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!)

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[uncutetomboy]

Character: Akane Tendo | uncutetomboy
Badge/Gym Leader: Blaine!
Elite/Regular: Elite!
Team: Q-no (Quagsire), Slow-dachi (Slowpoke), W-tachi (Wishiwashi), S-tan (Sandslash), M-ko (Mudsdale) and C-suke (Cramorant)
Battle Details: Much like with with Lt Surge's team, we're got a pretty homogenous spread of type weaknesses. Everyone Akane's going up against is vulnerable to the same things: Ground and Water. Most of them, except for Camerupt, are also vulnerable to Rock too. (Granted, Magcargo and Houndoom are also vulnerable to Fighting.) Anyway, because the weaknesses are all so similar over Blaine's elite team, Akane will be pursuing a similar strategy to the one she used for Lt Surge, which means instead of matching her Pokemon to Blaine's, she'll just be deploying them in order of usefulness in this fight and keep them out until they faint or run out of attacks.

First out is Q-no, who as both Water and Ground is extra-strong against Fire pokemon. Rain Dance boosts their Water attacks, Muddy Water reduces accuracy, then Aqua Tail, Surf, and the occasional Earthquake.

When Q-no is done, it's time to make use of W-tachi, who has a lot of variety in their Water moves. Aqua Ring keeps them healing. Whirlpool helps trap their opponent. Surf and Hydro Pump hit them hard and Dive lets them evade getting hit by hiding 'underwater.' Brine if their foes get to under half hit points.

If W-tachi goes down, she sends in Slow-dachi. Renewing the Rain Dance keeps the water moves hitting like a mother. Lots of Surfing and some Water Pulsing.

After Slow-dachi, it's time to change tactics to concentrate more on Ground pokemon. S-tan goes in, wearing her go-goggles as usual so that she can raise a Sandstorm to up her evasion. With S-tan, we basically use tried and true methods that have worked before, so she'll Rock Tomb for trapping opponents and smack 'em around with Bulldozer and Earthquake.

If S-tan's down, M-ko uses the old tried and true tactics as well: Mud-Slapping to reduce accuracy, then High Horsepower, Earthquake, and Bulldoze.

Finally, if all the rest are down, Akane will send in C-suke. They do a lot of Surfing and Diving in order to take advantage of their Gulp Missile ability but they're not above using a Whirlpool to trap opponents or just use Hydro Pump to hit hard. With enough luck that's all they need to do.

[indigo_league]

Volcano Badge approved!

[fearinahandfulof]

Character: Cassandra | fearinahandfulof
Badge/Gym Leader: Soul/Janine
Elite/Regular: Elite Team
Team: Neideen the Crobat (with Lum Berry), Licht the Mimikyu (with Lum Berry), Teresa the Dusk Lycanroc (with Lum Berry), Isley the Corviknight (with Lum Berry - backup only), Scythe the Armaldo (with Lum Berry - backup)
Battle Details: Cassandra probably bought up half the PokeCenter's stock of Full Restores and Antidotes for this one. She'll probably need them.

Crobat: Crobat's speed and ability to poison its targets make it a formidable threat, which is why Cassandra is starting with her own Crobat, who is also fast, can't be poisoned... and has Taunt. Janine's Crobat gets exactly one chance at a status move before Neideen cuts it off. If that move happens to be Confuse Ray, then Neideen's Lum Berry will cancel that out, enabling Neideen to use Taunt on the enemy Crobat and then immediately follow that up with... Confuse Ray! Two can play at that game. Both Crobats only take half damage from Poison and Bug, and quarter damage from Grass, but Neideen has one additional weapon at her disposal: Zen Headbutt, which will hit Janine's Crobat's Psychic weakness nicely. In addition, Neideen has Fly and Dark Pulse, which only do normal levels of damage but are stronger than anything Janine's Crobat has. Neideen will likely keep up this strategy - Taunt, Confuse Ray, Zen Headbutt/Fly/Dark Pulse, repeat - up until the battle ends, while Cassandra keeps her healthy with curatives and healing items, plus some Leppa Berries for good measure. Neideen may need those moves later, after all.

Weezing: Weezing isn't particularly speedy, and Licht has a decent speed advantage over it, so Licht should be able to get Taunt off first thing, which cuts Weezing off from Destiny Bond. So that's one problem solved. Two other problems, Self-Destruct and Explosion, are solved by Licht's partial Ghost typing; Self-Destruct and Explosion are after all Normal-type moves. Licht is at something of a disadvantage in that most of the moves it learns organically are of types Weezing is resistant to; however, Licht was an egg baby, and inherited a large number of egg moves - including Psychic, which Weezing is weak to. In addition, Cassandra taught it Thunderbolt a while back; while Weezing isn't weak to it, it'll still do some damage. Licht's one downside is that its not immune to Poison (though thankfully it's not actually weak to it like most Fairy types), so Cassandra will again be watching its health carefully, passing out healing and curative items as needed. Good thing she stocked up beforehand.

Toxicroak: Licht is also staying in for this one, being faster than Toxicroak. The Mimikyu will as usual open with Taunt - which has the added benefit of shutting down Toxicroak's own Taunt - and then tear into Toxicroak with Psychic (occasionally aided by Leppa Berries from Cassandra) to take advantage of its 4x weakness to Psychic attacks. While Toxicroak can actually hit Licht's weakness to Ghost attacks, it can only do it via Astonish, which is relatively weak; still, Cassandra's going to be watching Licht carefully again, keeping its health from dropping too much and dispelling the Poison status where she can. It helps that Toxicroak takes full damage from Fairy attacks, which means Licht can also top up its own health with Draining Kiss (STAB helps).
 
Drapion: Rock types have a lot of weaknesses. None of Drapion's attacks hit any of them. Right out of the gate, Teresa will fire off a Taunt - not that Drapion has a lot of status moves to work with, but still - and then immediately switch to Earth Power, which happens to hit Drapion's one weakness: Ground. Luckily, Cassandra has a supply of Leppa Berries at the ready if Teresa starts to run low on that particular move, although her various Rock attacks will at least do normal damage to Drapion. Further, Teresa's resistant to Poison and Fire (though not Bug or Dark, from which she takes normal damage), and she's faster than Drapion, so she's in remarkably good shape for this one. Cassandra will also do her best to keep Teresa poison (status)-free while she wears Drapion down.

Arbok: And this would be what Neideen needed the Leppa Berries for. As always, she starts in with Taunt, and then hits Arbok with Confuse Ray to see if she can get it to do some damage to itself, which she can in turn worsen with repeated usage of Zen Headbutt, plus occasional applications of Fly and/or Dark Pulse, along with the ever-present Taunt. It helps that Neideen is much faster than Arbok, so she can get that first Taunt out immediately and cut Arbok off from its status moves - especially Glare - and that she takes reduced damage from Poison and can't be poisoned herself. The only potential difficulty is Thunder Fang, which is why Cassandra will be watching Neideen's health carefully, never letting it drop very far. She'll also have Cheri Berries and Paralyze Heals at the ready, just in case. Luckily, Arbok doesn't get STAB from Thunder Fang, which can only help Neideen. If Neideen falters here, Scythe will spell her; he lacks Taunt, and he's not the speediest, but he can hit pretty hard, sporting both Dig and Earthquake to nail Arbok's Ground weakness.

Venomoth: As it happens, Teresa has the necessary tools for this fight, or most of them: she's a Rock type with Fire and Psychic attacks also at her disposal, and she has Taunt. The resistance to Poison also helps, although as she can still be poisoned, it's not foolproof. Unsurprisingly, Teresa's first Move is Taunt, which she'll then follow up with Psychic Fangs, Fire Fang, and her arsenal of Rock attacks (which also give her STAB). While Venomoth is fast, Teresa is faster, which means she'll be able to get Taunt off first - which is good, because Venomoth's status attacks would be a serious pain to deal with otherwise. Cassandra will of course be watching Teresa's health, as well as how many moves she has left, and will be applying healing, curative, and/or Leppa Berries as needed.

Isley is on backup duty.


Character: Cassandra | fearinahandfulof
Badge/Gym Leader: Volcano/Blaine
Elite/Regular: Elite Team
Team: Ruby the Araquanid (with Lum Berry), Priscilla the Hydreigon (with Lum Berry), Lily the Pikachu (with Lum Berry), Uranus the Gyarados (with Lum Berry), Dart the Dragapult (with Lum Berry)
Battle Details: For this battle, Cassandra's going to be stocking up on the Burn Heals, just in case.

Torkoal: Ruby is... not a fast pokemon, to put it mildly. Fortunately for her, Torkoal is even slower, and Ruby's partial Water typing is enough to negate the Fire weakness that a Bug type would normally have. Ruby has some strong Water attacks as well as Rain Dance, which she'll use first-thing to potentially negate Torkoal's Drought (if it has it). Ruby's Water Bubble ability gives her another edge by halving Fire damage, doubling the power of her Water moves, and preventing her from being burned. She may opt to use Entrainment to make Torkoal's ability the same as hers, since its only Water move is Withdraw and Ruby has no Fire moves to hit it with even if she wanted to; otherwise, she'll just keep her HP topped up with Aqua Ring and concentrate on pummeling Torkoal with Surf and Liquidation.

Camerupt: Of Camerupt's potential abilities, Solid Rock is arguably the more annoying, as it reduces damage from supereffective moves by 25%. Fortunately, it also has a 4x weakness to Water, and it's slow. That said, the majority of Cassandra's Water-types are only partially so and have at least one weakness to another of Camerupt's move types, which means she's going to have to field a pokemon who doesn't have one of those weaknesses. As it happens, Priscilla fits the bill, having Surf along with Earth Power and Earthquake to hit Camerupt's other weakness. She's also more than twice as fast as Camerupt, which means she can easily slap a Taunt on it to keep it from using Yawn on her. She does lose out on STAB damage (unless she uses a Dark or Dragon attack, both of which hit Camerupt for normal damage), but her attack and special attack stats are decently high in their own right. Cassandra has also been putting her prize money to work and ordered Priscilla Rain Dance, which will give Surf an additional boost.

(If Camerupt has Magma Armor instead of Solid Rock, this all gets a bit easier, because supereffective moves will hit at full strength and Priscilla doesn't even have any Ice moves for Magma Armor to guard against.)

Magcargo: Priscilla is sticking around for this one, taking advantage of Magcargo's 4x weaknesses to Ground and Water to pelt it with Surf, Earthquake, and Earth Power. Fortunately, none of those three moves make contact, which will protect her from Flame Body (if Magcargo has that), if not its Burn-inducing moves. As Magcargo also has Yawn, Priscilla will be using Taunt to cut that particular ability off, and Rain Dance to up Surf's power and weaken Magcargo's Fire moves. Cassandra will naturally be watching Priscilla's health and using curatives and healing items as needed, possibly including Leppa Berries to top up Surf after the Camerupt battle.

Houndoom: Lily is... an atypical choice for a battle against fire pokemon. She's also slightly slower than Houndoom, which puts her at a slight disadvantage. However, that doesn't mean she doesn't have some advantages, too - the big ones being that she has Rain Dance and Surf, which means she can home right in one one of Houndoom's weaknesses, as well as Dig, which lets her hit another one and takes her out of harm's way for a turn while she's using it. Lily also has Static, which could result in Houndoom becoming paralyzed if it hits her directly, and its own potential abilities are a nonfactor - Lily isn't going to try to put it to sleep or set it on fire. The biggest issue is probably Embargo, which if used cuts off the possibility of Cassandra helping Lily out with healing items. Lily does have Draining Kiss to help her out there - Houndoom takes full damage from it - but if things get too bad, Priscilla's likely to come back in to spell her bestie, and maybe get some revenge on her behalf. 

Magmortar: Uranus is slightly slower than Magmortar, which would be a problem given that Magmortar has Confuse Ray, except for two things - Cassandra has a stock of Lum Berries, one of which Uranus is equipped with, and Uranus has Taunt, which she will use first thing to keep Magmortar from using Confuse Ray. Uranus also has Intimidate to lower Magmortar's attack, Rain Dance to boost her Water moves and weaken Magmortar's Fire moves, and most importantly she has Surf, which hits hard and won't set off Magmortar's Flame Body ability. Given that as well as the fact that Magmortar can't hit Uranus's weakness to Ground or Electricity, this is likely to be a pretty straightforward battle.

Rapidash: Rapidash is fast. Unfortunately, Dart happens to be faster, to a considerable degree, and can counter Rapidash's Agility skill by using his own to keep pace. Worse, Dart knows Surf and Scald (though Dart will likely favor Surf), neatly hitting Rapidash's Water weakness, albeit without STAB.  Even without the Water attacks, Dart knows a variety of moves of other types that Rapidash doesn't have any resistances to, and some of those moves do get STAB. Rapidash also can't hit any of Dart's weaknesses, and Dart is outright immune to its Normal-type attacks, which only increases Dart's chances of coming out the victor, especially given Dart's naturally high attack and special attack stats. Cassandra will naturally be keeping watch over Dart's health, but overall Dart is in good shape for this one.

Cassandra will of course be ready with the healing and curative items, as well as PP-boosting Leppa Berries, as needed. But overall, her team's in decent shape for this one.

[indigo_league]

Soul Badge and Volcano Badge approved!

[vrdantwind]

Character: Claude von Riegan | vrdantwind
Badge/Gym Leader: Jasmine for the Mineral Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular (Claude's not quite ready for elite teams, but even once he is he'll still want to beat all the regular teams first before making his elite circuit)
Team: Claude's team!
Battle Details: For the first time, Claude doesn't have a whole lot of good match-ups in his main team for a gym battle. Fortunately, though, Remis the Arcanine has been pushing himself to get stronger whenever Claude is in a town to train him, and Claude's spent a lot more time in towns than on the road...and as such, Remis has managed to get stronger than any of Jasmine's team, even if it's not by more than a handful of levels. With his type advantage, that might carry him through all on its own!

If it doesn't...well, then unfortunately Claude has to fall back on his main team, which aren't too suited in type match-ups...but Sturm and Sicily are both level 100 by now, which is plenty of backup. Despite likely being able to tank any damage Magneton can dish out, though, Claude will still be careful to keep Basque, Arbiter, and Blitz away from an electric type. (Desperado has been benched in favor of Remis for this battle.)

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[braveloyalhugs]

Character: Scorpia | braveloyalhugs
Badge/Gym Leader: Blaine
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: roster Rogelio (Donphan 75), Millie (Miltank 75), Handsome (Milotic 75), Sea Hawk (Crawdaunt 62), Emily (Drapion 75), Ms. Huggles (Bewear 75)
Battle Details:
Scorpia is caught in a position where her best Pokemon aren’t strong enough for Elite, but generally too strong for regular. She’s doing regular anyway, and has brought some potions, revives, antidotes and burn cures but not much for other status effects.

