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

[grice]

Character: falco grice | grice
Badge/Gym Leader: zephyr badge | falkner
Elite/Regular: regular
Team:
Battle Details:

🪶 noctowl (L: 30): falco will start off with a super effective attacker at a slightly lower level but perfectly capable heloptile (L: 25) with the following moveset!:

thunder shock: 10% paralysis chance | 40 power | x4 super effectiveness + STAB
volt switch switch with alley | 70 power | x4 super effectiveness + STAB
charge raises user’s sp. def and doubles power of following electric type move | STAB
quick attack +1 priority | 40 power

noctowl has an annoying amount of base hp and defense, so we’re going to try and break that down with charge > thunder shock > volt switch or charge > volt switch. if noctowl gets paralyzed, that’s going to be a miracle. if not, helioptile’s charged electric attacks should give us an advantage, especially volt switch that will deal a good amount and still save helioptile for another battle entry, possibly!

🪶 honchkrow (L: 32): helioptile will volt switch with nodorino (L: 32) and will deal the following move set!

thunderbolt 10% paralysis chance | 70 power | x4 super effectiveness
rock slide 30% flinch chance | 75 power | x4 super effectiveness
rock smash 50% chance of lowering target defense | 40 power | x4 super effectiveness
focus energy increases critical hit ratio

nidorino will set with focus energy and follow up with thunderbolt > rock slide the most, using rock smash if there’s little left in honchcrow. if nidorino doesn’t make it, there’s still the following that will sweep up the job along with:

🪶 pidgeot (L: 35) falco will lastly use prinplup (L: 31) that was prepped to take out flying types! her move set is as follows:

scald 30% burn chance | 80 power | STAB
growl lowers target attack
ice beam 10% freeze chance | 90 power | x4 super effectiveness
blizzard 10% freeze chance | 110 power | x4 super effectiveness

prinplup will start with scald to try and get a burn in + STAB, but if that doesn’t seem to cause a status effect she’ll roll into ice type attacks for maximum damage. ice beam + blizzard combos will be her go-to, and that also helps when there’s a 10% freeze chance each time used. with super effectiveness in mind, i don’t expect pidgeot to last too long!

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[heartofalioness]

Character: Princess Allura | heartofalioness
Badge/Gym Leader: Pryce, Glacier Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Chumirra the Azumarill, Plattran the Alolan Raichu, and Plamer the Hisuian Typhlosion
Battle Details:
Ice Bucket Challenge? Meet the Mice Bucket Challege. The next two gym challenges will be nothing but rodents (and rodent cosplayers)!

First up is Chumirra against Dewgong. Chumirra being Water/Fairy grants resistance to Water and Ice, as well as Signal Beam and any Dark moves the Sea Lion Pokémon might have up its sleeve. Still, not only does Dewgong have abilities that either nullify or even have it benefit being hit with Water attacks or rain, it might also be able to know Perish Song via breeding (curse you, B2W2 tournaments). This means the Azumarill will need to take her opponent out quickly, meaning no time to waste on set-up moves, invulnerability, or getting locked into Rollout. Instead, Allura will have Chumirra start with Dynamic Punch which will guarantee confusion if it connects, before she dives in for a flurry of Brick Breaks and Iron Tails- being super-effective and having a chance of lowering Lapras's Defense by a stage, respectively. If Chumirra's health gets low enough or Perish Song is about to kick in, she'll unleash Superpower as a coup de grâce. And just in case, she's armed with a Lum Berry.

Next is Plattran versus Lapras. This one is pretty straightforward, since Lapras still has a weakness to Electric, and Plattran has a tremendous advantage in both attack stats and Speed, and can resist Thunderbolt if Pryce has taught it to Lapras like in the games. Still, Allura will need to be careful of Confuse Ray, any Bug or Ground Moves, and Perish Song, so she'll be arming Plattran with a Lum Berry and having him attack from a distance as hard and as fast as he can. First up, Thunder Wave, since not only will the paralysis mess with Lapras's timing and halve its speed, it'll also prevent it from using Rest, Snore, or Sleep Talk since non-volatile statuses can't stack. And after setting up Electric Terrain- increasing the power of Plattran's Electric attacks, doubling his speed with Surge Surfer, and *really* preventing sleep in case Lapras had a Lum or Cheri Berry to cure the paralysis- the increased difference between the two Pokémon's speeds will bring a well-placed Electro Ball or two to max power. If Lapras tries to get in close for a physical attack, Plattran will retaliate with either Thunder Punch or Sweet Kiss (since confusion CAN stack with other status conditions) before moving away to continue the above strategy.

Lastly, Plamer might seem like an odd choice given Fire is weak to Ground, *but* Mamoswine is the only one of Pryce's Pokémon whose weakness to Fire isn't canceled out (unless it has Thick Fat), and Plamer has a little trick up his sleeve: Burn Up. Not only is it a powerful and accurate Fire-type move to start with, boosted by a Charcoal, it will turn Plamer into a pure Ghost Pokémon for the rest of the match. This'll be followed up by Will-o-Wisp to guarantee a burn, which will not only do extra damage and halve the power of Mamoswine's physical moves, it'll double the power of the following Hex, followed by a series of Flamethrowers and Lava Plumes from a distance, the Charcoal compensating for the loss of STAB. If Mamoswine manages to get in close for a physical attack, Plamer will counter with Rock Smash before darting away to continue the assault of Fire and Ghost special moves, with Blaze kicking in if Plamer takes enough damage and boosting those Fire moves even more.

[indigo_league]

Badge(s) approved!

[thetombkeeper]

Character: Marik Ishtar | thetombkeeper
Badge/Gym Leader: Hive Badge/Bugsy
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Full Roster
Battle Details:

Seeing as he doesn't have a particularly good type advantage asides from a couple of moves, he'll mostly be relying on brute strength again for this battle. Oba the Goomy will be sitting this one out.

Vs. Pinsir

Anippe the Gastrodon (lvl 64) starts things off with Harden like last time.  He'll have her lean on Ancient Power as that's her only type advantage move, throwing in her various Water type (Water Gun, Water Pulse, Muddy Water) and Normal type (Harden, Recover, Body Slam) moves.

Vs. Heracross

Usi the Gengar (lvl 81) is up next, starting off with Hypnosis. Whether it works or not,  he'll be alternating between his different Ghost type (Shadow Punch, Lick, Hex, Night Shade, Shadow Ball) moves and his one offense Psychic (Dream Eater) move.

Vs. Scizor

Chenzira the Yamask (lvl 86) will alternate between using Will-O-Wisp until Scizor has been inflicted with Burn and his Ghost type (Astonish, Hex, Shadow Ball, Mean Look) moves.

Badru the Eevee (lvl 40) and Bahiti the Persian (lvl 41) will act as backup if any of the others faint.

[indigo_league]

Badge(s) approved!

[blue_ice]

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

Bugsy's entire team is weak to Fire, with an impressive 4x weakness on Scizor. Surely the smart move here is to attempt a steamroll with a very overleveled Rapidash, right? Well, he could. And that's plan B. But Kaiba's first going to try to let some other team members get a shot in the spotlight. Unfortunately for him, Pinsir and Heracross both have fighting moves, so letting the appropriately leveled Eevee try is right out, and King should probably sit this out too. That brings us to the other four:

vs. Pinsir
First up is Mizuchi the Kingdra (74). Her standard strategy is Rain Dance (to activate Swift Swim), then hitting hard with Bubble Beam and Dragon Pulse. If Kaiba senses he could lose the DPS race, he'll use Yawn and hopefully put it to sleep in time.

vs. Heracross
It's time for a bug mirror match! Kaiba sends out Mothra the Mothim (70) for that sweet double resistance to Fighting, and to show off his shiny bug to the bug gym. Just for fun. He goes for the standard strategy: Quiver Dance, then hit that 4x flying weakness with Air Slash, using Roost to recover if necessary. He's careful to avoid using physical attacks, can't risk a Counter.

vs. Scizor
Kaiba's saving Zephyra the Rapidash (95) for Scizor: her 4x advantage is best used here. She opens with Fire Spin to start the chip damage before Scizor can start evading with Double Team, then starts blasting away with Flame Wheel. He can't risk the higher-power but lower-accuracy fire moves with Scizor's evasion.

Backup:
Leizi the Alolan Raichu is sitting on the backup bench for this battle. If she's called on, she'll use Reflect to blunt the deluge of physical attacks, then Nuzzle for paralysis, and start zapping away with Thunderbolt, but she'll use Psychic if up against Heracross. Or he could just bring out Zephyra early and use Flame Wheel, but that's not fun, right?

[indigo_league]

Badge(s) approved!

[grice]

Character: falco grice | grice
Badge/Gym Leader: hive badge | bugsy
Elite/Regular: regular
Team:
Battle Details:

🐞 pinsir (L: 35): falco is going to start off with pidgeotto (L: 33) with the following moveset:

gust: 40 power | x4 super effectiveness + STAB
feather dance lowers target attack stat by 2
twister 40 power | x2 super effectiveness | STAB
roost heals half of user hp

pidgeotto is going to try to k.o pinsir as quickly as possible with flying type moves whilst keeping his hp up for the next round. we'll be using a combination of gust > twister > roost, then rinse and repeat until pinsir is out. with roost i believe pidgeotto will stay for the next round, so onto that—

🐞 heracross (L: 37): pidgeotto has a little less leveling here, so once heracross is out, we'll be switching to shiinotic (L: 40) with the following:

ingrain restores a bit of user hp at the end of every turn
dazzling gleam 80 power | x2 super effectiveness | STAB
giga drain 75 power | restores user hp | STAB
sleep powder puts target to sleep

since heracross has fairy disadvantage thanks to being part fighting type, we are going to set up with sleep powder > dazzling gleam. at some point phantom will set up an ingrain to have that extra hp every turn, and to keep the hp beautiful and green we might occasionally use a giga drain if need be. even if heracross wakes up, a few more dazzling gleams should keep it out of commission soon. and then we have . . . the big guy.

