Badge Requests

[indigo_league]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

「 NAVIGATION 」

Comments

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

No, I figured. It's just that that's why I ended up posting both of them as close together as they were. I'm really sorry about that.

And hey, Shinobu and team got a week off, kind of!

[braveloyalhugs]

Character: Scoepia | braveloyalhugs
Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner, Sephyr
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: LINK TO POKEMON ROSTER Blackie (Boltund), Emily (Drapion), little Frosta (Eiscue), Millie (Miltank) all level 56
Battle Details:
Scorpia's brought only four Pokemon to this match, mostly because she feels kind of bad that her team got really over-leveled before she had free time to get to Violet. She brings a collection of potions and at least one healing item per status effect but not much else.

Vs. Noctowl, Honchkrow, Pidgeot
And really, her strategy for the birds is exactly the same for each one:
--Emily is setup, here to hit the bird with Toxic, Venoshock, and then leave the field for Blackie, who's the star of the team today.
--Blackie is here to play, by which we mean, Electric Terrain, Charge, Wild Charge and then Charge+Spark combos while she runs around like the hyperactive dog she is.
--if Blackie needs a break, little Frosta is here to set up Hail and then Freeze Dry the poor poisoned and lightning-struck birds out of the sky.
--if both Blackie and Frosta are tired out, Millie comes in to Defense Curl, Rollout up the walls, and then finish things off with some Thunder Punches.
--and if somehow the whole rest of the team is exhausted (most likely cause is that Scorpia doesn't have any PP restoring items and Roost is a thing) Emily will come back in and Thunder Fang and/or Venoshock the poor poisoned, shocked, iced and then rocked birds into a faint.

Badge/Gym Leader: Morty, Fog
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: LINK TO POKEMON ROSTER Millie (Miltank), Emily (Drapion), little Kyle (Persian), little Rogelio (Donphan), little Perfuma (Bellossom), Blackie (Boltund) all level 56
Battle Details:
Scorpia totally asked the Ghost trainer(s) she knows for tips, so she's hopefully not going to make multiple oopses this time. She has brought so many Awakenings in addition to her potions and such.

Vs. Haunter
--Scorpia knows that poison doesn't work well on ghosts, so instead of her usual set-up Pokemon, she sends in little Perfuma: Grassy Terrain to give her team a healing boost until it fades, Sleep Powder, and then a Petal Blizzard
--Emily comes in, Hone Claws, and then Crunch away! If she needs a Potion or Awakening she'll switch out for a while.
--little Kyle comes in to Screech, Taunt (if the target is awake), and Bite until he's getting low on health or statused, then he'll take his turn getting some healing.
--If Haunter is still around, Emily will come back in with Hone Claws and Crunch.
--if Emily needs to be spelled a second time, Millie will come in and Zen Headbutt away, with Heal Bell and Milk Drink to keep her in longer. She's only switching back out in the case of Sleep or Haunter fainting, really.

Vs. Misdreavus
--little Perfuma comes back in to set up her Grassy Terrain and Sleep Powder! Then she'll Petal Blizzard and Giga Drain until Grassy Terrain fades. If Misdreavus tries to Mean Look or Perish Song her, she'll just hit with Sleep Powder again until it sticks (Mean Look only) and continue her grass assault with fresh Grassy Terrain and Petal Blizzards and Giga Drains. (and continue with the same with Gengar until she faints)
--Assuming little Perfuma switches out, Emily has been healed up completely during the longer break, and is back in to Taunt, Hone Claws and Crunch with a few Night Slashes to hopefully make use of her Sniper ability. If Emily needs items, or is hit with Perish Song because Taunt wore off at a bad time, she'll switch out.
--if Emily needs to switch out, Blackie comes in to Nuzzle, Bite and Crunch, all the while running around like the little bottomless fount of energy she is. Should she get tired before Misdreavus goes down, she'll be called to switch out.
--Emily will come back in after Blackie does her thing, if she is able to, and repeat her above strategy.
--if Emily can't do her thing or needs to be spelled a second time, little Kyle will come back in to do his thing with Taunt, and Bite
--if Misdreavus is somehow still not fainted, Millie will use the tried and true Defense Curl + Rollout Combo.

Vs. Gengar
--little Perfuma is probably exhausted by this point, if not fainted, so when Scorpia reaches back for another Pokeball, does she have a backup setup Pokemon? Nope. It's little Rogelio the Donphan, ready to take full advantage of Gengar's vulnerability to ground. Is this a possible oops because some previous generation older Gengar were able to levitate? Yeah, but if it's not an oops, Rogelio will pulverise Gengar with STAB Bulldoze and Earthquake and Magnitude if necessary.
--if Gengar has Levitate: obviously the first ground move will fail miserably, so Rogelio will switch to Knock Off and Assurance (which is also on tap if Cursed Body and Spite take away his PP for ground moves)
--while Rogelio is battling, Millie is being healed. If Levitate is a thing, she'll just go the old Defense Curl and Rollout, but otherwise it's Defense Curl and High Horsepower. (definitely with a bit of Heal Bell and Milk Drink in there)
--if those two aren't enough to take Gengar down, any of Scorpia's non-fainted Pokemon will hop back in with their previous strategies. If they're out of PP for the super effective moves, Emily will switch to Thunder Fang (followed by the other two Fang moves), Kyle will switch to Power Gem, and Blackie will switch to her STAB electric moves and Electric Terrain.

[goldeneyeball]

Character: JW | goldeneyeball
Badge/Gym Leader: Violet City
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: he only has three pokemon
Battle Details:

JW was so nervous about the match that Jack lent him some of the good poke'kush. His temper will not flare up during this battle at all. While he won't be making snap, emotion-charged decisions if things start to go poorly, his commands may come more slowly.

Psyduck is his MVP. She has been loaded up with Ice Beam and has been target training on the various Pidove around Goldenrod where they've been bunking. JW has also been focusing on training up her Confusion ability so he plans on opening with that. Anything that can make the opponent miss a turn.

Killer will be swapped in if JW needs to heal up Psyduck at any point. JW will be relying on his Bite to make Faulkner's bird's flinch and buy him a little time. Killer has no real opinion on birds, so his attacks will have a normal amount of effort.

Hot Stuff will only be brought out as a last-ditch effort. JW is reluctant to use her since she is bug-type.

All three Pokemon have Attract and JW will attempt to use it at least once because he's curious about the move in higher-stakes battles.

[copykiri]

Character: Kiri | copykiri
Badge/Gym Leader: Falkner, Zephyr
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: LINK TO POKEMON ROSTER Trumbeak 42, Spearow 44, Skarmory 45, Chatot 32, Spritzee 39, Wingull 28
Battle Details:
So, the thing is, Kiri has a perfectly good Voltorb that she could probably sweep Falkner's team with. She's decided to use her birds instead nobody tell her that Spritzee is a fairy that just looks like a bird to prove that she's worthy of her Pokemon-world role model! She'll be wearing her feathered headband and costume wings (with real Pokemon feathers!) and accompanied by her Chatot. She'll mostly mimic Pokemon cries and use a man's voice for the occasional attack call out, with Chatot either translating, or the one actually giving the orders here. Kiri's prize money helped her get some additional potions and status effect heal sprays for this match.

Vs. Noctowl
--Trumbeak (after another little scuffle with Spearow) comes in and leads with Supersonic! Then Screech, and Rock Blast. Because his ability is Skill Link, it will always hit five times unless one of the hits misses. Should Noctowl get a Reflect up, Trumbeak will switch to Echoed Voice which won't be reduced by reflect and will get stronger each use. Trumbeak will Roost if his health is getting low.
-- if Trumbeak is forced to retreat, Spearow will come in. She'll go with Focus Energy + Drill Peck combos and also use Roost if she needs to. If she's struggling, she'll end up evolving out of desperation (because two can play at that game, cheating Trumbeak!) and the significant boost in her stats should help out a lot.
--if Spearow isn't able to take down Noctowl either, Skarmory will come in. She'll spend a couple Sand-Attacks soaking up damage in order to make Noctowl miss more often, and then go at it with Drill Peck. Maybe an Agility if her low speed is causing any significant problem.

