Badge Requests

[indigo_league]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

「 NAVIGATION 」

Comments

[lovelybottom]

Character: Geralt of Rivia | lovelybottom
Badge/Gym Leader: Storm badge/Chuck
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: Doublade, Gengar, Gourgeist, G. Rapidash, Talonflame, Dhelmise
Battle Details: Geralt is part of the Bullying Chuck trio that set out on Saturday to descend upon this man's gym like a set of furies in which 2/3 of them are disarmingly cheerful. This poor man has no idea what's in store for him.

The main strategy that Geralt has here is to completely and shamelessly abuse the fact that a large proportion of his team is ghost-type and therefore immune to fighting-type attacks. He'll lead with his strongest boogity, Glâdeal the Doublade, and his general strategy with her will be to use swords dance to up her attack, then maul the opponent with aerial ace, taking advantage of x2 damage vs flying. Jenny the Gengar is a similar story, but swap it with hypnosis and dream eater, same story with psychic damage. For the Poliwrath, he'd swap to his Gourgeist to confuse ray and then razor leaf it into submission. Maybe leech seed if Mistletoe needs a little pick-me-up. The other Pokemon in his party are basically just back-up in case he has to swap one of the first three out and send someone in to clean up. His Talonflame's flying type would work for Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan, and the Galarian Rapidash or Dhelmise for mopping up whatever's left of the Poliwrath. (Though the Dhelmise would only go out either as a last resort or if he's absolutely certain that this is a one-hit and done, because Lettuce is the lowest level of the bunch.)

Geralt will not offer any advice with regards to Chuck's marriage at the end of his fight.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[copykiri]

Character: Kiri | copykiri
Badge/Gym Leader: Chuck/Storm
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: Pom-Pom Oricorio (56), Pa'u Oricorio (59), Delibird (60), Hawlucha (60), Baile Oricorio (59), Blaziken (50)
Battle Details:
Kiri is the first of the trio to come to face Chuck this day. Luckily for Chuck and his wife! After sweeping through any junior trainers with flying colors, she’ll announce “mighty good bird!” and probably curbstomp Chuck. She’s got some potions and healing items, but mostly just relying on the birds to do their things.

Vs Hitmonlee
Pa’u Oricorio comes in first with a Teeter Dance, Feather Dance three times, a couple-three Agility and then slams poor Hitmonlee with Revelation Dance and Hurricane. Revelation Dance is Psychic for Pa’u, and Hurricane might not be accurate but it’s powerful when it hits. By alternating it evens out. Fly is also an option. Pa’u has Roost to recover HP if necessary. Baile is on standby in the very unlikely case that Pa'u can't finish things himself.

Vs. Hitmonchan
Pa’u will Teeter Dance and Feather Dance a couple times and then Baton Pass those stat increases to Blaziken, probably because of taking a beating from Hitmonchan's Ice Punch. Kiri’s weird bird isn’t weak to the elemental punches and will Bulk Up, Feather Dance, Focus Energy and Brave Bird until he goes down. Baile comes in to finish it Air Slash and Hurricane if necessary, and also has Roost.

Vs Poliwrath
Pom-Pom comes in against Poliwrath first. He’ll Agility and Feather Dance a couple times, and then Revelation Dance (which is Electric for him), Fly and Hurricane. He’ll Roost if necessary, but try to avoid it. He’ll Baton Pass out if he’s about to go down. Pa’u will come back in if his HP is good, but otherwise Delibird will Drill Peck and Fly to victory.

Hawlucha is really just backup, but can come in with Fly and Sky Attack. He’s most likely to be needed if Poliwrath gets successful Hypnosis and Kiri runs out of Awakenings.

Of course, unluckily for Chuck and his wife, Kiri is sticking around to watch Geralt and Jaskier so there is a fair chance that Chuck and his wife might get to hear "Go fuck!" or "wrapped around his weenie!" as Kiri tries to help Jaskier's matchmaking-ish endeavor.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[epitaffio]

Character: Vinegar Doppio | epitaffio
Badge/Gym Leader: Plain/Whitney
Elite/Regular: Regular team
Team: Cristina the Morpeko, Rosso the Parasect, Strice the Growlithe
Battle Details: Once again, Doppio is relying on sheer power, but this time there is a minor twist! He sends in Rosso first to inflict some status effects, and then switches to the relatively underleveled Strice to get her - and, let's face it, himself - some valuable battle experience. Hopefully some carefully applied Poison Powder and Leech Seed is enough to even out the playing field for the little Growlithe!

Oh, but he only does that for Whitney's first two Pokémon. When she sends in her Miltank, Doppio isn't taking any chances. He's heard the stories. That's when he swaps Cristina in and lets her go to town.

(Additionally, he's taken only three Pokémon with him rather than a full party not just to keep his Crimes-Only Pokémon out of sight, but also to lessen his chances of being booed out of the gym for lack of fair play. Here's hoping that doesn't backfire on him.)

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

Cristina... was that really necessary? :'(

[vrdantwind]

Character: Claude von Riegan | vrdantwind
Badge/Gym Leader: Chuck, for the Storm Badge!
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Claude's pokémon
Battle Details: So, fun OOC story - sometime in the pre-Easter retail haze that was March, I completely missed the fact that Claude's travel group went to Cianwood at some point that month. Like, AT ALL. But Claude definitely would have gotten the badge while he was there; my brain was just in sleep mode at the time. So this victory of Claude's is gonna be a LITTLE BACKDATED.

On to the actual gym strategy, though!

Unlike recent gyms, Claude is going with a pokémon that's actually pretty close to Chuck's in level! Of course, Albin the Gallade has a type advantage as a Psychic type...one Claude will be leaning heavily into with a setup turn of Swords Dance, followed by some brutal Psycho Cuts. Of course, Albin has Hypnosis and Dream Eater if he wants to switch it up, and Life Dew if he needs even more healing...and he's resistant to fighting. Even with this being a much closer match in terms of levels than many of Claude's previous gym battles, that leveraging of Albin's strength and type advantages is really going to be tough to beat.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[seacub]

Character: Emporio Alniño | seacub
Badge/Gym Leader: EARTH BADGE
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: HERE! Reedy-Weedy the Delcatty (S1), Jingle the Chingling (S2), Bow the Decidueye (S4), Squid the Malamar, Salem the Absol, & Lego the Eiscue (S8)
Battle Details: NOTE- for the sake of this battle, Chingling is equipped with Oxy's 'eviolite'. Bow is equipped with a Miracle Seed. (Inventory can be seen here)

Emporio's back, and he's here to cause havoc once again. Spending some time training around Viridian (partly to help Maria out with learning the ropes), he gets ready to challenge Viridian's Gym the one way he's dedicated to.

The 'wrong' way.

The thing is though, he can't really focus on standard type 'un-matches' with Blue, since Blue has a variety of pokemon. So instead, he's running with the pokemon that most tend to consider a little less than viable- with a few on back-up, Just In Case.

For the start up of things, Emporio brings forward his Absol, Salem. Exeggutor being partly psychic, this is technically a match-up in favor of the absol, but even with 'Super Luck', Salem might not have it too easy. For the first bit of things he focuses on outpacing the other- Detect, Sucker Punch, Double Team, so on so on. All of them of course covered with statements to 'keep on guard', 'catch them off-side,' and the list goes on- once Absol's got enough of an advantage on the field, Emporio will order the other to 'finish things' though; with Night Slash.

When Machamp comes out it's really time to show off though. Jingle the Chingling, star of the show with Bugsy, is back! Starting out with Yawn to get Machamp snoozing quick, and some Confusion until Machamp is snoozing ('Put them under!')...Emporio swaps out for Malamar!?

Chingling being higher leveled (and carrying Oxy's eviolite), Emporio apparently wants to focus on the trickier of options. The minute Squid the Malamar is out, moves such as pluck and psybeam are happening- and when or if Machamp wakes up, a combination of Swagger followed by Topsy-Turvy to really cripple the other's power. Wrap should also keep Machamp in place long enough to tap-out...and from there, Emporio's trend of using cryptic statements instead of actual pokemon move names isn't about to end.

When Rhydon appears, it turns out that Emporio has multiple statements for the same moves! Rather than 'puffing [machamp] up' and 'turning [machamp] over', Squid is ordered to 'play the underling' and 'strike a coup'- performing the Swagger and Topsy-Turvy combination immediately after. Depending on Squid's condition, after making sure to 'give him one last look good-bye' for 'Hypnosis', Squid is swapped out for Absol again- who starts powering up with swords dance and future sight ('Enjoy yourself, but think ahead!'). The moment it seems Rhydon is about to wake up however, Salem's strategy shifts; 'Beat him to the punch' is what Emporio orders, and the absol pulls out 'Me First', before relying on Perish Song and Detect to wait the other out. Before Salem can faint, they're recalled...but if Rhydon leaves first, Emporio tells him to get one last hit in- bringing out a last strike with pursuit.

What might be confusing though is that no matter what, the one who's swapped out...is Lego the Eiscue. A pokemon who fortunately relies on special attacks more than anything, if Blue's Gyarados has Intimidate, it won't much matter. As it stands.

Freeze-Dry, it turns out, is super effective against water types.

Now with a move that can create a x4 effective hit and potentially freeze, Lego- equipped with Ice Face for a free hit from the Gyarados- has an abrupt and unexpected chance against the massive water-flying sea snake. Blue may not even see it coming- all Emporio says for this round?

"IT'S SUSHI TIME!" Lego is merciless with the Freeze-Dry, and with the speed from NoIce Face, is doing his very best to dodge any blows from there. Eventually the hope is that despite everything, Lego can pull through for the finish with not just Pidgeot (who is also suffering under Freeze-Dry quite frankly- though Emporio's order to 'cool them down' leaves the table open for a few ice moves), but even a bit of Arcanine-

After all, Lego is equipped with Surf.

Ultimately, it would be remiss of Emporio not to have backups on hand. While the two are still considered 'less than ideal', Reedy-Weedy almost undoubtedly comes out against either Pidgeot or Arcanine, slamming forward with all his might by the power of Normalize attacks. Bow the Decidueye meanwhile, is ready to pull up the slack against Gyarados and Rhydon worst case- equipped with quite the hard hitting grassy arrows, and for that matter, U-Turn if he REALLY needs to get out of there.

Over all, hopefully Emporio's demonstration to Maria works out!

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[rollstoseduce]

Character: Jaskier | rollstoseduce
Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner for the Zephyr badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Viola the Luxray (74), Regina the Swanna (42), Dittany the Lapras (63), Cotton the Altaria (57), Limelight the g!Rapidash (61), Dahlia the Wigglytuff (71)
Battle Details: Jaskier goes to the gym as soon as they arrive at Violet on Tuesday to invite Falkner to Kiri's birthday party - he's a little disappointed by the no, but he still winks at him and promises they'll be seeing each other again. When he returns a couple of days later, he brings his himbo of a boyfriend with him. Look, at least this time is only two people bullying and not three, alright?

Unlike Chuck's battle, though, Jaskier goes first, because he's still butthurt over losing the contest and he needs his ego to be rubbed a little. What does stay the same is his strategy, if it can be called that at all: a super offensive approach that relies on levels and type advantage. Viola the Luxray will Discharge the hell out of everything and, if it turns out he does need to back off because of too much damage, he'll Volt Switch his way to his Pokéball and let Dittany the Lapras and Regina the Swanna Ice Beam their way to victory. The other three came in case cleaning up is needed, but once again, Jaskier isn't too worried about this one.

When he approaches Falkner to pick his badge, Jaskier tells him with his reciting voice my favorite weather is bird-chirping weather and winks one last time before moving back to record Geralt's battle. Have I apologized for him today?

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[copykiri]

Character: Kiri | copykiri
Badge/Gym Leader: Jasmine/Mineral
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: Galar Farfetch’d 75, Pom-Pom Oricorio 66, Corviknight 66, Blaziken 58, Baile Oricorio 60, Swellow 62
Battle Details: Challenged On 4/30
Kiri brings lots of potions and revives and a few other healing items, mostly for paralysis. But mostly potions. So many that she’s got one of her birds out with a Pokemart bag or two full of even more. She’s very very proud of her birds, and announces ‘she’s a mighty big bird!’ at the start of the match. Nevermind that two out of the three on Jasmine’s team can hit flying’s weaknesses hard. Kiri is ready to deliver potions as fast as she can, because she is aware that her birds are gonna need it.

Vs. Skarmory
Baile Oricorio is sent in first to Teeter Dance, Feather Dance and Agility (and Captivate if Skarmory is female), and then Revelation Dance for the super-effective STAB fire damage. If Baile is looking like he’s not going to manage to take Skarmory down, he’ll Baton Pass to Pom-Pom Oricorio who will continue Revelation Dance for some Electric-type super effective damage.