🐞 scizor (L: 40) falco will keep in shiinotic to at the very least put this bad boy to sleep. not certain if this will work, but once sleep is in place, falco will switch to growlithe (L: 28). i know! that's like . . . more than ten levels lower, but he is pleading that it will be enough to at least wear scizor down, especially with shiinotic's sleep. growlithe will use the following:

flame wheel 10% burn chance | 60 power | x4 super effectiveness | STAB
fire fang 65 power | 10% burn chance | x4 super effectiveness | STAB
ember 10% burn chance | 40 power | x4 super effectiveness | STAB
leer lowers target defense by one stage

with scizor asleep, we're going to start off with leer to break this dude's defenses just a little bit. with that out of the way, kindle will then give more focus to using flame wheel and fire fang. once scizor wakes up, this will still be kept up for as long as possible— might even get lucky enough to get a burn in before growlithe is k.o'd (which i don't expect to take long once sleep powder loses effect). with growlithe out and scizor worn down by the fire type attacks, falco will then be using the rest of what pidgeotto and shiinotic have to offer. hopefully it's enough!

[indigo_league]

Badge(s) approved!

THE BACKDATE RUSH CONTINUES...when will usagi be allowed to update her roster again?? mystery

[seacub]

Character: Emporio Alniño | seacub
Badge/Gym Leader: Soul Badge
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: Here - Cuja the Pangoro (slide 6), Gomera the Kangaskhan (slide 10), Petals the Blissey (slide 11), Mootiny the Tauros (slide 14), Gobstopper the Lickilicky (slide 15), Yayo the Drampa (slide 17)
Battle Details: In the continued blast of badge acquirment that occurred through September via warping around a pile of places he'd visited but not really bothered doing anything in, Emporio wound up breaking off to jump ahead of even Narancia- though to be fair, Narancia hasn't been to Seafoam. Ah well.

After some debate about an underleveled super effective team, or more of his usual though, he has to go for the tired and true usual! What's that mean? Well in this case it means going in with a slight disadvantage, without any real strengths...as unfortunately, when he looked over his pokemon, Emporio had to admit that there just wasn't enough time to really put together a true 'full disadvantage' team. Shame, that!

Still, he decides the best way to bring that to the field is to run with a slower team; a slower team against a team that can poison him after all, is about as challenging as it gets.

(Somewhere, Dirk Strider sneezes, and then ignores it in favor of a tournament he's totally going to win and definitely not going to whine about you guys. Definitely.)

Easier said than done, but more on that...later. For now, Emporio comes in aiming to primarily handle the team with Cuja the Pangoro, and Yayo the Drampa- while it's hard to say if four normal types on the lower end of the 50s qualify as 'backup' exactly, that's essentially what those four are.

But for now, the mom-and-(grand)pop-team; Cuja comes out first against Crobat, making it an easy call for just who's faster. Now, Emporio could counter that with Bullet Punch- it has increased priority after all. But instead, Emporio prioritizes something else...

Namely, Taunt! ('Fight how you want!', Emporio will tell the dirty fighter!) Making sure that anything that could poison (either her buddies, or even herself) is restricted to moves only, Cuja begins a battle full of jeering Work Ups and then starts using Bullet Punch ('Think fast!'). It is, after all, all she's got against Crobat. And Venomoth too, for that matter! Though she'll toss in a few Night Slashes as well for the raised crit potential.

When Cuja looks to be coming down on empty though, she'll do two things, as Emporio shouts for the bear to 'Catch and Release- first, Circle Throw, tossing Crobat- or Venomoth- outta there. Sure, it doesn't do a whole lot damage wise, but that's not important. What's important is that if Ariados comes on out, she'll follow with a Parting Shot to swap places with Yayo. And uh, if it's one of the other two well...Time for her old strategy to rinse and repeat.

Of course if Crobat goes down, Emporio's swapping Cuja out for Yayo regardless. See....Ariados?

Is actually Really Slow guys. The only pokemon on Emporio's current team that's slower is Yayo the Drampa! While Cuja is on call to hopefully clear the ground of the flying menaces of Janine's team, that means Yayo is here to deal with the spider! Starting with Glare- to paralyze, and give a bit of a leg up for taking the somewhat faster foe out. Unlike Cuja, Yayo has no real weaknesses against the poison typing- but that aside, he doesn't really have any advantages either. Ever fair, Emporio refuses to let Yayo use the one Psychic move he has, instead focusing on Safeguard to protect their stats ('Watch it!'), and the moves Dragon Breath and Return in alternation ('Back to the basics, Yayo!').

The idea is that Yayo can take out Ariados- and potentially clean up after whoever Cuja couldn't handle as well. Their strategies are simple enough- Emporio doesn't even have to repeat any statements to have them looping through them- but if both of them go down, the question becomes what the other four will be doing.

Suffice to say, it's pretty much the same against all three of Janine's pokemon; Gomera the Kangaskhan will start off with Focus Energy, following with moves like Double Hit and Stomp, using the latter in particular to bypass any accuracy checks. Her orders were pretty direct- 'Breath in, and go!'

Petals the Blissey meanwhile focuses a bit more on stall and protection ('Take care, take time!')- Sing of course will be used to put the other to sleep, but Light Screen to bolster necessary special defenses are also there. While she uses Healing Wish when it seems like she'll have to pass the baton, she mostly uses Soft Boiled to patch up as needed. As for actual damage? It's not much, but Pound is about all she can do for that, because Emporio isn't especially keen on letting her use her recoil moves.

Using Mootiny and starting with the order to 'Show no restraint', Emporio goes in with Work Up to get...well, worked up, and then starts charging through with Horn Attack until one or the other goes down. It's something! ...It sure is something. Though if Mootiny is facing off against Crobat, this strategy changes- instead, Emporio shouts for the tauros to 'Return to sender'- and rather than using Work Up or Horn Attack, Mootiny comes flying out the gates with Payback!

Which leaves of course, the last backup option on Emporio's team; his Lickilicky. Gobstopper's strengths are simple ones; 'Disorient and restrain', as Emporio puts it. Supersonic to confuse, Wrap to slowly crush, Disable to...well, Disable, and finally a good number of Slam runs to pummel Janine's pokemon into submission.

Hopefully the battles go well enough with Cuja and Yayo, or even all the way to Mootiny, frankly, as that's not gonna be fun to watch.

Badge/Gym Leader: Volcano Badge
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: Here - Lego the Eiscue (Slide 8), Mullet the Braviary (Slide 7), Poker the Toucannon (Slide 5), Echo the Crobat (Slide 3)
Battle Details: And so across the seas Emporio launches- regardless of if he got that Soul Badge honestly, though hopefully he does- to take on another challenge of similar tastes! Though this time a little less unexpectedly normal-weighted. Having heard that Blaine has a Magcargo, there's no attempting to run with an 'I'm Slower' strategy. That'd be a bit silly in this case...

Still, working with who he has, and who could be trained in time for that matter, he's got...options? He can call these options. Ultimately despite being in the level range where he'd be willing, his Oricorio doesn't come along- she had enough of a go against Sabrina. Likewise, while Blaine would no doubt adore a fight against Emporio's malamar (and has probably been looking forward to this over all with how tricky the boy gets about things), Squid is also sitting back at camp due to such recent batttling. But it's okay. Because really, one could argue, that battling...........

Is for the Birds.

[Bdm-tsh]

Going in with a team of birds and a back up Almost Bird, the battle begins! Lego the Eiscue is first up, and for good reason- while Lego has the incredibly powerful Surf on his side, he's also a solid ice type with an equally solid disadvantage. Counting on that blockhead to take at least one hit, and on the relative advantage in speed that Lego actually has, he tells the penguin to Bunker down, resulting first in the move Hail, and then in a brilliant Aurora Veil upon the field- which might just be vital depending on if Magcargo bothered starting with an attack or not.

Regardless of if he did, Emporio follows up with the next command- to Bring on the Ice Melt!- and Lego immediately strikes with Surf. Hopefully, that takes out Magcargo...REALLY fast. Really really fast! Emporio ultimately gives no further command- he lets the speedy little penguin churn the waters against whatever opponent comes out to the field from there, given how quickly he's likely to get taken down anyway.

But as it stands, it's time for the others to take their turn. Mullet is next up once Lego goes down, and with any luck, the Magcargo take-down was successful...as both he and Poker are going to do poorly against rock type. Worst case, he opens with Whirlwind if such a match-up happens, Emporio shouting to 'Blow them away' rather appropriately to that end. Once the preferred match is in place, Emporio commands Mullet to 'Whip up a storm, creating a Tailwind just to give him an extra advantage- and then, given that Sheer Force ability on Mullet's side, Emporio tells the bird to 'use his fists'- and for all that Crush Claw is used, it sure does seem more like Mullet is determined to have a boxing match from above. And this, ultimately, is the take-down he has for everyone he fights against.

Just a whole lotta falcon punc- Right moving on.

When Mullet can't take the heat, the next one up is Poker- who hopefully CAN take the heat, given her severely useful 'Skill Link'; Emporio first tells her to Scramble some eggs, and while there are no eggs to be scrambled, there are at least minds; Supersonic is the opening move, and with that out of the way she's told to Go Ham. Fury Attack is the name of Poker's game, and while Emporio will occasionally tell her to 'Patch up' with Roost, that's about all she's using. No Rock Blast, you say? Hey, Lego might have been allowed to use super effective moves, but that was because Lego was prone to going down like paper in turn. Poker...well.

That's not a problem Poker has.

Granted, it's still possible that the line up of Lego, Mullet, and Poker will fail, but that's where the back up comes in...ECHO.

