Interlude – Forums IV_I Will Touch the Skies – A Pokemon Fanfiction

Interlude – Forums IV

 INTERLUDE - FORUMS IV

 Wee to the League Circuit Forums! The best website to get any League/Circuit rted news!

 General → Politics

 Topic: The League brings down the hammer

 Original Poster: Elena_Varena (Verified Trainer)

 Date: January 15th 20XX

 Ladies and gentlemen, it happened.

 Hundreds of people got arrested by the League today for working with Team Gctic one way or another. More than one third of the Directorate is now empty, and a bunch of higher-ups in the Bianchi Conglomerate are in jail awaiting trial, and none of them have bond! That means they’re going to be rotting in there for months.

 Good riddance.

 I’ve skimmed the investigation, and the level of corruption here was seriously egregious. Some of these politicians bought new houses, cars, bought their kids into universities, went on fucking vacation with blood money from Team Gctic and the Bianchis. The League was very thorough and shut up every person using them of abuse of power reaaaaally quickly with these. This is nothing like the National Security Emergency Act, which was morally ambiguous at best (I don’t think we’re really getting any information from all the grunts they’re extracting memories from, or Team Gctic would have been dealt with already). This was iron tight. No holes, from what I can see, and people are on the League’s side here.

 Just a few months ago, people were saying that Cynthia was fucked because of Vernon Harper’s upheaval, but now he’s back in charge, and Cynthia will be able to get any bills she wants passed, starting with the nationalization of the Bianchi Conglomerate. Potions and other items should hopefully return to their normal price, and there will finally be a cap on their price.

 So what are everyone’s thoughts on the situation? Personally, I support this, but I’m curious.

 ?Vivjoy

 I support it 100%. I don’t think people realize how close to a disaster this could have been. First, there’s the attack on Fantina, then Abel is linked with Team Gctic, then this? If the League hadn’t done anything, they would have been signaling that they were powerless. 

 ?Imp07

 I don’t know, Cynthia basically controlling the entire government (civilian and trainer) makes me anxious. All the new candidates presenting themselves for the special elections are her ardent supporters. The government doesn’t give your freedom back after taking it away.

 ?Kevin_Montpellier (Verified Trainer)

 Now you’re just being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian. Cynthia already gave up her power once, you moron. Why wouldn’t she do it again when the threat is dealt with? Just get Team Gctic out of Sinnoh and everything can return to normal. I think the League’s been very honest with us with all the reports they released. They could have said nothing.

 ?Luna_Frances (Verified Trainer)

 That probably would have made the protests a few months ago look like a nursery home. They couldn’t have done that, it would have destroyed their image, even if they would have been in the right.

 ?Imp07

 Whatever you guys say. All I’m saying is that don’teining when we end up in a de-facto dictatorship like Kanto and Johto where the Indigo League runs everything and the people just have to watch.

 ?Luna_Frances (Verified Trainer)

 Okay, drama queen. We’ll see what happens. All I’m saying is that we literally have proof of all this wrongdoing and Cynthia’s proven to be reasonable.

 ?RumblingRun9

 Let me get slightly off-topic here. Don’t you guys find it weird how Kanto and Johto hate each other and yet they’re basically run by the same League? How do they even function?

 ?Dimdamdam

 The Elite Four and the Champion all hate each other and have a region they support. Lance and Koga favor Kanto, Will and Karen favor Johto. Bruno’s usually neutral on things. The meetings must be tense as hell, huh? It’s basically a constant political civil war, it’s a wonder how those two regions even function, but it’s the only way they found to stop wars from starting again. Better a political civil war fought with backroom deals and words than an actual hot war. 

 ?Leonard_Morgenstern (Verified Trainer)

 Personally, I won’t ever be going to Kanto or Johto, especially with how obsessed with bloodlines they are. I mean, it does mean that families can keep their supernatural abilities like Sabrina and pass them down, but I think this shit borders on eugenics.

 ?Elena_Varena (Verified Trainer)

 You are getting off-topic indeed. If you want to talk about Kanto/Johto politics, there are other threads for that. 

 ?Marvin_Samson (Verified Trainer)

 What I’m wondering about is Harvey Bianchi’s son. He was meant to take over the business, no? Does he expect me to believe that he knew nothing about this? Maybe that’s a part of why he wasn’t that outspoken against his father whenpared to Pauline King or Cecilia Obel. If he knew, then he deserves to be punished too, especially when he’s going to keep arge sum of money. Money that his dad made hically!

 ?OrangeRexCounty

 You’re missing the forest for the trees. Sometimes, the simplest exnation is the correct one. He was just tricked by his old man, and he was probably kept in the dark his entire life.

 ?Pauline_King (Verified Trainer)

 Respectfully, go fuck yourself and die in a ditch. You have no idea what you’re talking about, and you should stop spreading rumors. We have enough on our te.

