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

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[insidegalra]

Character: Thace | insidegalra
Badge/Gym Leader: Sabrina/Marsh
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: link But specifically, Lv 73 Sharpedo, Lv 68 Klefki, Lv 77 Honedge, Lv 74 Meowstic (non-battlers: Alola Vulpix, Whismur)
Battle Details:
Held items: Black Glasses for Sharpedo. Sitrus Berries for everyone else.

Thace was not planning on challenging this gym! So he's not quite as prepared as he usually is, but his Pokemon saw Catra's win earlier in the day and want to have a go too! Because he and his team haven't drilled this until everyone knows what to do flawlessly, Thace might need to step in with some suggestions from time to time. He's not going to make it too easy, however, and any verbal commands will be things like "offense!" "Defense!" "Status!" etc with the usual "switch." Like always he's made sure he's stocked up on healing items for this.

He'll arrive with Vrig on his back in her sling, Vruli in her little sling-pouch against his chest, Zaivar on his belt, and Acxa and Athvrix to his left and right, respectively. And one Lure Ball in hand, because Korvulk the Sharpedo doesn't give a damn about making statements if there isn't ample water to swim in.

Zaivar the Klefki goes first against Espeon. Crafty Shield and Imprison are set right away, and then they spam Foul Play. If their health gets a little low, Zaivar will use Draining Kiss, and rely on the berry.

Athvrix the Meowstic is this match's heal-staller, so if any of Thace's team need to get healing items, they'll be switched with her. She'll hit the Espeon with Shadow Ball a time or two and switch back out to let the main battler have the stage again.

In the unlikely case that Zaivar has exhausted PP or for some other reason can't continue, Korvulk will get in to finish it.

If Korvulk is in already, he'll stay long enough for Taunt, while Zaivar gets healed and has Leppa berries applied (if necessary). Otherwise Zaivar will switch with Korvulk briefly for the same reason. Zaivar's first move on coming in is Crafty Shield again. Then Metal Sound! Then Flash Cannon so, so much. Zaivar will refresh Crafty Shield as necessary, and use Draining Kiss for health. If Mr. Mime should get some of the defensive skills up (Protect, Light Screen) Zaivar will switch to Astonish.

Athvrix will switch in briefly for healing if needed. If Zaivar should need backup, Vrig will head in with Swords Dance and Iron Head to finish it. (and Spite, if Sucker Punch comes into play)

Against Alakazam, Korvulk will come back in to stay this time. Taunt first, then Agility. Screech and Scary Face come into play if Alakazam still outspeeds Korvulk after Agility. Otherwise, Crunch! Korvulk will spam it, refreshing Taunt as necessary. If necessary, or if he's just getting bored of Crunch all the time, Korvulk will throw in a Focus Energy + Night Slash combo.

If Korvulk needs healing, Athvrix will switch in for a Sucker Punch or two.

If Korvulk needs backup, Athvrix will finish using up her Sucker Punches, and some Shadow Ball until her health is low. If Alakazam still isn't down, Vrig will come in with Night Slash, and maybe Shadow Sneak and Fury Cutter.

As always, if Thace is out of healing items and all of his Pokemon are close to fainting, Thace will forfeit rather than let one faint.

[cyan_maid]

Character: Jane Crocker | cyan_maid
Badge/Gym Leader: Lt. Surge for the Thunder Badge
Elite/Regular: ELITE TEAM
Team: Dinah the Audino, Poirot the Kricketune, August the Delphox, Ramsay the Leafeon, Dart the Bisharp, and Deva the Indeedee
Battle Details: This is another battle where Jane doesn't have anything that'll give her a clear-cut advantage, which is good! It helps solidify strategy over brute strength. We'll have plenty of healing items on standby as always.

That being said, Dinah is going to take the lead against Manectric. She's got good base Defense and Special Defense, so she can tank hits from the speedier opponent, and she can use Simple Beam to disable Manectric's ability (money is on it being Static since that's the more common one of its possible abilities). Even if Dinah does get paralyzed, she can use Refresh to cure herself, and for this battle she's going to go all out on Power-Up Punch, continually boosting her own Attack until it can't go any higher, and then slam into it with Fire Punch to hopefully get that 10% chance to inflict a burn.

She'll stay out for Electrode and use similar tactics, disabling its ability and keeping herself unparalyzed, but Jane is mostly betting on Electrode using Explode or Selfdestruct - after fighting Manectric, Dinah is likely to not survive the hit, but she can take the KO for the team if it comes to that. If it doesn't, hopefully her already boosted stats from Power-Up Punch can fell this one pretty quickly before Jane switches out.