Echo has a lot to work with- using various commands that she's been trained in, there's no way to tell what move is coming until the move is Coming, and it makes her a pretty solid match for...well. Anyone. Confuse Ray hits first as usual, but from there it's Toxic to get her opponents poisoned. Venoshock is where Echo's focus goes from there- it hurts, and it hurts a lot, and she's not giving up the chase!

You're going down Blaine! (...Hopefully anyway.)

[indigo_league]

Badge(s) approved!

[smallshot]

Character: Gabi Braun | smallshot
Badge/Gym Leader: Azalea - Bugsy
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: Full link. She'll be using Rhyhorn, Graveler and rockruff again
Battle Details: PRETTY MUCH THE SAME AS THE FLYING GYM. She's going to just use her overleveled pokes and their type advantage. Going to spam rock moves on pinsir. Then realise Hercross isn't as weak to them, so she'll try ground types.

With Scizor she has no advantage. All her moves hit natural, but she will attempt to use rock smash.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved! However, in future badges we would like to see more detail, even if Gabi's team is overleveled.

[nellacerniera]

Character: Bruno Bucciarati | nellacerniera
Badge/Gym Leader: Misty, Cascade Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Diletta (Appletun, Lv70), Arancini (Togedemaru, Lv70), Buttons (Skitty, Lv70), Lucetta (Eldegoss, Lv70), Angelica (Hisuian Lilligant, Lv70)
Battle Details: So Bucciarati thinks he's maybe... somewhat overprepared for this one. Not that he actually thinks there's such thing as being too prepared. Most of the Pokémon he's bringing to this battle are Grass-types. Lucetta, having had her time to shine against Brock, is mostly here to act as backup to the rest.

(Note that he does not foresee needing said backup.)

Instead of opening with Buttons against the Golduck similarly to how he did in the last gym battle, he's instead opening with Diletta, who will immediately use Sweet Scent. Normally, from here, he'd launch right into having Diletta do some self-buffs (and a self-debuff, in the case of Curse's speed drop), but the risk of that Golduck using Psych Up is too great for Bucciarati to ignore. In lieu of that, then, Diletta will use Sweet Scent a couple more times before dropping a Leech Seed. Anything particularly nasty will be met with a Protect, but in between, Diletta will be alternating Seed Bomb and Apple Acid until the Golduck goes down.

Misty sending out Lapras prompts Bucciarati to immediately swap Diletta out--Lapras's secondary ice typing is bad news for a Grass/Dragon type, after all. In her place, Bucciarati will send out Arancini, who immediately uses Fake Out. With the time bought by that guaranteed flinch, the Togedemaru will also set up an Electric Terrain, to prevent any sleep shenanigans from Sing. The next step would be Nuzzle, mostly for the guaranteed paralysis. From there, Bucciarati has Arancini alternate Charge and Zing Zap, refreshing Electric Terrain or using Spiky Shield as necessary.

Now, unfortunately, there is still a Big Problem in going up against Lapras unaccounted for here: Confuse Ray. If at any point, Bucciarati's intended strategy with Arancini gets disrupted via Confuse Ray, he will switch out the Roly-Poly Pokémon and switch gears, with something that would probably be a far more foolish move if Angelica were lower-leveled. The Hisuian Lilligant will immediately use Sunny Day to activate Chlorophyll for a speed boost. Bucciarati will have her use Poison Powder next before just letting her go to town with Rock Smash, and one very carefully-placed use of Close Combat. If the sunlight fades, she'll refresh Sunny Day before continuing her pattern, and if her HP dips below 40%, she'll be using Synthesis if the sunlight's still going strong or Drain Punch if she has yet to refresh it.

(If Angelica gets hit with Confuse Ray herself, he will simply swap back to Arancini again and use that appropriate strategy.)

If Arancini's out and still standing at the end of that particular match-up, he's going to stay right there to take out Starmie. If it's Angelica that's finishing things up, she's going to be promptly switched out... for Buttons. Because of course she was going to inevitably make an appearance in this battle at some point.

In the case of Bucciarati's Togedemaru being out, it's a whole lot of the same as before--immediately jumping into using Nuzzle and setting up an Electric Terrain (it's mainly for the power boost this time). Charged Zing Zaps (and Sparks, should Arancini no longer be able to use Zing Zap) are the name of the game here (with Spiky Shields and Eerie Impulses and refreshing Electric Terrain in between), and once that Charge juice runs dry, if the Starmie is still up? Well. Starmie's a Psychic type. Fell Stinger should work just fine, even if Arancini doesn't get STAB off of it. (Of course there is still Confuse Ray to worry about...)

If Buttons comes out to play, she is, perhaps unsurprisingly also leading with Fake Out. Same ol' "flinch to buy time" idea, now with Normal-type STAB. She'll be using Thunder Wave after that to paralyze the Starmie. Tail Whip is going to be Buttons's stat-lowering move of the day as opposed to her others, considering those go after attack instead of special attack, generally, but that's mostly going to be in case Buttons needs to land a Payback as opposed to the other moves that are going to be relied on--Grass Knot and Shadow Ball. Yes, Special Attack isn't a Skitty's strong point, and no, those won't get STAB, but Starmie isn't exactly light and 80 in the power department is nothing to sneeze at!

Confuse Ray will just have Buttons switched out for Arancini and vice versa. Nothing changes about either of their strategies either way.

That being said, there's one more angle to consider with Starmie, and that is if Starmie has used Minimize too goddamn much. If Bucciarati gets sufficiently frustrated with his Pokémon's attacks not connecting, he will swap out whichever one he currently has out... for Lucetta, because she's now apparently necessary backup. She'll start out by laying down a Grassy Terrain... and then jump to her one "always accurate" move. Woe, Magical Leaf be upon ye.

Ideally, Bucciarati will be coming out of this with the Cascade Badge, but he will also be expressing his desire to face off with Misty's Elite team at some point in the future.

(... And maybe asking for some tips for training Water-types, but only if she seems inclined to give them.)

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

FINAL BADGE I CAN FINALLY BE FREE TO UPDATE MY ROSTER MAYBE???

[seacub]

Character: Emporio Alniño | seacub
Badge/Gym Leader: NAME OF THE BADGE OR GYM LEADER YOU'RE CHALLENGING
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: Slide 1, Sparks! ...That's it.
Battle Details: It's finally here- the last gym badge! Technically it was here almost a month ago! But don't worry about that.

Why was Vermillion last? Well it's a bit easier to handle the chain warping from there to the ultimate tournament grounds that Emporio would've been due to be present at, so.

But hey, as it stands! Let's see how well he handled Surge. ...Or if Surge wiped him out, even.

In any case, Emporio's going against a team of two solid electrics, and one that's paired with steel typing. He's of course avoiding ground type- that would make this a cakewalk after all. But a thought occurs to him, and he decides that since they won't be around for the Final Stretch, he'll go at this akin to how he did with Clair.

Which is why, despite Electric in fact having resistance to its own type, Sparks the Luxray comes in to Solo the team. Much like when Blue fought Clair, there's a significant level advantage; so Emporio is content to run in without back up, knowing that the challenge is attainable without the kind of risk that could really hold him back.

...Even if Sparks only has two moves that aren't electric type.

Because of the fact that Sparks only has those two moves, it's understandable that Sparks is therefore going to be relying on them a lot- against most of Surge's pokemon in fact. It's a battle that is defined just as much by Sparks' own tenacity, as it is Emporio's creativity; the orders he gives aren't for moves, but rather, for Sparks to dodge, to duck a blow, to strike from a particular side, and so on so forth. Statements that seem so very out of place will quickly become a recognizable pattern to the seasoned soldier that is Surge no doubt, which means Emporio will be as on his toes as his pokemon is.

The first one in the line up is Electabuzz though, which means Emporio can play it simple; this is a pokemon who relies on Attack more than Special Attack, and between Intimidate and a series of Baby-Doll Eyes, Sparks will soon be given a severe advantage. He uses Crunch more than he does Bite, though he assuredly uses both- intent more on shattering defense than he is causing a flinch- and with any luck, the first pokemon is soon down.

This means Magneton is next. Fortunately for Emporio, Magneton is not a fast pokemon. So while the special attack is something that can hurt, and the defense nothing to sneeze at, it's still not too difficult an opponent. Being damaged normally by dark moves, Sparks resolutely alternates Crunch and Leer until that defense is as thin as tissue paper, to be cut through by fearsome claws and a snarling voice.

Which leaves, unfortunately, Raichu. Emporio's true gambit is here- Scary Face is used repeatedly to slow the pokemon down to start, as well as Leer to bring down the rodent's defenses, but from there of all things Sparks makes use of Electric Terrain. This is the final strike to barge in upon after all, and they're going to make it as much a blast for Surge as possible. With the Terrain set, Sparks' next strike is a 1-and-2 back and forth; Charge, and then immediately after, Thunder Fang. It's a combo that helps skirt around the electric resistance Raichu has with intensity, and it's clear why all that slow down and defense breaking came first. With any luck, Sparks is a lion chasing down prey in the electric jungle- coming out on top to bring home the last of Emporio's necessary sixteen badges!

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[prayreturn]

Character: Minfilia Warde | prayreturn
Badge/Gym Leader: Mineral
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Curated list!
Battle Details:

She only has five Pokemon used for battle. She's using the EXP Share with Magikarp - if this Magikarp is switched in via Roar or any other switching moves, she'll switch back in the Pokemon which was switched out. [Except in Steelix VS Thancred. In that case, she will switch for any other healthy Pokemon.]