Vs. Honchkrow
--Spritzee comes in! Spritzee can kick the tailfeathers of Kiri's Murkrow, and will lead with Sweet Kiss, Charm, Attract (if Honchkrow is male), Sweet Scent (if Honchkrow hasn't landed many hits yet), and then finally Misty Terrain, Calm Mind, and Moonblast a few times.
--if that's not enough, Spearow will scuffle with Trumbeak over getting to come in as backup. She will Agility herself and then Focus Energy and Drill Peck away. Roost is available for HP recovery, and if she's really struggling, she'll evolve (see above)
--If that's not enough, or Spearow and Trumbeak are both in bad condition and can't come in, Skarmory will come in with a repeat of her strategy against Noctowl.

Vs. Pidgeot
Most likely scenario, Noctowl and Honchkrow go down fairly quickly, needing only one backup, if any at all. If that's not the case, most healthy of the battle trio (Trumbeak, Spearow/Fearow, Skarmory) will lead up the assault followed by second healthiest etc.
--if the above assumption is true, Spearow/Fearow will scuffle with Trumbeak to have dibs on fighting. She'll use Agility and then a bunch of Focus Energy and Drill Peck, with some Roost for healing. If she hasn't evolved already due to difficulty, she almost certainly will against Pidgeot. And she probably won't be able to do it on her own regardless.
--Trumbeak takes the stage after Spearow/Fearow, because of course he will. His rival has laid down the challenge! His indignation will lead him to go all out and also lay aside his better judgement, so he'll evolve again! To Toucannon. He'll Screech and use up the last of his Rock Blast PP, and even try out his new attack Beak Blast a time or two.
--if Spearow/Fearow and Trumbeak/Toucannon can't get it done, Skarmory will come in with Agility, Autotomise, a couple Sand Attacks and then spam Drill Peck and Steel Wing until Pidgeot goes down or she needs to retreat.
--if she needs to retreat (or Pidgeot uses Whirlwind and it drags one of the others not mentioned above in) this is what each of the others will do in battle:
----Chatot will lead with Taunt and Sing, and then Chatter away.
----Spritzee will Misty Terrain, Charm, and then Moonblast for as long as she can hold out. (if she gets a chance she might use Attract or Sweet Scent too, but unlikely she will get a chance)
----Wingull will lead with Rain Dance. She's underleveled, but her Ability heals her in rain, and combined with Roost might let her get off a couple of Ice Beams. She has Rest in case of emergencies too.

Win or lose, Kiri is going to freak out a bit at her Pokemon evolving again. Two of them in the same day! It's clearly not a fluke or some rare magic and this is not how birds work!!! She'll mimic their previous evolution cries at them, all confused and upset, and it will probably take someone explaining that almost all Pokemon do it as part of growing up to make her feel better.

Once that little bit of drama is handled, if Kiri has won, she'll collect her badge, very very proud of herself! She'll even mimic the welcome that Falkner gives for his shows and wave a pamphlet at him. She might well be Falkner's biggest fan among the otherworlders right now.

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

Character: Shinobu Tsukuyomi | un_oiseau_rebelle
Badge/Gym Leader: Rising/Claire
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Hotaru the Jolteon, Mochi the Mimikyu, Fuyu the Aurorus (backup)
Battle Details: This is another battle where Shinobu's team is too overpowered for the regular team but too underpowered for the elite team. Alas. Shinobu also still has the benefit of his Snorunt Fortune, which gives any move with the potential to leave a status effect on an opponent a 50% greater chance of doing so, but that may not come into play here outside of the Gyarados fight.

Gyarados: At level 62 to Gyarados's level 65, Hotaru is slightly underleveled, but she makes up for it by having Thunder Shock (10% chance of inflicting paralysis), Thunder Fang (ditto), Thunderbolt (same), Thunder (ibid), Discharge (30% chance of paralysis), and Thunder Wave (90% chance).  For variety, she also has Pin Missile, which can hit Gyarados's Bug weakness, but Electric attacks give her STAB, so that's what she's going to use for the bulk of this fight. She also has Sand Attack to lower Gyarados's accuracy and Agility to up her own speed, and she'll be using those between whichever variation on thunder she's using at the moment. Shinobu will naturally be keeping an eye on her health given the slight level disadvantage, but Hotaru should have enough points in her favor to make up for that by herself.

Kingdra: Hotaru is sadly the only pokemon who is even remotely within the level range of Claire's dragons, which is why poor Kingdra gets to face Mochi, who is level 96 and has no weaknesses that Kingdra can hit. Mochi will start off with Taunt, and then continue to make Kingdra's life miserable with Play Rough and Draining Kiss (which has the added insult of stealing Kingdra's health to shore up Mochi's). It's... probably not going to be pretty. 

Dragonite: Mochi will be staying in for this battle too, since he's got 26 levels on Dragonite and will probably employ much the same strategy they used with Kingdra: Taunt, Play Rough, and Draining Kiss. It doesn't help that Dragonite can't hit either of Mochi's weaknesses either, and its Normal attacks won't hit at all. That said, it's still possible that Dragonite can take Mochi down, in which case they'll be spelled by Fuyu until Shinobu can get them back up and running again. Fuyu does have the disadvantage of being weak to Water, but she's also level 100 and could in theory hit Dragonite's Ice and Rock weaknesses very hard. Luckily for Dragonite, she's just there to act as a wall until Shinobu's able to revive and heal up Mochi. But she totally could.

Shinobu will be playing item caddy for the duration of the battle.

Badge/Gym Leader: Glacier/Pryce
Elite/Regular: Elite
Team: Akari the Chandelure, El Diablo Verde the Grapploct, Raiju the Luxray,  Kanchou the Empoleon,  Murasaki the Salazzle
Battle Details: Shinobu still has his Snorunt Fortune, which gives any move with the potential to leave a status effect on an opponent a 50% greater chance of doing so. It'll probably be more helpful here than in the previous challenge.

Abomasnow: The first thing Akari is going to do when the battle starts is cast Taunt to shut off Abomasnow's access to status moves. The second is to cast Sunny Day in hopes of getting rid of that pesky hail. And the third is to unload on Abomasnow with Flamethrower, Fire Spin, and maybe Burning Jealousy to finish things off. That 4x Fire weakness of Abomasnow's really is a pity. (If Abomasnow does manage to get a hit in on her, Akari's Flame Body ability may add insult to injury by inflicting it with Burn on top of all this, which won't help it either.)

Dewgong: Dewgong being a partial Water type presents a problem for Akari, so El Diablo Verde will be spelling them, immediately casting Taunt and then attempting to take advantage of Dewgong's weakness to Fighting with Drain Punch, Brick Break, Rock Smash (which also has a 50% chance of lowering Dewgong's Defense, which is also nice), and possibly Reversal. Sheer Cold could present a problem if it hits, of course, so if Dewgong gets lucky, El Diablo Verde will be spelled by Raiju, who lacks Taunt but can still hit Dewgong's Electricity weakness hard - moreso if she uses Electric Terrain first, and even moreso if any of her Electric moves manage to paralyze Dewgong too.

Glalie: Kanchou takes point here, to take advantage of Glalie's weakness to Steel, via Metal Claw (which has a 10% chance of raising Kanchou's own Attack stat) and Flash Cannon (which has a 10% chance of lowering Glalie's Special Defense stat). Once Glalie's HP is down below 50%, Kanchou will switch to Brine, which Glalie is not weak to per se, but which does double damage when the target is below half-HP... and which Kanchou as a partial Water-type gets STAB for. If Glalie's Sheer Cold manages to down Kanchou, Akari will switch in and use the Taunt-Sunny Day-Fire strategy until Shinobu can get Kanchou up and running again.

