Battle Details: This gym is going to be an Absol-lute blast; also, it's going to be Lute taking point and staying as point for the whole.
The big consideration out the gate is how Espeon has through leveling up one Fairy skill that Lute, as an Absol, is weak toward. Being hit by Baby Doll Eyes will decrease his attack capability, but his own raising of his attack stat through Swords Dance will still bring him over base power. Say he's even fighting at just 1.5 times his usual attack capacity, and he's already packing a harder punch. When paired with STAB Dark-type moves, or any move his opposing pokemon are weak toward, he's still in a good spot.
Thus, assume Espeon does start out with Baby Doll Eyes. Lute will be asked to use Swords Dance, offsetting the cut to his attack power, while not achieving full two times his attack power. However, given the speed with which his follow up attack of Sucker Punch can hit, regardless of what Espeon plans on doing, they'll be hit first. Sucker Punch is both a STAB move, and a type of move that Espeon is weak to, and will take Espeon out with a successful hit. If Espeon was ordered to use a status effect that turn, making Sucker Punch fail, Annie will have Lute use Night Slash the following turn. The Espeon will be taken out of the battle at that point.
Lute retains his attack increase (roughly 1.5x ATK) when Mr. Mime is subbed in. Mr. Mime can use whichever attack he likes; Annie will ask for Lute to use Iron Tail to capitalise on Mr. Mine's weakness to Iron-type moves. Between the type move and the increased attack power, along with the difference in levels, a successful hit should take Mr. Mime out of the battle. It also doesn't rely on Mr. Mime using a non-status effect attack, like Sucker Punch does.
This brings in Alakazam, another pokemon with a weakness to Dark Type moves. Still carrying his increased attack power, Lute can hit with Night Slash for the STAB and type-effectiveness, taking Alakazam out of the battle. This presumes Alakazam might use a status effect first, where Sucker Punch would fail.
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The second gym she reaches, two days later after traveling to Cerulean City, will also be challenged:
Battle Details: Libera, now a Gogoat, has her chance to head into a Kanto Gym battle as a lead. She'll face off against Golduck to start, who may well try to use Disable or Yawn, to inflict a status effect. If they do or don't hit, the first move from Libera will be the same: Horn Leech, her strongest STAB and Grass-type move which is a physical attack. Between the STAB, the type advantage (Golduck is weak to Grass-type moves) and the difference in levels, Golduck should be taken out of battle.
If Libera had Horn Leech disabled, she'll have to rely on her other Grass-type moves when Lapras is on field. Particularly Seed Bomb, which carries STAB as well as Grass-type double effectiveness against Lapras. A successful hit (and the hit will land) will take Lapras out of the fight.
In Libera had Yawn used on her, she'll still have one round of fighting before she Sleeps. Lapras shares the Grass-type weakness, and Libera gets STAB for Grass-type moves, so Horn Leech hits and will take out Lapras.
Now, if Libera is not asleep, she can face Starmie in the last round; even if Starmie sits and Hardens, the STAB and Type effectiveness of Libera's attacks will still take it out of the battle, on top of the difference in levels.
In truth, Annie will want to give different pokemon a chance to fight, especially when her Riolu has yet to do much in any gym. So what she's likely to do is switch Libera out for the second battle, allowing Aphrodite the Riolu to fight with the Lapras, and then bring Libera back in to fight with Starmie.
Riolu has STAB and Fighting-type effectiveness to bring to the table with the Lapras, and is not particularly weak to anything Lapras brings to the table. Confusion is one possible status effect she may suffer, which can either lead to taking a turn with Annie feeding her a berry to help the condition, or chancing fighting on without Confusion being cured. Annie would rather cure the Confusion, so Aphrodite will take damage in the process; however, she's both a higher level and not weak to Lapras's moves in their learnset, meaning she should survive the hit. The use of Force Palm as both STAB and a Fighting-type move Lapras is weak to should lead to Lapras being taken out of the battle. This is entirely a gratuitous switchout, as Libera would have been fine staying in for the battle.
Assuming Libera is awake, she'll face Starmie and either use Horn Leech (if it's not still disabled) or Seed Bomb (if Horn Leech is disabled). Starmie is both weak to Grass-type moves and Libera has STAB for either attack, which should, even with Starmie using Harden, take Starmie out in one hit. Not to say Libera won't take damage, as that depends on which of the four moves Starmie has that are used against Libera. Still, both the level difference and lack of type-move weaknesses means Libera should endure the hit and be able to fight onward.
If Libera is asleep, Lute will be brought in to fight Starmie, as his STAB with Dark-type moves means he is strong where Starmie has a move-type weakness (Dark). Psychic moves have no effect on Lute, thus he'd take a turn to apply Swords Dance before using Night Slash, which should take care of Starmie even if they spent two turns using Harden. (Use of Harden is why Annie prefers Night Slash instead of Sucker Punch, as it's a status move and would cause Sucker Punch to fail if used on the turn Annie asks Lute to use Sucker Punch.) One way or another, two to three pokemon will help finish out this gym battle. Or so is the hope!
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Character: Annie Leonhart |
Badge/Gym Leader: Marsh Badge/Sabrina
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: Lute | Lvl 69, Arlert | Lvl 69, Libera | Lvl 47, Jaeger (Litleo) | Lvl 35, Aphrodite | Lvl 56. Lute is the only one intended to fight in this Gym, though the rest of the team traveling with Annie is on hand in case Lute ends up being knocked out.