SKARMORY

She leads with Moenbryda. She's going right for Block - which would outspeed Skarmory. So unless it switches first turn - it's stuck in battle. And what will Minfilia be doing to get advantage in this? Rock Slide, with using Agility to oppose any counter-Rock Slides. If Skarmory uses more then three Sand Attacks, or more then two Iron Defenses, Moenbryda will switch out for either Thancred or Wild Rose.
Thancred; Nuzzle, then Electroweb until her Pachirisu is at least 2 stages faster then her Skarmory. (eg; if it used agility once, four Electrowebs.). Her aim is to country any speed boosts, and attack the stat which can't be boosted. Said Pachirisu has xx as a held item.
If said Skarmory is female, Thancred will use Attract on it as well. Once Electroweb has been used, Electro Ball is her next move.
If Jasmine switches out for Magneton or Steelix, Minfilia will keep Thancred in. See their section.
Wild Rose; (Not Thunderbolt? Oh, she has her reason. That reason is fearing the switch.)
Warburton; Like Moenbryda, her strategy with her Flygon is flinching - thus, she'll be using Rock Slide. If Warburton is under 50% HP, he'll use Roost.
Alisaie; Fake Out first, and then Gravity. She'll then go for Nasty Plot and then Shock Wave.

MAGNETON

If Moenbryda is still out and healthy; Before Magneton can use Magnet Rise, Moenbryda will go for Earthquake. And then, if it survives and goes for it, out Moenbryda goes for Wild Rose.
If Moenbryda is injured, however; Switch out right away, to Alisaie.
Thancred; Now, Thancred doesn't have a counter to Magneton. But! It does have Sweet Kiss and Super Fang, and so that's what he'll do.
Wild Rose; Actually, this is more complex. Misty Terrain is used first! This is to block any paralysis, and will be kept up whenever it can be. And then Flamethrower. No chance of burn, but also super effective!
Warburton; Warburton will have two strategies, depending on Magnet Rise. Minfilia's scared of it okay. If it's up, Warburton will go for Crunch fishing for a flinch, until it wears off. And then Earthquake.
Alisaie; Alisaie has one role in this battle. Fuck Magnet Rise. After a faint and even if it's not up, she'll be using Gravity. And then screens - both Light Screen and Reflect, with Light Clay. What now? If any of her party members have a status effect, Heal Bell time. Otherwise? Psychic Spam (tm).

STEELIX

Moenbryda; If she's still able to fight? Rock Smash for the defense drop, and Earthquake if Steelix is underground. Both weakening it to help with others, and hoping to win herself.
Thancred; This is a losing battle, but she'll see if Magnet Rise will work for her. (If Gravity isn't up.) And then Super Fang.
Wild Rose; This is the reason Minfilia brought Flamethrower as well.
Warburton; See Above, except replace Earthquake with Scorching Sands.
Alisaie; See above. Including using Psychic. If Steelix Digs, there will be a turn of Nasty Plot.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[prayreturn]

Character: Minfilia Warde | prayreturn
Badge/Gym Leader: Chuck, Storm
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Curated List
Battle Details: Ever since Violet City, there is one Pokemon Minfilia wished to use once she fully evolved. And due to Halloween Candy, and this gym being Fighting-type?

She is using her Alcremie, Berry, as her lead. Her strat is the same for all three Pokemon - set up Misty Terrain and sustain it, use Attract because Hitmonlee is a male-only species (as is Hitmonchan, and she'll be assuming Poliwrath is also a male), and then Dazzling Gleam spam. If she ends up at low HP, she'll use Misty Explosion.

The rest of her team is a similar hyper offense style. Audino, Wild Rose, will go for... Misty Terrain and Dazzling Gleam, and also Psychic.

For once, she's using both of her Audino - male (Alphinaud) and female (Alisaie). They'll also go for the same moves - a single Nasty Plot before Psychic spam.

Her Archeops, first time showing off, is just gonna be a straight Acrobatics (with no held item) spammer.

Her final Pokemon, Mimikyu, is a last resort because she's still learning how to handle the Disguise ability. The first move? Substitute. Double Team until the Substitute breaks. Again, Substitute. She gave her Mimikyu the Leftovers. Once she thinks she's evasive enough - or if the Pokemon shows they have a full-accuracy move that can hit - first of all Pain Split. Then Hone Claws until Disguise is broken... and then Play Rough.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

since he'll be hitting both of these gyms this week

[nellacerniera]

Character: Bruno Bucciarati | nellacerniera
Badge/Gym Leader: Erika, Rainbow Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Cavolo (Corviknight, Lv70), Buttons (Skitty, Lv70), Granita (Alolan Ninetales, Lv70), Meringa (Rapidash, Lv70), Zenzero (Hisuian Typhlosion, Lv70)
Battle Details: Not a lot to say about this one, so let's just hop right into the strategy! Cavolo is going to be the star of the show in this battle, mainly because of his Steel typing, but also for what Bucciarati has the Corviknight use immediately upon entering the fight: Taunt. With the status moves locked down, Bucciarati... actually does not have Cavolo go for the super-effective moves right away. He'll have the Corviknight alternate Hone Claws and Leer. If he needs to refresh Taunt in there, he will, but once Hone Claws no longer does Cavolo any good, Bucciarati will command Cavolo to use Power Trip. Between a majorly souped up Power Trip and the Flying type moves at Cavolo's disposal, Jumpluff should be an easy takedown.

And rather than immediately switch Cavolo out, Bucciarati is happy to keep this strategy going when Erika sends out Tangrowth. Another Taunt to shut down the status moves before Cavolo uses Swagger, and then goes to town with Leer. Bucciarati will have Cavolo use Taunt again if it wears off, and Swagger if the Tangrowth snapped out of the confusion, but this time, he's dispensing with any Power Trip shenanigans and going right for Drill Peck because of Tangrowth's high defense.

If the Tangrowth goes down while Cavolo is still up, Bucciarati will now actually switch out the Corviknight... for Buttons. He has a brand by now, okay? As per Bucciarati's usual strategy with the Skitty, he'll first be having her use Fake Out. Since he doesn't have Taunt or any super-effective moves at his disposal with Buttons, the two of them will have to work quickly with what they've got. Sing is what he'll go for first, and if it's successful, Buttons will alternate Covet and Play Rough until Bellossom wakes up. From there, it's Sing again, followed by Covet and Play Rough. If the Skitty is afflicted with status effects at any point in the battle (but especially bad poisoning), Buttons will use Heal Bell to deal with it. Hopefully that'll be enough to deal with Bellossom, but if it isn't... Well, Bucciarati does still have three more Pokémon with him.

In the event that Cavolo doesn't refresh Taunt in time and gets hit with Leech Seed or he or Buttons go down entirely, it'll be Granita that comes out next. Poison-type moves are a risk because of her Fairy typing, but ideally that won't be much of a problem! He'll have Granita lead with Hail, not only making the Ninetales a more slippery target, but enabling her to follow it up with Aurora Veil. (And hurting the opposing Pokémon, of course.) From there, it's simply a case of using a lot of Blizzard and Ice Beam, and opting to use Aurora Beam if those former two run out of PP. (As well as refreshing Hail and Aurora Veil!)

Granita goes down? Out comes Meringa. Bucciarati will have the Rapidash lead with Fire Spin, and then start using Flame Charge. He'll prioritize moves that get STAB (more uses of Fire Spin, Flame Wheel, Fire Blast, Flare Blitz, Inferno, Ember if worst comes to worst), but he also has Poison Jab and Megahorn if the Fire type moves run out.

Zenzero is mostly here for moral support, but if he's dragged out, he'll be using Smokescreen until the opposing Pokémon can barely hit him, followed by Flame Charge and Flame Wheel--and maybe Overheat as a finisher out of desperation. Whatever works, right...?

Character: Bruno Bucciarati | nellacerniera
Badge/Gym Leader: Sabrina, Marsh Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Buttons (Skitty, Lv70), Anisetta (Absol, Lv70), Valerio (Aegislash, Lv70), Isidora (Mimikyu, Lv70), Pizzelle (Banette, Lv70), Savio (Obstagoon, Lv70)
Battle Details: Buttons gets to lead off this fight! As typical for the battles Bucciarati uses her in, the first move she's using when sent out to face Espeon is Fake Out. It'd be tempting to have her use Thunder Wave after that, but with Synchronize? That is a Bad Idea. Instead, from there, he's going to immediately launch into having Buttons use Tail Whip until it's no longer effective. From there? The Skitty will mostly be relying on Covet, Payback, or using Copycat to copy Bite. If it looks like Espeon's about to go down, Bucciarati will have Buttons use Double-Edge to finish the Sun Pokémon off.

Now, ideally the Espeon will go down, but if Buttons can't manage it, Bucciartai will send in Anisetta. The Absol will lead off with Taunt, followed by a use or two of Double Team, with a Detect thrown in there to intercept anything like Covet or Double-Edge. Bucciarati will then have Anisetta use Focus Energy before launching into using Night Slash (between the move's already boosted critical hit ratio, further boosted by both Focus Energy and Anisetta having Super Luck... yeah). Night Slash will continue until Espeon goes down... in between refreshed Taunts and maybe a Sucker Punch thrown in for flavor.

With Espeon down, Anisetta is immediately getting withdrawn. Mr. Mime is next and Bucciarati is not risking anything with Mr. Mime's secondary Fairy type. It's Valerio sent out next. Bucciarati is very much hoping that Mr. Mime's ability is Soundproof and not Filter, because if it's the latter, that's going to make this a bit of a slog. He'll have Valerio start off with using Toxic! Just to ensure that Mr. Mime will go down eventually. Valerio will be alternating Iron Head with Shadow Sneak, but ready to use King's Shield if anything nasty's about to come his way.

If Valerio ends up going down before Mr. Mime does, or if he gets confused because of Teeter Dance, Bucciarati will switch Valerio out in favor of Isidora. Any of the protection moves are not a problem for her, given Phantom Force, which she will absolutely be taking advantage of. And if that poison from Toxic isn't healed? You bet Isidora's going to be using Hex. And if that poison has been dealt with? She has Will-O-Wisp. (Provided Mr. Mime hasn't used Safeguard or refreshed it recently.)

If Isidora also ends up confused, Bucciarati will move onto bringing out Pizzelle. Tactics here won't be terribly different, seeing as she also has Phantom Force and Hex, but two mix-ups she will introduce is using Curse when she's at full HP, and Spite to further reduce the PP of particularly annoying moves.

