Badge Requests

[indigo_league]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Comments

[prayreturn]

Character: Minfilia Warde | prayreturn
Badge/Gym Leader: Azalea, Hive
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Team!
Battle Details: Bugs. Minfilia is used to big bugs from her world. Like with Falkner, she'll be leading with her Pachirisu - and once again, it's for Nuzzle + Volt Switch. (Notably, she'll be switching in said Pachirisu more times - usually, when Bugsy switches in a new Pokemon - to go for Nuzzle + Volt Switch against U-Turn.) If her Pokemon is struggling at chipping down another, she'll also switch in Pachirisu to Super Fang.

She's aware that Psychic-types are weak to Bug-types, but! She'll be using her Meowstic and using Fake Out + Reflect, before switching out for Feraligatr. Said Feraligatr is going to focus on Chip Away. (She could use Slash, but she is more concerned about stat changes then crits.) If Feraligatr faints, she'll be using her Meowstic to use Gravity to force any airborne Pokemon to the ground, before going for Sucker Punch to retaliate.

But she'll be switching to her Audino for Scizor in particular. Instead of her being the last resort like last time, she's going to be going for Fire Punch and Power-up Punch. This will be used for other Pokemon if it works out!

After that, she'll be using her evolved Flygon as well - using a similar scheme as before, a mix of Dig and Crunch - now with added Earthquake! This time, Dig can hit as well - and she'll also be using Sandstorm if it seems that her Flygon is about to faint. For the defense boost, and because if Flygon faints, she'll only have one left. Her Snover, that automatically changes the weather. Who is weak to bugs. But... Wally, the Snover? He knows Blizzard, and has Snow Warning. So, while trying to use the hail to hide, Wally will fire off Blizzards.

[foxsets]

Character: atsumu miya | foxsets
Badge/Gym Leader: zephyr badge
Elite/Regular: regular
Team: pokemon:
Battle Details:

noctowl (L: 30) atsumu will be using galar linoone (L: 27) first and will start off with hone claws to raise her attack, then going into physical hits like night slash, snarl and headbutt to bite away at hp. baby doll eyes will also be used at some point in between to lower noctowl's attack. getting into the red zone, we'll go with rest and switch out— and this is in case linoone can't take out noctowl by herself! if anything, alolan vulpix (L: 27) will finish off the job with aurora beam.

honchkrow (L: 32) vulpix will begin hacking at honckrow with confuse ray to get in some stop hitting urself jabs, followed by aurora beam and icy wind spamming. with x2 effect, i believe she may be fine here? if not, at the very end, linoone will return to wrap things up after waking up from sleep, or, if that's not plausible, thievul will clean it up.

pidgeot (L: 35) atsumu would want to save using thievul (L: 37) for this last dance as much as he can as his hardest hitter + highest level mon! we're going to start with nasty plot to get that awesome spatk boost. to make it count, we're going to start damage dealing with the boosted snarl , then follow up with hone claws for an attack boost, night slash and sucker punch to finish it off!

[nellacerniera]

Character: Bruno Bucciarati | nellacerniera
Badge/Gym Leader: Brock, Boulder Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Buttons (Skitty, Lv65), Teodoro (Slowpoke, Lv55), Lucetta (Eldegoss, Lv55), Cavolo (Corviknight, Lv55), Miriana (Klefki, Lv55)
Battle Details: So. Rock types. As it happens, Bucciarati is very well-equipped for this battle going in as far as type advantages go. He also has one Normal type he's bringing into this battle. One might think of the Skitty as, perhaps, the very last resort, if all of his other Pokémon go down.

This is not the case.

At the very start of the battle, Bucciarati is leading with Buttons the Skitty against the Rhyhorn. Where she'll emerge from her ball immediately to use Fake Out. From there, she will be firing off as many Charms and Tail Whips as she can to wear down Rhyhorn stats-wise--and if infatuation and sleep from Attract and Sing stick? Even better! Any opening Buttons gets, she'll be using Payback and Play Rough, while using Heal Bell to keep her HP up as needed. If she's still up when the Rhyhorn goes down, she's staying in against Golem to start up the barrage of Charm (Growl and Baby-Doll Eyes, if Charm runs out of PP) and Tail Whip (plus Sing and Attract!) all over again. If Buttons goes down, Bruno will swap in Teodoro.

... Oh, yeah, and for the opponents' moves that make contact? Buttons has Cute Charm.

Right, anyway. Teodoro. This is likely where the Dopey Pokémon is going to shine, with his Water typing. As soon as he's brought out, he's going to start out with Yawn. Depending on how much Buttons has worn down the opponent, he'll continue on with Growl, putting the opponent back to sleep with Yawn, and disabling potentially problematic moves with, well, Disable. In between that, however, Teodoro will be using Rain Dance, in order to power up Water Gun and Water Pulse. If Water Pulse manages to confuse whichever Pokémon's out? Great! Fantastic, even! Bucciarati will have Teodoro use Slack Off to keep his HP up.

In the event that Teodoro goes down, out comes Lucetta. Lucetta could use Cotton Spore, but frankly, against Rock types, it's really not necessary (especially with her ability being Cotton Down). Instead, it's... you guessed it! More naptime! Because Lucetta also has Sing! Along with that, she'll be using Sweet Scent to drop the opponents' evasion, and Synthesis to keep her HP up (especially if the rain from Teodoro's Rain Dance has cleared up by then). Offense-wise, Lucetta will mostly be relying on Leaf Tornado and Razor Leaf, but if she gets close to fainting, she'll use Leaf Storm.

Now. Bucciarati doesn't anticipate it will take much more than that to get through this battle, but luck favors the prepared and by God is this man prepared. If Buttons, Teodoro, and Lucetta all manage to go down before Brock's team is taken out, he will fall back on Cavolo and Miriana, despite the fact that Miriana has a weakness to any Ground type moves Brock's team may be packing.

However, Cavolo will be coming out first, where he'll be alternating Leer and Hone Claws to start with. Once the opponents have been sufficiently softened up and himself sufficiently powered up, he'll be using Power Trip and Steel Wing until he or Brock's Pokémon go down.

If Miriana is out, she'll be starting with Torment, then Attract and Metal Sound, with Draining Kiss to keep her HP up as needed. Besides that? Flash Cannon.

Bucciarati doesn't anticipate needing the Corviknight and Klefki, but. Just in case.

[nastyboy]

Character: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd | nastyboy
Badge/Gym Leader: Brock for the Boulder Badge
Elite/Regular: ELITE
Team: Roster with Ciannwn the Silvally, Ellyllon the Sirfetch'd, Kent the Munna, Gremlin the Rattata, Gabby the Miltank, and Dean the Emboar
Battle Details: Since Dimitri was already in town for the Wish Festival, he may as well take out two birds with one stone! Or, uh, is that the opposite way around...? Two birds, one Boulder badge.

Not that Dimitri is going to use his birds right off the bat.

In the first round, up against Brock's Rhyperior.... It's Ciannwn the Silvally!

Rhyperior's strength in its physical moves, part of which includes the fearsome OHKO move Horn Drill. And it may not help that, in Dimitri's case, his particular Silvally leans towards Fire typing, which puts her at a disadvantage type-wise. But that isn't going to deter the two of them!

After all, Ciannwn also has a few tricks up her maw, too, and she's going to help make them a reality by opening up with moves like Crunch, Crush Claw, and Metal Sound - all moves meant to lower Rhyperior's defense! Metal Sound in particular will be useful for helping set up the full impact of the following Tri Attack, whose power won't be in the attack itself but rather aiming for the 20% chance of inflicting a status ailment. Obviously the best would be to freeze Rhyperior, but beggars can't be choosers.

But Crunch and Crush Claw will be used to help weaken Rhyperior for other moves - namely Ice Fang, with its lower chance of freezing, and Iron Head, which might force Rhyperior to think twice with its flinch percentage. Those two moves ought to slam straight into Rhyperior's own type weaknesses as well, which will hit hard in their own way!

It may not be the most elegant strategy - Ciannwn rarely works that way - but it should hopefully be effective! The main name of the game is taking out Rhyperior before Ciannwn gets overwhelmed herself. A real glass canon sort of strategy, if she even qualifies as a cannon. Successful freezes should help her greatly, especially since she can use her defense-weakening moves more than once while Rhyperior is stuck!

And then we have Rampardos next to battle against... It's here that Dimitri takes another risk in that he sends out one of his lower level Pokemon, Ellyllon the Sirfetch'd, right on the cusp of level 80.

Rampardos is probably the simplest and least complicated of Brock's Pokemon, in Dimitri's opinion, with no hard lean in one particular area, and physical and status moves being roughly equal in number. This is no doubt why Dimitri thought it would be worth letting Ellyllon having a shot at honor and glory.

After all, as a Sirfetch'd, she's a fighting type... and so, with that in mind, Dimitri hopes to make up for the severe level gap by a quick and powerful one-two punch!

Literally. She's starting off quick with a couple of Rock Smashes, to ruin that defense, and then going right into the main show: a blazing Meteor Assault.

It's a move meant to lean hard towards her Fighting type strength, with the Rock Smashes only weakening Rampardos further and further to it, before she finishes things off with that strong ending. The problem, of course, is her comparatively low level, and that Meteor Assault forces Ellyllon to catch her breath... but Dimitri hopes that they'll have taken Rampardos out with this strategy.