Vs. Magcargo
—Emily comes out first. Toxic, Poison Spikes, a second Poison Spikes if her HP is good
—Sea Hawk comes in to battle. Taunt, Swords Dance, and then Crabhammer. Refresh Taunt as necessary. If Crabhammer is not hitting, he also has Surf.
—if Sea Hawk needs backup, Handsome will come in with Rain Dance and Surf while Sea Hawk is fully healed
—if further backup is needed, Ms. Huggles will come in with Taunt, Hammer Arm and Rock Tomb

Vs. Magmortar
—if 2 Poison Spikes weren’t set, Emily comes in first to Toxic and set another layer.
—Sea Hawk is the main battler and will Taunt, Swords Dance and Crabhammer/Surf again
—Handsome is backup again, and will set Rain Dance before a bunch of Surfs. Scorpia will heal Sea Hawk while that happens.
—if further backup is needed Rogelio comes in with Earthquake. Or possibly Defense Curl and Rollout depending on his mood.

Vs. Rapidash
—since Rapidash should already be badly poisoned, Sea Hawk comes right in and will Taunt to keep more than one status move from going off, and then Crabhammer/Surf while refreshing Taunt. If he gets a chance he’ll boost himself with Swords Dance, but Rapidash’s speed puts him at a decided disadvantage.
—Handsome is still backup, but probably in poor shape. But he will set Rain Dance, Aqua Ring, and then Surf and Hydro Pump.
—if further backup is needed, Millie will come in with Surf while Rain Dance is still going and then switch to Defense Curl and Rollout. She’ll use Milk Drink if she needs it.
—if even more backup is called for Scorpia will send in Rogelio to Defense Curl and Earthquake
—if Rogelio is about to go down, Scorpia will heal Emily who will Taunt, and has been taught Earthquake.
—Ms. Huggles is on deck in case things are going super badly and has Taunt and Rock Tomb.

ICly, this took place last week, like a day after Janine. Hurray for Warps!

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[bestswordmaster]

Character: Felix Fraldarius | bestswordmaster
Badge/Gym Leader: Mineral Badge/Jasmine
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Pinelli the Flareon (lvl 55), Alexandre the Luxray (lvl 69), Seteth the Hawlucha (lvl 44), Jose the Pyroar (lvl 58), Brandl the Lucario (lvl 61), Fantine the Delcatty (lvl 57)
Battle Details:
Felix is especially interested in the gym leader's team and how they fight this time around, because Steel is a type he has a particular interest in as well. He's acquired several new Steel types since his last gym match, including a Ferroseed and a Durant, and he's had his eye on finding a Pawniard ever since he met Jane's back during the Rocket raid at Christmas.

(Fun fact: this marks Felix's first gym battle without Zoltan on the team. He's secretly disappointed about it; he feels like Zoltan has sort of become his signature gym battle partner. The things one does for victory...)

So! First up is Pinelli, who's here to heat things up for Skarmory. She has the type advantage and plenty of fire to throw around; Felix expects that a few Lava Plumes and a Flare Blitz or two should be enough to send Skarmory packing, but just in case it isn't, Alexandre is on standby in this matchup to zap it out of the air if need be. Spikes will be annoying if Skarmory has a chance to use it, but Felix has Seteth on standby so that if Pinelli needs to switch out, he can take over with immunity to Spikes and plenty of Fighting damage to dish out with Submission and Rock Smash. He's a bit underleveled, but he can rely on Roost to heal himself and Fly and/or Bounce to keep himself out of the line of fire a bit.

If Pinelli is still in good condition after Skarmory goes down, she can fight Magneton as well. Felix would have liked to take advantage of the double weakness to Ground, but a) Ground is a bit of a weakness for his team right now, with his Trapinch not quite ready to stand up to foes this powerful, and b) Magneton's Magnet Rise negates the advantage of Ground moves pretty handily anyway. So he'll rely on Pinelli until she gets close to fainting, and then switch her out for Jose. Magneton's Light Screen is a bit of a hassle, but Pinelli and Jose both have Fire Fang and Rock Smash for super-effective Physical damage, and Pinelli can pull out Flare Blitz as well. If Magneton gets too paralysis-happy, Felix can put Seteth back in with his Limber ability or Fantine to use Heal Bell, in addition to the usual potions.

Finally, Felix will bring in the recently evolved Brandl for the fight against Steelix! Thanks to her new Fighting/Steel dual type, she's resistant to almost everything Steelix can do. She'll start with Power-Up Punch and Laser Focus to try to deal damage quickly, to reduce the chances of getting smacked with a Fire Fang. She can Counter almost all of Steelix's attacks, as well. If Steelix does bring out the flames, she can heal with Life Dew and Heal Pulse, use Endure or Detect if need be, and use Reversal to turn the tables. Between those and her other Fighting moves, Felix will try to defeat Steelix with Brandl alone.

If she does need backup, though, any of the others who are still ready to fight can step in to finish the job. Fantine in particular shouldn't have seen much battle to this point, so she can build up advantages with her many obnoxious Status moves and then take Steelix out with any of her attacks; she has a few Fighting moves, but her Normalize ability negates their type, so she'll rely on its strength boost and her tricks rather than type advantage.

After the battle, win or lose, he'll ask Jasmine where she caught the Skarmory--it's piqued his interest and he wants one!

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[uncutetomboy]

Character: Akane Tendo | uncutetomboy
Badge/Gym Leader: Misty
Elite/Regular: Elite!!!
Team: F-ko (Lurantis), H-kun (Jumpluff), S-chan (Luxray), C-ko (Grapploct), P-kun (Pachirisu) and S-ko (Drapion), all of which are level 100
Battle Details: There's a little more variety to Misty's bunch, so we're back to matches tailored to certain pokemon.

Against Quagsire, Akane sends H-kun, her Jumpluff, because Grass is literally Quagsire's only weakness and H-kun is immune to Ground attacks and highly resistant to Water. Cotton Spore to slow Quagsire down, Leech Seed to make sure he steals a little HP each turn, then Giga Drain to suck up even more HP. Repeat draining as necessary.

Against Lanturn, she sends F-ko, her Lurantis, who's highly resistant to both Electricity and Water. Sunny Day to turn the weather in the gym sunny in order to invoke Leaf Guard, then Petal Blizzard and Leaf Blade to hit Quagsire hard. Synthesis if F-ko seems like she'll be going low.

Against Floatzel, she sends in S-chan, her Luxray, in order to take advantage of the Electricity weakness that for some reason Floatzel is the first pokemon in Misty's elite team to have. Weird that. Baby-Doll Eyes to reduce Floatzel's attack, Electric Terrain to enhance S-chan's moves, and then Rising Voltage to really take advantage of the Electric Terrain. Repeat Rising Voltage as necessary.

Against Lapras she sends in her Grapploct, C-ko, in order to take advantage of Lapras' weakness to Fighting. Octolock and Bind in quick succession reduces both kinds of defense, keeps Lapras from switching out, and also sets up a bit of normal damage for the next few turns to come. Bulk Up raises attack and then it's a lot of Rock Smashing and Brick Breaking.

Against Milotic she sends P-kun, her Pachirisu, in order to take advantage of that electricity weakness again. Thunder Wave to paralyze, Sweet Kiss to confuse, and then a whole lot of Sparking and Discharging.

Finally against Starmie, she'll be sending S-ko, her Drapion, who is immune to all Psychic attacks and hits Starmie right in the weaknesses to Bug and Dark. Hone Claws to up her attacks, then Night Slash, X-Scissor, and Crunch.

Character: Akane Tendo | uncutetomboy
Badge/Gym Leader: Brock
Elite/Regular: Elite!
Team: F-ko (Lurantis), H-kun (Jumpluff), S-jiro (Shiftry), Q-no (Quagsire), W-tachi (Wishiwashi), and Slow-dachi (Slowpoke), all level 100 or thereabouts
Battle Details: So! Except for Omastar and Kabutops, the type weaknesses for Brock's pokemon are fairly consistent, which means Akane by and large won't pick specific match-ups here and instead I'll be listing the order she'll be sending her various strong-against-rock pokemon, each of which will stay out until they faint or run out of useful moves--with the exception of either of the fossils being sent out while a Water-type is still on the field, because at that point Akane will switch said Water-type for the final Grass-type she has been holding in reserve.

But yeah, all of Brock's pokemon definitely hate Grass and some of them really hate it, so we'll start with F-ko, Akane's Lurantis and the purest of her Grass-types. We're by and large reusing the same strategy with F-ko as we did versus Misty: Sunny Day to turn the weather in the gym sunny in order to invoke Leaf Guard, then Petal Blizzard and Leaf Blade to hit Quagsire hard. Synthesis if F-ko seems like she'll be going low.

After F-ko goes down, her Jumpluff H-kun goes in. He Ingrains to keep from being shoved out and to get a steady supply of healing, Leech Seeds to get a little more healing, and then Giga and Mega Draining all the way baby. Let's hold off from fainting by stealing lots of health!

Normally S-jiro, Akane's Shiftry, would be next in line, but if we haven't reached Omastar or Kabutops, we're going to hold him in reserve until one of them shows up. In any case, when it is Shiftry's turn, we'll Sunny Day to take advantage of his Chlorophyll, then Leaf Blade, Leaf Tornado, and Mega Drain.

At any rate, we're going to start throwing out some Water Pokemon, because aside from those two fossils, the rest of Brock's elite team is also vulnerable to water and half his team is basically double vulnerable.

We're starting the Water-types off with Q-no, Akane's dumb-as-rocks Quagsire. Rain Dance to boost the power of his Water moves, Whirlpool to trap his opponents, and then a lot of Surfing all over everyone.

W-tachi is the next in line and he'll also trap his opponents in a Whirlpool, but not until he's set up an Aqua Ring to keep him healing in small amounts as the fight goes on. After that, Surfing and Hydro Pumping hit hard with water, and Diving helps avoid taking hits. Brine if W-tachi's HP goes low.

The final back-up is Slow-dachi, Akane's extremly dopey Slowpoke. Rain Dance again for that good water-boosting precipitation and then a lot of Surfing, Scalding, and Water Pulsing.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved! x2

[fearinahandfulof]

Character: Cassandra | fearinahandfulof
Badge/Gym Leader: Earth/Blue
Elite/Regular: Elite Team
Team: Neideen the Crobat, Thora the Boltund, Teresa the Dusk Lycanroc, Licht the Mimikyu, all equipped with Lum Berries; Lily the Pikachu and Rosa the Morpeko as backup
Battle Details: A relatively straightforward matchup this time.

Venusaur: Neideen is up first, using Taunt to shut down Venusaur's status attacks and then switching to Zen Headbutt and her arsenal of Flying attacks to tear off chunks of Venusaur's health. Neideen only takes half-damage from Poison and quarter-damage from Grass, which further blunts Venusaur's effectiveness, and she's faster, so this matchup seems pretty straightforward, and not in Venusaur's favor.

Blastoise: Thora isn't as bulky as Blastoise is; however, she's speedy, and more importantly knows both Electric Terrain and Rising Voltage - and with the latter's power doubled by the former, Thora can dish out a lot of damage, hitting Blastoise square in one of its two weaknesses and getting STAB in the bargain. Cassandra will be keeping an eye on Thora's health - again, she's not bulky - but her resistance to Steel will help her against Blastoise's Flash Cannon, and none of Blastoise's other attacks affect her only weakness (Ground). So Thora's also in pretty good shape for her matchup.

Charizard: If Electric Terrain is still up by the time Charizard comes out, Thora will take a whack or two at her with Rising Voltage, which hits Charizard's Electricity weakness. That said, Smokescreen is a potential annoyance and Thora doesn't have access to Taunt to shut that off, so once Electric Terrain is gone (if it was even still there to begin with), Teresa is coming in. In addition to Taunt (her opener), she's a bit faster than Charizard, resists both Fire and Flying, and can turn the tables on Charizard via Sand Attack, lowering its accuracy while making sure it can't lower hers. And that's before she breaks out Thunder Fang and especially her plethora of Rock attacks to take advantage of Charizard's 4x Rock weakness. Cassandra will still be keeping an eye on her health because Charizard is formidable, but Teresa's pretty formidable in her own right, too.

Tyranitar: This battle presents more of a challenge due to Tyranitar's Sand Stream ability. On the other hand, Tyranitar is weak to both Fighting and Fairy, and Licht has both Draining Kiss and Drain Punch, both of which simultaneously damage Tyranitar and restore Licht. Tyranitar having a whopping 4x weakness to Fighting attacks, Licht is obviously going to favor Drain Punch here. Licht can also use Taunt to shut off Tyranitar's status moves so it can't cast Sandstorm once Sand Stream cuts out, and is immune to Tyrannitar's Normal-type attacks. And of course Licht is faster than Tyranitar, and so will almost invariably act first, Drain Punching and Draining Kissing Tyranitar down to (hopefully) 0HP while Cassandra watches her Pokemon's health.

Pidgeot: Teresa's back for this one, at least initially, since between Thora and herself she's the one with Taunt. Once Pidgeot's Sand Attack is neutralized, Teresa will use her own to lower Pidgeot's accuracy, after which she'll do what she did with Charizard and take aim with Thunder Fang and her various Rock attacks. Teresa's resistances to Normal and Flying moves will help her here too, and of course she'll keep reapplying Taunt as needed until she wears Pidgeot down. If she does run into trouble, Thora will swap in; while Thora lacks Taunt, she does have Electric Terrain and Rising Voltage, and she can still do a lot of damage with those.

Jolteon: Plot twist: Jolteon is faster than most of Cassandra's Taunters, and certainly all the ones who can be safely deployed against it. Teresa is still going to smack it with Taunt, and then she is going to get out of the way because she's weak to Fighting and Jolteon has Double Kick. Instead, Thora is coming back in. She doesn't have Taunt, but she's immune to paralysis, and more importantly she has Dig, which means she can hit Jolteon's Ground weakness while also avoiding half its attacks. Teresa may swap back in once or twice to cast Taunt, but overall Thora is going to be doing the work here.

Cassandra will be standing ready with healing and curative items, including Leppa Berries.

Badge/Gym Leader: Boulder/Brock
Elite/Regular: Elite Team
Team: Blade the Silvally, Lily the Pikachu, Dart the Dragapult, Licht the Mimikyu, Isley the Corviknight, all equipped with Lum Berries

Battle Details: Another rough one, where Cassandra has to get creative with her team assignments.

Rhyperior: Rhyperior has a 50% chance of having the Solid Rock ability, which would reduce the power of Cassandra's team's supereffective moves. While those 4x weaknesses to Water and Grass will certainly help with that, all of Cassandra's Water pokemon are dual-typed, with the other typing usually weak to something one of Brock's pokemon can use against them, which means that none of Cassandra's pokemon will be able to take advantage of STAB. Still, that doesn't mean they don't have supereffective moves at all, and they can still take advantage of those 4x weaknesses. For this battle, Blade is taking point; it's got Surf and Ice Fang, among other moves, although it'll mostly be relying on Surf here. Blade is faster than Rhyperior and fairly sturdy; still, Cassandra's going to be watching it carefully to make sure it doesn't get into trouble.

If Rhyperior has Lightning Rod instead, this battle will go faster, since Surf will be doing the full amount of damage.

Rampardos: Rampardos not having any Ground moves means it's Lily's turn to do some damage, again mostly via Surf, though Lily also has Dig to hit Rampardos's own Ground weakness. Rampardos's Mold Breaker ability also doesn't affect Lily's Static ability, so if Rampardos does manage to hit Lily - and she'll be using Double Team to raise her own evasion in order to prevent this - there's a chance of it being paralyzed, which of course makes Lily's job easier. Although Lily will likely do pretty well for herself regardless.