(From there, if Pizzelle gets confused, it's just a matter of cycling through the ghosts he brought along until Mr. Mime goes down.)

Once Mr. Mime goes down, however that happens, Bucciarati will be switching out whatever Pokémon was used in favor of his Obstagoon, Savio. Savio is immediately throwing out a Taunt upon being sent out, which will hopefully deal with the more annoying status moves Alakazam has in its arsenal. From there, Savio will move on to using Scary Face (less of a concern for it, and more just in case other Pokémon need to come out after him) and Sand Attack, only relenting to refresh Taunt as needed. From there... Bucciarati will have Savio mostly using Night Slash, but with Snarl and Headbutt thrown in as necessary. That should be enough to earn the victory.

[indigo_league]

Badges approved!

[thetombkeeper]

Character: Marik Ishtar | thetombkeeper
Badge/Gym Leader: Whitney/Plain Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Full Roster
Battle Details: Aww yeah, baby. Ghost versus normal. The worst stalemate ever.

Vs. Girafarig

Bahiti the Persian (level 60) will be going for the offensive with this fight using Power Gem, Scratch, Pay Day, Bite, Slash, and Hyper Voice. Knock it out as quickly as possible.

Vs. Clefable

Anippe the Gastrodon (level 85) is handling this one, relying on all of her attacks and a few offensive moves as well. (Water Gun, Mud-Slap, Harden, Recover, Water Pulse, Ancient Power, Body Slam, Muddy Water, Earth Power)

Vs. Miltank

Usi the Gengar (level 100) is handling this one since Miltank only knows one psychic type move. Obviously he won't be using any ghost type moves, instead relying on Perish Song, Hypnosis, Mean Look for status effects and Payback, Sucker Punch, Dark Pulse and of course finishing up with Dream Eater just to be terrifying, complete with him imitating Marik's laugh to drive home the point. (Marik will promptly yell at him "stop imitating me, you fool!")

Should any of them get knocked out, he has Chenzira the Yamask (level 100) and Oba the Goomy (level 50) as backup. Oba will be sent out first just due to Chen only knowing 3 non-ghost type moves.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[grice]

Character: falco grice | grice
Badge/Gym Leader: whitney (plain badge)
Elite/Regular: regular
Team:
Battle Details:

🐮 girafarig (L: 40) falco doesn't have dark/bug types so he's going to rely on status effect to take down girafarig starting with shiinotic (L: 50) and the following moves:

sleep powder/spore: puts target to sleep/causes paralysis
giga drain: 75 power | half of damage restores user hp | STAB
moonblast: 95 power | STAB
confuse ray: causes confusion.

we're going to go with a consistent confuse ray + sleep powder/spore, confuse ray going first to cause something in the first place, since sleep powder may have a bit of an accuracy problem while confuse ray never misses. i have both sleep powder and spore down because there may be a chance that girafarig has early bird as an ability, and if that's the case sleep powder won't last long and falco may opt to use spore instead. with double status in place, he'll then chip through hp with moonblast and giga drain if shiinotic's hp needs a bit of a boost— confuse ray will be used again if the target is no longer confused. sleep powder will be used in the same way if girafarig wakes up, and if it has early bird, spore will only need to be used once to maintain the paralysis anyway.

🐮 clefable (L: 42) we'll switch nidorino (L: 40) in for this because of being a poison type against fairy (even though we don't have much to offer here with poison type attacks i've just realized.... oops). move set is as follows:

poison sting 15 power | 30% chance of poison | STAB | x2 super effective
toxic spikes entry hazard for next target switch | causes poison
thunderbolt 90 power
horn attack 65 power

we're going to pray more for a poison status effect to help us out here, and to increase our chances, nidorino also has the poison point ability. going to set up toxic spikes for our friend miltank the next round it comes in, then after that we're going with poison sting until poison kicks. after that, thunderbolt + horn attack will be used to wear clefable down— but i'm very aware that clefable is like. a tank and a hard hitter, so if nidorino can't handle it, falco will send out shiinotic to finish the job with giga drain spamming.

🐮 miltank (L: 45) god i always hated miltank during my gsc runs. anyway . . . why have a special one for miltank. with toxic spikes in the works, miltank should be poisoned upon being released. we'll use shiinotic (with confuse ray + moonblast + giga drain) where possible until brought down. to finish miltank, we have breloom (L: 43) with a toxic orb and the poison heal ability. breloom will be badly poisoned, but the poison will heal it rather than sapping hp away. miltank being a normal type, we're going to whip out the fighting type moves here with the following:

counter retaliation move that hits back double the damage earlier received | STAB
drain punch 75 power | drains target hp back to user | STAB
mach punch 40 power | +1 priority | STAB
leech seed steals target hp every move

we're are going to say screw yooooooo, milk drink! leech seed will be another hp chipper that puts healing on top of the poison heal already in place. miltank could use rollout all it wants— breloom will use mach punch + drain punch and at last counter when rollout gets scary. that should make miltank a good slab of beef.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[blue_ice]

Character: Seto Kaiba | blue_ice
Badge/Gym Leader: Morty/Fog Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: He's primarily using Jonouchi the Bibarel (46), Onimaru the Doublade (48), and Selene the Sylveon (64).

Backups are Kingyoku the Hisuian Goodra (100), Mizuchi the Kingdra (100), and Mothra the Mothim (70).

Battle Details: Kaiba had a plan for this battle going in. He intended to evolve his Eevee to Umbreon, let her Dark type moves take center stage, and win the day. But then she snuck some Poké Puffs at the party, and he now has a Sylveon. Which. Isn't quite as useful to him at the moment. So this is plan B.

vs. Haunter

First up is Jonouchi the Bibarel. Kaiba promised this Bidoof that he'd be trained and used in at least one gym battle when they met, so...here's the little guy's chance. Ghost moves can't affect Normal types and Normal moves can't affect Ghost types, so both mons will need to be a little creative here. He opens with Taunt to attempt to stave off any status moves, then attempts to Bite. He bites hard, with water moves in the mix as needed. His backup plan is Kingyoku the Hisuian Goodra (100), who's a safe defensive pivot and can hit hard with Dragon Pulse.

vs. Misdreavus

Onimaru the Doublade is next, holding an Eviolite that was purchased back at the battle convention to boost his defenses. They're both ghosts and mutually weak to each other, but Onimaru aims to win the war of attrition with Swords Dance -> Night Slash. He wants to give his appropriately leveled Pokémon a chance, but should he fall, Mizuchi the Kingdra (100) is waiting in the wings to blast its dragon power with a speed and power boosting Rain Dance followed by Hydro Pumps.

vs. Gengar

This was supposed to be Selene the Umbreon's moment to show off her new power. But whoops, she's a Sylveon, so he's going to have to hastily revise. Selene opens with Misty Terrain to prevent most of Gengar's status moves. It's a bit of a risk to use a Fairy type with Gengar being part-Poison, but he doesn't actually have any Poison attacking moves in his standard learnsets.

But of course Gengar resists Fairy moves and is immune to Normal, so what's a Sylveon to do? Bite. She bites for some solid Dark damage. This plan would've gone off so much more smoothly if she was an Umbreon as planned.

If she's not quite enough, he'll try to throw up a Light Screen to reduce incoming special damage, then switch in Mothra the Mothim (70), who's the only Psychic user on his team who isn't extra vulnerable to Ghost or Dark. His Psychic moves may not be STAB boosted, but he can Quiver Dance and blast away. Hopefully that's enough.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

ITS E4 TIME BAEBYYYY (part 1 of 2 go figure)

[seacub]

Character: Emporio Alniño | seacub
Badge/Gym Leader: ELITE FOUR CHALLENGE
Elite/Regular: WHAT PART OF ELITE FOUR DOESN'T SEEM ELITE- i mean what
Team: HERE- Oxy the Haunter (slide 2), Reedy-Weedy the Delcatty (slide 1), Northrop the Drakloak (slide 17), Confetti the Hisuian Electrode, Stoat the Sneasler, Haema the Hisuian Zoroark (all slide 18)
Battle Details: The time has finally come.

After the grueling path that is Victory Road- albeit with the strong advantage that comes from hearing tale after tale of the camping trip up, and the brief break afforded via the altruism of Riegfried and Soy- Emporio is here to take on the League.

Perhaps, given what they know of his sister figure Jolyne, they've been a bit worried. Especially with the trend he's set taking on the gyms- type match handicaping aside, some of those arenas ended up quite a mess! But with teams of level 100s to face, Emporio went into things knowing he couldn't treat this precisely like he did the gyms. He can't go in assuming it takes a self-crippling act to give the league a challenge.

They're the League.

The challenge, this time, is for him.

Emporio has gone in with a mixed team of sorts- the pokemon he brought back from the Past, ready to have their moment in the Present. His Haunter, who while not his starter, has practically taken that role alongside the dragon Emporio brought up against Claire. His dreepy, now a Drakloak- whose sheer enthusiasm brought the little one here today.

And...

...Reedy-Weedy, who once upon a time was a little skitty in a basket back in New Bark.

(He may have sent a letter to that lovely old lady, asking her to please turn the TV on at a particular day.)

With enough stories to prepare though, Emporio hasn't come in underprepared and cocky. He might have faith in his team, but it took work to get there! It took hunting down move tutors to explain the struggles historic pokemon have with TMs- it took scanning table after table of items at the Other Worlder's Tournament- it took training, constantly, and as the doors open to face off against Will it's time to let that shine.

Will

The stage is set. Haema, a normal-ghost pokemon, takes priority; with only one move tutored to her, Emporio is hopeful of the fact that the Bronzong they face is one with Levitate rather than Heatproof. If it IS heat proof of course, he can still get some good shots in with the wannabe-mother; but he has to be careful. Bronzong is slow, but it's also strong in its defenses- and Emporio's counting on Haema's Illusion to help her out for a split second.

