010 The Starter Pokemon Battle

I had decided I would do something apart from my usual OU battles at each T-Flare battle which would be numbered a multiple of ten.  Somehow I didn't do it for Battle 020, but anyway...

Since this was my first one, I decided to upload a battle which I had done against myself, and used all starters.  I had been toying with the idea for some time, and knowing that by Generation IV there are 12 fully evolved starters, it was the perfect opportunity.  Everyone knows the starters so well through the selection of them and the story sequences with the rivals in the game, but I didn't expect to see so many views.  Battle 010 is currently my second most viewed video, and I'm not sure why it has been marketed differently than the rest of my battles.  Did someone Digg it or something?

I thought about making the battle a double battle as well for a change of pace.  I wasn't sure which music I wanted to use, so I blended in some remixed Pokemon Trainer battle music from each of the generations.  I started out with the same music as I did for the match I had with Blazeinferno for some reason.  I guess I thought a colosseum-style theme would fit, as it was intended to be a showcase anyway.

The Pokemon on my Platinum would be the first and second generation starters, while the Pokemon on my Pearl would be the third and fourth.

The leads are Venusaur, Charizard, Swampert, and Torterra.  Since Swampert and Torterra are commonly used as leads they seemed like great choices.  Venusaur and Charizard were chosen because they were the earliest in terms of Pokedex number.

Charizard's Base 100 speed allows it to go first from this group, and takes the time to use Substitute.  Torterra wins the speed tie against Bulbasaur and increases its speed with its Rock Polish, and Venusaur creates a Substitute to create the beginnings of a green plush collection.  Swampert finishes off the turn with Stealth Rock, meaning that the only HP lost this turn was on the Platinum side.

Torterra now boasts the top speed thanks to the boost, and uses an attack to hit both Venusaur and Charizard simultaneously.  Charizard would take x4 damage, but thanks to Rock Slide being relatively weaker in double battles, one could argue that it would be x2.  It really didn't matter too much considering that it hit the Substitute and not the actual Pokemon, but it was still enough to eliminate that Sub. 

Charizard used Belly Drum to increase its attack to +6 in one move, and it was EV'd properly so that this combination of Substitute and Belly Drum would bring it to the maximum HP allowable for the activation of a pinch berry.  In this case, Salac was used to increase the speed, which is great considering that Torterra would have outsped Charizard.  As an added bonus, the Blaze ability which activates when Charizard's HP is under 1/3 of its maximum boosts Charizard's attack even more.

Venusaur uses Leech Seed on Swampert, taking advantage of its Base 100 HP.  Swampert used Avalanche to try and get rid of Venusaur's green doll shield.  At the end of the turn, Venusaur restored the HP it lost through its item and Leech Seed, Charizard is being dangerously close to being KOd by either Swampert's Avalanche or Torterra's Rock Slide, and Swampert and Torterra were at near full HP.

The next turn begins with a Belly Drummed Blazed Charizard using a STAB Fire Punch on Torterra, and as expected, the super effective move fells the tank.  Venusaur decides to set up another substitute while Swampert uses Avalanche.  This particular Swampert's moveset did not have Waterfall so Avalanche was the only way to attack the flying red dragon which isn't a Dragon-type.  Surprisingly, Charizard survived.

Blaziken is brought out as a way to deal with Venusaur and to resist Fire Punch.  I didn't have a Flying move on Charizard, so I decided to get rid of the Swampert as quickly as I could.  However, all those power boosts was not enough to defeat Swampert.  Blaziken used its Thunderpunch to KO Charizard, and the music changes to some Gold/Silver remix.

I got my Venusaur to use Ingrain to further improve its tanking abilities.  Apparently it didn't seem much like a threat until now as it has remained relatively untouched compared to Charizard.

After all the HP gains and losses in between turns ended, I brought out Meganium.  I guess I wanted to lure out the Fire attacks to go toward it rather than Venusaur.  Maybe I could have threatened Swampert with the prospect of Energy Ball.  Meanwhile, Venusaur still didn't reveal to the audience whether it had a Grass or Poison STAB move.