Golem: Dart take point here, chiefly because he's immune to Golem's Normal attacks - including Explosion. Even better, he can take advantage of that 4x weakness to Water that Golem has and hit it repeatedly with Surf and Scald, potentially inflicting Burn with the latter. Overall, though, this is a straight damage battle, with Cassandra watching Dart's health carefully as he works to take Golem down. Luckily, Dart is pretty speedy even without casting Agility.

Omastar: Cassandra's team is relatively light on Grass moves with which to take advantage of Omastar's 4x weakness. Fortunately there's Licht, who not only has Wood Hammer but (courtesy of a friendly Move Tutor) Giga Drain as well, with the latter doing the added duty of keeping their health up by taking Omastar's.  Licht also has Thunderbolt to hit Omastar's Electric weakness and Drain Punch to take advantage of its Fighting weakness, plus Taunt to cut it off from Sand Attack and its other status moves, so overall Licht is also in pretty good shape.

Kabutops: Licht is also sticking around for this battle, for the same reason - they're well-placed to take advantage of Kabutops' 4x Grass weakness in addition to its Fighting and Electric weaknesses. The strategy here will be much the same: Taunt, then offensive moves, then Taunt again. And since Licht has no fewer than two ways to steal Kabutops' HP, Cassandra doesn't have to worry quite as much about Licht's.

Onix: Licht will stick around for the beginning of this battle, but they have one major disadvantage here: they're weak to Steel. So once they cast Taunt, and maybe one additional turn of damage-dealing, they're out, in favor of Isley. Isley isn't as fast as Licht and can't take advantage of those 4x weaknesses, but he's immune to Ground and Onix can't hit his weaknesses. Isley does have Body Press, which has the added advantage of being fueled by Isley's defense stat, not his attack stat - and Isley's defense is higher. It's not going to be pretty, and Cassandra's going to be laser-focused on Isley's health, but Isley is capable of whittling it down. 

Cassandra will be at the ready with healing and curative items, plus Leppa Berries.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved! x2

[braveloyalhugs]

Character: Scorpia | braveloyalhugs
Badge/Gym Leader: Blue
Elite/Regular: Elite Team
Team: roster Rogelio (Donphan), Emily (Drapion), Lady Trembles (Froslass), Millie (Miltank), Ms. Huggles (Bewear), Blackie (Boltund) all level 89
Battle Details:
Scorpia is not very sure about this battle, but she really wants to go up Victory Road with some friends! So her Pokemon are under-leveled by 11. She’s brought so many potions and status heal items, and revives. So many revives.

Vs. Venusaur
—Lady Trembles comes in first, holding a Chesto Berry. Scorpia figures Venusaur is going first, and deemed sleep the more debilitating status. Her moves are Taunt, Hail, Aurora Veil, Will-O-Wisp to inflict burn, then as many Blizzards as she can manage, refreshing Taunt and Hail and Aurora Veil as necessary.
—Millie is backup, and also has a Chesto Berry. If she or Lady Trembles end(ed) up with another status, she has Heal Bell! She’s going to use Charm, Zen Headbutt, Defense Curl and Milk Drink, and at one point, pause to tank so Lady Trembles can be healed/ revived.
—Emily will come in with Taunt and Fire Fang if that’s not enough, tanking for healing if she can.

Vs Blastoise
—Emily will stay (or come) in to Taunt, lay Toxic, tank for healing, and then switch.
—Blackie will Electric Terrain, Charge, Wild Charge, Charge, Wild Charge until she can’t anymore.
—Emily will come back in, Taunt, and tank for healing/revival, and switch.
—Blackie will come back with her previous strategy, but when Blastoise is hanging by a thread, switch regardless.
—Millie will Defense Curl so she can tank for a couple turns of healing/revival, then Thunder Punch if Toxic damage doesn’t do it for her.

Vs Charizard
—Emily will Taunt and Toxic and hop back out.
—Rogelio will come in, Defense Curl and Rollout for as long as he can. If he’s getting low, a would-be Defense Curl turn will be replaced by Millie getting healed.
—Millie will also Defense Curl and Rollout, using Milk Drink in between.
—if necessary Blackie will come in with Charge and Wild Charge to finish it.

Vs Tyranitar
—Lady Trembles comes in to use Will-O-Wisp, Hail, Draining Kiss, tank for healing, Draining Kiss, tank for healing, Draining Kiss until Hail ends, or Tyranitar’s next move will probably kill her (in which case, Destiny Bond time!)
—if Destiny Bond doesn’t happen, Ms. Huggles will come in with Taunt, Bulk Up and Hammer Arm as long as she can hold out.
—Emily is next if Tyranitar still lives. She Taunts and spams X-scissor.

Vs Pidgeot
—Emily Taunts and lays Toxic.
—Blackie takes charge with Electric Terrain, Charge, Wild Charge etc.
—Millie comes in to Defense Curl and Rollout, with some Milk Drinks! She’ll tank for healing if she’s struggling.
—Emily comes back in and Taunts, then lays in with Thunder Fang. Maybe a Venoshock or two.
—Rogelio is backup’s backup with Defense Curl and Rollout if necessary.

Vs Jolteon
—Emily comes in with Toxic and Earthquake for as long as she can.
—Rogelio comes in to also spam Earthquake, hopefully being immune to Electric will mean he takes damage slowly enough to last.
—Millie is also on hand with High Horsepower
—Blackie will run around like a puppy with the zoomies and go with Play Rough
—Lady Trembles will set Hail and Blizzard
—Ms. Huggles will Hammer arm and Superpower.

Scorpia will be wringing her hands at the sidelines, hoping her under-leveled team can eek out a win. She be disappointed if it’s a loss, but she gave it her best, right?

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[nastyboy]

Character: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd | nastyboy
Badge/Gym Leader: Chuck for the Storm Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Consisting of Dean the Emboar, Gremlin the Rattata, Fowi the Luxray, Elshot the Pidgeot, Kent the Munna, Cofgodas the Raticate
Battle Details: Chuck and his trainers might actually recognize Dimitri as a guy who will come by early that day to ask what kind of food Chuck liked, and then just... left! But he's back again for a proper match now, he swears.

Opening up against Hitmonlee is Dean, who is going to get right into the fray with a Power Up Punch. Dimitri feels it's only fair to go fighting against fighting, so besides using a move like Defense Curl to help beef his defense up, he'll stick to moves like the punch and Arm thrust.

With such a massive level difference, Dean will probably be able to go against Hitmonlee no problem, more likely than not, unless he's really unlucky. That means, he'll probably stick around with the exact same tactics as before, because.... honor or something? Dimitri has just decided this is how it's gonna be, and Dean seems content to go along with it.

Hopefully this all outta take out Hitmonchan too, leaving Dean is pretty good condition. However, against Poliwrath, Dimitri pulls him back both because he might be tired two battles in a row, and because of that slight type disadvantage.... But also because Dimitri feels some of his other Pokemon deserve a turn.

And that other Pokemon is Kent the Munna, who shows up with a sleepy little yawn and some batting of his pretty eyes. He's normally nocturnal, and also primarily Dimitri's sleep aid more than a battler, but he's here regardless! And, unsurprising for a Munna, he immediately starts things off on his end with Hypnosis.

And equally unsurprising is that he promptly uses Dream Eater afterwards.

It's a Munna. Nothing about this is unusual or unexpected.

Dimitri is really only using Kent because 1.) he thinks Kent deserves to get some battle spotlight now and then instead of just hanging out eating his dreams all the time and 2.) he also thinks Kent deserves eating something that aren't his chronic nightmares. So Poliwrath's dreams are just a small treat for him, so that he knows what a good job he's done!

This one Dream Eater probably won't be enough to take out Poliwrath - Kent is around the same level, after all. But that's fine, because, treat given, Dimitri pulls Kent back and unleashes Gremlin the Rattata. Yes, he's doing that again. Fortunately, despite the type disadvantage on Gremlin's end, he has the level advantage, and Poliwrath already having been weakened beforehand.

That means Gremlin won't have to do many Quick Attacks or Hyper Fangs before Poliwrath likely gives up.

This seems like a lineup that ought to do the trick, but just in case any of it goes wrong, Dimitri still has three other Pokemon in the wings: Cofgodas the Raticate, Fowi the Luxray (paralyze for days), and, most importantly, Elshot the Pidgeot, who can just ruin a lot of Fighting Type's days with plenty of Flying type moves.

Regardless of the outcome, Dimitri will thank Chuck for his time, and then offer him a small basket of what he was told were his favorite snacks! He feels really bad about skipping over him, and he wants to make it clear it wasn't out of disrespect.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[bestswordmaster]

Character: Felix Fraldarius | bestswordmaster
Badge/Gym Leader: Storm Badge/Chuck
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Seteth the Hawlucha (lvl 52), Mockingbird the Espeon (lvl 57), Ubert the Dedenne (lvl 63), Fellstar the Meowstic (lvl 64), Catherine the Galvantula (lvl 62), Macneary the Farfetch'd (lvl 64)
Battle Details:
Like the Steel gym, Felix's interest is piqued by the Pokemon and tactics here more so than usual; he's found many Fighting types to be similar in temperament to himself, and he greatly values the ones he has on his team.

Also, since Team Femblemtroika accidentally skipped this gym, Felix's main team is a little bit overleveled for this! Which is fine with him.

First, against Hitmonlee, Felix brings out Seteth. It's an easy matchup, as Seteth is resistant to Fighting moves and has plenty of Flying damage to dish out. He can perform two dances--Feather and Swords--to gain advantages, as well as Hone Claws; and he can Roost if he takes too much damage for comfort. If all else fails, he can U-Turn to deal a bit of damage on his way to switch out for Mockingbird, who as a pure Pyschic type of higher level should have no trouble at all finishing off Hitmonlee.

Mockingbird can stay in to take on Hitmonchan, too. His Synchronize ability helps him even the playing field if Thunder or Fire Punch land their status effects. A few rounds of Charm can help negate the advantage of Hitmonchan's high speed and several high-priority moves, as can the chance of confusing it with several super-effective Psychic moves. Mockingbird can heal himself with Morning Sun when necessary.

If Mockingbird looks like he might go down, Felix will Baton Pass to switch in Ubert or Fellstar, both of whom can deal plenty of damage from super-effective Fairy or Psychic moves. Ubert can use Entrainment to remove the effect of Iron Fist and can heal himself with Parabolic Charge or Rest; Fellstar can potentially confuse Hitmonchan, Imprison its Power-Up Punch and Quick Guard, and use its own Quick Guard to protect against Hitmonchan's +1-priority moves.

Against Poliwrath, Felix will switch out whichever Pokemon he's using for Catherine, who has lots of Electric moves to deal double damage and--unlike Ubert--doesn't have a weakness to Poliwrath's Ground moves. She can also use Absorb to deal a decent amount of super-effective Grass damage and keep herself topped up on health, and she's immune to Body Slam's paralysis effect. She'll paralyze Poliwrath with Thunder Wave and then just spam super-effective moves until it goes down.

Macneary is here as backup in case Catherine gets into trouble or falls asleep due to Hypnosis. She's got plenty of Flying moves as well as Leaf Blade, can Roost to heal herself if need be, and is immune to Poliwrath's Ground moves.

All in all, Felix is confident about winning this battle; he has good type matchups, a level advantage, and an experienced team who have all been with him for quite a while and have trained together extensively.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[questioneverything]

Character: Romelle | questioneverything
Badge/Gym Leader: Zephyr/Falkner
Elite/Regular: regular
Team: https://questioneverything.dreamwidth.org/610.html?thread=1890#cmt1890
Battle Details: Being Romelle's very first time attempting a gym, she tried her best to make sure she was prepared. She hit up the school to study, watched the falconry demonstrations, and trained a lot at the three routes around Violet City and in the Sprout Tower. She doesn't have any fire types, yet, but she went with some electric types in the hopes to balance out the type advantage. She knows her Bewear will be weak, so she'll hold him back in reserve and try to focus on her stronger type matches, like Pachirisu.

Oops! Miscommunication between mods about this getting posted!

[indigo_league]

Zephyr Badge approved!

[fearinahandfulof]

Character: Cassandra | fearinahandfulof
Badge/Gym Leader: Cascade/Misty
Elite/Regular: Elite Team
Team: Neideen the Crobat, Licht the Mimikyu, Thora the Boltund,  Priscilla the Hydreigon, all equipped with Lum Berries
Battle Details: It's the last gym battle before the Elite Four. Cassandra's team is going to give it their all.

Quagsire: Quagsire having only one weakness might have been a bit of a conundrum, but considering that 1. that weakness is Grass, 2. it's a 4x weakness, and 3. Cassandra spent last week getting Grass moves on as many of her pokemon as possible (which admittedly hadn't been very many, but still) mitigates that somewhat. Quagsire is also extremely slow, which means Cassandra's pokemon can get out in front of it and use Taunt to shut down Rain Dance. It's Neideen who gets to do the honors - which is probably overkill, considering that Neideen's base speed is almost 100 points higher than Quagsire's, but Neideen is one of the few of Cassandra's pokemon who can learn Giga Drain and has Taunt. Neideen doesn't happen to be weak to any of Quagsire's moves and can't be poisoned (which renders Quagsire's Toxic useless), and Giga Drain has the added bonus of restoring Neideen's health, so this skirmish is honestly not much of a contest.

Lanturn: Lanturn's ability to inflict status effects, especially paralysis, is a potential problem, especially as Cassandra doesn't have any Electric pokemon who can use Taunt and hit either of Lanturn's weaknesses. She opts to send Licht out armed with a Lum Berry, since Licht can shut down Confuse Ray and Thunder Wave with Taunt and then turn around and hit Lanturn with Giga Drain to strike at its Grass weakness. Paralysis remains a potential problem due to Lanturn's other Electric moves, so Cassandra will be stocking up on Paralyze Heals before the battle just to be on the safe side. Licht being faster than Lanturn helps as well.

Floatzel: There is another reason for Cassandra bringing out Taunters for most of this gym battle, and that because it prevents Misty's pokemon from using Rain Dance - which in turn keeps Floatzel from benefiting from the speed boost it gets from having Swift Swim to boost its already high speed. Thankfully, Floatzel itself doesn't have Rain Dance, which gives Cassandra slightly more leeway against it. Thora gets the honors here, because she's speedier than Floatzel and has the Electric Terrain and Rising Voltage combo, which lets her hammer at Floatzel's Electricity weakness. Neideen might spell her a few times, if only to cast Taunt to cut off Floatzel's access to Agility, but her weakness to Floatzel's Ice Fang means Thora will be doing much of the work here.

Lapras: Lapras has Perish Song, which means a Taunter is a must. Fortunately, Lapras is also not particularly fast and has a number of exploitable weaknesses, including weaknesses to Fighting, Grass, and Electric... all of which Licht can hit, via Drain Punch, Giga Drain, and Thunderbolt, respectively. Licht can even use the first two to keep their own health topped up, and of course keep Lapras's status moves (including Life Dew) locked down via Taunt. This is another relatively straightforward fight.

