The Fairy Gymleader Valerie

Laverre City is home to the Sixth Pokemon gym: A fairy-type gym led by Gymleader Valerie.  I have really been less than diligent about exploring this new fairy type, but I do know a few things: Poison type is super-effective against Fairies, and that Fairy attacks absolutely WRECK Scraggy.

I know that I could just look up the answers online, but I've come this far without looking crap up and I'm not going to ruin my streak.  Also I'm stubborn.  That means it's time to do some guesswork--just like I did before my battle with Jasmine in the Steel Gym of Olivine City way back in Pokemon Silver.  I had no clue what the steel type was weak against, so I lost plenty of times along the way, but afterwards, I definitely understood the steel type (fire and ground, got it).   Let's treat this as a learning experience...

Gymkiller Squad # 6: The Quick-Learning, Fairy-Eating Super-Squad

I chose my team such that I limited the amount of guesswork I would need--and I chose Pikachu specifically because I fear Azumarill (now water/fairy) more than I do clowns or dying alone.  The only Fairy Pokemon I'd seen up to this point had been Gardevoir, Mr. Mime, Dedenne, Azumarill, and Carbink, so I was a bit apprehensive about carrying too many water-types around with me out of fear of coming across that electric/fairy rat.  On the other hand, I wanted Venusaur with me so I could deal with the (later two) water and rock fairies.

Gymleader Valerie is every bit as weird as Gymleader Korrina, but her big thing is she wishes she was a pokemon, not a pokemon trainer.  I totally get what they're going for with this character, but I still think it's stupid.  Maybe if Valerie had put as much thought into her battling technique as she did into her wardrobe I wouldn't have destroyed her entire team with only Pikachu and Gardevoir.

Her squad consisted of Mawile, Mr. Mime, and Sylveon.  Sylveon is a new fairy-type evolution of Eevee.  There are about 30% too many ribbons and bows on that pokemon, if you ask me--and I really feel that this design is a missed opportunity to differentiate Fairy pokemon as magical beings rather than just cute ones.

The funny thing is that my low-level squad of misfits consistently defeats pokemon teams up to ten levels their greater.  I'm not sure if this is because I'm a genius or this game is too easy.  

Current Squad:

FROGADIER/Froakles/lvl.34
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.35
 FLAERON/Hotfoot/lvl.34
SKRELP/Toxie/lvl.35
HIPPOWDON/Leviathan/lvl.34
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.33

On Rotation: Lucario, Gardevoir, Pikachu, Scraggy