Since Blaziken was Choice Banded, its Thunderpunch wouldn't have been effective on either Pokemon, so it was swapped for its more popular counterpart.  Venusaur was able to create yet another Substitute while Meganium protected the team even more with its Reflect.  Don't ask why it's behind the Pokemon.  Venusaur is going to very difficult to take down now.  Swampert's Avalanche doesn't do too much to Meganium as a result of the Reflect.

On the next turn, Infernape reveals that it has a special attack, not a physical one, and decides to hit the Pokemon which is not protected by a substitute.  This was done to prevent the setting up of Light Screen which was probably on Meganium.  Venusaur, not happy with all the HP it is getting, decides to Leech Seed some more instead of attacking.  Perhaps that was a mistake.

Seeing that the Pearl side had no Grass-types, the Platinum side brought out Blastoise to put pressure on Infernape.  To see if Infernape had Grass Knot, Blastoise used Protect.  However, Infernape wasn't interested in taking down Blastoise just yet, and wanted to get rid of that Venusaur which hasn't been doing much except racking up passive damage and healing.  Venusaur finally uses an attack, which happened to be Hidden Power Dragon, a very strange choice indeed.  I chose it because it would hit all Pokemon except Empoleon for neutral damage, although in retrospect Hidden Power Rock or Flying would have been a better choice overall.  I didn't take into the account the low power of a non-STAB move.

Swampert uses Avalanche when the Ruby/Sapphire music began, and gives super-effective damage which takes off a little less than 25%.  We then get to watch a whole bunch of healing and leeching going on, enraging Infernape for being the only one on the field not getting any recovery, prompting it to bring down Venusaur in one swift move.

Blastoise takes out Swampert, meaning that all of the Pokemon which have been on the field from the beginning have finally fallen past the halfway point of the battle.  Typlosion and Sceptile replace them.

Blastoise is near full HP but still wants to restore that little bit, so Protect is used.  The Choice Scarf Typhlosion uses its Eruption to hit both opponents... one for not effective damage, and the other for super-effective.  Sceptile barely survives while Infernape doesn't.  Sceptile was capable of using Rock Slide to hit Typhlosion for super effective damage, but instead used Swords Dance.

On the next turn, Blaziken makes a return, just in time to see its battle partner fall to another Eruption.  Blaziken then Thunderpunches the blue tortoise in hopes of avoiding a similar fate.  Blastoise yawns at the music, and thus has it changed to the fourth generation music we all know and love.  At the time there weren't many remixes that I cared for, meaning I had to stick with the original.

Now the Pearl side is down to the remaining two Pokemon, both of whom are on the field.  Blaziken is obviously locked into Thunderpunch, but that wasn't to consequential considering that the Platinum side had no resistances to Electric attacks.

Protect again from Blastoise, Eruption from Typlosion, a Thunderpunch hitting an invisible shield or something from Blaziken, and Agility from Empoleon describes the next turn.  Blaziken was obviously worn out by hitting some forcefield that it fell asleep.  Or maybe it was the yawn from earlier.

On the next turn, we see that Typhlosion is still faster than Empoleon, and takes the opportunity to use Eruption again, bringing both opponents to dangerously low HP.  Empoleon then uses Waterfall on Typhlosion who obviously didn't take that well.  Blastoise used Ice Beam on Empoleon.  I was pretty sure Blastoise could have finished the match already with Surf, but seeing as how it's a showcase, I wanted a chance for my remaining Pokemon to at least show up.

Feraligatr takes Typhlosion's spot.  If I recall correctly, the image of Feraligatr and Blastoise standing next to each other in that order looked pretty ridiculous from the Pearl side's point of view.  Feraligatr was covering Blastoise's face with its clawed hand.

After a Swords Dance from Empoleon, listening to Blaziken snore (but not using the attack Snore), and a Dragon Dance from Feraligatr, Blastoise decides that Water-type Pokemon should reign supreme, and takes out Blaziken with an Ice Beam.

A critical hit from Empoleon's +2 STAB Drill Peck wasn't enough to defeat Feraligatr, meaning that Feraligatr is able to end the battle with a +1 STAB attack of its own.

I was kind of hoping the battle would have ended in a draw or had just one Pokemon standing, but that was not the case this time.  Still, it was a fun battle even though it was against myself, and somehow, like I said before, several hundred views on the video is puzzling but not unwelcome.