Milotic: Neideen is back for this one, using Taunt to shut down Milotic's various recovery moves and Giga Drain to hit Milotic's weakness to Grass (though she'll probably need a Leppa Berry or two). Granted, Milotic is fairly bulky, so Licht may need to spell her at some point (and Licht can hit both of Milotic's weaknesses and use Taunt on it), but the two of them together should be able to take Milotic down even with this being Licht's third fight. Still, while Giga Drain will help keep their HP up, Cassandra's going to be keeping a close eye on them just in case.

Starmie: Starmie is speedy and has a number of status moves. Neideen by this point is going to be tired (and has a glaring weakness to Psychic besides), and Thora doesn't have access to Taunt, which means Cassandra's going to get creative. In this instance, that translates to bringing in Priscilla armed with a Lum Berry; Priscilla's not as fast as Starmie, but if Starmie opens with a status move, the Lum Berry will take care of it in time for Priscilla to cast Taunt and shut down any further attempts at status moves on Starmie's part. Priscilla also happens to be flat-out immune to Starmie's arsenal of Psychic moves and can counter with moves like Dark Pulse and Crunch. Even better, Priscilla gets STAB with those, and Starmie doesn't have a lot of base HP, which puts Priscilla in a very good position here despite being slower than Starmie. Cassandra will still be watching carefully in case Starmie manages to use a status move before Priscilla can re-apply Taunt, but overall this battle doesn't look bad for Priscilla.

Cassandra, as ever, is on item duty.

Oops! Miscommunication between mods about this getting posted!

[indigo_league]

Cascade Badge approved!

[amaure]

Character: Emet-Selch | amaure
Badge/Gym Leader: ELITE 4 BAYBEY
Elite/Regular: All in the name!
Team: Even appliances can have delusions of grandeur
Battle Details:

Between each of the matches, Emet will certainly revive his team, heal them up (leppa berries being used too), and of course give those who chowed down on some held berries replacements. He is nothing if not thorough and prepared, and he isn't taking this as lightly as he might otherwise seem while battling.

WILL

Bronzong will be facing off against Fretus(wash), who will start things off with Light Screen, followed by Rain Dance, then eventually Charge Beam for a hopeful boost in special attack. From there he will utilize Telekinesis, then aim to hit Bronzong hard with Hydro Pumps both powered by Rain Dance but also made 100% accurate with Telekinesis. Once Telekinesis wears off, however, Fretus will use Rest to regain whatever HP is lost, taking advantage of the Chesto Berry being held to awaken immediately. Again Rain Dance will be instated to keep Bronzong's Solar Beam halved, but will then focus on using Charge and Discharge to deal some strong blows, and hopefully paralyzing Bronzong. if Paralysis does indeed take, then Fretus will then use Hex's doubled power and super effectiveness to finish Bronzong off.

Jynx will be met with Fretus first, who will immediately Pain Split to bring Jynx down in HP while bringing up its own. From there, Light Screen will be reinstated, followed by Telekinesis and Thunder Wave. Should Fretus still be kicking at this point, considering Jynx probably has access to Energy Ball, Volt Switch will be used to swap to Ignis(heat). If not, then upon being knocked out Emet will swap to Ignis regardless. Sunny Day will be Ignis' first move, then Overheat—with the STAB, boost from Sunny Day, Jynx' weakness to fire, and the damage already done, Jynx will not be looking good. Should Jynx still be standing, despite the dip in Ignis' special attack, Overheat will be used again to finish the job.

Grumpig will have to deal with Ignis, and while his special attack is low, his attack isn't. This is why he'll utilize Light Screen first, then follow up with Trick to pass off his Flame Orb to also burn Grumpig. It's likely that Grumpig is taking advantage of having Power Gem against Ignis, but with Light Screen and a bulky defense to start with, he isn't one to go down too easily. The follow up will be Poltergeist to administer that classic beating via the Flame Orb. Now, Emet just plans to be a little obnoxious by using Endure to let the burn whittle away at Grumpig and to stall out some time, but right as it looks like Ignis won't be so lucky in enduring, he uses Poltergeist one last time to hopefully knock him out. If he doesn't, well his next Pokémon (whether it be Fretus with his very low HP, or Holerus) will finish him off.

Slowbro is next, which means Holeris is up to bat, and boy is he excited to be here. With Electric Terrain put into play, he'll use Thunder Wave first in an attempt to paralyze Slowbro, but after that it'll be Charge and then Electric Ball. Due to the halved speed of Slowbro and the high speed of Holeris it'll certainly hit pretty damn hard. Though, Slowbro's access to both fire and ice moves, however, Holeris will likely be worn down as he wears Slowbro down, however the STAB and enhanced damage by Electric Terrian will more than likely afford him the win, and should Will decide to use a full restore, there's always Pain Split and Rising Voltage to make up the difference.

Gardevoir has to deal with Emet's happy mower, who will use Pain Split right from the gate. As if that wasn't rude enough, next will be toxic and should it hit and Holeris still standing, he'll use rest. Except it's once again the whole Resto Chesto, and Holeris will awaken with fully healed and ready to mow. Or Hex, since that is what he'll be using with it's doubled base power and super effectiveness against Gardevoir. He will pretty much keep at this till he's about to faint, then his last move will be telekinesis. Once fainted, then Pruina will come to finish the job. With Telekinesis in play, that makes Blizzard 100% accurate, and from the damage done by Holeris, the building poison, chances are Gardevoir is likely done.

Which then leaves Xatu. Pruina will put up Light Screen, Will-o-Wisp, then Electric Terrain... It's probably fairly obvious where this is headed. Between Rising Voltage and Hex (and a splash of Confuse Ray), it won't be easy to take Pruina down. Even should Will achieve it, Emet still has Anima(ghost) and Volatus(fan) in his back pocket, not to mention the remnants of Fretus if it didn't faint in the earlier match up. With the type advantage stacked against him, Will better pray to Arceus.

KOGA

Skuntank is the main worry with Koga's team, which is why he'll be sending out Fretus immediately. With Skuntank's immunity to psychic, telekinesis is out, but that's fine. With Double Team, Light Screen, Substitute, and Pain Split (Skuntank's got some decent HP, and that works when Rotom doesn't have a huge well of it to begin with), the defenses will be set up. Followed by Electric Terrain and Charge Beam in an attempt to further boost special attack, then Charge to boost the following Rising Voltage, it'll make for one devastating attack. With a few more Charge Beams to further raise his sp.atk, he'll keep on the offensive to take Skuntank out.

Venomoth entering the battle will find itself being met with Pain Split. Then, Sunny Day will override Electric Terrain if it's still up, followed by Volt Switch. With Fretus swapping out, Ignis swaps in, using the empowered Overheat. Should venomoth be left standing, the follow up will be Trick to give it that pesky orb, but instead of a follow up of Poltergeist, he simply uses Trick to get it back after the burn has been left. From what damage Ignis might have endured, coupled with any poison status ailments, he'll cure it with Rest. However, he won't have a chesto berry to fix this, which is why Emet takes the risk of swapping back to Fretus. Here Electric Terrain will be placed, followed by Rising Voltage to finish Venomoth off.

Toxicroak being next and Fretus still on the field, once again Pain Split will be utilized to get a chunk of HP from Toxicroak to Fretus. From here, Fretus will use telekinesis to make Will-o-Wisp hit, then use one last Rising Voltage. Choosing to lose a turn to use an awakening on Ignis, that allows Toxicroak an extra hit, but it'll be fine. Fretus at this point will be pretty low, and with Electric Terrain in place, rest isn't exactly viable. Which is why Volt Switch comes into play to bring out Volatus(fan). With Toxicroak's weakness to Flying, the following Air Slashes should finish the job.

Swalot will be a bit of a pain, but if he has those leftovers, then Volatus will swap it for the Toxic Orb he's holding. Which did give him a bad poison earlier, but it'll be fine with Rest following soon after. Of course Swalot can't be poisoned by the orb, but that doesn't exactly matter, because then Emet will manually swap to Anima. Which will neutralize any chance of Pain Split being likewise used against his team. From there, Anima will focus on paralyzing Swalot, but instead of using Hex, Emet will opt for Electric Terrain, Charge, and Electro Ball. With the massive speed differences between them, the boost from Eletcric Terrain, and Charge doubling Electro Ball's damage, it will certainly do a number on that disembodied stomach of a Pokémon.

Crobat and Muk are left, but between Emet's remaining team and the type advantage against Crobat, it's not likely he'll have a hard time finishing them off.

BRUNO

With Bruno, Emet plans to take full advantage of Anima's immunity to fighting type moves, and while his team has plenty of elemental punches and the like to make up for it, they will find themselves burdened by Burns, hassled with Confuse Rays, and Lucario in particular will be met with Ignis' sunny day + overheat. Using Pain Split, Rest, and the combination of Electric Terrain and various electric type moves to weaken and swap out between the team. With Fighting types having pretty poor special defense, and Rotom being primarily a special attacker, and Volatus being Flying type, not to mention the use of Reflect to bolster their defenses, he'll likely whittle Bruno down and take him out.

KAREN

Weavile faces off against Ignis, much to no one's surprise. Will-o-Wisp starts them off, then a Charge Beam, followed by a Signal Beam (low chance of confusion, but maybe!), Sunny Day, then Overheat. Following that up with a substitute, Ignis will Rest, and should the burn not take Weavile out, Snore will provide the likely necessary back up.

Absol will deal with Ignis still, who may or may not still be asleep. If he is, then that'll be another Snore, if he isn't, then Ignis will use Will-o-Wisp, then Electric Terrain. Charge Beam will follow, hoping to raise his sp.atk again, before a Charged Rising Voltage. Swapping between Signal Beam and Rising Voltage to whittle Absol down, it's fairly likely that Ignis will be able to take it out.

Spiritomb will be greeted with Toxic immediately, with Light Screen being placed, and Electric Terrain put up once more, before either Ignis eats it or uses Volt Switch to bring out Anima. Seems a bit iffy, what with Spiritomb being Ghost AND Dark Type, however Spiritomb is also incredibly slow, and Electro Ball just hits so nicely when powered by Charge and Electric Terrain. With Anima's ghost typing keeping Spiritomb from using Pain Split to heal itself, this also helps. Hypnosis also won't work with Electric Terrain active, so any chance of using Dream Eater is right out. With the poison and the beefed up electric attacks, Spiritomb will fall.

Houndoom has someone special waiting for him, and that someone is Fretus. While unable to use Telekinesis to ensure the accuracy of Hydro Pump, it's fine all the same. Should Anima have survived against Spiritomb, his final farewell would be Thunder Wave on Houndoom. Then, with Fretus out and ready, Rain Dance will be placed to dampen (ha) Houndoom's fire attacks. With Double Team and Charge Beam, next up will be Hydro Pumps. Some will likely miss, but the ones that don't will certain hurt. Even if they get all used up, Rain Dance will stay in effect while Fretus finishes things off with Charge and Discharge.

Honchkrow won't have much of a chance against all that's left, type advantage playing against it, it won't take much from any of the Rotom to take it out.

Umbreon however is a little tanky jerk, but that's what Toxic is for. Maintaining that, and keeping on the defensive through Rest, Double Team, and Substitute, Umbreon isn't likely to survive against the rest of Emet's team.

LANCE

Salamence will first be squaring off against Ignis, who will start with Trick—but instead of the Flame Orb it's a chesto berry! Next will be Thunder Wave. With Salamence's limit access to water moves, and the main one available being Hydro Pump, there's a chance it won't hit Ignis at all, and if it does, Ignis will likely survive. With Salamence's speed halved, however, this affords Ignis time to use Double Team. With Salamence paralyzed, and if he's lucky, he'll be able to get Rest off—which makes that Lum Berry he stole super useful! Using Electric Terrain, then Telekinesis, should the paralyze, the inaccuracy of Hydro Pump, and his boosted evasion pull through, he'll Volt Switch to Pruina. Who will then immediately use Blizzard for that sweet, sweet four times weakness. From here, Pruina will finish the fight with Charge Beams and Rising Voltages.

Gyarados will immediately get hit with Volt Switch, swapping out to Anima. With Electric Terrain still in play, and Anima's speed, the following four times weakness to the bolstered Rising Voltage will leave Gyarados hurting. However, Gyarados is massively powerful, and with a bounty of dark type moves, Anima will not be long for this world, which is why he'll finish this off with a Will-o-Wisp. To finish the job, Ignis will be brought out to hit Gyarados with another Rising Voltage.

Garchomp is no joke, and with an immunity to electric moves, that makes him a tough one to contend with. Which is why Ignis hits him immediately with Will-o-Wisp to lower his attack, before hitting him with a Confuse Ray. Relying on the confusion, he'll use Pain Split to even their health, and should he be able to get off another move he'll use Telekinesis. With Ignis out comes Pruina with a blizzard just for Garchomp. Should confusion play nice, Pruina will put up a substitute, then use Double Team, followed by Rest. Once awoken by the Chesto Berry, Hex will be used to finish Garchomp off.

Altaria gets greeted with an immediate Pain Split if Pruina's health is looking low despite the substitute, rest, and double team. If not, then it'll be (or followed by) Toxic, then Telekinesis, and then a Blizzard. With Altaria having access to fire moves, which is why Pruina will be using what blizzards it has left to attempt to take out Altaria. Should this fail to come to pass, then Holeris will come along to finish the deed with Rising Voltage.

Charizard's speed is a problem, which is why Holeris' main job is to paralyze him and slow him the hell down. This will come at a great cost to Holeris, but he's just there to support the others. Which is why he then will use Rain Dance, and if paralyze plays nice, good ol' telekinesis. It it plays nice again, Volt Switching to Fretus will do a nice chunk of Charizard's health, if not, then Emet simply will swap to Fretus anyway. With Rain Dance in place, Telekinesis doing its thing, Fretus will Hydro Pump and Discharge Charizard, utilizing Rest at the end to prepare for Dragonite, chesto berry fixing him right up for the show down.

Dragonite will have Fretus, (probably) Holeris, and Volatus to deal with. With Fretus' superior speed, however, Dragonite will be slapped immediately with Volt Switch to bring out Holeris. Should Dragonite's first move not be an attack, it will allow Holeris to Pain Split with Dragonite, which may afford him another move. One such as Reflect! However, it's doubtless he's out after that, and so Volatus will be next with trick—swapping a toxic orb for that sitrus berry! This will allow Volatus more time to set up Electric Terrain, and while Dragonite isn't particularly weak to electric attacks, the boost will help. To further assist in the defense department, Volatus will put up Light Screen, and should he find himself not quite knocked out yet, he'll use Rest. This is a stalling tactic, and if Dragonite is able to knock Volatus out, then Fretus will come in swinging with Rising Voltage, but if Volatus wakes before then, Volt Switching Fretus in will be his move. From there it's maintaining defense, stalling for Toxic with Rest + Snore (even with a full restore, the orb will keep doing a bad poisoning), and blasting Dragonite with Charged Rising Voltages, Discharges, and so forth.

[indigo_league]

After a long, grueling set of challenges and several tough battles, Emet-Selch is named the fourteenth Aurora League Champion! As such, you're now entitled to all of the benefits that come with the title, including a special Dragon-type Egg from Lance with a TM of your choice, and permission to build an Aurora League gym anywhere of your choosing! Please think hard on a theme and mechanics for your Gym, and thank you so much for participating! You may submit a building request for your Gym at any time, and it will take approximately one month for your Gym to open for business. Thank you again!