Vs. Magneton
Whichever Oricorio is in at the start will Teeter Dance and Feather Dance before Baton Pass switching with Blaziken. Blaziken will Sand Attack a couple times then Bulk Up and Focus Energy. Blaze Kick is the main attack for a couple turns, and then Blaziken will go all out with Flare Blitz. If more than one Flare Blitz is necessary, Kiri will give him a Super Potion so he can do it again. If Blaziken can’t finish before fainting the other Oricorio will come in to stall in between Roosts so Blaziken can be revived to finish it.

Vs Steelix
Blaziken stays on the field and Sand Attacks until Steelix’s accuracy can’t go lower, or he faints. If he’s still kicking he’ll throw out some Flamethrowers and Flare Blitzes. Then Swellow takes to the field. Focus Energy, Double Team, Reversal for as many times as he can without fainting. Both he and Kiri know he’s not going to last long against Steelix, but they have a plan, you see. Swellow knows Endeavor, which he’s going to use at that last moment before he faints to hopefully bring Steelix’s HP down super low in one fell swoop.

Now, Jasmine is clever, and if she uses potions in her gym matches, she’d probably wait until a moment like this. Kiri wouldn’t be surprised, but she’d still tell Jasmine to go fuck herself.

Stage two of the Steelix fight is trickier, but Kiri still has a plan. The Oricorio with the most HP left goes in, gets a potion immediately, and starts spamming Agility and Feather Dance. Now with Steelix’s accuracy low, Oricorio might get three of each off without a problem! If so, Baton Pass to Corviknight! If not, Baton Pass to other Oricorio who gets a potion and finishes the three uses of Agility before Baton Passing to Corviknight. Kiri will try very hard to keep her both of her Oricorios from fainting, just in case.

Corviknight uses Hone Claws at least twice, maybe even three or four times if his HP is still pretty high. And then unleashes Power Trip as many times as he can before he faints. This might take Steelix out. Probably not.

But that’s okay, because Kiri has saved her best for last. Galar Farfetch’d is a bird who doesn’t have flying type (which Kiri thinks is a bit weird, but anyway), and she happens to have a type Steelix is weak to. And she’s 15 levels higher than Steelix. She starts with Swords Dance and Leer, a couple times each if Steelix happens to keep missing, and then she starts hitting hard with Brick Break with brief moments of pause for Kiri to keep her HP high with potions. If chipping through Steelix’s mighty defense with Brick Break is taking too long, Farfetch’d is prepared to use Final Gambit after Kiri gets her as healed as possible with potions. She’ll faint, and if Steelix has Sturdy, Steelix will be left with at least 1HP. But that’s why Kiri made sure her Oricorios are still around! Immediate Roost. Baile will use Revelation Dance to hopefully finish it.. Pom-Pom will stall for revive for Galar Farfetch’d, Teeter Dance, and stall again for potion if she can. Then Galar Farfetch’d comes back in to finish it. Any of her other birds that haven’t fainted will come in and stall for revives of Galar Farfetch’d and/or Corviknight.

Kiri thinks she’s managed to find a way around ‘hit flying’s weakness and it’s over’ that plagued her with Whitney, but if she still is a bit lacking in oomph to carry through to Steelix’s end, she’ll only grumble a few insults on her way out. (And come back for a rematch within the hour, probably. She’s almost five and will resort to overwhelming level advantage for her next match out of frustration if she has to. She was just trying to play by the rules, but she will feel perfectly justified in siccing her level 90ish Talonflame and her other Baile Oricorio and Corviknight who’re level 86 and 83, respectively on Jasmine’s team.)

Badge/Gym Leader: Morty/Fog
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: Chatot M 54, Swanna F 59, Fearow M 58, Farfetch’d F 45, Skarmory M 53, Pom-Pom Oricorio M 62
Battle Details: Challenged sometime between 5/3-5/8
Kiri has plenty of potions and lots and lots of status heals. She knows Ghosts like to do things like that. She’ll announce ‘best birds!’ before the match. She’s ready to hand out all the status heals and potions! But half of her team are immune to Ghost thanks to Normal typing, which should help them last longer against Morty’s ghosts. She will absolutely switch out any time Curse is used.

Vs Haunter
Farfetch’d is first, starting with Sand Attack, then Swords Dance, then Knock Off. Kiri will heal any status as quickly as she can, and be ready with potions too. To get a few breathers, Farfetch’d will start throwing in Fly as the match continues. Kiri is hoping Farfetch’d will be able to take Haunter out on her own.

If not, Chatot is on deck for backup, with Taunt, Sing, and Chatter with its guaranteed confusion. He’ll Roost if he needs healing.

Vs Misdreavus
Chatot comes in if he isn’t in already. Taunt first and refreshing Taunt is first priority! He should be faster that Misdreavus too to shut down (Perish Song) all those pesky Status moves. He’ll Sing because sleep never hurts, and then primarily attack with Chatter (yay confusion!) and Fly. He’ll use some Feather Dance if Misdreavus is focusing on Payback as its main attack, and Roost whenever he needs healing.

If Chatot can’t defeat the witchy ghost, Fearow will come in with Assurance and maybe Pursuit from time to time, which should finish Misdreavus off fast.

Vs Gengar
If Chatot is still in, he’ll start with Taunt and Sing, and then a bunch of Feather Dance and Chatter until he goes down. If Fearow is in, he’ll Agility and Focus Energy before laying in with Assurance, and especially Drill Run if Gengar doesn’t have Levitate.

In the event of Curse and the possibility of potions for Gengar, Kiri has some revives and Potions, and revive a Pokemon (or heal, if nobody is fainted) each time it’s used before switching the affected team member out for someone else. And she’s done her best to preserve most of her team.

The primary backup if Fearow does end up fainting is Skarmory. He’s also the first Kiri will send in if a Curse happens. He’ll Sand Attack a couple times, Agility, and then go to town with Fly. He’ll use a Iron Defense if Payback is hitting hard.

Next is Pom-Pom Oricorio, who will do Agility, Feather Dance and Teeter Dance, and then Revelation Dance, Fly, and Mirror Move (to sneakily hit Gengar’s weaknesses by throwing its own attacks back at it!). If Pom-Pom is getting really low or hit by Curse, he will Baton Pass out.

Next is Swanna, and if it’s gotten to this point without multiple uses of curse being a factor, Kiri will make sure to revive Fearow first thing. Swanna’s first move is Aqua Ring! Then she’ll Rain Dance, Surf, Roost, Brave Bird, Roost again if necessary and move on to spamming Fly.

If even that’s still not enough, Kiri will have revived Fearow who will use his previous strategy to hopefully finish things for good.

[indigo_league]

Badges approved!

[neverfinishanyth]

Character: Leonardo da Vinci | neverfinishanyth
Badge/Gym Leader: FALKNER
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: Piccolo (35), Appuntito (37), and Minerva (39)!
Battle Details: Leonardo's seen a few of Falkner's air shows, and thus wants to prove he understands how to use flying pokemon to obtain the badge that will allow them to Fly. So, he's using an all flying-type team!

He's going to lead off with Piccolo, then swap to Appuntito, and finish up with Minerva, taking on Falkner's squad in order. His plan is to use his pokemon's stat-changing moves like Feather Dance, Agility, Focus Energy, and Reflect to make them hit harder (or, conversely, harder to hit) and overcome the attacking flying-type pokemon with flying-type moves dilemma, and then swoop in for the kill with moves like Take Down, Air Slash, and Aerial Ace. Notably, his Noctowl has the hidden ability Tinted Lens, which makes all her not-very-effective moves do normal amounts of damage, which is going to be used as the kicker when up against Faulkner's Pidgeot.

In a pinch, Leonardo's not above using Growl until Faulkner's pokemon do almost no damage, or Leer to get those last bits of defense down.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[nastyboy]

Character: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd | nastyboy
Badge/Gym Leader: Pryce for the Glacier badge!
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: Composed of Dean the Emboar, Gremlin the Rattata, Fowi the Luxray, Knocker the Raticate, Grindy the Kingler, and Karimala the Lapras
Battle Details:

Fortunately for him, Dimitri was told ahead of time by one Jane Crocker that Pryce's Ice type Pokemon are mixed in with other types, to give a little bit of trouble to anyone who thinks they can just blaze in with fire.

So when Pryce releases his Dewgong to get things started, Dimitri promptly retaliates by unleashing Fowi the Luxray. Dimitri's biggest concern against Pryce's team is getting frozen in place, so, well, the best defense is a good offense... Which is why Fowi (perhaps a little predictably) promptly unleashes a good ol' Thunder Wave to paralyze Dewgon before she gets frozen instead. With some time hopefully bought, Fowi then forcefully changes the field with Electric Terrain. That'll give a little bit of a boost to the Spark she follows up with. A couple of those, strengthened by the terrain, ought to do the trick.

When Dewgong is taken out, Fowi reiterates Electric Terrain, and then takes a breather by hitting Lapras with Volt Switch. This is so that she can trade places with Gremlin the Rattata. Electric Terrain should keep the threat of Sing at bay, so that's one threat taken care of... And then Gremlin helps avoid the threat of a devastating Body Slam but utilizing Thunder Wave himself! Someone got a new TM.... With Lapras hopefully paralyzed in place, Gremlin jumps in with a Super Fang to take out a bulk of the remaining health. After that, if luck is on Dimitri's side, Gremlin can clean up with Crunch. Rats sure got some teeth to them...

All that electric trickery won't work on a Pokemon with a Ground sub-type, of course, and so Gremlin gets pulled when Pryce unleashes his Mamoswine. For that... It's boar against boar as Dimitri sets loose Dean the Emboar. His typing is perfect for this kind of opponent, and he wastes no time in breathing out a strong Flamethrower right out the gate. If he's lucky, that's a burn for Mamoswine, but if not, that's alright too. With a bit of Defense Curl to help keep him going through some of Mamoswine's stronger moves, Dean gets up close and personal with a couple of Arm Thrusts that outta put Mamoswine down.

Knocker the Raticate is in the wings in case anything goes wrong, plus hopefully Gremlin and Fowi as well. Grindy and Karimala are also there, but really more for moral support and... other things. Still, if need be, they can go in swinging with moves of their own, especially since Karimala has her own Sing to take care of business and Grindy's murder tendencies have been encouraged by him learning Guillotine.

However, what Grindy and Karimala are really here for is after the battle, when Dimitri earnestly asks Pryce if maybe their Lapras can see each other and maybe hang out for like five minutes?? She's never gotten to really hang with her own kind, and Dimitri wants her to have this experience. Grindy is just there to anxiously hang around and be Menacing on any other Lapras who try to hit on Karimala.

yes they are dating, don't worry about it

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[mightdoriya]

Character: Izuku Midoriya | mightdoriya
Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner/Zephyr Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Team here! He'll be bringing Mighty the Eevee, Mirko the Buneary, Burnin' the Charmeleon, Ryuko the Appletun, Hawks the Decidueye, Kamui the Tangrowth
Battle Details:

SO LIKE...Izuku is well aware that from the start, most of his team has been (and still is) not the best for taking on Falkner's birds. While the wise thing to do here would be to bring in an electric or rock type to completely sweep the place, Falkner will be faced today with a trainer forced into implementing a lot more strategy since he doesn't actually have any major type advantages (save for one which I'll get to). Each team member has been chosen for a purpose though, even those with weaknesses to flying types. Pokemon will for the most part follow the order as they are listed in when Izuku will send them out, though he will swap members or change his strategy on the fly should it be required.

Mighty (Eevee): While Mighty is one of the strongest members on Izuku's team and beats out all of Falkner's birds in terms of level advantage, he's still a normal type with no obvious strengths against them. While the obvious choice for someone else might have been to grab a thunderstone and make this quick, Izuku respects his Eevee's choice to remain an Eevee for now and instead picked up a TM from Goldenrod on his way through back to Violet: Toxic. Izuku's primary objective is going to be to hinder these birds as much as possible, so Toxic will be the first priority. With Toxic putting a timer on the opponent, Izuku will then switch to alternating other status moves such as Sand Attack, Growl, and Tail Whip, to lower attack, defense, and accuracy. Accuracy and defense will take priority since Izuku expects Mighty to be able to withstand a few hits thanks to the level advantage. Peppered inbetween will be moves like Swift and Quick Attack for the priority, as well as Bite for flinch chance. Take Down will only be used as a last resort to get as much damage off as possible.

