011 Malice provides malice, Pokemon style

Malice is my opponent for this battle.  Weavile is her lead Pokemon, which is able to use its Fake Out on my Metagross.  I figured it was coming, but I still wanted to leave Metagross in.  True, Lucario has Inner Focus, but switching into it would have meant that the flinch wouldn't have occurred anyway since it wouldn't do a move that turn.

As usual, I set up the entry hazard, and seeing as how I went first, I knew that Weavile was using Counter.  Since most lead Weavile had Focus Sash, using Bullet Punch to try and defeat it wouldn't have been a good idea, so I decided to switch out to Salamence.  I figure if I could use my Flamethrower, I'd avoid getting hit with Counter.  Getting the Intimidate was also nice.

However, after I switched, I realized that Weavile may have Ice Shard or Ice Punch, and there was no way my Salamence could have been faster.  I decided to switch into my Gyarados due to its neutrality to Ice-moves, and also for its Intimidate.

Malice commanded her Weavile to use Taunt, which was probably intended for Salamence, but hitting Gyarados with it was still beneficial.  I then decided to use Return in an effort to break the Focus Sash.  I didn't switch back to Salamence and go with Flamethrower, because I wasn't sure if having three Intimidates would have made the Ice-move survivable.  Anyway, Gyarados falls to the Counter, since it's not affected by stat changes.

So, early in the match, I lose Gyarados, which really shook my confidence.  I decided to switch in Salamence, even though using Metagross' Bullet Punch would have been better.  I guess I wanted to get in another Intimidate, even though the Weavile is already in KO range.  Weavile uses its Taunt to ensure that Salamence wouldn't be able to Dragon Dance for a while, but seeing that coming, I went straight for the Flamethrower and take out Malice's lead Pokemon.

Latias is her next Pokemon, and seeing as how it would have been faster than my Salamence, I should have switched out.  I was thinking that maybe Malice would have predicted that and would have used another move, so I stayed in.  However, Malice still commanded for a Draco Meteor, despite knowing that I had Metagross on my team.  After this blue screen of death, Salamence is down. 

Scizor is sent out next.  I was thinking that Malice's Latias was Choice Scarfed since it didn't take any Life Orb recoil or recover from Leftovers.  A -2 Draco Meteor wouldn't be too consequential for Scizor, so I anticipated Malice to switch.  I decided to use this prediction to my advantage and use Pursuit.  It wasn't enough to KO Latias with super-effective damage.  Malice was able to bring in Heatran, a great counter to Scizor, especially one who just used Pursuit.

I saw that Heatran had Leftovers, so I was anticipating that it would be one of the Substitute variants popular at the time.  I was thinking that Malice would think that I would switch out, as most Scizor at the time had Choice Band, so she took he opportunity to set up her Sub.  However, my Scizor had recently been changed to have Leftovers, so I was able to use Brick Break.  After I broke the Substitute, I decided to switch out to my Latias, thinking that Heatran would use Flamethrower or Fire Blast.

On the next turn, I thought that Malice would switch out to a Water type Pokemon to take the expected Surf, so I tried to outpredict and use Thunderbolt.  Malice didn't switch out, though, and the Heatran used Toxic.  I wasn't really expecting that at the time, seeing as how I ran a Heatran with Substitute and three attacks, and just assumed that her Heatran was like that.

Malice recalled Heatran in favour of her own Latias, which was defeated by a critical hit from Thunderbolt.  The score is now tied, but I can't relax just yet. 

My Latias is now facing up against her Scizor.  Sound familiar?  I also like how the Scizor is named after one of the very few Spongebob Squarepants episodes I decided to watch.  Anyway, regarding the battle, the only difference is that I'm not stuck on Draco Meteor.  I was able to use Thunderbolt with moderate effectiveness before having Latias take a U-Turn.

Malice brought out her Uxie, and then Latias fainted.  I had the advantage of choosing a Pokemon to go up against Uxie without having to take a hit in the process, so I chose Scizor.  It had a resistance to Psychic moves and could hit back with a Bug move.  However, Uxie didn't get enough sleep, and thus its survival instincts were lacking.  It just Yawned in the face of danger, while Scizor used its Swords Dance.

Malice, thinking I would try to use my Bug-type move before having Scizor fall asleep, recalled Uxie and brought in Gliscor.  I'm not sure why this Gliscor didn't make an appearance after Latias used Thunderbolt on Heatran.  Anyway, I switched out my Scizor before it could fall asleep and sent out Metagross.  It was intended to stop Uxie, not Gliscor, which I knew would have Earthquake.

I used Bullet Punch here for some reason.  I mean, I used it for priority, but I also knew that Gliscor is physically bulky.  If I used Explosion, I wasn't entirely sure if it would have been enough to take it down (I found out later that it could have).  Metagross survived the expected Earthquake, so I decided to try for Explosion now.  Of course, 364 divided by two is more than 175, so it wasn't likely that it would survive.  I was probably kicking myself for not using Explosion in the first place.

Scizor is brought in, since it takes neutral hits from both of Gliscor's STAB attacks.  Gliscor uses the turn to use Taunt, as Malice knew from the previous encounter with Uxie that Scizor had that move.  A good move on her part.

The non-boosted Bullet Punch does about 20% to Gliscor, while Gliscor's Earthquake does roughly the same, thanks to Scizor's Leftovers.  I was thinking that I could just keep doing this and win out at the end, seeing as Scizor would move first each turn.  The only thing that could ruin this strategy is if Gliscor had Roost, or somehow scored a critical hit.

On the next turn, Gliscor scored a critical hit.

The Bullet Punch lands on the next turn, and Malice called for Gliscor to use U-Turn.  Heatran shows her garish mug as Scizor just stands there bewildered, only to get hit by a blast of fire.

Let's see... who I do I have left... Lucario, and... wait, that's it?  Meanwhile, Malice still has Heatran, Uxie, Gliscor, and Scizor.  Looking at this list, Lucario has absolutely no chance of using Swords Dance.  Heatran would Fire Blast, Uxie would Yawn, Gliscor would Earthquake, and Scizor would Superpower.  Well, I suppose I did have a chance if Fire Blast missed, but I'm sure Malice would probably have picked Earth Power instead.

Heatran falls to Close Combat, and Malice brings out Gliscor.  My Lucario lacked Ice Punch, even though most people had suggested it as a part of a moveset.  My Lucario used Extremespeed to at least get in one attack before it fainted.

Could I have won if I used Explosion when I could have?  Probably not.  Even if Gliscor fell, Uxie was at near full health, and a non-STAB Crunch wouldn't have been enough to defeat it.  The thing I remembered most about this battle even before recently rewatching it was the switching I was doing just to defeat Weavile.  Good game, Malice.