 ?Marvin_Samson (Verified Trainer)

 Okay, I’m genuinely sorry. Your friend got attacked by Abel, right? I shouldn’t have brought that stuff up. I think it’s fun to theorize, but I forget that you guys are living, breathing human beings sometimes.

 ——

 Trainers → Events

 Topic: Theing Sceon tournament and who to watch out for

 Original Poster: Goald42

 Date: January 23rd 20XX

 So my ount’s blown up these past few weeks thanks to people enjoying my general analysis of promising trainers. I usually focus on Cecilia Obel (huge fan, you couldn’t tell by my profile picture), but since there’s been a lot more eyes on my stuff than I expected, I figured that I’d start tracking and analyzing other rising stars this year, and I have! Today’s post will be a bit special though, since we’ll be focusing only on the first-years, not on anyone else.

 Discounting the Conference, this event’s going to be the biggest tourney of the year. It’s backed by the Sceon Daycare and the prize pool is fucking insane. Hyper Beam?! Everyone wants to get their hands on that! There are a few people missing here that would have been on the list, but are unfortunately not participating, like Chase Karlson or Barry Lane, so don’tin about them not being there! Anyway, I’m going to try toy out the top contenders for the tournament, so here goes. But wait! I hear your sniveling little voices asking the question: why should you listen to me and not someone else? Well, I’ve been tracking multiple trainers for more than a decade, and I’ve had my post shouted out by none other than Candice herself! @Candicefitinurmouf is her burner ount, and she identally leaked it a few weeks ago after forgetting to log out andplimenting herself. Anyway, she’s been under a lot of my posts, and she’splimented me.

 Like usual, I’ll be checking out their Pokemon one by one. By the way, this isn’t in any order in particr, so don’t put words in my mouth and start fighting about rankings. Also, keep in mind that the known moves list will most likely be iplete.

 Cecilia Obel

 You know me, so I won’t even bother to give an excuse as to why I’m starting with Cecilia first. Despite an average showing against Fantina that made a lot of people start saying that she’s overrated, I still think that she’s a top contender. And don’t you dare call me biased. 

 Zweilous is still as monstrous as ever. Some people made fun of it for getting manhandled by Fantina’s Dhelmise, but you didn’t actually see how greatly it’s been improving. The main threat a trainer would have to think about when facing Zweilous is its insanely high defense, as we saw during the double battle between Cecilia and her group. It can fight for days, and its offense is no joke either. In that department, it’s not as dominant as it used to bepared to thepetition, and I’ll get to thatter, but you can’t ignore the fact that it can use two attacks at once, and is one of the rare Pokemon able to do so. It has the most destructive potential of all the Pokemon on this list. Dragon Pulse is its most potent attack, but it has been somewhatcking in variety, which I think is its biggest weakness. Let’s hope Cecilia’s remedied that. 

 Known moves: Bite, Take Down, Dragon Breath, Dragon Pulse, Incinerate, Crunch, Hyper Voice, Stomping Tantrum, Thunder Fang

 Known ability: Hustle - source: only known Zweilous ability. 

 Slowking is who I think is Cecilia’s strongest Pokemon by a wide margin. The sheer amount of utility it has with Psychic is invaluable in battle. It can be used defensively, offensively, or as a method to restrain opponents. Not only that, but it has excellent survivability with an already decent bulk and ck Off. Anyone who wants to take Slowking down will need to have dark or ghost type moves, otherwise I don’t see anything getting past its defenses. If I had to find one fault, it’s that his water type moves are somewhatcking, but focusing on improving its psychic abilities isn’t exactly a mistake, with how useful they have been in every showing so far. 

 Known moves: Tackle, Water Gun, Confusion, Psychic, Water Pulse, ck Off, Disable, Zen Headbutt

 Known ability: ??? - not Regenerator - source: doesn’t seem to heal when switched out

 Fletchinder is still powerful, but you can definitely tell that her not evolving is starting to hold her back. She’s going to be fighting in a tournament full of fully evolved Pokemon, and despite her speed, she won’t have the firepower topete. We directly saw this when it took her ages to take down Grace Pastel’s Tangrowth despite having the type advantage. She’s also ridiculously frail, and one or two attack is enough to break one of her wings and ground her. Now, all of this doesn’t mean that Fletchinder is useless. The tournament is held in a doubles format, so her speed can make her a formidable support Pokemon. As it stands, though, I don’t see her pulling much weight unless she evolves.

 Known moves: Peck, Acrobatics, Tailwind, Quick Attack, Ember, Fire Spin, Agility

 Known ability: Gale Wings - source: Incredible speeds at the start of every battle

 Scyther, Cecilia’s final Pokemon was finally revealed, and I’ve gushed about it already. It’s another speedster, and it can almost rival Fletchinder when he really gets going. It has a decent amount of power behind those scythes too, but the problem is that it just doesn’t listen to what Cecilia says. It’s not like she even tries to order it beyond simple suggestions either. In a singles format, maybe Scyther would be useful, but right now, I just think that it’ll get in the way.