Rather than a 'Normal Ghost', Emporio plays along with the boost and calls out the name of the second pokemon in his party line up- Stoat, the Sneasler. Hopefully baiting the Bronzong into wasting energy on a special focused Psychic move (which on Sneasler would hit for a x4 bonus), rather than any Steel moves, Emporio moves quickly with the order for 'Stoat' to 'get even'...And as the shadow and smoke fill the air for Bitter Malice, the broken illusion spells Bronzong's end! Haema focuses largely on ghost moves once she's out in the open, specifically special ones such as her recently tutored 'Flamethrower' ('Turn 'm red!')- but Bitter Malice is the move Emporio leans on in particular, hoping to take advantage of the resulting lower attack.

While Haema is the star of the show against Will, remaining on the field to take advantage of the striking blow delivered between her ghost moves- Shadow Ball ('Back to the basics!') hits particularly hard and is used with priority against Slowbro and Xatu due to the lower special defense- she is ultimately swapped out when Emporio faces off against the rest of Will's team. Psychic pokemon have on average very strong special defenses, and equally high special attack.

What he needs isn't just resistance- it's something that hits with force. Northop the Drakloak ultimately might not be the hardest of hitters, but he's one with the advantage of Infiltrator to get him around any barriers, and more importantly one who hits harder physically than not. Ordered to 'act with stealth', Phantom Force is used to guarantee a free dodge from more than a few situations, and having experienced the pain in earlier fights, Emporio even tells Northop to 'play with [the opponent]' once or twice to get Dragon Dance in...for the attack boost more than the speed of course. With the Drakloak told to 'take aim' using Lock On as well, the living jet isn't about to let the rest of Will's pokemon off lightly.

...But if needed, he has U-Turn for one last painful blow to swap out when Emporio shouts 'TAG OFF!'. Oxy is Emporio's third choice, ready to strike not with ghost moves to start but instead poison, as Emporio reminds her to 'Start slow'; Sludge Bomb is Oxy's only poison move, but as a STAB involved move, a bit of damage is preferred while rolling the dice for poison, over a wasted run using Hypnosis. If he's watched the tournament, Will will know what's coming the minute any poison lands too- Hex comes without anything more than a point, and with any luck Emporio won't need to call out any of the other pokemon to carry on the fight.

If he does, of course, Reedy-Weedy will be making use of Sing and Wake-Up Slap per an order to enact a '1-2-Kiss', while Confetti simply makes use of a tired and true Energy Ball to lower special attack and even the playing field.

Koga

After a quick moment to heal up and patch up as necessary, it's time to take on the poison ninja. Much as Stoat was automatically benched against Will, Confetti is given the last priority due to the absolute weakness. But while that combined with a grand lack of ground moves might make things tricky for Emporio, it's time for the moment that he wanted that little old lady in New Bark to see-

As Reedy-Weedy opens up the floor due to the powerful combination of a Silk Scarf, and Normalize! For all that Skuntank is poison-dark and a bit of a chunky truck next to the lithe kitty, Reedy holds the advantage- just barely- in speed. Has since gen 7 anyway.

Emporio's first move varies with Reedy- he's a male Delcatty, so unless skuntank is female, telling him to 'put on the moves' (and thus use Attract followed by Charm) won't be especially effective. Emporio tells him in any case, to 'follow his heart'- and he uses sing for that reason, before simply wailing on the skuntank with whatever he darn well fancies. Moves like Play Rough and Double Slap will all hit differently, but they'll hit with the same STAB, the same typing- even the same initial attack modifier, on Reedy's part.

All that matters is that the Skuntank is going down.

Against Venomoth however, Reedy swaps out- bringing in Northrop instead, armed with a set of teeth specifically primed for this situation. Striking with the TM learned Psychic Fangs, Emporio counts a good amount on the chances of Northrop's speed perhaps giving him the advantage- while hoping as well that there's enough of a lack of personal weaknesses in the bug's moveset that he doesn't get hit too hard back in turn. After a few good runs following that command to 'Tear with Style', one hopes the bug has been taken out- but while Reedy might just come back to dig into the rest of Koga's standard poison types, namely Muk (whose defense isn't much to call home about, and has even worse speed) and Swalot (whose speed is in much the same boat), the battle with Koga is ultimately a dance between jet fighter and cat.

(Jet fighter who is literally dancing, as Dragon Dance is occasionally of course used to boost that attack just a smidge for some extra chomping.)

Suffice to say, Emporio makes absolutely certain that Northrop is the first thing Toxicroak sees however. With nothing more than a 'Go', the dragon will be biting down with a x4 effective set of Psychic Fangs.

Talking of Koga's crobat however, and Emporio has a bit more flexibility...and thus, is more inclined to send one of the other four out. As a flying type as well as a poison type, it's tempting to take Confetti off the bench to take advantage of the Electricity. But given Crobat's speed, Oxy is instead pulled forward, as Emporio's since added to her TM range. Requesting that she try to keep things 'minty fresh', Oxy lets loose Icy Wind, all while basking in the confidence that only poison types can have when facing off against fellow poison types.

Of course, while Emporio's pokemon might have little to work with against poison, that doesn't mean they're powerless; as needed, Stoat and Haema are also brought to the floor, with Haema specifically making use of Extrasensory ('Baffle them!'), and Stoat in turn relying on the combined powers of Swords Dance and Aerial Ace via the order to 'Strike high'. Fighting moves after all, will do Stoat little good.

As is, with any luck a combination of playing to Reedy-Weedy's strengths, and to the cold bite of ice and psychic, will get Emporio through the match.

Bruno

In comparison to the last fight, the fight against Bruno looks to be something of a cakewalk for Emporio. Most, if not nearly all of Bruno's team, is pure fighting. The main exception is Lucario- and well, he has plans for that one.

Ultimately, Emporio just has to play to the defenses of things- and to the fact that, for most fighting types, a high attack stat is a given. What he needs to do is take advantage of speed- Stoat having plenty of it, alongside a strong resistance to the fighting type over all. Against pure fighting types, Stoat has little true advantage beyond that; but that's not why she's here either.

Told to 'Do what [she] does best', Stoat thus opens with the hard hitting, potentially devastating blow of Dire Claw; a move that even now has the coin toss chance of leaving the enemy pokemon with a status ailment of some kind. This is the opening strike for all five of Bruno's pure fighting pokemon, striking hard, fast, and without mercy.

And in all cases, Emporio has a follow up. If the victim takes the blow without retaining any ailment, Stoat merely hits again without prompting. If they become poisoned, Emporio orders Stoat to 'get close', leading to her onslaught of Poison Jab. If they become paralyzed, he instead tells her to 'shore up', as she switches to using Swords Dance twice before going in with Poison Jab from there. Asleep, however? Asleep, and Emporio instead switches immediately to Northrop for the time being, allowing Stoat some reprieve. Northrop, told from here to 'entertain [the opponent]', opens with Dragon Dance twice...

...And follows with Psychic Fangs, however many times necessary for Bruno's next pokemon to arrive, and for Stoat to come back out.

It is Haema, and only Haema, who is brought forward for Lucario, and there is no surprise as to why. As a ghost type, she can't be struck by Lucario's greatest moves- and steel, while painful, is merely steel. But Haema has the advantage of having learned Flamethrower, and so when Emporio shouts for the ghost to 'light 'm up', no one involved is likely unable to tell what's coming next. Lucario is getting torched. A lot.

As much as it takes to go down, really. But if necessary, Stoat will return, this time to come barreling down with Close Combat in an all or nothing strike- while the ghosts in the meantime come forward with Shadow Ball or Hex on Oxy's part, and Phantom Force on Northrop's own. If it comes down to Confetti...

...Well, Confetti at least can strike first with Thunderwave to paralyze, before going in with Thunder on a STAB.

...as for the rest...

[sends the sounds of a bouncy ball slamming repeatedly against the wall and ceiling with no context]

[seacub]

The rest can't be too hard right? ...Right?

Karen

At over half-way through, it's not surprising that Emporio will be gently refreshing his pokemon with some potions no matter the case by now. He probably did that already, but, here he is. After the slight break that Bruno resulted in, it's time to get serious once more with Karen...whose type spread makes things far more interesting after the last run.

With Karen's entire line up likely to have a weakness to Fighting Type, Stoat is already prioritized immediately, but for Sneasler to face a Weaville is nothing short fantastic. Given the risks involved with the speedy strikers however, Stoat again opens with Dire Claw rather than anything else- hopefully crippling the opponent. She then follows with a single run of Swords Dance, followed by what will be a deveastating x4 blow from Close Combat after Emporio calls for the oversized weasel to go 'all in'. But with a strike like that leaving her defenseless for a time, Stoat is recalled quickly for the next fight-

Which is instead taken by Northrop, whose first order against Karen's next is a nice and simple 'One, Two!' Quickly using the super effective U-Turn to get out, Stoat comes right back out, and Emporio's clear strategy is quick to paint itself forward. While more inclined to follow her Dire Claw with Swords Dance and Rock Smash rather than the all-or-nothing tactics employed against the x4 advantage, it's a handy trick indeed that the pair repeat again and again for the likes of Absol, Umbreon, and even Houndoom- though U-Turn is less to take advantage of any effectiveness here, and more to simply get that dragon out of dodge.

Against two of Karen's line up however, an exception must be made. When Northrop comes out against Spiritomb, U-Turn is employed not to switch to Stoat, but instead to Oxy- now equipped with Dazzling Gleam as well (which Emporio realized was a pretty good TM investment actually), she makes immediate use of the only super effective move that can be employed against the dark-ghost, the command from Emporio to 'Shine, and Sparkle!' taken to new heights when combined with the order to 'Make them think twice'- specifically, the command that results in Oxy using Spite, and Confuse Ray, in succession between the blows.

