Wulfric Gives Me the Cold Shoulder (heh, heh)

I was getting sick of Skrelp constantly dying, so I took advantage of all the grass and fairy types present in the forest to get him some easy training.  five levels and about ten super potions later, Skrelp evolved into a terrifying atrocity called Dragalge, a Poison/Dragon type.  Dragalge is not only an awesome-looking pokemon, but it is an absolute tank with its special attack and defense.  I look forward to using him...just not against the next gymleader.  Dragon types are definitely allergic to Ice types.

The forest itself was a bit of a puzzle--and it gave off a severe "Altering cave" (from firered version) vibe what with its maze-like room structure, but I found Wulfric at the end and convinced him to return to the gym.  Imagine if the real world was like this--like if you had to find and convince a teacher to come to school or a lawyer to come and steal all your money.

In preparation for my eighth gym battle I decided to make things extra-challenging for myself and to only carry three pokemon with me into the match--the same number that I know Wulfric will use.  I don't know what pokemon he will have--just that my three-pokemon squad will have to take him on alone.

Gymkiller Squad # 8: The Three Icebreakers

I was unsure of whether to take Gardevoir or Scrafty.  Scrafty is strong against Ice types with his fighting moves and his huge defenses, but Gardevoir is something of a juggernaut of my team: she has never been defeated.

PLUS: If I know anything about this game and Nintendo in general, there MUST be some Ice-Fairy that they are about to unveil in this battle--and the only thing Scrafty fears more than fairies is dying alone.
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Gym Attempt #1: Wulfric opens with Abomasnow, who is a complete mismatch against my Flareon.  Flareon takes out Abomasnow with only one Flame Charge, but now it is hailing, which means I will have to end the match quicker than I had hoped.  His next pokemon is Avalugg.  Avalugg is apparently a monster of physical defense, because Flare Blitz, the strongest physical fire move in the game, does barely 50% damage.  Also, Avalugg has the ability: Ice Body, which heals it during hail.  Drat.

Avalugg then takes out both of my remaining pokemon handily, but not before I find out how small its special defense is after I nearly take it out with one Psychic delivered by Gardevoir.  Hmmm.  Maybe we can deal with this after all...

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Gym Attempt #2: After removing his Abomasnow, Flareon is once again battling Avalugg.  I still haven't seen his third pokemon, so this is a little unnerving--it COULD be Articuno...probably not.

Avalugg is now using Curse while Flareon is being worn down by hail.  And Wulfric uses a hyper potion...I decide to send-in Gardevoir before Lucario this time to try to pick it off with Psychic, but she dies with one boosted Avalanche.

However, Lucario is able to take-out Avalugg with one Aura Sphere, and Wulfric's final pokemon is Cryogonal (luck is on my side), who dies with one Power-Up Punch in its big, stupid, snowflake face.

Current Squad:

GRENINJA/Froakles/lvl.46
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.45
FLAREON/Hotfoot/lvl.47
SCRAFTY/Scrappy/lvl.46
HIPPOWDON*/Leviathan/lvl.45
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.45

On Rotation: Gardevoir, Pikachu, Lucario, Dragalge

Lysandre's Reckoning

No sooner had I caught Yveltal than Lysandre barged-into the door to try to steal Yveltal back from me.  This was the first instance of real hand-to-hand human conflict in the pokemon series and I was surprised to see Lysandre use his obvious height and size advantages to his benefit to just take the pokeball out of my hands after beating me up.
...
Nah, I'm just kidding, he challenged me to a pokemon battle instead.

I had the option of using my newly-caught Yveltal.  Remembering how much trouble I had against Mienshao in my last fight, I took the Flying-Type advantage of having Yveltal in my squad and sent Ziggy the Linoone back to the box.
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Yveltal is Dark/Flying, so Mienshao's Hi Jump Kick dealt about 60% damage to me right off the bat, but I knocked him out that same turn with Oblivion Wing, a powerful Flying type move.

Next, against Lysandre's Pyroar, I sent-in Greninja, who was too slow to move first.  As a result, it had to eat one of Pyroar's Hyper-Voice attacks and survived it with exactly 1 HP left (wow).  Water Pulse did about the same amount of damage to Pyroar, but I was able to pick it off by using "Water Shuriken", a move which always moves first.

Pikachu took out Honchkrow in one hit, and then stays-in against Gyarados.  This is Lysandre's final pokemon, and I knew that Pikachu would move first and destroy that Water/Flying type with a powerful Thunderbolt move.  But Gyarados did the unexpected.  Gyarados evolved into Mega-Gyarados.

This is the point where the tide of the battle begain to turn.  Gyarados tanked Pikachu's Thunderbolt--only taking about 50% damage (this will be important later on)--and one-hit-KOed Pikachu with Earthquake.  I sent in Hippopotas to try to whittle its health down with sandstorm, but he was taken out in one hit by aqua tail.  I sent in Venusaur hoping it would survive enough to poison it, but poisonpowder missed and Venusaur died on turn two of Gyadaros' outrage.  Mega Lucario was next.  Mega Lucario was LAST.  It was over, Lucario just couldn't hit Gyarados hard enough with Shadow Claw and my fighting-type moves will be too weak.

But wait a minute...flashback...

"...Gyarados tanked Pikachu's Thunderbolt--only taking 50% damage..."

Exactly half damage?  Could it be?  When Gyarados evolves, is it no longer a flying type?  Will Aura Sphere still work?  I take a chance with aura sphere:  super effective!  Mega Gyarados is Water/Dark!  KO!