Froslass: On the plus side, Froslass does not have Sheer Cold. She does, however, have Destiny Bond, and Murasaki's first order of business is to slap her with Taunt to prevent her from using it.  After that, she'll try to poison Froslass with Toxic (85% accuracy) and then pummel her with Fire Lash and Flamethrower. Hex is a potential problem should Froslass manage to freeze her; if that happens, and Shinobu can't get an Ice Heal out in time, then Akari will swap in again, continuing to keep Froslass's status moves locked down and pouring on damage with Fire and Ghost attacks. Shinobu isn't going to want to keep Akari in for long, though, since like Froslass, Akari is also weak to Ghost and Dark; he'll prioritize healing Murasaki back up so they can switch again.

Mamoswine: Mamoswine has a lot of HP. That's not great. So Murasaki is going to take point here too, casting Taunt, then Toxic. The danger for Murasaki is that Mamoswine also has Rock and Ground attacks, and those hit her hard, so at the first sign of trouble Kanchou will be swapping back in. Kanchou does have a weakness to Ground, and Shinobu will be watching his health carefully, but Mamoswine is weak to both Steel and Water as well, and if Toxic is still active, it won't take that long before Mamoswine is below 50% health - which means Kanchou can break out Brine again, and an attack strength of 130 plus Mamoswine's weakness plus Kanchou's STAB do not add up in Mamoswine's favor.

Walrein: This battle goes to Raiju, who doesn't have Taunt but does have a variety of Electric moves, plus Electric Terrain to strengthen them. Once Electric Terrain is in place, Raiju will first use Thunder Wave to inflict paralysis (90% chance) and then switch to Rising Voltage to take advantage of its now-doubled attack and tear through as much of Walrein's health as possible as quickly as possible. Walrein does have Sheer Cold, which is a potential problem; if it uses it and manages to hit Raiju, El Diablo Verde will come back in and use Drain Punch, Brick Break et al to hit Walrein's Fighting weakness while Shinobu heals Raiju back up to send her back in. Raiju having Intimidate to lower Walrein's attack may also help here, and if El Diablo Verde does have to swap in, he's got Topsy-Turvy to reverse any stat boosts Walrein's given itself and Taunt to shut down its status moves.

Shinobu will still be on item duty, and watching his pokemons' health very carefully.

[cutesneeze]

Character: Catra | cutesneeze
Badge/Gym Leader: Storm/Chuck
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Felix (Meowstic, 54), Nix (Talonflame, 64), Gourdina (Pumpkaboo, 58), Floret (Gogoat, 57)
Battle Details:
Felix the Meowstic will square off against Hitmonlee, and will open with Role Play in case Hitmonlee has Reckless, and will follow up with a charm or two to lower Hitmonlee's attack. He'll then use Psybeam and Confusion in hopes of applying the confusion status, before switching to Psychic and Psyshock, throwing in a Psybeam or Confusion every few moves for the confusion status chance.

If he isn't in too rough shape once Hitmonlee is down, Felix will stay out long enough to use Role Play and Charm on Hitmonchan, then switch out with Nix the Talonflame. Nix will start out with Tailwind to boost his speed, then use Ember in hopes of triggering the burn chance, then Brave Bird. After that, he'll cycle through Peck, Acrobatics, and Aerial Ace. If his health drops too low, he'll Roost to heal up.

Once Hitmonchan is down, Nix will drop out and Gourdina the Pumpkaboo will switch in to face Poliwrath. She'll open by applying Leech Seed, then Scary Face to slow Poliwrath down. She'll cycle through Seed Bomb, Bullet Seed, and Razor Leaf, throwing in the occasional Astonish in hopes of getting that Flinch chance to go off.

If Gourdina goes down, Floret the Gogoat will come in to mop up with Leaf Blade and Seed Bomb, applying Horn Leech if he needs to top up his health.


Character: Catra | cutesneeze
Badge/Gym Leader: Mineral/Jasmine
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Poly (Electrode, 59), Lonnie (Pyroar, 66), Cania (Houndoom, 68), Huntara (Machoke, 64)
Battle Details:

Poly will open against Skarmory, both to take advantage of that Electric type weakness, and because its Static ability will potentially come in handy - can't be hurt by something you've paralyzed. It will open with Screech to drop Skarmory's defense, then Charge Beam in hopes of raising its Special Attack, then make liberal use of Electro Ball to take advantage of the speed difference between it and Skarmory, and Spark and Discharge for more paralysis chance.

Once Skarmory is down, Poly will stay out to apply Eerie Impulse and Screech on Magneton, then self-detonate with Explosion on the way out. Lonnie the Pyroar will come in, starting out with Noble Roar to lower Magneton's attack and special attack, and Work Up to raise her own attack and special attack. She'll make liberal use of Flamethrower, Fire Fang, and Ember to take advantage of Magneton's Fire type weakness, with the occasional Crunch in hopes of provoking a flinch even if it's not an effective damage dealer due to Magneton's Normal-type resistance.

Once Magneton is down, if Lonnie is still up, she'll use Sunny Day to boost the effectiveness of Fire type moves, then use the Overheat she's been saving to take off a chunk of Steelix's health. She'll then switch out and let Cania the Houndoom take her place. Cania will Taunt to minimize the number of status moves Steelix can get off. She'll then use Foul Play to turn Steelix's own high attack stat against it, then cycle through Flamethrower, Fire Fang, and Ember, with Crunch thrown in occasionally for the flinch chance, and Taunt reapplied as necessary.

If Cania goes down, Huntara the Machoke will come in, starting out with Bulk Up and Focus Energy. She'll attack with Dynamic Punch to inflict confusion, then make liberal use of Low Kick to take advantage of its increased effectiveness given Steelix's weight, interspersing Cross Chop, Vital Throw, and Low Sweep, and repeating Dynamic Punch as necessary to reapply confusion.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

[indigo_league]

Badge Approved x2!

[indigo_league]

Badge approved but only with the knowledge that Attract hit Murkrow hard and everybody had to watch it perform a mating dance for JW's Sizzlipede for an uncomfortably long time.

[indigo_league]

Badge approved!

Falkner will be very taken (if not slightly weirded out) by Kiri's display of fan love. He'll sign her pamphlet if she wants. And does she want to meet the rest of his birds? There is probably lots of feathers to collect from them if she wants.

[indigo_league]

Badge approvedx2!

[indigo_league]

Badge approved x2!

Also, it didn't factor into Catra's win this time, but we wanted to point out that Crunch is a dark-type move (so it actually deals regular damage to Magneton!) and it has a chance of lowering a pokemon's special defence rather than make it flinch. For flinching, Catra will want to use bite next time!

Or, well, she'll want to make her pokemon use it. Though if Catra would use bite herself, that certainly would stun everybody...

[insidegalra]

Character: Thace | insidegalra
Badge/Gym Leader: Blue, Earth
Elite/Regular: ELITE TEAM
Team: LINK (all lv 100) Vrezat (Toxapex), Acxa (Alola Ninetails), Kodra (Bisharp), Ankuyr (Falinks), Pevox (Gardevoir), Vruli (Exploud)
Battle Details:
Held Items: (in team order as above): Poison Barb, Never-Melt Ice, Miracle Seed, Black Belt, Twisted Spoon, Quick Claw
Thace is stocking up on extra everything he can think of in regards to berries and healing supplies. Because Vrig isn’t with him, he doesn’t have the sling, and is visibly uncomfortable with her absence. Vruli the super tiny Exploud is leading the way this time. She’s determined to finish off at least one of Blue’s Pokemon (see her entry at the very bottom).

Vs Venosaur
—Setup: Vrezat uses Toxic, Gastro Acid and then switch out. (healed while out)

—Battler: Acxa-after their HA activates, spam super accurate Laser Focused Blizzards. Switch for healing. (if Blastoise, Charizard or Tyranitar is switched in on her: Solar Beam, Aqua Tail, or Moonblast. Then Switch and heal, and wait for Venusaur to get sent back in.)

—Backup prime: Vruli-Taunt, Howl, Screech, Sunny Day and some Fire Punches. If she needs healing, Rest and then Sleep Talk/Snore until she wakes up.

—backup’s backup: Pevox- Hypnosis (repeat til it sticks), and then spam his super effective attacks (Psychic/Future Sight) refresh Hypnosis as necessary. Switch with tert backup as soon as HP below 1/2.