In contrast, up against Golem, Dimitri opts to go for something a little less flashy with Kent the Munna.

The problem with Golems is that they know Explosion. And Self Destruct. So it's kind of a shitshow.

That is why Kent is going to open with a Hypnosis. And then keep using it. Repeatedly. Throughout the match. Just to keep this explodey bastard asleep and not exploding. After that, well... It almost doesn't matter in some respects, because a Munna does not naturally have any advantages over a rock-type like Golem. So inbetween the many Dream Eaters that can only be expected when an opponent is asleep...

He'll just use what he knows - Psybeam, Zen Headbutt, Moonblast. Whatever whittles Golem's health down towards victory. If there comes a chance when hits are landed against Kent, well, he'll just put Golem to sleep again, and heal up with Moonlight.

It's a bit of a cheese, but so is Explosion, so, you know what,

The battle up against Omastar is a little more exciting, because that's where Gremlin the Rattata is tossed onto the field!

Omastar is a bit of a twist in the rock-type lineup that Brock has, both in terms of moves (spread out fairly equally in terms of Special/Physical/Status) and the water typing tossed in there for flavor. The biggest threats in Dimitri's opinion are Brine - a move he's used with his own Pokemon before to good effect.

So of course they should drag Omastar down to that half-life level first!

There's no waiting here with this rat before he goes full speed into using Super Fang, putting Omastar into a disadvantage right off the bat! After that, the hits keep coming and they don't stop, as Gremlin tosses a Shadow Ball right towards Omastar, prepping them up for the following Ice Beams and Thunder Bolts!

He's a tiny rat, but he's pulling no punches. Plus all the other moves he knows, like Assurance? Gremlin is probably one of the most secure battlers in this challenge.

And the momentum doesn't stop there as Brock lets out Kabutops, to which Dimitri responds earnestly with Gabby the Miltank -

Oh, okay, she's just going straight into a Rock Smash, Defense Curl, and then Rollout. Okay. So that's how it's going.

Yeah, she just... has to get that out of her system.

Everyone knows you need to let your Miltank occasionally just go cow wild. It's healthy.

Of course, the problem with Kabutops is, much like Omastar, its moveset is rather equally spread out but with a couple of health draining moves like Leech Life tossed in there. Those could prove to be a problem if Kabutops decides to go onto a more defensive stance than offensive.

Still, Gabby won't have that stop her. With the Rollout out of her system, Dimitri is free to organize her a little better, and they'll follow up with another Rock Smash to get Kabutops down for the following High Horsepower!

And at last.... The final battle. Up against Brock's trademark Onix, Dimitri only feels it's proper to bring his own starter, Dean the Emboar.

One of Onix's greatest strengths is the possibility that he has a Rock Head ability, which means moves like Double Edge won't be a problem for him. The possibility of Sturdy is another issue, but not one for Dean, who is unlikely to have any moves to get him down to that level... Along with his problematic Sandstorm move, which will do damage even without Onix having to lift a pebble.

And yet, funnily enough, there are a couple of moves that Dimitri and Dean wouldn't mind Onix utilizing. After all, if Onix tries to speed themself up with a Rock Polish, that means it's the perfect time to knock him down a bit with Gyro Ball. And if Onix might get a little too fast for their liking, knocking them down a bit with a Hammer Arm can put them back into more manageable levels while still making Gyro Ball have some kick.

In the event that Rock Polish is realized to be a bad move, that's fine. Dimitri is learning the validity of having nice solid Plan Bs. With Defense Curl to help keep him alive even in the face of a Sandstorm, and Power-up Punch to help him hit all the harder. When it comes to weathering potential Dig attacks, after all, you have to hit hard when you can, and weather through the attacks otherwise. Speaking of Dig, Dean won't hesitate to use Protect to defeat the surprise attack.

With those main concerns out of the way, hopefully they can make it through this!

And there's good reason why Dean is last as well - he's the emergency back up in case any of the prior battles go badly, whereupon Dimitri will pull his active battler, replace them with Dean, and the two will unleash a Roar to go into another battle while Dimitri takes care of the injured Pokemon on his side.

[lightningbearer]

Character: Geddoe | lightningbearer
Badge/Gym Leader: Whitney
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Here (updated to approximate date of challenge; this is horribly backdated!)
Battle Details: Geddoe's mudsdale is really gonna be the MVP of this fight, with the fighting-type moves to use against miltank and Heavy Slam for the clefable. He'll take advantage that girafarig is part psychic to use thievul's dark-type moves to great effect, too. If worse comes to worst he can also send out his boldore just for having the resistance to normal type attacks and being able to deal passive damage with sandstorm in addition to regular attacks.

That said, all that is really the backup plan; Zipper really wants to take a shot at the battle first, and since he has plenty of backup Geddoe will let the little electric lizard have some fun. His main strategy with Zipper will be to lead off with Thunder Wave, followed up with Mud Slap to make him even harder to hit, then spamming Thunder Bolt with the occasional Parabolic Charge to heal up any damage Zipper's taken. If the little guy can carry the whole fight Geddoe will let him, but if he's clearly struggling at any point then he'll switch back to the plan B outlined above and use type advantages to finish things off.

Backdated to before Hisui

[tempredmental]

Character: Keith | tempredmental
Badge/Gym Leader: Mineral Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: https://tempredmental.dreamwidth.org/11817.html?thread=390953#cmt390953
Battle Details: All three gym Pokémon have a weakness to fire, so Keith is exploiting that fact to the max. Most of his team is there specifically to take advantage of that weakness, and he will definitely be putting a lot of effort into the fire moves on his team. Except Meowstic. Meowstic is there as a backup if needed to swap in, but, with five fire types all at max level, Keith is pretty sure he won't need it. He's a little cocky about this, honestly, but his whole team has been with him for a while, especially Red the Torracat, who was his starter. He knows them well.

[pegasinister]

Character: Hubert von Vestra | pegasinister
Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: He'll be bringing his Honchkrow, Corviknight, Kadabra, and Litwick
Battle Details: Hubert will lead with his Honchkrow to counter any of Noctowl's Psychic moves and set up a Tailwind to try and get a speed advantage, then use Torment to try and force him to use those less useful Psychic and Flying type attacks before focusing on his own attacks like Night Shade. If things go badly he will swap to his Kadabra and try fishing for Charge Beam boosts.

He definitely sees the Honchkrow as the hurdle to get over even if Pidgeot is the higher level. Because of this once he gets over the Noctowl he will swap to his Corviknight and instantly go for a Taunt to make sure it can't use any of those sneaky tricks he knows his own Honchkrow can manage. Then will try to set up some Hone Claws in prep for a hopeful sweep of it and Pidgeot due to being resistant normal and flying. If this fails he hopefully still has his own Honchkrow in the back to finish things off.

If his Corviknight is still alive and managed some Hone Claws he will just push for damage. If it didn't manage any boosts it will once again attempt a Taunt to force out Normal and Flying attacks it can resist. Failing that he has his Litwick and Kadabra to cause chaos- trying to predict a normal type attack to swap Litwick into to get a burn with Will-o-Wisp to not only Burn but also drop it's attack, and then using Hex. He will also use Kadabra to try and Disable any strong attacks and use Recover to maintain while a hopeful Burn whittles it down and going for Charge Beams when it can

[prayreturn]

Character: Minfilia Warde | prayreturn
Badge/Gym Leader: Whitney
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: The list!
Battle Details: So! Now that Minfilia is back in Johto, she is ready to fight Whitney. She's made sure to rock up in a rather cute outfit, as well!

Like usual-- wait, Minfilia isn't leading with Pachirisu? No, she's starting with her Feraligatr. Who is focused on using Crunch on Girafarig, alongside Low Kick. Before this, though, she sets up an Agility. She doesn't plan on switching out said Feraligatr until she gets knocked out. When she gets low, it's time for Thrash!

And then she'll be doing the Nuzzle thing with Pachirisu. But instead of switching out, Pachirisu is gonna go for the Electro Ball! Also, Sweet Kiss. It's fun, isn't it? Parahax. She'll also be using her Meowstic for offensive reasons - after Fake Out and Reflect and Light Screen, she'll set up a few Calm Minds and/or Nasty Plot, before using Stored Power. Minfilia is trying out new abilities and attacks!

Minfilia is a little confused at the next Pokemon - so, Clefable isn't a Normal-type? If her previous plan with her other Pokemon doesn't work, well. She's ready with an attack Minfilia is curious about. You see, Flygon learns Laser Focus when it evolves. And in-game, at least, critical hits ignore negative stat changes. So... even though Flygon is a dragon, Minfilia will be getting him to use a combination of Laser Focus and Superpower. (If Flygon faints, she will be using her Audino and Power-up Punch to boost, before using Thunder Punch. With a bit of Simple Beam to disable Clefables' ability!)

For Miltank, however, Minfilia has a plan. And that plan begins with her changing Pokemon, to her Stantler from Hisui. [Who is likely still startled by modern things. Still intimidating, though!] But there's two things that are important about this Stantler. One - it has been taught Attract. Two...

It has Imprison. Which blocks both Attract and Stomp, two of the big threats from Miltank. Alongside being able to use Attract on Miltank itself. So, as she's stuck checking out this ancient beauty, Urianger the Stantler is going to use Confuse Ray and Psyshield Bash. If Miltank begins a rollout after he's buffed up?