Pachirisu will get the old Swords Dance and Leaf Blade combo from Ramsay, stacking STAB and Attack boosing against its lesser base Defense stats, and Strength will come in if need be as well. Magnezone will be the one Pokemon that meets a definite type disadvantage in August, who will lead with Calm Mind to boost his Special Attack and Special Defense before unleashing his usual Mystical Fire, Flamethrower, and Fire Blast barrage. He'll hopefully be around to set up Will-o-Wisp on Electivire and keep hitting with his boosted Special Attacks, and if he goes down Jane will switch to Dart, who will quickly toss up Iron Defense and lash out with Metal Claw. The hope is that he can then go on to face Raichu, but it's unknown if he'll make it through that fight on his own. In that case, Jane still has Poirot to back him up, unleashing Perish Song right at the start and then lashing out with Sing and repeated Fury Cutters.

Deva is mostly on the roster for this battle as a backup! She can use Calm Mind in combination with Stored Power to unleash a boosted attack, and moves like Psychic and Psybeam will only benefit from the previous Calm Mind usage. Hopefully with precautions in place, and with leaning on each other for support, Jane can overcome the Lightning American!

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

Character: Shinobu Tsukuyomi | un_oiseau_rebelle
Badge/Gym Leader: Rainbow/Erika
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Fuyu the Aurorus, Akari the Chandelure, Murasaki the Salazzle
Battle Details: 

Jumpluff: Fuyu's Rock/Ice typing will hopefully help her here, given that Jumpluff has a 2x weakness to the former and 4x weakness to the latter. Mist will protect her from stat changes, while Thunder Wave will hopefully slow Jumpluff down by inflicting Paralysis on it, thereby netting Fuyu some free turns. After that, Fuyu will move on to offensive moves like Ancient Power and especially Freeze Dry and Aurora Beam. If Fuyu manages to freeze Jumpluff, then so much the better. If Fuyu starts to struggle at any point, she will be spelled by Akari, who will break out Taunt, Fire Spin, and Flamethrower.

Tangrowth: Akari will also be around for Tangrowth, using Taunt to shut down its status moves, Fire Spin to lock it in place and add some extra damage, and Flamethrower to do the real damage. Akari has enough levels on Tangrowth at this point that she shouldn't struggle, but if she does, Murasaki is waiting in the wings.

Bellossom: This battle is Murasaki's, and as she has over ten levels and type advantage over Bellossom, the odds are good here. Taunt shuts down Bellossom's status moves, Poison Fang may badly poison it, Venom Drench will further weaken it, and Venoshock, Fire Whip, and/or Flamethrower should do the rest.


Badge/Gym Leader: Cascade/Misty
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Arashi the Morpeko, Raiju the Luxray, Midori the Leafeon
Battle Details: 

Golduck: The first thing Arashi does is cast Taunt to shut down Golduck's status moves. Then she casts Agility on herself and breaks out Spark and Rising Voltage, hitting Golduck right in the Electricity weakness. Neither of those moves are particularly powerful, but Arashi is also level 53, and that probably isn't going to help Golduck at all.

Lapras: Lapras's Ice skills could be a problem for the Grass-types, which is why Shinobu is sending out Raiju instead. Raiju's Intimidate ability weakens Lapras's attack right off the bat, and her Rising Voltage and Spark will do decent amounts of damage. She may or may not add Electric Terrain to power herself up. Thunder Wave could also potentially paralyze Lapras, making Raiju's job a bit easier.

Starmie: This battle falls to Midori, who has access to Sunny Day to weaken Starmie's Water attacks and various Grass attacks to hit one of Starmie's weaknesses. In particular, Leaf Blade and Giga Drain are likely to see a lot of use. Sand Attack and Baby Doll Eyes may be used to add insult to injury (especially Sand Attack).

For both of these challenges, Shinobu will be on the usual item caddy duties.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[indigo_league]

Badge approved! x2

[cyan_maid]

Character: Jane Crocker | cyan_maid
Badge/Gym Leader: Janine for the Soul Badge
Elite/Regular: ELITE TEAM
Team: Dinah, August, Bettina, Dart, Marnie, and Deva (all lv 100)
Battle Details: While Jane has some Pokemon that offer a type advantage in this fight, she's not going to solely lean on that to rely on a victory; her previous battles have shown that a challenge can not only be rewarding, but a whole lot of fun, so she's going to try and mix it up a little this time.

