No Quarter: Battle at the Summit

What better way to truly test the strength of my new pokemon team than to battle my rival--a trainer whose strongest pokemon is 13 levels higher than mine?

Serena seems to have been busy since the last time we have fought each other, having added a bulky Altaria to her team in addition to her fully evolved Chesnaught and Vaporeon.  The presence of Absol and Meowstic are the pokemon on her side that shy her team away from being a true "Bulky Offensive" squad (my second favorite battle strategy, by the way).
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The "Rival as your friend" thing that the Pokemon series has been glomming-onto since Sapphire version has never really worked for me until fairly recently.  I guess I can attribute this to me being a dumb teenager for most of that time (I think I was fourteen when Sapphire version came out) and the one thing teenagers like more than pretending that no one understands them is being contentious. 

As a result, I wanted all of my enemies to be true enemies--and all of the battles all the time to be "epic" or "badass" without really knowing what either of these words really mean.  Even as early as last year I didn't like the "Friendly Rival" trend because I thought it was juvenile.  Now, though, I think I am starting to see what Nintendo/Gamefreak is going for.

Your rival doesn't have to be a huge jerk or even a classic "bad guy" to be threatening--and they don't need to be an imposing presence to challenge you and get you excited about a fight.  In real life there are surely people who are asses who give you a hard time.  These are people that you just can't wait to "show" as in "I'll show you one day" or "some day you'll see".  These types of rival-characters follow naturally from the "mean jerk" trope that was so especially pervasive in the 90's and early 2000's.  I am not saying that this trope is not currently relevant or motivational, but it is less effective at creating a compelling story.

More often than not the real motivators in life are the friends you know.  They are always challenging you to score better on your tests, work harder at your job, lift the bar for five more pounds, or do one more chin up.  In real life, you always feel better competing against these people as friends and rivals--and the result is a lot more of a fulfilling "hero's journey".  Battling Serena is about testing your mettle and your intestinal fortitude--and it is not one bit less exhilarating than battling Blue at the end of Pokemon Red...well, maybe just one little bit...

Now I should really stop talking about this--before I say something crazy like, "Pokemon Y has taught me to be a better person".
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The battle itself was something of a stall-fest with Serena tanking-out most of my hits and me learning how to use my Venusaur's Mega-Evolution.  Up until this point I have been using Mega Lucario and Mega Aerodactyl, but since Aero' has been left in the PC for the trip through Victory Road, I wanted to test out the durability of Mega-V.

Part of the reason the battle took so long was that I was using the opportunity to figure out what Venusaur can and can't handle in terms of stalling.  My Venusaur is currently running Sleep Powder/Poisonpowder/Leech Seed/Solarbeam at time of writing, so knowing what it can set-up on is crucial to my future Elite Four success.

The results of my experimentation: Mega Venusaur is an absolute tank.  Victory against Serena: 4-0.

Current Squad:

GRENINJA/Froakles/lvl.54
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.52
FLAREON/Rox/lvl.51
LUCARIO/Knives/lvl.53
DRAGALGE/Toxie/lvl.49
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.49

On Rotation: Gardevoir, Pikachu, Hippowdon, Scrafty

Over Hill and Under Hill

The first part of my trek through the cavernous "Victory Road" was fraught with failure--my severely underleveled pokemon were being picked-off by wild Haunters and Druddigons--to say nothing of the trainers I came across. 

It seemed that every pokemon I fought was designed specifically to ruin my day.  My Lucario knows Shadow Claw, but the wild Haunter has Sucker Punch and Lucario is KO-ed.  My Venusaur has Petal Dance, but the wild Graveler has Earthquake and Venusaur is KO-ed. 

I had to fight the same damn trainer with the same damn Hawlucha three times before I won, and every time my Psychic/Fairy type Gardevoir was put into an obvious mismatch against a Fighting type (whose attacks would do quarter damage, QUARTER DAMAGE against me) it would have Poison Jab as one of its moves.  Since poison is super effective against fairy, I would have to define this as  "godamn bullshit".

But, through this all, I used my revives and used my super potions and my pokemon got stronger.  Soon I was only losing two pokemon to each wild haunter--and soon enough, I would start defeating them outright.  Eventually, my pokemon became strong enough to take on the trainers' pokemon.  There was still the huge level difference, but my pokemon, being better-trained specifically for certain roles, began to come together.  By the time I made it out of the first cave into the sun, my pokemon were all sitting at a comfortable level 51--and starting to win rather than just not lose so badly. 

It was then that Serena, my rival, caught up to me and challenged me to a battle.

Current Squad:

GRENINJA/Froakles/lvl.52
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.51
FLAREON/Rox/lvl.50
LUCARIO/Knives/lvl.51
DRAGALGE/Toxie/lvl.49
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.49

On Rotation: Gardevoir, Pikachu, Hippowdon, Scrafty

Super Secret Team Flare HQ: Top Secret

I found Team Flare's Secret Underground Headquarters in the rock-gazebo to the North of the town (exactly where I chased that Grunt I found after I got my second badge).  Team Flare really struck me more as the kind of group that would shell out the money for a moon base.  My Rival Serena was already there waiting for me and followed me down the elevator.  I guess this is it!

Lysandre was waiting for us at the bottom with more expository dialogue to explain the plot to me.  Apparently the legendary pokemon Yveltal is being used to power the device--which is currently charging and at around 99% power.  Here is where Lysandre showed his hand: not only are all the people except Team Flare going to be killed, but all of the pokemon in the world as well, including his own.  Lysandre started crying about this and I'm wondering if he actually told his Gyarados at any point in time.  I imagine a Gyarados would have a few things to say if it knew it was being used by Lysandre to secure its own destruction.  I imagine it would be quite cross with him...

Lysandre admitted that he didn't need to beat me anymore--just to delay me enough so that the machine reaches 100%.  The following battle was actually quite difficult: Lysandre lead with a Mienshao which wrecked my team, but after I brought in Hippopotas to tank all of his High Jump Kicks, I eventually stalled it to death.  Pikachu ate his Gyarados alive despite a huge 10-level difference and Greninja took on Pyroar.  Pikachu then reprised his role of "Destroyer" against Lysandre's Honchcrow.  I may be renaming PikaPi "Pikamonster".

Serena followed me down to the lowest sub-level of the facility via a stairwell packed with Team Flare double battles for the two of us to take-on, and at the bottom, we found the chamber housing Yveltal.  Oh, and a few other Team Flare battles for me to warm-up with.

Current Squad:

GRENINJA/Froakles/lvl.41
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.41
FLAREON/Hotfoot/lvl.42
SCRAFTY/Scrappy/lvl.41
HIPPOWDON*/Leviathan/lvl.43
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.40

On Rotation: Gardevoir, Skrelp, Pikachu, Lucario