—Tertiary backup: Kodra- Taunt, Laser Focus + Aerial Ace combos
—Healstall: See Pevox below

Vs Blastoise
—Setup: Vrezat uses Toxic, Gastro Acid, Toxic Spikes, Venoshock if good on HP. Switch for healing

—Battler: Kodra- Taunt, (Sandstorm if Rainy Day is a thing) Metal Sound, Laser Focus, Grass Knot. Repeat. Switch if healing is necessary. (if Charizard, Tyranitar or Jolteon are sent in: Rock Tomb, Iron Head, or Dig respectively, then switch and wait for Blastoise to be sent back in)

—Backup prime: Vruli- Taunt, Howl, Screech, Sunny Day and Solar Beam. If she needs healing, Rest and then Sleep Talk/Snore until she wakes up.

—backup’s backup: Pevox- Hypnosis, and then spam his super effective attacks (Thunderbolt) refresh Hypnosis as necessary. Switch with tert backup as soon as HP below 1/2.

—Tertiary backup: Acxa- rely on higher speed to get a Substitute up in time to tank the first Flash Cannon from Blastoise. Then Disable! Nasty Plot, Dazzling Gleam until Hail wears off, then Solar Beam.
—Healstall: See Pevox below


Vs Charizard
—Battler: Vrezat starts with Toxic Spikes. Surf. (Toxic, if Charizard isn’t poisoned. Gastro Acid if it is), Venoshock. Surf. Switch when HP is low, come back in after healing and repeat.

—Backup prime: Vruli- Taunt, Howl, Screech, Smack Down just for funzies, and then Whirlpool, Surf and Earthquake. If she needs healing, Rest and then Sleep Talk/Snore until she wakes up.

—backup’s backup: Pevox- Hypnosis, and then spam his super effective attacks (Thunderbolt) refresh Hypnosis as necessary. Switch with tert backup as soon as HP below 1/2.

—Tertiary backup: Kodra- Rain Dance, Rock Tomb, Rock Tomb.
—Healstall: See Pevox below

Vs Tyranitar
—Setup: Vrezat uses Toxic Spikes (if Blastoise used Rapid Spin), Venoshock if HP is okay. Switch for Healing.

—Battler: Ankuyr-Bulk Up, Bulk Up, Close Combat, Close Combat (probably needing a switch for healing) repeat.

—Backup prime: Vruli- Taunt, Howl, Screech, Rain Dance, Surf, and Brick Break. If she needs healing, Rest and then Sleep Talk/Snore until she wakes up.

—backup’s backup: Pevox- Hypnosis, and then spam his super effective attacks (Moonblast) refresh Hypnosis as necessary. Switch with tert backup as soon as HP below 1/2.

—Tertiary backup: Vrezat- Rain Dance, Surf, Surf, Surf (maybe a Baneful Bunker or two)
—Healstall: See Pevox below

Vs Pidgeot
—Setup: Vrezat- unless Pidgeot is sent out early/out of order, it should be badly poisoned on switching in, so Venoshock, Venoshock again if HP is okay. Switch for healing. (if two levels of Toxic Spikes aren’t set, do that first)

—Battler: Acxa-same strategy: her HA makes for deadly Laser Focused Blizzards. switch for healing (if Blastoise, Charizard or Tyranitar is switched in on her: Solar Beam, Aqua Tail, or Moonblast. Then Switch and heal, and wait for Pidgeot to get sent back in.)

—Backup prime: Vruli- Taunt, Howl, Screech, Smack Down for funzies, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch. If she needs healing, Rest and then Sleep Talk/Snore until she wakes up.

—backup’s backup: Pevox- Hypnosis (repeat til it sticks), and then spam his super effective attacks (Thunderbolt) refresh Hypnosis as necessary. Switch with tert backup as soon as HP below 1/2.

—Tertiary backup: Kodra- Taunt, Laser Focus + Rock Tomb combos
—Healstall: See Pevox below

Vs Jolteon
—Setup: Vrezat- if two levels of Toxic spikes aren’t set (ie Jolteon is out of order/early) do one. Otherwise Venoshock until HP is getting iffy and switch for healing.

—Battler: Pevox- Future Sight, Hypnosis, Calm Mind, Mud-Slap. Repeat. Life Dew or Wish for Healing, refresh Hypnosis as necessary (due to Trace, Pevox will probably end up limiting Jolteon to normal only attacks due to Jolteon's only normal ability being Volt Absorb)

—Backup prime: Acxa- mix Blizzards (for freeze chance) with Dig (for super effective)

—backup’s backup: Vruli- Taunt, Howl, Screech, Supersonic, Mud-slap, Mud-slap, Earthquake. If she needs healing, Rest and then Sleep Talk/Snore until she wakes up.

—Tertiary backup: Kodra- Dig, Dig, Dig!
—Healstall: See Vruli below


Emergency Backup: (if any battle goes past tertiary backup)
— Ankuyr- Bulk Up and Close Combat, except throw in Iron Defense to last longer and Reversal on account of probably having lower HP due to super effectives, or throw in the moves they do know (Zen Headbutt, Rock Tomb)

Primary Healstall:
— Pevox: come in and lay down Taunt, Wish, or 1 turn of his super effective attacks (Psychic/Future Sight, Thunderbolt, Moonblast). Pevox has Trace as an ability, but it probably won't make a big difference while he's playing healstall?

Finisher/Secondary healstall: Vruli
—She is (almost) the region’s smallest Exploud, and she’s going to fuck someone up, so even if she isn’t needed as backup, she’ll probably end up switched in to lay finishing blows on somebody. Because she is Thace’s baby darling, all grown up, and a little spoiled.
—As Finisher:
——Vs Venusaur: Sunny Day and some Fire Punches
——Vs Blastoise: Sunny Day and Solar Beam
——Vs Charizard: Smack Down just for funzies, and then Whirlpool, Surf and Earthquake
——Vs Tyranitar: Rain Dance, Surf, and Brick Break
——Vs Pidgeot: Smack Down for funzies, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch
——Vs Jolteon: Supersonic, Mud-slap, Mud-slap, Earthquake
—Healstall: Uses one of the super effective attacks above and hops back out.

[fingersandteeth]

Character: Steven Durante | fingersandteeth
Badge/Gym Leader: let's screw up Blue
Elite/Regular: ELITE!?!?!
Team: William-the-Bloody (Swoobat 100), Fangorn (Phantump 100), Fail Whale (Wailord 100), El Diablo Verde (Hawlucha 100), Piltdown (Dracozolt 100), and Iron Giant (Golurk 100)
Battle Details: This is Steven's first ever elite match, mostly because he's a practical man who really doesn't care if he's conspicuously overleveled for a gym, as long as he gets the badge he wants. However, if he wants to get those vacation tickets, he needs to play with the big boys, so here he is. It'll be good practice for the Elite Four anyway.

Steven did his research for this gym ahead of time, which is why he's matched up each of Blue's pokemon with one from his team to be its primary opponent. Assume that if they switch out, Steven does a switch as well to the designated opponent. We'll go with the order listed on the badge profile.

SO. Venusaur's opponent is William-the-Bloody, Steven's Swoobat and one of his starters! Yes, his Swoobat, rather than one of his Fire-types. RIP to Blue, but he's different. Besides, Venusaur is weak to both William's typings (Flying and Psychic) and none of its attacks are things William is vulnerable to. Anyway, William's had one main strategy since his first battle and that's to Fly, Fly, Fly and avoid being hit, so that's still what he's doing, but now that he's got Taunt, he'll be using that at the start of the battle and whenever it wears off to prevent status moves. Maybe he'll throw some Psychics in for variety.

Blastoise's opponent is Fangorn, Steven's Phantump. Fangorn is an old hand at Water enemies and his Grass/Ghost typing means that Blastoise's Normal attacks can't hit it and his Water attacks only do half-damage. Sure, the Steel ones do normal damage and Fangorn really needs to look out for that Bite, but otherwise he's doing pretty good. Anyway, he'll start with Ingrain both to control the field of battle and to make sure he's got a steady supply of low-level HP Drain, then alternating Wood Hammer and Horn Leech depending on how much HP Fangorn himself has. (When he's high he'll Hammer, when he's low he'll Leech.) If it looks like Blastoise is going to finish him off, he'll throw up a quick Destiny Bond to take him down with him.