 Known moves: Quick Attack, X-Scissor, Air sh, Agility, sh

 Known ability: Swarm - source: seemingly grows stronger the closer it is to fainting

 TLDR: Slowking and Zweilous will have to carry, because the other two aren’t good enough to win the entire tournament.

 Denzel Williams

 Denzel, Denzel, Denzel. What to say about him? He’s gotten a lot of fans this past month, and he’s the one with the most presence in the group. Even Grace Pastel, who’s sponsored by the Arceus damned Poketch Company, manages to keep things rtively quiet, but you hear about him everywhere you go, and he’s one of the most documented trainers on here.

 Not that I’m a hater. He’s got the skill to back his fame, and I think he’s being slept on.

 Sylveon is a creepy little bastard, and I seriously don’t get the people who call it cute. I mean, every time the damn thing battles, it looks like it’s having the time of his life. Not that Pokemon don’t enjoy battling, but something about that smile and that blood-soaked fur keeps me up at night. Anyway, that’s not the point. Ever since the double battle, Sylveon’s had some kind of blurry armor around him, and I have no idea what it is. Maybe some fairy type specialist can chime in, but I’m stumped. The armor means that it can take a ton of hits without going down, and even though its offensive capabilities are average, it ends up winning anyway. I’ll let someone else contribute to how someone would face this, since I’m out of my depth.

 Known moves: Bite, Quick Attack, y Rough, Double Kick, Detect, Sand Attack, Baby-Doll Eyes, Swift, Disarming Voice, Fairy Armor(?)

 Known ability: Pixte - source: Swift produces pink, fairy energy-induced stars

 Roselia is Denzel’s frailest Pokemon, but that doesn’t mean much considering their unusual endurance. Some people underestimate it, but its poison is seriously potent. Let’s remember that it managed to melt off a Cetoddle’s fatyer during its battle with Candice, which is an incredible feat, and its poison has only improved since then. Toxic and Venoshock is a viciousbo that people will have to watch out for. Gotta keep working on those grass moves, though!

 Known moves: Poison Sting, Stun Spore, Poison Powder, Toxic, Mega Drain, Venoshock, Seed Bomb, Razor Leaf, Leech Seed, Magical Leaf

 Known ability: Poison Point(?) - source: incredibly skilled with poison type moves, but not 100% certain.

 Lopunny has been the butt of a few jokes after its rtively bad performance in the group’s double battle. Despite a mid-battle evolution, it didn’t contribute much, and Grace’s fans got a bit toxic regarding that (he was not holding her back, you imbeciles), but I’ll restrain from making too manyments, or I’ll be here for hours. Lopunny’s strength is in her versatility and her speed. Denzel’s team isn’t known for their speed, but Lopunny can seriously go toe-to-toe with a lot of speedsters, and she tends to set the pace of the battle with her attacks. If I get to give advice, don’t forget to breathe and slow down the pace, otherwise you’ll probably lose.

 Known moves: Quick Attack, Double Kick, Fire Punch, Defense Curl, Power-up Punch, Circle Throw, proto Bounce, Shadow Ball

 Known ability: Limber(?) - source: Sylveon has the harem, not her, so not Cute Charm, and not clumsy enough for Klutz

 Feebas is useless and won’t be battling.

 Fross is the biggest threat on Denzel’s team, and he revealed it in a short livestream on Amity Square before leaving for Sceon. Personally, I would have kept it hidden, but whatever. Thankfully, it’s one of the moremon ghosts since it’s rtively easy to get, and that means we know what most are capable of. An unrivaled mastery of Blizzard, and they’re almost impossible to hit in a snowstorm thanks to their Snow Cloak ability (assuming that Denzel’s Fross has it). Unfortunately, since these are going to be double battles, I doubt that we’re going to see many field-covering Blizzards, but we probably know how it’s going to fight. We saw it happen in the double battle with his rivals: Fross’ teammate buys time while it uses Blizzard over and over and dominates. Before, charging up the attack took nearly a minute, but now? Your guess is as good as mine. Something tells me that it’s going to be hell for people to face, though.

 Known moves: Icy Wind, Blizzard, Shadow Ball, Hex, Powder Snow

 Known ability: ???

 TLDR: Fross + X = Insanely hard to beat unless you extensively n a counter in advance. Just watch for that Fross.

 Grace Pastel

 The girl everybody’s been talking about, and for a good reason. Rarely does someone dominate Fantina that hard, and she’s recently been sponsored by the Poketch Company! Keep in mind that they have never sponsored a first-year before in the entire history of their sponsorship program, so this is a huge deal. Her fighting style is extremely frightening. She will know exactly what to expect, and when to expect it. It’s like she’s in your own head, and her Pokemon are no joke, either.

