No Quarter: Battle at the Summit

What better way to truly test the strength of my new pokemon team than to battle my rival--a trainer whose strongest pokemon is 13 levels higher than mine?

Serena seems to have been busy since the last time we have fought each other, having added a bulky Altaria to her team in addition to her fully evolved Chesnaught and Vaporeon.  The presence of Absol and Meowstic are the pokemon on her side that shy her team away from being a true "Bulky Offensive" squad (my second favorite battle strategy, by the way).
______________________________
The "Rival as your friend" thing that the Pokemon series has been glomming-onto since Sapphire version has never really worked for me until fairly recently.  I guess I can attribute this to me being a dumb teenager for most of that time (I think I was fourteen when Sapphire version came out) and the one thing teenagers like more than pretending that no one understands them is being contentious. 

As a result, I wanted all of my enemies to be true enemies--and all of the battles all the time to be "epic" or "badass" without really knowing what either of these words really mean.  Even as early as last year I didn't like the "Friendly Rival" trend because I thought it was juvenile.  Now, though, I think I am starting to see what Nintendo/Gamefreak is going for.

Your rival doesn't have to be a huge jerk or even a classic "bad guy" to be threatening--and they don't need to be an imposing presence to challenge you and get you excited about a fight.  In real life there are surely people who are asses who give you a hard time.  These are people that you just can't wait to "show" as in "I'll show you one day" or "some day you'll see".  These types of rival-characters follow naturally from the "mean jerk" trope that was so especially pervasive in the 90's and early 2000's.  I am not saying that this trope is not currently relevant or motivational, but it is less effective at creating a compelling story.

More often than not the real motivators in life are the friends you know.  They are always challenging you to score better on your tests, work harder at your job, lift the bar for five more pounds, or do one more chin up.  In real life, you always feel better competing against these people as friends and rivals--and the result is a lot more of a fulfilling "hero's journey".  Battling Serena is about testing your mettle and your intestinal fortitude--and it is not one bit less exhilarating than battling Blue at the end of Pokemon Red...well, maybe just one little bit...

Now I should really stop talking about this--before I say something crazy like, "Pokemon Y has taught me to be a better person".
_________________________
The battle itself was something of a stall-fest with Serena tanking-out most of my hits and me learning how to use my Venusaur's Mega-Evolution.  Up until this point I have been using Mega Lucario and Mega Aerodactyl, but since Aero' has been left in the PC for the trip through Victory Road, I wanted to test out the durability of Mega-V.

Part of the reason the battle took so long was that I was using the opportunity to figure out what Venusaur can and can't handle in terms of stalling.  My Venusaur is currently running Sleep Powder/Poisonpowder/Leech Seed/Solarbeam at time of writing, so knowing what it can set-up on is crucial to my future Elite Four success.

The results of my experimentation: Mega Venusaur is an absolute tank.  Victory against Serena: 4-0.

Current Squad:

GRENINJA/Froakles/lvl.54
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.52
FLAREON/Rox/lvl.51
LUCARIO/Knives/lvl.53
DRAGALGE/Toxie/lvl.49
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.49

On Rotation: Gardevoir, Pikachu, Hippowdon, Scrafty

Olympia's Psychic Showdown

If nothing else at all, Gymleader Sabrina most certainly taught me one unforgettable lesson that I have retained in the back of my head in every single pokemon game I have ever played: fear Alakazam.

So much is my fear of Alakazam that I always, ALWAYS keep a pokemon who knows a strong dark or ghost physical attack (like crunch) handy with me just on the off-chance that I run into some trainer with either a Kadabra or an Alakazam.  And full disclosure: as soon as I realized White version didn't have any of the older pokemon in it, a part of me heaved a sigh of relief at the fact that I wouldn't have to worry about coming-across my blood-enemy.

This is something I have never admitted to anyone before.

Part of this fear of Psychic pokemon comes from the fact that there was no way to counter a Psychic type in Red version (Only one Ghost move in "Lick", only two Bug moves in "Pin Missile" and "Twinneedle"--and both of the pokemon that learn these three are Poison types who are weak against Psychic), but another significant portion  most certainly comes from battle wherein Sabrina's Alakazam crushed my pokemon team handily and repeatedly.

Psychic types are not as scary these days what with the abundance of Bug and Dark moves being thrown all over the place, but you can always count on a Psychic battle to be balanced on the edge of a knife: one misread cue and what was once an easy victory is now gone.  Slowbro started using Curse, Alakazam used Calm Mind, Solrock used Rock Polish--these are the last things you see before you get swept away.

Gymkiller Squad #7: Please not Alakazam...

I built this team expecting the worst: bulky pokemon with strong special defenses and Pikachu to paralyze speedy pokemon (like Alakazam) with Nuzzle. 

The battle opened with a turn of luck: I opened with Pikachu and Gymleader Olympia opened with the Psychic/Flying Sigilyph, who I took out handily after it set up Reflect (but thankfully before Light Screen).  Pikachu died the next turn as Olympia revenge-killed me withSlowking, but not before dealing-out some massive damage with Electroball.


I ended-up taking out Slowking fairly easily, but lost Gardevoir and Lucario to Olympia's final pokemon, Meowstic.  I was a little relieved that Olympia left her Alakazam at home, but slightly disappointed that her master pokemon was something I'd already seen and battled multiple times before. 

Greninja eventually took Meowstic out in what seemed to be a war of attrition with Olympia using multiple Hyper potions.

Current Squad:

GRENINJA/Van Frog/lvl.41
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.38
FLAERON/Hotfoot/lvl.38
SCRAFTY/Scrappy/lvl.40
HIPPOWDON*/Leviathan/lvl.40
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.40

On Rotation: Gardevoir, Pikachu, Lucario, Skrelp