Me First. That's right, Minfilia is going to use the attack to copy Miltanks' Rollout.

Audino is also here to clean up Miltank if Stantler goes down.

[nightyorb]

Character: Riz Gukgak | nightyorb
Badge/Gym Leader: Viridian City / Earth Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: Asfel the Shedinja (lvl 100), Zrak the Murkrow (lvl 100), Niknik the Wishiwashi (lvl 79), Loggy the Hisuian Voltorb (lvl 72), Nasha the Galvantula (lvl 100), Sableye Egg.
Battle Details:


VS Exeggutor

Starting off against Exeggutor, Riz'll bring out his Shedinja. This is a fairly straightforward choice -- Exeggutor has a 4x weakness to bugs, and it just so happens that Shedinja is completely immune to its attacks. Riz'll obviously have Asfel use his various bug type moves, with no particular order. He can take the time to just slowly pick off Exeggutor's health.

VS Machamp

For Machamp, Riz'll withdraw Shedinja, and instead send out Murkrow. Machamp is a fighting type, meaning it has a weakness to flying types. Due to its dual typing, Murkrow does not have a resistance against fighting type moves, but Riz figures that between the level difference, and Machamp dealing with double-damage dealing moves, Murkrow will be able to outlast it.

He'll start off using Air Cutter which has an increased chance of landing a critical hit. This is further boosted by Murkrow's ability which also boosts its chance of landing a critical hit. Riz hopes that with a few hits Machamp will go down, but should he run out of PP, he'll move to using Wing Attack.

VS Rhydon

With Machamp dealt with, Riz'll withdraw his pokemon once more, and bring out Niknik the Wishiwashi. At the start of the battle, Niknik'll school and boost its (their??) power tremendously. As the schooling ability will fail once Niknik's health drops below 25%, it'll be important to deal with Rhydon quickly and mercilessly.

Luckily with Rhydon's 4x weakness to water, that shouldn't be a problem.

Riz'll have Wishiwashi use Dive, both because it'll protect Wishiwashi from damage on the first round, but also because it is far more accurate than Hydro Pump, and he doesn't want to risk Wishiwashi missing and getting hurt. If he manages to run out of Dive PP, he'll switch to Aqua Tail until Rhydon goes down.

VS Gyarados

Back for Wishiwashi, and in its place, Riz'll toss out his Hisuian Voltorb to deal with Gyarados. As a dual Flying/Water type, Gyarados is 4x weak to electricity, and Hisuian Voltorb, despite being all wood, is also still an electric type.

So, yeah, gonna Thunder that Gyarados until it fries. If out of Thunder, onto Thunderbolt it is. Please guys, can Riz start taking on your elite teams yet, this is really very boring.

Pidgeot

Despite the fact that Loggy could take on Pidgeot perfectly well, after being in Hisui for so long, Riz wants to spread out the battle-joy to all his pokemon, so he'll withdraw him in favour of Nasha the Galvantula.

(also, Nasha would definitely shock Riz if she found out he was fighting birds without her!)

Anyway, Pidgeot is a flying type and therefore weak to electricity. Galvantula is an electric spider, so therefore much electricity. And as an added bonus, because of her dual electric typing, Galvantula does not have a weakness to flying type moves.

First things first, Galvantula will use Gastro acid to eliminate Pidgeot's ability (whichever it may be) so it cannot have any beneficial elements there. Then it is time for Galvantula to boost her speed with Agility. Once that is done, it's time for a few Electro Webs (which will also lower Pidgeot's speed) and then Electro Ball (which will do increased damage the bigger the speed gap). Galvantula is also slightly faster than Pidgeot at standard speed, and with lowered speed, the difference will be even bigger.

VS Arcanine

And finally, for the last match of the day, there will be one returning competitor.

After withdrawing Galvantula, Riz'll once more bring out Niknik the Wishiwashi. If Niknik's health is still above 25% she should immediately start schooling. But just in case, Riz will have her use Aqua Ring which will heal her slightly each turn.

Anyway, obviously the reason for bringing back Niknik is that Arcanine, as a fire type, is weak to water types while Wishiwashi takes less damage from its fire type attacks. This time, knowing that there won't be even more matches after this, Riz'll let Wishiwashi use the more powerful, but somewhat more likely to miss Hydro Pump. He still has Aqua Tail and Brine and even just water gun as back-ups should the PP run out on Hydro Pump.


And Obviously, for any of these battles, should his pokemon go down unexpectedly, Riz'll use the rest of his party as back-ups. All except the Sableye egg, who Riz is just keeping on him at all times, cause he wants that little gremlin to hatch ASAP.

[orangesmith]

Character: Narancia Ghirga | orangesmith
Badge/Gym Leader: Erika | Rainbow
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Mr. Smith, Volare, Liquirizia, Sciroppo, Miele, Tartufo
Battle Details: So Narancia warped all the way from Pewter City to Celadon just to go get this badge, and he's not feeling too great after doing all those warps. That's not going to stop him though, and in fact he's going to be trying to finish this as quickly as possible so he can get that badge and sit down.

VS Jumpluff:

Narancia is going to open with Liquirizia the Murkrow and have him use Air Cutter. If that Jumpluff tries to use any status condition moves, then he'll switch out to Sciroppo the Heracross, who has the Guts ability (boosts attack if hit with a status condition) and Megahorn. And if Megahorn misses, she still has Pin Missile as backup.

VS Tangrowth:

That Tangrowth is going to be fought by Mr. Smith the Skarmory, who will be spamming Air Slash. Unfortunately, Mr. Smith is chipped and has that aggro tendency, so he'll refuse to return until either he or the Tangrowth goes down, whichever comes first. If Mr. Smith isn't enough to deal with the Tangrowth, then Narancia will switch to Tartufo and have him finish up with Dragon Darts.

VS Bellossom:

It's the last Pokémon, and Narancia's going to send in Volare to spam Flamethrower. If for some reason Volare can't do the job, then Narancia will switch in Miele and finish up with Slash.

[papacerberus]

Character: Lupa | papacerberus
Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner, Zephyr
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: ROSTER Specifically: Skoll (Boltund, LV 28), Cerberus (Houndoom, LV 43), Hoa Sen (Vulpix, LV 38), Barong (Furfrou, LV 30), and Anubis and Kashaf as cleaners (Hisuian Growlithes, LV 51 and 40)
Battle Details:
Honestly, Lupa could probably just lay down a curbstomp with his overleveled Growlithe pair and Cerberus... But he's more honorable than that.

Noctowl:
--Skoll is here to run circles around the Noctowl. Possibly literally if he gets too into it, because this boy has nothing in his head but ~*~RUNNING~*~. Lupa is trying very hard to use hand signs and pre-discussed strategy and... there are going to be so many facepaws on Lupa's side of the field. Anyway! Once Skoll gets on track, he will follow straight-forward commands! So Nuzzle followed by some Sparks.
--If Skoll needs healing, or a Hypnosis got through, Barong will come in and strike a pose! And then gracefully slide into Sand Attacks and Baby-Doll Eyes (Without needing any orders out loud, thankfully) that should allow him to hold the field while taking little to no damage during Potion and Awakening administration. And if Noctowl puts Barong to sleep, well, Lupa found a move tutor willing to teach Barong Snore.
--Either way, Skoll comes back in to finish it with more Sparks.

Honchkrow:
--Hoa Sen takes the lead. Her goal is to lay on a Will-O-Wisp, but if Honchkrow spots the strategy and gets a Taunt off first, well, she'll Flamethrower for a chance at doing the same thing with a Burn before zipping off-field.
--Skoll is back! If the Burn didn't take, he'll Nuzzle, but otherwise it's pretty much just a Spark party. Maybe a Spark and Nuzzle party if Honchkrow uses Torment.
--If Skoll can't finish it, Barong will come back in, throw out a Baby-Doll-Eyes if he can, and then Headbutt his way to victory.
--If Barong is trying to finish things and having trouble, Cerberus will come in and make that trouble for Honchkrow instead. She resists all the bird's dark moves and knows Thunder Fang.

Pidgeot:
--Hoa Sen comes back in to lay on that Will-O-Wisp. She'll Disable and/or Spite that Sand Attack if Pidgeot tries to lower her accuracy, but otherwise causing burns is her job this match.
--Barong actually comes in next. His job is to Baby-Doll-Eyes and Sand Attack Pidgeot until it's basically doing zilch with attacks. He'll throw a Headbutt or two in there for variety, but once he's done his first job, he's there to stall until the probably exhausted Skoll is healed up and refreshed a bit.
--Skoll probably doesn't have the energy left to Spark Pidgeot into the ground, so there will be a lot more Nuzzle and Bite and Tackle going on. (How do multiple statuses work? We don't know!) But he'll do his best!
--If Skoll can't finish it, Cerberus will come in and Thunder Fang the poor bird. She's honestly overleveled too (even if she doesn't have the resistance to Normal and Flying that the two Growlithe do) and so shouldn't have much of an issue.

...and if things do go pear-shaped for Lupa's team, the two Hisuian Growlithes absolutely will come in and tag team Rock Slide those poor birds into the dirt (and they aren't afraid to use fire either. But mostly rock). They're both overleveled and have resistance to most of what Noctowl and Pidgeot can dish out. Honchkrow would be trickier for them but /gestures at Cerberus.