[apshot]

Character: Katsuki Bakugou | apshot
Badge/Gym Leader: Sabrina | Marsh Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Houndoom, Chandelure, Persian, Luxray, and OF COURSE Typhlosion

Battle Details:

Honestly? He's going to power through with type advantages and sheer strength. Houndoom is going to lead the charge while his others have Dark-type or Ghost-type moves. Should something happen to take down his team? Well Typhlosion can clean up. :)

[indigo_league]

Marsh Badge approved!

[zodiheart]

Character: Elidibus | zodiheart
Badge/Gym Leader: Zephyr/Falkner
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: Here
Battle Details: Having given exactly zero thought to the validity of the league and deciding to forgo any pretense of sportsmanship, Elidibus is going to make sole use of his massively overleveled Sigilyph.


Character: Elidibus | zodiheart
Badge/Gym Leader: Marsh/Sabrina
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: Here
Battle Details: This time instead of his Sigilyph, Elidius brings out his Umbreon, also horrendously overleveled. The strategy is much the same; in that there really is no strategy, only to plow through with mellow voice and no care for this league.

[indigo_league]

Zephyr and Marsh Badges approved!

(Though a slightly miffed Faulkner suggests that Elidibus consider challenging Elite teams from now on.)

[sweetbrohellayiff]

Character: Dave Strider | sweetbrohellayiff
Badge/Gym Leader: Zephyr/Falkner
Elite/Regular: REGULAR
Team: Right Here
Battle Details: He's going to send out his Sivally which is almost as overleveled as it is prone to glitching. Dave is pretty certain he can sweep Falkner's team even if Sivally is prone to lagging in high-traffic areas. Yet what he loses in acting in real time he more than makes up for in raw power. If Sivally manages to glitch out of the arena, He's also got an overleveled Appletun, Doublade, and Stunky. That's his strategy: cheesing it.

Character: Dave Strider | sweetbrohellayiff
Badge/Gym Leader: Sabrina
Elite/Regular: REGULAR
Team: Right Here
Battle Details: Shamelessly, Dave will move directly to Sabrina for access to that sweet, sweet HM Fly. This is a little bit more of an even match, but Dave can think on his feet and has been known to be quick with a SORD (doublade) specifically. After a quick Swords Dance and Power Trick, SORD will get right to Night Slash and Shadow Sneaking his way through Sabrina's team. Espeon, Mr.Mime, and Alakazam are not paid enough for this. Being more evenly matched, Doublade will use Destiny Bond to be sure that if he goes down, he's not the only one. This is only the very pretense of playing fair.

After SORD is his ghost-aspected Sivally who is more than happy to glitch all over the battlefield and take out the survivors.

[indigo_league]

Zephyr and Marsh Badges approved!

(Faulkner also suggests Dave attempt Elite challenges... though he stops short of suggesting that this Silvally take part in them.)

[purifyingroots]

Character: Millennial Tree Cookie | purifyingroots
Badge/Gym Leader: Hive Badge, from Bugsy!
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Bitingbird the Toucannon, Flame Pup the Arcanine, Puddleskipper the Masquerain, Rambling Raccoon the Linoone, Thunder Cub the Luxray, and Singing Bell the Chingling
Battle Details: So, first off, apologies to Bugsy, because Millennial Tree Cookie forgot to do this for a while and now most of his Pokemon are… pretty overleveled. Having finally learned about type advantages, he’ll have Bitingbird open with Beak Blast. He’ll repeat Beak Blast one more time, and, if Pinsir is still up and Bitingbird is still in good shape after that, he’ll start focusing on Drill Peck to take it down. If Bitingbird faints or gets dangerously low on health, he’ll switch for Flame Pup; if Bitingbird takes Pinsir down with enough hit points remaining, he’ll use the first turn against Heracross to use Supersonic in one turn and then Drill Peck in another before withdrawing.

Flame Pup will start with Fire Fang, and follow with Flamethrower; he will repeat Flamethrower until either his or Heracross’s health gets low. If Heracross’s health gets low and he feels like Flamethrower would be overkill (like, say, if Heracross Endures a hit that would have been a KO otherwise), he’ll switch to Ember; alternately, if Flame Pup’s health gets low, he’ll switch to Puddleskipper.

Assuming Flame Pup is still good to go by the time Scizor comes out, he’ll hit Scizor with either Flare Blitz or Fire Fang (depending on whether Millennial Tree Cookie feels that Flame Pup can handle the recoil from Flare Blitz), and then - once again - Flamethrower, and just, really try to leverage that type advantage.

If he does end up switching to Puddleskipper, well… that he’s not as sure what to do about that, given that he didn’t really plan to account for Scizor’s Steel typing in this instance. So he’ll just try and make do by starting with Stun Spore and then getting in as much damage as he can with Air Slash and Quick Attack.

With Rambling Raccoon, Thunder Cub, and Singing Bell pretty much present as backup, if they do have to get involved, MT will pretty much just try and brute-force it with continued damaging moves and hope for the best based on their high levels - specifically, Headbutt from Rambling Raccoon, Spark from Thunder Cub, and Confusion from Singing Bell.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[machismost]

Character: Eijiro Kirishima | machismost
Badge/Gym Leader: Plains/Whitney
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Yukishima, Banana Kick, Palossand, Machoke
Battle Details:
A few months after his last attempt, Kirishima is ready to give Whitney another shot after being cowed (ha) many times before. This time has got to be the one!

Giraffarig: Yukishima now stands more than a chance of holding his own solo against Giraffarig and starts the battle off with a lovely Quiver Dance. Spring has sprung in most places, but the Frosmoth is a lingering chill. He will follow up with his bug type moves to hammer on weaknesses like Bug Buzz and Infestation if it looks like Whitney might swap out.

Clefable: The nemesis that foiled Kirishima's last attempt at victory. He answers with his Riolu, Banana Kick, who he rather suspects was given to him specifically for this reason. So it's time to test their training. Banana Kick will start with Swords Dance to boost his bracing Metal Claw beatdown. Considering Clefable does have some minor psychic type damaging moves to hurt him in turn, Kirishima has brought a Super Potion along to try to let Banana finish the fight on his own. But if need be he'll clean up with his level 100 Machoke performing the curiously dragon-type move Dual Chop and Double-Edge.

Miltank: Palossand's ghost type should make it immune to any normal type move that Miltank wants to lay down, allowing her to try Hypnosis and then set up Sand Tomb before utilizing ground moves like Earth Power. She'll use Shore Up to recover her HP.

Should Kirishima win, he's just as likely to be crying as Whitney is because damn, it's been a long time training up to try and defeat her. But either way he is a good sport and thanks her for the hard match with a firm handshake.

Badge/Gym Leader: Marsh/Sabrina
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Hatsunohide, Jack, Yukishima, Incineroar
Battle Details:

Yukishima is mostly just here to start every round with an attempt of a Stun Spore with his decent speed. Kirishima lets his Incineroar get a good taste of gym battles by having him face down Espeon with Darkest Lariat and Bite. He does not expect Incineroar to last through the battle since he is underleveled, but it'll be a happy thing if he does. Hatsunohide, Kirishima's Gyarados, will finish off Espeon with Bite.

Jack at level 80 will probably be doing the brunt of the work. She has the Infiltrator ability which should allow her to pass through every type of barrier Mr. Mime wants to throw up to gnaw him down with her Bite.

Between her and Hatsunohide, they should be able to take down Alakazam, especially if Stun Spore goes off. If not, Hatsunohide's bug type Bug Buzz and Struggle Bug should be the final factor in hitting his weakness. Even the mightiest of minds quell in the wake of big insects, apparently.

[indigo_league]

Badges approved!

[braveloyalhugs]

Character: Scorpia | braveloyalhugs
Badge/Gym Leader: Elite Four
Elite/Regular: ELITE
Team: (Mostly level 100) Emily: Drapion, Mr. Huggles: Bewear, Rogelio: Donphan, Millie: Miltank, Handsome: Milotic, Mona: Salazzle, lv 93+
Battle Details:
Pre-battle: Scorpia went on a shopping spree getting all the potions (especially Hyper/max), medicines for every status, Ethers, Elixirs, Leppa Berries (and other Berries), and stuff that she could. She probably spent a couple hundred thousand on that alone, and totally would have checked black market sources if she couldn’t find them in stores. What? She’s a Rocket; she’s basically part of the black market already.

She also went looking for held items. She got a handful of DeepSea Teeth to ensure strong Flings for Millie the Miltank, and a bunch of King’s Rocks and Razor Claws. And found a Big Root on Rt 3.

In between her arrival to the Plateau and her match, Scorpia will try to train Mona up a few more levels. She probably won’t press on for more than a day or two (prom is coming!), so I’ll let the mods decide where between 93-98 Mona would end up being.

During matches, Scorpia will be mostly using healing items on the active battlers, but she’ll take points to heal the on-deck Pokemon too, especially if they’re part of her upcoming strategy.

In between each match, Scorpia will give her Pokemon a rest, food and drink, and make sure they’re all full up with HP and PP. And probably some praise and treats and grooming too, because that’s how a Scorpia do.

Held Items unless otherwise noted at the start of a particular round:
Emily: Razor Claw (to make more use of her ability!)
Mr. Huggles: King’s Rock
Rogelio: Razor Claw
Millie: King’s Rock
Handsome: Big Root
Mona: King’s Rock

[braveloyalhugs]

Round 1: Will
Held Item: for this match, Millie will be given DeepSea Teeth for Fling

Vs Bronzong
—Mona starts things off with a Toxic! Her Corrosion ability means no one is safe! She switches immediately after, however. If she’s stopped from switching she’ll go out fighting. With Laser Focused Flamethrower (on repeat if Bronzong has Levitate) and/or Laser focused Knock Off (if Bronzong has Heatproof)
—Emily is the main battler. She’ll Taunt to start, keep it refreshed, and will Hone Claws and Crunch in between. Maybe a Bite or two for the possible flinch chance.
—if Emily can’t score the knockout Rogelio will come in and Defense Curl, tank a turn or two for healing/revive, and try to finish it with Fire Fang (if Levitate) or Earthquake (if Heatproof)

Vs Jynx
—Emily will Toxic and Toxic Spikes twice as setup. Then she’ll alternate Throat Chop and Crunch. If Jynx successfully sets Perish Song and stops switching during at any point, Emily will go down fighting, hopefully taking Jynx out, but doing her utmost to do as much Dark damage as she can
—Millie comes in if Emily doesn’t take out Jynx. She’ll Defense Curl, tank a turn(s) for Emily to be healed/revived. and then go wild with Rollout and Milk Drink. Scorpia has Awakenings in case sleep happens. If Jynx tries Perish Song+Mean Look on her, well, Millie has Block and will make them go down together (but preferably take Jynx out before it’s over so she can switch again). If necessary, Millie is holding a Deep Sea Tooth to Fling.
—If Millie and Emily can’t take Jynx down, Handsome will come in using Aqua Ring, Brutal Swing and Life Dew/Recover to end it.

Vs Grumpig
—since Grumpig should already be badly Poisoned, Emily can get right to Taunt, Hone Claws, Knock Off and Crunch. And Bite, and Night Slash, if she’s starting to get low on PP for Crunch
—if Emily can’t take out Grumpig herself and needs revive, Mr. Huggles will come in to Taunt and tank for revive+heal (in whatever order that’s necessary to keep Taunt active) until Emily is topped off and can come back in to finish it

Vs. Slowbro
—Handsome is coming in for this battle of healing moves and attrition, hopefully with an advantage due to Slowbro already being badly poisoned. He sets Safeguard and Aqua Ring and will use Life Dew and/or Recover as needed to keep his HP up. Then he’ll Coil and Brutal Swing, deviating to keep the first two refreshed, and near the very end, tank a turn or two to make sure Emily full up on HP and is ready to go.

Vs. Gardevoir
—Gardevoir is already badly poisoned! Emily Taunts and Venoshocks. So much Venoshock. If Gardevoir gets healed of the Poison, Emily will totally Toxic again. With Venoshock doubling in power due to poisoned, super effective and STAB Gardevoir probably won’t last long enough to do much damage back at all. Might not even last long enough for Taunt to need to be refreshed.

Vs Xatu
—Emily will stay in long enough to fire off a Toxic (since Toxic Spikes don’t hit birds, and she’s immune to being poisoned right back due to synchronize) and Taunt. Then she gets to rest.
—Rogelio is here to finish it. He’ll Defense Curl and Rollout, throwing in a Knock Off and Thunder Fang in here and there to mix things up. he and Scorpia are hoping the damage stacks too quickly for Wish to be useful.
—Millie is backup, with Milk Drink (because she may be hurt after previous rounds), Defense Curl and Rollout. She’ll also sometimes use Ice or Thunder Punch to mix things up, has Shadow Ball in case PP becomes an issue for other moves, and is holding a Deep Sea Tooth to Fling. Milk Drink will hopefully keep her going if it becomes a battle of healing move attrition.

Round 2: Koga
Held Items: Everybody but Emily and Mona will get Pecha Berries to hold.

Vs. Everyone (setup)
—Mona has one job this match: dash in first to Toxic and Taunt. She’ll switch up the order if there’s status moves other than poison/Toxic in her opponent’s repertoire. Since she outspeeds all but Crobat, she should be fine on HP without needing healing for most of the match.

Vs Skunktank
—after setup, Rogelio takes charge. Literally. With Bulldoze. And then a bunch of Earthquakes and some Defense Curls to up his defense if his HP is getting lower.
—if Rogelio gets badly poisoned, or needs to switch for healing, Millie will take over with Heal Bell, High Horsepower, and Milk Drink to finish it. In this case she does tank a turn once Skunktank is barely holding on to tank for Rogelio to be healed.

Vs Venomoth
—after setup, Emily comes in. She’ll Hone Claws, Rock Tomb, Fire Fang and throw in the random Aerial Ace. She refreshes Taunt religiously.
—if Emily can’t finish it, Millie will come in to Defense Curl and Rollout, being liberal with Heal Bell and Milk Drink.

Vs Toxicroak
—after setup, Mona stays in. Laser Focus, Flamethrower, Taunt. If Toxicroak has Dry Skin that will really hurt.
—Millie comes in. Zen Headbutt, Zen Headbutt, Milk Drink right before Mona’s Taunt wears off. Zen Headbutt a few more times until her health is getting low (or Toxicroak faints).
—Rogelio will come in if Toxicroak is still standing, and tank for Emily and Mona and Millie’s healing. And then Earthquake Toxicroak into the ground.

Vs Swalot
—after setup, Mr. Huggles comes in. Earthquake is the name of the game, refreshing Taunt as necessary.
—if Mr. Huggles can’t take out Swalot alone, Emily will come in, also with Taunt and Earthquake.
—whoever’s in near the end will tank for the others to all get some healing

Vs. Crobat
—if Crobat gets off a Mean Look against Mona, she’ll Fire Lash and Flamethrower, with the occasional Laser Focus for crits until she goes down. (and the next will tank until she’s revived)
—Handsome will come in to set Aqua Ring and Safeguard and then will spam Ice Beam with Life Dew and Recover as needed. He’ll tank near the end if Rogelio needs healing.