Mirko (Buneary > Lopunny): Most of Mirko's moveset is similar to Mighty's in that there's a lot of normal type and varius similar status moves. However, Mirko has access to fighting moves like Jump Kick and Double Kick. They'll only do neutral damage to these dual-typed birds, but hopefully pack an extra punch to help whittle them down. She will also make liberal use of Dizzy Punch in a pinch to try and get a confusion off, as well as Agility to give herself much needed priority over Pokemon that might otherwise outspeed her. Endure remains in the back pocket to withstand a move that would otherwise K.O. her, followed up by a priority move like Quick Attack to get off some more chip damage.

Note: This is just for flavor purposes, but whether or not this challenge is a success, Mirko will evolve during the battling into Lopunny! It may give her a boost in strength due to simply having higher stats at that point, but I don't expect it to completely change the tides of a battle necessarily.

Burnin' (Charmeleon): Burnin' is at a level where he either only just beats out his opponent or is at a slight disadvantage. Nevertheless, he makes up for the disadvantage in sheer ferocity in battle. Izuku plans on letting him go all out with offense, primarily focusing on moves like Flamethrower and Fire Fang for STAB. Smokescreen will be implemented to drop accuracy if things start to get dicey.

Ryuko (Appletun): In the hopes that the other three were able to successfully do a good bit of damage in their time on the field, Izuku has his three Pokemon at potentially the greater risk on the back lines. Ryuko has a stronger chance given the fact that not only is she both Grass and Dragon type, she's incredibly hearty with tons of HP to tank hits if necessary. Izuku's plan is to have her utelize Leech Seed for additional chip damage on top of toxic should she come out, then focus on dealing damage with moves like Stomp, Headbutt, Body Slam for the paralysis chance if Mighty didn't manage to get a Toxic off, and Bullet Seed. Protect will be used to stall between turns of Toxic while she restores her own HP with Recover as necessary. Curse will be used to lay down extra damage over time as a last resort if Izuku sees she's going to go down.

Hawks (Decidueye): Hawks is also a dual-type just like Ryuko, and by the time he's introduced into battle Izuku will have him focus mainly on offensive moves. If multiple Pokemon are left on Falkner's side, he'll use Spirit Shackle to bind them to the battle, ensuring that whatever residual damage they've been taking (be it from poison, leech seed, or curse) can't be nullfied by swapping out. From there, moves like Leafage, Razor Leaf, and Shadow Sneak will be prioritized to take advantage of STAB with usage of Synthesis inbetween to recover health as necessary.

Kamui (Tangrowth): Kamui will come out as Izuku's final resort. Being pure grass type, she has the most obvious weakness against flying types despite being tied with Izuku's strongest. Where she lacks in advantage naturally, she makes up for it in sheer bulk in terms of defense.

Izuku's plan? Have her spam Ancient Power until they faint. That is his ace in the hole here. If she manages to get an omni-boost, all the better. If things get risky he'll chance Sleep Powder to buy time if they're not already afflicted by status, but mainly the goal here is to sweep up the rest of what's left if the rest of Izuku's team has since fallen.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[insidegalra]

Character: Thace | insidegalra
Badge/Gym Leader: ELITE FOUR
Elite/Regular: ELITE TEAM
Team: Vruli (Exploud), Ylnok (Azumarill), Vrezat (Toxapex), Zirthe (Corviknight), Zaivar (Klefki), Vrig (Aegislash)
Battle Details:
Thace will come in with his whole team outside of Pokeballs and arrayed around him like a military unit. He’s gotten as many Full Heals, Max Potions, Max Revives, Full Restores and Lum Berries as he can get his hands on (since those are rare/less common and even potted Lums grow slow). He also has a huge amount of different Berries of all the other varieties from his potted garden, Hyper Potions, Lava Cookies, and Revives. He is probably drastically over-prepared in terms of healing items, but he’d rather be over-prepared and give the extras away than under-prepared.

In between each battle, he’ll use his ridiculous amounts of Oran Berries, Sitrus Berries and Leppa Berries (and eventually potions and things, if necessary) to make sure everyone is at full 100-percent. He also tailors held items to each match and switches those as necessary.

Vs Will,
Held Items: Vruli-Spell Tag, Ylnok-Sitrus Berry, Vrezat-Sitrus Berry, Zirthe-Black Glasses, Zaivar-Metal Coat, Vrig-Metal Coat

Vs Bronzong
—Vruli comes in with Taunt, Howl, Crunch and Shadow Ball. A Screech will get thrown in if she’s having a little trouble laying out damage. Taunt will be re-upped as necessary. She will use Rest if she needs healing and then Snore and Sleep talk.
—Vrig is backup if Vruli needs healing, and will use King’s Shield, tank for healing, Swords Dance and fire off a Night Slash.
—Vruli will come back in Supersonic, and then tank for Vrig to be healed before finishing it with her previous strategy. They’ll continue switching off as needed.

Vs Jynx
—Zaivar comes in with Crafty Shield, Imprison, Metal Sound and Flash Cannon. Lather rinse Repeat.
—Vruli is backup, will tank for healing, and then has some fun with Rollout, and maybe some Fire Punches in between. She’ll use Rest as her last move before she goes back out, or second to last if she can take out Jynx herself with a Sleep Talk or Snore.
—If needed, Zaivar will come back in to finish it.

Vs Grumpig
—Vruli is first, for the best chance of setting Taunt before Grumpig can get off a lot of status moves and to lock down Rest. Supersonic, Crunch and Bite, refreshing Taunt as needed. If her health is getting low, she’ll hold on to refresh Taunt right before she goes out.
—Zaivar comes in with Swagger, and then hits with Foul Play until Taunt is about to wear off. Last turn is a tank for healing.
—Vruli comes back in with Taunt, and her previous strategy, and will switch off with Zaivar as necessary until Grumpig goes down.

Vs Slowbrow
—Zirthe comes in to Taunt, Hone Claws a few times, Taunt (again unless it didn’t work due to ability) and then spam Power Play. If she needs backup, she’ll tank her last turn in for others to be healed.
—Vruli will start with Taunt if it works, Howl and Screech, and alternate Crunch and Thunder Punch/Fang to do damage. She’ll Rest if she needs to heal, using Sleep Talk and Snore while asleep. If she’s having trouble she’ll Rest one more time before being switched out.
—Vrig is backup’s backup, and will do some Laser Focused Shockwaves to finish it.

Vs Gardevoir
—Vrezat will come in briefly to hit with Toxic and a quick Venoshock if she can.
—Vrig is the main battler, starting with King’s Shield to take advantage of Stance Change (which Trace can’t copy), and working on a few Metal Sounds, and then when the time is right, firing off a Laser Focused Steel Beam. King’s Shield and a pause while Thace gets a Max/Hyper Potion to her. Then she’ll do a Laser Focused Steel Beam again. If that’s not enough she’ll hit Gardevoir with a couple Iron Heads before using King’s Shield and tanking a bit more for healing.
—if Misty Terrain is set and coming in won’t disrupt someone else’s setup, Ylnok has Steel Roller and will come in to use it, set Aqua Ring, and hang out for a couple turns to tank for healing.
—Zaivar is on standby to come in with Heal Block, Imprison and Crafty Shield before spamming Flash Cannon. If Gardevoir’s healing abilities made surviving Vrig’s assault possible, they’ve now lost that, and should be pretty worn down.

Vs Xatu
—Zaivar comes in first with Crafty Shield, Heal Block, and Imprison. Then they’ll use Swagger and Foul Play! And Re-use Swagger if the confusion wears off (which will boost Xatu’s attack more, which makes Foul Play hurt more!) They’ll reset the first three whenever they wear off too.
—if Zaivar can’t finish it, Vrig will come in, King’s Shield, tank for Zaivar to be healed, and then throw out a Laser Focused Head Smash.
—if that doesn’t finish it, Zaivar will come back in with the above strategy.

Backup
—Ylnok is mostly not battling this match, but is on standby to jump in and set Aqua Ring and stall for healing (with some Draining Kiss in between to help her stall more turns)

[insidegalra]

EDIT TO ADD: because I was reminded after posting that I'd forgotten: Thace is not giving any of the Elite Four the luxury of knowing what his Pokemon are doing. They will mostly be acting on their own via pre-planned and rehearsed strategy, and if Thace needs to give commands, he'll primarily sign them rather than speak them (and even if he does speak them, he'll use code-words.). This probably won't make much of a difference in the match? But Thace will absolutely go that extra mile because spy paranoia.

Vs. Koga
Held items: Vruli-Lum Berry, Ylnok-Sitrus Berry, Vrezat-Never-Melt Ice, Zirthe-Sharp Beak, Zaivar-Twisted Spoon, Vrig-Quick Claw
Vs Skunktank
—Vruli comes out first, Taunt first then as many Mud-Slaps as she can get off before she needs to go back out to be healed. She keeps Taunt refreshed and will try to hold out to do it last.
—Vrezat comes in next with Baneful Bunker, tanks for healing, hits with Covet and some Mud Shots until she’s getting down to about half. Her last move is Recover before she goes out.
—Vruli comes back in with Taunt, Howl and Earthquakes to hopefully finish it off.
—Vrezat and Vruli will switch back and forth until Skunktank goes down.

Vs. Venomoth
—Vrig comes in with King’s Shield, does a couple Swords Dances, and fires off a Head Smash. Then a couple Aerial Aces until her HP gets low.
—Vrezat comes in, tanks for healing, and then Recovers before switching back out.
—Vrig comes back in with the same strategy, with less Sword Dances if Venomoth is almost done.
—tag team continues until Venomoth goes down.

Vs Toxicroak
—Zaivar comes in on offensive, because Toxicroak out speeds them and has Taunt. As many Psychics as they can get off before they need to go out.
—Zirthe comes in with a Brave Bird, and continues with Fly until she has to go out.
—if Toxicroak isn’t fainted yet, Vrig comes in with Psycho Cut to hopefully finish it
—Vruli will hit hard as she can with Zen Headbutt as another backup.
—Vrezat will tank for healing as long as she can, and those that got healed will come back in with mostly the same strategy but may spend a first turn on things like Crafty Shield or Taunt in case Toxicroak doesn’t spare a turn for Taunt

Vs Swalot
—Vrezat comes in to tank for healing first. She’ll use Recover before she switches out.
—Vrig comes in and Swords Dances a couple times then Psycho Cuts. Stockpile and Yawn will get hit with Spite. Thace will give her any healing items directly rather than having her switch out for it, because Swalot can’t directly damage Vrig at all. If there’s anyone left not healed, Vrig will occasionally tank turns for healing.
—If Koga switches Swalot with one of his other Pokemon, Vrig will King’s Shield and then switch to follow Thace’s strategy for the switched in Pokemon

Vs Crobat
—Zaivar will come in with Crafty Shield, Metal Sound a couple times, and then spam Psychic
—Vrezat will come in with Icy Wind and Frost Breath. If she needs to switch out, she’ll Recover first.
—Vrig will King’s Shield, Taunt, tank for healing, Head Smash if she has the HP and switch
—Zaivar will repeat their above strategy.
—If Crobat gets a Mean Look off, Thace will do his best to keep the trapped battler from fainting but does have Revives just in case. He’ll just be very upset about it.

Vs. Muk
—Vruli will come in with Taunt, do a couple Mud-Slaps, and then Earthquakes, refreshing Taunt as necessary. She’ll Rest if she needs it, making use of Sleep Talk and Snore.
—if someone else is needed, Zirthe will come in, using mostly Fly.
—Vrezat will come in and tank for healing.
—Zaivar will finish off with Psychic if necessary. Vrig can come in too with Psycho Cut. All the others except for Ylnok can come in and probably get off several attacks without fainting if absolutely necessary.

Vs Bruno
Held Items: Vruli-Soft Sand, Ylnok-Big Root, Vrezat-Quick Claw, Zirthe-Sharp Beak, Zaivar-Twisted Spoon, Vrig-Sitrus Berry

Vs. Hitmontop
—Vrezat sets up with Toxic and goes right back out.
—Zaivar fires off a quick Magnet Rise, sets Crafty Shield, fires off a Metal Sound or two, and then alternates between Draining Kiss and Psychic to do damage and keep healed.
—Vrig comes in to set King’s Shield and tank just long enough for healing.
—Zaivar will come back in with above strategy as needed.

Vs Hotmonlee
—Vrezat sets up Toxic, 2x Toxic Spikes, Gastro Acid, and uses Recover before she goes back out.
—Ylnok comes in to set Aqua Ring, Charm, and alternate between Play Rough and Draining Kiss.
—if Ylnok needs to come back out for healing, Vrig will set King’s Shield and tank just long enough for healing.
—Ylnok will come back in with the above strategy to finish it.

