Fire

As I crept into the inner sanctuary of the Pokemon League I was met by an auspicious lady with pink hair.  She introduced herself to me as Malva, a fire trainer and Elite Four Champion.  The purpose of the Elite Four is to try to wear you out--as a final test to see if you are worthy of battling the strongest trainer--and she made it absolutely clear to me that I was no hero for defeating Team Flare--and that this meant nothing as I challenged her for my first battle.

And there is no better way to put me in the mood for battle than to tell me I can't do it...

I had decided to open with Hippowdon  to be safe--I knew that Froakles was going to do most of the "heavy lifting" for the match, but his frailty made me take pause from scouting with him.  I knew Hippo' would be able to take anything that she could throw at me--so I started her against Malva's Pyroar.  The exchange was quick, but it left my sandhippo with low health.

Her next pokemon was Torkoal and I knew that this was going to be the time where I set-up Froakles for the game-ender.  Due to Torkoal's naturally high defense and the fact that it kept using 'Curse', I knew Greninja's special attacks would be best for the match, so I used Yawn to put her turtle to sleep and then switched Froakles in and put up a Substitute (for safety).  I took her Torkoal out with one "Scald" the next turn.

Her next pokemon was Chandelure and I outran and overpowered it with one attack.

Her final pokemon was another level 65 Talonflame--and I know that the last time I played, I stall-killed one of those with Mega Venusaur, but in-battle against the fifth-strongest trainer in the known universe is not the place to get cute, so I kept Froakles in for the one-hit-KO Scald.  But thank goodness for that Substitute because Talonflame moved first with Brave Bird--and that would have definitely hurt.
_________________
Score that match: 6-0
Hyper Potions: 24 -1
Revives: 25
_________________
Current Squad Status:

GRENINJA/Froakles/lvl.56
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.55
FLAREON/Rox/lvl.53
LUCARIO/Knives/lvl.55
HIPPOWDON/Leviathan/lvl.55
GARDEVOIR/Missy/lvl.52

Sidelines: Pikachu, Scrafty, Dragalge, Aerodactyl

The End of the Road

After I defeated Serena, my fortune changed drastically for the better.  My pokemon were finally strong enough to contend with my foes: battle became much less about guessing how many hits I can take before dying and going for a revenge kill and more about which of my pokemon would defeat the foe the fastest.  I was finally back.

As a matter of fact, the last half of Victory Road was a lot of fun.  One notable match that really sticks-out for me was my Mega Venusaur actually stall-killing a Level 65 Talonflame with Leech
Seed and Poisonpowder.  Talonflame is a Fire/Flying type and this particular Talonflame had both Flare Blitz, the strongest fire attack in the game, and Brave Bird, the strongest flying attack in the game.  You can see how this was exciting to me.  Mega Venusaur is just plain unkillable.  He cannot be defeated.

The road ended with a five-person gauntlet of strong veteran trainers with strong pokemon including skarmory and glaceon--but after this was over (and it was over not a moment too soon) I found myself at the base of the steps up to the Pokemon League.  I had made it to the top.

Current Squad:

GRENINJA/Froakles/lvl.54
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.53
FLAREON/Rox/lvl.52
LUCARIO/Knives/lvl.53
DRAGALGE/Toxie/lvl.49
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.47

On Rotation: Pikachu, Scrafty, Hippowdon, Gardevoir