Vs. Rihain

With the gates open and my 7th badge in hand, I made my way west for Hammerfell again. Apparently the plot has been happening behind my back: Leon has been running around defeating Wild Dynamax  Pokemon that have started appearing around the island. He told me not to worry about them and to challenge his rival Rihain for my 8th and final gym badge.

This task was straightforward: to defeat Rihain's three acolytes in Doubles battles. Luckily, Doubles is my specialty.

The Battle with Rihain was also a doubles match: Gigalith and Flygon up front and Sandaconda and Duraludon in the back.

Gigalith activated Sandstream, but I was able to take it and Flygon out handily. Duraludon and Sandaconda came in. Duraludon dynamaxed and started firing off Max Knuckles. These hurt my pokemon, but they also boosted my foe's attack. The damage racked up. The stat boosts racked up.

And...I lost.
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Honestly this hurts. My core was solid. My pokemon were strong enough...How could I have lost? I should be better than this, doubles is my THING. I ranked in the Sinnoh Cup. I've won tournaments.

I took a break from the game and took stock of what happened. I had control of the field until the very last two pokemon. I didn't have weather, but the weather didn't aversely affect my party. It all started to go down when Duraludon dynamaxed...

And then I finally got it. Up until this point, I have been viewing Dynamax as I did Z moves: I have been viewing the three Dynamax Turns as three turns of powerful attacks. I have been focusing on the damage. I should have been focusing on the effects. Duraludon was using Max Knuckle in order to boost its party's attack. The damage matters less than the effects.

If Duraludon could do it, then I could. I came up with a new strategy. Give Snorkle the Choice Scarf and have it Ice Fang everything--Rihain's pokemon all take either neutral or Super effective damage from it and it gets a boost from Strong Jaws. And Dynamax Mme.Trunks as soon as Duraludon hits the field to absorn MaxKnuckles and retaliate with Max Knuckles of my own. This will make Snorkle's Ice Fangs hit even harder.

I charged back in, filled with purpose. I came back out five minutes later with the eighth and final badge: the Dragon badge.