 Togetic is cute, but it’s also an incredibly efficient fighter. She doesn’t pack the biggest punch, but her precision is fucking pinpoint. You rarely see a Pokemon push Ancient Power to its limits like this, since trainers are usually content to use the move as a big, imprecise shield or rocks theyunch at the enemy. Not this Pokemon. She will prate you with drills from the other side of the arena with control that should honestly terrify anyone facing Grace. Not only that, but the move is also incredibly good defensively, as we saw in the double battle I keep bringing up (seriously, go watch it). But it’s not over! It also knows Psychic, which I have no doubt it’ll be able to use as well as Extrasensory. This thing is the definition of a field controller, and facing it will probably make you feel like you’re getting bullied. Focus on it during the fight, or you’ll lose. I’m not kidding.

 Known moves: Pound, Sweet Kiss, Growl, Headbutt, Fairy Wind, Ancient Power, Extrasensory, Thunder Wave, Air Cutter, Wish, Psychic, 

 Known ability: ???

 Tangrowth is a truck, in and simple. It will roll over you and bepletely silent while doing so. Seriously, does anyone else find how quiet it is creepy as hell? Tangrowth and Tang usually have those cute gurgles that people go crazy over, but not this one. Anyway, it’s great defensively, but where it truly shines is its vines. It can hit you with Power Whip or Knock Off, trap you with Bind, or drain your energy with Mega Drain to regenerate itself. Not only that, but it can propel itself with its vines to reach terrifying speeds. This thing is her strongest Pokemon, and I don’t care what anyone says. If you don’t have a powerful fire or poison type, I seriously can’t think of any weaknesses. Even ice or flying wouldn’t be that effective. You just have to brute force and hit it over and over until it falls.

 Known moves: Vine Whip, Absorb, Mega Drain, Stun Spore, Bind, Poison Powder, Leech Seed, Ancient Power, Power Whip, Knock Off

 Known ability: Chlorophyll - source: shown in battle with Gardenia

 Jellicent is one of her strongest. Brine is going to be a terror in the doubles format, and its mastery with Shadow Ball is better than Fantina’s own Frillish. Its defense is mediocre, but it doesn’t matter, since it can regenerate any type of damage with Recover until you exhaust it enough. Not only that, but Water Sport improves its speed to an average level, and its maneuverability in the air is second to none. If you destroy the bodypletely, it can regenerate from a single speck, so basically from anywhere on the field. You’ll most likely be fighting this one the longest. Jellicent does have a weakness, though! Obliterate the head, and you buy yourself some time where it can’t attack, so if you’ve got to aim somewhere, aim for the head.

 Known moves: Bubblebeam, Night Shade, Absorb, Water Sport, Water Pulse, Hex, Poison Sting, Mist, Acid Armor, Shadow Ball, Recover, Brine, 

 Known ability: ??? - not Water Absorb - source: ordered to dodge water type moves during fight with Candice

 Electabuzz is another strong contender. It excels with almost every attack it owns, but it’s also Grace’s frailest Pokemon, which is probably why she taught it Protect. Protect, though, is a move that takes months or even years for a Pokemon to use consistently and quickly, so I doubt that it’ll have improved its use much during the tournament. This thing is good at long-range and close-range, and Grace likes to mix it up depending on who she’s facing (long-range focus vs Candice and Fantina, close-range focus vs Chase and Cecilia), so you’ll have to prepare against both potential scenarios. If the battlests long enough and you can exhaust it, it should be beatable. SHOULD.

 Known moves: Thundershock, Swift (and electric variant), Thunder Punch, Charge, Leer, Ice Punch, Thunderbolt, Discharge, Fire Punch, Protect

 Known ability: ??? (Leaning Static) - source: enthusiastic battler, but nowhere near the amount of energy Magmar has

 Larvitar is a weird case. It’s never fought in an official battle before despite Grace owning it for so long, so there’s very little information on it. I managed to track down a few trainers that faced her on route 207, but that information is probably obsolete by now. The gist of it is that Larvitar was good at both control and sheer strength, but again, all of the moves we know are outdated. I’m curious to see if it’ll finally see some fighting. You have an Arceus damned pseudo, use it!

 Known moves: Leer, Tackle, Horn Attack, Rock Throw, Payback, Stomping Tantrum

 Known ability: ???

 Turtonator is, uh, insane. All we have is the records of the havoc it caused in Mount Cor. It’s capable of heating its surroundings enough to take down the Pokemon that are going to be fighting at Sceon by just being near them. People don’t give enough rep to the fire typing here. It’s always dragon this, dragon that, well, I’d like to see a dragon win by just standing around, thank you very much. Grace somehow managed to catch it, but we do know that she came out on the other side of that cave with burns all over the left side of her body, so she paid dearly for it. I don’t think she’s capable of using it just yet, though, otherwise I think we would have seen it against Fantina. 