Marnie the Seaking is going out against Janine's Crobat first, tossing out Aqua Ring to help replenish HP continously - the Crobat is likely faster than her, and will likely go for a Supersonic or Confuse Ray, and Jane is hoping to beat Janine to the punch with something that'll keep Marnie's health up. From there, it's an all-out barrage with Waterfall, Surf, and Water Pulse. If things get desperate, they can fall back on Horn Drill, but Jane is not expecting it to hit since it only has a 30% accuracy rate.

If Marnie goes down to Crobat, hopefully it's not before landing some serious hits on it, and Deva the Indeedee will provide backup by cleaning up house; since she's Psychic/Normal, she has an edge over Poison types, and is likely to stick around to face off against Wheezing. Once it's out, Deva will lay down a Psychic Terrain and then a Calm Mind to boost her own power and unleash Psybeam and Psychic, hopefully bringing Wheezing down before the five-turn limit for the terrain effect wears off. This might be enough for her to bring Toxicroak down as well, considering its 4x weakness to Psychic attacks, but after that Jane is definitely switching Deva out to rest.

Against Drapion, Jane brings out Dinah the Audino, who will start out with Baby-Doll Eyes since it lowers Attack stat and has increased priority; then she'll lay out a Simple Beam to nullify Drapion's ability. Once that's done, Dinah has free reign to use Power-Up Punch repeatedly, boosting her own Attack and hopefully wearing Drapion down enough to knock it out. If this isn't enough, Dart the Bisharp will take over for Dinah with Swords Dance and Metal Claw, and will stay out to make sure Arbok is whittled down with his own improved stats and attacks, tossing up Iron Defense when Arbok comes out as an added layer of protection which will hopefully carry him through to defeating his snakey opponent.

Venomoth will have to contend with Bettina the Crobat, whose Flying type attacks are numerous, fast, and hard-hitting against a 2x weakness. She'll toss out Confuse Ray first, just in case, and then go in with Acrobatics - since Bettina is not holding an item, the power of this move is boosted to 110, which should KO if not severely damage her opponent. She also has Air Cutter, Air Slash, and Fly should that not be enough.

August the Delphox is here as Jane's ace in the hole - he's the Psychic type she's had the longest, and while it took him a significant amount of time to hone his abilities, he is at a point in his life where he's very sure in himself. If Jane's Pokemon begin dropping or seem too worn out to go on for much longer and she still needs to set up or push through the current opponent, August will be dishing out Psychic and unleashing a Future Sight should he be close to switching out again.

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

Character: Shinobu Tsukuyomi | un_oiseau_rebelle
Badge/Gym Leader: Thunder/Lt. Surge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Tonbo the Flygon
Battle Details: It's Tonbo the Flygon's time to shine... or so he hopes.

Electabuzz: Tonbo has four major advantages going into this gym battle: 1. He's a partial Ground-type, 2. He's level 63, 3. He's completely immune to Electric attacks, and 4. His weaknesses, to Ice, Dragon, and Fairy, are not ones that Lt. Surge's team can hit. And Tonbo has several moves to choose from to make Electabuzz's life difficult: Bulldoze, Dig, Earth Power, Earthquake, Scorching Sands, and more - plus Sand Attack to ruin its accuracy. All of this combined means Electabuzz's chances of a win are relatively low.

Magneton: To the above strategy, Tonbo can add Flamethrower to hit Magneton's Fire weakness in addition to its Ground weakness. Tonbo will start with Sand Attack, throw in Laser Focus to guarantee a few criticals, and lay right into those weaknesses. Tonbo having over twenty levels on Magneton will likely not help its chances either.

Raichu: Subtract Flamethrower and add Bug Buzz, Bite, and Crunch to all of Tonbo's Ground attacks. Raichu's Double Team will likely be an issue, but Tonbo will pay Raichu back with Sand Attack again, along with copious use of Laser Focus to get those critical hits. 

Shinobu, for his part, will be watching Tonbo like a hawk and being very generous with healing and curative items. This includes PP-restoring Leppa berries if necessary.


Badge/Gym Leader: Soul/Janine
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Arashi the Morpeko, Murasaki the Salazzle, Hashi the Toucannon
Battle Details: Poison vs. Poison (and a few other elements), basically.