Battle Details: This gym is going to be an Absol-lute blast; also, it's going to be Lute taking point and staying as point for the whole.
The big consideration out the gate is how Espeon has through leveling up one Fairy skill that Lute, as an Absol, is weak toward. Being hit by Baby Doll Eyes will decrease his attack capability, but his own raising of his attack stat through Swords Dance will still bring him over base power. Say he's even fighting at just 1.5 times his usual attack capacity, and he's already packing a harder punch. When paired with STAB Dark-type moves, or any move his opposing pokemon are weak toward, he's still in a good spot.
Thus, assume Espeon does start out with Baby Doll Eyes. Lute will be asked to use Swords Dance, offsetting the cut to his attack power, while not achieving full two times his attack power. However, given the speed with which his follow up attack of Sucker Punch can hit, regardless of what Espeon plans on doing, they'll be hit first. Sucker Punch is both a STAB move, and a type of move that Espeon is weak to, and will take Espeon out with a successful hit. If Espeon was ordered to use a status effect that turn, making Sucker Punch fail, Annie will have Lute use Night Slash the following turn. The Espeon will be taken out of the battle at that point.
Lute retains his attack increase (roughly 1.5x ATK) when Mr. Mime is subbed in. Mr. Mime can use whichever attack he likes; Annie will ask for Lute to use Iron Tail to capitalise on Mr. Mine's weakness to Iron-type moves. Between the type move and the increased attack power, along with the difference in levels, a successful hit should take Mr. Mime out of the battle. It also doesn't rely on Mr. Mime using a non-status effect attack, like Sucker Punch does.
This brings in Alakazam, another pokemon with a weakness to Dark Type moves. Still carrying his increased attack power, Lute can hit with Night Slash for the STAB and type-effectiveness, taking Alakazam out of the battle. This presumes Alakazam might use a status effect first, where Sucker Punch would fail.
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The second gym she reaches, two days later after traveling to Cerulean City, will also be challenged:
Badge/Gym Leader: Cascade Badge/Misty
Elite/Regular: Regular Team
Team: Lute | Lvl 71, Arlert | Lvl 71, Libera | Lvl 49, Jaeger (Litleo) | Lvl 37, Aphrodite | Lvl 58. Libera and Aphrodite will be fighting; the rest are there with Annie and will only step in should Libera and Aphrodite be knocked out.
Battle Details: Libera, now a Gogoat, has her chance to head into a Kanto Gym battle as a lead. She'll face off against Golduck to start, who may well try to use Disable or Yawn, to inflict a status effect. If they do or don't hit, the first move from Libera will be the same: Horn Leech, her strongest STAB and Grass-type move which is a physical attack. Between the STAB, the type advantage (Golduck is weak to Grass-type moves) and the difference in levels, Golduck should be taken out of battle.
If Libera had Horn Leech disabled, she'll have to rely on her other Grass-type moves when Lapras is on field. Particularly Seed Bomb, which carries STAB as well as Grass-type double effectiveness against Lapras. A successful hit (and the hit will land) will take Lapras out of the fight.
In Libera had Yawn used on her, she'll still have one round of fighting before she Sleeps. Lapras shares the Grass-type weakness, and Libera gets STAB for Grass-type moves, so Horn Leech hits and will take out Lapras.
Now, if Libera is not asleep, she can face Starmie in the last round; even if Starmie sits and Hardens, the STAB and Type effectiveness of Libera's attacks will still take it out of the battle, on top of the difference in levels.
In truth, Annie will want to give different pokemon a chance to fight, especially when her Riolu has yet to do much in any gym. So what she's likely to do is switch Libera out for the second battle, allowing Aphrodite the Riolu to fight with the Lapras, and then bring Libera back in to fight with Starmie.
Riolu has STAB and Fighting-type effectiveness to bring to the table with the Lapras, and is not particularly weak to anything Lapras brings to the table. Confusion is one possible status effect she may suffer, which can either lead to taking a turn with Annie feeding her a berry to help the condition, or chancing fighting on without Confusion being cured. Annie would rather cure the Confusion, so Aphrodite will take damage in the process; however, she's both a higher level and not weak to Lapras's moves in their learnset, meaning she should survive the hit. The use of Force Palm as both STAB and a Fighting-type move Lapras is weak to should lead to Lapras being taken out of the battle. This is entirely a gratuitous switchout, as Libera would have been fine staying in for the battle.
Assuming Libera is awake, she'll face Starmie and either use Horn Leech (if it's not still disabled) or Seed Bomb (if Horn Leech is disabled). Starmie is both weak to Grass-type moves and Libera has STAB for either attack, which should, even with Starmie using Harden, take Starmie out in one hit. Not to say Libera won't take damage, as that depends on which of the four moves Starmie has that are used against Libera. Still, both the level difference and lack of type-move weaknesses means Libera should endure the hit and be able to fight onward.
If Libera is asleep, Lute will be brought in to fight Starmie, as his STAB with Dark-type moves means he is strong where Starmie has a move-type weakness (Dark). Psychic moves have no effect on Lute, thus he'd take a turn to apply Swords Dance before using Night Slash, which should take care of Starmie even if they spent two turns using Harden. (Use of Harden is why Annie prefers Night Slash instead of Sucker Punch, as it's a status move and would cause Sucker Punch to fail if used on the turn Annie asks Lute to use Sucker Punch.) One way or another, two to three pokemon will help finish out this gym battle. Or so is the hope!