With Honchkrow to consider, it's instead Confetti who is swapped into the stage though. While the bird over all haas the greater stats to be sure, the defenses are less than spectacular. Equipped with vastly superior speed, Emporio thus launches the orb forward while shouting 'Celebrate!'

...Which is fortunately, or unfortunately followed with a swift 'Thunderbolt rather than something like Self-Destruct. Ultimately the others are ready to step up to the plate as well- Reedy-Weedy with his array of normal STABs, and Haema with off-type flamethrower strikes to bring against the opposition, but one hopes that the back and forth of Stoat and Northrop will be the successful strategy.

Lance

And at last, it comes to the final hour. The champion.

Emporio enters the room hood up, pokemon restored best as possible. He comes forward with the air of a ghost type specialist, enough that one could be forgiven for having questions for fellows in the league, and even more than enough if one was confused by the first pokemon sent to the field.

Electrode. As it turns out, middling defenses and offenses aside, the only moves that will truly strike with greater effectiveness against Confetti is that of the ground type; and despite the stark power standing before him, he hopes to take advantage. Confetti, when sent to the field, isn't told to open with any STAB based moves- instead, Emporio makes use of the move that does greater damage to Salamence over time.

Ice Ball. Confetti is told to 'remember the season', causing the small wooden orb to launch rapidly into a dance of dodging and rolling, pinballing off the walls of the field as ice gradually coats their form. For every blow, the power of the move doubles, and consecutively at that- within a very short time against Salamence's poor defenses, it won't matter that Confetti isn't ice type. The only shame perhaps, is that they must cease form for the very next pokemon on Lance's list. As something with an electric bonus, once Gyarados hits the field Emporio makes a motion akin to a falling slap, the ice covered orb shattering magnificently into the sparks of Thunder; an accuracy risk to be sure, but perhaps if Emporio is lucky, that Gyarados is wasting time on Dragon Dance or even Rain Dance- the latter making Thunder far more fatal.

That Confetti is equipped with Static only helps their efforts, and with any luck the orb can carry on forward through Lance's continuing party. The little orb that could meets Garchomp much the same way they did Salamence- striking constantly against the beast with the ever growing x4 blow of Ice Ball, employing Static to perhaps paralyze their ground type quarry as well as they continue to out pace (and hopefully out maneuver) the mighty dragon.

And so long as Confetti just survives to the end of that, they can keep going. While the power of Ice Ball resets after five turns, that is yet five turns of consecutive doubling; no doubt, if Garchomp is taken down, it's before that reset. Facing Altaria, another Dragon Flying type, Confetti will thus simply continue with their frosty destruction, perhaps successfully 'OHKO'ing the bird in the process.

But Confetti's reign comes to an end at this point- with Charizard, what was the electrode's greatest strength becomes their greatest weakness. Truly a dragon in name only, charizard is a dragon against whom Northrop opens, utilizing Dragon Dance to up power and speed before runnning in with Phantom Force as a method of avoiding the occasional blow. For all that it's a mere quarter of damage dealt, he makes use of U-Turn to swap out the moment he needs as well- bringing out Oxy instead, who follows with her own strategy of the noxious Sludge Bomb and the devastating Hex as soon as a status ailment sticks.

While Confetti could in fact do quite well against Dragonite considering the prior battles, Emporio gives the orb a rest once Charizard is dealt with- and as someone who's fought dragon on dragon using a Dragonite himself, Emporio knows enough about the pokemon to know how else to handle one. Well aware that Lance's ace is a powerful, study fellow, unflinching in the face of most blows, Stoat is the one who enters the field first; making use of her impressive speed to strike as many times as it takes with Dire Claw to get a status ailment in. Once theoretically successful, one of two things happen- if merely sleeping, Stoat takes full advantage of the situation, repeating Swords Dance twice before going in with Dire Claw again.

But for any other ailment, the pokemon is switched for Oxy- who now charges in to alternate Hex with Dazzling Gleam depending on what does greater damage. Emporio's commands are reduced to gestures and short sounds, quick stuttering syllables that sound more like pokemon cries themselves than solid words. Whatever the case however, the pokemon know exactly what to do as the pace increases through the battle, and their trainer barely stays within the boundaries he's physically required to follow while on the field. Even if Stoat fails to properly land her blows, Oxy is pulled out, with Northrop next in priority- dragon on dragon is the greatest advantage anyone can have, and Dragon Rush is certainly a painful strike even underpowered. Haema is the next priority send- doing what she can with Bitter Malice if it comes to that, while Reedy-Weedy faces anything and everything with Double Slap and the normalized Play Rough.

And if in the end it comes down to a last-man run from Reedy, then very well. If Stoat manages to pull off a solo against the dragon, then very well- by the end of the fight, both Emporio and his pokemon will be truly and fully exhausted however. But maybe...just maybe...

As far as other worlders go, at 14, he'll be the youngest to enter the Aurora League.

The youngest over all, after all, was what...Ten?

[prayreturn]

Character: Minfilia Warde | prayreturn
Badge/Gym Leader: Pryce, Glacier Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Team Pryce
Battle Details: What's a good way to fight Ice-types? Why, with your own Ice-types! Minfilia is leading with her newly-evolved Abomasnow. Why?

Aurora Veil.

She is then going to switch to her ace, her Audino. (Holding Leftovers, to offset any Hail damage.) Said Audino will use, depending on the Pokemon:
Dewgong + Lapras: Power-up Punch once, and then Thunder Punch.
Mamoswine: Actual Power-up Punch spam.

If Pryce tries to set up, she'll use Entrainment (to remove any ability, replacing it with Regenerator) and then Baby-Doll Eyes.

Her other Pokemon have simpler plans:

Flygon; Supersonic and then Earthquake;
Feraligatr; Choice Band Earthquake.
Mamoswine; Yes, she's gonna user her own. Mist, and then... Earthquake.
Blaziken; Sunny Day, and then Close Combat or Flare Blitz, depending on the Pokemon.

And since it'll be the week after, Minfilia wants to have the rest of Starlight Month to rest:

Badge/Gym Leader: Clair and the Rising Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: And Team Clair!
Battle Details: Now, it may seem odd that Minfilia is leading with Mamoswine instead of one of her fairies, especially since. Gyarados. But she has a plan! The plan is Stealth Rocks - while she may not know much, she wishes to make sure there's no Focus Sashes or Multiscale in battle. After Stealth Rocks, Minfilia will use Block - and then Ancient Power on Gyarados. But if Clair switched, she will be using Icy Wing against both Kingdra and Dragonite.

However, Minfilia truly hopes to sack her Mamoswine, and will seemingly be fighting less then her best with it.

This is when she brings in the Pachirisu. Good old Thancred. Nuzzle and then Sweet Kiss until it hits, re-using it when the confusion drops. And then - Electro Ball on Gyarados, Super Fang on Kingdra or Dragonite, Volt Switch if Kingdra or Dragonite is in the red.

Her other four also have simple strats.

Audino: Dazzling Gleam, with Choice Specs.
Alcremie: Misty Terrain, then Dazzling Gleam (or Misty Explosion if at low HP).
Meowstic F: Fake Out and then Psychic spam.
Feraligatr: Choice Band Return, full power.

[indigo_league]

Badges approved!

[rolltoavoidpossession]

Character: Ryou Bakura | rolltoavoidpossession
Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner | Zephyr Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Banshee, Roc, Nekomata, Chimera, Wight, Air Sprite

Battle Details:

VS Noctowl:

Actually, hopefully nevermind the Noctowl for now, Ryou opens with Roc and has him use Whirlwind to force a switch. Just assume Ryou does this any time Falkner tries to send in the Noctowl. If Roc is incapacitated, whether asleep or fainted, he'll have Chimera use Dragon Tail for the same effect.

VS Honchkrow

Ryou hasn't got much options for the Honchkrow with a team of mostly Ghost and Psychic types, so Chimera's taking this one. The Dracozolt opens with Charge, then goes in with Thunder Shock. If the Honchkrow uses Roost, then he'll take the opportunity to have Chimera use Charge again before going back in with Thunder Shock. If Chimera can't finish this, then Roc will come in to finish up with Aerial Ace.

VS Pidgeot

It's time for Nekomata to come out! The Meowstic opens with Fake Out for a bit of free damage, then follows up with Reflect to blunt any incoming Special Attacks. Next up is Charge Beam; it's super effective and has a 70% chance to boost Nekomata's Special Attack. As a bonus, Nekomata has Keen Eye, preventing her accuracy from being lowered via Sand Attack.

If the Pidgeot tries to do some Whirlwind shenanigans of its own, Ryou will at least try to keep Air Sprite and Wight out of battle at any cost, though the rest of his team will be allowed to fight if forced out and all have some way or another to fight back, such as Banshee's Slash, Roc's Aerial Ace or Close Combat, or Chimera's Charge+Thunder Shock combo or Ancient Power. Just as long as Air Sprite and Wight are kept away from the Pidgeot, he can adapt pretty easily.

VS Noctowl

Only once the Honchkrow and Pidgeot are out of the way will Ryou actually fight the Noctowl, and he opens with...Air Sprite the Chingling. Wasn't he just trying to keep her out of battle?

The reason for this is soon clear as he has Sprite open with Entrainment to change the Noctowl's ability to Levitate, followed by Yawn. With no potential Insomnia and no other Pokémon to switch to, the Noctowl should be easy to put to sleep this way, hopefully preventing it from being able to disable Ryou's team with Hypnosis. Once the Noctowl is Yawned at, Ryou will immediately switch Sprite out for Wight and have him use Ancient Power. If the Noctowl wakes up before being fainted, Ryou will just have Wight attempt to finish up with more Ancient Power instead of trying to set up Yawn again.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[blue_ice]

Character: Seto Kaiba | blue_ice
Badge/Gym Leader: Jasmine for the Mineral Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Today's main players are Leizi the Alolan Raichu (90), Zephyra the Rapidash (100), and Mizuchi the Kingdra (100). Kingyoku the Hisuian Goodra (100) sits in reserve with a Fire Punch in case things go wrong.