Charizard's opponent is Fail Whale, Steven's lovable asshole of a Wailord, and he's going to start things off by hitting it with his Water Spout and trapping it in a Whirlpool at which point he'll... start throwing rocks at Charizard? No seriously, he's got Rock Tomb for a TM and Charizard really hates rocks, being double vulnerable to them. It'll reduce his speed too, which is always nice. Fail Whale will probably do a bit of Surfing, which is also nice.

Tyranitar's opponent is El Diablo Verde, Steven's Hawlucha, who's wearing a pair of Go-Goggles to protect his eyes (and HP) from Tyranitar's auto Sandstorm. Do these work on Pokemon? Unknown, but they were on the item page and it said they protect against Sandstorms, so we're going with this. Anyway, El Diablo burst onto the scene with a Flying Press, then does a frantic Sword Dance while Tyranitar is picking itself up from the ground. He'll Roost if it looks like he's going low on hitpoints and otherwise just fucking goes at Tyranitar with Rock Smashing punches and Low Sweeps to reduce its defense while simultaneously fucking him up.

Pidgeot's opponent is Piltdown, Steven's terrible chimera of a Dracozolt. Honestly, he'd rather use Charlotte for this, but she's half bug, which is not good when facing birds. Anyway, Thunder Shock to start everything off, then alternating Charge and Discharge to fry Pidgeot in due time.

Finally, Jolteon's opponent is Iron Giant, Steven's Golurk, who he notably used against Lt Surge back in December. Anyway, Iron Giant Mud Slaps to fuck up Jolteon's accuracy, then uses Dig to burrow underground to avoid being hit (because while Jolteon only has two attacks he's not immune to, one of them is super effective) and pop back up to smack it in the face. There may be some Earthquakes happening too! Possibly he'll fling himself around with High Horsepower and throw a Stomping Tantrum if he misses.

Fangorn, El Diablo, Piltdown and Iron Giant all have opponents with one or two attacks that are super effective against them, so there's a chance they might go down in the process of all this without taking their opponent with them. If that happens, one of the others will spell them out long enough to revive and heal up so they can go back in again. Steven's got a good stock of Revives and Hyper Potions on hand.

Fangorn's substitute is Piltdown, whose Electric attacks are strong against water. El Diablo could either have Fangorn or Fail Whale playing substitute, depending on who's got the most remaining hitpoints. Piltdown's substute, meanwhile, is Fail Whale, whose has those Rock and Ice TM attacks that will come in handy against Pidgeot. And Iron Giant's substitute is also Piltdown, whose Volt Absorb means Jolteon's Electric attacks will just heal him if they land.

Hopefully this should be enough to beat Blue and get Steven his boat tickets because hoo boy does he want the option of going on that cruise someday. And also, you know, he def wants to be let into Victory Road in time.

[cutesneeze]

Jesus, that's embarrassing. THIS IS WHY HAVING LIKE 100 TABS OPEN IS BAD, KIDS. You forget what info was from which one.

[un_oiseau_rebelle]

Character: Shinobu Tsukuyomi | un_oiseau_rebelle
Badge/Gym Leader: Zephyr/Falkner
Elite/Regular: Elite Team
Team: Fuyu the Aurorus, Mochi the Mimikyu (holding a Leppa Berry), Hanami the Boltund, Arashi the Morpeko, Raiju the Luxray , Akari the Chandelure (backup)
Battle Details: In which Shinobu's team squeezes in one last gym battle before the month ends and his Snorunt fortune runs out.

Pidgeot: Fuyu starts this one off with Hail to chip at Pidgeot's HP via weather effects, then switches to Ice attacks (and Ice-imbued Normal attacks, courtesy of her Refrigerate ability) to hammer at Pidgeot's Ice weakness... and, if she's very lucky, freeze Pidgeot solid, although the chances of this are relatively low (10% without the Snorunt status effect bonus). Also working in Fuyu's favor is her resistance to Flying-type moves and her possession of the Mist skill, which she can use to counter Pidgeot's accuracy-lowering Sand Attack. She also has Thunder Wave, and she'll use that to attempt to paralyze Pidgeot early on, since that has a 90% chance of success. Encore can also be used that to lock Pidgeot into less harmful moves if need be. Pidgeot does have a speed advantage, so Shinobu will be watching her health carefully, but the fact that so many of Pidgeot's moves are Flying-type helps quite a bit.

Dodrio: At level 98, Mochi is slightly underleved for this fight, but makes up for that by being straight-up immune to all but four of Dodrio's attacks. In addition, they've received a couple of new gifts just for this fight: Thunder Wave and Thunderbolt. So Mochi can shut down Dodrio's status moves with Taunt and then inflict paralysis on it with Thunder Wave before switching to Thunderbolt and going to town; Mochi can also keep their health topped up via Draining Kiss, which Dodrio isn't weak to, but which Mochi does have STAB for. Dodrio has the additional disadvantage of having no attacks that can hit Mochi's Ghost or Steel weaknesses, and while it's immune to Mochi's Ghost attacks, Mochi has a number of attacks in addition to the aforementioned Thunderbolt and Draining Kiss that Dodrio isn't immune to. So Mochi's actually in a pretty good position compared to Dodrio, who is likely in for a frustrating fight. Granted, Shinobu's still going to be watching Mochi's health closely, because the four moves Dodrio can hit Mochi with could potentially hurt.

Swellow: Hanami has Electric Terrain and Rising Voltage and she is not afraid to use them - especially as the latter is twice as powerful when the former is used. She also has Electrify to make Swellow's own moves Electric (which Hanami only takes half-damage from); granted, Hanami also only takes half-damage from Flying moves, but since Swellow has moves of other types, using it is still a net positive for her. Even better, Hanami has Charge, which makes her Electric attacks twice as powerful, and Nuzzle, which while weak is a guaranteed paralysis. In addition to Nuzzle and Rising Voltage, she has Thunderbolt (which itself has a 10% chance of inflicting paralysis), Spark (30% chance), and Wild Charge; however, the last causes recoil damage, so it's less likely to be used. She also has a few non-Electric attacks to deploy against Swellow, but while Bite, Crunch, and Play Rough may be formidable attacks in their own right, they're not going to hurt Swellow as much as Hanami's Electric attacks will, especially when Hanami has multiple ways to power them up.

Xatu: Arashi is likely to make life difficult for Xatu for a number of reasons. For one thing, she has Taunt, which shuts down all of Xatu's status moves. She's also part-Electric, with a variety of moves that let her take advantage of any lingering Electric Terrain effects. If Xatu manages to get out a stat-lowering move before Taunt hits, Arashi can punish it with Lash Out, which Arashi gets STAB on and hits one of Xatu's weaknesses. And then there's Aura Wheel, which hits hard at two of Xatu's weaknesses, in addition to raising Arashi's own speed (which in turn makes Arashi's Dark-type Power Trip attack stronger). All of which spells bad news for Xatu even before getting to Arashi's resistances: she's outright immune to Xatu's Psychic attacks and takes half-damage from Flying and Ghost. Further, Xatu has no way to hit any of Arashi's weaknesses; indeed the only skills it has that aren't Psychic, Flying, or Ghost-type are Leer and Wish, which are non-damaging skills. Given all of this, Xatu's chances of winning are relatively low.