Vs Hitmonchan
—Vrezat will set Gastro Acid, tank if any healing is needed, and Recover before switching out.
—Ylnok will come in with Aqua Ring and use Draining Kiss every turn. She’ll Rain Dance if she needs to switch out for healing.
—Zaivar will come in with Crafty Shield, Metal Sound and then Draining Kiss every turn.
—if that’s still not enough, Vrig will come in with King’s Shield then tank for healing before Ylnok and Zaivar repeat.

Vs Hariyama
—Vrezat will set Gastro Acid, tank for healing and Recover then Taunt before switching out.
—Ylnok will set Aqua Ring, use Charm, and then use Play Rough and Draining kiss
—Vrig will King’s Shield, tank a turn for healing and come back out quick
—Ylnok will come back in to finish it with the above strategy
—if Hariyama forces a switch:
——Zaivar will Crafty Shield, Draining Kiss, and Foul Play.
——Zirthe will Hone Claws and spam Fly
——Vrezat will Venoshock and Taunt.

Vs Machamp
—Vrezat will Gastro Acid, tank for healing, and Recover.
—Zirthe should be mostly fresh, and will Taunt, Hone Claws and Brave Bird
—when she needs healing, Vrig will King’s Shield and tank for healing
—Zirthe will come back in with above strategy.
—If that’s not enough, Zaivar or Ylnok can come in and spam their fairy moves.

Vs Lucario
—Vrezat will Gastro Acid and tank for healing.
—Zirthe will Taunt and switch
—Ylnok will Super Power, Mud-Slap, switch.
—The pair will keep that up as long as they can to keep Taunt active until one or both need healing
—Vruli will come in and either Taunt or tank for healing depending on if Taunt is wearing off. She’ll try to stay to set Taunt one last time, and spend any turns between on Earthquake and Fire Punch.
—The first two will go back to their tag team
—if that’s not enough, Vrig will use Sacred Sword as many times as she can
—Vrezat will Surf as many times as she can.
—Zirthe will Brave Bird to her last.

Vs Karen
Held Item: Vruli-Black Belt, Ylnok-Big Root, Vrezat-Mystic Water, Zirthe-Sitrus Berry, Zaivar-Quick Claw, Vrig-Sitrus Berry

Vs Weavile
—Vrezat will try to get a Gastro Acid off before Weavile can do a Taunt (Karen might not order Weavile to Taunt first, after all). She’ll Covet and Smack Down a couple times before switching out.
—Ylnok will Super Power and then Draining Kiss for as long as she lasts.
—Zirthe will tank for healing as long as she can
—Ylnok will come back in for Super Power and then Draining Kiss for as long as the PP hold out. Her backup in that case is Rollout
—if that’s not enough, Vrig will Sacred Sword as long as she can.

Vs Absol
—Vruli is coming in to spam Brick Break as many times as she can. At the very last moment when her HP is as low as it gets without fainting, she’s going to pull out Endeavor to make Absol’s HP equal hers. She’s totally immune to Perish Song on account of her Ability, so hopefully she’ll be super low on HP at that point.
—Zaivar is Thace’s fastest, and smallest, and is going to switch in asap to fire off a Play Rough, hopefully before any potions can be used on Absol. If the strategy doesn’t work, Zaivar will switch to alternating Play Rough and Draining Kiss
—if that’s not enough, Vrezat will Baneful Bunker, tank for healing, Recover, and out.
—Vruli will come back in to Brick Break as long as she can, and she’ll switch to things like Earthquake when she’s out of PP
—if that’s still not enough, Vrig will Sacred Sword as long as she can.

Vs Spiritomb
—Vrezat has a much better chance of getting Gastro Acid off this time, and she’ll follow up with Toxic, and Recover. If Zaivar wasn’t healed against Absol, she’ll tank for healing a turn.
—Zaivar will Crafty Shield, Metal Sound, Draining Kiss and some Play Roughs
—if Zaivar has to come out, Ylnok will come in, set Aqua Ring, and then Draining Kiss and Play Roughs. If she gets a chance, she’ll tank a turn for healing.
—Zirthe will be backup, Hone Claws and Fly, and occasionally tank a turn for healing.

Vs Houndoom
—Vrezat comes in first, Toxic, Surf, Recover, tank for healing/Leppa, Rain Dance, Surf, Recover, tank for more healing/Leppa etc. Recover is her last move if she is starting to get low on HP/PP.
—Vruli has definitely been healed, and will Taunt, Howl, and Surf, refreshing Taunt and Rain Dance as necessary. She’ll Rest when she needs to, using Snore and Sleep Talk to still keep attacking.
—if Houndoom forces a switch:
—— Vrig will Head Smash before switching back out
—— Ylnok will Hydro Pump, Surf if she’s not about to faint, and switch back out
—— Zaivar will Draining Kiss before going back out
—— Zirthe will Brave Bird before going back out

Vs Honchkrow
—Zaivar comes in first, to get off Crafty Shield before Honchkrow can Taunt. Then Metal Sound, Draining Kiss, Play Rough as long as they can.
—Vrezat will come in next with Smack Downs. She’s using Baneful Bunker and Recover if at any time Taunt isn’t set.
—If that’s not enough, Ylnok comes in to hit with Play Rough, Rollout, Icy Wind.

Vs Umbreon
—Vrig comes in with King’s Shield, tanks for healing, and does a Sacred Sword before she goes out. If kept in, she’ll Sacred Sword until she goes down.
—Zaivar comes in with Crafty Shield, Play Rough and Draining Kiss.
—if that’s not enough, Ylnok will come in with Aqua Ring, Play Rough and Draining Kiss
—Vruli is backup with Brick Break, she’ll use Howl and Screech on alternating turns to help increase her damage output.
—Zirthe will Hone Claws and Fly
—Vrezat will Toxic and Venoshock, using Recover to last longer, hopefully to finish it if nothing else was enough.

Vs Lance
Held Items: Vruli-Never-Melt Ice, Ylnok-Big Root, Vrezat-Never-Melt-Ice, Zirthe-Sitrus Berry, Zaivar-Quick Claw, Vrig-Hard Stone

Vs Salamence
—Vrezat hits with a Toxic, Toxic Spikes and Recover on her way out.
—Ylnok uses Charm, Aqua Ring, Icy Wind and Draining Kiss when she needs a little extra healing. If she’s really in a pinch, she’ll use Hail and Blizzard, but they’re trying to keep that a little secret from Lance until later in the match.
— if Ylnok can’t do it on her own, Vrig will King’s Shield and tank for healing. If Salamence is on its last legs and she’s got HP for it, she’ll finish it with a Head Smash.
—Ylnok will come back in with Aqua Ring, Icy Wind and Draining Kiss.

Vs Gyarados
—Vrezat will Toxic, then set Toxic Spikes a second time and get a start on whittling with Venoshock. She Recovers again before she goes out.
—Vruli comes in with Taunt, Howl, Screech and then Thunder Fang and Thunder Punches her way through things. She’ll Rest when she needs healing, using Snore and Sleep Talk, and then right back to her attacks.
—if Vruli can’t do it on her own, Vrig will King’s Shield and tank for healing. She’ll Shockwave if she can get away with it.
—Then Vruli will come back in and do her thing.

Vs Garchomp
—Ylnok is coming in right away, because Garchomp should be badly poisoned already. She’ll Charm, Aqua Ring and Icy Wind, with Draining Kiss for backup healing. She’ll toss out a Rain Dance anytime Garchomp attempts Sandstorm.
—if Ylnok needs to come out for healing, Zaivar will go in. Crafty Shield, Magnet Rise, Metal Sound, Draining Kiss and Play Rough.
—Zirthe is around as backup and a breather for healing. She’ll Taunt, Hone Claws and Steel Wing or Brave Bird.
—whoever’s out near the end will tank for healing before Garchomp goes down.

Vs Altaria
—Vrezat fires off a quick Toxic then Recover on her way out.
—if Pokemon on Thace’s team still need some healing, Vrig will come out first, King’s Shield, and alternate tanking for healing with Swords Dance, and then hit Altaria with a powered up Head Smash. (or get put to sleep with Sing or on a time limit with Perish Song and then Thace will bring her out when the healing is done/before the timer runs out)
—Vruli’s soundproof makes her Altaria’s perfect opponent. She’ll Taunt first anyway, and then Howl, Screech, and lay in with Ice Fang and Ice Punch. She’ll Rest whenever she needs healing.
—Vrezat is coming in as backup if necessary, Recover as necessary. Frost Breath and Icy Wind are her main attacks, but she’ll Venoshock a time or two.

Vs Charizard
—Vrezat comes in against Charizard with Toxic, Rain Dance, Surf, and lots of Smack Down, alternating. And Recover for her HP. Maybe a Venoshock or two, if there’s any issues with PP.
—Ylnok is backup, Rain Dance, Charm, Aqua Ring, Defense Curl then Rollout. She’ll Surf too in between, and use Draining Kiss for extra healing.
—Vruli is on deck if neither of them can finish it. She has Smack Down and Surf too.

Vs Dragonite
—Last Pokemon, unless Lance drastically switches up order. Vrezat uses Toxic, and will use Icy Wind and Frost Breath and Smack Down until her HP gets middlish (which will be quick, probably). And she will totally use Spite after Roost. She Recovers before she switches out, just in case.
—Ylnok comes in next, setting up Aqua Ring and using Hail and Blizzard (and Draining Kiss for extra healing) for as long as she can last.
—if that’s not enough, Vruli will come in, Taunt, and hit with Ice Punch and Ice Fang.
—Zaivar is backup’s backup and will Heal Block, Crafty Shield and then hit hard with Play Rough and Draining Kiss
—Vrig will Head Smash her way through if it starts getting desperate.
—Zirthe will Taunt and Hone Claws and Fly (and Brave Bird if it gets desperate)

[vrdantwind]

Character: Claude von Riegan | vrdantwind
Badge/Gym Leader: Pryce, for the Glacier Badge!
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Claude's roster
Battle Details: Well, really, when Pryce's first two pokémon are water type as well as ice type, and Claude's current fire type in Wyvern the Rapidash both isn't quite high level enough and would be a very bad choice against water, and his grass type in Sicily the Sawsbuck would be unhappy about the ice...it's only natural that Claude would lead with Sturm the Toxtricity. Who, between a massive level advantage and electric moves, is almost undoubtedly going to wreck shop on Dewgong and Lapras...

But who is a very bad match-up against the Mamoswine. But hey, no matter! Claude will recall Sturm and, instead, send out Albin the Gallade. He only has a few levels' advantage over Mamoswine, making this a less stilted fight...but with Mamoswine weak to fighting, and Albin knowing Close Combat, it's still very much a fight likely to be in Claude's favor.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[rollstoseduce]

Character: Jaskier | rollstoseduce
Badge/Gym Leader: Bugsy for the Hive badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Regina the Swanna (43), Holly the Oricorio (36 - note: red nectar has been used to made her Baile Form for this battle, therefore Fire/Flying), Limelight the g!Rapidash (62), Dahlia the Wigglytuff (72), Cotton the Altaria (58), Viola the Luxray (75)
Battle Details: Oh, Bugsy. So young, so innocent - qualities that save him from Jaskier's constant winking and flirting! Lucky boy! Another thing Jaskier is doing different this time is that he's actually putting a little more thought into this battle. Gasp, I know! And that little worry of his is why he's letting Geralt go first, maybe that will tire the bugs out. Because that's how it totally works, am I right?

►Vs Pinsir
Regina the Swanna (who is still wearing the choker he got as a Ducklett at the contest because she's beautiful like that, thank you very much) will go first, setting up Tailwind then unleashing her Flying-type attacks. She resists Bug and Pinsir is weak to Flying, combo that with the level difference and Regina's ability to heal through Roost and this should be an easy battle, Jaskier thinks. Just in case, though, he also brought Holly the Orocorio to do any last-minute cleaning up. She usually is in Pa'u Form, but since Jaskier's usual Baile form birdie is too low level for this battle, Holly was given red nectar to make her Fire/Flying aka two of Bug-type's greatest enemies. Roost and Teeter Dance are available if time is needed to be bought, but in theory she should be only coming out to finish Pinsir, therefore Air Slash it is.

►Vs Heracross
One would think Heracross' x4 weakness to Flying would make him another victim of Regina's, but nope. Jaskier has an army of fairies, and he knows how to use them. Depending on how long it took to beat Pinsir (hopefully not much!), Tailwind may still be in effect; but either way, when Limelight the g!Rapidash (who resists Fighting) makes an entrance, he sets up an Agility to be safe then proceeds to drop a bunch of Dazzling Gleams and Psychics. He too has a level and type advantage over Heracross, but again, if cleaning up is need, Dahlia the Wigglytuff will come to finish things with Play Rough.

