Gym Leader 2013: The Results

[WhoKnows_WhoCares]

It's been a long time in the making, some may claim too long, but finally the results of the Gym Leader Competition is ready to be reveialed. Unless you dont discover this until after all is done, Starting today 1 new Gym leader will be posted in this thread. So for the next week, keep coming back and seeing who the latest addition to the 2013 The Pika Club Gym Leader's. If you wish to discuss the latest addition to the league, head to the chat room topic and comment away.

And now, on with the show. It’s time once again to challenge The Pika Club’s Pokémon League. Are you up for the challenge? What lie ahead are 8 of the toughest Gym Leader’s TPC has ever had… If you’re ready, grab your Pokémon and let’s head on towards victory.

[WhoKnows_WhoCares]

Gym 1: First up we’re going to let it be nice and relaxing… with several large mazes, weather effects AND a double battle at the end of it. And this is only Gym 1. You’ll enter the Gym and be presented with a maze, made out of water. Don’t worry, a raft will be provided. Your first task will be to navigate the maze of water to the end, where a warp tile will take you to the next maze. The mazes get larger and more challenging, including things like opening and closing locks or balancing out water levels. When you finally get to the end of the 6th maze, well then its Gym Leader time.



As a double battle, you’ll be facing two Pokémon at any one time. Rain Dance is the main hook of this battle, both Kingdra and Raichu have it, not to mention Politoed’s ability makes it rain as soon as it begins. Once in effect, it’s going to have a LOT of benefits to this team. Primary benefit will be that all his water attacks will be 50% more damaging. All Fire moves will also be weaker, but you weren’t planning on using fire moves against a mostly water team, right?

Politoed: This is Pokémon number 1 to be thrown out, its drizzle effect meaning that it wont have to waste a turn to make it rain. Its mainly used for a set up, but it does have a nasty surprise that will make it evil. Then standard procedure is pretty much ‘Surfs Up’. Fling will be a one time used move, it throws the held item as an attack, which then disappears. Downside is that the Iron Ball is the most damaging item using this attack, with a base damage of 130, so you’re not surviving that. It can stop itself being damaged thanks to protect, but it won’t be able to do that every turn and it defiantly can’t attack while it’s doing that.

Dragonite: Usually sent out with Politoed, its Multiscale ability will half the damage it takes while it’s at full health. Look it to take advantage of this with a dragon dance to boost up its damage output. Outrage is a strong dragon type move that will attack for a few turns, but it will leave the user confused, which (assuming you survived) would work in your favour. Hurricane is a powerful flying move that never misses while it’s raining. So unless you can affect the weather as well, I’d take this Dragonite out first.

Kingdra: If it’s raining, Swift Swim boosts Kingdra’s speed. If it’s not raining, Kingdra will rectify this. Draco Meteor is a Dragon type move that will hit hard, but with a cost to the Special Attack stat it may be hesitant on using it. Surf and Protect are pretty standard fair, and this one shouldn’t be as much of a problem as others.

Lapras: With leftovers and Water Absorb, Lapras is all about trying to stay around. Look for its partner (possibly kingdra) to be hitting it with a water move just to take advantage of the health benefits of Lapras’ ability. Waterfall could make you flinch but its Ice Shard you really need to be worried about. With a +1 on its priority, this move will most likely strike first regardless of if you’re faster or not. Good luck taking this one down

Kabutops: Another one who’s speed is boosted in the rain. Choice Band will also up the attack power of its moves by 50%, but it’ll be stuck using that move, so it has to be very careful in deciding which it needs. Waterfall and Aqua Jet are good water moves, the latter having a +1 on its priority. Stone Edge is a Rock move with an increased Critical Hit Ratio, but its accuracy is only 80% so if luck is with you, you could take this one out without it hitting you. Aerial Ace on the other had always hits the target, regardless of how you’ve effected the accuracy.