Crobat: Arashi lacks an immunity to Poison, and its Aura Wheel switches between Electric and Dark, which isn't ideal. Fortunately, Aura Wheel is Electric element half the time, and Arashi has other Electricity attacks to compensate anyway, enabling it to hit one of Crobat's weaknesses. Arashi also has Taunt, which will lock down Crobat's status attacks, Torment to keep it from using moves consecutively, and Agility to boost its own speed. Arashi also has eight levels on Crobat, which will add to its advantage. All of that together will hopefully allow it to win the day.

Ariados: Ariados's partial Bug typing isn't going to do it any favors, because that gives it a Fire weakness, and exploiting Fire weaknesses is one of the things Murasaki does best. The other thing she does best? Poison Poison-type pokemon, which she will also happily do, while enjoying immunity to Ariados's own Poison attacks. She also has Encore and Disable, to force Ariados to use one move repeatedly or to randomly shut down one of Ariados's moves. With luck, that move will be Psychic, because that could still hurt Murasaki despite the Salazzle being fourteen levels higher than Ariados. If Psychic does become a problem, Hashi is waiting in the wings to exploit Ariados's weakness to Flying-type attacks.

Venomoth: Venomoth gets the same strategy as Ariados: Murasaki, if she's still hanging in, will use Taunt, Disable, Encore, and/or Torment to try to lock down Venomoth's more troublesome moves while using Fire Whip and Flamethrower to hit its Fire weakness and trying to inflict Poison via Corrosion and Poison Gas or Toxic. Venomoth's Psybeam is a potential issue, but if it becomes too much of one Hashi will swap in again. Still, Murasaki has a type advantage and eleven levels on Venomoth, so hopefully that will enable her to prevail.

Shinobu will be playing item caddy again, with an emphasis on Poison curatives and healing items.

[indigo_league]

Soul Badge approved!

[indigo_league]

Normally, one Pokemon against three--even one with a solid type advantage and a moderate level advantage--wouldn't be the kind of strategy that wins challenges. However... Tonbo is straight-up immune to almost everything that 2/3 of Surge's regular team can throw at him, and Magneton doesn't even have an Ability like Levitate that would aid it against Ground type moves.

As such!

Thunder Badge and Soul Badge approved!

[insidegalra]

Character: Thace | insidegalra
Badge/Gym Leader: Fog/Morty
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: here But the primary battlers are, Alola Ninetails Acxa (81), Klefki Zaivar (78), and Sharpedo Korvulk (84)
Battle Details:
Held items: Acxa-Leppa berry, Zaivar-persim berry, Korvulk-Black Glasses

Thace will stock up on plenty of healing items and status healing items before the match, including as many Leppa berries as he could find, buy or trade for, and will enter the gym following behind his Alola Ninetails, Acxa. On their sling against his back and chest respectfully are his Aegislash and Whismur, along with his Meowstic and Klefki at his side. Then there’s his Sharpedo (in his ball, because he doesn’t make statements unless there’s water present) as backup. Thace will be even quieter than usual in this match, because he’ll be using hand gestures and a flashlight to communicate with his team. (He’ll clear the flashlight with Morty first, of course.)

This battle is going to be an odd one, which Thace will actually explain to Morty before the battle and ask Morty and his team to put all their effort and skill into it. Thace’s Alola Ninetails hatched deaf and blind in one eye, and it’s been a long and hard road to earning self-confidence, so she’s asked Thace if she can challenge Morty (mostly) alone, with the exception being a concession on her part to let one other Pokemon be switched in as per Thace’s usual heal-stall strategy (Acxa even chose the single move that was allowed while she was being healed; it was a difficult decision). If/When she’s too beat up and tired to safely continue without fainting, Thace will switch her one more time so they can talk. If she’s not satisfied with her performance, Thace forfeits.*

So after all this is explained, Thace will share a forehead bunt with her and she’ll go out on the field. Thanks to her Hidden Ability, a hail storm will start up right away! Barring speed increasing items used on the ghosts, she’s faster than all of Morty’s team, thanks in part to the level advantage. Also thanks to the level advantage, Sheer Cold has a much better chance of being successful (66% against Haunter). So that’s what she’ll lead with!

If it’s not successful, she’ll set up Mist, then Aurora Veil, and then spam Blizzard which always hits in hail storms. If her opponent freezes at any time, she’ll spam Hex until they unfreeze, to save Blizzard’s PP. Because Spite exists, she’s carrying a Leppa Berry, which will kick in first time she runs out of PP.