Until next time, make it double!

Non T-Flare 001 The Amazing Flying Paralyzed Gyarados

This is a battle against my real life friend, and at the time, my opponent wasn't actually prepared for a battle, so six random Pokemon (properly EV'd ones, though) were selected for that team.  The purpose of the visit was to trade items and event Pokemon, not to battle.  We were in the same room and sharing the same Internet connection, so luckily the connection held out for the entire battle.

My lead, Metagross, faces off against a lead Gyarados.  Thanks to Clear Body, Metagross is not affected by the Intimidate.  I was thinking that this Gyarados would be a threat to the rest of my team if I didn't somehow dispose of it, but I also felt I needed to Stealth Rock the opposing field.  I took a risk and hoped that Gyarados wouldn't use Taunt.  Luckily for me, it used Dragon Dance instead.

Since Kura's Gyarados is now faster than my Metagross, it was able to deal heavy damage to my Metagross.  I knew my slower Metagross wouldn't be able to survive two hits from the speedier Pokemon so I was glad I told it to use Explosion that round.  Bullet Punch and Earthquake, the other two moves known by my Metagross, wouldn't have been able to put Kura's Gyarados on the spot, anyway.

After the double KO, I switched into my own Gyarados, while Kura brings out Alakazam.  Since Alakazam is not used for its physical attacking ability, Intimidate doesn't really do much except take up time and lower the amount of damage Alakazam would inflict to itself through confusion.  I was hoping that Alakazam wouldn't attack my Gyarados, and luckily, Kura withdrew Alakazam to bring in Raichu with the hopes that its obvious Electric-type would deter Gyarados from staying in.  I used Dragon Dance that turn, though, making Gyarados faster than Raichu.

I knew Raichu had the Static ability, but seeing as how my attacking moves were Waterfall and Return, both which would count as physical contact, I decided to just go for the attack and hope I avoid paralysis.  Seeing as how the paralysis did set in, I thought about how a Stone Edge and Earthquake Gyarados would fit into my team instead.

Kura brought out Miltank, which was a great idea since Gyarados is now slower, and Miltank is physically defensive.  Miltank uses Body Slam to inflict damage, and possibly paralyze another Pokemon if I switched.  I was surprised that Gyarados' +1 Waterfall did a lot.  I'm not really sure why I did that, as I had recalled Kura mentioning Milk Drink prolonging Miltank's stay on the battlefield.  At least Gyarados was able to execute another Waterfall through the paralysis to almost negate the HP gained. 

I guess Kura was hoping for paralysis to stop my Gyarados next turn, as Miltank went for an attacking instead of using Milk Drink.  I took the turn to use Taunt, which worked out quite well.  I knew that Gyarados could take another Body Slam so I figured I may as well try to increase the attack and speed of my paralyzed Gyarados to have an easier time defeating Miltank, if somehow Gyarados could not move until after the Taunt wears off.

Miltank attacked first on the next turn, so the speed increase wasn't enough.  It's okay, though, since I was aiming to increase the attack.  Two subsequent Body Slams brought Gyarados down to the red, and I was really hoping I could get Gyarados to use its attack.

After the defeat of Miltank, Alakazam appeared to boast its ability to move around freely and quickly.  It wasted no time using its Psychic to defeat Gyarados.  I guess I forgot that paralysis cuts speed in half, not lower 1 stage.

Scizor came in to threaten Alakazam with the prospect of a Bug-type move, so Kura switches it out, only to be hit by a super effective Pursuit with twice the power.  We had a good laugh over that for a little bit.  Come to think of it, this might be the first and only time that my Choice Band Scizor used Pursuit super effectively on a fleeing Pokemon.  We'll have to see from later videos.

Kura sent in Houndoom to threaten Scizor with the prospect of a Fire Blast or Flamethrower, so I switched out Scizor for Latias.  I guess I forgot to take into consideration that Houndoom could have used a Dark-type move if a switch was predicted.  Neither occurred, though, as my opponent used Sunny Day, knowing that I would switch, but unsure of what I would switch into.

