggest hurdle, other than the blatant level gap, is the part where absolutely no one resists the Dark type moves of Faulkner's Honchkrow.

During all this, Karako's busy on his side of the field honking, baring his teeth, honking louder, clenching his fists, stamping his feet, gnashing his teeth, jumping up and down, and honking ever louder and more aggressively.

When it's over, he seems to be confused--looking all around him, tugging on Faulkner's shirt, and honking inquisitively. And win or lose, he seems oddly.... let down? Finally, he leaves in a fashion best described as "wandering sadly away."

If only he used his words, perhaps the secrets of his obviously powerful emotional journey could be understood....

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[insidegalra]

Character: ThaceE | insidegalra
Badge/Gym Leader: Clair/Rising
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: LINK Vrig (Lv 100 Aegislash, pinch hitter), Vruli (non-battler), Dyak (Lv 66 Togedemaru), Erzah (Lv 79 Haunter), Ylnok(Ylnok Lv 78 Azumarill), Pevox (Lv 66 Gardevoir)
Battle Details: Held items: Erzah: Never-Melt-Ice, Dyak: Magnet, Everybody else Sitrus berries

Thace enters the gym with all of his Pokemon gathered around him and not in balls. As always his Aegislash and undersized Whismur are in their sling, and the rest walk in formation around him. Thace has stockpiled berries and other healing items for the match.

Small Dyak will be sent in against the Gyarados! She’ll start with Nuzzle, in hopes of paralysis limiting the number of attacks that Gyarados can get off. Then she’ll use Defense Curl to buff herself, followed by Electric Terrain, Charge, then Rising Voltage. (At any point during the first half of that, she’ll switch with Pevox if she’s taking a beating. If she can’t tank more than two of Gyarados’s attacks without being at risk, she’ll leave off Charge.) She’ll repeat steps as necessary until Gyarados goes down.

Pevox is going to switch in whenever someone needs healing or items. He’s never going to stay in longer than one attack, and Thace will immediately heal him once he’s back out. Against Gyarados, Pevox will use Charge Beam. Against Kingdra he’ll unleash Moonblast. Against Dragonite, he’ll use his shiny new Triple Axel move.

Ylnok will go out against Kingdra. She’ll start with Charm to decrease Kingdra’s ability to damage her and then spam Play Rough for the most part. She might add in a Draining Kiss or two if necessary. If she needs more healing than that before Kingdra goes down, a quick switch with Pevox.

Then comes the hard part. Erzah will be going up against Dragonite. She won’t get STAB for anything, but she’s got a few levels on Dragonite and isn’t weak to anything it can hit her with in return. She also has Spite to reduce the number of times Dragonite can use Roost. She’ll lead with Hypnosis because the fewer attacks back, the better. If Hypnosis succeeds and there’s no one for Dragonite to switch with, she’ll take a risk and use Curse (before switching with Pevox for healing), otherwise she’ll focus on hitting weaknesses. Her main attacks will be Icy Wind and Ice Punch alternating.

If Erzah is having trouble and can’t finish Dragonite off, Pevox will come in and hang on as long as he can, using Triple Axel, Moonblast and Draining Kiss. If Dragonite is still going, Ylnok will take the field, set up Aqua Ring and then use Play Rough, Draining Kiss and Icy Wind. She probably won’t last long because Dragonite has a couple attacks she’s weak to, and will hand things off to Dyak if it’s getting really desperate. On account of Fire Punch, Dyak will just go for Discharge right away rather than set up. It’s not super effective, but hopefully Dragonite will be suffering and out of Roosts.

And if all of that isn’t enough, Thace will call in Vrig. Her level advantage is huge, and she can hit Dragonite’s Rock weakness with Head Smash. There’s a pretty good chance that an already injured Dragonite can’t take her out before she takes it out, even if Dragonite has a good number of Fire Punches left.

As ever, if Thace really can’t scrape a win out of this without risking one of his Pokemon fainting, he’ll forfeit.


Badge/Gym Leader: Pryce/Glacier
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: LINK Vrig (pinch hitter. Lv 100 Aegislash), Vruli (non-battler), Pevox (Lv 66 Gardevoir), Kodra (Lv 66 Bisharp), Dyak (Lv 66 Togedemaru), Erzah (Lv 79 Haunter)

Battle Details: Held items: Chesto Berries for all

Thace enters the gym with all of his Pokemon gathered around him and not in balls. As always his Aegislash and undersized Whismur are in their sling, and the rest walk in formation around him. Thace has stockpiled berries and other healing items (including Awakening) for the match.

Kodra the Bisharp starts with Dewgong. Thace considers the self-healing moves to be the biggest threat and Kodra has Spite, which she will promptly use if Aqua Ring gets set! She’s also set up for the primary damage dealer in the first part of the match. Kodra will hit with Scary Face and Metal Sound primarily, with an Iron Head in there for some damage and flinch chance. If for some reason she tanks well enough to get three of each of the status moves in there, she’ll be switched out. Most likely, her health will start dipping low and she’ll be switched out. While Thace is healing her, Dyak will go in!

Dyak will set Electric Terrain (as a bonus, it prevents rest) and then hit with Rising Voltage. Thace is half expecting Pryce to order Dewgong to use Encore; he’s prepared for that. Pevox will switch in for a turn, and he has Charge Beam. Then Dyak will come back in, which should cause Encore to fail and Rising Voltage should do a whole lot of damage all at once. Even if it doesn’t (or the semi-invulnerable turn of Dive comes into play), Thace has packed some Leppa Berries, and will heal both Pevox and Dyak while switching back and forth until Encore and/or Dive is no more, while keeping Electric Terrain set. Thace is expecting a long battle of attrition with Dewgong’s self-healing, and has stocked up on probably way more healing than he really needs.

When Lapras gets sent in, if Electric Terrain is still good to go for a turn or two, OR Dyak can’t tank Lapras’s attacks for two turns, Kodra will come back in and toss out a Metal Sound or two. The Chesto Berries are in case somebody has to be on the field without the benefits of Electric Terrain. If Dyak stays in, or when she comes back in all healed after Kodra, she’ll start with refreshing Electric Terrain if necessary, then Charge, and then Rising Voltage. Rising Voltage doubles in power with Electric Terrain, and Charge doubles it again (and it’s STAB, and it’s super effective), so Thace estimates that even in the worst case scenario a hit will leave Lapras hanging on by a thread, but quite possibly 1-hit-KO’d. If Lapras survives the first hit, Dyak will just throw out another Rising Voltage right away.

In case Perish Song is used, Thace will have his team switch, and would be happy to take down Mamoswine before Lapras.

When Mamoswine comes in, so does Erzah while the rest get healed by Thace. If/when Electric Terrain has faded, she’ll use Hypnosis. Either way, her primary attacks will be alternating Energy Ball and Giga Drain. If Erzah can’t keep up with the damage from Mamoswine’s Ice and Rock attacks, she’ll switch out with Pevox who will use Wish to give Erzah that much more of a boost on the end of the next turn.

If Erzah can’t quite finish it, Kodra will come back in and promptly use Magnet Rise, Swords Dance, and hopefully finish it with a couple Iron Heads and/or Grass Knot. If Mamoswine is still standing after even that, everybody else on the primary squad has Grass Knot (and Magnet Rise, if they need to avoid Mamoswine’s Earthquake).


And, well, if everything should go to hell in a handbasket with Thace’s more “fair” strategy, he has his level 100 Aegislash with Shock Wave for the two part Water types, and Magnet Rise and Sacred Sword/Iron Head for the Mamoswine. If this happens, Thace will explain to Pryce that he’s willing to try to play fair, but he’s also trying to get enough badges to take on Elite teams with his veteran family members.

If somehow even that isn’t enough, he’ll forfeit rather than risk any of his team fainting.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved! x2

[fingersandteeth]

Character: Steven Durante | fingersandteeth
Badge/Gym Leader: let's smear Lt Surge
Elite/Regular: regular
Team: Iron Giant (Golurk 83), with Piltdown (Dracozolt 98) subbing in just long enough for Steven to bring out the revives and hyper potions if Iron Giant goes down
Battle Details: Is Iron Giant overleveled for this? Almost certainly. But Steven only has two Ground-type pokemon and Conchita's even higher level, so curbstomping it is. Piltdown is only around so that if god forbid Iron Giant goes down, there's someone to hang around and soak hits while Steven administers the revive and hyper potion, before he sends Iron Giant right back out again.

Anyway, Steven knows what he's here for and what he's here for is to brutally and efficiently shut down Lt Surge. He's just gotten back after six years away and he's ready to show that said time away hasn't made him rusty.

For all three members of Surge's team, he'll start off with Mud Slapping to fuck up their accuracy. With Electabuzz and Raichu he'll then move into causing Earthquakes and flinging himself around with his High Horsepower. For Magneton he'll do much of the same, only tossing in some Hammer Arms, Dynamic Punches, and Focus Punches. Whenever he misses an attack, he proceeds to throw a Stomping Tantrum.

Unfair? Possibly. But Steven doesn't really care right now. Sorry.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[demonpuppy]

Character: Chip Abaroa | demonpuppy
Badge/Gym Leader: Faulkner (Zephyr Badge)
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: beep
Battle Details: So after the DISASTROUS first attempt that Chip made on first arrival to Violet that saw them attempting to brute-force Paliens typings into the Pokemon world and failing miserably...they've learned a bit. Not a lot, but a bit.

(Really didn't help they were super underleveled as well, tbh.)

So! With some training and a little bit of actually looking at their Palpedia Pokedex, Chip has discovered a few useful bits of information. One: in these parts, "Sky" types are actually weak to "Earth" attacks for some weird reason, and Sponk has Power Gem. Two: Michelin knows an "Electro" AND a "Cryo" attack. This means that two of Chip's highest level "Paliens" are well equipped to take on this Gym, and they are definitely going to lead with those two and sweep past Noctowl with little difficulty. Unfortunately both of them are weak to Honchkrow, and neither are particularly fast. With only one solid hit in from Sponk and Michelin each at best, it will be up to Patty to tank through the rest of that fight and finish off Honchkrow.

From there it's a war of attrition--Patty is of roughly equivalent level to Pidgeot, but she's already taken a beating. The rest are underleveled and Nugget in particular is weak to Flying moves. Chip is keeping Espie in reserve for the very last--while she's of superior typing she's also the weakest, but with Thunderwave and a decent speed stat she might be able to pull off a Hail Mary if the rest of the team can chip off enough health.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

Character: Shinobu Tsukuyomi | un_oiseau_rebelle
Badge/Gym Leader: Marsh/Sabrina
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Mochi the Mimikyu, Kanchou the Empoleon, Arashi the Morpeko, Akari the Chandelure (backup)
Battle Details: Time to finish up Kanto.

Espeon: Espeon's ability to inflict Confusion, among other status spells, is potentially a problem, which is why Shinobu is arming Mochi with a Persim Berry and sending them out to inflict Taunt. Mochi also has Double Team at their disposal, and will be using that to up their evasion and Hone Claws to up their attack and accuracy. After that, it's time to exploit Espeon's weakness to Ghost and Dark attacks by breaking out moves like Shadow Claw and (courtesy of a fortuitous TM delivery) Dark Pulse - mostly the former, as Mochi gets STAB with it. Mochi will also keep reapplying Taunt as needed, and if things somehow turn against them will break out Destiny Bond. Hopefully that last won't be necessary, though.