 Known moves: Dragon Pulse, methrower, Smokescreen, Bulldoze

 Known ability: Shell Armor - source: only known ability for Turtonator

 TLDR: She will know you inside out, and her Pokemon are powerful. Prepare to think outside the box to trip her up, or enjoy getting rolled while she calls her Pokemon cute nicknames.

 Lauren Goodwill

 Lauren finally started being more public recently, and her annoying stans are going wild over it. I mean, I get it, she’s excellent, but Arceus, go cheer for a coordinator if you’re going to be that dedicated. Anyway, I won’t bring up her rtion to her brother here. I’ll be objectively grading her team, and the most recent information we have from her is her battle against Fantina, where she won even more handily than Grace did, although only by a hair if you want to get technical about it. What she’s really known for is her use of custom moves/movebinations, which is something trainers usually don’t do at her level. People usually wait to pad out their teams with all the natural moves they can learn first, but she just started early, and it’s been working. Obviously though, she’s been keeping most of them hidden, so don’t expect much information on those.

 Sceptile evolved during its battle with Fantina, and what it showed us in that short time was nothing short of pure domination. This thing is one of the fastest Pokemon onnd, andbined with Overgrow, it wasn’t even close. The only person I’ve seen use that kind of ability that well was Pauline King’s Charmeleon, but with all due respect, she isn’t winning this. Anyway, Sceptile is insanely good at fighting at close range with Leaf de, Dual Chop, and Detect. This is what it excels at. It’s essentially a stronger version of Denzel’s Lopunny. You can’t take it in a straight fight, so you’ll have to innovate. Try to lock it down, paralyze or poison it if you can. No custom moves revealed with this Pokemon yet.

 Known moves: Quick Attack, Detect, Leaf de, Dual Chop, Mega Drain, Dragon Breath, Double Kick

 Known ability: Overgrow - source: battle with Fantina

 Duosion wasn’t a Pokemon that she used against Fantina, but we do know a few things about it. The Pokemon has two individual brains. That means that it can use two Psychics at once, orbine their strengths into one mega psychic. Needless to say, being able to lock two opponents up with two Psychics is insanely strong in a double battle. It is, however, horribly frail. Like, even frailer than Fletchinder, but it can use a custom move thatbines Light Screen and Reflect into one permanent barrier, so you’ll have to break through that if you want to take it down. Not only that, but it can also protect its teammates with psychic barriers. One hit though, and it’s usually done. I think we’ll be seeing it a whole lot due to how useful psychics are in these double battles. Good luck.

 Known moves: Confusion, Reflect, Light Screen, Psychic, Psyshock

 Known ability: ??? - not Regenerator - source: same reason as Slowking

 Magmar saw a lot of use against Fantina, and it took down two Pokemon by itself before going down. It’s arguably her strongest Pokemon even with Sceptile because of the temperature problem (weaker version of Turtonator’s passive heat). Luckily for her opponents, this is a double battle, so it’ll have to hold back in that regard, which is why I think it won’t do that well in this setting. Its fire type attacks are obviously no joke, but the biggest problem is Lava Plume, which again, it won’t be able to use because of friendly fire. See where I’m going with this? Magmar are usually best at fighting alone, and this is no different. That’s not to say it’s incapable of doing anything, though. Confuse Ray is a huge threat, and Lauren has kept practicing the attack enough to even affect Pokemon at her level. Magmar can also use abination of methrower and Smog which both burn and poison you. It’s a real battle maniac, so don’t expect it to go down with simple water type moves. If it’s ever thest thing on the field, expect it to burn everything in sight.

 Known moves: Ember, Smog, Smokescreen, methrower, Lava Plume, Fire Punch, Confuse Ray, Mega Punch, methrower-Smogbination

 Known ability: Vital Spirit(?) - source: will keep fighting until his body is quite literally broken.

 Lairon is weak. You heard me, it’s her weakest Pokemon, and it will probably be until it evolves into an Aggron. Its offensive power is mediocre at best, and it doesn’t sport any good control to remedy thatck of power. What it does have is an imprable defense against any physical attack. And yes, its defense is even better than Cecilia’s Zweilous. With physical attacks, you can forget about the type advantage with this thing. You’ve got to deal damage with special moves, and then it’ll go down rtively quickly. Just like Fletchinder, Lairon is being held back by being stuck in its second stage, but if it evolves during the damn tournament? Y’all better watch out.

 Known moves: Take Down, Metal w, Harden, Iron Head, Rock Tomb, Body m

 Known ability: Rock Head - source: no recoil from Take Down

 Seismitoad is another one of her stronger Pokemon. We don’t know when it evolved, but it was probably in Mount Cor where she caught her sixth Pokemon (we’ll get there). This thing is a menace, and it’s capable of flooding the entire field with Muddy Water if it wants to, which makes its Swift Swim abilitye into y (possiblebo with Duosion? It floats). It keeps an Aqua Ring going at all times to regenerate itself, and its mastery of Earthquake is insane, even though it can’t exactly use it that much yet. Despite what you might think, Seismitoad is capable of singling out a single Pokemon and making the ground shake under their feet only. It also has apletely new move that coats its fist in pressurized water that explodes on contact. Lauren calls it Water Punch, so her naming skills could use some work. Anyway, hit it with as many grass type moves as you can, and it’ll go down. If you can’t do that? You might be out of luck.

