Starting off against Manectric, Riz will bring out his Flapple Tumble Dry.
Due to his combination Grass/Dragon type, Flapple takes only one fourth the damage from any electric attack. And while it has no attacks that can target Manectric's weaknesses, between taking little damage from its electric attacks and being able to deal at least regular damage to it, Riz thinks this is the best match-up.
To start off, Riz will have Flapple use Dragon Dance to boost his stats (twice if Manectric hasn't damaged Flapple too badly yet) before using Grav Apple, a damage dealing grass move, which also lowers Manectric's defence by one point each time it hits. Now hopefully between Flapple's twice-boosted stats and Manectric's lowered defence, it will only take a few Grav Apples for him to go down.
! Flapple will go into battle holding a Sitrus Berry to restore the HP it will lose while boosting his stats. Because of Flapple's ability ripen, which doubles the effectivity of berries, Sitrus will restore double the amount of HP to Flapple.
If things look dicey, Riz will have Flapple use Recycle, which will allow him to regain his Sitrus Berry (let us not ponder how) so it can restore his HP yet again.
vs Electrode
Assuming Flapple has not gone down against Manectric, Riz will leave him out on the field to take advantage of his boosted stats. If Flapple has not yet used Recycle, Riz will command him to use this on his first turn.
As with Manectric, Flapple has a double resistance to Electric attacks, so he only takes one fourth the damage.
Riz will have Flapple continue to use Grav Apple, switching to Dragon Rush if he becomes unable to use this move. He'll keep it up until either of the two pokemon goes down.
If Flapple is the one who goes down first, Riz will bring out Chit the Sableye. Sableye takes regular electric damage, however it does completely nullify any normal damage, therefore making Electrode's fearsome explosion useless.
As for Chit's strategy, that is simple -- Riz will have him use Dig over and over again. As a ground type move, Electrode takes extra damage, and it also means Electrode will not be able to damage Sableye while it is under the ground. He'll keep this up until Electrode goes down.
Show Sableye become unable to use dig for whatever reason, Riz will have him use Zen Headbutt as it has the chance of making Electrode flinch.
! Sableye will be going into battle holding a Cheri Berry, in case it ends up paralysed from one of Electrode's electric attacks.
vs Pachirisu
Against Pachirisu, Riz will bring out Asfel his Shedinja.
Quick recap on Shedinja -- due to its unique ability, it is unable to be hit by anything except super-effective attacks. This means that Shedinja can only be hit by the following types
- Fire - Flying - Rock - Ghost - Dark
Anything else, it is completely immune to.
Throughout the various gens, Pachirisu only learns Normal, Electric and Fairy type moves. This means that Pachirisu is completely unable to attack Shedinja at all.
So Riz's strategy for this battle is to just have Shedinja completely nullify all of Pachirisu's attacks, while it slowly chips away at its HP using whatever move it wants, starting with Mud Slap (ground type, Pachirisu is weak), then switching to any of the damaging ghost type moves in its arsenal, then to the normal etc, etc.
(Obviously, he'll switch out if Surge switches out his pokemon, but I ask you, are gym leaders even allowed to do that???)
vs Magnezone
Hey, guess what? Remember Riz's Shedinja? It is still out there. Hovering. Doing literally nothing.
Lets check Magnezone's move pool -- Psychic, Steel, Normal, Electric.
Oh, look at the time. It's time to just sit there again, and watch Magnezone be entirely ineffective against Shedinja, who will be slowly chipping away at its HP, starting with Mud Slap (4x weakness for Magnezone) and then moving down the list.
vs Electivire
Against Electivire, Riz will withdraw his Shedinja, as at one point, Electivire was able to learn Flame Punch, and Riz can't be sure if Lt Surge's Electivire has that move in its pool or not. It's okay. Shedinja will ride again some day.
Instead, Riz will bring out his Galvantula Nasha. As a fellow electric type, it means both she and Electivire take half damage from each other's electric attacks and both are unable to get paralysed.
To start things off, Riz will have Nasha use Cross Poison until Electivire is poisoned. Once he has accomplished that, he'll have Galvantula switch to using Signal Beam (chance of leaving the target confused) and Bug Buzz (chance of lowering spec def). If Galvantula's HP dips low, he'll have her use Absorb.
