(05-24-2017, 11:34 PM)Lord Windos Wrote: [ -> ]Shaking the sleepiness out of his eyes, he turns to smile at Nathan, his mood a little better with his friend's support. "If you have any advice to share, that would certainly be helpful in my endeavor to trump that icy Gym Leader. As for Carny Coins, Shiva has one, and if I have need of it she would probably let me use it. She doesn't seem like she wants to fight in any Gym Battles anyway, so my request should not be too egregious," Ventus says, petting his Raphael while they were sipping their hot chocolate. Despite its study arms, they seem have a grip on the mug, enjoying the chocolatey beverage as a nice treat.
Brainstorming himself of possible solutions, he starts talking about things that could possible help in his battles."One thing I need to do for sure is evolve my Pokémon, and catch more Pokémon that can fill out my team. Both task are rather long term goals, however, so it may be awhile before I can properly take on any Gym Leader. Other than that, I have to hone my battle skills more before I can pull anymore fancier maneuvers. Perhaps getting some held items would also be a good option as well. What do you think, Nathan?"
Nathan hadn't noticed Shiva, as he was deep in thought concerning his advice to Ventus. Â His eyes are closed, one arm across the middle of his body, the other holding his chin.
"That's along the lines of the first thing I had to note, yes.  You need to work on improving your skills in a fair fight.  You were landing your single hits well enough, but being able to do multiples and upping your overall damage would help you tremendously.  Those were battles of attrition that you were struggling to win. Zamboni's really good at landing hits it seems, so you can't really evade taking damage completely and have to outgun him or deprive him of actions if you can't outright avoid his.  Debuffing is nice and all, but it's more effective when you can do a whole load at once, or still do damage at the same time as crippling your opponent.
"The second thing I want to note is the use of items.  I think the potion might have been better used on Raphael, who was your biggest damage source.  If Snorunt had gone down by his hand as opposed to Aspis's, you could have Charmed Swinub.  That would have helped your odds significantly, I'm sure, since Mud Slap is a really weak move.  Having a few Oran Berries might help too, though you'd probably have to stick to using them as held items. I actually have a few Orans from a round of Shuckleball, so I could give you some if you need them.  You could probably also tell your pokemon to eat their berries sooner rather than later to try and stave off the worse pain...
"And the third is considering the big picture of the overall battle.  I lead with Swiftfire because I figured she'd take down his lead fast, and then would draw out whatever counter he had for the fire type he knew I had because of our adventure in the hive.  I didn't expect Ralts to solo that Sealeo down, so I had Porygon ready to hit it as hard as I could and finish it if Ralts got knocked out of the battle.  The more pokemon you have for the toughest ones he has, the better.  And having a fully healed ace in the hole for the final pokemon is important too.  Speaking of which...Â
"I also have a somewhat...crazy sounding suggestion. Â Since you now know what his entire team is, you can plan accordingly. Â And since his last pokemon is Swinub, that means you could use your Shroomish against him. Â If you can up your damage potential a little, you could actually compete with Swinub's damage output and take it down almost as fast as it would take Shroomish down. Â Hitting Swinub with multiple Absorbs in a turn would make the situation more favorable as well, since Shroomish would heal a lot of HP every turn if he connected with both each time.
Nathan pauses, thinking, and launches into a quickly spoken yet rather detailed strategy.  "So, keeping all that in mind...I'd recommend upping your ability to strike your opponent and finding the optimal ways to deal damage to each pokemon.  Even just a little boost can mean a lot, and being able to hit your opponent multiple times in a turn is a big deal.  The Glaceon is the frailest member, so I'd say lead with Aspis, using Leer to capitalize on that and maximize your damage dealt, maybe focusing on Bite more than Poison Sting to try and deprive it of actions.  Bring out Raphael when Aspis goes down, and save your potion for him if you're struggling against Snorunt.  Since Metronome is so random, you should probably stick to single uses of the move since you could pull a harder to hit move just as easily as one that's easy to pull off, and big damage moves like Fire Blast need to hit. Snorunt can also take a lot of punishment, so using Leer and Poisoning or Flinching it would be great, as we saw just now.  Swinub might be able to take a lot of punishment as well, but with a combination of Charm and multiple Absorbs, you should be able to outdamage it.  I don't recommend Glare too much since Zamboni's pokemon didn't really seem all that bothered by it for the most part, though it can't hurt to use it if you can find an opportunity to.
"There's no guarantees that will work, but that's just my thoughts on the matter.  In short, Charm and Raphael are probably your best weapons against Snorunt and Swinub, while fast damage is likely your best bet for Glaceon since it's more vulnerable."
He stops, opens his eyes, and looks back at Ventus, who's looking a little...stunned? Â Confused? Â "What? Â Did I say something funny? Â Did something happen?" Â He looks around and spots Shiva fairly quickly. Â "Oh! Â Uh, hi, Shiva..." Â She looks a little stunned too, actually...Ralts is chuckling, and Swiftfire looks amused.