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