I did not command Latias to use Surf because of the reduced damage that water attacks have in the sun, so I opted for Dragon Pulse instead.  Houndoom did not use a Dark-type move for some reason.  Perhaps my opponent overestimated the power of Flamethrower in the sun, or maybe the Houndoom lacked Dark Pulse or Crunch somehow.  In any case, Latias was inflicted with a burn which really didn't concern me much, since Latias was my pure special attacker of the team. 

Knowing that Houndoom wouldn't survive another Dragon Pulse, Kura switched it out for Crobat.  Crobat takes a hit and survived.  I was thinking that Crobat was really frail.  I mean, it sure doesn't look very sturdy with those wiry limbs.  I guess it was thought that Crobat could outspeed Latias, but my opponent probably didn't realize that Latias had a Choice Scarf.  If my opponent knew that, I'm sure the decision to let Houndoom faint before switching in Crobat would have been selected.  As it stood, Crobat was unable to issue one attack before it fainted from a 2HKO.

Houndoom comes in and takes Stealth Rock damage before falling to Latias' Dragon Pulse, and ending my first Non T-Flare battle which I would place on YouTube.

Anyway, my friend had decided to rematch me at a later date, so I used this opportunity to mention my YouTube channel so that some of my strategies could be analyzed.

I wasn't sure what to call the video, though.  X001 sounds strange, and I didn't want to have it named 010 because I had reserved the numbering system for T-Flare members including myself.  Even though I mentioned the site, Kura wasn't comfortable joining a competitive community like T-Flare, so I just went for the label of "Non T-Flare".  This, however, made the name of the video long enough to be cut off by YouTube's video selector on the right side.  I typically want to have my opponent's name show up on the selector if possible, so I switched the order to show Kura's name first before mine.  I still kept Charizard as JMTL on my intro, though.

Until next time, say "Yes" on Nugget Bridge.

009 Luna's tone is set

Wow, was this ever a poorly recorded battle.  Bad focus at points and constant shaking should not have occurred, but apparently I was pacing around the room where this was recorded.

Anyway, my opponent Vogeltje is also known as Luna (NOT to be confused with Lina).  She leads off with Persian while I lead off with, you guessed it, Metagross.  I knew Persian leads had Fake Out and possibly Taunt, so I opted not to use Stealth Rock on the first two turns of the game.  Instead, I just went for the Earthquake to deal damage to Persian, and then used Bullet Punch to finish it off.  Maybe Luna was waiting to see if I had Meteor Mash or Bullet Punch so that she could plan her moves.

Venusaur is sent out afterwards, and attempts to hinder my Metagross through the use of Sleep Powder.  Luckily, my Metagross is equipped with a Lum Berry for situations like these.  Metagross uses the super-effective Earthquake, which still does less than half after factoring in Venusaur's Leftovers.  I knew that Luna would try Sleep Powder again, but I had nothing on the team to take status ailments so I was really hoping it would miss.  Unfortunately, the 25% chance of missing did not occur and Metagross starts its slumber.  Now, I kind of wish I had switched out here, as Sleep Clause would have prevented any more attempts at sleep.  I could have brought out Scizor or Salamence who both have a double resistance to Grass type attacks, but I kept Metagross in.

Leech Seed is used next, and for some reason, I decided to keep Metagross in to help Luna's Pokemon regain health, when a simple switch could have prevented that.  Venusaur creates a substitute, and Metagross wakes up just in time to knock it down with a critical hit.

Knowing that Luna didn't withdraw Persian when it was in KO range of Bullet Punch, I surmised that Venusaur would also stay in, as it probably wasn't in any danger of being KO'd... it might be close, though.  I opted for Bullet Punch to do as much damage before getting hit by another Sleep Powder, but Luna saw that coming and brought in a Steel-resistant Pokemon... Feraligatr.

On the next turn, I thought about two things I could do.  I could use Explosion and take out Feraligatr before it could cause serious damage to my team using its Swords or Dragon Dance, or I could lay Stealth Rock now and then use Explosion on the next turn.  Obviously my choice wasn't as optimum as I had hoped as a +2 Earthquake is enough to take out my Metagross in its moderately weakened state.

If it was a standard Swords Dancing Feraligatr, I knew that it would have Waterfall, Ice Punch, and Earthquake as its attacking options.  Looking at my roster, the Pokemon that would have the best chance at survival would be Gyarados, as it takes neutral damage from Ice Punch and less than that with the other moves.  Gyarados also could use its ability to lower Feraligatr's attack.