Mr. Mime: If Mochi is still hanging in there, they may start this battle off, using the usual Taunt -> stat buffs -> offensive moves -> Taunt -> repeat strategy. However, Mochi only has a couple of levels over Espeon and only one over Mr. Mime, so it's not unlikely that they'll be tiring at some point. And while Shinobu really doesn't like bringing in very overpowered pokemon (it doesn't seem fair to the gyms' pokemon), he doesn't really have much choice at this point. So he's bringing in Kanchou to take advantage of Mr. Mime's weakness to Steel. He's not going to be buffing himself too much - he doesn't have Taunt, so Mochi may need to switch back in to apply it, and there's little point in drawing the battle out by re-applying stat buffs - but at level 78 and with Metal Claw and Flash Cannon to take advantage of Mr. Mime's weakness to Steel (and the STAB Kanchou gets with both of those attack moves), he may not need the buffs.

Alakazam: The strategy here is roughly similar to that deployed against Espeon: Arashi comes out armed with a Persim Berry, opens with Taunt to shut down Alakazam's status moves, and then proceeds to buff themself/debuff Alakazam and then go for the offensive moves, with periodic reapplications of Taunt as necessary. In Arashi's case, those offensive moves are Aura Wheel (during those turns when it's Dark element, anyway), Crunch, and - if Alakazam manages to use a debuff on Arashi despite everything - Lash Out. As a level 78 pokemon with partial Dark typing, Arashi has a significant advantage over Alakazam, so it seems likely that the Morpeko will prevail relatively easily, but if things do manage to go sideways, Akari is waiting in the wings with her own arsenal of STAB moves (and Taunt). Given that Akari is level 99, hopefully it won't come to that.

Shinobu, as ever, is his pokemons' item caddy.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[insidegalra]

Some backdated matches, now that I've figured out where Thace was during most of November! These would have taken place right around Thanksgiving.

Character: Thace | insidegalra
Badge/Gym Leader: Brock, Boulder
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: LINK As this battle is backdated, these are the levels at the time of the matches: Vrig (Aegislash, Lv 100, pinch hitter), Vruli (Whismur, Lv 36 actually battling!!!), Yroz (Ferroseed, Lv 36), Zirthe (Corviknight, Lv 45), Zorfon (Bronzong, Lv 40), Dyak (Togedemaru, Lv 58, backup)
Battle Details:
Thace is giving his lower leveled group a chance at badges! So he comes in as is his habit with no one in balls, and Vruli in her sling, but she gets put down once he’s at the arena. He’s stocked up on plenty of healing items for these matches.

Held items: Yroz-Miracle Seed, Vruli-Mystic Water, everyone else Sitrus Berries

Out first is Zorfon the Bronzong to start with Hypnosis and Safeguard. If Rhyhorn is still asleep, they will throw in as many Heavy Slams as they can get away with before Rhyhorn wakes back up. Then out comes Yroz with Ingrain followed by Bullet Seeds to hopefully finish Rhyhorn off.

If Yroz needs more healing than Ingrain can provide, Zorfon will come back in with Hypnosis (awake), or possibly another Heavy Slam, before switching back. Cue more Bullet Seeds on Yroz’s part.

Once Rhyhorn is down, tiny Vruli has requested to go up against Golem! She’s going to start off with Supersonic to hopefully confuse Golem, and then pull out Water Pulse.

If Vruli needs healing, she’ll switch with Zorfon again, who resists Rock in case Stealth Rock was set up. Zorfon will start with Hypnosis and Rain Dance. If Golem is (still) asleep, Zorfon will throw in a couple Gyro Balls and a Metal Sound if they can get away with them while Golem is still asleep.

If Golem woke up before fainting and Zorfon had to switch back out, Vruli will finish it with her Water Pulses.

If her health is good she’ll stay in long enough to launch one more Water Pulse at Onix. Either way, Thace has brought a bird to face off against Brock’s team. Of course, this bird is a Corviknight, and Celadon sells Flash Cannon TMs for delivery! Zirthe will hit Onix first with a Metal Sound, and then several Flash Cannons.

As always, a quick switch with Zorfon who’ll skip straight to Gyro Ball, if she needs healing.

If Zirthe isn’t enough to take out Onix on her own, Yroz will come back in for as many Bullet Seeds as he can manage, and maybe a couple Flash Cannons of his own. If Yroz can’t finish Onix off, Vruli will Water Pulse Onix with all she has!

If that combined effort isn’t enough, Dyak the Togedemaru will come in with Magnet Rise and alternating Pin Missile and Fell Stinger.

And in the very unlikely event that Thace’s team of rookie battlers can’t take down Brock’s team on their own, Vrig will step in. With Magnet Rise to compensate for her weakness, and a bunch of Steel and Fighting moves, Brock’s poor team wouldn’t stand a chance.


Badge/Gym Leader: Misty/Cascade
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: LINK As this battle is backdated, these are the levels at the time of the matches: Vrig (Aegislash, Lv 100, pinch hitter), Vruli (Whismur, Lv 36 actually battling!!!), Yroz (Ferroseed, Lv 36), Zirthe (Corviknight, Lv 45), Zorfon (Bronzong, Lv 40), Dyak (Togedemaru, Lv 58, backup)
Battle Details:
Thace is giving his lower leveled group a chance at badges! So he comes in as is his habit with no one in balls, and Vruli in her sling, but she gets put down once he’s at the arena. He’s stocked up on plenty of healing items for these matches.

Held items: Yroz-Miracle Seed, Vruli-Magnet, Zirthe-Black Glasses everyone else Sitrus Berries

Vs. Golduck, Vruli takes the stage first with her very best Screech! Then a Howl! Then the Thunder Punch she just learned. She will continue with Thunder Punches until Golduck faints, or Vruli needs healing. If she needs healing, she switch right back in after with more Thunder Punches.

Zorfon is this match’s heal-staller. They are mostly around to toss out Hypnosis, Safeguard, and/or Heavy Slam before switching back out.

Zorfon also comes in for some set up against Lapras. Sunny Day to reduce water’s effectiveness. Hypnosis because a sleeping opponent is always useful, and Safeguard to put up some defense against Sing and Confuse Ray.

Yroz will come in to lay Ingrain and spam Bullet Seed, switching with Zorfon as necessary for healing and to get Hypnosis/Safeguard back up.

If Yroz is running on empty and needs a rest, Vruli will have been healed and come back in with some more Screeching, Howling, and Thunder Punching. Hopefully with the two of them spelling each other, and Zorfon around for support, they’ll be able to outpace Lapras’s self-healing and bring it down. If it proves difficult, Zirthe will come in to lay down some Taunts to put a stop to that.

Zirthe, however, will be the primary battler against Starmie. She’ll start with Taunt, and then Iron Defense, then Hone Claws. Then Power Trip, which gets stronger the more Zirthe raises her stats! And is also Dark type for the super effective boost. She’ll continue with Taunts, Hone Claws and Power Trips, and a few Iron Defense for good measure.

If Zirthe needs to be spelled for healing, Zorfon will come back in for Hypnosis times.

If Zirthe can’t quite take care of the star, Yroz and Vruli will take turns chipping away at Starmie in short bursts with Bullet Seed and Thunder Punch respectively.

If that’s not enough to bring down Starmie, Dyak will come in with her level advantage and STAB electric attacks and probably lay waste to the poor Pokemon.

Vrig should not be needed in this match, but she’s standing by like a protective mama sword just in case.

Win or lose, Vruli will celebrate when the match is over by jumping into Misty’s pool and showing off her swimming skills. (She’s been practicing!)

[indigo_league]

Cascade and Boulder Badges approved!

[cyan_maid]

Character: Jane Crocker | cyan_maid
Badge/Gym Leader: TAKING ON THE WHOLE ELITE FOUR BAYBEY
Elite/Regular: I mean they just have one team each that's lv 100 and super experienced so like...that's the one
Team: Dinah the Audino, Poirot the Kricketune, August the Delphox, Bettina the Crobat, Madeline the Primarina, and Dart the Bisharp. All lv 100!
Battle Details: OKAY SO FIRST OF ALL: Jane is prepping for this very seriously, and by seriously I mean she is stocking up on healing items like a madwoman. I'm guesstimating 200,000P should be enough to bring her inventory up to:

50 Revives
50 Hyper Potions
10 Elixers
20 Antidotes
20 Paralyze Heals
20 Awakenings
20 Burn Heals
20 Ice Heals

Which might be overkill but like. It's the Elite Four. We need to bring our A Game and also be prepared to heal up considerably before jumping into another fight. If Jane manages to win fights, she will of course take the time to heal everyone up to full if she can before heading off to the next one.

Second: this is more for flavor than anything else, but with every member of the Elite Four she meets, Jane is going to politely ask, before the battle, to take a selfie with them. We'll be sending these to one Dirk Strider since it's his birthday, but that's an RP thing.

Okay, and now: the battles.

Will
Bronzong and Jynx will face off against August to start with. Their Steel and Ice typing respectively make them weak to his array of Fire type attacks, and since he is also a Psychic type, he can communicate with Jane telepathically, letting her know if he feels he can't keep going for much longer or reaching out into her mind to see what attacks she wants him to use, or how she might want him to move. He's developed his power enough to do that by now, and since he considers her his mother, they have a strong enough bond to trust one another in battle. Hopefully he can take out these two fast enough and use Will-O-Wisp on Grumpig before switching out to Poirot. Poirot, being a Bug type, has a type advantage against Will's Psychic barrage. For Grumpig he'll focus on using Fury Cutter, its repeated use powering up its strength along with the effects of Will-O-Wisp's burn whittling down Grumpig's HP. This should be enough to take it down and then deal some serious damage to Slowbro, hopefully knocking it out as well. Since Poirot was the first Pokemon Jane ever caught, they have a lot of experience with each other's tells and movements; she'll withdraw him if he can get Slowbro down, and for Gardevoir, Jane will send out Dart. While they've only come to an understanding fairly recently, Dart is nothing but loyal to this third iteration of his trainer that he's come to know, and takes every battle seriously, putting in his all and pushing his limits. Metal Claw and Iron Head will be put to great use against Gardevoir, and hopefully he can hang on long enough to stare down Will's Xatu, who will face a full assault of Swords Dance, Embargo (to keep it from using items), then Night Slash, the Dark typing hopefully working to his advantage. If Xatu proves to be faster than him, Jane will have him use Assurance, which has a base power of 120 if the user has already taken damage this turn. Given the difference in each Pokemon's base Speed, I'm going to take the gamble on that being very possible. With any luck, this will take Will down.