Character: Lupa | papacerberus
Badge/Gym Leader: Bugsy, Hive
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: ROSTER Specifically: Hoa Sen (Vulpix LV 38), Orthrus (Growlithe, LV 39), Kashaf and Anubis (Hisuian Growlithe LV 40 and 51), Cerberus (Houndoom LV 43), Barong (Furfrou LV 30)
Battle Details:
Lupa has so many fire types. I think the real question here is how much of Bugsy's poor gym ends up fire damaged from this match. (I mean, he knows his bugs' weaknesses, so in theory he's fire-proofed as much as humanly possible, but still)

Pinsir:
--Hoa Sen is here to kick things off with Will-O-Wisp. In this case she'll stay in to lure out a couple of those Fighting moves to Disable them, and soften the bug up with Flamethrower even if the first doesn't happen.
--Kashaf is next! Rock Slide is his go-to but he'll Fire Fang if the rocks aren't connecting as well as he'd like. Kashaf is probably the riskiest choice in this strategy, but he really wanted it so Lupa caved and let him try.
--Orthrus is on deck to clean up with Flame Wheel and Fire Fang if some of those Fighting moves do hit Kashaf hard.
--If both Kashaf and Orthrus are having trouble, Barong is on hand to dish out some Baby-Doll-Eyes and Sand Attack to give them an easier time and/or a chance to be healed while he stalls.

Heracross:
--Second verse, same as the first, Hoa Sen is here to kick things off with Will-O-Wisp. She's going to retreat right after that though.
--Orthrus is the main battler this time. He'll Howl and Agility to raise his attack and speed respectively, and then alternate Fire Fang and Flame Wheel.
--Barong is ready to come in and do a repeat performance of his Baby-Doll-Eyes and Sand Attack combo before stalling to give Orthrus a chance to be healed.

Scizor:
--Hoa Sen is back again! Yes that's right, another Will-O-Wisp. This time if her HP is still high she'll add a Flamethrower or two before coming back out.
--Then Cerberus will take the stage and Flame Charge and Fire Fang the steel bug into a memory.
--If there's issues, Barong is ready to do a repeat of his bit too, while others are healed up.

...and if Bugsy is really (un)lucky and/or clever enough to make things go really wrong for Lupa's team of fire dogs (and fox, and Barong), well, was he looking to get everything Flare Blitzed? Because that's how to get everything Flare Blitzed. Lupa won't hesitate to send the overleveled Anubis in to Flare Blitz the place if things start looking dire.

[heartofalioness]

Character: Princess Allura | heartofalioness
Badge/Gym Leader: Chuck, Storm Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Keith the Corviknight, Golplatt the "Togedemaru", and Pualani the Tsareena
Battle Details:
Allura will be starting off with Keith versus Hitmonlee. While Steel negates Flying's resistance to Fighting, and Hitmonlee's Attack is *very* high, Keith has nearly as good a Defense and should be able to withstand most of Hitmonlee's moves. Blaze Kick might pose a problem though, so Allura will arm Keith with a Lum berry and have him start out with Swagger. This might be risky raising his opponent's Attack even higher, but the confusion should come in handy while Keith uses Iron Defense before diving in to for a barrage of Steel Wings- which also has a chance to raise Keith's defense even more- and Drill Pecks. If Hitmonlee does manage to land a solid hit, that sets Keith up for a Payback, which might not be as effective on a pure Fighting type but should still deal a good bit of damage if the move hit hard enough.

Up next is Golplatt, who gives a few little shivers to show he's totally a Togedemaru and super definitely nervous about being a little Electric/Steel baby against a big strong Fighting type like Hitmonchan. Outside Golplatt's immunity to Normal and Fighting moves, the matchup is fairly even stat-wise, with Hitmonchan having the upper hand (upper glove?) on Attack and has a really nice selection of abilities, while Golplatt has the higher Speed, and his Disguise will make sure the first connecting attack only does 1/8th of his HP in damage. SURPRISE, Golplatt was a Mimikyu this whole time! Hitmonchan totally fell for it, right??? So Golplatt will start out with Double Team (hopefully the Punching Pokemon doesn't have Keen Eye) to make him even harder to hit before darting forward to Play Rough with a few Astonishes thrown in for the flinch chance if Hitmonchan doesn't have Inner Focus. Bullet Punch could still do a lot of damage, but that's where the Mimikyu's Pain Split comes in if Hitmonchan is in better shape, equalizing their HP and potentially bringing the match closer to victory. And Golplatt will also be armed with a Lum berry to protect against the elemental punches' effects.

Last but not least is Pualani versus Poliwrath. This one is a lot more straightforward with Grass vs Water and a huge experience gap. Tsareena will lead with Attract for a 50/50 infatuation chance, followed up by Teeter Dance to confuse the Tadpole Pokémon, which can either stack with the infatuation or be used in place of it, depending on if Poliwrath is into lady-mons. This sets Pualani up to unleash a flurry of Trop Kicks and Power Whips, the former of which should lower Poliwrath's Attack, which should be useful in diminishing any Belly Drums. And thankfully Allura armed Pualani with a Lum berry, so she should be safe from Hypnosis for at least a little while, even if Allura wasn't expecting a sleep-inducing move from a Fighting Pokémon.

[papacerberus]

Character: Lupa | papacerberus
Badge/Gym Leader: Fog/Morty
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: POKEMON ROSTER Cerberus (Houndoom, lv 61), Bersih (Smeargle, lv 48), Orthrus (Growlithe, lv 57), Hoa Sen (Vulpix, lv 52), Skoll (Boltund, Lv 41), Kashaf (Hisuian Growlithe, lv 52)
Battle Details: (IC date: 9/5)
Lupa's just gonna skip right over Whitney. It's fine.

Vs Haunter
--Skoll goes in first mostly because he's so fast, and Nuzzle is great for paralysis. After that, Skoll will run around like only an empty-headed dog with endless energy can, and trade off Bite and Crunch until Haunter goes down.
--if Skoll needs help, or gets hit by Hypnosis (and Haunter hasn't used Mean Look, in which case Lupa heals), Hoa Sen will come in and continue things with Safeguard and Extrasensory. Maybe a Disable in there if Haunter uses something annoying.

Vs Misdreavus
--Hoa Sen comes in if she wasn't already in. She'll use Imprison first! Then Will-O-Wisp. Then she'll fire off a Confuse Ray, and Fire Spin. Then she'll kick off the damage dealing part of things with Flamethrowers. If she gets Mean Look+Perish Song'd she'll absolutely make sure Fire Spin is fresh. (Lupa hasn't figured out that Fire Spin can't trap ghosts, oops)
--if Perish Song takes out Hoa Sen but Misdreavus was switched out, Skoll will be sent in and Crunch! as many times as it takes to remove Misdreavus when Morty puts Misdreavus back on the field.

Vs Gengar
--Bersih comes out on the field. Not only is Bersih immune to most of Gengar's moves, but he has Crafty Shield sketched (and that will be the first thing he sets up, even if Lupa has to use an Awakening to remove hypnosis). After that Bersih goes to town with Bulldoze. If this is a gen III Gengar with Levitate, Bersih will switch to Swift and Headbutt after using Odor Sleuth!
--if Bersih goes down, either Hoa Sen or Skoll will come back in to finish it.

And if those three are having trouble at any point, Lupa will happily send in the higher level puppies to ruin Morty's day. Every single one knows Bite and Crunch, and Cerberus even gets STAB.

Character: Lupa | papacerberus
Badge/Gym Leader: Mineral/Jasmine
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: POKEMON ROSTER Cerberus (Houndoom, lv 67), Bersih (Smeargle, lv 52), Orthrus (Growlithe, lv 59), Hoa Sen (Vulpix, lv 60), Anubis (Hisuian Growlithe, Lv 72), Kashaf (Hisuian Growlithe, lv 56)
Battle Details: (IC date: 9/11)
So a guy walks into a Steel gym with 5 fire puppies canines and one art dog...

Prep: Lupa brings a bunch of revives, and a few other healing items (mostly Berries, but Potions and the like too) for this one, because Steelix at least can hit the weaknesses of most of his team.

Vs Skarmory
--Kashaf is sent in! He'll alternate Fire Fangs with Flare Blitzes until he needs to come back out for healing.
--Orthrus will spell him, and Leer, tank a hit, Leer etc for a little bit.
--Kashaf will be sent back in to finish it! Probably mostly Fire Fangs this time, as it's likely he ran out of PP for Flare Blitz already.

Vs Magnezone
--Hoa Sen is here to Will-O-Wisp, Confuse Ray, and Spite a couple moves. She might toss a Flamethrower out if she feels like that's necessary, but set-up is her job this time.
--so that Bersih can come in, get Crafty Shield up, and go to town with Bulldoze!
--in the likely event that Magnezone gets Magnet Rise out at some point, Hoa Sen will come back in and finish it off with Safeguard and more Flamethrower.

Vs Steelix
--This is Cerberus's time to shine! She starts out with her new Will-O-Wisp first, because it's very useful here. Then she'll Mud-Slap, accuracy reduction, yay! And do it again, and again, until she's getting low on HP or Steelix pulls out Magnet Rise (Lupa makes a mental note to himself to find some way of countering that).
--Anubis switches in to keep Steelix distracted while Lupa heals Cerberus, and then to fire off a Flare Blitz before she comes back out.
--if Steelix is still hitting, Cerberus will Double Team, otherwise it's Laser Focused Flamethrowers until it's over. Maybe some Flame Charge if she's running low on PP

----if things are not going well (with Steelix or any of the others), the other puppies will totally swap in to keep setting things on fire (or Bulldoze/Headbutt in Bersih's case) and give Lupa time to heal.