Staraptor: Staraptor has exactly three attack skills that aren't Normal or Fighting-type, which means it's Mochi's turn again. The first move, as always, is Taunt; if Staraptor manages to buff itself before Mochi can move, their next move will be to punish Staraptor with Burning Jealousy, inflicting the Burn stat to eat at Staraptor's health. If Staraptor doesn't do this, then Mochi will hit Staraptor with Thunder Wave and then shifting to Thunderbolt, with occasional switches to Draining Kiss to keep their health topped up. Shinobu will still be watching Mochi's health intently, giving out healing items as needed (especially when Staraptor uses Brave Bird) and keeping Mochi in Leppa Berries to keep Thunderbolt viable. In the meantime, Mochi will continue to keep applying Taunt and Thunder Wave to block status moves and inflict paralysis respectively, and hammer Staraptor repeatedly with Thunderbolt, Draining Kiss, and potentially other skills like Play Rough and Dark Pulse. And of course Mochi will continue to completely no-sell any Normal or Fighting moves Staraptor even tries to use. If Mochi ends up falling, Akari will spell them. Akari doesn't have Thunder attacks, admittedly, but she has that same immunity to Thunder and Fighting moves and has multiple skills that can potentially inflict Burn to eat away at Staraptor's health while she hits them with Fire.

Pelipper: Whether it's Mochi or Akari who's in, their first and last move this battle will be to use Taunt on Pelipper to prevent it from using Soak and then get out of the way (especially Akari) and let Raiju handle things. Raiju has a variety of Electric attacks, which can potentially cause paralysis and more importantly hit Pelipper's 4x weakness to Electricity. Unsurprisingly, Electric Terrain and Charge figure into that plan, as does Rising Voltage. Raiju also has Discharge (30% chance of inflicting paralysis) and Thunder Wave (90% chance of same), but at this point the plan is to do as much damage as possible as quickly as possible. If Taunt wears off, and especially if Pelipper manages to inflict Soak, Arashi will pop back in to reapply it so Raiju can get back to dealing out large amounts of damage.

Shinobu, as ever, is on item distribution duty as needed.

[braveloyalhugs]

Character: Scorpia | braveloyalhugs
Badge/Gym Leader: Chuck, Storm
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: POKEMON ROSTER little Perfuma (Bellossom), Blackie (Boltund), Cream (Alcremie), Buttercup (Ribombee), Millie (Miltank), Emily (Drapion) (all level 60)
Battle Details:
Scorpia has brought a bunch of potions, a few Awakenings and paralyze heals. And even a couple revives this time. Still no PP restoring items, even in berry form. It’s a work in progress.

Vs. Hitmonlee
—Emily comes in first to hit hard with Toxic and Venoshock. She’ll do a Poison Spikes if she is feeling good on HP.
—Buttercup is going to come in with Sweet Scent and then alternate Dazzling Gleam and Draining Kiss to hopefully keep up with the super-effective Blaze Kick.
—Millie is ready to finish Hitmonlee off with Play Rough and Zen Headbutt, using Milk Drink and Heal Bell as she needs to to keep going.
—If necessary, Emily will finish it off with Venoshocks.

Vs. Hitmonchan
—Emily comes back in to lay down Toxic and Venoshock. She’ll add another Poison Spikes or two if she’s doing good on HP.
—Cream is Hitmonchan’s opponent! She’ll lead with Attract! and then cast Sweet Scent and Misty Terrain. If Hitmonchan has’t done a lot of damage yet, she’ll Decorate herself. Then it’s Dazzling Gleam and Draining Kiss with Recover thrown in to keep her HP from getting too low.
—If she can’t finish it, Millie will return with her previous strategy.
—If that’s not enough, or Millie is unable to battle, Emily will finish it off with Venoshocks.
—If Emily isn’t in good shape either, Blackie will Play Rough a few times to end it.

Vs. Poliwrath
—Little Perfuma is coming right in for Poliwrath. She’ll throw out a Toxic if Poliwrath isn’t poisoned by Poison Spikes, but Sweet Scent, Quiver Dance, and then Petal Blizzard! If she’s getting beat up she’ll use Giga Drain a couple times to recover health. Once Poliwrath is getting a little lower on HP, she’ll switch to Petal Dance in an attempt to finish it before confusing herself.
—If she can’t finish it, Blackie will come in with Charm and then Charge and Wild Charge for as long as she can hold out.
—Emily will have gotten some potions, so if Blackie can’t finish it, she’ll come in and Venoshock her way to victory (using Toxic again if Poliwrath gets healed of poison)
—Cream and Buttercup will both be willing to come in as backup’s backup if necessary, armed with Dazzling Gleam and Draining Kiss.
—And Millie will Play Rough if Poliwrath is still hanging on.



Character: Scorpia | braveloyalhugs
Badge/Gym Leader: Jasmine, Mineral
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: POKEMON ROSTER Emily (Drapion), Blackie (Boltund), Mr. and Ms. Huggles (Bewears), Spring (Gogoat 62), little Rogelio (Donphan) (All level 60 except where noted)
Battle Details:
Scorpia finds Steel types frustrating because she can’t poison the heck out of them! Rude, Steel-types. On the other hand, they’re pretty weak to her beloved Bewears. She’s brought extra potions and healing sprays for this one just in case.

Vs Skarmory
—Blackie’s turn! Charm, then Nuzzle for paralyze, and then Charge + Wild Charge Combos (with Scorpia on hand with potions because Recoil)
—If Blackie can’t handle it alone, Emily will come in with Hone Claws and Fire Fang the steel bird, hopefully to the finish.

Vs Magneton
—little Rogelio leads the way with Earthquake right out the gate. Then Scary Face and Defense Curl and right back to the Earthquakes
—Spring will jump in with Bulk Up then Earthquakes if Rogelio needs backup, and make use of Milk Drink to heal herself as necessary
--Scorpia was so excited about the 4X Ground weakness that she just went with it, however, if Magneton gets a successful Magnet Rise off, Rogelio has Fire Fang, and Emily can come in as backup with Fire Fang!

Vs Steelix
—Bewear tag team! the Huggles will switch off for potions, but use the same strategy: Taunt as necessary, Hammer Arm on repeat until ready to switch out, then Superpower.
—if the tag team doesn’t win the day, Emily is ready for backup, with Taunt, Hone Claws and Fire Fang. She might throw in a Bite for the flinch chance now and then.
—Spring will spam Earthquake if things are going poorly, using Milk Drink to keep herself healthy. Once Taunt wears off, there’s nothing she can do to stop Magnet Rise, so switching to Leaf Blade and Horn Leech if Steelix uses that
—Rogelio will use Fire Fang if he needs to come in.
—Blackie is kind of a last resort against Steelix, but will Bite and Crunch and Charm to do the best she can to win.

[copykiri]

Character: Kiri | copykiri
Badge/Gym Leader: Plain, Whitney
Elite/Regular: REGULAR TEAM
Team: POKEMON ROSTER Toucannon 47, Fearow 49, Chatot 34, Skarmory 48, Murkrow 39, Pidgey 43
Battle Details:
Kiri’s riding high from beating Falkner and Bugsy and she didn’t ask for strategy help, so nobody had a chance to tell her not to bring birds into a Rollout fight. As usual, the potions and berries she has are mostly for Chatot, but she’ll share with the others, especially if Chatot doesn’t need to go in to fight. Like always, Kiri is wearing her feathered headband and costume wings. She’s using attack names more reliably now thanks to Jaskier teaching her phrases to mimic! …Chatot is still translating and may or may not be the one giving orders anyway.