Koga
Once healed up, Jane will start her battle with Koga by sending out Bettina. Her Poison typing should make her resistant to his team's primary form of offense; going up against Skuntank gives them both a level playing field, with no outright weaknesses against each other. Bettina has the advantage of the air on her side, and will make use of flight as much as possible to keep out of Skuntank's melee range whenever possible. She'll start with Mean Look, so Skuntank is locked into combat, then Confuse Ray to hopefully inflict confusion on it, and then come in with a full-on aerial assault with Air Cutter (it has an increased chance of landing critical hits) and Air Slash (which has a 30% chance of making Skuntank flinch if Bettina outspeeds it). Jane will change it up for when Venomoth comes out, since both Pokemon can fly - a quick Roost should fill up Bettina's HP before she comes out swinging with Wing Attack and Acrobatics. The latter of those attacks is actually boosted to a power of 110, since Bettina does not have any held items, and should cause massive damage to Venomoth. From then on, Koga's team is left vulnerable to August, whose Psychic typing is a meance to Poison. While Jane won't expect him to make it through all four of Koga's other Pokemon, they're going to try to go as far as they can like this, with August setting up Lucky Chant to keep his opponents from landing crits for five turns, Calm Mind to boost his Special Attack/Defense, Magic Room to supress the effect of held items for five turns (he also does not have a held item), and then a total rush of Psychic, Psybeam, and Psyshock. If he feels like he's close to running out of gas, he will toss out a Future Sight to help out whoever comes after him, and a Light Screen if he can manage it just so they have a few turns' protection from Special attacks. If he goes down, Jane is going to send out Dart to do cleanup, with Swords Dance boosting his Attack, Scary Face wrecking his opponent's Speed, and his Steel and Dark attacks not having any clear advantage or disadvantage against Koga's team. And if this too fails, Jane is bringing out the big guns: Dinah. She and Dinah have spent so much time together, know each other to such a degree, that while Jane may give out commands, she trusts that if Dinah wants to move or act in a certain way, she's certainly able to - she's the one battling after all. If she has to deal with Koga's Crobat, her familiarity with the species through Bettina and a well-aimed Thunder Punch might be enough to take it down, and Muk will be assaulted with Baby-Doll Eyes and Double-Edge. Of course, Attract will be used if this is a male Muk, because we weaponize the gender binary here, and Simple Beam will nullify Muk's ability (which, if it has the ability of Stench, will remove it's 10% chance of making an opponent flinch). This might be enough to weaken Muk, but if it's not enough to take it down, Jane will break out Madeline and/or Poirot to finish it off.

Bruno
Again, we take the time to heal everyone up to full before we step into the ring with Bruno. This is definitely August's time to shine, and he will be setting up immediately in order to take out as much of Bruno's team as possible - Calm Mind, Magic Room, Will-O-Wisp, and Lucky Chant will be tossed up immediately before he lays into the Hitmon-trio with Psychic, Psybeam, and Psyshock, renewing Lucky Chant as needed and using Will-O-Wisp whenever he's got to burn someone. Magic Room should keep Bruno from using Burn Heals or Full Heals, allowing his Fighting Pokemon to take damage as well as have their Attack power halved. Now, Jane doesn't expect him to make it through Bruno's entire team all on his own - they are experienced combatants afer all - so this is the opponent where she will finally bust out Madeline for a proper bout. Madeline has done incredibly when it comes to emerging from her shy shell and will make full use of her Fairy typing against these opponents. Attract (to again weaponize the gender binary) and Baby Doll Eyes (to lower Attack) will be followed up by Moonblast and Dazzling Gleam, which should obliterate her opponents...but then we come to Lucario. Since it has both Fighting and Steel typing, the same weaknesses don't quite apply. Madeline will certainly try her best to weaken it with attacks like Sparkling Aria and Surf, but will likely fall against its Steel attacks, and in response Jane will bring out Bettina, laying down Confuse Ray before going in with Acrobatics and Air Slash. This is hopefully enough to take it down - at least, we're crossing our fingers that it is.

Karen
Healing up once more, Karen's team is probably the most diverse, despite her thing being the Dark Type, and thus it's going to be the fight with the most Pokemon switching. Considering its high base Speed, Jane isn't going to send August out to fight Weavile, it'd decimate the poor boy. Instead, she leads that fight with Dinah, putting out Simple Beam to get rid of its ability (likely Pressure) and Baby Doll Eyes before going full in with repeated Power-Up Punches. Weavile has a 4x weakness to Fighting attacks, and Power-Up Punch raises the user's Attack stat up to six stages. Once Dinah's fully charged up, if Weavile is still standing, she can kick it to the curb with Fire Punch and move on to Absol. Again, we lean into Baby Doll Eyes and Power-Up Punch, maybe an Attract if Absol is male, because I will continue the joke of "weaponizing the gender binary" even if it kills me. Hopefully Dinah has just enough gas to lay out another Simple Beam against Spiritomb to take out its ability before switching to Madeline, whose Fairy type attacks are Spiritomb's only weakness. We're going full in with Moonblast and Dazzling Gleam here, hoping that Spiritomb's low base HP and Speed work to Madeline's advantage of clearing it from the board and bringing out Houndoom, which she can properly bother with Baby-Doll Eyes, (hopefully again) Attract, Sparkling Aria, Hydro Pump, and Surf. Honchkrow, if we get to it by now, is a little different - Jane will send out Bettina, and the two will be on an even playing field in many respects. Neither are weak or strong against the other in a particular way, and both can fly, making this an aerial battle. However, here Bettina has something she didn't have in her previous fights: her opponent is susceptible to her Poison attacks. She'll go in with Poison Fang as soon as possible, as it has a 50% chance of badly poisoning its target, and then once the poison lands she will follow up with Venoshock - with a base power of 65, it inflicts double damage if the target is poisoned, bringing that base power up to 130. She of course has a boosted power Acrobatics, Roost, and Confuse Ray if she needs to switch it up or take a moment to rest, but Jane is hoping this will turn out in her favor more than anything, because her last opponent is Umbreon. Now, for Umbreon, Jane will absolutely bring out Poirot again, and lead off with a ballsy move - Perish Song. Because she can. But this requires Poirot to survive a few turns before it takes effect, and this is where he will pressure Umbreon with X-Scissor; with the STAB from the Bug Typing and Umbreon's 2x weakness, this should keep it on its toes enough to either knock it out or let Perish Song do its thing - and if it does come down to Perish Song, well, Jane will still have Dart and August on her team, thus winning by default.

Lance

Hoo boy, this is the big one. The biggest one. I honestly don't know if Jane will even get this far into the challenge, but if she does, she is of course healing up considerably and giving one last pep talk to her team, telling them to do their best, that she's going to always love them no matter what - just being a caring trainer all around and giving these rascals hugs.

And then the fight.

Lance is not someone she will underestimate - she remembers her fight with Clair and how nerve-wracking the experience was, going up against Dragons. Still, she'll do the smart thing and lead with Madeline first, not just because of her Fairy typing - though that does provide some assurance against Dragons. She'll lay down Baby-Doll Eyes against Salamence, and then Attact and Captivate if it's a male Salamence, hopefully distracting it from attacking too often and lowering its Special Attack stat. Then, Madeline is going to start in with Ice Beam. Salamence is 4x weak against Ice attacks, and to start with Ice Beam will hopefully slam down its HP enough so that she can follow up with Moonblast and Dazzling Gleam, with 2x effectiveness and STAB to make up the difference. For Gyarados, Jane will switch to Bettina, starting off with Confuse Ray to keep it distracted and hopefully hitting itself while she sets up another Poison Fang/Venoshock combo situation, with Acrobatics and Roost in her back pocket if needed. It's her hope that the poison is enough to fell Gyarados, since Jane doesn't have much in the way of electricity to rely on, and she's saving Dinah for the end.

Madeline is getting healed up and sent out again for Garchomp - again, that 4x weakness to ice is a target she is more than willing to exploit, and this time she'll mix it up with Sparkling Aria and Hydro Pump. While Water-type attacks don't have any particular strength against Garchop, they aren't weak against it either, and Jane is hoping that, if she gets the field wet, the following Ice Beam might also freeze some of the surrounding area, creating slippery and hazardous ground for the land-bound Garchomp to deal with. If she's got enough in her, Jane will also let Madeline fight Altaria, dealing out Moonblast and Dazzling Gleam like it's going out of style - and Dart will take over if Madeline goes down. His Dark and Steel typing, again, does not have advantage or disadvantage against Altaria, so he will rely on first Torment to keep Altaria from repeating moves, then Iron Defense and Sword Dance to boost his stats before heading in with Night Slash and Metal Claw.

We're going a little wild against Charizard, since Madeline has done a lot of work already - Jane is going to send out August to fight him. Since both are Fire types, they'll be relying on other moves to combat each other, and for August that's just fine. Laying down a Calm Mind, then Lucky Chant, he'll toss out Future Sight and then Magic Room to give him a little wiggle room before pulling up Light Screen and using that as his shield for Psychic, Psyshock, and Psybeam. The main thing he wants to do is withstand any Fire attacks or anything else thrown his way, and maintain Lucky Chant to decrease its crit chance.

After Charizard is down, all that leaves is Dragonite.

An Audino might be an odd choice to bring out against a whole Dragonite, but Dinah is more than up to the task. Jane will Mega Evolve Dinah to become a Mega Audino, gaining the Fairy type and putting to use the very item received from the aftermath of Rocket Prom. And her first move...is Ice Punch.

Since Jane has been setting up at the start, she hopes an outright attack might catch Lance off-balance so she can then lead Dinah into Simple Beam and Baby-Doll Eyes, followed up by Dazzling Gleams and Ice Punches. Neither Jane nor Dinah will back down against Dragonite, and if it comes down to the wire, she has Take Down and Double-Edge. Dinah wants this so very much, and nothing short of a full knock-out will keep her from getting back on her feet. Jane knows this, and will respect it - if Dinah doesn't want to stop, she can't make her stop, and will have to put her trust in her Pokemon to know her own limits.

(But if this doesn't work, Poirot is absolutely okay with being a meat shield until Jane can revive Madeline and heal her up to send her out with Moonblast. He knows he can't do much against a Dragonite and if he can be a stepping stone to get someone else onto the field, he's just happy to help.)

[indigo_league]

[speedweed]

Character: Robert E. O. Speedwagon | speedweed
Badge/Gym Leader: Whitney
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Here using Prison Women, Candalera, Gambler, and Flash Tan Queen
Battle Details: Speedwagon isn't exactly intimidating, but he might be more intimidating coming in with Candalera the salazzle against his side with her tail wrapped loosely around one leg and Gambler being naturally intimidating.

Anyway, he's got an idea of starting with Flash Tan Queen to set up stealth rocks, then switching into Gambler against girafarig since, hey, dark against the giraffe should do some damage. He'll start out using howl to raise his attack stat, then follow up with full out attacking with crunch. If Gambler is looking a little iffy he'll switch over to Flash Tan Queen to use shell smash and go on the offensive with x-scissor.

Clefable will be met with the force of Candalera who will take no time at all to take charge with toxic followed with venom drench to be absolutely awful. Once that's done she'll be moving into attacking properly with venoshock.

Miltank will be the most obnoxious which is exactly why Prison Women is here to deal with it. Baby-doll eyes will be essential to make the miltank's attack stat into utter trash before bewear shows her real strength via a combo of superpower and hammer arm.

Character: Robert E. O. Speedwagon | speedweed
Badge/Gym Leader: Faulkner
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Here using Sophisticated Lady, Sweet Time, Lightning, and Flash Tan Queen
Battle Details: What kind of insane person throws out a bug/rock in the flying gym? Speedwagon does. Except Flash Tan Queen is just here to set up stealth rocks to hurt some birds before switching out to Lightning for noctowl.

Of course noctowl is going to be at a disadvantage to the little rotom what with him being an ass and immediately using double team, confuse ray, and following up with a charge into a discharge. Sorry, birds.

Honchkrow will be met with Sweet Time who starts off using charm followed up by defense curl and a combo of play rough and roll out.

Pidgeot gets the big guns and by big guns we mean Sophisticated Lady who is having none of this shit. She's going to be an utter annoyance with cotton guard, thunder wave, and confuse ray. Lastly followed by a charge before unleashing with powerful thunder and disrespect discharges.

[indigo_league]

Plain and Zephyr Badges approved!