Also, the punchline is he doesn't even know that Jasmine isn't actually the next gym leader in sequence...

[blue_ice]

Character: Seto Kaiba | blue_ice
Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner for the Zephyr Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: The Squad
Battle Details:

vs. Noctowl
Kaiba's aiming to give Mizuchi the Seadra (lv 36) a shot first. She doesn't have Swift Swim as a Seadra and can't use Rain Dance for fear of making Pidgeot unstoppable...and Smokescreen won't work either, so the plan's simple: use Focus Energy, then hit with Bubble Beam. If the Noctowl knows Fly, counter with Twister. She's hoping Poison Point doesn't activate, causing the Noctowl to transfer the poison with Psycho Shift, but Kaiba has antidotes should they be needed.

vs. Honchkrow
Next up is Zephyra the Kantonian Rapidash (lv 68) for another type neutral matchup. She starts with Flame Charge to increase speed and do damage at the same time, then switches to Flame Wheel and Fire Blast. It's scary how fast the Honchkrow is, but she's hoping to pull of a burn to lower its damage and use Agility to keep up speed-wise. Fortunately, if Honchkrow uses Haze, it loses its own Tailwind boost too. It's another DPS-fest attempt. Hopefully on to the next stage:

vs. Pidgeot
The ace merits the big guns: Leizi the Alolan Raichu (lv 44). Nuzzle is first priority, going for that sweet paralysis. Follow up with Double Team to be super annoying, then start hitting with Thunderbolt...hoping that she'll have stalled the Pidgeot enough to prevent Sand Attacks from lowering her accuracy too much. If so, he has potions.

Should he need fallback plans, Kingyoku the Hisuian Goodra (lv 72) is his standby tank. If called, he'll favor a Shelter->Acid Spray->Dragon Pulse strategy: shore up defense, lower opponent's special defense->big STAB special move. He'd most likely be needed against Noctowl. Against Honchkrow, Kaiba might also risk using Mothra the Mothim (lv 64), whose strategy will be Quiver Dance->Lunge, hoping to finish the DPS race before its weakness to Flying move kills it. He's taking a risk having only five usable mons, with only one being particularly bulky, but he hopes they're ready.

[orangesmith]

Character: Narancia Ghirga | orangesmith
Badge/Gym Leader: Janine | Soul
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Mr. Smith, Tartufo, Volare, Bacca, Sciroppo
Battle Details: Narancia's been prepping for the upcoming tournament, and is taking a break by...pursuing some badges. Wish him luck!

VS Crobat:

Narancia opens with Bacca the Pincurchin, hoping to take advantage of her type advantage and level difference. His tactic is...pretty much the same as always, with the notable tweak that he uses his first turn to have Bacca use Charge to power up her next move: Zing Zap. He then launches into his normal Zing Zap spam, with Recover peppered in as needed.
If Bacca is confused or knocked out, then he'll switch to Mr. Smith and have him use Drill Peck to deal with the Crobat in an air battle. If the Crobat manages to trap Bacca with Mean Look and confuses her, then Narancia will just have to hope Bacca can snap out of the confusion and finish the fight. Hopefully Bacca can score some flinches with Zing Zap...

VS Ariados:

Narancia will send in Volare the Houndoom to deal with the Ariados. And his tactic is...Flamethrower spam. Obviously this is going to probably not be enough, so if Volare gets poisoned or knocked out, or if the Ariados knows Dig, then he'll switch to Mr. Smith to take advantage of his immunity to being poisoned and type advantage with Drill Peck. If Drill Peck runs out (could be possible if Mr. Smith also chipped in against the Crobat), then Mr. Smith will switch to Air Slash.

VS Venomoth:

Yeah, uh. Narancia's just sending in Sciroppo the (very overleveled) Heracross here. Any attempt at inflicting a status condition on Sciroppo will boost her attack stat via Guts, and she has a super effective move in Rock Slide, which she will spam. If the Venomoth knows any Flying type moves, then Narancia will switch to Tartufo the Dragapult and have him use Dragon Dance followed by Dragon Darts as a cleanup effort.
If Sciroppo is getting low on health, then Narancia will have her use Thrash as a last ditch effort, then switch in Tartufo for Dragon Dance + Dragon Darts spam as described above.

Badge/Gym Leader: Sabrina | Marsh
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Mr. Smith, Tartufo, Volare, Bacca, Sciroppo
Battle Details: Second badge, same team as with Janine!

VS Espeon:

Narancia is going to open with Volare the Houndoom, who is immune to Psychic attacks due to being a Dark type. Volare's ability to resist much of Espeon's moveset means that the Houndoom should have comparatively free rein to spam Crunch. If Volare is knocked out, then Narancia will switch to Mr. Smith and have him clean up with Night Slash.

VS Mr. Mime

If Mr. Smith isn't already out, then he's coming out for this one. Mr. Mime's Fairy type makes it weak to Steel attacks, meaning Mr. Smith is going to make heavy use of Steel Wing here. If Mr. Smith is getting low on health, or the Mr. Mime knows a supereffective move, then Narancia will either switch back to Volare for Flamethrower spam if Volare is still in good shape, or Bacca for Charge + Zing Zap spam if Volare is low health/knocked out.

VS Alakazam

Narancia's pulling out the big guns for this one! The big guns, of course, being Tartufo the Dragapult. Narancia will have the Dragapult warm up with Dragon Dance, then try to start up some Dragon Darts spam. If Dragon Darts runs out of PP or gets Disabled, then Narancia, thinking on the fly, will have Tartufo use Lock-On followed by Dragon Rush for a guaranteed hit from the normally 75% accurate move.

If Tartufo starts running low on health, then Narancia will have him U-Turn out into Sciroppo, who will just immediately use Megahorn. If Megahorn misses, then she still knows Night Slash as a backup option for cleanup.

[prayreturn]

Character: Minfilia Warde | prayreturn
Badge/Gym Leader: Fog
Elite/Regular: Normal
Team: Team!
Battle Details: So. As implied, Minfilia is going to fight Morty as part of her training for the tourney.

And so, this is her most pure plan.

She leads with her Pachirisu, with Nuzzle, Electroweb, and Electro Ball. This is her usual start, and she doesn't switch it up often. She'll allow this to go until either her Pachirisu faints...

...or Curse. She is aware that Curse is a factor, and thus is something to switch out of straight away. Thus, Volt Switch to Moenbryda.

Moenbryda will go for Screech and Bite. Curse, this time, isn't a factor. But why not Crunch? Why, that's in case of Disable or Spite depleting the PP of the move. Once that happens, she'll be using Crunch! If Moenbryda is burned, she'll use Screech again to balance the burn and the attack drop. The thing is, though, Minfilias' plan for sleep is switching.

So, she'll switch to Alisaie if sleep happens, using Heal Bell. Her main tactic for Alisaie... a Psychic-type against Ghosts?! Well, yeah. Calm Minds, and a Chesto Berry for sleep issues. And then Stored Power.

Now, if these three faints, she's got other backups. These are:

Coeurl: Going for Crunch and Thunder Wave - for some paraflinching.
Warburton: Gengar has no more Levitate. Flygon has Earthquake, after Laser Focus. Oops! Also, Dragon Dance.
Urianger: Ah, the Level 99 Stantler. With Psyshield Bash and Attract. It's simple - use Attract and Confuse Ray, and then go for Psyshield Bash.

[nightyorb]

Character: Riz Gukgak | nightyorb
Badge/Gym Leader: Brock / Boulder badge / Pewter City
Elite/Regular: Regular team
Team: Chit the Sableye (lvl 33), Grum the Honedge (lvl 48), Niknik the Wishiwash (lvl 79)
Battle Details:

Riz could make this battle easy on himself by just using his level 100 pokemon, but he is training for that upcoming tournament, so he wants to focus on using the pokemon he'll be using at the tournament too.


VS Rhyhorn

Against Rhyhorn, Riz'll be bringing out his Sableye. Sableye is holding a Sitrus Berry to heal itself when its HP gets low. Sableye does happen to resist Rhyhorn's normal attacks, but it takes normal damage from any ground or rock moves. But again, this is training for the tournament!

First things first, Riz'll have Sableye use Confuse Ray. Sableye can't exactly tank too many heavy ground/rock moves, so he hopes that with the confusion, Rhyhorn will be missing at least part of the time.

After that, he'll switch to using Water pulse. This will both target Rhyhorn's 4x weakness to water, but also, if at any point it recovers from its confusion, Water Pulse has a chance of confusing it again. Should he become unable to use Water Pulse, he'll switch to using Dig. It only does 2x damage to Rhyhorn, but Sableye will be underground for part of the time, dodging hits.

Other than this, Riz honestly doesn't have much other strategy planned. He just hopes the 4x-effective water move is enough.


VS Golem

At the start of this battle, Riz will use a potion to bring Sableye back up to full health. After that, he'll repeat his strategy from the first battle; 1. Confuse ray, 2. Water Pulse, 3. Dig. Golem has the same weakness as Rhyhorn, so he hopes it will be similarly effective.

That said, Riz is also realistic and knows there is a good chance Sableye won't be able to take out both Rhyhorn and Golem. So when Sableye goes down (or is just seriously down in HP), he'll bring out his Honedge.