When Gyarados entered, I knew that Feraligatr would attempt to use another Swords Dance, so I opted to use Dragon Dance to increase my stats as well.  Unfortunately, Gyarados' Return used on the next turn at +1 took out only half of Feraligatr's HP.  Given the Leftovers recovery, another Return wouldn't do enough to KO Feraligatr, so thinking about the next few turns, I decided to Taunt to prevent any more stat boosts.  It was a good idea at the time, but then again, Feraligatr was already at +3, soon to be +2 if I bring in my Salamence.  Barring Scizor, the rest of the team had weaknesses to either Ice Punch and Earthquake, so a +2 would probably mean they wouldn't stand a chance.

I brought out my Latias, hoping to scare away Feraligatr with the threat of Thunderbolt.  I guess Luna was really confident in her Feraligatr's ability to survive a Thunderbolt since the HP was at about 75%.  I used Dragon Pulse expecting the switch, and my misprediction cost me Latias who doesn't really like cold hands.

I was now left with Lucario, Salamence, and Scizor.  I'm not sure why Lucario was chosen over Salamence, but Lucario was still able to use Extremespeed to KO the Feraligatr.

Seviper is Feraligatr's replacement, and knowing that Flamethrower would be the best move to use against Lucario, I brought out Salamence to take the heat.  Luckily for Luna, the burn hax occurred, giving my Salamence a reduced attacking stat.  Knowing this, Luna brought in her physical wall, Steelix.

I don't know why I didn't use Salamence's Flamethrower.  It would have been super effective and not have been affected by the physical attack drop.  True, it still wouldn't have defeated Steelix in one hit, but seeing as how Steelix's Stone Edge would have missed, Salamence could have threatened with a KO.  Maybe I was afraid of a potential Heatran.

Lucario is sent out next.  I decided to use Swords Dance, thinking that the possibility of Close Combat would scare Steelix away, but Steelix stayed in and used Earthquake.  After the match, Luna specifically commented on this strange decision and asking me why I thought she would recall her highly physically defensive Pokemon.  I didn't really have an answer for her at the time.  Checking it now, if the damage calculations are correct, Close Combat would have defeated Steelix at its current HP level, even if it had maximum EVs in HP and Defense.  Could I use that as justification?

I am now down to my Choice Banded Scizor, while Luna had the option to use Steelix, Venusaur, Seviper, and another one which hadn't been revealed yet.  Scizor's moves were Bullet Punch, Superpower, Pursuit, and U-Turn.  I needed to pick a move that would work best against all these threats, so perhaps Bullet Punch would work. 

However, I picked U-Turn for some very strange reason.  Was it a misclick?  I know Steelix resists Bullet Punch and would take less from that than U-Turn, but seeing as how there was still a Seviper which resists U-Turn, is faster than Scizor, and has Flamethrower, U-Turn would not win the battle for me unless Luna switched out her Pokemon on a turn where I commanded U-Turn and a critical hit occurred.  Maybe the slight difference in damage caused by Scizor's Bullet Punch would have allowed the Steelix to KO Scizor first.

Bringing out Mismagius after the Steelix fell to four Bullet Punches pretty much meant the game was over as a 3-0 for my opponent.  A rather humbling defeat from a team which consisted of no OU Pokemon at all but at least I showed that I don't only upload battles that I win.

So until next time, prepare for trouble.

008 Frozen Fishsticks

Ah, my first repeat appearance of a T-Flare battler.  This time, trogdor0 has a full team to battle with.

The lead for the opposing team this time is a Weavile.  An easy target to hit with Bullet Punch, yet I still decided to select Stealth Rock as my opening move.  Perhaps I thought the Weavile would switch out, but instead it decided to use Brick Break.  Maybe trogdor0 thought I would switch into another Steel type to take a predicted Night Slash.  In any case, after the first turn, my Bullet Punch lands on Breloom instead.

