(Fun fact: this marks Felix's first gym battle without Zoltan on the team. He's secretly disappointed about it; he feels like Zoltan has sort of become his signature gym battle partner. The things one does for victory...)
So! First up is Pinelli, who's here to heat things up for Skarmory. She has the type advantage and plenty of fire to throw around; Felix expects that a few Lava Plumes and a Flare Blitz or two should be enough to send Skarmory packing, but just in case it isn't, Alexandre is on standby in this matchup to zap it out of the air if need be. Spikes will be annoying if Skarmory has a chance to use it, but Felix has Seteth on standby so that if Pinelli needs to switch out, he can take over with immunity to Spikes and plenty of Fighting damage to dish out with Submission and Rock Smash. He's a bit underleveled, but he can rely on Roost to heal himself and Fly and/or Bounce to keep himself out of the line of fire a bit.
If Pinelli is still in good condition after Skarmory goes down, she can fight Magneton as well. Felix would have liked to take advantage of the double weakness to Ground, but a) Ground is a bit of a weakness for his team right now, with his Trapinch not quite ready to stand up to foes this powerful, and b) Magneton's Magnet Rise negates the advantage of Ground moves pretty handily anyway. So he'll rely on Pinelli until she gets close to fainting, and then switch her out for Jose. Magneton's Light Screen is a bit of a hassle, but Pinelli and Jose both have Fire Fang and Rock Smash for super-effective Physical damage, and Pinelli can pull out Flare Blitz as well. If Magneton gets too paralysis-happy, Felix can put Seteth back in with his Limber ability or Fantine to use Heal Bell, in addition to the usual potions.
Finally, Felix will bring in the recently evolved Brandl for the fight against Steelix! Thanks to her new Fighting/Steel dual type, she's resistant to almost everything Steelix can do. She'll start with Power-Up Punch and Laser Focus to try to deal damage quickly, to reduce the chances of getting smacked with a Fire Fang. She can Counter almost all of Steelix's attacks, as well. If Steelix does bring out the flames, she can heal with Life Dew and Heal Pulse, use Endure or Detect if need be, and use Reversal to turn the tables. Between those and her other Fighting moves, Felix will try to defeat Steelix with Brandl alone.
If she does need backup, though, any of the others who are still ready to fight can step in to finish the job. Fantine in particular shouldn't have seen much battle to this point, so she can build up advantages with her many obnoxious Status moves and then take Steelix out with any of her attacks; she has a few Fighting moves, but her Normalize ability negates their type, so she'll rely on its strength boost and her tricks rather than type advantage.
After the battle, win or lose, he'll ask Jasmine where she caught the Skarmory--it's piqued his interest and he wants one!
no subject
Badge/Gym Leader: Mineral Badge/Jasmine
Elite/Regular: Regular
Team: Pinelli the Flareon (lvl 55), Alexandre the Luxray (lvl 69), Seteth the Hawlucha (lvl 44), Jose the Pyroar (lvl 58), Brandl the Lucario (lvl 61), Fantine the Delcatty (lvl 57)
Battle Details:
Felix is especially interested in the gym leader's team and how they fight this time around, because Steel is a type he has a particular interest in as well. He's acquired several new Steel types since his last gym match, including a Ferroseed and a Durant, and he's had his eye on finding a Pawniard ever since he met Jane's back during the Rocket raid at Christmas.
(Fun fact: this marks Felix's first gym battle without Zoltan on the team. He's secretly disappointed about it; he feels like Zoltan has sort of become his signature gym battle partner. The things one does for victory...)
So! First up is Pinelli, who's here to heat things up for Skarmory. She has the type advantage and plenty of fire to throw around; Felix expects that a few Lava Plumes and a Flare Blitz or two should be enough to send Skarmory packing, but just in case it isn't, Alexandre is on standby in this matchup to zap it out of the air if need be. Spikes will be annoying if Skarmory has a chance to use it, but Felix has Seteth on standby so that if Pinelli needs to switch out, he can take over with immunity to Spikes and plenty of Fighting damage to dish out with Submission and Rock Smash. He's a bit underleveled, but he can rely on Roost to heal himself and Fly and/or Bounce to keep himself out of the line of fire a bit.
If Pinelli is still in good condition after Skarmory goes down, she can fight Magneton as well. Felix would have liked to take advantage of the double weakness to Ground, but a) Ground is a bit of a weakness for his team right now, with his Trapinch not quite ready to stand up to foes this powerful, and b) Magneton's Magnet Rise negates the advantage of Ground moves pretty handily anyway. So he'll rely on Pinelli until she gets close to fainting, and then switch her out for Jose. Magneton's Light Screen is a bit of a hassle, but Pinelli and Jose both have Fire Fang and Rock Smash for super-effective Physical damage, and Pinelli can pull out Flare Blitz as well. If Magneton gets too paralysis-happy, Felix can put Seteth back in with his Limber ability or Fantine to use Heal Bell, in addition to the usual potions.
Finally, Felix will bring in the recently evolved Brandl for the fight against Steelix! Thanks to her new Fighting/Steel dual type, she's resistant to almost everything Steelix can do. She'll start with Power-Up Punch and Laser Focus to try to deal damage quickly, to reduce the chances of getting smacked with a Fire Fang. She can Counter almost all of Steelix's attacks, as well. If Steelix does bring out the flames, she can heal with Life Dew and Heal Pulse, use Endure or Detect if need be, and use Reversal to turn the tables. Between those and her other Fighting moves, Felix will try to defeat Steelix with Brandl alone.
If she does need backup, though, any of the others who are still ready to fight can step in to finish the job. Fantine in particular shouldn't have seen much battle to this point, so she can build up advantages with her many obnoxious Status moves and then take Steelix out with any of her attacks; she has a few Fighting moves, but her Normalize ability negates their type, so she'll rely on its strength boost and her tricks rather than type advantage.
After the battle, win or lose, he'll ask Jasmine where she caught the Skarmory--it's piqued his interest and he wants one!