►Vs Scizor
You may be wondering, why was Jaskier worried if Pinsir and Heracross were kinda easy for him? Well, this little red metal bastard is your answer - Jaskier doesn't have any hard counters for Steel-types. So he's played the first two encounters safely instead of stomping everything with just offensive moves in order to keep as much healthy back-up as possible, and he isn't even taking any risks when choosing his first move: as soon as Cotton the Altaria (who also resists Bug) is out, she drops Perish Song on Scizor. She then proceeds to stall with moves like Agility, Protect and Roost. If possible, Jaskier will call her back when her last turn is about to come and send Viola the Luxray in her place. Viola resists Steel and has plenty of Electric attacks, which is one of the few types that can hit Steel with normal damage. He'll also be the one to come out if Scizor somehow manages to knock Cotton out before Perish Song kicks in; if so then Viola will use Thunder Wave to help with that stalling strategy (and let's not forget he has Intimidate too!) then spam Discharge until Scizor submits to the power of song.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[fingersandteeth]

Character: Steven Durante | fingersandteeth
Badge/Gym Leader: LET’S GO BEAT THE ELITE FOUR
Elite/Regular: I MEAN THE WHOLE ‘ELITE’ THING IS LITERALLY PART OF THEIR NAME?!?
Team: Charley (Misdreavus), William the Bloody (Swoobat), Fail Whale (Wailord), El Diablo Verde (Hawlucha), Little Timmy (Mimikyu), and Charlotte (Galvantula), all level 100
Battle Details: Steven comes to face the Elite Four dressed in his zoot suit from Prom, because it was a great outfit and he wants to get more use from it. His Mimikyu, Little Timmy, is wearing her Misdreavus costume in order to look like her ‘mama,’ Charley.

For the last five months or so Steven has diligently been having his Pumpakoo Mervyn use Pick-up to gather items for him, as well as stockpiling whatever Elixirs, Ethers, and Restores (both normal and full/max) that he comes across. He’s also coming to the challenge with so many potions of various levels for healing time as well as whatever berries his boyfriend did not use for his own match. Please assume he’s topping up the PP as well when he heals between matches, even if I don’t specifically mention it. During match potions/restores will likely happen at Steven’s discretion, with him going for the Max Potion/Full Restore first because this is the Elite Four, after all, and what has he been stockpiling them for if not for this? (Between match healing has him use his regular, Super, and Hyper Potions in whatever combination is most effective, because at that point he won't be pressed for time.)

Since he’s letting Thace face the Elite Four first, he’ll be paying close attention to his boyfriend’s matches, in hopes that observation will let him guess some of the abilities of the various pokemon, as that will affect his strategy. (Hopefully said E4 members are not surreptitiously feeding ability-changing candy to their pokemon between matches.)

Steven and his Pokemon have spent long hours together going over the strategy for these matches. He’s worked out various code phrases to deal with the various contingencies he’s taken into account, as part of his strategy here is to not give his opponents a hint of what he’s going to have his Pokemon do until they do it. This is not because he’s a spy like his boyfriend (he’s not) but because deep down he’s actually a bit of a bastard.

Unless otherwise noted, Charley will always have a Spell Tag and Fail Whale will always have a Mystic Water. Little Timmy gets to hold a Shell Bell. Everyone else gets Sitrus Berries. Pending Koga’s defeat, El Diablo will wear the Expert Belt for the matches against Bruno, Karen, and Lance.

WILL

For Bronzong, he’ll send in William and take advantage of his speed to Imprison any moves that they share (including Imprison!) and then Taunt it out of using any status attacks. After that, William gets to lob Shadow Balls at Bronzong, steal its held item with Thief, and (if he’s been able to verify that this is a Levitate Bronzong) breath fire with Heat Wave to melt that steel and hopefully leave a burn along the way. If it’s a Heatproof Bronzong he’ll just concentrate on the Shadow Balls and the Thievery.

For Jynx, he’ll send Charlotte in, since she’s not particularly vulnerable to any of Jynx’s moves and has a lot of lovely bug attacks to make herself useful with. Sticky Web puts a speed-killing stage hazard in which will hopefully persist past Jynx’s turn and Screech fucks up her defense. Bug Buzz fucks up Jynx’s special defense as well and hits her nice and hard in the bug weakness. If Jynx is still up, Charlotte will steal the held item with Thief just for funsies and make good use of the Throat Chop reusable TM that Team Rocket gave Steven for Christmas.

Little Timmy takes on Grumpig, since her half-fairy typing means that she’s not especially vulnerable to Dark moves and Grumpig’s only Ghost attack is a status attack, which is easily neutralized by Little Timmy Taunting as soon as she takes the field. After that it’s time to lob some Shadow Balls (and hopefully lower that special defense) and Thief away Grumpig’s held item, because the pig didn’t need it anyway. Maybe she’ll cut a pig with X-Scissor. She’s got options.

Charley takes Slowbro, as the pink lump has no Dark or Ghost attacks which she’d be otherwise vulnerable to. She’ll Taunt right away to disable its Status moves, Thief to steal its held item (if it has one), and then lob some Shadow Balls of her own at the ‘Bro, with perhaps a Dark Pulse for variety.

With Gardevoir, Charley stays on the field just long enough to Taunt away its status attacks, before switching out with Fail Whale, who springs into action with a Noble Roar! If observing Thace’s match earlier shows that Gardevoir has the Ability Trace, Steven will then have the big old wail let loose some Toxic to poison Gardevoir good, but if Gardevoir is a Synchronize Gardevoir or Steven doesn’t know for sure, he’ll just have Fail Whale jump directly onto Gardevoir with a Heavy Slam, as the poor little thing weighs less than twenty percent of what Fail Whale does, meaning it’ll take maximum damage from the Steel move. And then if Gardevoir is still up, he’ll do it again.

For Xatu, as long as William is still up, he’ll toss William in first just long enough to Imprison their common moves and Taunt away its Status moves, then switch to Charlotte, whose Electric attacks are everything Xatu hates. (Steven knows, because he’s got a Xatu of his own back home.) Electroweb captures the birb in an electric web for both damage and fucking up its speed and his next move is determined if Steven’s figured out if it’s an Early Bird or Synchronize Xatu by watching Thace’s match. If it’s an Early Bird, Thunderbolt hits it hard with lighting, with the added bonus of paralysis. If, however, it’s a Synchronize Xatu or he doesn’t know, discretion will be the better part of valor and he’ll merely have Charlotte Thief away its held item before using good old Throat Chop as many times as she needs to.

El Diablo is being kept largely out of the fighting this round, as he’s vulnerable to Psychic in general, but should he be the last Pokemon standing Steven will use his turn to Max Revive whoever the Pokemon he’s currently fighting seems most Vulnerable to and if El Diablo’s still up after tanking the hit at that point, he’ll U-turn to let the revived Pokemon back in the fight.

TIME TO HEAL NOW.

KOGA

For Skuntank, there’s really only one choice, because the damn thing is only vulnerable to Ground and most of Steven’s Ground moves on his Elite Four team reside with Fail Whale. Luckily, none of Skuntank’s attacks are anything it’s really vulnerable to. Fail Whale takes to the field with a Noble Roar, then Earthquakes and Bulldozes until Skuntank is down. And since neither of those are contact moves, it shouldn’t matter if Skuntank has Aftermath or not (although Steven will be paying attention to Thace’s match anyway just because it’s good to have as much data as possible.)

William takes Venomoth, because he’s not particularly vulnerable to anything the moth has and in the case of its handful of Grass and Psychic attacks is actually resistant to them… well, unless this is a Tinted Lense Venomoth and even then those attacks would only hit William normally. He’ll Imprison any moves they have in common and Taunt away the Status moves, before smacking with such moves as Psychic, Zen Headbutt, Air Slash and Dual Wingbeats. If he thinks he can get away with it, he’ll use Thief to steal Venomoth’s item and then Acrobatics to hit him really hard.

El Diablo takes on Toxicroak, since he’s not particularly vulnerable to anything that the froggy has and he’s got some nice, useful Flying attacks to hit it where it’s weak. Feather Dance reduces its attack and Dual Wingbeats and Aerial Ace hit it in the Flying Vulnerability. El Diablo can even smack into it with a Zen Headbutt if we want to take advantage of the frog’s double weakness to Psychic. If it uses up its held item somehow or just doesn’t have one, then we get it with Acrobatics.

Charley takes on Swalot, since nothing it has for an attack is anything she’s particularly vulnerable to, thank goodness. She’ll Taunt to keep it from using its status moves, then go right to hitting it hard with Psychic, as many times as needed until it goes down.

Charlotte takes Crobat, because she’s not particularly vulnerable to anything it has. She’ll throw an Electroweb on top of it, Screech to lower its Defense, then start nailing it with a bunch of Thunderbolts in succession. Sometimes you don’t need an overly complicated strategy.

Finally Little Timmy takes on Muk for much the same reason as the others take on their opponents: it doesn’t have anything she’s particularly weak to. Taunt to shut down its status moves, then Psychic as many times as she needs to until it’s down. Draining Kiss if she needs to heal up at any point, then back to Psychic.

TIME TO HEAL! Steven presents the Expert Belt to El Diablo, who promptly ties it around his waist.

BRUNO

William will start us out against Hitmonlee, because the bulk of its attacks are Fighting, which William is doubly resistant to. Even the ones that aren’t Fighting aren’t ones that William is particularly vulnerable to, either. He’ll Taunt to keep it from using what status moves it has, then start smacking it with Psyshock to take advantage of the hitmon’s much lower regular defense stat and his own higher special attack, Psyshock being weird like that. But weird in a useful way. If it starts looking like the hitmon is… hitting too much, he’ll switch to Flying to gain that precious turn where he can’t be hit before divebombing down to smack the hitmon in the flying weakness.

Charley takes on Hitmonchan because she can’t be hit by any of its Normal or Fighting attacks and even the attacks that can hit her (the elemental punches) aren’t ones she’s especially vulnerable to. Calm Mind to raise her specials, then alternating Dazzling Gleam and Psychic until the hitmon is down. If she gets low in the process, that’s what Full Restores are for. (Or possibly Max Potion, but since the elemental punches all have a chance at side effects, it’s probably gonna be Full Restore.)

Charlotte takes Hitmontop since she’s resistant to its Fighting attacks and not especially vulnerable to anything else. She’ll Screech to lower its defense and spin a Sticky Web to lower its speed and then she’ll Bounce until it’s either down or she’s out of Bounces--and if that happens we might have to bust out Fail Whale a bit early to Zen Headbutt at it.

In any case, Fail Whale then takes on Hariyama specifically to counter the big guy’s Heavy Slam. With Fail Whale outweighing Hariyama by a good few hundred pounds, the Slam will do minimal damage. Meanwhile, after Noble Roaring to intimidate the big guy, Fail Whale uses a combination of Bouncing and Zen Headbutts to take it down.

Little Timmy takes on Machamp, mostly because thanks to her dual Ghost/Fairy typing there’s literally only a single attack in Machamp’s entire moveset that can hit her and it only does normal damage. She’ll Taunt to keep him from using status moves, then go straight into Dazzling Gleams, with Draining Kiss to heal if/when Machamp’s single usable move gets her too low.

And now? Now it’s time for Lucario. Steven’s been specifically holding El Diablo Verde in reserve to deal with the weirdface fitedoge, whose Steel dual typing negates the traditional Fighting-type weaknesses--although luckily it also gives Lucario some weaknesses of its own. And El Diablo’s own type combination makes it resistant to Lucario’s Fighting attacks, what luck! El Diablo does a Feather Dance to lower Lucario’s attack, then a Swords Dance to raise his own, before finally showing off his signature Flying Press, which Lucario ought to be exquisitely vulnerable to. Repeat said Flying Press as many times as necessary.

TIME TO HEAL AND RESTORE SOME PP.

[fingersandteeth]

KAREN

Ah, Karen. With Steven’s particular team composition, he’s been dreading you--and with good reason, as two of his pokemon are exquisitely vulnerable to your particular typing and while one of them has Fairy attacks to make up for it as a backup in a few particular fights, the other is only good for tanking while he Max Revives someone who can handle your bullshit much better.

Anyway, Charley and William are mostly staying out of these matches when possible, due to being very vulnerable to Dark moves, with the exception of Charley being Little Timmy’s back-up due to her Fairy moves. Like with El Diablo in the battles with Will, William will only go in as a last resort again Karen’s pokemon if everyone else is down and only so that Steven can (as mentioned above) Max Revive another battler while William tanks for a turn, only to U-turn out if he manages to survive that hit. In any case, he’ll probably be very free with the heals for this particular fight, because with two team members relegated largely to the bench, he’ll have to make the other four pick up the slack.