 Known moves: Bubblebeam, Aqua Ring, Water Punch, Muddy Water, Mudshot, Earthquake, Drain Punch, Uproar

 Known ability: Swift Swim - source:bo with Muddy Water used in multiple asions, most recently against Fantina

 Rhydon is Lauren’s sixth Pokemon, and she seemingly didn’t care about the type ovep with her Lairon. Like Grace, she also paid dearly for it and came out with a huge gash on her shoulder (at least ording to her fans). This thing tends not to listen to her that much, sort of like Cecilia’s Scyther but slightly better. What’s different with Rhydon is that if it actually listened to what Lauren said, it’d be her strongest Pokemon by far, and the strongest on this list behind Turtonator. These Pokemon are always strong, especially when caught in Mount Cor, and this one is no exception. Unfortunately though, I doubt we’ll see much of it since I think it’d kill most opponents. There’s also the fact that it’s dumb as hell, and it just iled around against Fantina without taking down even one Pokemon. 

 Known moves: Hammer Arm, Rock st, Drill Run, Stone Edge, Bulldoze

 Known ability: ???

 TLDR: Take down Duosion at all costs, and you have a decent chance to win. Sceptile and Seismitoad will probably be used the most. Magmar and Rhydon can’t fight well with others, and Lairon is mid.

 Mira Compton

 This is another one that I feel people have been sleeping on. At first, I thought that she wasn’t going to sign up for the tournament because of the Haunter incident (see her battle with Fantina). People tend to give her a hard time for failing to control her ghost, and I’d rmend the utmost caution when facing it. Who knows if it’ll kill something? Anyway, her Pokemon seem to all specialize in high special attack bar a few exceptions, and she could definitely win this thing.

 Kadabra’s psychic abilities are actually worse than Slowking and Duosion, but where it truly shines is its mastery of Teleport. Yeah, this thing can Teleport all over the field like no tomorrow, and it seemingly has a bottomless pit of energy to keep going. This is a perfect remedy to how frail it is. It wasn’t even hit once by any of Fantina’s Pokemon, and it actually has decent coverage with Charge Beam, Energy Ball, Dazzling Gleam and what I assume will be Shadow Ball from Fantina’s gym, so at least its average skill with psychic abilities wasn’t for nothing. It also can transfer its status ailment onto you with Psycho Shift, so watch out for that. Try to hit it a few times and it’ll go down. Not her strongest Pokemon, but definitely her most annoying.

 Known moves: Confusion, Teleport, Psychic, Charge Beam, Energy Ball, Dazzling Gleam, Psycho Shift

 Known ability: Inner Focus(?) - source: never seems to be interrupted when focusing on using psychic type moves.

 Kirlia is unsurprisingly being held back by its second stage, but it’s a lot stronger than Lairon or Fletchinder. The weird thing about this Pokemon is that despite them being usually chill, it’s one of the most brutal Pokemon on this list. It will hold your Pokemon with Psychic and kick them using some kind of custom ‘Psychic Kick’ move. It doesn’t really have a name, and Mira never calls it out. In fact, Mira doesn’t reallymunicate with her Kirlia at all when fighting, which is the main problem you’ll face. And it’s not because of aissez-faire approach like Scyther or Rhydon, but because it appears that Kirlia can sense what Mira wants her to do through the emotions that she feels during the battle. Still, it shouldn’t be that much of a problem, especially whenpared to the next two Pokemon on this list.

 Known moves: Confusion, Psychic, Psychic Kick, Draining Kiss, Disarming Voice, Psybeam

 Known ability: ???

 Haunter is a monster, in and simple. It’s basically a stronger version of Fantina’s Haunter without the illusions, and it has a bigger focus on its poisonous nature. This thing knows Toxic and Hex, so that’ll be what you have to worry about during most battles, but it also knows Curse, which is an extremely annoying move to deal with! Let me remind you that switching in this tournament is not allowed, so facing Haunter will basically be a race against the clock. 

 Known moves: Lick, Curse, Hex, Toxic, Smog, Shadow Ball, Sucker Punch, Shadow w, Night Shade

 Known ability: Levitate - source: only ability known to Haunter

 Magnezone is by far her strongest, and Mira managed to evolve it during her travels through Mount Cor. Not only does it have high defenses, but its mastery of Lock-On means that it will never miss an attack unless you have a teleporter. sh Cannon and Thunderbolt are its bread and butter. Little move variety just like Zweilous, so you have that going for you. Just st it with fire type moves until it falls, or knock it to the ground and use a ground type move.