[fingersandteeth]

Character: Steven Durante | fingersandteeth
Badge/Gym Leader: let's knock Brock (the fock out)
Elite/Regular: regular plz!
Team: Ed (Sharpedo 52) and Fiyero (Shiny Cacturne 59)
Battle Details: Luckily for everyone's dignity, a purchased egg and a shiny Rocket reward have given Steven a nice pair of mid-level battlers to use in this fight, so we don't have to worry too much about making him face an elite team or anything.

Steven will start out using Fiyero, mostly because Fiyero has Leech Seed and that thing's a bitch and a half to deal with. He'll be seeding all of his targets, then whapping them with his Needle Arms. Cotton Spores will be used to slow them the opponents the fuck down.

Occasionally, he'll switch in Ed, who'll use Aqua Jet, Hydro Pump and Liquidation to blast water at the opponents. If it looks like she's getting low, he'll have her Flip Turn to send Fiyero back in.

Character: Steven Durante | fingersandteeth
Badge/Gym Leader: let's cream Janine
Elite/Regular: a whole lot of regular
Team: Mesmer (Hypno 52) and Nazca (Sigilyph 55) + William the Bloody (Swoobat 100) purely to tank hits during reviving/potioning if the other two go down
Battle Details: So let's just state for the record that Janine's choice of pokemon is truly sneaky, like the goddamn ninja she is. First of all, you have Crobat, whose secondary Flying type makes it so that one of Poison's two weaknesses, Ground, can't damage it. Then you have Ariados and Venomoth whose primary Bug typing also happens to be one of the vulnerabilities of Poison's other weakness, Psychic.

Obviously, if you're going to face her, you're going to also need to be just as goddamn sneaky and strategic. Luckily, Steven's six years away have only honed his sneak and strategy game alike.

Against Crobat, he's sending in Mesmer, mostly because he wants to cheer up Mesmer's mom Allure and dad Teller, who Steven recently inherited after they lost their original trainers, Lydia and Tyler. So what better way that to see their little boy do well in battle? Mesmer slaps up a Light Screen and a Reflect and then since Crowbat is more or less equally vulnerable to physical and special attacks, he'll alternate between blasting Psychic at it and Zen Headbutting it.

But once we get to Ariados and Venomoth, Mesmer just can't stick around. His pure Psychic typing makes him much too vulnerable. So instead we'll send in Nazca, whose secondary Flying type is strong against Bug and thus cancels out Psychic's weakness to it--and whose Flying attacks the Bug/Poison pokemon will both be vulnerable to!

Like with Mesmer, Nazca slaps up a Reflect and a Light Screen right away, the better to shield themselves from attacks. After that, he'll attempt to Hypnotize Ariados and Venomoth into falling asleep, forcing their trainer to waste their next turn either waking them up or switching them out--and that gives Nazca the opportunity use that wasted turn for the preparation stage of a rather nasty Sky Attack to hit Ariados and Venomoth right in their Bug Typing.

It's fairly likely, though, that having done this for the first of the two, Janine will see the second attempt coming, so after Nazca takes down one of the two Bug/Poisons down with the Hypnosis/Sky Attack combo, he'll whittle the other one down with some Psychics and maybe an Expanding Force.

As always, Steven is on deck with potions, stat recovery medicine, and revives at the ready.

[indigo_league]

Boulder and Soul badges approved!

[nastyboy]

Character: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd | nastyboy
Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner for the Zephyr Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: Rattata, Raticate, Pignite, Luxio, Munna
Battle Details:

Dimitri got to be there for Chip's battles, and he's used that experience to keep a close eye on Falkner's tactics - the little things like attack patterns, and tells of what attack a Pokemon might do before they do it. More battle tactics than, uh, Pokemon battle tactics. Battle tactics he'll be doing his best to actually actively remember from his school days, too!

Because he'll be using his Rat Duo, to take off bits of Falkner's health. He doesn't expect either of them to win even abusing Quick Attack, status moves, and speediness. So he will quickly call them back before either of them faint.

That's when he'll do his best to finish the job off with either his Munna (fingers crossed for Psybeam's Confusion) or his Pignite (Smog for poison, plus other status moves).

As before, he'll take his Pokemon out of the battle if they start to get weak, before they can faint.

And then, if he's run through all his Pokemon....

Dimitri busts out Fowi the Luxio the bully birds, as is her electric cat way. Spark will be tried for that paralyzing flavor, and Thundershock will be the brunt of damage. If Falkner tries to pull back any paralyzed Pokemon for one of higher health, Fowi has no shame in using Roar to veto that decision for him.

[indigo_league]

Zephyr Badge approved!

[stardiving]

Character: Estinien Wyrmblood | stardiving
Badge/Gym Leader: Volcano Badge/Blaine
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Lotus, Ratatoskr, Cathedral, Nidhogg
Battle Details:
Estinien will lead with Lotus. She's a bit underlevel for the challenge, but he's counting on her type advantage and recovery to make up for it. First turn will be used setting up Rain Dance to both power her up, and weaken Blaine's team's fire attacks. On the second turn, he'll have her use Aqua Ring for recovery. After that, it'll just be Hydro Pump for days. Or until she can't anymore, in which case she'll be switched out.

Next out is Cathedral. Despite being Steel type, its ability is Heatproof, which halves fire damage. To make it even more annoying, Estinien will have it use Iron Defense to make it take hits even better. Then, Confuse Ray to be a pain in the ass. Extrasensory and Payback will be the attacking moves of choice, with reapplication of Confuse Ray as needed because he's going to be That Guy.

Should Cathedral get KO'd, Estinien's next Pokemon out will be Ratatoskr. As part Ground, she's got a better type matchup against any of Blaine's team remaining. Foregoing any kind of set up or fancy tricks, Ratatoskr will just be handing out Earthquakes until the battle ends.

Nidhogg is mostly there as moral support and backup. If needed, Estinien will have him use Dragon Dance, then Outrage until the fight is over.

[indigo_league]

Volcano Badge approved!

[marmoron]

Character: Keith | marmoron
Badge/Gym Leader: Elite Four
Elite/Regular: Eliiiiiite
Team: You already know what’s coming…. < ahref=https://marmoron.dreamwidth.org/4545.html?thread=508865#cmt508865>Volcarona // Frosmoth // Venomoth // Dustox // Mothin // Masquerain

Battle Details:
Between each member of the Elite Four, Keith will be using revives and hyper potions to keep his team fresh and ready to battle. He’ll also be giving the moth squad various hold items which I’ll indicate as pertinent.

Will
To start things off, Keith will be sending in his Volcarona (holding a Chesto Berry) to face off against Will’s Bronzong. Bronzong, being a more defensive pokemon,with steel/psychic typing that Volcarona has resistances to, should be good set up fodder for the brave moth. Kicking things off with a nasty Will-O-Wisp to cut Bronzong’s damage output + deal some residual damage, Volcarona should be able to tank whatever move Bronzong wants to go for After this, Keith will be going for the classic Quiver Dance set up for the +3 boost to enhance Volcarona’s special attack, special defense and speed stats, effectively raising those 2.5x. If, at any point during this boosting, Volc’s health gets too low, he’ll have the moth use Rest to regain its HP and thanks to Chesto Berry, Volcarona will be awake next turn. The buffs to Volc’s SpDef from each turn of QD will also decrease the amount of damage taken every turn if Will’s Bronzong relies more on Special Attacks. Once Volcarona has sufficiently boosted up, Keith will immediately have the moth go on the offensive with Flamethrower to hopefully score a OHKO on Bronzong. Next comes Jynx who will be meeting a similar fiery fate with another+3 flamethrower. Grumpig will be hit with a super effective +3 Bug Buzz. Slowbro will take a +3 Giga Drain which should also knock it out in one hit while also restoring all of Volcarona’s health. Gardevoir will get a +3 Bug Buzz. Xatu will be hit with a +3 Flamethrower that won’t be super effective, but still hit like a truck.

Koga
Volcarona is up first against Skuntank who is immediately getting Will-O-Wisped to cut its attack (the higher of Skuntank’s offenses) and start racking up some passive damage to try and get around Aftermath. Then Keith will switch out to Venomoth. With the attack reduction from the burn, Venomoth should be better able to take a hit on switch in and go for an annoying Infestation to rack up more passive damage. Rather than go on the offense, Keith will have Venotmoth go for roost to stay at a healthy amount of HP while Infestation and Burn do their thing. This will probably be a fairly annoying battle for Koga as Keith’s strat here tis to keep using Roost to stay at a good amount of HP but go for Supersonic and at least one Quiver Dance during any turns where Skuntank hits itself in confusion. This is stall-y, but when Skuntank finally faints from residual damage, Venomoth should have the +1 QD boost which will come in handy for when Koga’s own Venomoth comes in as Keith’s moth should outspeed it guaranteed. Venomoth will hit Koga’s with a Sleep Powder.

As you can guess, this will go downhill quickly. While Koga’s mothpal is zzzzing, Venomoth will go for another QD to boost up to +2. From there, Venomoth will go on the offense with +2 Psychic to knock out the opposing moth.. Toxicorak might come in and be able to do a chunk with Sucker Punch, but go down to a +2 Psychic that it has a 4x weakness to. Unfortunately for Koga, Swalot doesn’t have any priority moves to smack Venomoth with to do a speedy KO, so Venomoth will continue his reign of terror with a Sleep Powder to get a turn to Roost up to a decent amount of HP. Then back to hitting like a truck with +2 Psychics. Very dramatically, Swalot gets to wake up and smack Venomoth with an Extrasensory, but with buffed +2 SpDef from QD, Venomoth takes that like a champ before finishing Swalot off. Next comes Crobat which is getting immediately hit with a +2 Psychic. Thanks to the +2 speed boost from QD it should be able to outspeed the fast bat and do a hefty amount of damage. Crobat will then proceed to take out Venomoth with a brave bat bird, but dramatically faint from the recoil damage.

Finally, in comes Muk. Volcarona comes in first to throw out a Will-O-Wisp to cut its attack. Seeing as Muk gets access to Earthquake. It probably does a respectable chonk of damage to Volcarona who will then go for a hail mary Fire Spin for added residual damage. After Volc faints from Muk’s second attack, Keith will switch in to Frosmoth who is also going to be massively annoyed between the combination of Attract and Confusion to keep Muk from attacking as much as possible. If Muk is at all able to get in a hit between its dual status condition, Frostmoth should at least be able to tank one or two weakened hits from Muk and retaliate with a super effective Psybeam to whittle away the rest of Muk’s HP.

Bruno
Because all of Bruno’s pokemon have access to Rock type moves which are an absolute death sentence for Keith’s team, the UTMOST precaution will need to be taken here. By which I mean this battle will be yet another annoying grindy battle -- Buckle in.

Venomoth will come swooping in against Hitmontop and take advantage of its base speed naturally outclipping Hitmontops by 20 points to immediately put that thing to sleep. Then… you know how annoying Double Team is? Yeah. Yeah. Venomoth is going right for that because nasty moves like Stone Edge and Rock Slide don’t have 100% accuracy and making as many of those miss as possible will be integral. If Hitmontop wakes up at any point to try and land a Rock Slide, Venomoth will be able to dodge thanks to its buffed evasion and put that thing right back to sleep and will use substitute to boot. This will continue until Venomoth has max evasion, at which point Dodgemoth will be using ye olde annoying tactic of using Psychic to whittle away at Hitmontop’s HP while it is trying to land less than perfect accuracy attacks twice since it has to break a sub, Venomth’s maxed out evasion while also dealing with the moth trying to put it to sleep every time it’s awake. Grindy as I said, but the odds aren’t in Hitmontop’s favor so it will eventually faint.