Starting out with Weaville, he’ll set Charlotte against it, since she’s not particularly vulnerable to any of its moves, while Weaville itself is vulnerable to the Bug half of her dual typing. Sticky Web to reduce speed, Screech to fuck up defense, and Bug Buzz to hit hard in the Bug weakness and fuck up the special defense. After that, probably a few X-Scissors before she tries Bug Buzzing again because this stupid thing has fucking Pressure, goddamn it, and X-Scissor comes with more PP.

El Diablo Verde ends up taking on Absol, even though Absol does have that one super-powerful psychic move that he’s vulnerable to… but the thing about Future Sight is that it all works on a schedule. Absol performs the move and then two turns later it happens. Which means that El Diablo can use Endure to tank the hit he knows is coming, then immediately turn around and get sprayed with a Max Potion courtesy of Steven. When not tanking Future Sight with Endure, he’ll Taunt to deny Absol access to its status moves and hit back with Fighting moves targeting Absol’s weakness to the move type.

Steven should know from Thace’s match immediately prior to this whether or not Absol is a Pressure Absol or a Super Luck Absol, which will affect his choice of moves for this somewhat: if it’s a Pressure Absol, he’ll concentrate more on moves with higher amounts of PP like Low Sweep, Brick Break, and Rock Smash. If it’s a Super Luck Absol, then he’ll feel more free to break out those moves with less PP, like Drain Punch (which he can use to heal!) and Flying Press.

And then. Then. Then there’s the absolute fucker known as Spiritomb. This utter asshole, vulnerable only to Fairy attacks, is probably the one Ghost that Steven isn’t really planning on catching and it’s one hundred percent because of how much of a pain the shithead is for strategizing against. And to top it all off? The bitch has fucking Pressure aka the worst ability an opponent can have when you’re trying to get any fucking thing done.

Anyway, when it comes to Spiritomb, there’s really only one Pokemon that Steven will send in and that’s Little Timmy, whose Fairy dual-typing keeps its Dark attacks from doing more than normal damage, even though her Ghost-typing renders her vulnerable to its Ghost attacks. Steven and Little Timmy will both have to just deal with it. Anyway, Taunt will hopefully keep it from using its Status attacks, then it’s Dazzling Gleam to hit hard, Playing Rough to also hit hard and possibly lower Spiritomb’s attack, and Draining Kiss to hopefully recover some HP when Spiritomb fucks around with its Ghost attacks, repeat all of these as often as needed. Thanks to her Disguise ability, at least she can tank the bastard's first attack without taking damage to herself, just her costume.

It’s entirely possible that Spiritomb will take Little Timmy down, at which point Charley comes in to immediately lay a Curse on the fucker and if she can avoid being taken down on that turn, she’ll lay a Mean Look to keep it there until the Curse goes off. Survive one more turn and she starts firing off those Dazzling Gleams. Of course, if the fucking asshole ghost conglomerate takes her down too, which it very well might, that’ll be their cue to send in Fail Whale who Noble Roars when he takes the stage and can at least use his absurd number of hitpoints and lack of vulnerabilities to its attack types to tank Spiritomb’s nonsense while slowly wearing it down with repeated Water Pulses, since that’s his attack with the most PP extant. Of course, if Charley goes down, there's nothing keeping Spiritomb there to take the damn Curse, so he might be going out as Fail Whale comes in, but when he comes back, the wail will be waiting.

If Fail Whale does end up being brought in to deal with that son of a bitch, he can probably just stay on the field after that, since Steven’s chosen him to deal with Houndoom, which luckily has reasonable abilities that don’t make you waste PP. Anyway, if Steven’s lucky enough that he didn’t have to bring him in to finish off Spiritomb or if Spiritomb got pulled back immediately to avoid Curse problems, he’ll have Fail Whale immediately Water Spout before anything, to take advantage of the move’s full power, before moving on to Rain Dancing and Noble Roaring, before swinging into Hydro Pumping and then Brining once Houndoom is down under half HP. If he already had to deal with Spiritomb? Well, then Steven skips the Water Spout but otherwise proceeds as planned. Luckily, there’s only one attack in Houndoom’s arsenal that Fail Whale is vulnerable to and Fail Whale does have a lot of HP himself. With some judicious healing, Steven has this.

Anyway, he’ll probably end up having to bring Charlotte back for Honchkrow, who thankfully isn’t vulnerable to any of its nonsense. She’ll reduce its speed by flinging an Electroweb at it and go straight to hurling Thunderbolts, which ought to take it down before she goes down, but in a pinch we can have Fail Whale shoot it with some Ice Beams.

When we get to Umbreon… well, that probably depends on who’s up and who still has enough PP left after that fucking travesty known as Spiritomb and the lesser menace Absol. It’ll probably be either Little Timmy or El Diablo Verde, even if Steven has to send in William as a sacrificial healstall while he Max Revives or Full Restores one or the other of them. Either way, neither should be vulnerable to anything Umbreon has. If Little Timmy’s the lucky one and she’s still got a decent number of Dazzling Gleams and Draining Kisses, she’ll be using those. If it ends up being El Diablo, which is probably the better choice all things considered, Feather Dance will lower Umbreon’s attack, Swords Dance will raise El Diablo’s, and then it’s all Flying Presses and Drain Punches until Umbreon’s down.

AND NOW WE HEAL AND RECOVER OUR PP. But no, seriously, Steven isn’t going forward until the PP for those Fairy attacks has been restored and for very good reasons. Those reasons being his next opponent...

LANCE

… who, as we all know, is the Dragon guy. And we all know what Dragons are unexpectedly vulnerable to as well.

Anyway! We’ll start out with Little Timmy against Salamence, because Steven’s good little Fairy-Ghost is not vulnerable to anything in its arsenal (and is in fact immune to pretty much half of the moves) and after using her Baby-Doll Eyes to reduce Salamence’s attack, she’ll swing right into smacking down with Dazzling Gleam and Play Rough, and recovering HP when needed via Draining Kiss.

After Salamence comes Gyrados, who is sort of a cheat, because it’s not actually Dragon type, even if it’s a Dragon-shaped Pokemon, but whatever. This is why Charlotte is here, so she can take advantage of that lovely double vulnerability to Electricity, by throwing an Electroweb onto it to slow it the fuck down and then hurl Thunderbolts at it until it goes down.

El Diablo Verde takes Garchomp because he’s immune to its Ground attacks, resistant to its Dark attacks, and isn’t particularly vulnerable to anything else it has. Feather Dance lowers its attack, Swords Dance raises El Diablo’s, and then… well, thanks to a kindly move tutor in Blackthorn, El Diablo has Dual Chop now, which means it can hit Garchomp in the Dragon weakness until it runs out of chops. Hopefully that won’t happen… but if it does, we’ll just bring Little Timmy back with her Dazzling Gleams, Play Roughs, and Draining Kisses.

Fail Whale comes in with Altaria, since the cloudbirb dragon doesn’t have anything he’s vulnerable to and he’s got some nice, useful Ice attacks to ruin its day with. He’ll Noble Roar as is his wont when he takes the field, then starts firing off Ice Beams and calling up Blizzards.

Charizard is another cheater who isn’t a Dragon type even as he’s Dragon shaped, but no matter. In the interest of letting everyone have a go against Lance, Steven can send William out against him, since William isn’t vulnerable to anything it's got and does have an Electric attack up its sleeve to use against Charizard’s vulnerability to the attack type. After invoking Calm Mind to up his specials, William swings right into repeated Shock Waves--and should he go down, Steven can bring Charlotte back to Thunderbolt or Fail Whale back to Hydro Pump and Surf or possibly Brine if Charizard’s HP is low enough.

Finally. The last match of all. The one to decide everything. Dragonite. Steven’s been saving his bestest, most special girl for this one, because Charley deserves to deal his final blow against the Elite Four pending, of course, that he makes it through the rest including fucking Karen. She's got no vulnerabilities here and Steven's willing to heal as needed to keep her up to give the final blow. Anyway, after invoking Calm Mind to up her specials, she’ll Dazzling Gleam and Icy Wind until Dragonite’s down, with all the relentless brutality in her darling Rocket-chipped heart.

Game. Set. Match.

[apshot]

Character: Bakugou Katsuki | apshot
Badge/Gym Leader: Morty | Fog
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Houndoom, Persian, Greninja, Marowak, and Nidoqueen
Battle Details:

He'll probably open things up with Greninja since Shinobi is a lower level than the rest. His team is kind of between levels 45-80 and benefit from type advantages. Persian is Normal-type so Ghost moves won't be able to touch him. In return, Persian knows plenty of Dark moves to take advantage of that situation. Nidoqueen and Marowak suffer from a slight type disadvantage, but Nidoqueen also has Bite/Crunch combination and Bakugou wants her to get some battle experience. He'll pull her if things look rough. Same with Marowak, even though Marowake has Ghost type moves himself. Houndoom is a Dark type by nature so his Dark moves will be bolstered. Bakugou would prefer to save Houndoom for last as a sweeper to clean up the battle.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[bigsadwolf]

Character: Legosi | bigsadwolf
Badge/Gym Leader: Bugsy/Hive Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Here! He'll be bringing in: Kabu the Heracross, Kaze the Araquanid, Yoro the Beedrill, Kobi the Butterfree, Juno the Mightyena, and Mirko the Buneary
Battle Details:

SO, FUNNY STORY...Legosi didn't visit Bugsy today expecting a battle at all. He's heard from several people that he would be the trainer to talk to when it came to bugs, and moreso than anything Legosi just innocently wanted to meet him for a chat and to compare bug notes. But unsurprisingly, that isn't generally how things work in the Pokemon world now is it? Through shenanigans his attempts to talk are going to be misconstrued as a request for a challenge, but hey...at least he'll be able to show his bugs off in the meantime? He's just, you know, going to be shouting across the arena between attacks trying to clear things up to little actual success. Because Legosi wanted to talk bugs, most of the team he brought with him are his bug types...and they aren't all the strongest necessarily on his team, but that's the explanation as for why they're here.

Like with Izuku I'm going to go over each Pokemon and cover their strengths, weaknesses, and plans for strategy which will apply to any of Bugsy's team members depending on when they're most needed. Legosi isn't the most skilled trainer out there compared to some, but he's been working hard to actually train his Pokemon up since Prom so he's not going to halfass things either even if he just wanted to have a chat!

Yoro (Beedrill): Since Legosi brought mostly bugs with him to show to Bugsy, that's what he's going to have on hand on his team first. And while he'd intended to start with Kabu...Yoro is even MORE bloodthirsty for fighting than the Heracross, so it looks like his Beedrill is up first. Unfortunately, while Yoro has a lot of spirit, he is hugely outclassed by all of Bugsy's team in terms of levels. He is going to fight hard in spite of his weaknesses, taking advantage of moves like Poison Sting/Jab for the poisoning opportunities as well as Peck against Pinsir and Heracross to capitalize on flying weakness. His speed is probably the only thing that gives him a leg-up otherwise, but he will go down swinging and Legosi will respect the hell out of him for it.

Kobi (Butterfree): Unfortunately for Legosi, Kobi is going to go to the trouble of letting herself out of her own Pokeball when her Beedrill sweetheart is laid low, and...doubly unfortunately, she is at the same low level and similar disadvantage. She has a lot wider of a variety of moves in her arsenal to help out, however, and they will be taken advantage of to their fullest. Her access to various Poison, Sleep, and Stun powder/spores will be lead with depending on who she is facing to provide chip damage, opportunities at chip damage, or just stopping them altogether with paralysis. Supersonic and Confusion also make for great confusing options, particularly Confusion as well as Psybeam against Heracross for the type advantage. Gust will be an additional flying move to pull out against Bugsy's bugs, and if things get dicey and Legosi feels like he's struggling too hard against one of Bugsy's members, he'll force it to switch with Whirlwind until he can come up with a better strategy.

Kabu (Heracross): After the snafu with the last two Pokemon, Legosi's beefier team members come out to play. Particularly Kabu, who- while not as strong as Bugsy's strongest- is the strongest Pokemon on Legosi's team currently and the most experienced overall in battling. Once again, flying type moves like Arial Ace will come in clutch against Pinsir and/or Heracross, Heracross in particular since Legosi feels like he'll only be able to beat a beetle with a beetle, probably. More likely than not though, he'll be the one to primarily take on Scizor with all the firepower he has, leaning hard into his fighting type moves in the form of Brick Break and Arm Thrust for STAB. He's as fast as if not faster than Yoro, and will be focusing on hard offense to try and cover as much ground as he can since Legosi's other team members aren't nearly as equipped for this kind of battling. He will use Endure to survive otherwise fatal blows in a pinch.