Should Galvantula go down against Electivire, Riz will bring out his Sableye Chit. Depending on whether or not Riz needed him against Electrode, Sableye might come in fully fresh or already partially damaged from his previous battle. In either case, he'll have Chit use Dig until Electivire goes down.
vs Raichu
It's time for Shedinja to ride again.
Whatever state his last pokemon is in at the end of that battle against Electivire, Riz is going to withdraw it and bring back out Shedinja.
A quick check at Raichu's movepool tells us -- Normal, Fairy, Electric, Steel, Psychic -- uh oh, is that a dark move? Thankfully (for Riz) it's a status move, and therefore incapable of being used offensively.
So, again, like before, Shedinja is going to sit there, staring into the void between worlds, probably seeing things not meant to be seen by human eyes, as all of Raichu's attacks do bupkis (highly technical term). Shedinja meanwhile will just continue where it left off, chewing through whatever attacks it has left to slowly take out Raichu.
Riz is hoping to only need these four pokemon to take on Lt Surge, but because he is a very paranoid cautious boy, he, of course, brought two more pokemon along with him. These will be Gozgoz the Trubbish and Puk the Kecleon.
Both of these pokemon don't really have the strategic benefits against Lt Surge's electric pokemon that Riz is looking for, thus their role as back-up, but should it come down to using them, he'll focus on trying to poison his opponents in Trubbish's case and for his Kecleon, he'll first go with a Trick Room, and then just switch wildly between the various different types using Kecleon's Protean ability (of course avoiding any type that has weaknesses to electric). These aren't elegant strategies by any means, but hopefully, they will only be needed against pokemon who have already taken some damage from his main four.
no subject
Badge/Gym Leader: Lt Surge / Vermillion City
Elite/Regular: Elite Team
Team: Tumble Dry the Flapple (lvl 100) (holding Sitrus Berry), Chit the Sableye (level 100) (holding Cheri Berry), Asfel the Shedinja (lvl 100), Nasha the Galvantula (lvl 100), Gozgoz the Trubbish (lvl 100) (holding Cheri Berry) (back-up), Puk the Kecleon (lvl 100) (holding Cheri Berry) (back-up),
Battle Details:
vs Manectric
Starting off against Manectric, Riz will bring out his Flapple Tumble Dry.
Due to his combination Grass/Dragon type, Flapple takes only one fourth the damage from any electric attack. And while it has no attacks that can target Manectric's weaknesses, between taking little damage from its electric attacks and being able to deal at least regular damage to it, Riz thinks this is the best match-up.
To start off, Riz will have Flapple use Dragon Dance to boost his stats (twice if Manectric hasn't damaged Flapple too badly yet) before using Grav Apple, a damage dealing grass move, which also lowers Manectric's defence by one point each time it hits. Now hopefully between Flapple's twice-boosted stats and Manectric's lowered defence, it will only take a few Grav Apples for him to go down.
! Flapple will go into battle holding a Sitrus Berry to restore the HP it will lose while boosting his stats. Because of Flapple's ability ripen, which doubles the effectivity of berries, Sitrus will restore double the amount of HP to Flapple.
If things look dicey, Riz will have Flapple use Recycle, which will allow him to regain his Sitrus Berry (let us not ponder how) so it can restore his HP yet again.
vs Electrode
Assuming Flapple has not gone down against Manectric, Riz will leave him out on the field to take advantage of his boosted stats. If Flapple has not yet used Recycle, Riz will command him to use this on his first turn.
As with Manectric, Flapple has a double resistance to Electric attacks, so he only takes one fourth the damage.
Riz will have Flapple continue to use Grav Apple, switching to Dragon Rush if he becomes unable to use this move. He'll keep it up until either of the two pokemon goes down.
If Flapple is the one who goes down first, Riz will bring out Chit the Sableye. Sableye takes regular electric damage, however it does completely nullify any normal damage, therefore making Electrode's fearsome explosion useless.