Vs. Muk
—after setup, Rogelio comes in with Earthquakes, and Magnitudes and Bulldozes if Earthquake runs out of PP.
—if that’s not enough, Millie, Mr. Huggles and Handsome will come in to hit with their ground-type moves in order of most remaining HP to least. Emily is backup after them to also lay in with Earthquake.

Round 3: Bruno
Held Items: Millie and Mr. Huggles get Sitrus Berries for this one.

Vs. Hitmontop
—Emily comes in to hit it with Toxic and jump back out right away. Ground attacks, man.
—Handsome comes in, sets Aqua Ring, Rain Dance, Safeguard, and Coil. Then he alternates with Disarming Voice, Hydro Pump, and Surf. He uses Life Dew and Recover to help manage his HP.
—if Handsome can’t do it, Rogelio will come in with Bounce to finish it.

Vs. Hitmonlee
—Emily comes in to Taunt, set Toxic, and slam Hitmonlee with Aerial Ace. She’ll also use Hone Claws on herself at least once, and take two turns to set double layers of Toxic Spikes.
—if Emily can’t continue, Rogelio will come in with Bounce to finish it, Defense Curl and tank a turn or two for any healing/reviving that needs to be done offscreen.

Vs. Hitmonchan
—Mona comes in to play with already badly poisoned Hitmonchan. She’ll Taunt, Venom Drench, Nasty Plot, Laser Focus + Venoshock, and throw in an Acrobatics or two, until Hitmonchan goes down, or she’s almost out of HP. Then she’ll Endeavor.
—Rogelio will come in to finish it, Defense Curl and tank for healing off off-arena injured mons, and finish it with Bounce

Vs. Hariyama
—Millie will take this one, even though she’s weak to Fighting. She’ll make liberal use of Milk Drink, Defense Curl and Charm. Her primary attack is going to be Play Rough but she’ll also Zen Headbutt for flinch chance.
—if she goes down, Rogelio is on deck as the backup for this match. Defense Curl and tank for healing/revive, and then Bounce to finish it.
—should the main battlers get forced out, everybody else is going to use their super-effective move(s) for a turn or two and then switch back.

Vs. Machamp
—Mr. Huggles is taking this one, counting on Fluffy to help him manage all the contact-heavy fighting moves he’s weak to. Taunt, Baby-Doll-Eyes for his setup. He’ll spam Zen Headbutt for attack, refreshing Taunt. When/if he’s getting down to his last legs, he’ll use Pain Split to take HP from Machamp and fire off a Superpower to try to finish it in one go.
—Emily is on deck to finish it. She’ll Taunt, and definitely tank to make sure everybody is revived and at least Rogelio has full HP. Then she’ll Venoshock and Aerial Ace to end things.

Vs Lucario
—nobody is immune to Mona’s Toxic! After that she’ll Taunt, Nasty Plot, Laser Focus and Flamethrower or Laser Focus and Fire Lash. She’ll use Endeavor again when she’s on her very last legs.
—Rogelio is here to finish it with Earthquake.
—the others are on deck to hit with their Ground attacks (or Superpower in Mr. Huggles’ case)

Round 4: Karen
Held items: Millie gets a Chesto Berry

Vs. Weavile
—Emily comes in to set Toxic, if she can, and also two levels of Poison Spikes. Her first move is Taunt, because if she gets it off, Weavile can’t, and it gives her free reign to do the others. it might not work, due to Weavile’s high speed and own Taunt, but she’ll X-Scissor, Bug Bite once, and if she gets in enough damage, attempt a Fell Stinger for the buff-on-fainting. She’ll go out if her HP gets below half.
—Mr. Huggles is ready to come in after Emily, and will Hammer Arm and Superpower to victory.
—Rogelio is on deck with Rollout to finish things if necessary.

Vs. Absol
—Mona is almost certainly faster than Absol so she can get that Taunt off first. If Toxic Spikes hasn’t been set twice, she’ll do that, and also Toxic, and Venom Drench a couple times, holding out until she can Taunt one more time and switch.
—Mr. Huggles is here to keep Taunt refreshed if he can, and Hammer Arm and Superpower. He’ll use Pain Split to even things out if he’s really struggling, right before Scorpia heals him and he gives it one last Superpower to try to finish it.
—Rogelio is on deck to Superpower to finish it. (he’ll also be the one to switch in briefly anytime Absol tries Perish Song)

Vs. Spiritomb
—Emily will come in to Taunt, Venoshock, tank for healing, Venoshock if she has time, and Taunt one more time before switching back out.
—Millie will jump right into Play Rough until the Taunt runs out. Her goal is to get Spiritomb down as low as possible in case of Curse. She is ready to alternate hit with Block to keep Spiritomb on the field, Play Rough and Milk Drink if Curse does happen, but wants to try to avoid using it due to Spiritomb’s Ability.
—Rogelio is on deck to Earthquake to finish it.

Vs. Houndoom
—Rogelio is here to Earthquake the hell out of Houndoom. He’s also ready to use Defense Curl and Rollout.
—everybody is ready to use their ground/rock moves, fighting moves, or water moves if they get switched in. Mona will fuck Houndoom up with Venoshock since it should be badly poisoned.
—Millie is on deck to finish things with High Horsepower and Milk Drink if she needs to.

Vs. Honchkrow
—Mona is here to Taunt and Toxic Honchkrow since Honchkrow is unaffected by Toxic Spikes. She’ll Venom Drench and Venoshock and then set Taunt again before switching out.
—Handsome is here to set Aqua Ring, Safeguard and Coil. His attacks will mostly be Ice Beam, but he’ll throw in Disarming Voice from time to time. He’ll start tanking for the others to get healed/revived towards the end. If Honchkrow lets Taunt lapse he’ll totally use Recover to avoid Scorpia having to use potions on him.
—Rogelio is here to Defense Curl (if he can) and Rollout as backup

Vs Umbreon
—Mr. Huggles is here to Taunt, Baby-Doll-Eyes and then Hammer Arm and Superpower to victory. Refreshing Taunt as necessary, of course.
—if he can’t finish it, everyone else but Mona has a Fairy or Fighting move (or Bug in Emily’s case) to bring to bear to end it.

Final Round: Lance
Vs Salamence
—Emily comes in first to Toxic and set two rounds of Toxic Spikes. If her HP is good, she’ll fire off an Ice Fang before she goes out.
—Handsome is the main battler for this one. He’ll set Aqua Ring and then casually Ice Beam and use Recover as necessary to keep his HP up.
—Millie is backup, and she has Ice Punch! (And Charm to reduce Salamence’s attack) And Milk Drink to keep herself good on HP.

Vs Gyarados
—Emily comes in to Toxic since Gyardos is part flying. And then she’s going to Taunt and spam Thunder Fang, maybe a Rock Tomb or two in there.
—if Emily can’t finish it, Millie comes in with her Thunder Punch and Defense Curl+ Rollout! Milk Drink always on hand for HP recovery.

Vs Garchomp
—Handsome comes right in, sets Aqua Ring, Rain Dance (whenever Garchomp does Sandstorm), and spams Ice Beam some more. Life Dew and Recover should keep his HP up. Near the end, he’ll tank if it’s necessary for revives or healing.
—if for some reason, Handsome can’t finish it, Mr. Huggles has Ice Punch now!!!

Vs Alteria
—Emily comes in with Taunt, Toxic, and Throat Chop because screw Sing and Perish Song in particular (just in case a Taunt fails). Then she’ll alternate Ice Fang with Throat Chop, refreshing Toxic as needed. She might throw in Rock Tomb a time or two.
—Handsome is on deck to set Aqua Ring and go to town with Ice Beam again. He’ll tank for some healing of the others as necessary.

Vs Charizard
—Mona is here to Taunt and Toxic, tank for Emily to be healed, and maybe Venoshock. She sets Taunt one more time before she goes out.
—Rogelio is here to Defense Curl and Rollout. He also has some Thunder Fang.
—if Rogelio is unable to finish it Millie will come back in with her own Defense Curl plus Rollout Combo. And Thunder Punch at least once, because Thunder Punching! Milk Drink remains one of her favorite moves.

Vs Dragonite
—Emily comes in with Taunt, Toxic and Ice Fang! She’ll keep Taunt refreshed, but concentrate hard on Ice Fang.
—Mr. Huggles is weak to those flying attacks, but has Taunt. So he’ll use that and Ice Punch for as long as he can!
—Rogelio doesn’t have ice, but he does have rock, so he’ll Defense Curl and Rollout
—Millie has Ice Punch, Play Rough, Heal Bell, and Milk Drink! She can also Defense Curl and Rollout combo.
—Handsome is weak to that elec, but he has Aqua Ring, Life Dew and Recover. And Ice Beam. And Disarming Voice too.
—if it comes down to it, Mona has Taunt, and will Venom Drench, and then Venoshock her heart out.

[uncutetomboy]

Character: Akane Tendo | uncutetomboy
Badge/Gym Leader: THE ELITE FOUR BABY
Elite/Regular: I’m pretty sure that these matches are Elite by definition
Team: T-chan (Tepig), H-kun (Jumpluff), Q-no (Quagsire), R-ko (Gardevoir), S-chan (Luxray), and G-kun (Golurk), all of which are level 100
Battle Details: So remember how Scorpia went on a shopping spree before leaving for Victory Road? Guess who was her shopping partner? Accordingly, Akane also has multiple DeepSea Teeth (including whatever Scorpia didn’t use), Razor Claws, Razor Fangs, and King’s Rocks for flings. She’s also been stocking up on berries and potions, as well as stockpiling what elixirs and ethers (regular and max) she can get her hands on. Assume she’s healing everyone up and restoring their moves between each Elite Four member.

R-ko will be going Mega pretty much every time she’s first sent out on the field, under the principle that she’ll need all the boost she can get.

Unless otherwise noted, T-chan will always be carrying his everstone and H-kun will always be carrying his Big Root. Everyone else will have Sitrus Berries. Assume that if the berries get et, a new berry will be given for the new match.

WILL

(R-ko and Q-no have DeepSea Teeth for these instead of berries.)

Against Bronzong, she’s going to send out Q-no, who is carrying a DeepSea Tooth. She’ll have paid attention during Scorpia’s own turn to see if Bronzong has Levitate. Hopefully he doesn’t, but if he does then Q-no will Fling his DeepSea Tooth in Bronzong’s face and use Thief to score whatever Bronzong might be holding, before Flinging that in its face as well. They’ll keep repeating Thief until Bronzong goes down. However if we’re lucky and Bronzong has Heatproof instead, then we’ll Mud Shot to slow them down and Earthquake the fuck out of him. Stomping Tantrums if anything misses.

Against Jynx, she sends out T-chan, who starts out by invoking Sunny Day to strengthen his Fire moves. After that, he’ll use Flamethrower and Heat Wave to hit Jynx in her fire weakness until she goes down. Flare Blitz might also get invoked, if it looks like he’s got enough HP for it or if Jynx hit him with Perish Song.

Against Grumpig, Akane sends out R-ko, in hopes of taking advantage of her secondary fairy typing making her less vulnerable to Grumpig’s single Dark attack. She’ll start out by Taunting Grumpig, to keep it from using any status moves, and then since Akane’s armed R-ko with another one of those DeepSea Teeth, she’ll Fling it at Grumpig in hopes of making it hurt. Thief to steal whatever item Grumpig holds, Fling again with whatever said item is, then Shadow Ball the heck out of it until it’s down.

Against Slowbro, H-kun is going to use Sleep Powder to make the ‘bro nap, before Seeding it with Leech Seed for repeat HP-draining and then using Giga Drain for even more HP drainage. We’re planning to milk this Grass weakness for everything we have.

Against Gardevoir, Akane sends out G-kun who uses Iron Defense to beef up his, well, defense, before smacking hard into its face with some Shadow Punches. He’ll also take advantage of how thoroughly he outweighs Gardevoir to Heavy Slam, then back to Punching.

Against Xatu, S-chan is going to take full fucking advantage of the psychic birb’s Electric weakness. Electric Terrain to enhance the effects of the moves, then Charge and Discharge until the birdy goes down. Wild Charge is a maybe, depending on how much HP S-chan still has.

TIME FOR EVERYONE TO HEAL.

KOGA

Against Skunktank, she sends in Q-no in order to take advantage of its one and only weakness: Ground. Mud Shot to slow him down and then it’s time to set off some Earthquakes until the stinky friend faints. Maybe some Digging too to take advantage of not being hit for a turn

Against Venomoth, T-chan aims straight for the Fire weakness, invoking Sunny Day, before using Heat Wave and Flamethrower to fuck up the moth as much as possible. Again, Flare Blitz may get invoked if there’s enough HP to make it worth trying. Sunny Day gets re-upped if needed.

Against Toxicroak, she’s going to try send in H-kun, despite him being unfortunately vulnerable to Toxicroak’s poison attacks, but if T-chan's Sunny Day is still up, at least he'll be fast. Sleep Spore will hopefully buy some time by making the froggy nap, so that H-kun can Bounce on him, hitting him in his Flying weakness. Another Bounce will be attempted, but there’s a high chance he’ll take H-kun down, so at that point she’ll bring Q-no back in as long as he’s still up for Earthquakes and Digging. Otherwise, straight into R-ko smacking him hard with Psychic… unless he’s still asleep somehow, which means she’ll use Dream Eater.

By the time they face Swalot, R-ko may or may not already be on the Field, depending how things went with Toxicroak. In any case, R-ko Taunts right away to cut Swalot off from its status moves, then Calm Minds to raise her specials. Like with Bronzong, Akane would have been paying attention during Scorpia’s match to see if she can figure out if Swalot has Liquid Ooze or Sticky Hold as its ability. If she’s determined it has Sticky Hold, then she’ll then hit it with the good old Hypnosis/Dream Eater combo, but if it has Liquid Ooze or if she’s just plain unsure about the ability, she’ll use Psychic instead.

Against Crobat, Akane sends in S-chan, in order to take advantage of the bat’s Electricity weakness. As usual when playing upon Electric weaknesses, S-chan will lay down some Electric Terrain, before then Charging and Discharging in alternating turns until the bat faints. Wild Charge, maybe, if S-chan has enough HP.

Against Muk, we’re bringing in G-kun who uses Iron Defense to beef up his defense and then Mud-Slaps Muk right in the face to lower its accuracy. Earthquakes and High Horsepower should hopefully take care of him enough to get him fainted. If anything misses, he’ll throw a Stomping Tantrum.

EVERYONE HEALS UP NOW.

BRUNO

So here’s the thing about Bruno. Every single fucking Pokemon on his team, with the exception of Lucario, has the exact same three weaknesses. So while normally I would match up a Pokemon with each opponent, when it comes to Bruno I’m just going to list the marching order that Akane will deploy against Bruno’s non-Lucario Pokemon and you can assume that each of these will be in there until they faint or run out of usable moves.

We’ll start with R-ko, whose Fairy and Psychic typings make her extra strong against Hariyama, Machamp, and all the Hitmons--and she’ll be Mega, which will only make her Special Attack and Special Defense stronger. (It also means that if she uses any normal attacks, they’ll be Fairy instead, which all Bruno’s pokemon except for Lucario are vulnerable to.)