Honedge does have a weakness to Ground moves, but it resists Rock moves, and Golem's moveset is heavily tilted towards Rock moves. Additionally, Golem has a weakness to steel and fighting moves. Like Sableye, Honedge will be holding a Chesto Berry.

To start off, Riz will have Honedge use Rock Smash, a fighting move that has a high chance of lowering the target's defence. He'll have Honedge use this two or three times (depending on how its HP is looking), before switching to using Sacred Sword. Should either of these moves become unavailable, he has Iron Head too. Which has a chance of making the other pokemon flinch, but seeing as Honedge moves slowly and will be going last, that won't be very useful.

Honedge is holding a Chesto Berry, so if his HP is becoming seriously low, Riz will have him use rest to regain his HP, and he'll immediately pop back up awake. He won't hesitate to use rest again if Honedge becomes low once, more but in that case, Honedge will remain asleep for at least two rounds.


VS Onix

Hopefully, Honedge will still be with us at this point. He is higher in level than Brock's pokemon, and if everything went according to plan, he didn't have to take out a fully healthy Golem.

Like with Golem, Onix is weak to Steel and fighting. Honedge remains weak to ground (that didn't just disappear between rounds) but Onix has fewer ground moves than anything else, so hopefully, Brock'll toss other things at him too.

Riz's strategy will be much the same as against Golem. Start off with a few Rock Smashes to hopefully bring Onix's defence down. Use highly damaging Sacred Sword to chip away at him further, and maybe throw in an Iron Head too if there is a need. Rest will be used (with or without Chesto Berry) in case Honedge's HP drops low.

And just in case Honedge goes down, Riz will be bringing his Wishiwashi Niknik as back-up to this fight. She is a water type, with many water type moves and also, is much higher in level than any of Brock's pokemon. If/when brought into the fight, she is going to school and then just focus on all her heavy hitting water type moves (hydro pump, surf, brine when Onix is at half HP) Again, the focus here is on giving Honedge and Sableye as much battle experience as possible, but also, Riz has no intention of losing, so Niknik is there to step in when the boys can't handle things.

[grice]

Character: falco grice | grice
Badge/Gym Leader: brock, boulder badge
Elite/Regular: regular
Team:
Battle Details:

🪨 rhyhorn (L:30): falco hopes to make up for his slightly underleveled pokemon and inexperience with type advantage and type effective moves. he'll be using prinplup (L:26) and plans this pool, which will probably give him a good upper hand with rhyhorn's type duality being very, very bad @ water types:

scald (30% burn chance | 80 power | X 4 super effectiveness)
metal claw (10% chance of raising user attack stat | 50 power | 95% accuracy | X 2 super effectiveness)
bubblebeam (33.2% chance of lowering target speed | 60 power | X 4 super effectiveness)
growl (lowers target attack)

🪨 golem (L: 32): i'm hoping that due to type and move effectiveness against rhyhorn, prinplup will be able to take on golem at least for a little bit (keeping the moves above in mind but also that prinplup probably took good damage herself, is lower leveled and golem is fully evolved). dent size aside, second in line is another type-effective semi-tank: appletun (L: 28) with the following moves:

leech seed (1/16 of target HP will be drained and restored user | X 4 super effectiveness)
bullet seed (25 power | can hit anywhere between 1-5 times a turn | X 4 super effectiveness)
apple acid (80 power | lowers target spdef | X 4 super effectiveness)
recover (restores up to 50% user HP)

🪨 onix (L: 35): i have high hopes for appletun to take down golem and be pretty annoying with the mix of leech seed, recover & apple acid especially , and i also believe he could make it to onix in time to stick 'em with a leech seed. appletun still holds x4 effectiveness with his moves, so if he could last some more with the help of recover and leech seed, awesome. if, in the eventuality that he's taken out, we have mimikyu (L: 32) with the following moves:

wood hammer (120 power | X 4 super effectiveness)
play rough (90 power | 90% accuracy)
hone claws (raises user attack and accuracy)
astonish (30 power | 30% chance of target flinching)

mimikyu is going to be highly reliant on woodhammer to take onix out as soon as possible, and will hopefully be blessed with appletun's previous leech seed! fingers crossed!

[blue_ice]

Character: Seto Kaiba | blue_ice
Badge/Gym Leader: Whitney for the Plain Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: The Slightly Stronger Squad
Battle Details:

vs. Girafarig

Kaiba knows his typings, so Mothra is the first out! Unfortunately, Girafirig can easily steal its opponent's stat boosts with its Swap moves, so Mothra's attack and defense boosting moves are right out. Instead, Kaiba starts to hit hard with Bug Buzz, using Poison Powder and String Shot to slow it down and chip away. Roost could be used in a pinch, but he'll opt to take advantage of Mothra's Swarrm ability kicking in at low HP in an attempt to finish it off.

vs. Clefable

Kaiba would've loved to use Kingyoku for the sweet Steel STAB damage, but there's just one problem: he's male, Clefable is (probably) female, and a potential Cute Charm ability will wreck his effectiveness. Zephyra the Rapidash (level 80) is sent in instead, on a mission to charge through. He starts with Poison Jab for the damage (and potentially poison if the Clefable's ability isn't Magic Guard), and then Smart Strike's perfect accuracy and Steel typing are super useful here!

vs. Miltank

This is it. This is the toughest battle. Kingyoku the Hisuian Goodra (level 85) is sent in here, because he resists Normal and Rock moves, and he lacks Dragon's usual weakness to Fairy. He doesn't have any super-effective moves, but his STAB moves do normal damage, so...it's probably fine?

He opens with Shelter to raise physical defense and evasion, follows up with Acid Spray to lower special defense, then goes to town with Dragon Pulse. *Hopefully* the Acid Spray is enough to keep his damage output neutral if he gets hit by Captivate?

Backups:
Leizi the Alolan Raichu (level 56) is the backup against Clefable---she's female, so she probably can't be infatuated, and she'll be attempting to hit fast and hard, throwing up a Light Screen, attempting a paralysis with Nuzzle, then hitting as hard as she can with Thunderbolt and Psychic.

Mizuchi the Seadra (level 52) is the fallback against Miltank. She'll be using Smokescreen to lower accuracy, then hit as hard as she can with Hydro Pump and Bubble Beam. Fortunately she's not Dragon type yet so she's not weak to Fairy moves!

[behindblueskin]

Character: Keldor | behindblueskin
Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner | Zephyr Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: | | |
Battle Details:

NOCTOWL

For this battle, it's Asama who goes first. As the pokemon with the level disadvantage going in, the strategy is to set up a Leer + Howl + Agility combo. By lowering the Noctowl's defence and raising her own Attack and Speed, Asama should be able to run in and get in a Fire Fang in the hopes of either inflicting a Burn or causing a flinch. After that, and assuming Asama hasn't turned the Noctowl into a Nockedoutl, it's time for Mikazumi to run in and get in an Attack-boosting Howl or two, then finish the job with a nice Rock Slide [as she's on a more even footing level-wise, Keldor will be going for the hardest thing Mikazuki has to hit with].

HONCHKROW

Another battle where the levels of the opponents are near parity. A Sand Attack to lower the Krow's accuracy, then a Double Team to increase Mikazuki's Evasion, it's time to give the big bully of a bird something to keep it busy with in the form of a Rock Tomb. While it's dodging rocks, it'll be time to roll in Shidosanda, who will have the level advantage to make up for its Grass type disadvantage. Should the Krow still be standing, the Hisuian Voltorb will be making everyone run for their noise-cancelling headphones with a Screech which will be followed up with a Rollout, in the hopes that it won't take too many hits to turn the Honchkrow into a feather duster.

PIDGEOT

Hopefully the Honchkrow's a pushover, because Shidosanda will still be bowling for birdies when Falkner sends his Pidgeot in if its Rollout doesn't miss. If it does miss, a Screech to lower the Defence of the Pidgeot will hopefully make it more vulnerable to another Rollout. If this Rollout misses, Shidosanda will need to be recalled, because the Big Pidge will also have a type advantage against the Voltorb's secondary Grass typing. When that happens, it'll be Nami the Alolan Raichu's turn, as she tags in with a Thunder Wave to keep the bird from being able to get in very much offence of its own. Once things have been brought to a standstill, a Slam or two from Nami followed up with a Thunderbolt should secure the victory for the visiting team.

[thetombkeeper]

Character: Marik Ishtar | thetombkeeper
Badge/Gym Leader: Zephyr Badge/Falkner
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Full Roster - Will only be using Chenzira, Usi, Anippe, with Badru on standby in case any of them faint.
Battle Details:

Vs Noctowl -

Chenzira the Yamask (level 69) is up. He'll start off with Mean Look which... doesn't really look all that intimidating but his heart's in the right place. If it's successful, he'll focus on casting Astonish next followed by a barrage of Hex and Shadow Ball to knock down Noctowl's HP. Depending on what Noctowl throws at him, he'll use Protect then finish the fight with Dark Pulse.

Vs. Honchkrow -

Anippe the Gastrodon (level 49) is next. She'll start with using Harden followed by Mud-Slap. Then she'll throw a mix of her water moves (Water Gun, Water Pulse, and Muddy Water) until Honchkrow's weaker and finish with Ancient Power.