 Known moves: Thundershock, Thunderbolt, sh Cannon, Lock-On, Tri-Attack, Discharge

 Known ability: Analytic(?) - source: is noticeably stronger when moving after its opponents

 TLDR: Annoying as hell to face, lots of gimmicks with Teleportation, Curse and Lock-On. To beat her, you’ll have to fight quickly and decisively.

 ?Will_Bowman (Verified Trainer)

 Excellent writeup, Goald. Seriously, it’s your best one yet. Personally, I’ll be at the tournament (second-year here), and I’d rank them like this in terms of who I’d hate to face: Mira>Grace>Denzel>Lauren>Cecilia. Mira’s got that murderous Haunter (I honestly don’t know why they’re allowing her to sign up), and fighting against that Teleporting Kadabra is just too much for me. Not only that, but her Magnezone can counter my water types. Grace just seems like annoying to fight, honestly. Completely unfun. You’ve got topletely change up your style to hope to beat her, but that means you’ll be fighting worse too. Denzel ys the long game with his battles, and I’m not that good at staying focused for long periods of time (big weakness of mine), and that Blizzard you talked about seemed vicious, especially since I’m a water specialist with some… interesting strategies. Lauren could trip me up with her custom moves, but I think I’d be able to take her, especially since I counter three members of her team. Sceptile would probably be a bitch to fight, though, but I’d deal. Cecilia, well, if you deal with Zweilous and Slowking, you’re pretty well positioned to win.

 ?Drew_Cartman (Verified Trainer)

 I think you’re overestimating Denzel and underestimating Cecilia. I’d swap them if I were you. Sure, Denzel mightst long, but hecks the firepower to deal with the Pokemon he’ll be facing. This isn’t the little leagues anymore.

 ?LivingPokedex

 Non battler barging in here. My dad’s a fairy type specialist that works for the League, and I can shed some light on what Sylveon is doing. Most fairies get their power from feelings and emotions. What I think is happening here is that Sylveon is believing so strongly in the fact that it has some sort of shield that it’s manifesting it into reality.

 Before you panic, this has its limits. It’s not about to summon a rain of acid or whatever anytime soon. It’ll keep things small and controlled. Anyway, there is an easy way to counter this, just like how you counter all fairy types: steel and poison. Coat its body with any type of poison type attack, or hit it with a steel type move, and the armor will crumble before your very eyes faster than you can blink. If you don’t have any of those, you can only hit Sylveon enough times to chip away at it, but that’ll take time.

 ?Yasim_Benzema (Verified Trainer)

 Arceus knows that you don’t want your battles with Denzel Williams tost long, or he’ll always win. Thanks for the tip. Also, I don’t appreciate you calling Lairon weak. I own one, it’s just that Lauren isn’t using it to its full potential.

 ?Patcha

 I’m so proud of you Goald. Not because of your writeup, but because you finally stopped simping for Cecilia Obel for one Arceus damned post. Finally, people are realizing that she’s overrated. I know it must have taken a lot out of you. Your fingers were probably burning while you were typing this. It honestly brings a tear to my eye! Hope to see more good stuff from you.

 ?Denzel_Williams (Verified Trainer)

 Interesting analysis you got there. You’ve got a knack for these, and I enjoyed reading my part. Mind if I show it to my friends? I’d like to see their reactions.

 ?Goald42

 HOLY SHIT I AM NOT WORTHY! Do whatever you want, man, it’s yours! Thank you for stopping by and reading my stuff. Can you let me know what their reactions were?

 ?Denzel_Williams (Verified Trainer)

 Gotcha! Can’t wait to see their faces when I show them this.

 ?Conrad_Amed (Verified Trainer)

 I don’t know about you, but I don’t trust anything that the Hunter family has their hands in whatsoever.

 ?VivenDarris

 Why are people always so fucking paranoid?

 ?Conrad_Amed (Verified Trainer)

 Maybe because I’m a Sceon native and that they’ve held this town back for centuries just because of their greed, you ass. We could have been just as big as Hearthome without them. I don’t trust the Hunters and I won’t be watching this. Thanks the the analysis anyway.

 ——

 Gyms → Veilstone → Maylene

 Topic: Maylene caught on hot mic

 Original poster: Imp07

 Date: January 18th 20XX

 This is breaking news, and the media’s having a field day with it. Maylene Suzuki is well known for being a hothead, mostly due to how young she is, but this is something else. Below is a video of her criticizing her handlers from the League. If you don’t want to read my exnation and you have the attention span of a Yanmega, there’s a video at the bottom. It’s been a theory for a long time, but now we have confirmation. Maylene doesn’t actually run her gym. It’s all handled directly from agents from the League, and all she does is battle people.