Anyway! R-ko uses Calm Mind to pump up her Specials even more and makes liberal use of Reflect to reduce any damage done. She’ll smack hard with Psychic, Dazzling Gleam and Moonblast, while healing up with Draining Kiss. The good old Hypnosis/Dream Eater combo will also work for inflicting damage while healing. In an emergency, she’s also got the magic missile of Swift, which as long as she’s Mega will be a Fairy Move.

Once R-ko finally goes down, in goes H-kun to take advantage of the Flying weakness of the non-Lucario pokemon. He’ll use Sunny Day to up his speed and Leech Seed the field, so he can get some of that good gradual HP renewal. After that he’ll Bounce, Aerial Ace, and Acrobatics to hit hard, with Dazzling Gleam as a possible back-up move even if he won’t get STAB for it. Mega and Giga Drain to recover HP.

When H-kun goes down, G-kun goes in, since his half-Ghost-typing renders him invulnerable to Normal and Fighting moves, which are most of the moves the non-Lucarios have. Sadly, three of them have Dark moves, which he is vulnerable to, so he probably won’t be able to tank everything, but it’s a nice start. Iron Defense ups his defense and then he’ll Psychic Headbutt away until he goes down or runs out of Headbutts.

After G-kun, we’re going to have to rely on S-chan, who if nothing else can Baby-Doll Eyes to lower his opponent’s attack and proceed to Psychic Fang until he’s out of fangs or has fainted.

HOPEFULLY, we’ve only got Lucario left by the time Akane needs to pull out T-chan, but if not, he’ll Defense Curl to up his defense and then Zen Headbutt away.

Once Lucario does come out, if T-chan is still out or can be sent out, he’ll Sunny Day to up his Fire damage and make good use of his strong Fire attacks, like Heatwave and Flamethrower. Flare Blitz may or may not be invoked if he’s got the HP for it.

But luckily we don’t need to worry about T-chan falling too badly, because Akane has been saving Q-no to deal with Lucario, hitting him straight in the Ground weakness. Mud-Slap to slow him down, then Digging and Earthquakes all around until the weirdface fight doge falls.

TIME TO HEAL NOW.

KAREN

For Weaville, Akane is sending out T-chan, to take advantage of half-Ice pokemon’s Fire weakness. Sunny Day to strengthen those Fire moves, then the usual strong Fire attacks, like Heatwave, Flamethrower, and possibly Flare Blitz depending on his HP.

For Absol, she sends out H-kun, who’ll Leech Seed the arena for the steady HP renewal, use Infestation to hit Absol in his Bug weakness, and then blast away with Dazzling Gleam until Absol faints. Mega and Giga Drain for HP restoration. When Sunny Day wears off he’ll re-up it to keep his speed up.

Spiritomb is a fucker who is only vulnerable to Fairy. Unfortunately, R-ko is still vulnerable to its Ghost attacks, even if R-ko’s half-Fairy typing keeps her safe from Dark attacks, so she’ll first Taunt to make sure it can’t use any Status attacks, then throw up a Reflect and then a Light Screen, before Moonblasting and Dazzling Gleaming, while Draining Kiss to get HP back. As she’ll be Mega, her Pixelate will allow the magic missile of Swift to hit like it’s Fairy. If she goes down, H-kun goes back in and Dazzling Gleams again, after first Giga Draining to restore some HP.

For Houndoom, she sends in Q-no, whose Water and Ground typing hits two of the hellfire doggo’s weaknesses. Q-no Rain Dances to enhance its water moves and fuck up Houndoom’s fire moves before using Mud Shot to slow it down and Muddy Water to reduce its accuracy. Surf and Earthquake to further fuck Houndoom up if needed. If anything misses, Q-no throws a Stomping Tantrum.

With Honchkrow, we’re bringing in S-chan to hit him in the Electric weakness that all good birds have. Electric Terrain to up the effects of those Electricity moves, then alternating Charge and Discharge until the birdie faints. Wild Charge if S-chan’s got enough HP. Why mess with the classics?

At some point during either the fight with Honchkrow or the fight with Houndoom, depending on how good things look for either one of them, she’ll have S-chan or Q-no tank for a turn so she can either Max Revive or Max Potion R-ko, for reasons directly related to the last pokemon on Karen’s roster, Umbreon

To start out the fight with Umbreon, we’re bringing out G-kun, who’ll use Iron Defense to hopefully beef up his own before hitting it repeatedly with Drain Punch, in order to smack it in its Fighting weakness, to take advantage of G-kun’s punching ability, and to get back some HP because G-kun is sadly vulnerable to Dark attacks. It’s because of this vulnerability that Akane had S-chan or Q-no tank to get R-ko on her feet again, because once G-kun goes down, she’ll send the now no longer Mega R-ko out to Moonblast, Dazzling Gleam, and Draining Kiss Umbreon until the former Eevee faints.

AND NOW WE HEAL. SO MANY HEALS.

LANCE

For Salamence, she’ll be sending out T-chan, who if nothing else isn’t particularly vulnerable to any of Salamence’s moves and knows useful attacks to hit its Rock weakness like Rock Tomb and Rollout. If worst comes to worst, he’ll self-sacrificially Head Smash in order to take Salamence down.

Now Gyrados has a double vulnerability to Electricity, which means we’re bringing S-chan out again to do his thing. Electric Terrain, then alternating Charge and Discharge. Wild Charge if S-chan’s HP is high enough. You know the drill. We all do.

For Garchomp, she’ll send out H-kun, because he’s not particularly vulnerable to any of Garchomp’s moves and knows both Fairy Wind and Dazzling Gleam, which he can use to hit Garchomp in his Fairy weakness. As usual, he’ll use Leech Seed to get that steady small-time HP drain and make use of Mega and Giga Drain to heal.

Since Altaria doesn’t have any attacks that G-kun is particularly vulnerable to, Akane will send him out to fight her. Iron Defense ups his defense as per usual and then we’ll take advantage of G-kun’s special punching ability and Altaria’s double vulnerability to Ice in order to Ice Punch it until it faints.

For Charizard, we’re sending in Q-no whose Water attacks will hit the Fire starter where he’s vulnerable. Rain Dance to boost those Water attacks and fuck over Charizard’s Fire Attacks, Muddy Water to mess with its accuracy, and then Surf, Surf, Waterfall and Whirlpool. All the highly damaging water moves.

Finally, Akane will send R-ko in against Dragonite, in order to smack it right in the Fairy and Ice weaknesses. Unlike with some of her main opponents in previous matches, R-ko is not especially vulnerable to any of Dragonite’s attacks. She’ll Calm Mind to boost her specials first, then Moonblast, Dazzling Gleam, and Icy Wind. Draining Kiss if needed for restoring HP. Quite possibly Triple Axel might come into this.

AND HOPEFULLY THAT IS ENOUGH FOR HER TO PULL THROUGH.

[indigo_league]

After a long, grueling set of challenges and several tough battles, Akane Tendo is named the sixteenth Aurora League Champion! As such, you're now entitled to all of the benefits that come with the title, including a special Dragon-type Egg from Lance with a TM of your choice, and permission to build an Aurora League gym anywhere of your choosing! Please think hard on a theme and mechanics for your Gym, and thank you so much for participating! You may submit a building request for your Gym at any time, and it will take approximately one month for your Gym to open for business. Thank you again!

[demonpuppy]

Character: Chip Abaroa | demonpuppy
Badge/Gym Leader: Storm Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: check 'battle' under the teams tag
Battle Details:
Chip is still...a little confused by '''fighting types'''. They still don't get the deal with it's theming (is it Kinetic??? But it doesn't work right to be that, but what else is it supposed to be???), but they DO know that Sponk kicks the ass of every one they've had to fight, so out he goes! And...I mean. Sponk is like 30 levels above these guys. Hitmonlee probably gets some decent damage in, and maybe Hitmonlee can get a lucky paralyze or freeze off of an elemental punch. Hell, maybe Poliwrath gets an AI-hack string of Hypnosises off. But even if Sponk gets statused out of the fight, Chip still has an entire over-leveled team, including a Ghost type and an Electric type. Just pack this one up.

Character: Chip Abaroa | demonpuppy
Badge/Gym Leader: Mineral Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: check 'battle' under the teams tag
Battle Details:
Okay! Chip has GOT THIS! They know Ferro types! Ferro types are easy! No sweat! They've even got Lazzo to blast through this like it's nothing! Jasmine sends out Skarmory and--!

...they lead with Poison Fang.

This goes on for a few turns before Chip panics and orders a Flamethrower, which at least points them in the right direction. Too late for Lazzo to really do much, but Skarmory is probably down at least. Magneton gets Rocky right to the face, and thankfully Chip didn't need to be told that Electro doesn't get along well with Earth. When Steelix comes out, it's...well. Rocky's overleveled to hell, but Chip's only using Dragon-type moves because why would Ferro be weak to Earth, that's silly.

Sorry to draw that one out so long, ma'am.

[indigo_league]

Badges approved!

[fearinahandfulof]

Character: Cassandra | fearinahandfulof
Badge/Gym Leader: Elite 4!
Elite/Regular: Elite Team
Team: Priscilla the Deino, Licht the Mimikyu, Blade the Silvally, Clara the Alolan Marowak, Neideen the Crobat, Teresa the Dusk Lycanroc
Battle Details: Cassandra did so much preparation for this one, up to and including spending a lot of her spare funds on TMs. Let's see if it works!

(Note: Cassandra's pokemon are all going to start out equipped with Lum Berries.)

Will
Bronzong: Bronzong is bulky, but slow, and has a number of weaknesses - most of which Priscilla can easily exploit, aside from Ghost. Add to that the fact that Priscilla is faster, can use Taunt to shut down Bronzong's status moves, and picked up Spite to punish Bronzong for hitting her with a move she doesn't like. Bronzong's potential abilities do present issues - Levitate means Ground is ineffective and Heatproof means Fire is much less effective - but Dark Pulse and Crunch aren't impeded by either of those, and Priscilla has STAB for both of them besides.

Jynx: Priscilla's Ice weakness means she can't stay in this battle for long, and Jynx has both Perish Song and (possibly) the Oblivious ability. Given that, Priscilla's going to Throat Chop Jynx and then see what happens. If Forewarn triggers, she'll cast Taunt and then U-turn herself out of the fight. If it doesn't, she'll skip straight to U-turn - unless Jynx's next move is Mean Look or Perish Song, in which case she'll immediately hit back with Spite to prevent Jynx from using it again and then U-turn out. The pokemon swapping in depends on Jynx's ability: If Jynx has Forewarn, then Licht will come in and unload on Jynx with X-Scissor and their arsenal of Ghost and Dark moves, keeping Taunt up so Jynx doesn't get a chance to use any status moves. If it's Oblivious, then Blade will swap in and pummel her with Flash Cannon, Crunch, Flamethrower, X-Scissor, and other moves; if Jynx is able to cast Perish Song on Blade, Blade will stay in as long as it can before U-turning out for Priscilla to use Throat Chop and U-turn out for Blade again. Either way, the goal is to do as much damage as possible as quickly as possible, because a drawn-out fight won't do Cassandra's pokemon any favors. Cassandra will be watching her pokemons' health very carefully here, doing her best to make sure everybody's healed up by the end of this fight.

Grumpig: This is another fight for Priscilla; she's immune to Grumpig's Psychic moves and can hit Grumpig's weaknesses to Dark and Bug. Taunt, as usual, will keep Grumpig's status moves locked down, giving Priscilla more room to do her work. Grumpig's physical defense is frankly not great, so while it has a fair amount of health, Priscilla will probably be able to whittle it down relatively quickly anyway, though she may need a Leppa Berry or two.

Slowbro: Priscilla is doing things a little differently this time, to wit: she is opening with Substitute and then attempting Taunt. If Taunt works, great; it'll keep Slowbro from using its status moves. If not, then Priscilla will concentrate on keeping Substitute up as a shield for herself and targeting Slowbro's weaknesses to Bug and Dark. She'll also be using Spite to whittle away at Slowbro's PP, especially for its status moves, and Cassandra will be quick with the restoratives if Priscilla does get hit with a status effect. (Of course, if it turns out that Slowbro's ability is Own Tempo instead of Oblivious, this will go much faster.)

Gardevoir: Priscilla is taking a break for this one while Licht takes point; the Hydreigon's 4x weakness to Fairy is too dangerous. Licht's first move is unsurprisingly Taunt, because they're not interested in putting up with Gardevoir's status moves. And then it's time to break out their various Ghost attacks, with periodic pauses to re-apply Taunt or replenish their health with Giga Drain or Draining Kiss. This is a relatively straightforward fight; Cassandra will probably take some time to make sure Priscilla is healthy while Licht is fighting.

Xatu: Priscilla is back, using Taunt to shut down Xatu's status moves as usual; she's slightly faster than Xatu, so she should be able to land it first. Dark attacks are once again the order of the day, and Priscilla's probably been fed some Leppa Berries by now to let her keep using them. Again, this is a pretty straightforward fight.

And then it's time to heal up, replenish everyone's PP, pass out more Lum Berries, and move on to...

Koga
Skuntank: Priscilla is taking point on this battle; she has no particular resistance to Poison, but she's faster than Skuntank and has Taunt to shut away its status moves, and neither of the Ground attacks she knows make contact, which prevents Aftermath from triggering when Skuntank falls. Granted, there's a possibility that Skuntank has Stench as an ability instead of Aftermath, but while a 10% chance of flinching is certainly troublesome, it can be worked around. It's not like Cassandra doesn't have a lot of berries and other curatives stockpiled at this point, after all...

Venomoth: Licht is starting this one off, casting Taunt followed by... Trick Room. And then they're ceding the fight to Clara, who is normally quite a bit slower than Venomoth, but not under the effects of Trick Room. Clara can easily take advantage of Venomoth's Fire weakness, and she gets STAB with FIre attacks; it also helps that Venomoth can't hit her weaknesses. She may need to tag out for Licht once or twice so the latter can reapply Taunt and Trick Room, but together they should easily be able to take Venomoth down. Though Clara's going to want to cast Sunny Day before they do...

Toxicroak: ...because if Toxicroak has Dry Skin as its ability, it'll lose health every turn, and that will make Neideen's job easier. Even if it doesn't have Dry Skin, it will still make Neideen's job easier, because Neideen's picked up a few new tricks - including Heat Wave. However, her main weapons for this battle are liable to be Taunt (of course), Fly, and especially Zen Headbutt to take advantage of that lovely 4x weakness to Psychic attacks. Neideen being a partial Poison type herself also means she can't be afflicted with the Poison status, which takes another strategy out of Toxicroak's arsenal. Plus she's faster, so she can keep Taunt up and ward off any other status infliction attempts, thus preserving her Lum Berry for when she'll really need it.

Swalot: Once again, Neideen is using Taunt to shut down any status attacks that may be aimed at her; her base speed is over twice as fast as Swalot's, so she'll be able to get that out first and conserve her Lum Berry. Zen Headbutt is once again the order of the day (preceded by one or two uses of Super Fang to soften Swalot up), and Cassandra will be keeping her PP topped up with Leppa Berries. Cassandra will also be using healing items alone to keep Neideen's HP up; there's a chance Swalot has Liquid Ooze as an ability, which means Neideen won't be able to safely use her HP-draining moves. Still, this is another relatively straightforward fight.