If she needs healing or more PP for Blizzard, her chosen helper is Zaivar the Klefki. The only move they’re allowed to use is Metal Sound. If forced somehow to use another move, the battle is automatically forfeited. (I think this would be so unlikely as to be all but impossible, but just in case Morty has some trick up his sleeves)

Once Haunter is down, she’ll be switched out for healing and/or Leppa Berries (unless Sheer Cold was successful or she came back in less than two turns before Haunter fainted). If Zaivar is switched in, they’ll use Metal Sound, then Acxa will come back in. Her first move will be Sheer Cold again. The chance of success is slightly lower, but still decent.

If Sheer Cold isn’t successful, she’ll spam Blizzard some more, only stopping to refresh Mist, Aurora Veil, and the hail storm with the Hail TM that Thace had ordered from Celadon specially for her. Again, if freezing is a thing, she’ll switch to Hex for a bit. As always, if she needs healing, or more Leppa berries from Thace, she’ll be switched with Zaivar again. During this battle, Thace will take a moment to top off Zaivar’s HP.

After Misdreavus is down, Acxa is switched with Zaivar again, even if she’s only one HP down from her max, or not full PP for Blizzard. Zaivar will use Metal Sound twice, before switching with Acxa. Acxa will try Sheer Cold once more (if she has PP for it. Spite’s existence makes that murky), and otherwise stick with the same strategy. Blizzard all the way, with pauses to refresh Mist and Aurora Veil, or a few Hex if freezing happens. With hard work, luck, and a lot of healing items and Leppa Berries, Gengar might go down after a challenging battle.

*Forfeit triggers:

—If Acxa can’t defeat Haunter, she won’t be satisfied with her performance.
—If Acxa struggles to defeat Haunter, and can’t defeat Misdreavus, she won’t be satisfied with her performance.
—If Acxa struggles to defeat the first two, and can’t continue at all against Gengar, she won’t be satisfied with her performance.
—If Acxa is forced to withdraw against Gengar within her first two attack turns, she won’t be satisfied with her performance. If she makes it past that, she will be satisfied, and backup will trigger:

Backup: Korvulk the Sharpedo will be allowed to finish things if Acxa is satisfied but can’t quite finish Gengar. Honestly, he shouldn’t have any problem at all, with the level advantage and both Offensive and Defensive advantages due to his typing. He’ll just use Taunt and then spam Crunch while tanking damage.

Thace will be so very proud and supportive of her regardless, but if a forfeit happens, he’ll promise to come back after he and Acxa have trained some more. If Acxa wins, Thace will thank Morty for all his help and cooperation.

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

Character: Shinobu Tsukuyomi | un_oiseau_rebelle
Badge/Gym Leader: Volcano/Blaine
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Tonbo the Flygon,  Tamago the Azumarill, El Diablo Verde the Grapploct (backup)
Battle Details: Merrily we roll along... Shinobu will likely hit Cinnabar Island right before the Halloween event, so he'll barely have time for this.

Magcargo: That 4x weakness to Ground attacks is tragic, especially since Tonbo has no qualms about ruthlessly exploiting it with his plethora of them. Magcargo also can't hit Tonbo's weaknesses and is eleven levels weaker than Tonbo, so it's at a real disadvantage here.

Magmortar: While Tamago does have a slight level advantage over Magmortar (and an even slighter level advantage over Rapidash), that's not his major advantage here. There are actually four other things that are liable to tilt the battle in his favor: his partial Water typing; his Thick Fat ability, which halves any damage he takes from Fire attacks; Rain Dance, which further weakens his opponents' Fire attacks and strengthens his own Water attacks, and the aforementioned Water moves (most notably Surf and Hydro Pump). If he does start to struggle at any point, Tonbo can swap back in to target Magmortar's Ground weakness; alternatively, El Diablo Verde can come in to use Surf on his own, although he lacks the same-type attack bonuses that Tamago and Tonbo enjoy from their respective elemental affinities.

Rapidash: If Tamago is still hanging in there, he'll continue against Rapidash using the same basic strategy; otherwise, either Tonbo or El Diablo Verde will take point here, with Tonbo using Ground attacks - Dig and Earthquake in particular - and El Diablo Verde using Surf (and Topsy-Turvy to reverse any of Rapidash's stat buffs). Tonbo and El Diablo Verde also have greater level advantages than Tamago does - six levels in Tonbo's case and thirteen in El Diablo Verde's - which may aid them as well should they need to enter the battle.