Kaze (Araquanid): Kaze was Legosi's first bug he ever caught, so he was especially excited to show him off to Bugsy. He's going to come out now in all of his watery, giant spider glory. In Kaze's case, almost every move in his arsenal is going to be a STAB move, which will hopefully help supplement the level disadvantage. Aqua Ring will be used for early set up for healing, as well as Bite and Crunch for the potential chance at flinching. Where Legosi's other Pokemon are more aggressive about fighting, however, Kaze is...well. He's like a dog if it were a spider. He's going to be frolicking on the field like a golden retriever with a tennis ball and enjoy every second of it.

Juno (Mightyena): At this point in the battling, it's going to either be close, or clear that Legosi isn't really going to win. Honestly if all of his team is totally wiped by the time he's down to Juno and Haru he'll probably ask Bugsy if he can forfeit, but in the event things do continue and he does have a miracle of a chance, his Mightyena will come onto the field. She hasn't had the opportunity to get out for a big battle in a while since she wasn't out for the Prom disaster, so she'll come at Bugsy's team with all the ferocity of a Pokemon much stronger than she actually is. Once again, Bite will be a primary choice for both STAB and flinch chance, as well as moves like Howl to boost her own attack and Sand Attack + Scary Face to lower speed and accuracy. Swagger will only be used in a pinch since Legosi does not trust his luck enough that he'd be able to make use of the confusion well enough before potentially being up against an even STRONGER Pokemon...and like with Kobi, Roar will be used in an emergency to shuffle the team members he's up against.

Haru (Buneary): Despite being the smallest with Legosi at the moment, Haru is a force to be reckoned with. She regularly trains with Kabu for goodness sake, so those kicks of hers aren't to be underestimated. She's got some decent options in her move pool as well with priority attacks like Splash and Endure to hang on in a pinch. While there's no STAB potential since she hasn't evolved, Jump Kick and Double Kick are probably her highest damage output moves and thus will be prioritized in that regard if Quick Attack isn't doing enough. Defense Curl to boost defense, Baby-Doll Eyes to lower attack, etc.

[indigo_league]

Badge denied! Unfortunately, Legosi's team is underleveled for this battle. However, Bugsy does enjoy the chance to gush about Bug types and encourages Legosi to try again (on purpose) after more training!

[machismost]

Character: Eijiro Kirishima | machismost
Badge/Gym Leader: Morty | Fog
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Incineroar, Mochi, Matsue
Battle Details:

Haunter: This is Incineroar's battle and he will be using Scary Face to lower Haunter's speed ( and avoid a possible Sucker Punch ), followed by Bulk Up to boost the onslaught of Darkest Lariat and Flare Blitz for flavor ( especially if he goes below 1/3rd of his health, which would power Fire moves up thanks to his ability ). Given he doesn't really have any weaknesses to what Haunter has to offer, this match shouldn't be a problem.


Misdreavus: Incineroar will start the battle off to Throat Chop in case Misdreavus wants to try any funny business like Perish Song. Then Kirishima swaps out and gives Mochi her first gym battle. Mochi, being Normal type, is immune to most of Misdreavus' moves while her own Scrappy ability allows her to use Normal and Fighting moves against Ghost types. Consequently, Mochi will be performing the terrifying Rollout maneuver. Should Misdreavus survive the full onslaught or interrupts Mochi, she'll Milk Drink her health back up or Ice Beam in rage if she doesn't need any health.


Gengar: Matsue starts this match up with a Sandstorm, not just to test if Gengar has the Levitate ability but to set herself up for healing in 4-5 turns. If Gengar is not immune to Ground, then she will use Sand Tomb, Earth Power, and Shadow Ball. If Gengar IS immune, that's fine, Matsue can just Shadow Ball her way to victory, utilizing Shore Up to keep her health up with an extra boost from the sandstorm.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[happyhalloween]

Character: Maria Ushiromiya | happyhalloween
Badge/Gym Leader: Mr Brock!
Elite/Regular: just Regular
Team: Vine (Pumpkaboo 39) and Syaoko (Tsareena 32)
Battle Details: This is Maria's first ever Pokemon battle! Before she and Emporio go to the gym, she gets her team together and asks who wants to fight Mr Brock! Vine and Syaoko volunteer. Because Maria trusts her very smart and clever Furniture Pokemon, she tells them that they can decide how they're gonna fight when they're in the ring and that they just gotta take turns. Maria gives them both a Sitrus Berry before they go in.

Vine and Syaoko come to the ring together with Maria! Neither of them are in their balls, nor are the other four on Maria's team, who get to watch it with Emporio. So when they switch in and out, it's kinda like a tag team match!

Anyway, Vine makes Scary Faces and drops Seed Bombs and Leech Seeds when it's his turn fighting the Rock Pokemon! Syaoko uses her Sweet Scent to make it harder for the Rock Pokemon to hide and cackles loudly as she Trop Kicks and Vine Whips her way around the arena. Together, they probably should be able to take the Rock Pokemon down, especially since they do have berries.

[indigo_league]

Badge Approved!

[rollstoseduce]

Character: Jaskier | rollstoseduce
Badge/Gym Leader: Whitney for the Plain badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Bequa the Ribombee (33), Viola the Luxray (80), Dahlia the Wigglytuff (77), Dittany the Lapras (69), Cotton the Altaria (63), Limelight the G!Rapidash (67)
Battle Details: It takes a good while between Jaskier entering the gym and finally reaching Whitney - not because he has any trouble with other battles, but because he takes his time to kiss the hand of and compliment every lovely girl in the gym. Yes, that's his boyfriend walking next to him, feel some sympathy for the poor bastard. And Whitney is no different, he bows for her and tells her it's an honor to be allowed to challenge such a fair lady before the battle begins.

►Vs Girafarig
Jaskier opens with Bequa, his Ribombee, who doesn't get to battle as much as other roster members so Jaskier thought he could have some fun here today thanks to his Bug-type. He's a couple of levels under Girafarig, but he has a type advantage with Pollen Puff and can recover through Draining Kiss, plus the fact he'll try for paralysis with Stun Spore. His trainer still worries about that level difference though, so if he sees Bequa can't make it, he'll switch him for Viola the Luxray. Viola has a huge level advantage and Intimidate, so he shouldn't have any issues finishing Girafarig with Crunch.

►Vs Clefable
It's the battle of gen I pink puffballs that became fairies! Dahlia, a Wigglytuff and Jaskier's proud starter, will open with Sing and Sweet Kiss, hoping to put as many status effects on Clefable before Gyro Ball-ing it into oblivion. Dahlia has a good amount of levels on Clefable and Gyro Ball is super effective on Fairies, so she shouldn't have much trouble. But if someone needs to come in to clean up, Dittany the Lapras will come with Confuse Ray and good ol' Surf.

►Vs Miltank
Like it happened with Scizor, Jaskier isn't taking any chances here - he's heard the stories about the Cow From Hell, alright. And since last time his strategy worked so well, he shall repeat it here: Cotton the Altaria drops Perish Song then proceeds to stall. Sure, she's weak to Rock-type attacks, but she's also nicely above Miltank in levels, and her stalling should stop the damn cow from making Rollout grow its damage: Protect, Roost and Sing should all help. Before Cotton's last song turn (or if somehow Miltank manages to K.O. her anyway), Jaskier will switch her for Limelight the G!Rapidash, whose level advantage should allow him to take a couple of hits before Miltank falls to the song.

Jaskier will kiss Whitney's hand after the battle and, if she's crying, lend her his handkerchief and offer some words of comfort. Wink definitely included. This is my obligatory "I apologize for this idiot" of the day.

Badge/Gym Leader: Morty for the Fog badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Viola the Luxray (80), Limelight the G!Rapidash (67), Dahlia the Wigglytuff (77), Regina the Swanna (44), Cotton the Altaria (63), Dittany the Lapras (69)
Battle Details: Morty's gym doesn't cause much of an impression on Jaskier. It's not that he dislikes it, it looks just fine, but the spooky factor doesn't cause much of an effect after traveling over two decades with a witcher and visiting haunted properties. Add to that the fact that said witcher (who is, of course, coming with him today as well! always getting those badges together!) is a trainer of Ghost-types himself, and well - yeah, this is just Monday for him. That said, while he isn't scared, he is a little worried. The few Pokémon in his roster that can do well against Ghost-types are either too low level or weak to ghost in return, so this battle shall be interesting. Does that stop him from winking at Morty? Of course not. Anyway...

►Vs Haunter
Viola the Luxray comes out first, with his Intimidate ability already working against Haunter's attack, and using Leer tackles its defense. After a Thunder Wave to paralyze it as well, Viola will use Crunch to attack - Jaskier hopes the combo of status effects, attack type and important level difference between them will be enough. If he isn't, however, Jaskier will take a risk and send out Limelight the G!Rapidash after Viola returns with a Volt Switch. Limelight is weak to both Ghost and Poison, therefore the mentioned risk, but he also is high level and brings a powerful STAB Psychic with him - after Viola chipped away some damage, Limelight should survive long enough to finish the job.

►Vs Misdreavus
Jaskier bought the Shadow Ball TM for this very specific situation. He's taught it to Dahlia the Wigglytuff, who is half Normal-type aka not affected by Ghost-attacks. She'll still use Sweet Kiss and Sing just in case though! Then is Shadow Ball-ing all the way. Jaskier thinks the combo of high levels and immunity should allow Dahlia to finish Misdreavus on her own, but if she doesn't, then Regina the Swanna will come in to clean up with Fly/Surf and Roosting if necessary.

►Vs Gengar
If Jaskier is worried about the gym leader's ace then you can already guess what's coming - yep, the song of death strategy. Why fix what isn't broken? You know how it goes: Cotton the Altaria sets up Perish Song, stalls with Roost/Protect/Sing, and before her last turn (or if Gengar knocks her out) she is switched for Dittnay the Lapras who will also Protect, Confuse Ray and Sing until Gengar falls to, once again, the power of music.

[indigo_league]

Badge Approved x2!

[scourgingstars]

Character: Ardyn | scourgingstars
Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner, Zephyr Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: (in order because order matters in this case)
Kirin | Galarian Ponyta (34)
Rakshasa | Zorua (35)
Frostbearer | Snorunt (26) [w/Oran Berry]

Battle Details: Kirin will lead off with Confusion both for damage and stalling, tossing in Tail Whip and Growl if given the chance for stat lowering. Presuming this is enough to deal with Noctowl, he'll switch out to Frostbearer--assuming both that Honchkrow is faster and that Snorunt can survive an initial attack, he'll answer with Avalanche for that sweet double damage with a 2x weakness. He's even handed Frostbearer one of those wacky curative berries he's been seeing here and there in the wild while training. Just in case. If all this should go according to keikaku, he'll switch to send out another 'Snorunt' against Pidgeot. Which...immediately uses Fake Tears, because it's actually a Zorua. Should Foul Play not be enough to deal with Pidgeot, depending on if Kirin has fainted or not he'll make an attempt to switch back to the actual Snorunt for another try with Avalanche or return to the Confusion+stat lowering strategy with his Ponyta.

Win or lose, he is extremely polite to Falkner, but in that weird sort of way that sounds astonishingly like condescension and/or a thinly veiled murder plan. Sorry, buddy. It's really not your fault he can't stand you.

[indigo_league]

Badge denied! While it's a close match, Ardyn would benefit from more contingency plans and/or backup Pokémon. Surely a rematch will be fun, though, since Ardyn seems to respect Falkner so much!

Backdated to 5/6-ish

[bestswordmaster]

Character: Felix Fraldarius | bestswordmaster
Badge/Gym Leader: Glacier Badge/Pryce
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Kyphon the Gyarados (lvl 87), Fimbulvetr the Cryogonal (lvl 70), Brandl the Lucario (lvl 86), Zoltan the Aegislash (lvl 86), Ukonvasara the Mienshao (lvl 73), Pwyll the Gallade (lvl 80)
Battle Details:
(Note: since this is backdated, the levels here don't match the levels in Felix's inventory, these are the levels they were at the time we arrived in Mahogany!)

Felix ends up a little disappointed by how much stronger his team is than Pryce's, especially after he trained and strategized so carefully, but...it's fine. No training is a waste.

First up is the Dewgong vs. Fimbulvetr. Felix has a lot of Pokemon who could have done the job of providing super-effective attacks against a water/ice type, but most of them would likewise have been at a type disadvantage of one kind or another. So instead he's brought his Cryogonal, who isn't weak to anything Dewgong can do, takes half damage from its ice attacks, ad can't be frozen. Felix might normally start out with some good status moves like Laser Focus, Reflect, or Acid Armor, the chances of getting Encore'd on something like that are high, so instead he just dives right in with Ancient Power for double damage! Which is fine, because spamming Ancient Power means the possibility of making Fimbulvetr stronger in the process; Encore actually helps them out here. If it takes too much damage from Normal and Water moves, it can use Recover to stabilize; this opposite the Dewgong's Rest could result in a bit of a war of attrition, but that's what Solar Beam is for - to deal enough damage to hopefully outrace Rest. And since Dewgong doesn't know Rain Dance, it can't wake itself up from Rest easily if it has Hydration!