Crobat: And this would be the reason Neideen was using Taunt to guard her Lum Berry. There's a chance that Koga's Crobat will be able to move first; if that happens, Neideen's Lum Berry will kick in, after which Neideen will retaliate with Taunt. She'll also be using Super Fang at least twice, to halve the other Crobat's HP and then halve it again, before breaking out Zen Headbutt and using it to hammer Crobat's Psychic weakness while its HP is reduced, the better to take it out quickly.

Muk: This is essentially a repeat of the earlier battles in this round: Neideen casts Taunt, then Super Fang (at least twice), then Zen Headbutt, with re-applications of Taunt in between the latter two steps as needed. Sticky Hold, if Muk has it, is a nonfactor; given that Neideen has Inner Focus as her ability, so is Stench. After Koga's Crobat, this is almost a victory lap.

And once again, it's time to heal wounds and status conditions, pass out Leppa Berries, and equip everyone with Lum Berries (Licht gets Leftovers and Neideen a Shell Bell), and then it's time for:

Bruno
Hitmontop: And now it's time for Licht to no-sell absolutely every attack Hitmontop has except Gyro Ball. And even Gyro Ball isn't as much of a danger as it could be, because while Licht is speedier than Hitmontop, she's not on the level of, say, Neideen. Further, Licht has Draining Kiss, which targets Hitmontop's Fairy weakness and which Licht gets STAB for using, so they can offset a good portion of the damage Gyro Ball could do - to say nothing of Licht's other useful attacks, like Psychic and Play Rough, which will come into play when Hitmontop isn't using Gyro Ball. Regardless, Cassandra will still be watching Licht's health carefully for this battle, and if necessary letting Clara take over for a bit. Clara can't hit any of Hitmontop's weaknesses, but Hitmontop can't hit hers either, and Gyro Ball will do less damage given that she's actually slower than Hitmontop.

Hitmonlee: Once again, Hitmonlee has exactly one attack that can even hit Licht, and that attack doesn't even hit either of their weaknesses. Draining Kiss will keep Licht's HP up while Psychic and Play Rough will cause straight damage. Hitmonlee's abilities are a nonfactor. Cassandra will probably make sure to top up Licht's Draining Kiss uses here just in case.

Hitmonchan: Hitmonchan actually has four attacks that can hit Licht. Granted, one of them is Bullet Punch, but while it goes first, it doesn't hit as hard as some other Steel attacks, and Licht still has Draining Kiss to counteract it somewhat. That said, Cassandra will be watching Licht's HP like a hawk and will switch her out for Clara if Licht seems to be faltering. Clara won't be able to rely on hitting Hitmonchan's weaknesses, but Hitmonchan can't hit hers either and she no-sells most of his attacks just like Licht does. And Clara still has a variety of attacks of various types to work with - plus False Swipe if she's feeling adventurous. Her lack of speed is also less of an issue than it could be, because Hitmonchan doesn't really use status moves. Still, she may end up just marking time until Licht is healthy enough to come back in.

Hariyama: Neideen is coming back in for this one, though she may not be staying long given Hariyama's Heavy Slam (she's not weak to it, but she's also not the heaviest pokemon in the world). What she is going to do is cast Taunt (mostly to avoid Sand Attack), and then use Super Fang. And then use it again, if she can get away with it, or use Fly if she can't; Fly takes her out of harm's way for the first round, and it lets her hit one of Hariyama's weaknesses during the second. Cassandra is going to be watching Neideen's health extremely carefully here. If she has to, she'll send Clara or Blade out to stall while she gets Neideen back up to snuff, though while Blade can use its Fairy-type Multi-Attack to hit that particular weakness of Hariyama's, its own weakness to Steel could be a problem, which is why Neideen's coming back in ASAP. Neideen's strategy will likely continue to be a mix of Taunt, Super Fang, and Fly or one of her other Flying moves until the battle is done. 

Machamp: Thankfully, this battle is back to business as usual, with Licht no-selling all but one of Machamp's moves (Knock Off, this time) while clowning on it with Draining Kiss, Play Rough, and/or Psychic, with maybe a few Taunts thrown in for hate's sake. Simple, really.

Lucario: And once again, it's Neideen's turn. Taunt starts things off, and then Neideen takes a few bites out of Lucario with Super Fang before switching to her shiny new Heat Wave move. It helps that Lucario can't hit her weaknesses in return, and she's outright immune to Ground anyway. Goodbye, Lucario.

And with that, it's healing and equipped Lum Berries for everybody, before they go off to face:

[fearinahandfulof]

Karen
Weavile: The normal Taunt strategy is possibly not going to work here, given that Weavile is faster than Licht and has Taunt. That doesn't mean that Licht won't try, just in case Weavile's first move isn't Taunt, but her best bet is to take advantage of that 4x weakness to Fighting and Drain Punch Weavile for all they're worth. That said, Weavile also has Metal Claw and while not a particularly strong attack, it's still not great news for Licht. If Licht starts to struggle, Cassandra will pull them out and let Clara take a crack at Weavile instead. Clara doesn't have anything close to Weavile's speed, or even Licht's speed, but she does have Brick Break and a bunch of Fire skills. She also has Cursed Body, which has a 30% chance of disabling whatever move Weavile hits her with. If that move happens to be Metal Claw, then Licht can come back in for a bit and resume Drain Punches. Cassandra will be free with healing and curative items, including Leppa Berries; with Weavile having Pressure as an ability, the latter are particularly important.

Absol: This battle, on the other hand, is immediately starting off with a Taunt courtesy of Licht, who'll be taking advantage of Absol's weaknesses to Fighting and Fairy by hitting it with Drain Punch and/or Draining Kiss. Once again, Cassandra will be watching Licht carefully, keeping a particular eye out for Future Sight, but also keeping an eye on their PP, as one of Absol's potential abilities is Pressure. If Absol does use Future Sight, Priscilla may need to swap in temporarily; her immunity to Psychic attacks will render Future Sight ineffective, and she does have Signal Beam (and U-turn) to hit Absol's Bug weakness. Otherwise, Licht will be doing most of the work here.

Spiritomb: Licht starts things out here, using Taunt to shut down Spiritomb's status moves; then they get out of the way to let Blade have a few turns with their Fairy-type version of Multi-Attack, to take advantage of Spiritomb's Fairy weakness. Blade will U-turn out for Licht in the event that Taunt needs to be recast, but aside from that this battle is Blade's.

Houndoom: Priscilla's back for this fight, using Taunt to shut down Houndoom's status moves before switching to Surf, Earth Power, and Earthquake to take advantage of Houndoom's weaknesses to same. Priscilla will likely still have her Lum Berry at this point, as she's faster than Absol; she'll likely need it here given that Houndoom is faster than she is. In a pinch, Neideen can probably come in to cast Taunt and then U-turn back out for Priscilla - she's faster than Houndoom - but she runs the risk of being subjected to Thunder Fang, and she can't really hit Houndoom's weaknesses in any case. That's Priscilla's job here.

Honchkrow: While Licht does have a weakness to Ghost attacks, Honchkrow's only Ghost attack happens to be Astonish, which doesn't hit very hard. Licht is also faster, which means they'll get Taunt out first, at which point they can go on to hit Honchkrow with Draining Kiss, Play Rough, and Thunderbolt, pausing occasionally to reapply Taunt. This is another relatively straightforward fight.

Umbreon: Licht gets combat duties here too, using Taunt to shut down Umbreon's status moves, then switching to Drain Punch, Draining Kiss, Play Rough, and X-Scissor to take advantage of Umbreon's weaknesses to Fighting, Fairy, and Bug, with occasional pauses to cast Taunt again. Cassandra may need to use a few Leppa Berries on Licht, but otherwise this is another straightforward fight.

Time for more healing, more Leppa Berries, and parceling out more Lum Berries as equipped items, and then it's on to...

Lance
Salamence: It's really too bad Licht doesn't have any Ice attacks, because that 4x Ice weakness is potentially useful. But they do have Fairy attacks, and they're also outright immune to Dragon attacks and have no weaknesses that Salamence can hit, so they're still in pretty good shape for this one. Intimidate would be irritating to have to deal with, but Draining Kiss is a special attack move. Too bad for Salamence.

Gyarados: Licht is sticking around for this one too, because they happen to have Thunderbolt and Gyarados has a 4x weakness to Electricity. Gyarados does lack a weakness to Grass, but Licht will still use a few Giga Drains to replenish their HP if needed. They'll also be using Taunt at regular intervals so Gyarados can't buff itself; that should make this go faster as well.

Garchomp: Neideen is starting this one off for two reasons: she's faster than Garchomp, and she has Taunt, which enables her to shut down Sandstorm. And then she is going to U-turn back out of there and let Blade take over for a few turns. Blade, for its part, is going to be using Ice Fang and/or Ice Beam to take advantage of Garchomp's 4x weakness to Ice, and possibly its Fairy-type Multi-Attack as well, until it's time to re-cast Taunt, at which point it will U-turn out and let Neideen cast it. They'll repeat this until Garchomp goes down. Blade being immune to Dragon attacks will also help here.

Altaria: Altaria's Perish Song is reason enough to get a Taunter out there, and that means Licht's up again, since they have the added advantage of being completely immune to Dragon attacks. They can't hit Altaria's Ice weakness, though, which is why Blade is coming in again to do just that. Blade's U-turn also lets them switch out quickly so Licht can come back in and recast Taunt as necessary, with Blade switching back in on the next round to resume its assault. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Charizard: Teresa has been bored. Very, very bored. But now her time has come. Right out of the gate, she uses Taunt to keep Charizard from using any debuffs on her, and then she switches to her small arsenal of Rock attacks, taking advantage of Charizard's 4x weakness to that type. As a bonus, she resists Flying, Fire, and Normal attacks, so Charizard can't hurt her as much, and none of its attacks hit any of her weaknesses. Teresa is also speedier than Charizard, so she can take control pretty much from the word go, and will press her advantage ruthlessly. (Cassandra will also likely take advantage of this to feed a few pokemon Leppa Berries for the next battle, though she's definitely keeping an eye on Teresa's health as well.)

Dragonite: Dragonite is another Licht-Blade tag team special, with Licht starting things off with Taunt and bringing Draining Kiss and other Fairy moves to bear, while Blade switches at least once or twice to take advantage of Dragonite's 4x ice weakness., U-turning out as needed so Licht can reapply Taunt. Licht and Blade both outspeed Dragonite, which helps matters here.

However this all ends, Cassandra will belatedly remember to awkwardly thank the Elite Four (and Lance), and then either settle down to watch Akane and/or Scorpia or hasten her way to a Pokecenter so she can heal up her team. Meanwhile, Lythie and Lily, who if allowed will have been in the background cheering this whole time, will probably come up with some outlandish victory poses if Cassandra wins, while Lythie will have, uh, words for the Elite Four if she loses, which Cassandra will apologize profusely for because Lythie's just. Like that.

after months of shit going off road.....

[fortuna_tenax]

Character: Jinx | fortuna_tenax
Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner
Elite/Regular: ELITE TEAM OR REGULAR TEAM
Team: Stella the Chinchou at level 33, Jasper the Galavantula at level 38, Lumi the Froslass at level 54. (I am so sorry if their levels are higher when you check and it makes things confusing, especially since I forgot a week.)
Battle Details:

Jinx is mostly planning around Stella and Jasper's electric typing, with Lumi as backup and a possibly petty last resort. With Stella in the lead she's going to strike as fast as possible with a Thunder Wave for paralysis against Noctowl and possibly Honchkrow. At which point the gentle lady will be going all out with Charge-boosted Electro Balls, or the occasional Discharge to switch things up on Falkner.

Should Stella go down, it's Jasper's turn- and yeah, Jinx is a little nervous about sending him out against birds, but also he's very zappy. She'll be utilizing Thunder Wave as his opening move as well, but will also delight in Electroweb. Agility will be thrown in now and then to make sure the birds can't catch him! And if they get too close, he's got a nasty Sucker Punch just in case.

If Jasper goes down, well. Lumi is level 54 and a speedy ghost full of i wish you a very die, so. Have fun dealing with Ice Shard, Will-O-Wisp and Confuse Ray... among other things.

After the battle, regardless, Jinx is just relieved she actually got to make a shot finally.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[lightningfang]

Character: Razor | lightningfang
Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner for the Zephyr badge!
Elite/Regular: Regular!
Team: [Pup | lvl 60 Lycanroc] [Shank | lvl 55 Flaaffy] [Thunder | lvl 47 Boltund]
Battle Details: Well, this is a little awkward! Razor didn't come into this intending to wipe the floor with Falker's Pokemon, it just... sort of worked out that way! He's spent all of his training learning how to say move names and also Type advantages against Flying. He'll only use as many Pokemon as Falkner has, at any rate.

Boltund will come out first, and upon being addressed... spam Thunder. (Maybe Razor shouldn't have named her that.) If Noctowl gets off any Status moves, Razor will not know how to handle it. He will just continue trying to Thunder it into submission. Given the level gap, hopefully it's enough.

Against Honchkrow, Flaaffy will similarly spam both Charge and Discharge. Please be gentle with Razor, he just Does Not Get moves that aren't meant solely for Hitting or making it Hit Harder.

Lastly, Lycanroc will face off against Pidgeot! Finally, a different type than Lightning! Instead of shocking the bird, she will... stab it into unconsciousness, with Stone Edge, or perhaps crush it with Rock Slide. There are probably better moves to use here, but those ones are easy to say!

Yeah... sorry about the kid who barely knows how to speak coming in with Pokemon almost twice Falkner's levels. That's gotta be embarrassing.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[rollstoseduce]

Character: Jaskier | rollstoseduce
Badge/Gym Leader: Chuck for the Storm Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Dahlia the Wigglytuff, Limelight the G!Rapidash, Cotton the Altaria, Regina the Swanna, Viola the Luxray, Fuchsia the Gardevoir
Battle Details: So Kiri pointed out R&S's mansion is near Cianwood, only a few hours away with Fly, and the gym is Fighting-type, which should be fairly easy to tackle considering the types this trio favours. So on Saturday, she, Jaskier and Geralt decided to bully Chuck together as a fucking family.

(I'm not so sorry.)

Jaskier isn't super into this whole gym deal, but the money is nice (so are the staryutube views!) and he supposes he could get a badge or two if the battles aren't too hard on his roster. After winking at and flirting with every gym trainer, he records Kiri's and Geralt's battles, and leaves his turn for last. (At least he doesn't flirt with Chuck. He met his wife outside and she's scary, alright.)

There isn't much strategy in his battling, he's counting on levels and type advantage to do the trick - abuse Wigglytuff's and G!Rapidash's Fairy-type attacks, Altaria and Swanna for Flying-types. The other two came simple to complete the team of six and in case he needs someone to finish a close call. If for some reason things do get difficult, he'll try to buy time with moves like Sing and Protect, but honestly? He isn't too worried.

After the battle, he winks at Chuck and tells him his wife is a lucky gal, so for fuck's sake pay more attention to her instead of brooding under waterfalls.

i'm so sorry about him mods this time i mean it

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!