Shinobu, as always, doles out recovery items as needed.

[cyan_maid]

Character: Jane Crocker | cyan_maid
Badge/Gym Leader: Blaine for the Volcano Badge
Elite/Regular: ELITE TEAM
Team: Dinah, Marnie, August, Bettina, Madeline, and Deva (all lv 100)
Battle Details: Blaine is Jane's last badge, and boy, he's got a big storm comin'.

She's not pulling any punches by leading with Marnie the Seaking - Water Veil keeps her from being burned, and tossing up Aqua Ring at the start is an easy slow HP restore as she unleashes Water Pulse, Waterfall, and Surf on her opponents. If she goes down, Madeline the Primarina comes out with Sparkling Aria, Hydro Pump, and Surf to keep up the assault, and Jane is hoping that their combined efforts will be enough to take down Blaine's more defensively sturdy Pokemon like Torkoal, Camerupt, and Magcargo.

Still, she's not going to push them too far, since Pokemon all have their limits.

Houndoom will meet Bettina the Crobat in the pit, and Jane is going to rely on Bettina's speed to get Houndoom poisoned via Poison Fang, and then worn down via Venoshock, which gets a power boost when the opponent is poisoned. Magmortar are known for generally lesser base Defense stats than their Special Defense, so to counter it, Jane will bring out Dinah to push Power-Up Punch, boosting her own Attack stat, and Refresh if she takes on a burn.

As for Rapidash, Jane will lead with August the Delphox, who should be able to tank Rapidash's Fire attacks with ease while dealing out Psychic and Psybeam. If he's about to go down, he'll let out a Future Sight attack and let Deva the Indeedee tap in, and she'll toss up Psychic Terrain and Calm Mind before unleashing Psychic and Psybeam on her own. This is hopefully just enough to get the edge over Blaine.

[cutesneeze]

Character: Catra | cutesneeze
Badge/Gym Leader: Fog/Morty
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Cania (Houndoom, 50), Rogue (Murkrow, 59), Sand (Persian, 60), Nocturne (Liepard, 59)
Battle Details: Cania, Rogue, and Nocturne will come armed with a Persim berry each, Sand will have a Chesto berry

Cania the Houndoom will go out first to face off against Haunter. She'll open with Taunt, then Howl to boost her attack. She'll Bite and Feint Attack and Payback, refreshing Taunt as needed, and will fall back on Foul Play and Beat Up if her PP starts running low for the other moves.

Once Haunter's down, Rogue the Murkrow will switch in to square off against Misdreavus. He'll Taunt to open, then Tailwind to boost his speed. He'll use Dark Pulse, Feint Attack, Payback, and Assurance, and get in a couple Sucker Punches where he can, refreshing Taunt and Tailwind as necessary.

Once Misdreavus goes down, he'll stick around long enough to hit Gengar with a Taunt, refresh Tailwind, then switch out with Sand the Persian.

With Sand, Catra's hoping to take advantage of the combination of his immunity to Ghost-type moves and the fact that despite his normal typing, he has a fair number of Dark-type moves. He won't get STAB with any of them, but it's an experiment. He'll open with Payback to take advantage of the speed boost from Rogue's Tailwind, then make liberal use of Bite, Assurance, and Dark Pulse, weaving in some Taunts to keep Gengar's status effects locked down as much as possible. If he goes down, Catra will send in Nocturne the Liepard to hopefully finish the job.

[indigo_league]

Badge Approved!

[indigo_league]

Badge Approved!

[indigo_league]

Badge Approved!

Go git them E4s, Jane.

[indigo_league]

Badge Approved!

[angewiesen]

Character: Jean Kirstein | angewiesen
Badge/Gym Leader: Volcano Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team:

Battle Details: The Volcano Badge, AKA: The One Where Jean Realizes Most of his Pokemon are Weak to Fire Types.

Because of his unknowing penchant towards Steel and Bug Types, Jean found himself at a bit of an impasse as he made his way to Cinnarbar/Seafoam. His solution? Train the shit out of the Pokemon he did have that at least lacked a weakness to Fire.

To level 100.

Yep. Along with his Gyarados and Lycanroc, that had type advantages, Jean picked the rest of his team simply because they were closest to hitting their maximum level. We're gonna brute force the shit out of this.