 Some might say that it was obvious due to her age, but the government kept denying it. Now, it’s out in the open, and it’s fucking big. This essentially means that the League was running Veilstone directly ever since Maylene ascended to the position of gym leader two and a half years ago, and people don’t take kindly to that stuff, especially since Veilstone’s civilian government’s been sidelined time and time again due to some ‘hidden’ Team Gctic base that the League’s been looking for for months. The mayor was in on it too, and he’s facing calls to resign and the city council is in open rebellion. It’s a mess up there, and I’ll eat my hat if the League puts out a statement instead of just staying radio silent. With their power y against the opposition in the Directorate and the nationalization of the Bianchi Conglomerate (new name still pending), people like me are getting a bit nervous, but I hope things will return to normal when Team Gctic is finally out of the picture.

 ?Landon_Pinion (Verified Trainer)

 She’s a kid, dude. Rx and stop trying to use her for clout. I’m in Veilstone and like usual, the media’s trying to fan the mes. People here don’t give a fuck as long as Team Gctic is dealt with. No one is even trying to organize a protest. We’re all in a united front except ignorant people like you that keep trying to revive controversies. Honestly, I wouldn’t even be surprised if you’re a Gctic member trying to agitate us.

 ?Dashtwoun

 Newssh, moron, children can’t run entire cities. The League was probably just trying to keep up appearances, but it was obvious if you just used your brain for a single second. For example, why do you think the League even allows for fifteen-year-olds to potentially be the Champion? Do you think that they’d allow a kid to run the entire region and our military apparatus? Of course not. They have handlers for that shit until the kid grows up and learns the ropes. Why would it be different for the Veilstone gym?

 ?Kendrick_Shepherd (Verified Trainer)

 Also, you’re trying to mislead people here. The League never said that Maylene ran her own gym alone, they said that she was getting help multiple times. Looking at your history, all you do isin about the League, but never about the Directorate, and it’s also not even a year old. I honestly think you’re a spy, I’m going to report your ount. Can’t have any more infiltrations. Good thing the League added a tip line for this shit.

 ?Imp07

 So this is what it’se to then? We’re creating such a paranoid atmosphere that anyone who doesn’t conform to the typical opinion is a member of Team Gctic? What happened to free speech? I wasn’t even that against Maylene or anything, I was just reporting on what happened. 

 ?Freddie00Y

 Nah, man. I’m reporting you too, you’re sus. Yourst five posts have beenining about the League. I’m sorry, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

 ?Imp07

 Fuck you. What if they show up at my house?

 ?Kendrick_Shepherd (Verified Trainer)

 If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.

 ——

 General → History_Discussion

 Topic: Sigilyph spotted on route 210

 Original poster: Christian_Dewitte (Verified Trainer)

 Date: January 20th 20XX

 Hey, I know this isn’t exactly the right category for this post, but there aren’t enough categories as it is, so please spare me, moderators. Below is a picture of a Sigilyph that my buddy spotted on his way to Celestic. It’s blurry, but you can clearly tell what it is. No other Pokemon has those weird ass wings and that body shape. To be more precise, he spotted it up in the cliffs near the halfway point of the route, and it escaped into the sky before he could catch it to sell it back to the Daycare.

 Now, why is this significant? Well, any trainer worth their while can tell you that Sigilyph are only found in the wild in Unova’s desert, but only history and archeology nerds like me can tell you that the presence of any Sigilyph means that an ancient city or civilization is nearby. They’re known to only patrol the streets of their destroyed/lost cities even thousands of years after the fact, and they always take the same pathing/route like an AI in a video game. Over. And. Over. So why did this one escape? Well, I don’t exactly know, but it’s bound to be interesting. I’ve contacted some of my archeology pals over in Veilstone, and they n on making the trip over there to check it out. We could be on the verge of a discovery that redefines history as we know it! Did a group of settlers from Unova make the trek to Sinnoh and settle there? I’ll try to keep you posted!

 ?Worldwiser

 Interesting theory, but what if that’s just some Unovan trainer’s Pokemon that was flying around? If it was a whole group, then maybe I’d be inclined to believe you, but this is circumstantial at best, and your friends are probably going to waste their time. And where would this even be hidden? You’d think the rangers would have stumbled upon it, they know every route like the back of their hands.

 ?Anna_Cammy (Verified Trainer)

 Agree with the above statement, but there’s more. This is ancient civilization we’re talking about, right? Why would they settle down on those mountains where agriculture is impossible? At least Celestic sits on a t teau that goes on for miles, but the location you’re talking about makes no sense. The only way this could be possible is if this Sigilyph’sing from a lot further than you think it is, which makes your whole expedition to route 210 moot.

 ?Fuu-chan

 First, the rumors about fairies on route 215, now this? Kind of wack, I wonder what’s going on.

 ?Untitled_05

 Blurry picture tbh, can’t see jack shit. Probably some clout goblin looking to get famous.

 ?Christian_Dewitte (Verified Trainer)

 The first two of you make good points, and I’m happy this section of the forums is more active than I thought. I still think it’s too early to give up. I’m 100% sure there’s something there.

 You’ll see.

 <hr>

17kNovel

Interlude – Forums IV