Next comes Hitmonlee who Bruno is going to wish had glasses on today as the same strat applies here. From behind a nice sub, Venomoth is going straight for a Sleep Powder, but it’ll miss (it was going to miss at least once right?) and Bruno will have wisened up to the Double Team strat and have Hitmonlee go for Mind Reader to negate the evasion buffs for the next move. Uh-oh. Throwing out a second sleep powder, this one will connect and Hitmonlee will take a short nap while Venmoth boosts up with Quiver Dance once. Keith will have Venomoth use +1 Psychic to do a healthy chonk of damage to Hitmonlee. Hitmonlee gets an early lucky wake and obliterates the sub with a Stone Edge. Then banking on the fact that Bruno is going to have to set up a Mind Reader + Stone Edge strat in order to ensure Dodgemoth’s evasion hax doesn’t screw things up, Keith will have Venomoth use substitute again. Bruno goes for the Mind Reader. Next turn, Keith has Venomoth use Psychich to deal the rest of the damage to Hitmonlee and knock it out.

Next comes Hitmonchan who, while it doesn’t naturally get access to moves like iInd Reader unless specifically bred this way, does get a move that ignores evasion stats in Aura Sphere. Unfortunately, it’s also a move that’s 4x resisted byVenmoth so Bruno is going to have a fun time breaking Venomoth’s sub. While Hitmonchan tries to pummel the sub, Venmoth will take a turn to set up another QD boost and start going for +2 Psychics. This should be a 2HKO on Hitmonchan who will have at least broken the sub for Hariyama to try and deal with.

Venomoth goes straight for the +2 Psychic which does a good chonk of damage to Hariyama, but Burno has decided he’s had enough of this goddamn moth and uses Whirlwind to get Dodgemoth out of his face as whirlwind’s accuracy disregards evasion. In Venomoth’s place comes Mothim who goes for a STAB Air Slash, leaving Hariyama with a third of its HP. Sadly Hariyama then proceeds to go for a Stone Edge that easily OHKO’s Mothim. To avenge him, Keith goes into Volcarona to finish it off with a Flamethrower.

In comes Machamp. Opting to switch out into Masquerain (holding a King’s Rock), the ability lowers Machamp’s attack by one stage. Keith has Masquerain use Air Slash. He gets one lucky flinch thanks to King’s Rock doubling the chances, and manages to land two Air Slashes to do about 70% damage to Machamp,before it hits Masquerain with a Stone Edge and another moth friend goes down. In comes Frosmoth to finish things off with a solid Ice Beam.

Finally, Lucario. Keith immediately switches into Venomoth to put that thing to sleep with sleep powder. Next he’ll start using Psychic which will be buffed by Tinted Lens to do neutral rather than ½ damage. Venomoth will manage to land two psychics while Lucario naps, doing about 40% chip damage before Lucario wakes up and goes for a Rock Slide of Doom. Bruno finally takes down the annoying moth, buuuuut in comes Volcarona to finish off Lucario with a STAB super effective Flamethrower.

Phew. That one was rough.

[marmoron]

Karen
With the whole team revived and healed up, it’s time to take on Karen’s team. Masquerain will kick things off by facing off with Weavile, using its intimidate ability to instantly cut Weavile’s Attack stat by one stage. Then Keith will immediately switch out into the godmoth Volcarona to sponge a weakened, ice attack. On the kick back, he’ll go for a Will-O-Wisp to burn Weavile and cut its attack down even more. With Weavile’s damage output now miserable, Keith will have Volcarona go for That Move (quiver dance) to start stat boosting. At any point should Volcarona’s HP get too low, Volc will use Rest and since it will be holding a nice Chesto Berry, good old resto-chesto will bring Volc right back up to full health. Once he’s gotten a solid 3 QD’s off, Volcarona will launch a Fiery Dance to OHKO the Weavile. Absol will come in afterwards, and will promptly go down to a +3 Bug Buzz, but not before throwing out a Sucker Punch that’ll do a decent chunk to Volc’s HP since QD doesn’t boost the defense stat. HM.

At this point because Volc is basically lightning incarnate with +3 Speed boost, Karen’s best strat will be to go for hail mary sucker punches in an attempt to whittle down godmoth’s HP. In comes Spiritomb, whose first attempt at a sucker punch will fail because Keith has also learned from this and will have Volc go for a Will-O-Wisp to weakne the Sucker Punch first. Then, in an attempt to get back some HP , Volc will use Giga Drain on Spiritomb. With a +3 boost to Special Attack, this should do about over 50% damage to Spiritomb. Volc will get a decent chonk of HP back, but again lose some to sucker punch though it will overall be a slight net gain due to the burn. He’ll finish off the Spiritomb with another +3 Giga Drain.

Next comes Houndoom whose fire typing means there won’t be any Will-O-Wisp shenanigans here. Volcarona will take once sucker punch and survive with about 20% HP due to Houndoom's Comparatively lower Attack Stat. Immediate retaliation comes in the form of a +3 neutral but STAB Bug Buzz which should be more than enough to OHKO Houndoom without problem.

The real problem that comes in is Honchcrow who should very easily be able to take out Volcarona with a Sucker Punch from this range. This is going to lead to an50/50 situation where Karen, because she’s further behind in pokemon count, is going to have to decide if Volcarona going to go for a Will-O-Wisps to dodge Sucker Punches or if she should hedge her bets and start going for swords dance. Please imagine intense staring across the battle field and beads of sweat from the intensity. In the end, knowing that Honchcrow’s got the flying type advantage over the moth team, she goes for the Swords Dance as Volcarona goes for …. +3 Flamethrower. See, Keith wanted Karen to think he’d go with Will-O-Wisp first and had conditioned her -- lmfao, what is this Death Note?

Anyway, Karen’s last pokemon is an Umbreon who despite being a defensive tank is not really an offensive threat. Keith will switch out to Dustox and immediately put Umbreon on a timer with toxic. Dustox will dodgetting poisoned by Umbreon’s synchronise ability thanks to its poison typing. From here, Keith will have Dustox use Venoshock which doubles in base power when the target is poisoned. Umbreon has a hefty amount of Special Defense and it’ll be slow going between that and Dustox using Moonlight to restore HP. Eventually though, the Umbreon will succumb to toxic poisoning and Keith will walk away with the victory.

And now ONTO THE CHAMPION!

Lance
Volcarona comes in hot against Salamence and will go straight for a string shot to decrease the dragon’s speed by 2 stages. Mence goes for a Flamethrower to score some good neutral damage on Volcarona and then Keith switches out to Mothim. Unfortunately, Motim will faint on the switch in to another Flamethrower, but this will not have been in vain because Forsmoth will get a clean switch in. With Salamence’s speed reduced, Frosmoth will easily outspeed and OHKO Lance’s first dragon with a 4x supper effective Ice beam.

Next comes Gyarados who Keith will switch back into Volcarona to again use String Shot to cut its speed in half. Afterwards, Gyarados will knock out Volcarona with Waterfall. Frosmoth is promptly getting switched right back in and it is time for shenanigans now that it outspeeds. Frosmoth will immediately go for Attract so this is going to be one of Those Battles. Gyarados will be immobilized by love giving Frosmoth a free turn to hit it with a stun spore. Now dealing with a very annoying dual status of Para-Attract, Gyarados is immobilized for another turn. This of course, is now the perfect time to set up a Quiver Dance. If the Elite Four don’t end up with nightmares of dancing moths for a lil bit afterwards, nothing else will. Gyarados finally manages to go for a waterfall and deals about 70% damage. No matter, Frosmoth will go for a rest and wake up the same turn with the help of the Chesto Berry its holding. Gyarados gets paralyzed this time. Frosmoth will go for a second QD to see if lightning can strike twice with Gyarados getting immobilized, but Lance’s sea serpent is apparently one tsun mofo and keeps hurting the things it likes, rood. Keith has had enoug of this and will direct Frosmoth to go for a 4x effective+2 boosted Hidden Power Electric to clinch the OHKO.

Lance now (correctly) identifying Frosmoth as a giant threat to the rest of his dragons will send out Charizard. Unfortunately, thanks to the +2 speed boost from QD, Frosmoth does outspeed the fire lizard and will promptly shock it with a 2+ boosted, HP electric. Backed by a massive Special Attack stat of 125 boosted twice, Charizard is going to fall to the OHKO. Next comes Garchomp who can’t outspeed a 2+ speed Forsmoth and will also go down to a 4x 2+ boosted super effective Ice Beam.

Sadly, this sweep comes to an end when Lance sends in Dragonite who manages to survive the Ice Beam on just a sliver of HP thanks to its Multiscale Ability. Retaliation is immediate in the form of a popwerful outrage attack. Masquerain swoops in, cuts Dragonite’s Attack by 1 stage with its Intimidate Ability and then proceeds to take out the iconic dragon with a Quick Attack. This leaves Lance with Altaria.

Old faithful (Venomoth) swoops in against Altaria, and immediately puts that last dragon in a timer with Toxic. Altaria will do a good chonk of damage to Venomoth with Aerial Ace, but won’t be able to repeat that because Venomoth goes for a very annoying Disable attack. Hanging on with just a sliver of HP, Venomoth will go for a Tinted Lens boosted Bug Buzz to get in an extra 40% damage. Altaria will knock out Venomoth with Flamethrower.

Down to just TWO months. Masquerain will come in. Altaria outspeeds and hits the buggo with a Flamethrower doing about 40%. Masquerain goes for a nice Scary Face to lower the birb dragon’s speed 2 stages and hit it on the follow up with an Aerial Ace for some extra chip damage to help speed up that toxic timer for Dustox. Altaria will then score a knock out on Masquerain by going for a follow up Flamethrower. With Altaria having about 30% health, Keith sends in the final moth-- Dustox.

Keith, at this point, think it'd be funny to style and be annoying with Toxic stall and will IMMEDIATELY get punished for that when Lance has Altaria go for Roost. Good thing that doesn’t fix the toxic situation, huh? Instantly taking seriously again, Keith has Dustox go right for Venoshock which brings Altaria back down in range for residual toxic damage to KO it the following turn. Lance has Altaria go straight for a Flamethrower to do as much damage as possible, but with that -2 speed drop, Altaria isn’t able to outspeed Dustox on the following turn. Keith has Dustox use Venoshock to hopefully seal the deal!

[lioness_rampant]

Character: Allura | lioness_rampant
Badge/Gym Leader: Lt. Surge / Thunder
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Here! - Jewel the Tsareena, Gyrgan the Cinderace, Blaytz the Altaria, Trigel the Pachirisu
Battle Details: It's been a while and Allura sure doesn't have any pokemon at this point that aren't super OP for this battle so here we go.

Jewel the Tsareena is first on the field of battle, facing down Surge's Electabuzz. She'll start with Teeter Dance to confuse it, and from this point on, she's going to do what she does best and kick kick kick the daylights out of her opponent with Trop Kick. While she doesn't have a damage-dealing type advantage, being Grass-type means she takes half damage from Electric moves. Once she's worn Electabuzz down, she'll seal the deal with Leaf Storm.

Gyrgan the Cinderace is up next to take on Magneton, storming the field with a Quick Attack to get in a priority hit. Not unlike Tsareena, he's an ace kicker, and will use the moves Pyro Ball and Double Kick against Magneton.

To finish out the day, Blaytz the Altaria takes the stage and immediately Mega Evolves, dropping his Flying type in the process to become Dragon/Fairy. He'll start off with a song, using his Disarming Voice to do damage, and follow that up with Dragon Breath and Moonblast.

