Enter the Fairy

I knew before I started the game that there was a new pokemon type to be introduced--the Fairy Type, but the only other thing I knew about it was that it was meant to be a true counter to the Overpowered Dragon-Type.

The Only Dragon...

Quick Sidenote:  I always thought the Dragon Type was stupid and unnecessary, while all the other types seem to denote the pokemon's element or skills, the Dragon Type is just a description (okay, so Bug and Ghost are similar, but I always thought of Ghost as more of a "Magic" or "Spirit" type and Bug...well, fine, Bug type is dumb too).

I know dragon pokemon are popular and kind of cool-looking (for the most part), but I am certain that any of these pokemon with "Dragon" typing could just as easily be described by other types.  Plus, please explain to me what "Dragonbreath" actually is--and how it is different from "FireBreath" or "Hyperbeam".

So now there is Fairy Type.  Fine.  My idea for the past three generations was a new type called "TECH", which would include all the pokemon with artificial or cyber properties.  Retroactively, this would apply to Porygon, as well as possibly Magnezone, Genesect, Voltorb, and Electivire. I mean, this is no worse than the Ghost type, which only had two evolutionary lines before generation 3, or that damned Dragon type whose only members were the Dratini family and Kingdra that same game.

But no, Fairy type it is...another type where I'm not sure what the defining characteristic is.  I mean, grass pokemon channel nature, fire pokemon are hot, flying pokemon fly, and fairy pokemon...leap daintily from flower to flower?  What exactly makes a fairy pokemon?

---------------------------
I know I could just look up the answers, but because I am a scientist I want to figure out the Fairy Type's combat effectiveness by experimentation, so I made this work-in-progress chart to keep my results. 

I caught the new fairy pokemon Flabebe as well as Ralts, who was changed to Psychic/Fairy type--and removed Spewpa from my squad (becasue I only have room for one bug at the moment and Felix is my favorite).  Flabebe and Ralts are currently on rotation until I can decide which one deserves the spot more.

Current Squad:

FROAKIE/Froakles/lvl.13
BUTTERFREE/Felix/lvl.11
ZIGZAGOON/Ziggy/lvl.11
FLABEBE/Pixie/lvl.8
PIKACHU/PikaPi/lvl.11
FARFETCH'D/Quacklin'/lvl.11

On Rotation: Ralts