Vs. Boss Guzma

I arrived at the garden after Team Skull.

It's still unclear how the "mansion" fits into the whole thing, but two members of the Skull Gang apparently decided to take a break from living large in order to make vague threats towards Professor Kukui.  Kukui was standing his ground, though.  He said that he only needs four turns in order to dispatch the both of them.  Geez, when you get right down to it, Professor Kuku is kind of a badass.  

Ultimately, though, we were introduced to the Boss of Team Skull, Guzma.  Guzman and Kukui apparently have some history with each other: it seems as though the two both set off on a trial together, but that Guzma was denied a Captainship at the end of it.  Maybe that's why he's such a Grumpy Gus.

Kukui was willing to take on Guzma, but decided to make it a learning experience for me instead.  I'm imagining little greenhorn August trembling in his preppy little boatshoes at the idea.  "Yeh, thanks for throwing me under the bus, Kukui..."

Guzma started the match by sending in what can only be described as the scariest thing that one could possibly find under their stove.  Golisopod, I would later find out, is the evolution of Whimpod, the Bug/Water pokemon that my little brother has mentioned using, and its big, beefy, and strong.

Brionne led the charge.  I wasn't exactly sure if it would also be a bug/water type, so I used my STAB move, Scald.  Scald gains power as a water move and also has a 30% burn chance.  Burn halves an opponent's physical attack...and those are some big, scary looking pinchers...

I successfully burned Golisopod, but it has used Sword's Dance...twice...Factoring both of these aspects in means its attack stat is at a net 200%.  Woof.  The next turn, my foe used Razor Shell, a move that, as a water type, Brionne resists.  It nearly knocks it out in one hit.  That's one strong bug.

Its ability "Emergency Exit" kicks in once I've knocked it down to 50% of its total health and Golisopod immediately switches out for Guzma's other pokemon.  Guzman must have a penchant for physical bugs, because this pokemon is Ariados.

Ariados outspeeds Pako Pako and Knocks it out with Fell Stinger.  I remember this move from my competitive Omega Ruby days when I was breeding and training a competitive Mega Beedrill.  As soon as the attack was announced, I know that I was in a bad position.  Fell Stinger raises the user's attack stat by 150% if it gets a KO.  

The knockouts against Crabrawler and Mareanie were just as easy.  I was down to two pokemon, but both just happened to be perfect for the given situation.  Because of either magic or dark magic, Salandit survived Shadow Sneak and retaliated with a knockout Z-Inferno Overdrive.  

Golisopod outsped Salandit and easily took it out, but with Toucannon in my last slot, it wasn't going to steal the win out from under me.