I thought it would be 2HKO, so I opted to Bullet Punch again, but perhaps the Stealth Rock damage created some sort of an optical illusion, or I got near max damage on the first hit.  Breloom remains conscious in the red, and executes its Sky Uppercut, which I always envision as a Shoryuken.  Breloom falls to the third Bullet Punch.  I suppose if it switched out, it couldn't switch back in without taking the Stealth Rock damage again, so trogdor0 opted to get a fresh opponent in.

Typhlosion was sent out, and predicting an Eruption from the usually Scarfed Pokemon, I switched to my Latias.  Latias then avoided the Earthquake, which worked out better for me.  I'm not sure why I decided to use Surf to attack the Typhlosion if I made the assumption it was holding a Choice item.  The Typhlosion wouldn't have been able to hurt Latias at all in this case.  I could have used Dragon Pulse instead.  It would have done enough to KO Typhlosion after the Stealth Rock damage, and it would have done decent damage to the Feraligatr that jumped in.

Knowing that Feraligatr can use Ice Punch, I switched into my Gyarados which would be able to intimidate its opponent and take neutral damage.  However, Gyarados was unlucky to obtain the 10% chance of being frozen.  I stayed in to hope for a thaw.  Perhaps trogdor0 thought I would switch out, so the Feraligatr used Superpower.  This brought its Attack down another stage, so it would make sense for trogdor0 to switch out at this point.  I decided to stay in, hoping that Gyarados would thaw on trogdor0's switching turn and attack whatever check or counter he had.

Jolteon appeared, and I was thinking that my Gyarados needed to thaw now and get a critical hit with the move I selected.  However, neither happened.  Next, Jolteon used its Charge Beam and gets the Special Attack boost, while Gyarados is still incapable of attacking for yet another turn.

The substitute appeared on the next turn, giving Jolteon a nice shield to take the attack of whatever Pokemon I choose to replace Gyarados with.  Gyarados would be able to break the Substitute if it could attack, though.  However, Gyarados is still frozen (in mid air, mind you) for the fifth turn since the Ice Punch.

I considered switching Gyarados out to my Latias to take a resisted predicted Thunderbolt, but then remembered that most Jolteon have Shadow Ball as one of its coverage moves, so that wouldn't have been good news for Latias.  I also figured that Gyarados needed at least 93 HP to be able to switch into Stealth Rock again, which it didn't have.  Anyway, Gyarados faints to Shadow Ball, so it's a good thing I didn't decide to bring Latias in.  Since Gyarados didn't accomplish much in this battle, I was actually contemplating getting a Lum Berry for it.  After some deliberation, though, I stuck with Leftovers for the time being.

While Scizor and Lucario would take neutral damage from Charge Beam/Thunderbolt and half damage from Shadow Ball, they could have been good candidates, but they tended to be weaker on the special defense side, so I brought in Metagross instead, despite that it takes neutral damage from Shadow Ball.  I needed to break the substitute, so I was happy that Metagross was able to execute its Earthquake.  I obviously wouldn't outspeed Jolteon, and switching to my Latias to take a hit wasn't a good idea, so I was kind of stuck with using Bullet Punch to inflict a little damage to make it easier for my faster Pokemon or priority attackers.

My Metagross falls, and I bring out my Choice Scarf Latias.  I keep thinking that Jolteon is frailer than it actually is, so I was a little shocked to see that it could survive Latias' Dragon Pulse and retaliate with Shadow Ball.  The critical hit was necessary to KO Latias in one attack, so that was really fortunate for trogdor0.

I brought out my Lucario to revenge kill the Jolteon which has had such a successful run of knocking out Gyarados, Metagross, and Latias.

Gallade comes in to stop my Lucario, and does so handily thanks to its Close Combat and ability to outspeed Adamant Lucario.  Come to think of it, what move did I ask my Lucario to do?  Crunch would have done the same amount of damage as Extremespeed, and Close Combat wouldn't be effective on Gallade.  I obviously didn't choose Extremespeed.  Was it Swords Dance?  I really can't remember, but in any case, I wish I had spent a little more time weighing in my options.

Scizor is sent out and OHKOs the Gallade with its Bullet Punch.  That may have been what trogdor0 wanted, though, since my Scizor was Choice Banded, and two of the remaining Pokemon on the team hold resistances to Steel moves.  Typhlosion takes a Bullet Punch well, and even though it has low HP, Eruption is still enough to capitalize on Scizor's only weakness and KO it in one attack.  I was a little surprised.