Raichu: Just when you thought you could use Electric to get through this, Raichu’s Lightnigrod puts an end to that. As soon as this Thunder Mouse is out, all electric attacks will land on him and not do damage. With Rain Dance, Raichu can make it rain again, and increase that Thunder attack to never miss. Grass Knot will be there to take out any possible Ground Type counters, but if you’re quick enough, this shouldn’t be a problem. Fake Out is a high priority move that will make you flinch, so you won’t be able to attack that turn. Thankfully it doesn’t work unless it’s the first move used as the Pokémon comes out.

This team is tough, although electric looks to work for a lot of these, that Raichu will instantly nullify that idea. A ground type for that one may work but it may have to survive the water attacks of other Pokémon first. Grass is an interesting back up, it’s strong against water and Electric doesn’t do much damage against them. And don’t forget this is a double battle, so you have to get 2 Pokémon out there on the field and working together.

We want to weed out the weak from the strong, because the strong are the only ones who are good enough to challenge our league. You’re strong, right? Because if you are, you can get the Rain Bade, TM18: Rain Dance and get to move on to Gym 2 for the next challenge.

[WhoKnows_WhoCares]

Gym 2: Now we know you’re capable of surviving strong challenges. How are you with fear though? That’s the object of this next Gym. Set in an old mansion, the dark and enclosed areas inside will test you. With traps that can poison and paralyze your Pokémon, and Psychics and Ninja trainers constantly changing your path with their Alakazam’s and Sableye’s, navigating this place is not going to be easy. But that’s the point, and the trick is not to be overly cautious and watching to see what will happen, but move quickly and have the courage to trust your instincts (and maybe use the force).

And after getting through that, just when you think your about to face the gym, you’ve got to face your worst nightmare first. And that’s not a metaphor, as a Spiritomb quite literally shows you your worst nightmare. Using Wake Up slap on yourself may help get you out quickly, but otherwise you’ll need to overcome it the old fashion way. And only THEN will you be able to face the Gym Leader herself.



Spiritomb: Starting off this list is that annoying little Spiritomb you just met, time for a little revenge. Although be careful, its Infiltrator ability ignores any Light Screen, Reflect and Safeguard moves you may want to use. Dark Pulse is a standard Dark move but can make you flinch. Sucker Punch is has a +1 on priority, so will most likely go first. It will fail though if you can either a) beat them with another priority move or b) your going to use a move that won’t do damage. Hypnosis will put your Pokémon to sleep for a couple of turns and once there, Dream Eater will be doing the damage. Look for that combo to be featured the most during this battle.

Sableye: The Stall ability on this Sableye may sound like a bad idea, making it go last even if your Pokémon is slower than it. That’s because it wants to take advantage of Metal Bust. Metal Burst will strike back with 1.5 times the damage Sableye took this turn, and Stall makes sure that it can’t be faster than you so the move won’t fail. Punishment is designed for anybody who wants to keep boosting their stats, as for every stat increase you do, Punishment’s base attack cranks up by 10, so watch out. If you’re going to be increasing your attack stat though, look out for Foul Play, this dark type move works out the damage based on YOUR attack stat, not Sableye’s, which means the stronger you are, the more it will hurt you. Shadow Ball is a Ghost move that can lower your Special Defence, but it won’t work on Normal or Fighting Type Pokémon.

Dusknoir: A lot of Ghost moves on this one, which means if you throw out a Normal or Fighting type, your not going to get damaged. Of course it won’t be effected by Normal or Fighting type moves. Pursuit will be the only move left in its arsenal in that case and that only really does damage if you’re switching Pokémon. Shadow Sneak is a +1 Priority move, Shadow Punch never misses and astonish can make you flinch, but only if you can be hit by Ghost moves in the first place

Alakazam: Magic Guard on this Alakazam will prevent any damage not done by direct attacks. This includes if you poison it or hit it with Leech Seed, so if this is your standard tactic, change it. Otherwise this Alakazam is built completely of psychic moves, Confusion and Psybeam probably won’t be used much. Psycho Cut is a physical attack and will probably be only used if you have insane Special Defence. Look for Psychic to be used most though.