Vs Girafarig
—while Toucannon and Fearow are having a spat over who takes lead, Murkrow sneaks by them both! The Taunt may be directed as much at the birds as the Girafarig but same result. Then it’s Feint Attack and Assurance (which even the other birds admit was the right choice after seeing the damage). Murkrow’s Super Luck even increases critical hit rate!
—if Murkrow can’t take Girafarig down alone, Skarmory who’s been scolding (and pecking) the other two in the background will take over. She’ll Sand Attack, Agility, and then go to town with Drill Peck

Vs. Clefable
—nobody makes a peep when Skarmory takes lead this time. They know she’s really good with the fairy types (or “the pink not-bird ones” as Kiri tends to think of them). Skarmory will lay in with Agility and Autotomize and then hit hard with Steel Wing and Metal Claw.
—if Skarmory can’t quite last long enough (Life Dew being what it is), Fearow will come in and Focus Energy + Drill Peck a way to hopeful victory.
—but Toucannon is on deck just in case, and he’ll Supersonic, Feather Dance, and then Beak Blast

Vs. Miltank
—Toucannon won the right to lead for this one! He’ll Supersonic, Screech and Feather Dance and then Rock Smash and Beak Blast! Of course, unless Confusion works in his favor consistently, Rollout will hit super hard. He’s not going to last long, even with Roost (in fact Roost probably makes him an easier target)
—Fearow will Agility to give her an edge in maybe outrunning those Rollouts, but suffers from the same issue. Still she’ll Focus Energy + Drill Peck and Roost until she can’t anymore.
—Skarmory is probably not in the best shape after Clefable, but will put the rest of her strength to the task. Rollout at least isn’t super effective on her. But even with Agility and Autotomize she’s much slower than the other birds. Still she’ll valiantly go down with Sand Attack to set up, Drill Peck and Steel Wing.
—Pidgey will do her best next! She’ll Tailwind, and Sand Attack a couple times! It will definitely help, and she’ll even evolve to Pidgeotto to help withstand Rollout better. Then she’ll Quick Attack and Wing Attack and Roost with all her heart. Maybe, if all the birds have been lucky, it’s enough!
—If it’s not Murkrow will come out! He’s not in great shape either, most likely, but Murkrow has Taunt so he can stop the dreaded Milk Drink from restoring Miltank’s HP. He’ll Feint Attack and Wing Attack with all he’s got. If luck is on his side, and Whitney hasn’t prepared for this kind of battle of attrition, he might pull out a victory while holding on by a thread.
—Luck is fickle, so Chatot will probably have to come in. She at least has Sing, and anything to stop the Rollouts and Milk Drinks at this point. Every failed Sing costs her though, because she doesn’t have Roost yet, and Confusion from Chatter is not as reliable, even paired with Taunt. Still, she’ll try. She wants so hard to pull out a win for her trainer!

If Kiri manages to win, it will be after a super close battle, and she'll be more worried about her birds than the Badge. She'll probably come back later to get it after getting her birds seen to? Probably.

If she loses, well, Whitney will get told "go fuck yourself" several times while Kiri cries a bit and gathers up her poor birds to rush out and get them healed.

Backdated to Jan. 29

[bestswordmaster]

Character: Felix Fraldarius | bestswordmaster
Badge/Gym Leader: Hive Badge vs. Bugsy
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Kyphon the Gyarados (level 41), Macneary the Farfetch'd (level 35), Fellstar the Meowstic (level 42), Zoltan the Doublade (level 55), Jose the Pyroar (level 39), Pinelli the Flareon (level 37)
Battle Details:

Felix and Co. have gotten a lot of good training in while the group has been hanging out in Goldenrod! And they've learned several cool new moves from TMs bought from the department store and borrowed from Jane Crocker while they've been staying at her house. So they're ready and raring to go take out some bugs! Felix also grills the others who have already taken on this gym to learn what to expect.

Kyphon is especially enthusiastic to take the lead against Pinsir. His Intimidate ability starts the Pinsir out on the wrong foot, and from there his Aerial Ace does the heavy lifting with support from Dragon Dance and, if a potential flinch is needed, Bite. He's resistant to both Bug and Fighting moves, which make up a decent chunk of Pinsir's arsenal.

If Kyphon ends up needing backup, Macneary will step in to finish the job with Fly, Aerial Ace, and Air Cutter. If not, Felix will switch Macneary in to face Heracross anyway--again, she's resistant to Bug and Fighting moves, so several of its best moves won't faze her much, and it has a double weakness to Flying moves. Felix would like to just let Macneary finish Heracross off, and if it starts to turn the tables, he'll have her fight a bit more defensively for a few rounds with Sand Attack to throw off Heracross' aim and Roost for healing.

If Heracross still makes too much trouble for her and it looks like she might faint, Felix will pull her out and send in Fellstar instead to finish it off with any of his Psychic moves.

Then, against Scizor, he'll switch in Jose to take advantage of that double weakness to Fire. Between Jose's several buffs/debuffs, Ember, and Fire Fang, Felix expects him to make quick work of Scizor. If he starts to flounder, Felix will switch him out for Pinelli, who has not only multiple Fire moves but a bunch of tricks up her sleeve, such as Charm and Copycat for copying any of Scizor's buff moves.

Felix doesn't anticipate needing any more backup than this, but if things go horribly awry for some reason, he has Zoltan to mop up whatever's leftover; Zoltan not only knows Aerial Ace but is 15 levels higher than Bugsy's highest-level bug.

NOTE: Felix is foolishly fighting his second gym battle before the end of January, so all those boy band fans are still here in even greater numbers. Felix still ignores them. Only Fellstar and Zoltan were in the first gym battle and are over it by now; for the others it's new and obnoxious. Kyphon may get distracted roaring at the fans instead of at his opponent; Macneary just keeps giving them disapproving looks and may lecture them once the battle is over. Pinelli is right there with Felix ignoring them, but Jose is a sucker for attention and will gladly preen and strut to get them to cheer for him.

[amaure]

Character: Emet-Selch | amaure
Badge/Gym Leader: Brock
Elite/Regular: Elite!
Team: The whole lv100 rotom crew! Oh look, Emet finally named them all. Guess they earned it after 8 badges...
Battle Details: Ordinarily, it would utterly be ill-advised to take on Brock's gym with a team of electric types, but that's where levitation comes into play—nullifying all ground-type moves. With that said...

Emet will be starting with Anima(ghost) against Rhyperior, with its speed, he'll begin with Will-o-Wisp to afflict Rhyperior with a burn (and halving its attack) assuming it hits. This will be crucial in Anima's survival against those heavy hits, even with the super effective hits being in short supply due to the immunity towards ground-type. Which means that Anima will follow up with hex. With the combination of the burn status doubling hex's base damage, the STAB granted by Anima's ghost typing, and Rhyperior's inferior special defense, it'll pack quite a punch. With attempting to dodge those less accurate attacks of Rhyperior's, Anima will try to weave in more hexes, or even a confuse ray, at the very least. Whether Anima takes Rhyperior out or not matters little in the end, because Anima's job was to enfeeble and weaken Brock's ace.

Erring on the side of caution, I'll assume that Anima fought valiantly, but did not make it. Which means that Emet, being the type to rub salt in the wound, sends out Ignis(heat). Assuming that burn hasn't been healed, Ignis will hit Rhyperior with another beefed up hex, though admittedly less powerful without the STAB bonus. Chances are it will likely finish Rhyperior all the same.

Emet will stay with Ignis regardless of who Brock chooses, but chances are he'd likely pick from Golem or Onix, seeing as their rock/ground combo affords them protection from electricity and resistance to the fire. Assuming that Brock will likely go with Onix to save Golem for later, Emet will start this match off with trick. Passing off the Flame Orb to Onix, allowing it to burn him that turn. Now, he could very well take advantage of the ailment as he had prior, use Hex again for that hard hit, but that is hardly entertaining, and Ignis' job has already been completed. Instead, after Ignis suffers Onix' retaliation, he replies in kind with Poltergeist, taking control of the orb to bludgeon Onix with it.

Which probably looks utterly ridiculous when you consider the scale of the Pokemon to the small orb that's slapping it like a very ornery grape, by comparison. ANYWAY, slapstick comedy routine aside, with Onix' attack being halved from it's already fairly low range, even those super effective attacks aren't likely to knock Ignis out with his sturdy defense. Not when he follows up with that bolstered Hex again, but before Onix can be knocked out of the fight via burn or one final attack, he uses trick again—just to take the orb back. Then he uses Overheat to finish the job.

At this point, Ignis is likely worse for wear, which is just as well considering his special attack at this point would have dropped pretty low. At this point, regardless of who Brock swaps to, Ignis will be quicker and will use trick once more to slip that flame orb into their proverbial pocket along with a complementary burn, before being knocked out.