I was left with one Pokemon left, and I hope Salamence could hold its own against three other Pokemon.  Knowing that Weavile is fast, I decided to take a turn to boost my speed, knowing that I wouldn't be losing too much HP this turn from Eruption.  I took another turn to Dragon Dance, just in case the Feraligatr was really bulky.  I don't know why I didn't Dragon Dance again for insurance.  Perhaps I was thinking a maximum damage critical hit from Typhlosion would have limited the ability for Salamence to sweep, given that Salamence is going to take Life Orb recoil.  Now, looking back at the amount of HP it had, it would still have been able to survive.

Anyway, Typhlosion falls to a +2 Dragon Claw.  Weavile is sent out and takes Stealth Rock damage, which is probably good thing since it was probably wearing a Focus Sash.  I then realized that Weavile could have carried Ice Shard, but I was lucky that it wasn't used.  Weavile could not handle the Dragon Claw and faints, leaving only one more Pokemon in the way of victory.

Feraligatr takes some Stealth Rock damage before being torn by a +2 Dragon Claw, boosted by Life Orb.  Apparently, my earlier decisions for my Latias to not use Dragon Pulse on Typhlosion or its switch-in, or exercising another Dragon Dance with Salamence cost me the match, as Feraligatr survived with a single hit point.

And thus, my winning streak on YouTube has ended, which I guess in a way is a good thing.  I didn't want to be thought as someone who only uploads videos of them winning.  However, this was a close match and would have been upload-worthy anyway, so I don't think I shook off that impression just yet.

So, until next time, protect the world from devastation.

007 Victory hinges on a 6.25% chance or less

Zerro10 begins the match with his Empoleon, while I once again led with Metagross.  I knew that Empoleon's Earthquake wouldn't be enough to KO Metagross in one hit, but I wasn't sure if the Base 60 speed Pokemon was EV'd to outspeed or at least tie with my Base 70 speed Pokemon, considering I didn't EV train it much in speed.  Instead of using Earthquake right away, I figured I might as well set up Stealth Rock to help with the battle in the long run.  Zerro10's Pokemon went first, though, and used its Stealth Rock first.

I thought that Empoleon would use Earthquake on the next turn, but maybe Zerro10 thought I would switch to a Flying-type or a Levitating Pokemon, so he commanded his lead to use Waterfall, while I retaliated with Earthquake.  I brought the Empoleon down to KO range from another Earthquake, so I sought to use Earthquake again on the next turn.  Meanwhile, Empoleon decided to use Earthquake on Metagross in order to inflict as much damage as possible.

Gengar was brought out to replace the fainted Empoleon.  Despite being thought of as being frail, it is still strong enough to take a Bullet Punch from Metagross, which was the only feasible option for most lead Metagross.  I wasn't sure what attack would be coming from Gengar, so instead of switching with another Pokemon, I just decided to let Metagross hit the Gengar before going down.

I saw the Life Orb recoil on Gengar, so I knew that my Choice Scarf Latias wouldn't be getting a speed tie with it, so I sent her in.  I used Surf, in case Zerro10 decided to switch into a Steel-type to resist a predicted STAB Dragon- or Psychic-type attack.  He let his Gengar take the hit, though.  I'm guessing he's using the same strategy as I did with my Metagross, barring the fact that there were no priority moves involved.

Once Gengar fainted, Starmie was brought out.  Thinking that an Ice Beam would be used, I switched into Gyarados.  I'm not sure why I didn't switch into something that would resist Ice Beam, though.  Maybe I wanted my Scizor and Lucario to have the most HP possible when switching in on later threats for whatever reason.

Somehow, I didn't take the Life Orb recoil into account, and thought that maybe Starmie was Choice Scarfed, so I kept my Gyarados in to perform a Dragon Dance while it would barely survive another Ice Beam.  Really, really bad decision on my part, as you can see, as the multi-talented Starmie preys on Gyarados' double weakness, leaving my Gyarados to contribute two things to this battle: lowering the physical attack of a pure special sweeper, and reducing Starmie's HP by 20%.