Vs. Pidgeot -

Usi the Gengar (Level 67) will be facing Pidgeot. He just licks it and the match is over. Marik will be mixing up his moves for this one. Status effect, damage, status effect, damage. Curse followed by Payback, then Confuse Ray, followed by Dark Pulse, then Lick, and end it with an absolutely terrifying Dream Eater while Marik cackles more evilly than he probably should.

Backup -
Should any of the team faint, Badru the Eevee (Level 30)  will step in to try and finish the job. Due to being bred from Radley's Eevee's, his moveset includes: Baby Doll Eyes, Bite, Growl, Helping Hand, Quick Attack, Sand Attack, Swift, Tackle, Take Down.

[papacerberus]

Character: Lupa | papacerberus
Badge/Gym Leader: Sabrina, Marsh
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: POKEMON ROSTER Coyote (Zoroark, Lv 55), Chala (Umbreon, Lv 55), Yatagarasu (Corviknight, Lv 41), Renard (Thievul, Lv 44), Hoa Sen (Ninetales, lv 66), Cerberus (Houndoom, lv 86)
Battle Details: IC Date: Oct 3rd
Some juicy new footage (of victories this time) for Lupa's brand new fans. I'd be worried saying that out loud before the mods' judgement would jinx it but Lupa tends to over prepare strategy and /gestures at Lupa's roster.

Anyway, he's prepared with potions and berries just in case (confusion) a status effect happens.

Special note: it may not matter, as Lupa doesn't really use pokeballs for his mons unless they're injured or are too big/ill-suited to an environment, but he has Hoa Sen the Ninetails in the "last spot" of his party, so that Coyote's Illusion will make him look like a Ninetales too.

Vs. Espeon
--Renard is sent in first, to get some gym battle experience! Thief to start, just in case Espeon is holding an item! Then Snarl, until either Espeon's Sp. Attack can't go down further, or Renard is about to faint. If the latter, Lupa switches out. If the former, switching to Foul Play until Renard is about to faint. If Lupa thinks Renard can take Espeon out with one last hit, he'll still do the switch to Yatagarasu for advance setup reasons.
--Because Lupa doesn't think Renard can do it alone due to the level difference, but that's okay, because Yatagarasu is there to come in and do a Hone Claws (advance setup~) and Power Trip. Rinse and repeat the combo until Espeon is down. (or if Hone Claws won't raise her stats anymore, just Power Trip)
--in the event that those two combined can't take out Espeon, Chala will come in and finish it with a couple Dark Pulses.

Vs. Mr. Mime
--if Yatagarasu is already out and got some Hone Claws in, she'll Taunt and get right to work with Steel Wing until Mr. Mime is down. (keeping Taunt refreshed, of course) if she wasn't already out, Taunt, then a couple Hone Claws, and then Steel Wing until the end.
--if Yatagarasu can't finish it, Coyote will come in, hoping to get a free turn to attack with his Illusion before the super effectives start. Taunt will go on the second (unless it's before Yatagarasu's last Taunt faded), then Torment! Unfortunately his only super-effective is U-Turn and Lupa isn't particularly interested in doing a lot of switching in and out. On the other hand, Fairy only makes Dark neutral, not less than! If Reflect is up, attacking using mostly Night Daze. If not, Night Slash and Night Daze mostly equally. Might throw in a Knock Off if Lupa suspects held item. If things are going rough, though, he will have Coyote start using U-Turn to switch with Hoa Sen (maybe Illusion and the rapid switches will confuse Sabrina!)
--If U-turn switches need to happen and Hoa Sen is spending time in, she'll hang around for 1-3 moves each time, Lupa picking and choosing how many on a whim to make it more random (and to incite Psychic vs Fairy on turns he switches Coyote back in), and use moves as follows: Will-O-Wisp, Confuse Ray, Disable, Spite, Imprison, Safeguard, and if it's really dire and Coyote went down, Shadow Ball. She's not super overleveled so Lupa considers that mostly fair.
--if Coyote (and Hoa Sen) can't finish it, Chala will come in! Yes, that Dazzling Gleam will hurt, but her Sp. Defense is huge, so Lupa believes she can tank enough to slam Mr. Mime into defeat with her new Iron Tail*. But if the first hurts more than expected (or Mr. Mime gets Reflect up), he'll have her Calm Mind to raise that defense even more before continuing the Iron Tail slams.

*I am... actually uncertain if (not Hisui endemic) Pokemon caught in Hisui can learn TMs if their modern counterparts can? But uh, Iron Tail is also a tutor move so it might not matter anyway. But yeah! One bit of mechanics confusion I thought I'd clarify.

Vs. Alakazam
--Unless Sabrina pulls switching tactics, Alakazam is the last of her team, and the worst it can do to 2/3 of Lupa's team is temporarily Disable a move. Probably a forgone conclusion, but just in case:
--if Chala has decent HP, she's the first one in. A little bit of Shadow Ball, a little bit of Dark Pulse. If both her primary moves get disabled she'd switch first to Snarl, then Double Edge until her HP got dangerously low, and then Calm Mind if either of her moves hadn't come off being disabled yet. Then back to Shadow Ball and Dark Pulse. Eventually Alakazam will run out of Recover!
--if she does run out of PP, and Coyote is still up, his turn! If he didn't have to go in at all against Mr. Mime, free turn for set-up! In which case, Hone Claws. And then Taunt, to end things more quickly. And then either Night Slash or Nasty Plot followed Night Daze, depending on if a Reflect is active. Knock Off if Coyote runs out of PP for the first two. Foul Play if he runs out of PP for Knock Off.
--and if even Coyote runs out of PP, Renard will come out to spam his dark attacks until he runs out of PP.

...and if things just go completely downhill somehow (Sabrina is actually able to read minds or see the future??) the very overleveled Cerberus is waiting in the wings to do clean up. She's neutral to Mr. Mime's Dazzling Gleam, has Taunt, a bunch of dark type attacks plus Smog for the half-fairy, and Double Team to keep the Espeon's normal attacks from hitting as often. And she is willing to Laser Focus everything until she runs out of PP for it. ... if Lupa was more of the bragging type he'd be tempted to see if she could pull a sweep, just to say he did.

Character: Lupa | papacerberus
Badge/Gym Leader: Erika, Rainbow
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: POKEMON ROSTER Hayatarou (Granbull, lv 31), Varuna (Eevee, lv 38), Mere (Alolan Vulpix, lv 33), Yatagarasu (Corviknight, lv 41), Hoa Sen (Ninetales, lv 66), Cerberus (Houndoom, lv 86)
Battle Details: IC Date: Oct 4th
Some juicy new footage (of victories this time) for Lupa's brand new fans. I'd be worried saying that out loud would jinx it but Lupa tends to over prepare strategy and /gestures at Lupa's roster.

Oddly enough, for all Lupa's fire types, he's surprisingly low on ones that aren't super overleveled for Erika's team, so he's using a lower level team and bringing extra potions, revives and berries for status effects. His two overleveled fire types could probably sweep (perhaps even singly) with no problem but he's trying to play fair!

Vs Jumpluff
--Mere is going in first, and setting up Hail! Then Confuse Ray. With her increased evasion and hopefully a confused Jumpluff decreasing her chances of getting hit by anything, she can settle in to use mostly Ice Shard and Icy Wind, with a big Ice Beam to finish things. She'll try to Disable status moves and the two draining moves if she can, and of course keep Hail refreshed. Lupa will be ready to give her potions and berries whenever she's statused or getting close to a third or less HP.
--Hayatarou is ready to alternate between Fire and Ice Fangs to finish it and/or give Mere a much needed break.
--if they can't take care of it themselves, Yatagarasu is ready to come in and lay down some Drill Pecks.

Vs Tangrowth
--if Tangrowth comes in because Jumpluff U-Turned, or Mere is on the field after Jumpluff goes down and has decent HP, Confuse Ray first! Hail whenever it's needed. And attacking with Ice Beam and Aurora Beam. Disable any status and definitely that Ancient Power. Unless Block is up, Lupa will switch when the battlers are at low HP instead of after fainting. Potions are cheaper!
--if Hayatarou is on the field (or is coming in after Mere), Charm first, then alternating Ice/Fire Fangs with Headbutts for flinch chance.
--if those two are both in bad shape and/or can't finish it, Varuna comes in! Sand Attack is first, obviously, then Baby-Doll Eyes, then more Sand Attack. He'll use Refresh if he's statused. Then a bunch of Swifts! Maybe a Bite or two for Flinch chance. If he's not able to finish it, he'll Focus Energy and then Baton Pass that on to the next battler.
--Yatagarasu comes in with Taunt and Drill Pecks, maybe a Pluck or two if PP for the first is getting low.

Vs Bellossom
--if U-Turned in on Mere she'll Ice-Beam once and skedaddle. If Bellossom is the last Pokemon, Mere will do her best to get a faint with Ice Beams, Disable for those nasty status and draining moves, and refreshing Hail.
--if Hayatarou is on the field and Bellossom isn't the last Fire Fang, and then Roar. If Bellossom is the last, Ice/Fire Fangs until the bitter end!
--Yatagarasu is unlikely to be the one on the field if Bellossom is U-Turned in, but her strategy is mostly the same either way: Taunt, Hone Claws, Drill Pecks! Repeat as necessary, and switch the Drill Pecks to Pluck if out of PP. Brave Bird if it'll definitely take Bellossom out, or the situation is looking desperate.
--if Varuna is out when Bellossom comes in, Sand Attack until Bellossom is lowest accuracy possible is the priority, but he will first use Copycat on Toxic before Refresh to cure his bad poison. He will also Copycat Quiver Dance, Growth, and Moonlight whenever they are used! If he's coming in after one or more of the others (or because the other three were in a bad way when it was time to handle Bellossom), during this time, he'll also tank a time or two so that someone else can be revived and/or healed, and then Baton Pass all those stat increases off. See the strategies above for what the others will do.