Assuming he might have swapped to Golem to finish the deed and keep up that immunity to electricity, Emet will swap then to Holeris(mow). With superior speed, this affords him the opportunity to unleash Leaf Storm, and with the quadruple effectiveness and STAB fueling the attack, at the very least, Golem will be suffering. Despite the drop in Holeris' special attack, he will follow up with a second Leaf Storm, and should Golem still find the will to fight, it seems that an encore of that slapstick routine will pursue—Poltergeist being a physical attack means it loses no power, even if Golem loses a fair bit of dignity by being clocked out with that orb.

With Brock's ground-types being taken out, that leaves the rest vulnerable to electricity, which is why Emet wastes no time to have Holeris use Electric Terrain. Assuming Brock swapped to Rampardos, it will likely make quick work of Holeris, but not before an attempted Thunder Wave.

From there, Emet would bring out Pruina(Frost). A risky choice, but with Electric Terrain going, that makes Rising Voltage quite over powered. Between the double base power, the bolster from Electric Terrain itself, and the STAB bonus, it's honestly like an electric nuke going off. Should Rampardos suffer from paralysis, then that allows for a repeat of the attack. If not, then depending on the attack, Pruina might be able to survive. If Brock decides to have Rampardos use Head Smash, then he may very well take out Pruina and Rampardos in one fell swoop with the recoil damage suffered.

This will leave them down to two Pokemon each. If Brock chooses Omastar, Emet will choose Volatus(Fan). Starting with trick to pass the Toxic Orb off to badly poison Omastar, he will then work on slamming Omastar with more Rising Voltages, and considering that Omastar's rock moves are mainly physical attacks and Omastar is more of a special attacker, it's far more likely that Volatus will take out Omastar.

If Brock chooses Kabutops, Emet will choose Fretus(Wash). Similarly, he will rely on overpowering through Rising Voltage, but he'll up the stakes by not attacking at first, instead choosing to use Charge. It's not likely that Kabutops will be able to take Fretus out before he gets blasted with a charged Rising Voltage. If Kabutops survives that, it will be rewarded with another, though decidedly no charge this time.

Whoever ends up being Brock's last Pokemon likely won't be able to take out the two remaining. A Volt Switch will bring out the untouched member of the party, with a similar strategy above being implemented for whoever is last.

Badge/Gym Leader: Misty
Elite/Regular: Elite!
Team: Same as above!
Battle Details: Starting with Holeris(Mow) against Quagsire this time, having the advantage of speed, Holeris will first use Substitute, then it will follow up with Confuse Ray, and Double team. With suitable defenses laid down, that's when the focus will shift to the offensive and Quagsire will be treated to a quadruple effective Leaf Storm. Emet will aim to dwindle down both Quagsire and Holeris' Special Attack with the continual assault, which Quagsire more likely hit the floor before Holeris' Special Attack stat does.

From there, Holeris will up Electric Terrain, and if it isn't knocked out by Misty's next pick, then Holeris will Volt Switch out.

Against Lapras, Emet will use Fretus(Wash). Taking advantage of the resistance Fretus' typing grants it means taking the time to use Thunder Wave to paralyze Larpas, Charge to power up, and then fire off Rising Voltage. Between maintaining Electric Terrain and taking full advantage of its boosts to Rising Voltage, Lapras won't take long to knock out.

Against Starmie, Emet will use Anima(Ghost). Starmie wins out in speed for this, but likely won't be able to knock Anima out when none of its available moves are super effective. Which is why the first move chosen is Thunder Wave—to slow Starmie down. Again, Rising Voltage makes the most sense, with it being super effective, on top of being boosted by Electric Terrain. Should he get lucky with paralysis, Anima will be able to dispatch Starmie with continued electric attacks. If not, then Emet will swap to Fretus to finish the job.

Against Lanturn, Emet will use Volatus(Fan). Not too worried about the typing, he'll start with Trick to give Lanturn the Toxic Orb, thus resulting in being badly poisoned. From there, Confuse Ray, Rising Voltage, and so forth will be used. It will be a battle of attrition, but Lanturn being confused and poisoned will give it even more of a disadvantage.

Against Floatzel, Emet will use Ignis(Heat). Gambling that he will be able to get trick off to hand Floatzel the Flame Orb to burn and lower its attack, he doesn't mind whether or not Ignis can get a Rising Voltage off or not. If so, that'll merely make it all the more easy to take out when he sends out Holeris to use Poltergeist on that orb to to beat Floatzel down.

Against Milotic, Emet will use Pruina(Frost). Mainly aiming to disable Milotic through paralysis and confusion, Pruina will also whittle away at Milotic's vast HP pool with Charged up Rising Voltages until it is eventually defeated. From there, Emet will pick any of his remaining Rotom to continue to whittle Milotic down, maintaining confuse ray, electric terrain, and so forth.

Most of Emet's Pokemon will likely survive most of the 1v1 match ups, and depending on the order that Misty sends them out, and the state of the rotom, either Emet will keep the pokemon out to soften Misty's pokemon up before swapping, or he'll swap with Volt Switch immediately. Either way, with a team of electric pokemon against a team of water pokemon, there's a rather large advantage on Emet's side.

[hurricane_clown]

Character: Karako Pierot | hurricane_clown
Badge/Gym Leader: Whitney/Plain Badge
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Honk!
Battle Details: Karako really, really wants to try fighting Whitney with his new Pokemon. This is great in theory, but unlike Gigglesnarl and Shockfiend... the rest of his team isn't, like, level 70.

That, uh. Said. He's leading with a Slaking. Who leads... with.... uh, Swagger? Leaving Whitney to spend two turns commanding a Confused Girafarig, while the chunky giant just kind of does whatever. Picks its nose. Scratches its butt. If Karako knows what gender this behemoth he found in the woods is, he hasn't told anyone.

The next turn is spent using Hammer Arm, and then a turn is wasted before Mad Man Pondo uses Slack Off, healing itself up. This is assuming the Girafarig hasn't managed to KO MMP... anyway, the rest of the fight goes like that, and assuming Girafarig hasn't dropped to the stupidest stall fight ever, out comes Jaywoh, the equally underlevelled Jigglypuff.

Who just gets straight to the point and Body Slams the shit out of this beleaguered giraffe. Once Girafarig is taken care of, Karako lets Jaywoh keep doing what she does best, which appears to be Stockpiling and alternating between Gyro Ball (super effective on Clefable, who Jaywoh seems to REALLY hate) and Body Slam. It's honestly kind of alarming how into physically slamming herself and opponent around this Jigglypuff is.

But she's also underlevelled, so it's probably time for the even LOWER level Galarian Slowpoke....... who uses Yawn, and then Disable, before yarking up some Acid on this Clefable. If it needs to use Water Pulse, it will, but it mostly seems interested in spitting toxic slime? And Karako is DETERMINED to with with his new friends.......

But whether this is working or not, he's getting frustrated, at which point he unleashes Gigglesnarl, level 72, to just go fucking ape on Whitney's Pokemon with Thrash and Slash and Fury Swipes.

I'm... so sorry, Whitney.

[epitaffio]

Character: Vinegar Doppio | epitaffio
Badge/Gym Leader: Hive/Bugsy
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Cristina the Morpeko, Pesci the Gyarados, Reno the Politoed
Battle Details: Once again, Doppio's "strategy" relies on overpowering the opponent with sheer brute strength. This time, he doesn't have a type advantage in sight, but hopefully the level advantage will help - and aside from his Rocket-only Pokémon, he's also left his Parasect in the bench, as the poor guy wouldn't be much use here. Conversely, he only has 5 Potions, and those won't do much at the levels his Pokémon are at, so he can't make too many mistakes!

He is reminded remembers to feed Cristina plenty before the battle so she doesn't go Dark, but her metabolism is wild, so who knows how long that will last? No matter whether she gets KO'd or he switches her out in time, though, there are still two other members of the team; Pesci has the level advantage and a relatively full moveset, while Reno doesn't have quite as many moves (even though all of them should work Okay against Bugsy's team) but still has a significant level advantage.

Overall, though... He really is just banking on dealing a lot of damage as fast as possible here!

[indigo_league]

Hive Badge approved!

[indigo_league]

Plain Badge.... well. Approved.

[indigo_league]

Cascade and Boulder Badges approved!