I brought out my Lucario in order to maybe scare the Starmie away with the prospect of Crunch.  With Base 70 in HP, Defense, and Special Defense, it has a chance of surviving a STAB Surf from Life Orb Timid Starmie.  Zerro10 withdrew Starmie and brought in Scizor, knowing that it would resist Crunch. 

I, however, used Extremespeed, but the idea of resisting the attack remained the same.  I figured I might as well use Close Combat on the next turn to deal with the opposing Scizor.  If that Scizor used Bullet Punch or Quick Attack, Lucario would survive it, and if it used Superpower or Brick Break, Lucario would have outsped it.  Looking at the damage calculations now, the combination of Stealth Rock damage, Extremespeed, and Close Combat would have been barely enough to KO a typical Choice Band Scizor, with each attack being pegged at minimum damage.  There would have been 2 HP to spare.

Zerro10 brought out Infernape in order to scare away Lucario with its potential for two super-effective STAB moves, but I just went for the Extremespeed to deal some damage.  I was a little disappointed to see that the Infernape's HP stayed above 50%, even after Stealth Rock damage.  Even though the damage calculation showed that Extremespeed should have caused over 50% on its own, it was possible that he ran more than a few EVs in HP, as odd as it sounds.  Maybe it was Zerro10's bulky variant, seeing as how it ran Leftovers, an item not typically associated with Infernape.

Looking at my remaining Pokemon, Latias was the only one who could outspeed Infernape.  Salamence was close, but it wouldn't have enough unless the Infernape moved a lot of potential speed EVs into HP.  I wanted to use Thunderbolt in anticipation that he would switch back into his Starmie to take a predicted Surf or Psychic, but I didn't know which Pokemon Zerro10 had remaining, so I opted to choose the safest option for my Choice Scarf user, and use Dragon Pulse.  I figure I should be able to two hit KO the Starmie if he switched into it, meaning that it wouldn't get a chance to use Ice Beam.

He brought out his Electivire instead, though, making me glad that I didn't use Thunderbolt.  Latias' Dragon Pulse did a decent amount of damage, and I estimated that taking the Stealth Rock damage into play, another Dragon Pulse should be able to KO the Electivire.  I guess I had done more than minimum damage during the first attack, because the second attack brought the Pokemon down to red, leaving it conscious long enough to use Ice Punch.  Latias was able to withstand the attack, unlike most fully evolved Dragons in OU, and finished off the Electivire.

Now Zerro10 is able to bring in Starmie without having to worry about it fainting to two consecutive attacks.  I would have thought that Latias' Dragon Pulse would have done more to the Starmie.  Counting its latest entrance, Starmie had taken Stealth Rock damage twice, and Life Orb damage twice as well, meaning that it should have lost about 45% of its HP already, depending on the rounding.  I guessed this Starmie was bulked on HP and/or Special Defense, as it was able to survive with more than I expected.  A critical hit from Ice Beam finishes off my weakened legendary Pokemon.

Knowing that Salamence wouldn't be able to handle the Ice Beam, Scizor was my only viable option.  I also knew that there was the Infernape still waiting, so I was wondering how I would win this match, especially if the Infernape had Stone Edge or Hidden Power Ice.  Maybe Stone Edge would miss, or even if it did hit, Salamence would barely survive thanks to Intimidate, as long as it wasn't a critical hit.  Maybe Infernape had Fire Blast, and it would miss my Scizor.  In any case, I still had to deal with the Starmie that was standing on the other side of the field, so I opted to use my Choice Banded Bullet Punch to put Starmie away.

Infernape came onto the field, and I wanted to do as much damage as I could to Infernape, so that if by some chance Infernape does not KO my Scizor or Salamence, I would have a better chance of winning with another Bullet Punch or Salamence's Earthquake as the case may be.  Luckily, I landed the critical hit which was enough to KO Infernape, despite having a resistance to it.

I did find out later that Zerro10 had used some Pokemon that were traded to him, and unbeknownst to him at the time, the total EVs exceeded the 510 limit.  He removed these Pokemon from his roster after he himself questioned the bulkiness of many of them and asked people on T-Flare to look at the stats of the Pokemon.  In my opinion, this act kept his integrity intact.

So, until next time, protect the world from devastation.