It is possible that Pryce might switch in Lapras to make it rain and then switch back, so Kyphon is here to switch in and bask in the downpour while Rock Smashing the Dewgong in the face repeatedly, hopefully decreasing its Defense multiple times along with the double Fighting damage. And in case things go wrong with Fimbulvetr, Brandl can step in to finish Dewgong off with fun tricks like using Counter against Dewgong's majority-physical moveset to deal 4x damage, along with its many other Fighting moves.

Lapras' primary opponent is Brandl, who takes half damage from ice and water moves. Sing and Confuse Ray are annoying, so Felix will keep plenty of items on hand to deal with those. Perish Song is worse! But Brandl can use Endure to survive through the turn when Perish Song activates, and then Life Dew to restore her health afterward, with plenty of Fighting moves to bring to bear in between--like Force Palm, which can hopefully paralyze Lapras and hold off its status moves. She can also use Copycat to use Perish Song on Lapras in return! And, if Felix and Brandl are feeling spicy, Brandl can forgo Life Dew to instead use Reversal after Endure sends her to 1HP for a ridiculously powerful Fighting-damage blow.

Finally, vs. Mamoswine, Felix sends out Ukonvasara. They've been training together a lot, because they're both training-obsessed weirdos, so Felix is glad to give her a chance to shine. Ukon takes half damage from Ancient Power and regular damage from everything else in Mamoswine's arsenal. Force Palm is once again useful for potential paralysis, hopefully before Ukon can be frozen. If her health starts getting low, she can use Reversal to deal a good chunk of Fighting damage and then Drain Punch to deal more Fighting damage while restoring her own health. Mamoswine can do the Endure + Flail combo, so it's good for Ukon to be able to recover health quickly.

If Ukon gets frozen or faints, Pwyll will come in as her backup with obnoxious nonsense like Psybeam, Hypnosis, and Will-O'-Wisp. Psycho Cut and Close Combat should be able to finish Mamoswine off along with those. If Pwyll gets too injured, he has both Draining Kiss and Life Dew to help himself out.

Finally, if all else fails, Zoltan is here as usual to mop up whatever's left at the end with Power Trick followed by Rock Smash, Sacred Sword, and/or Solar Blade. As a backup, he can also use Retaliate if he's called in after someone else faints!

Since his whole team is so much more powerful in level than Pryce's, Felix doesn't anticipate any problems here, and he's confident in his strategies as well. He plans to stick to them even if the level advantage means he could sort of coast through the battle - he has to set a good example for Chip and Dimitri other trainers! Plus Felix never does anything by halves.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

oh god a twofer- (SUPER Backdated in Brock's case; 'may 13th'. misty is...now lol)

[seacub]

Character: Emporio Alniño | seacub
Badge/Gym Leader: Boulder
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: Braviary (7), Toucannon (5), Chansey (11) & Floatzel (13)
Battle Details:

Since Brock primarily uses Rock and Ground types, and they're all between 30 and 35, Emporio feels a bit more room to be creative now. As usual he goes in with the naturally weak pokemon to face off, and he's pretty sure he won't regret it.

Mullet the Braviary, being Normal/Flying, is not only weak to rock attacks, but not typically effective against them. However, they do have super power...and that move IS super effective against rocks. Emporio tells Mullet to be sure to 'stay ahead' (using Tailwind to up his own speed), before otherwise simply shouting 'go'. There's only one attack that will really have effect here after all, and Mullet intends to make use of it.

And if Mullet goes down, they aren't the only bird in the line up. With a slight level advantage over Brock's entire team, and the dangerously handy ability of Skill Link, Poker the Toucannon is ready with a combined Supersonic-Rock Blast, and Roost combo. While Roost is a move that Poker makes use of on her own time- Emporio would, after all, rather outright swap pokemon out than risk healing on the field- Emporio's command to Poker this time is to 'make them see stars'. A rather ridiculous way of alluding to the usual 'rocks fall, dizziness follows' idea, but one that the Toucannon has figured out.

Oddly, Emporio's backup for the final end isn't flying type however- rather, they're the Chansey- now recently named Petals- Emporio's trained a bit over the time in the woods. While hardly something that can be called a hard hitter, Petals does have something handy- Sing, and Life Dew. Between the ability to lock down Brock's mobility and heal, it doesn't matter how long it takes to pound her way to success.

She's doing it.

And fittingly, between the commands to 'take a breather' or simply 'tuck [the pokemon] in'?

"PUMMEL 'M!"

Sorry, Brock! What's more is that Emporio's not taking chances on the others failing- and ever sneakily, with a level disadvantage to make up for the super effective moveset combined with sheer speed, Dewdrop the Floatzel is laying in wait.

Character: Emporio Alniño | seacub
Badge/Gym Leader: Cascade
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: Drifblim (5), Camerupt (12), Diggersby (3), and Azumarill (6)
Battle Details:

Meanwhile, with Misty, things are a slight bit trickier. Emporio didn't really train up any pokemon between Pewter and Cerulean, which means he needs to otherwise rely on anyone who happened to come out alongside Petals before. Going up against Water and whatever else Water is often paired at, Emporio doesn't actually have a lot of natural opposites to that- so instead he goes with what might not generally have...well. Any advantage!

First up in line, as an innocent pile of none advantages or disadvantages, Violet the Drifblim enters the field. Equipped largely with sneaky moves in the form of Phantom Force and Shadow Ball, there might be a bit of an edge against the Golduck, but that's about it. Over all, Violet is told simply to 'keep out of sight'- and from there, well, the ghost does quite well to do just that.

Should Violet suffer the consequences of floating out on the water too long, Emporio's next choice is the recently dubbed 'Ringshot'- whose flames were largely used as a lightsource while in the woods and then the mountain caves later on. Being Fire/Ground, there's an abundance of weaknesses at hands- and Camerupt aren't exactly fast. But Ringshot has 'Solid Rock', which reduces the super effectiveness of the water, buying her that much needed time- specifically, the time to use yawn. When her enemies are asleep, it'll be much easier to pull out Focus Energy and Eruption- along with normal moves like Tackle- to her advantage. Emporio's orders are to 'put them down' for Yawn, followed by '...and launch them!' in order to encourage Eruption's use...and she seems to get it!

To finish it all off, as the final line of defense, Scoops the Diggersby makes his return! While he hasn't been seeing much action, he's no less skilled in interpretting Emporio's...questionable commands. While weak to water, the rabbit makes for a good fast show- using moves such as Bounce to avoid various water moves, Scoops is plenty fine with focusing on Double Kick- and Laser Focus to get started. 'Ready, Aim, Go!' is the only warning Misty is getting as Scoops attacks, and the rabbit would have it no other way.

And of course, sitting at the side ready to play backup, Easter the Azumarill has her 12+ level advantage in case things go really sour...but that wouldn't happen right?

[indigo_league]

Badges approved!

backdated for 5/12 because i'm so good at staying on top of shit

[demonpuppy]

Character: Chip Abaroa | demonpuppy
Badge/Gym Leader: Pryce for the Glacier Badge
Elite/Regular: Elite!
Team: check 'battle' under the teams section
Battle Details:
If this were a game, Chip would probably not mind just whomping the normal team with their overleveled Pokemon...but with it being real and all, it feels a bit more like cheating. So! They're gonna fight the big team! It's fine, their team is all really strong and Chip has faith in them!

...so anyway, they'll lead with Lazzo since, you know. Fire. Ice. Kind of the obvious choice. He's fast and has a x4 advantage against Abomasnow so that probably goes without too much trouble, but Dewgong immediately has Chip switching over to Espie. She's similarly fast, but with her hits not doing quite as much work she's probably pretty tired by the time Dewgong goes down (which is not helped by the fact that Chip is still not using status moves). She'll be pulled back out for Lazzo to come back for Glalie and Froslass, and if he goes down against those two it'll be Michelin coming out to tank and smack shit around with Fire Punch. Mamoswine might be a bit trickier, and if push comes to shove it'll be Sponk coming in after Michelin goes down. He'll also be staying out to start against Walrein, given Espie isn't at top form. And if those two go down...well, rip to Rocky and let's hope poor Precious can get in an attack before he's blasted out.

[indigo_league]

Badge denied! While Chip's faith in their team is moving, unfortunately, they will have to step up their game a little more to succeed against Pryce's Elite team! Maybe they'll have a better go at it if they study Status moves, gain some levels, or cover their team's weaknesses better. Of course, they're encouraged to try again regardless!

[cometkin]

Character: Greg Universe | cometkin
Badge/Gym Leader: Chuck
Elite/Regular: regular
Team: Counting Stars (Clefairy 59) with Little Birdhouse (Chatot 57) as back-up.
Battle Details: Greg has never, ever done a gym before. He barely does matches against trainers on the road. His pokemon level (very slowly) by playing with each other. But he knows that people like getting Fly as an egg move, so he's gonna get the HM for him and Rose's pokemon.

Greg sends out Counting Stars as his primary fighter for this match, since she's fairy and evidently Chuck's pokemon don't like that. She uses Disarming Voice, Psychic, and Moonblast mainly for offense, with Moonlight to restore her hit points. If she starts looking really low on hit points, Greg uses Healing Wish to switch her out for Little Birdhouse, who mostly uses Air Cutter for his attack. If he goes down, he can switch Counting Stars (who ought to be already healed) back in.

Character: Greg Universe | cometkin
Badge/Gym Leader: Jasmine
Elite/Regular: regular
Team: Electric Youth (Toxtricity 56) and Monkey Wash (Mudsdale 74) with Private Dancer (Baile Oricorio 100)
Battle Details: Greg had a plan for this. He looked up what Steel Pokemon were vulnerable to and evidently one of those thing is Electric and another is Fire. He was going to have Electric Youth as his main fighter with Private Dancer as his back-up, with the idea that if Electric Youth went down, he'd throw Private Dancer in and have them Revelation Dance as a Fire move in order to melt the Steel Pokemon.

But luckily for Greg, he wasn't the only person in line to challenge Jasmine that day and managed to watch the other challengers during their matches... which is how he learned that neither Magneton nor Steelix will take Electric damage.

Oops.

He took a sec to quickly look up what Magneton was vulnerable to, which turned out to be Ground among other things, then ran back to the caravan so he could un-hook Monkey Wash and bring him back for the match.

Which is a very long way to say that for the fight against Skarmory, Greg uses Electric Youth to Thundershock, Charge, and Discharge, but then he switches to Monkey Wash for Magneton for Bulldozing and Earthquakes. He'll then send out Private Dancer against Steelix with Revelation Dance as a Fire move... but since Steelix can hit Private Dancer where he's vulnerable with his Electric moves, he'll probably end up dragging Monkey Wash back out again to Bulldoze and Earthquake once more.

[indigo_league]

Mineral Badge approved!

Storm Badge denied! Unfortunately, with Greg's team only being two Pokémon, one of whom doesn't resist Fighting attacks, they don't seem to have the power necessary to defeat Chuck's team. Greg has guts, though, and Chuck looks forward to a rematch!

[happyhalloween]

Character: Maria Ushiromiya | happyhalloween
Badge/Gym Leader: Big Sister Misty
Elite/Regular: regular
Team: Syaoko (Tsareena 47), Vine (Pumpkaboo 53), and Tomosuke (Shinx 41)
Battle Details: Like with Maria's first battle against Brock, she gets her Furniture Pokemon together and asks for volunteers to face Misty. Syaoko and Vine decide they want to go again, but so does Tomosuke! Maria says that they have to take turns so everyone gets a chance to fight, but she trusts them to know what to do!

Like last time, everyone gets a Sitrus Berry and nobody goes in their balls, walking into the arena with Maria. They sort of handle it like a tag team match. Together, Maria and her Furniture Pokemon decide to fight in the order of who has the most levels.

So Tomosuke goes against Golduck and he makes a Scary Face to reduce Golduck's speed, then alternates Charging and Discharging.

Syaoko goes against Lapras and she uses her Sweet Scent to make it harder for Lapras to hide, then Vine Whips and Trop Kicks and whips up a Leaf Storm all while cackling loudly.

Finally, Vine makes a Scary Face before Leech Seeding Starmie. After that, he lobs Seed Bombs and Shadow Balls at it until it's down.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!