Cleanup: should his lower level quartet be unable to finish it on their own, he'll send in Hoa Sen and then Cerberus to burn it to the ground. Hopefully not literally. /nervous glance at the contents of Erika's gym.

[papacerberus]

Character: Lupa | papacerberus
Badge/Gym Leader: Whitney/Plain
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: POKEMON ROSTER Hayatarou (Granbull, lv 39), Varuna (Eevee, lv 42), Dama (Herdier, lv 40), Yatagarasu (Corviknight, lv 49), Hati (Midnight Lycanroc, lv 52), Cerberus (Houndoom, lv 91)
Battle Details:
Finally, Lupa deems himself prepared enough to face the deadliest gym leader in Johto! He's come prepared with as many healing and status items as he could afford, and a plan.

Girafarig
--Hati is sent out first, and starts with Stealth Rock! Then she will Howl and lay down with Crunch and Rock Tomb if Girafarig is a bit too fast for her. Repeat Taunt as necessary in between attacks!
--if Hati can't finish it, she'll try to hold on until one last Taunt, and then Dama will take the stage! Dama will Work Up and then switch between Bite and Crunch because flinch chance helps a lot in her case.

Clefable
--if Hati is on the field, she'll stay out until it's time to refresh Taunt, using Scary Face in the meantime to lower Clefable's speed. Maybe a Rock Tomb to lower it more, or a Sand Attack to lower accuracy.
--if Dama is on the field, she'll spam Take Down until her HP is low and then skedaddle.
--regardless, Yatagarasu comes in next, refreshes Taunt if necessary, Hone Claws, and then Steel Wing! Add more Hone Claws thrown in if she needs more umph, and refresh Taunt as necessary.
--if Yatagarasu can't finish it, Varuna comes in to tank for heals while Copycat'ing any helpful status, and then Baton Passing all of that back out to Yatagarasu to finish it.

Miltank
--Yatagarasu will focus on keeping Taunt refreshed while spamming as many Scary Face and Leers as she can manage. When she's near the end of her HP, she'll try a Brave Bird to start the damage dealing portion of the match.
--Hayatarou will take the stage, ready to refresh Taunt as necessary in between laying down a Charm and then as many Superpowers as she can survive. Or until the Superpowers she's out of PP. If the latter, she'll Charm (and Tail Whip) until it's time to refresh Taunt and then go out.
-- Dama comes in next! She'll Reversal with all her might, and it will be stronger if her health is lower. If Taunt has worn off and Miltank is getting in some Defense Curls, she might toss a Leer in there. But mostly trying to end this as quickly as she can.
--if that's still not enough, Varuna will come (back) in and Sand Attack a couple times, Copycat Defense Curl and/or Milk Drink, and then try Take Down and Swift.
--if that's still not enough, Hati will come back in to Taunt, and then Stone Edge (if Miltank is slower) or Counter (if Miltank is faster) in hopes of ending it.

... and if that's STILL not enough:

the nuclear option cleanup
--And as ever, Cerberus is crazy overleveled and ready to Taunt, Will-O-Wisp, and then burn the house down with laser focused Flamethrower (and it says something about how worried he is that Lupa has planned a strategy for Cerberus, instead of just a vague 'unleash the hounds' thought in the back of his head)

If he wins, Lupa will be quite perturbed at Whitney's tears. And probably accidentally make it worse by suggesting that she give her position to someone else if such low stakes battles distress her so much...

[smallshot]

Character: Gabi Braun | shortshot
Badge/Gym Leader: Violet City
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: link
Battle Details: So Gabi learnt one really important thing during the torment, TYPE ADVANTAGE IS IMPORTANT, so she's going to be sending Rhyhorn, Graveler and Rockruff and just spamming their rock moves. Just going to throw rocks at the birds.

ULTRABACKDATED TWOFER TIME,

[seacub]

In a submission long over due, for badges that would have been pursued early September, here we go-

Character: Emporio Alniño | seacub

Badge/Gym Leader: Rainbow Badge
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: Slides 16, 6, 17- Domino the Krokorok, Easter the Azumarill, Yayo the Drampa on Back Up
Battle Details: Following Emporio's typical strategy of going in to make certain there's something of a challenge, the team he comes in with is not only one of relatively similar level when accounting for type weaknesses, but a team with largely no advantage at all, at least at first blush. Erika has grass types of course, but the first pokemon in her line up is a flying type as well- meaning Domino, the first pokemon set to fight, also can't use any STAB moves with success. In addition, many grass pokemon have poison moves- which, as much as Domino has an advantage there, Easter is vulnerable to as a Fairy type. Doubly so when one considers the water disadvantage as well.

It is, ultimately, why Yayo- a great big beefy Drampa- is sitting benched for backup, but let's not worry about him.

First of all, Domino takes priority against Jumpluff- a nice Sandstorm comes up per Emporio's orders to 'even the field', and while the benefits won't be reaped entirely, it's at least some persisting damage for a few turns. From there, Domino does a heady combination of Hone Claws and Rock Slide- for some flinch potential- and a bit of Iron Tail here or there just to send it home while he's at it. Emporio's orders? To 'sharpen up', and 'make it rain'!

Domino, ultimately, won't be kept out for the next two fights if the sandstorm's already gone down. Instead that role goes to Easter- lower levelled, potentially more disadvantaged, but otherwise more experienced and additionally equipped with a very handy ability. Namely, Huge Power. With Easter's attack power doubled, she gets to work mighty quick. Rain Dance puts the field at least a little heavier in her favor, while Play Rough presents a nice solid STAB blow against anything in front of her. Aqua Ring goes up with the order to 'Play to type' where 'Play it hard' earned those attacks, and with any luck it won't come down to Easter bringing down Superpower- or as Emporio puts it while the egg-like pokemon is rolling onward, 'FINAL BLOW!'

Of course if dear Easter can't quite take the fight against Tangela and Bellossom, that just means it's Domino's turn again- repeating with that set up of Sandstorm and following primarily with Hone Claws and Power Trip to take advantage of the STAB and stat boost. The goal, ultimately, is to take Erika down without having to rely on the one at the side-

Yayo.

Aside from Clair's fight, Emporio always brings a backup. It's just smart! Yayo is a pretty intense guy though, for all that his moveset is meager. More importantly, he's got Safeguard, which will come in handy when it comes to blocking any status effects. And with Berserk for an ability, it's really just a matter of taking out the compost with Dragon Breath and even Return- with a handy Twister move when it looks like the opponent's pulled something semi-invulnerable.

And a bit of flinching never hurt, right?

With any luck, he'll have left Erika's with a handy Rainbow badge! Just in time for...

Badge/Gym Leader: Marsh Badge
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: Slides 10, 5, 8- Presto the Kadabra, Hula the Oricorio, Squid the Malamar on Backup
Battle Details: Sabrina! It's a final destination gambit with the Psychic types, starting with Kadabra herself- though she's borrowing Oxy's Eviolite item for the fight, fortunately.

Now, there's a little hiccup in what's basically the most brute force of 'prove your (mental) strength' challenges in that Mr. Mime is also Fairy Type, but that's a bridge to be crossed later. For now what matters is that Emporio's set up is pretty straight forward.

Go as hard and fast and far as possible on the same pokemon for as long as possible. Their advantages on average are his advantages- their weaknesses, also his. So Presto's first move going in is to start working with protections of a sort, after Emporio orders her to 'Discombobulate'; Kinesis to lower accuracy, but more importantly Disable to knock out (for a time) the harder hitting moves on each pokemon's roster. After that? Presto focuses on Dazzling Gleam, a TM Move given precisely for this- it's no STAB, but it won't be ineffective either, and ultimately that's the most important thing.

A whole lotta attacking, disabling, and occasional Recover(ing)!

Expecting Presto to solo a whole gym is silly though- which is why, perhaps to Sabrina's surprise, Presto throws up Future Sight when Emporio shouts for a 'Curtain Call' and it seems the pokemon is about to faint out. Now, it's Hula's turn- another Psychic type, albeit one with a secondary typing. Equipped with a number of flying moves, Hula makes use of Captivate where possible to lower the opponent's power, and Roost to heal- throwing in Teeter Dance to confuse her foes and from there moving out from Emporio's dance related orders to a pretty direct one- 'Now strike!'

Hula focuses on Air Slash for the offensive, striking again and again as hard as she can. With any luck, in repeating her strategy she can take down the full gym. Otherwise...

She uses Baton Pass, summoning the back up.

Squid!

Squid, in a rare show of Emporio not playing around, is psychic and dark type! Though Emporio does stick to his guns on using only non-dark moves. Squid is ordered to 'confine and crush'- leading to Wrap, followed by Superpower, which certainly does nasty things when one's ability is Contrary, even With a type disadvantage. Ultimately, if Squid can't finish the job with those two moves, it's looking bad indeed!

But hopefully he walks away with a Marsh badge.