Vs. Salazzle

I wanted a challenge, so I had decided to take only four pokemon with me on my run up the mountain (Editor's note: Foreboding is an adjective that means 'uninvited dread', but in this case, take it to mean 'the anticipation of disaster').  The squad that I had come up with was made up of my most reliable pokemon that have followed me around all the way from the first island.

Vs. Salazzle: The Melemele Firefighters

During the initial phases of the trial back when I was playing "is there a hiker in this photo", I had been subjected to a few surprise battles.  The first was against that fire-dancing Marowak.  The second was against the Hiker himself.  These matches, while not difficult, had taken their toll on my lead Grimer.  Indeed, Sludj was forced to enter battle with the totem Salazzle with only 13 HP remaining.

"You Toxic bitch, you"

Because I own a Salandit, I already knew how fast the totem pokemon was, so I knew that Grimer wouldn't last very long.  One Flame Burst later and it was now a 3-on-1 match: 3-on-2 once Salazzle summoned Salandit as its partner.

This did not bode well.

I reassessed and found that, while Crabrawler was a good choice against a fire type, the dual Poison/Fire Salazzle/Salandit combo meant that the crustacean would be at a disadvantage.  Fighting moves are weak against the poison type.  I sent it in and attempted to whittle down the supporting Salandit with Bubblebeam.

It was then that the enemy duo revealed their master strategy.  Venoshock is a niche move amongst Poison Pokemon Trainers.  It has a base power of 60 damage under normal circumstances, but a base power of 120 if the opponent is afflicted by poison.  Salazzle knew Toxic.  Salandit knew Venoshock.  Because both opponents were faster than any of my underleveled pokemon, I lost my next two without even scoring a hit.  Salazzle would use Toxic, Sanandit would use Venoshock, and my pokemon would be knocked-off in one hit.

The only pokemon that even had a chance was Pako Pako, who miraculously survived Venoshock.  My partner retaliated with its Hydro Vortex Z-move!!

Salazzle surprised me with its strength.  It clung on and survived (barely) the ultimate water move.

And thus it was that foreboding became foreshadowing.  I was given my first loss.

Vs. Raticate

Previously on Ben's Spectacular Pokemon White Y Moon Playthrough:

Totem Pokemon are powerful guardians of Trial locations.  There is a Totem for each Trial.  The Raticate boss in charge of the Verdant Cave Shrine was trained and set there with one goal: stop the Trial Challengers.  But I have the advantage here: I'm not a Trial Challenger, I'm a veteran Pokemon Trainer.

Vs. Raticate: Young Balance

I started by sending out Growlithe as a scout.  Knowing that Raticate is a Dark/Normal type in this game, I wanted to save Pip Pip for later on in the engagement as my ace.  Pikipek has a fighting move in Rock Smash (something that makes me curious about what kind of pokemon it will eventually evolve into), which would do x4 damage against the opponent.  Raticate immediately powered-up by boosting its defense.  Totems apparently have this extra ability.

First turn: Raticate Bites Growlie, who flinches.  The end of the turn finds Growlithe injured and Raticate untouched.  And then Raticate summoned help: Rattata appeared on the battlefield to assist the Totem.  This two-against-one match was easily enough to overwhelm Growlithe, Pikipek, and Popplio; all of whom failed to move because of flinch.  Both of my opponents were fast--much faster than my more methodical teammates--and I was taking two attacks per turn.  I was outnumbered and outperformed. 

Trusting in my instincts and relying on the Pokemon knowledge I had accrued over a lifetime of battle experience, I reassessed the situation.  I only had three pokemon left; one of them, Misdreavus, would not be able to cause any damage at all to the Dark/Normal opponents with their Psychic and Ghost moves.  What do I do when it's time to call defeat?  I stall.

Knowing exactly what I had left--a long shot against the barely damaged duo--I sent out Grimer.  Grimer, with its superior defenses, would be able to tank the two pokemons' physical moves; Grimer would resist "Bite".  And finally, Grimer had one more trick up its goopy, goopy sleeves: I used Poison Gas--successfully poisoning both opponents.

Raticate must have anticipated exactly this possibility, because it was holding a Pecha Berry which immediately cured it of its poisoning.  One turn later, I re-applied the move and succeeded in poisoning the pokemon, but not without great cost to myself.  Grimer could be gone in two turns--turns I didn't have.

I used Harden.  I took damage.  I used Harden.  I took damage.  I was prolonging the inevitable, but each turn I could keep my pokemon alive was one more turn towards my opponents' defeat.  Poison damage had severely weakened the Rattata.  Knowing that Grimer had done its job, I spent the last turn aiming a futile "Pound" attack at the Raticate.  Rattata took out my Grimer before it could even move.  It was the last thing my foe did before it fell due to poison.

It was now Chompy vs. Raticate.  Raticate was wounded--but Raticate was faster.  Almost there!!!

Turn 1: "Bite" exchanged for "Tackle".  Turn 2: "Bite" exchanged for "Tackle".

VICTORY