If Jewel or any of the Pokemon on Allura's team are afflicted with paralysis, she's able to use Aromatherapy to cure them. Trigel the Pachirisu is there for backup support as well, in case any of the others faint.



Badge/Gym Leader: Erika / Rainbow
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Here! - Rime the Frosmoth, Isille the Vivillon, Lahja the Beautifly
Battle Details: Rime will be first up to bat, starting off the battle against Jumpluff by summoning Hail. It follows this with a Quiver Dance and will use Aurora Beam and Blizzard to finish things off.

Tangrowth's opponent will be Isille the Vivillon, who kicks things off with Quiver Dance. Once that's done, she'll shoot off a Supersonic to confuse Tangrowth. Bug Buzz and Hurricane are her follow-up moves.

To round out the battle, Lahja the Beautifly will face off against Bellossom. Like the rest, he'll be starting off with a Quiver Dance, then Silver Wind. Bug Buzz is the move he'll use to carry the team to victory.

[indigo_league]

Rainbow Badge and Thunder Badge approved!

[insidegalra]

Character: Thace | insidegalra
Badge/Gym Leader: Chuck/Storm
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: LINK Vrig (lv 100 Aegislash, pinch hitter), Vruli (Lv 44 Whismur, non-battler), Rorlka (lv 72 Kadabra, backup), Zorfon (lv 55 Bronzong), Vrezat (lv 55 Toxapex), Dronil (lv 68 Shedinja, special guest)
Battle Details:
Held items: Zorfon-Twisted Spoon, Rorlka-Sitrus Berry, Vrezat-Poison Barb, Dronil-Miracle Seed, Vrig-Sitrus Berry (just in case)

Thace has stocked up on healing items for the match, and unusually, comes in with one Pokeball that isn’t a lure ball on his belt with the rest of the team in their usual places.

Setup/healstall, Vrezat:
—Against Hitmonlee: Toxic, Venom Drench, Toxic Spikes, Venoshock if good on HP
—Against Hitmonchan: Toxic Spikes, Venom Drench if good on HP (doubtful)
—Against Poliwrath: Venom Drench, Venoshock if good on HP
—as healstall: go in, Venoshock, get back out
(when Vrezat is not battling she gets healed)

Secondary setup/backup fighter, Rorlka
—Vs the Hitmons: if Zorfon is struggling, go in to set up Reflect, use Teleport (assuming it works like in Let’s Go) to switch with Zorfon right after the Hitmons’ attack. He’s high enough level to tank three hits. This can happen in the middle of Zorfon’s fights, or right after Verzat does her thing as needed. Healed while not battling

Primary fighter, Zorfon (yay Heatproof!)
—Vs the Hitmons: Hypnosis(repeat as necessary whenever opponent is awake), Future Sight, Metal Sound, Extrasensory, Extrasensory, Future Sight (lather rinse repeat). Switch out if needing healing.
—Vs Poliwrath: Sunny Day, then bow out for the special guest

Special guest, Dronil (yay Wonderguard!)
—Vs Poliwrath: End the weather battle via Spite and Sunny Day. Then spam Solar Beam until out of PP (refreshing Sunny Day as necessary). Even if Hypnosis works, Poliwrath can’t actually hurt Dronil thanks to Wonderguard, unless TMs have been used to teach it Dark attacks. Dronil knows the slim risk of fainting, and accepts it.

Pinch Hitter, Vrig
—Lv 100 Aegislash can almost certainly tank a couple super effective attacks while probably clobbering any Pokemon the rest of the team can’t take out with Aerial Ace.

Badge/Gym Leader: Jasmine/Steel
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: LINK Vrig (lv 100 Aegislash, pinch hitter), Vruli (Lv 44 Whismur, non battler), Dyak (lv 72 Togedemaru), Kodra (lv 72 Bisharp), Erzah (Lv 84 Haunter), Dronil (lv 68 Shedinja)
Battle Details:
Held Items: Dyak-Magnet, Kodra-Chesto Berry, Erzah-Sitrus Berry, Dronil-Soft Sand, Vrig-Sitrus Berry

Thace is doing his usual entrance bit of walking in with his team either in the sling, or walking with him like a well-drilled military team. He's stocked up on a bunch more than usual of healing items this time. He's pretty sure this one is going to be a close one. He's also going to put Vruli down out of her sling, and she'll stand at attention with the rest. To gain more time, he's hoping that Jasmine knows that while Whismur are terribly fragile, they can learn water attacks (and Mud Slap) and fall for his Rain Dance bluff.

Setup/Healstall, Erzah:
—Vs, Skarmory: Hypnosis to start, and a Hex or two (or three) to soften Skarmory up. will switch out if Skarmory has an item/berry used on it without using Hypnosis again
—Vs. Magneton: Mean Look to lock Magneton on the field. Hypnosis for good measure if Electric Terrain has faded. A Shadow Ball if her HP is still good
—Vs. Steelix: Curse, scarf her Sitrus Berry and run
—As Healstall: Erzah will bop in, use Shadow Ball or Dark Pulse on her whim and bop back out. Except against the Steelix, in which case further meetings are Hypnosis until it sticks (and then maybe Shadow Ball and/or Dark Pulse) all the way.

First Battler/backup, Dyak:
—Vs Skarmory: Electric Terrain (which wakes Skarmory up), followed by Charge and Rising Voltage. Just uncharged Rising Voltage after that, especially if she needs to heal.
—If coming back in for backup (or if Jasmine switches Pokemon on her): Magnet Rise (against Steelix only) and Grass Knot, even if it’s not very effective against Magneton, and definitely against heavy Steelix. Against Steelix, aiming for a quick switch out.

Second Battler, Dronil (yay wonder guard and mean look!)
—Vs. Magneton: A Mud Slap just to make Magneton lose accuracy, and then lots of Dig for as long as mean look holds out. Dronil is out of there the first sign that Magneton is being switched.
—If Steelix is asleep: Thace will risk Dronil going back in and using Mud Slap (and if still asleep), Dig and switching right back out

Third Battler/backup’s backup Kodra:
—Vs. Steelix. Kodra is gonna come in with Magnet Rise, then Rain Dance to make Steelix's super effective attacks hurt less and bluff a little. Depending on how Steelix counters, the following might happen:
--if Smack Down: get off a quick Brick Break and switch immediately, if possible
--if weather battle: sandstorm doesn't actually hurt her itself, but while Steelix is trying to override Rain Dance, it's not hitting her with Fire Fang or canceling her Magnet Rise with Smack Down. Still she'll take a chance now and again to get an attack off or use Torment
--if Sand Tomb: she's got Rest now and a Chesto Berry, but she's going to save it until absolutely necessary and go hard on offense at first with Dig alternating with Brick Break
--if/when Steelix is asleep: Dig, Dig, Dig.
—as a backup’s backup: Thace is trying to keep her completely fresh for Steelix, but if he has to, he’ll send her to Rock Smash Magneton or Swords Dance and Night Slash Skarmory

Vs. Steelix, everybody is getting healed when they're not fighting, even if they're only down a couple HP. (Thace will totally replace Kodra's used Chesto Berry if he can get away with it)

Pinch Hitter, Vrig
—Lv 100 Aegislash can almost certainly tank a couple super effective attacks while probably clobbering any Pokemon the rest of the team can’t take out with Sacred Sword. (Let’s be real, Steelix is the problem)

[indigo_league]

Badge approved! x2

[amaure]

Challenged on 10/29

Character: Emet-Selch | amaure
Badge/Gym Leader: Fog/Morty
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: Team Rotom, but specifically Ghost (at the time lvl 70), Heat (lvl 63), and Wash (lvl 63)
Battle Details: Primarily Emet will be relying on the level discrepancy and ghost and dark attacks his team has to dispatch Morty's team. While his leading Rotom likewise has a weakness to these ghosts, the other two do not. What the lil ghost boy can't take out with his newly obtained Dark Pulse, Heat and Wash will take care of with their bulkier defense and lack of weaknesses against Morty's team.

Challenged on 11/5

Badge/Gym Leader: Hive/Bugsy
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: Same as the link above, but specifically Heat (lvl 68), Fan (lvl 68), and Wash (lvl 68)
Battle Details: He'll start out with Wash Rotom to save the other two if necessary. With the level difference, perhaps not, but if he does knock out Pinsir first, then he'll swap out for Fan if Bugsy sends out Heracross, but Heat if he sends out Scizor. Really, he could have just started with either, but maybe he wanted Bugsy to have some hope, and maybe he wanted to crush that hope. WHO KNOWS.

Either way, he has the type advantage on his side, not to mention the level disparity, and while he could set up some neat strategy, he finds it a waste on someone like Bugsy (rude), so he'll just mainly be aiming to muscle through this by crushing him with well placed air slashes and overheats. RIP buggos...

[indigo_league]

Badge approved! x2

[insidegalra]

Character: Thace | insidegalra
Badge/Gym Leader: Lt. Surge/ Thunder
Elite/Regular: ELITE TEAM
Team: LINK Thace’s team: (Lv 100) Vrig (Aegislash), Trax (Diggersby), Kaltor (Cherrim), Zaivar (Klefki), Ankuyr (Falinks), Vruli (Lv 44 Whismur, nonbattler)
Battle Details:
Held items: Trax-Lum Berry, Vrig-Black Belt, everybody else-Cheri Berry

Vruli’s Soundproof should keep Roar from affecting her in any way, but just in case a Sitrus for her too.

Thace walks in with Vrig and Vruli in their sling and everybody else around him like a well-drilled military unit. He’s even quieter than usual, except for the occasional snap of fingers to indicate a switch or nods when one of the team looks toward him for directions. He’s brought as many berries for status conditions (especially Cheri Berries) as he can, along with the usual healing items and Leppa berries.

Primary battler: Trax (with breaks if healing is needed)
—vs Manectric: Mud-Slap a couple times, followed by Swords Dance and Earthquake a lot. Thace is expecting Trax to be forced to switch by Manectric’s Roar at least once which gives extra opportunity to heal. Use Swords Dance after switching
—Vs Electrode: start with Smack Down (repeat any time Magnet Rise is used), then Mud-Shot, Swords Dance and Earthquake. Use Swords Dance after switching
—Vs Pachirisu: Mud-Slap and Earthquake a lot. Use Swords Dance after Switching
—Vs Raichu: Mud-Slap, Mud-shot, Mud-slap. If Raichu isn’t down and HP is good, then use Swords Dance and Earthquake. Use Swords Dance after switching.

Secondary battler: Ankuyr (to help give Trax a breather)
—Vs Magnezone: Bulk Up, Focus Energy, Close Combat, switch (heal), repeat. Use Reversal if HP is low
—If dragged in by Roar: slam down some First Impression then switch
—Vs Raichu: just to soften up the opponent for the bunny: Bulk Up, Focus Energy, Close Combat, Reversal switch. (If at any point their HP gets a little too riskily low, switch anyway)

Tertiary battler/backup: Vrig (just because she wants to, mostly)
—Vs Electivire: King’s Shield, as many Swords Dance as she can manage with the defense boost of Shield Forme then as many Sacred Swords before her HP gets too low. Switch! repeat.
—if dragged in by Roar: Head Smash and then switch
—as backup: King’s Shield, Swords Dance, Sacred Sword, King’s Shield, Sacred Sword etc

Healstall prime: Kaltor
—if dragged in by Roar: Pollen Puff and then switch
—as healstall: Sunny Day to make use of Flower Gift. Leech Seed just because, and/or Pollen Puff

Healstall two: Zaivar
—if dragged in by Roar: Crafty Shield then switch
—as healstall: Crafty Shield, Draining Kiss and/or Play Rough

Thace is fairly sure that with help from Healstallers that Trax could take on everybody himself, but he’s split duties between other members just to make sure Trax doesn’t tire himself out.