The Gyarados comes out first to make quick work of that Magcargo, because being 4x weak to Water is a bitch. Jean plans to battle Finn (Gyarados) until she faints, and then bring in the Lycanroc to try and steal a speedy victory with moves like Accelerock and Stone Edge. If that fails, Jean has his own Rapidash, impervious to Fire with it's Flash Fire ability, sneakily packing Scorching Sands to hit with Ground Type damage. After that, his Pidgeot, Zebstrika and Seviper are just going to have to try their hardest at what they do best, as none of them have a particular advantage against Fire Types.

Badge/Gym Leader: Earth Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team:

Battle Details: This is the battle that Jean has been looking forward to the most, ever since he started and he's done his homework. For this battle, against the first (and only) leader that doesn't keep a monotype team, Jean has a counterpick for each individual Pokemon.

Pinch (Escavalier) is up against Exeggutor. Bug and Steel resists both Grass and Psychic as well as normal (in case of Egg Bomb shenanigans). Bug Type attacks hit for 4x weakness. The combo of Swords Dance and X-Scissor Is particularly deadly here. If Blue tries to stall, Jean will stack buffs until an OHKO is assured.

Machamp is up against Sabre (Gallade). Machamp isn't known for pulling tricks, so Jean plans to attack head-on with Gallade's superior speed. Surprisingly, Machamp's defense is lower than it's special defense, so the main attack Jean will be relying on is Psycho Cut

Chess (Corviknight) will be facing the Rhydon. Any attempts at Earthquake or Fissure will be laughed at. Jean will mainly be attacking with Steel Wing and the tricky Body Press that takes advantage of Corviknight's high defense stat.

See a Gyarados, break out the Electric Types. Jean's starter, Domino (Zebstrika) will take it on. It's not that popular of a Pokemon, so a lot don't realize how insanely speedy it is, hitting close to a 120 base speed stat, which handily outdoes Gyarados. It's main attack will be Discharge, and once it's opponent is in fainting range, Jean will finish with Wild Charge. Since his own Gyarados knows Earthquake as a method of defense against Electric Types, Chess is Jean's second pick against Gyarados, if she's still healthy. Her strongest attack is Brave Bird.

Max (Lycanroc) is up against Pidgeot. He resists both Normal and Flying moves, and hits weakness with Rock Type moves. Accelerock and Stone Edge are Jean's favorite go-tos, but if Pidgeot tries to stall with Roost, Jean will have Max Howl up until an OHKO is possible.

Finally, Finn (Gyarados) is up against Blue's Arcanine. Jean knows an Arcanine is nothing to sneeze at, fast strong and bulky, but he's got nothing but confidence in Finn. He's carefully trained her since she was a little Magikarp, and they have a strong bond. He'll start with Rain Dance to strengthen his own attacks while weakening the Arcanine's, and then using Waterfall, which is both accurate and strong, while taking advantage of Gyarados' insane attack stat.

Hopefully everything goes according to plan!

[epitaffio]

Character: Vinegar Doppio | epitaffio
Badge/Gym Leader: Zephyr/Falkner
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Cristina the Morpeko, Pesci the Gyarados and Reno the Politoed
Battle Details: Both because he's still unused to Pokémon battles and because a certain someone is exceedingly cautious, a type advantage wasn't enough for Doppio to challenge the gym - he made sure to train his Pokémon to a higher level as well, to ensure the scales were firmly tipped in his favour. Cristina has several Electric-type moves, like Spark, and Pesci has Ice Fang, both of which Doppio and Diavolo have found work exceedingly well on wild Flying-types, but if they somehow still end up in a pinch, Reno's Hypnosis might be able to rein in the situation and buy him more time to sweep in peace.

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

Character: Shinobu Tsukuyomi | un_oiseau_rebelle
Badge/Gym Leader: Earth/Blue
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Akari the Chandelure, Kirin the Galarian Rapidash, Midori the Leafeon, Raiju the Luxray,  Arashi the Morpeko, Tamago the Azumarill
Battle Details: Starting off with the harder battle before moving on to the breather round:

Exeggutor: Akari has a few skills that can help her here: Taunt to shut down Exeggutor's status attacks, Confuse Ray to inflict confusion on it, and the ability to hit at least three of its weaknesses (Fire, Ghost, and Bug - which Exeggutor has a 4x weakness to, although Akari won't get STAB damage with Skitter Smack). Akari also happens to be level 91 to Exeggutor's level 65, which isn't going to help the latter either. And if Exeggutor actually makes physical contact, Akari's Flame Body ability may leave it with Burn status on top of everything else. Given all of this, Exeggutor is unlikely to prevail here.