Battle Details:

vs. Skarmory

First up is Leizi. The Raichu usually loves to pull evasion tricks, but that's not going to work against Keen Eye Skarmory. Her main goal here is stay alive, then zappy-zap. Use Nuzzle for the paralysis first to slow it down, then Reflect to bolster her frail physical defense, then hit with Thunderbolt. Special moves are the move here, gotta avoid Skarmory's massive physical defense.

vs. Magneton

It's Zephyra's turn. The Rapidash is another frail speedster of an attacker, so she needs to hit hard and avoid paralysis as much as possible. She opens with Agility, then starts on Flame Wheel as her most reliable attack. She's avoiding Sunny Day because she doesn't want to hamper her partner in the next battle, so hopefully she can make it.

vs. Steelix

Now, finally, Mizuchi is up. The Kingdra is the whole reason Kaiba's attempting this fight now, so he wants her to do her best.

Now, this is going to be tricky because Steelix has a coverage move: Dragon Breath. Fortunately she's not quite as frail as Leizi and Zephyra. Special attacks are needed for this fight, so he uses Rain Dance to counter Sandstorm, has her wear a Rocky Helmet to hopefully keep up with the chip damage from a potential Stealth rock, and blasts with Bubble Beam at ever opportunity.

Backup:

Plan B is his own steel type, Kingyoku, who has Fire Punch for Magneton and Water Pulse for Steelix.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[smallshot]

Character: Gabi Braun | smallshot
Badge/Gym Leader: Whitney at Goldenrod
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: Link to team. For this battle she'll be bringing a Lv67 Gyarados, a Lv65 midnight Lycanroc and a Lv35 Snubull
Battle Details: So Gabi has been told two things about Whitney's gym. 1.) she'll use attract a lot if she can 2.)she'll cry if she loses.

So Gabi is bringing her few lady pokemon. Mainly the Gyarados, she fucking loves this thing, look at it. She's not starting with that though.

She's starting with lycanroc. Because she wants to conserve her girls' energy. Except he's having a few issues from post-evolution puberty. He mostly listens when she tells him to attack, focusing on crunch to get rid of the Girafarig. But he completely ignores her when she tries to get him to use stealth rock or other setup moves, he just uses a random attack.

She's just going to let him keep going until he exhausts himself. Please sate his bloodlust. Once he's pooped she's sending out the snubull. Gonna be spamming dig to get close, then confide and fire fang.

THEN IT IS TIME FOR THE BIG GIRL. Gabi is hoping her intimidate hits the Milktank. The strategy here is setting up with rain dance and dragon dance to up her physical attack. Then aqua tail. If her accuracy get's reduced she's switching to waterfall. And if things look back she'll be using flail.

...most importantly if she wins and Whitney cries. Gabi is going to cry back

[indigo_league]

Badge approved! Crying party!!!

[blue_ice]

Character: Seto Kaiba | blue_ice
Badge/Gym Leader: Chuck for the Storm Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: Aura the Altaria (77), Selene the Sylveon (75), and Leizi the Alolan Raichu (90).

Battle Details:
Hello, Chuck, would you like to meet this bedraggled looking teenager with an angry expression? How about his team of cute and cuddly Pokémon? He's chosen this squad carefully to counter the gym team, and he hopes it's enough that he can go home for the holidays!

vs. Hitmonlee

First out is Selene the Sylveon, looking to really shine in battle this time. Luckily for her, she's female and Hitmonlee is male, so if he makes a contact move there's a 30% chance he'll become infatuated. If not, though, Kaiba chooses Baby Doll Eyes over Charm for the priority to make sure his Attack is dropped asap, then hits with Moonblast, and Draining Kiss for heals.

vs. Hitmonchan

Hitmonchan hits hard and has a number of coverage moves with the elemental punches, so Kaiba has to be the most careful about his choice here. Leizi resists Fighting and Hitmonchan lacks coverage moves against her weaknesses, so in the Raichu goes. She uses Charm first to drop that threatening Attack stat, then starts hammering with Psychic. His SpDef is a bit higher than she'd like, but she hopes to win the war.

vs. Poliwrath

It's finally time for Aura's first gym battle! The Altaria is nervous, but excited. She doesn't actually have a good Flying type move (he'll have to fix that), but due to STAB and supereffective calculations Pluck is still her best move, though she also has a non-STAB Moonblast to fall back on. Shame she can't mega yet.

Backups:
He's also brought:
Onimaru the Aegislash (65). He's normally immune to Fighting but they all have at least one coverage move against it, but he would attempt to time shields, then Aerial Ace, and Mothra the Mothim (70), who resists Fighting, is afraid of Hitmonchan's coverage moves, but can Air Slash and Psybeam the others.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

GUESS WHO'S BAAAACK

[strings_theory]

Character: Jolyne Cujoh | strings_theory
Badge/Gym Leader: Brock!
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Here, she'll be in Peweter by the end of the week so those are the levels she'll be running with. Using just Shi.
Battle Details: So guess who's already mad as hell but on top of it with the snorunts is somehow even more pissed? It's her.

But Brock is going to be the proving grounds of whether her beginning strategy of using Shi by himself will work or not.

The swoobat absolutely has the levels advantage and by using the simple ability, Jolyne will start out with three calm minds to max out special attack and special defense before absolutely going to start out with confusion on each and every single one of his Pokemon and then absolutely go for trying to body them with psychic. With his timid nature, Jolyne's banking on Shi being able to out speed Brock's entire team on top of the level differences. If Shi's HP is getting to the lower sides and one of Brock's Pokemon against him has higher HP, Shi will use endeavor to even the odds.

Of course she's returned to never calling any move by its real name, ever. That was never going to change.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[nimbuster]

Character: Cloud Strife | nimbuster
Badge/Gym Leader: Zephyr Badge/Falkner
Elite/Regular: Regular!
Team: Cadet the Lycanroc (lvl 30), Materia the Voltorb (lvl 28), Nibel the Glaceon (lvl 30), Vane the Castform (lvl 21), CJ the Altaria (lvl 51), Goldilocks the Klefki (lvl 27)

Battle Details:

It's Cloud's debut as a trainer and he's ready. ...probably. The last time he decided to shoot his shot, he was...well, shot down. But that was SOLDIER and this is Pokemon, and he likes to think he's gotten pretty good at this battling thing. He sure hopes so, given that he waited to challenge the first gym until he had practiced plenty against Zack's team and studied some basic strategy.

Cadet, Materia, and Nibel are all of types with advantages over Flying and of comparable levels with two of Falkner's three birds, so Cloud's hoping that will be enough to carry the battle on its own. He plans to come out swinging with those Rock, Electric, and Ice supereffective moves, and if push comes to shove, well - Materia recently learned how to explode, so there's that, too. It also knows Rollout!

Vane is lower in level but can make it Hail, both dealing extra damage to the birds and turning itself into an Ice type with resistance to Flying moves and STAB with Powder Snow. If its lower level is too much of a hindrance, Cloud can switch it out for Nibel after it uses Hail and keep the weather advantage. Goldilocks is here primarily as a counter to Honchkrow in case something happens and he needs the Fairy backup; it's a slightly lower level, but Fairy Lock can keep Falkner from switching to a Pokemon that doesn't have a Fairy weakness, and Goldilocks can restore its own health with supereffective Draining Kisses.

And CJ...well, CJ is here in case none of that works and he needs to come in and stomp some birds 20-odd levels lower than he is with Fairy moves and Perish Song. But Cloud would like to let his whole team shine, even if it's more of a risk! For their sakes, and for his own; he wants to show Falkner that he knows what he's doing and he's serious about this challenge.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[torinoko]

Character: Misaki Yamazaki| torinoko
Badge/Gym Leader: Brock/Boulder Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: Purrserker, Ducklett, this sprigatito is here for moral support
Battle Details: Misaki took the day after she arrived to ask questions about the Gym, and thus came back with some confidence in her type matchups. She also went to the museum and had a lovely time, but that's not relevant.

She will lead with Sei but rapidly swap her out--truly she seems to have just wanted Brock to Look Upon Her Cat Daughter and gain the Sprigatito some of the XP. Sei made a very cute pose.

From there on, Purrserker and Ducklett become her workhorses. She relies heavily on Baal's Taunt to shut down some of Brock's moveset, and then moves on to alternating Iron Head and Metal claw to leverage type advantages. If Baal is at low HP, she will swap in Vine, and use Bubble Beam and Aqua Ring to whittle down Brock's pokemon. If Brock's Onix, much like his gen1 form, relies on Bide, Misaki will start using that time to heal and buff her pokemon with Hone Claws and Feather Dance after she notices the gimmick...though there's no guarantee she'll catch on before Onix slaps someone clean through the wall. She'll just have to hope she takes it out first.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[fayblood]

HELLO HAVE A HORRIBLY BACKDATED BADGE REQUEST I TOTALLY FORGOT TO DO yes it's pre-hisui i'm so sorry

Character: Shrike | fayblood
Badge/Gym Leader: Jasmine
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Here! Updates paused as of the time of challenge just ignore the hisui 'mon, it won't come into this anyway
Battle Details: It's finally time to go up against one of his starter's weak points: steel types. Given the severe disadvantage Shell has, Shrike will mostly keep him as a backup to swap in and use Yawn or Wish if necessary, before swapping back to one of the others better suited for the fight. Coal will naturally be doing most of the work against the Skarmory and Magneton, and while she still doesn't always listen to Shrike, she's learned it's worthwhile to heed his advice, using Nasty Plot and Flamethrower to great effect. He'll even let her have a go at the Steelix if she's still got stamina to spare, but Scurrier will be on standby to take over with Mud Shot followed by Rock Smash and Liquidation. Needles can also tap in to deal some damage with Double Kick if needed, but Shrike does have some confidence in his main strategy.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!