Badge/Gym Leader: Erika /Rainbow
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: LINK Thace’s team: Vrig (lv 100 Aegislash), Zirthe (lv 62 Corviknight), Zorfon (lv 60 Bronzong), Vruli (lv 52 Whismur), Pevox (lv 78 Gardevoir), Vonir (lv 84 Flareon)

Battle Details:
Held items: Zirthe-Sharp Beak, everybody else: Chesto Berry

Thace was working on a strategy for the elite team but then Zirthe decided she wanted another go at battling. Regular team it is! The hope is that Zirthe will be able to sweep the three grass types with some help from healstallers, but backup is on hand just in case. Thace has stocked up on status healing berries for this one, as well as a bunch of healing items. He does his usual entrance and is working on non-verbal signals so it’ll be snapping fingers.

Primary Battler: Zirthe
—Vs Jumpluff: Taunt (+refresh as necessary), Hone Claws a couple times, Fly and/or Drill Peck (mostly Fly). Brave Bird when she’s getting down to middling HP and is going to switch very soon anyway for Healing.
—Vs Tangrowth: Taunt (+refresh as necessary), Hone Claws, Brave Bird, switch. Repeat (since she’ll be taking more damage from Tangrowth than anyone else.)
—Vs Bellossom: Taunt (+refresh as necessary), Hone Claws til maxed, Brave Bird. (if not enough, switch and repeat)

Primary healstall: Zorfon
—If Sunny Day is set: Weather Ball then switch out
—otherwise: Heavy Slam then switch out

Backup healstall: Pevox
—only if Zorfon is unable to continue: use Taunt or Triple Axel then switch out

Backup Battler: Vonir
—only if Zirthe can’t continue: Fire Spin, Lava Plume and Flare Blitz. At a level advantage of 30+ in addition to her type advantage, if she has to come in, she’s making it quick, so full frontal assault.

Vrig should not be needed in the least, but she’ll be standing by just in case.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved! x2

[amaure]

Challenged on 11/19

Badge/Gym Leader: Storm/Chuck
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: Rotoms... Ghost (80), Fan (75), Mow (75)
Battle Details: Using the little ghost buddy's inability to be hit by fighting type moves, he works to set things up for the following two. Putting up Electric Field, and focusing on taking out his first with the power advantage his level affords him. Once the second comes out, the speed advantage allows the ghost lad to hit him with a thunderwave and possibly a confuse ray before being dispatched.

Next up is Fan, and with Hitmonchan properly enfeebled, he should be quick work with some well placed Air Slashes, and failing that, utilizing the electric field to hit him with some powered up Discharges.

Lastly he will use Mow against Poliwrath, and between Leaf Storm and the electic attacks, it should be a pretty easy defeat. If not, then it's likely Fan is still kicking, and should be able to finish the job.

Challenged on 12/16

Badge/Gym Leader: Mineral/Jasmine
Elite/Regular: regular
Team: It's the Rotoms AGAIN! but Ghost (90), Heat (85), Wash (85)
Battle Details: Sending out his ordinary Rotom first against Skarmory, he quickly sets up Electric Field before following it up with a empowered Thunderbolt. He will proceed like this, trying to knock the Skarmory out as soon as possible, attempting to make the most of his first as much as possible. If next she sends out Magneton, he will use confuse ray on it, and whittle it down with ghost and dark attacks like Hex and Dark Pulse. He does not expect to necessarily beat it, though it's entirely possible, he will send out Heat to finish the deed with Overheat.

With Steelix next, Rotom's levitate makes any ground attacks useless, but that does not rule out any rock attacks it might have. Still, with Heat's superior speed, he will at the very least get an Overheat off (hopefully it hits!), before swapping to Wash. Having the same advantage of being immune to ground attacks, it doesn't hold the same weakness to rock that Heat does, but likewise is pretty resistant to Steel attacks.

Unfortunately for Steelix, it has no resistance to water attacks, and having suffered an Overheat already (though weakened from the prior use), the following Hydro Pumps (though less accurate than Overheat) will likely dispatch it quickly enough. Wash is rather sturdy as well, and so it should be able to hold up against Steelix's own attacks, and for what Hydro Pump can't do, Hex and a Confuse Ray should be able to make up for.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved! x2

[demonpuppy]

Character: Chip Abaroa | demonpuppy
Badge/Gym Leader: Bugsy for the Hive Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: check the 'battle' section under the Teams header
Battle Details: Chip is in a much better position for this round--for one, their starter is of a good typing to face down bug types, and two is that they're actually a tiny bit overleveled this time. Just a hair, but it's enough to give them enough confidence that they're ready to just sweep this with Lazzo and get that sweet, sweet badge.

Should Lazzo fall under the onslaught of three roughly equal-leveled pokemon (with frankly much better base stats than him), they'll panic a bit and switch to Sponk, because Sponk is AWESOME and has Power Gem and--

...oh, he's. Weak to bug type. Uh. Shoot. T-time for Rocky to come out and save the day!!! She's a dragon, and dragons are OBVIOUSLY going to be strong against like, everything, right?? Right????

(Chip is very, very lucky that she's at a high enough level to get through this gym, to be quite honest.)

Should Rocky fall as well, they do have Michelin to tank through the rest with high HP and an actual super-effective move (hi Fire Punch), but consider Chip shooketh.

[indigo_league]

Hive Badge APPROVED... albeit by the skin of Michelin's nonexistent teeth!

[vrdantwind]

Character: Claude von Riegan | vrdantwind
Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner, for the Zephyr Badge!
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: https://vrdantwind.dreamwidth.org/840.html
Battle Details: First of all, Claude has done some strategizing in how to employ Sicily the Sawsbuck (his strongest pokémon, by this point rather overleveled for Falkner's team) for this battle! And he's realized that Sicily knows Camouflage, which - when used indoors, as I imagine Falkner's gym is - will change Sicily to normal type, removing its grass typing and its weakness to flying in the process. It'll also turn Headbutt (a move Deerling/Sawsbuck can learn through breeding, which I have explained as Sicily having been the product of mixed parentage in the wild like Claude himself; it was actually just a joke based on RP interaction that turned into "hey, it can legit have this move to back up the joke", hopefully that isn't somehow against the rules) into a potentially-flinch-causing STAB move!

(Sicily will also use Horn Leech and Leech Seed a lot to keep its HP up.)

And, of course, Claude also has Sturm the Toxtricity, who will likely be who he leads with. On top of Discharge, a nice strong electric move that's likely to wreck shop on Falkner at Sturm's level, Claude also has guaranteed access to debilitating status effects like Nuzzle's 100% paralysis infliction and Toxic's potent poison! With the big type advantage for Sturm, and his higher level, Claude may not ever even need to use Sicily...although he's likely to switch him in at some point just to give him a chance.

Should his two mainstays somehow fall, though, Claude's got a few other level 30+ pokémon waiting in the wings to clean up anything that remains. I'm fairly confident he can crash through on the power of Sturm and Sicily alone, though.

[indigo_league]

Zephyr Badge APPROVED.

[insidegalra]

Character: Thace | insidegalra
Badge/Gym Leader: Janine / Soul
Elite/Regular: ELITE TEAM
Team: LINK Thace’s team, Lv 100: Trax (Diggersby), Zaivar (Klefki), Brodar (Noivern), Korvulk (Sharpedo), Ankuyr (Falinks), Lahn (Persian)

Battle Details:
Thace is stocked up on so many antidotes. So many! He’s also gathered as many Pecha berries as he could too. He’s brought these along with the standard healing items and Leppa berries he keeps in stock. He comes in with his team around him like a well-drilled military unit as usual, but this time he’s missing the sling and his ever-present Aegislash. It’s actually kind of obvious that he’s keenly aware of and not comfortable with her absence, but she was a really poor match-up with Janine’s team.

Held Items: Zaivar: twisted spoon, everybody else: Pecha berry

Zaivar:
—Vs. Crobat: Zaivar sets Crafty Shield first thing, and then Metal Sound and lots of Psychic. Resets Crafty Shield whenever necessary and after switching out for healing.
—Vs. Venomoth: Crafty Shield first! Metal Sound x2 then Psychic until moth goes down or a healing switch is necessary. Resets Crafty Shield whenever necessary and after switching out for healing.

Korvulk:
—Vs. Weezing: Taunt is first, and is kept up at all costs. Then Korvulk will Screech three times before unleashing his brand new Zen Headbutt. If healing is necessary, a quick switch out before going right back to it.

Brodar:
—Vs Toxicroak: Taunt, Screech, screech, Screech to set up. Then Taunt, Fly, Dual Wingbeat on repeat, with breaks for healing as necessary.
—Vs Drapion: Brodar is acting as setup for Drapion only, to have Taunt setup for Ankuyr. Getting out super fast due to Drapion’s super effective attacks
—as backup (Crobat, Venomoth): Taunt, Supersonic, Doubleteam and then Wild Charge or Flamethrower respectively.

Ankuyr:
—Vs Drapion: Starting off with First Impression. Next, Bulk Up, Focus Energy, Close Combat. Switch, repeat.
—as backup: (Vs: Weezing, Toxicroak, Arbok) should the other battlers need a helping hand, similar strategy, except replace Close Combat with Zen Headbutt

Lahn:
—As Healstall/backup against Drapion: going in to keep Taunt set-up for Ankuyr. Might throw in Mud-slaps and Dig if Taunt isn’t set to wear off yet. If going in to finish: setup with Screech and Doubleteam before moving onto the Super effective Ground Moves.
—Vs Arbok: Taunt first, then Double Team. Then a few Mud-Slaps. Probably will need to switch out for healing, but then going right back in and finishing things with another Double Team and Dig!

Trax:
—healstall! (except vs. Drapion) He comes in with Smack Down for the flyers/levitators, and then Earthquake! Maybe two if his HP is good. He’ll get healed whenever he comes back out.



Badge/Gym Leader: Blaine / Volcano
Elite/Regular: ELITE TEAM
Team: LINK Trax (Diggersby), Athvrix (Meostic), Korvulk (Sharpedo), Ankuyr (Falinks), Lahn (Persian), Erzah (Haunter)

Battle Details:
Thace walks in with one ball, because of course, Korvulk doesn’t want to be out of his ball until the fight starts. The rest of his team does the usual military formation around him, and of course he’s stocked up on plenty of healing items of all kinds, especially Rawst and Pecha berries. As with Janine’s team, he’s super uncomfortable not to have Vrig with him but bringing a Steel-type to a fire gym is… not wise.