Machamp: Machamp is weak to Flying, Psychic, and Fairy. Kirin can hit two of those. She's also level 88, which may not put her over Machamp in terms of attack strength but will surely help; what will also help is that she takes only 1/4 damage from Fighting attacks. Psychic, Psycho Cut, and Dazzling Gleam are her main damage-dealers, once she's done buffing herself with Agility.  Shinobu will be watching her health carefully, though, because most of what she has is attacks. This may come down to attrition - though if things do get bad, Tamago may come in to Bounce on Machamp a few times, just in case.

Rhydon: Midori - freshly equipped with a Miracle Seed and a Solar Beam TM purchased during Shinobu's initial trip to the Seafoam Islands - will be taking on Rhydon, debuffing it with Sand Attack and Charm and buffing herself with Swords Dance. She also has access to Sunny Day, and she'll use that before laying in with the aforementioned Solar Beam attack. She can also fall back on Leaf Blade, and Giga Drain to top her HP up if need be. Given that Midori is level 95 and Rhydon has a 4x Grass weakness, though, she may not need to.

Gyarados: This is Raiju's fight. She leads off with Electric Terrain to amp her Electric skills, followed by Scary Face to lower Gyarados's speed and Thunder Wave to hopefully paralyze it. She also has Intimidate, which will lower Gyarados's Attack stat, but Gyarados also having Intimidate will affect hers as well, so she's liable to rely more on Discharge and Rising Voltage (both of which run off Special Attack, not Attack) to do the bulk of the damage here. She'll also be using Charge to buff those two attacks even further, doubling the damage dealt and raising her own Special Defense in the process. Raiju is also level 85 to Gyarados's 68, which may also give her an edge.

Pidgeot: Raiju will likely be starting off here as well, with another casting of Electric Terrain, before swapping out for Arashi.  Arashi does have a slight complication in that Aura Wheel is a Dark attack half the time, but the other half of the time it's Electric, and Arashi does have Rising Voltage to fall back on. Arashi also has Taunt, and will be using that to shut down Pidgeot's status moves right off, and buffing itself with Agility. Of course, Arashi is also only level 72, so if it starts to struggle against Pidgeot it will toss off one more Taunt and then make way for Raiju's return - and this time, Raiju won't have to worry about Intimidate, while being able to take full advantage of her own Intimidate ability to depress Pidgeot's attack.

Arcanine: This battle falls to Tamago, who has six levels on Arcanine, partial Water-typing (and thus STAB on all his Water skills), the Thick Fat ability to halve any Fire damage he takes, and Rain Dance to further weaken any Fire damage and boost Tamago's Water damage.  Aqua Ring also enables him to restore 1/16 of his own health per turn, although Shinobu will be watching him carefully anyway. Hydro Pump and Surf are his main offensive tools, although he also has Whirlpool to help him along by trapping Arcanine and draining its HP over successive turns.

Shinobu remains the team's item dispenser.


Badge/Gym Leader: Brock/Boulder
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Mani the Milotic, Myrtille the Azumarill, Aoi the Samurott
Battle Details: This one isn't so much about strategy as it is trying not to curb-stomp Brock's pokemon too hard.

Rhyhorn: A 4x weakness to Water is not great for Rhyhorn, especially as most of Shinobu's Water pokemon are at least twenty levels above it. The one exception is Mani the Milotic, who is actually two levels below Rhyhorn but still has a type advantage and STAB for his Water skills, plus Aqua Ring and Life Dew to keep himself healthy and Whirlpool to trap Rhyhorn and drain its HP. That said, Shinobu is still going to be watching Mani's health carefully, and will be swapping in Myrtille if it looks like Mani can't keep up. Unfortunately for Rhyhorn, Myrtille is a partial Water-type with STAB on all her Water moves. Also, she's level 50. So that's going to be even less great for Rhyhorn.

Golem: The good news is that Golem doesn't have a 4x weakness to Water. The bad news is that it's still only level 32 to Myrtille's 50 and its special defense stat is kind of terrible... and Myrtille has Surf. That's probably going to hurt.

Onix: Onix, sadly, does have a 4x weakness to water and is only level 35 to boot. It'll have to get very lucky to take down Myrtille and even if that happens, Aoi the Samurott is next in line. Aoi is also Water-type and has STAB for her Water skills, and is level 58. And has Surf.

Shinobu will still be dispensing items as needed.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved x2

[indigo_league]

Badge approved x2