As for Chit's strategy, that is simple -- Riz will have him use Dig over and over again. As a ground type move, Electrode takes extra damage, and it also means Electrode will not be able to damage Sableye while it is under the ground. He'll keep this up until Electrode goes down.
Show Sableye become unable to use dig for whatever reason, Riz will have him use Zen Headbutt as it has the chance of making Electrode flinch.
! Sableye will be going into battle holding a Cheri Berry, in case it ends up paralysed from one of Electrode's electric attacks.
vs Pachirisu
Against Pachirisu, Riz will bring out Asfel his Shedinja.
Quick recap on Shedinja -- due to its unique ability, it is unable to be hit by anything except super-effective attacks. This means that Shedinja can only be hit by the following types
- Fire
- Flying
- Rock
- Ghost
- Dark
Anything else, it is completely immune to.
Throughout the various gens, Pachirisu only learns Normal, Electric and Fairy type moves. This means that Pachirisu is completely unable to attack Shedinja at all.
So Riz's strategy for this battle is to just have Shedinja completely nullify all of Pachirisu's attacks, while it slowly chips away at its HP using whatever move it wants, starting with Mud Slap (ground type, Pachirisu is weak), then switching to any of the damaging ghost type moves in its arsenal, then to the normal etc, etc.
(Obviously, he'll switch out if Surge switches out his pokemon, but I ask you, are gym leaders even allowed to do that???)
vs Magnezone
Hey, guess what? Remember Riz's Shedinja? It is still out there. Hovering. Doing literally nothing.
Lets check Magnezone's move pool -- Psychic, Steel, Normal, Electric.
Oh, look at the time. It's time to just sit there again, and watch Magnezone be entirely ineffective against Shedinja, who will be slowly chipping away at its HP, starting with Mud Slap (4x weakness for Magnezone) and then moving down the list.
vs Electivire
Against Electivire, Riz will withdraw his Shedinja, as at one point, Electivire was able to learn Flame Punch, and Riz can't be sure if Lt Surge's Electivire has that move in its pool or not. It's okay. Shedinja will ride again some day.
Instead, Riz will bring out his Galvantula Nasha. As a fellow electric type, it means both she and Electivire take half damage from each other's electric attacks and both are unable to get paralysed.
To start things off, Riz will have Nasha use Cross Poison until Electivire is poisoned. Once he has accomplished that, he'll have Galvantula switch to using Signal Beam (chance of leaving the target confused) and Bug Buzz (chance of lowering spec def). If Galvantula's HP dips low, he'll have her use Absorb.
Should Galvantula go down against Electivire, Riz will bring out his Sableye Chit. Depending on whether or not Riz needed him against Electrode, Sableye might come in fully fresh or already partially damaged from his previous battle. In either case, he'll have Chit use Dig until Electivire goes down.
vs Raichu
It's time for Shedinja to ride again.
Whatever state his last pokemon is in at the end of that battle against Electivire, Riz is going to withdraw it and bring back out Shedinja.
A quick check at Raichu's movepool tells us -- Normal, Fairy, Electric, Steel, Psychic -- uh oh, is that a dark move? Thankfully (for Riz) it's a status move, and therefore incapable of being used offensively.
So, again, like before, Shedinja is going to sit there, staring into the void between worlds, probably seeing things not meant to be seen by human eyes, as all of Raichu's attacks do bupkis (highly technical term). Shedinja meanwhile will just continue where it left off, chewing through whatever attacks it has left to slowly take out Raichu.
Riz is hoping to only need these four pokemon to take on Lt Surge, but because he is a very
paranoidcautious boy, he, of course, brought two more pokemon along with him. These will be Gozgoz the Trubbish and Puk the Kecleon.Both of these pokemon don't really have the strategic benefits against Lt Surge's electric pokemon that Riz is looking for, thus their role as back-up, but should it come down to using them, he'll focus on trying to poison his opponents in Trubbish's case and for his Kecleon, he'll first go with a Trick Room, and then just switch wildly between the various different types using Kecleon's Protean ability (of course avoiding any type that has weaknesses to electric). These aren't elegant strategies by any means, but hopefully, they will only be needed against pokemon who have already taken some damage from his main four.