004 Strategic Switching

Blazeinferno is my opponent this time.  He begins the match with his Gallade and launches a Will-O-Wisp in order to reduce the Attacking stat of my Metagross.  Luckily, I was using a Lum Berry Metagross instead of an Occa or Shuca variant, and the Lum Berry eliminates the burn.  I chose to use Stealth Rock on my first turn, though, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Gallade used Will-O-Wisp again.  Maybe Blazeinferno knew that was a predictable move, so he switched his Gallade out and brought out something that would be defensive against the standard Metagross lead.  Skarmory loses next to nothing from Bullet Punch, absolutely nothing from Earthquake (unless it has used Roost), and not more than 2/3 of its HP from Explosion.

My switch-in was Salamence.  I had the intention of using Flamethrower to defeat Skarmory.  However, after Skarmory laid down the Stealth Rock, it switched out.  I guess it was kind of obvious what I was planning to do, as a mixed attacking Salamence was extremely popular at the time.  I wouldn't be using Dragon Claw or Earthquake to deal damage to Skarmory, so Blazeinferno brings out Gallade again.

The Gallade took less than half from the Flamethrower, and then began the next turn with a Psycho Cut, leaving me to believe that it was Choice Scarfed.  Luckily, I used the turn to use Dragon Dance, meaning that I would outspeed Gallade.  Wanting to keep his Gallade for a later time, Blazeinferno brings out Togekiss to take the expected Dragon Claw.  I guess it was a physically defensive Togekiss, but a critical hit makes it so I won't know for sure.

After Togekiss fainted, Swellow is brought out, only to take Stealth Rock damage and a Dragon Claw before fainting.  I was starting to see my Life Orb recoil bring my Salamence down to low yellow, and I thought to myself that I should be able to take out three of the remaining four Pokemon at most before Salamence fainted, and I could bring out Latias to go against the last Pokemon, to either attack with a powerful move, or Trick it with a Choice Scarf, locking that Pokemon to one move and easing prediction.

Blazeinferno brings out Alakazam.  I was thinking about using Dragon Claw, but luckily I slipped and chose Earthquake instead.  He switched out the Alakazam to bring out Skarmory.  I guess he was trying to deplete Salamence's HP through Life Orb, but since Earthquake did not hit at all, Salamence's HP remained intact for that turn.

I used Flamethrower, and Blazeinferno predicted that move would be coming, so he brings out his Gallade again, which took less than 50% the last time I was hit with it.  He left his Gallade in to take the next attack.  I guess he figured that Salamence is pretty close to fainting from Life Orb.  I really got the feeling that Blazeinferno was protecting his Skarmory more than any other Pokemon in this battle.  After Gallade fainted, Blazeinferno sent his Electivire out.

The obvious move would be to use Earthquake, but I played out a scenario in my mind: Blazeinferno switches out to Skarmory, Earthquake would miss, I would use another attack, but he switches out to another Pokemon, Salamence faints through Life Orb, and his Skarmory is still able to battle.

I decided to just go for Flamethrower again to avoid the latter parts of that scenario.  Hitting Skarmory with Flamethrower at the cost of Salamence's remaining HP would mean that the remainder of my mostly physical team wouldn't have as much trouble for the rest of the battle.

Knowing that he had Alakazam and Electivire remaining, I figured that for the unknown switch in, I should choose Metagross to hit Alakazam with Bullet Punch or Electivire with Earthquake.  Once the Alakazam was brought in, it was brought out again to be switched with Electivire to take the predicted Bullet Punch.  A good move on Blazeinferno's part, as Electivire is faster than Metagross and is able to use Earthquake first, something I forgot to consider when I decided who to switch in.  Metagross is bulky enough to survive the attack and retaliates with an Earthquake of its own.

Blazeinferno was down to his Alakazam.  Since Metagross was at low health, it didn't make sense to use Earthquake, so I just used Bullet Punch to outspeed Alakazam.  I kept on thinking to myself that Alakazam is frail, but apparently it is still able to survive a Bullet Punch.  I guess that makes sense, given that Bullet Punch is not a powerful move like Earthquake or Meteor Mash.  Anyway, Life Orb Alakazam faints by its own accord, leaving me the victor.

So, after three battles with T-Flare members, I have had one battle where the opponent ran, one battle where I fainted all of the opponent's Pokemon, and one battle where the opponent's recoil cost him the game.  I was glad that I was getting such varied victories in such a small group of battles.

Until next time, extend our reach to the stars above!