Held items: Rawst Berries for most. with Lum for Erzah

Setup: Erzah
—Vs Houndoom: Hypnosis, Toxic, Venoshock if Houndoom is still asleep. Otherwise, switch
—Vs the rest: Toxic, Venoshock, Taunt (skip Venoshock if lowish on HP after Toxic). Switch
—healed up in between each

Primary Battler: Korvulk
—Vs Torkoal, Camerupt, Magcargo: Refresh Taunt as necessary. Screech, and spam Surf
—Vs Rapidash: Refresh Taunt as necessary. Agility, Agility, and spam Surf.
—switch whenever a new battler comes in or low on HP. get healed regardless of switch reason

Secondary Battler: Trax
—Vs Houndoom: Mud-slap, Swords dance, laser focus, Earthquake. Repeat as necessary. Switch if needing healing. (switch to Surf if out of PP for Earthquake)

Tertiary battler: Ankuyr
—Vs. Magmortar: Bulk up, Focus Energy, Rock Tomb. Repeat as necessary. Switch if needing healing

Healstall/Primary Backup: Lahn
—As healstall: refresh Taunt as necessary and/or throw in a Power Gem if HP is good. (switch immediately out if against Magmortar)
—as backup: refresh Taunt as necessary. Nasty Plot and Power Gem, with some Dig here and there

Secondary Backup: Athvrix
—All: set up Reflect and/or Light Screen
—use Roleplay to copy: Torkoal’s White Smoke, Magcargo+Magmortar’s Flame Body
—Dig, Dig Dig!

[indigo_league]

Volcano Badge and Soul Badge APPROVED.


Mod Note: Laying out your badge challenges in order of Thace's Pokemon and not the battle itself (while we suspect it's well-intended and meant for clarity) makes it significantly more confusing for us in judging your challenges. If we could ask a favour of you as a player to write up future challenges in order of the Gym Leader's Pokemon so that we get a clearer/quicker overview of things per-matchup, it would help us out tremendously!

[nastyboy]

Character: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd | nastyboy
Badge/Gym Leader: Bugsy for the Hive Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: Team being Dean the Emboar, Fowi the Luxray, Gremlin the Rattata
Battle Details: Much like before, Dimitri both watches Chip's battle to support them, and get a read on Bugsy's tactics and tells. Unlike his battle with Falkner, he actually cares a smidge more about doing things "fairly", and will obligingly shout out attacks for his Pokemon to follow.... although he'll still focus mainly on actual war tactics and such than Pokemon tactics.

Fowi the Luxray is who he'll choose to start things off with, and she'll likely be able to hold up pretty well against Bugsy's Pinsir. As with Falkner, she'll try for a paralyze with Spark and, whether or not that fails, give herself an advantage via a nasty Leer followed up by Thundershock. These moves will hopefully down Bugsy's Pinsir. Upon running into Bugsy's Heracross, Fowi will try for another Spark, and finish up with Volt Switch...

Gremlin the Rattata is who gets switched out onto the field, hopefully to take advantage of another paralyzed opponent. He'll rush forward to sink a Super Fang into that hard shell, which will hopefully get him pretty far. After that, it's Crunch all the way, and he'll speed things up with a Quick Attack if it seems like speed might be of the essence.

Dean the newly evolved Emboar is who comes out for the last battle against Bugsy's Scizor, which Dimitri doesn't realize is really mean until he has Dean use Flame Charge which... could potentially just destroy that poor bug outright. If not, well, there's always finishing up with some of Dean's other moves. It will probably be a quick match, even with the closeness of levels. Dimitri will feel bad about that.

[indigo_league]

Hive Badge APPROVED.

[hurricane_clown]

Character: Karako Pierot | hurricane_clown
Badge/Gym Leader: Bugsy | Hive Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: Honk!
Battle Details: Like last time, Karako is just sort of releasing Gigglesnarl into the ring and honking supportively and enthusiastically as the Pokemon battle. Gigglesnarl is overlevelled and actually pretty smart, because his first motto Cause Problems and his other is Battles are Fun(ny). He'll be starting with Fake Out because he's not stupid and follow with Hone Claws, then get down to business with Metal Claw--a move with a small chance of boosting his Attack (but also receiving STAB)--and Fury Swipes. Both of these moves benefit from his Tough Claws ability, but really he just likes to slice 'n dice his opponents. If he's really getting ahead as Pinsir is wearing down, he'll use Hone Claws another time in preparation for Heracross.

Also, he's holding an Oran Berry, because Karako has like 9324823 of them from when Gigglesnarl was a Meowth with Pickup.

He does not entirely understand Types yet (Chip has NOT helped in this capacity) so he'll be pretty taken aback when his super tough Soldier Purrbeast Warrior Cat Steel Cat is getting the heck knocked out of it by Bugsy's Heracross, but between the level difference and Attack/Damage boosts from Hone Claws and Tough Claws respectively, Gigglesnarl will try to inflict as much damage as possible with Metal Claw and Slash before he faints.

He'll be followed by Karako's OTHER Soldier Purrbeast Warrior Cat cat Pokemon, Shockfiend the Luxray. Similarly overlevelled, she's got Intimidate and will be leading with Electric Terrain, to be followed with a type-boosted Thunder Fang. And then another one, if need be.

Once it's down to Scizor, Shockfiend will... continue to use Electric Terrain boosted Thunder Fangs, and Bugsy will just have to deal with the fact that Steel type moves do half damage against her.

If this brute force strategy doesn't work, Karako will use his new Houndour Jhayke to try and Ember his way to victory, and he has a Gligar now... but literally everything that isn't a cat is level [low 20s or less] so.... yeah he's counting on Gigglesnarl and Shockfiend's instincts, experience, and love for using their claws and teeth, respectively.

Whether he wins or loses, though, this fight will LOOK a lot more impressive (read: violent) and Karako will be just as noisy, animated, and bloodthirsty excitable as he was during the battle with Falkner.

He will be less confused and disappointed by the lack of actual blood, though.

[indigo_league]

Hive Badge APPROVED.

[vrdantwind]

I just realized Claude's got the levels and they're in Azalea, so he should probably...go for the next badge too...

Character: Claude von Riegan | vrdantwind
Badge/Gym Leader: Bugsy, for the Hive Badge!
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Claude's roster
Battle Details: The long version is that Claude's got a tough Toxtricity (who has access to lots of status-inflicting moves) and a tough Sawsbuck - and he'll probably use the same Camouflage trick he used in Falkner's gym in Bugsy's to remove Sawsbuck's weakness to bug types. He also has a couple other pokémon right near level 40 who are also going to be useful!

The short version is: Corviknight is there.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[fingersandteeth]

Character: Steven Durante | fingersandteeth
Badge/Gym Leader: let's give blaine pain blaine is a pain (and that is the truth)
Elite/Regular: regular, my friends. he don't have enough water pokes for elite
Team: Ed (Sharpedo 61) with Fail Whale (Wailord 100) on reserve for if god forbid she goes down
Battle Details: (Before we start, should note that despite the lateness of this badge request, Steven and Thace will be doing Blaine on the same day.)

So! Technically Ed's just the teensiest bit underleveled compared to Magmortar and Rapidash, but it's like 1-4 levels and that's practically nothing when you have type advantage and Ed's got a shitton of it. She's also armed with the HMs that Steven got from his Johto badges and a brand new Earthquake TM, because it's good to have a variety of move types.

Anyway, after watching his new bf take on the elite team, Steven will meet him on the way down from the observation area to give him a kiss for luck and also to hand back the sword he's been babysitting in relative fire safety. That done, onto the match!

Those watching on TV at home will notice that despite the time of year, Steven is dressed more or less for a day at the beach, with long swim trunks, water shoes, and a buttoned guayabera shirt, something he's probably only getting away with due to the relative warmth of a fire gym. He is also carrying a flotation device, which he takes with him through all the matches with Blaine's under-trainers, which he wins mostly with Aqua Jetting, at which point he heals before going on to face the old man himself.

The reason why Steven has the floatie with him will be made evident the moment the match with Blaine starts, which is when Ed Surfs out of her ball, flooding the bottom of the cave with water. Steven gets onto his float as Ed starts enacting the strategy they worked out in advance.

Ed starts by stirring up a Whirlpool in the flooded cave, to trap her opponent in (because controlling the field of battle is Important) and if Magcargo is still out and up at that point, she'll also trigger an underwater Earthquake, because that's what we definitely need in this cave, a goddamn localized tsunami to turn the flooded battlefield into a wave pool. Ed Surfs onwards.

Anyway, that's pretty much how the battle against all three opponents go, with Ed Surfing around and firing off Hydro Jets at her opponents and trapping them in a Whirlpool again every time one wears off. If she looks like she's about to faint, that's the signal for her to Flip Turn and give Fail Whale a chance to Water Spout at their opponent while Steven heals her up quick and then sends her back in. If god forbid she does faint, Fail Whale still Water Spouts and then healstalls long enough for her to get revived and back on her feet. And with his secret weapon Wailord in reserve for these moments, it's fairly likely that Steven will, in fact, make it to the end of the match.

Oh yes! And throughout the match, if not called upon to heal his girl up, Steven kicks back on his floatie and occasionally calls out commands... but unfortunately they're things like 'initiate operation wavepool' and 'go to plan b,' so that's not much help for Blaine. He doesn't seem to care. Honestly, he'd be sipping a Mai Tai if he'd been able to smuggle one down.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[machismost]

Character: Eijiro Kirishima | machismost
Badge/Gym Leader: Whitney | Plain
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Yukishima, Onix, Flaaffy, Jack, Hattrem, Machoke
Battle Details: I have imagined that Kirishima has gotten his figurative butt smacked a couple of times by Whitney and he would like to settle the score once and for all with a balance between type strength and pure level superiority. A strategist Kirishima is not, especially not in his early battling days.

He will put Yukishima, his Snom, in to throw Struggle Bug at the Girafarig for as many rounds as possible. Most likely the Snom won't make it through the Girafarig so he will send in Onix to try to clean them up with Bind, Rock Throw, and Dig if/when HP gets low.

Clefable will be met with the last vestiges of Onix, who will try to use Smack Down if she is still up. If Clefable remains, the next up is Jack the Noivern to try and battle her up with a Supersonic, Hurricane, then Roost if she's still alive at this point. If she does recover HP in Roost, she will try an Air Slash ( until she faints or until Miltank ).

For Miltank, Kirishima sends out Hattrem immediately and just tries to blast her down with Psybeam for two turns before he sends out Flaaffy if/when Rollout happens. He expects the physical contact vs. Flaaffy's Static will paralyze Miltank. He will sacrifice Flaaffy for that status effect whether it means getting hit or he has to use Thunder Wave. Flaaffy will use Electro Ball if he has a moment to damage Miltank between being a statusficial lamb. The coup de grace will be sending out Machoke to do Cross Chop until Miltank goes down. I would imagine Noivern and/or might still be around to petty this out if it comes to last little HP.
---

Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner | Zephyr
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Same pokes as above, order is now Onix, Flaaffy, Snom, Noivern, Hattrem, Machoke
Battle Details: Kirishima is, again, going for type advantage and pure power.

Noctowl, Onix is just gonna straight Smack Down, Rock Slide, Sand Tomb, Dig.

Honchkrow, meet Flaaffy. Electro Ball and Discharge, especially the latter until fainted. Any physical move means parlyzing effect touching Flaaffy's static effect.

Pidgeot: If either Onix or Flaaffy survive, they'll use Smack Down and Discharge respectively. If there are more questions, Snom is here to sacrifice himself in the name of Powder Snow. No? Noivern can just slam in some Hurricane and if need be Hattrem will slam in with Psybeam. Worse come to worst, Machoke is in here with some Knock Off then Strength, repeating Strength until hopefully the fowl are well-done.

[indigo_league]

Plain Badge denied, but Zephyr Badge accepted!

Unfortunately for Kirishima, Clefable is a Fairy type, making it super-effective against his Noivern. In addition to its beefy health, Hurricane's low accuracy will more than likely result in Jack quickly falling to Whitney's Clefable, leaving the rest of his team to scramble to clean up the mess. Nevertheless, Whitney gives him a smile and encourages him to try again! (And perhaps this will give him a lesson in fearing Fairy type Pokémon.)