Hypno: Look for this Hypno to use Poison Gas first, that’ll really start the damage off for you. Don’t worry about Synchronise, it’s a move that can only hit Pokémon of the same type as the user, or Psychics in this case. Confusion is more likely to be used instead. Zen Headbutt is the main attacking move, with a chance of causing you to flinch as well.

Espeon: Don’t try to lower any stats on this Pokémon, the Magic Bounce ability will redirect these back at you and only damage you further. Future Sight is a move that will only strike 2 turns later, so look for this Pokémon to pop up mid battle and launch this move, then regardless of if its still around you will get hit. The remaining moves may be for if it stays around after launching a Future Sight.

So it seems like a tough challenge but Dark Types work amazingly well here, making them completely immune to the Alakazam. If you can use Oder Sleath on the Sableye and Spritomb, Fighting moves will be super effective against these as well, so that might be something to think about.

Upon victory you’ll get TM85 Dream Eater and the Nightmare Badge. And with your fears conquered, it’s onto Gym 3.

[WhoKnows_WhoCares]

Gym3: Bit of a pack mentality with this next gym, and they’re going to turn up the heat on you. The Gym is nice and simple. Go in, answer a few questions. Get them all right, go face the Gym Leader. Get them wrong and you’ll have to face a trainer instead, and are then forced back to the beginning to start again. But don’t worry, the questions are easy, like how many bone ribs are on a Houndoom? What would happen if Fire Blasts hits a Water/Ice type? Can a Pokémon with Hydration be burnt when it’s raining? Once you’re through all the questions, it’s onto the leader herself



Growlith: With Intimidate, you’ll instantly be taken down in attack slightly as soon as the match starts off. Note that Flame Wheel will allow Growlith to unfreeze itself should it find itself in that situation. The rest of the moves are pretty self explanatory.

Houndour: Take Down may be powerful, but Houndour is not immune to recoil damage, so it may not use it too often. Bite can cause flinching, which could be a problem if you’re slower than Houndour.

Vulpix: The Drought ability makes it instantly Sunny in battle. This will boost the power of Fire Moves by 50% while cutting water move’s power by half. Like of the Pokémon here, Vulpix can relay on both Ember and Quick Attack to help take you down. Watch out for Confuse Ray, being confused and hurting yourself is not that fun.

Quilava: Again, Flame Wheel is going to be able to defrost Quilava instantly if frozen. Lava Plume is a fairly decent damaging Fire Move. Headbutt may make you flinch.

Houndoom: Here’s the killer of the team. Unnerve, like on Houndour earlier, will prevent your Pokémon from using any of their held berries. Crunch hurts, and has a chance of lowing your defence stat. Fire Blast is one of the strongest Fire Moves there is, although its accuracy isn’t fantastic. Faint Attack never misses, so don’t bother trying to reduce the accuracy.

Water is probably your best bet here, although Ground would be a good alternative, especially when that sun starts blaring overhead and your water moves drop in accuracy. Then again, if you have Rain Dance in your squad, you’re laughing through this one.

Once you’ve beaten this gym, The FirePaw badge is all yours, along with TM38 – Fire Blast. Now just apply that bit of burn heal and head onto Gym 4.

[WhoKnows_WhoCares]

Gym 4: You are now about to find out whom the rulers of this area and you should bow before them. Or be there servants, they’d probably want that. In this gym, it’s all about Kings and Queens and how much power they wield. Inside is a giant chess board and only by beating the other trainers will the pawns move out of your way giving you access to the Gym Leader. It’s double battle time once again, because why should Royalty fight one on one like commoners.



Slowking: Regenerator will heal Slowking a 3rd of his max health when he switches out, so try to take it out quickly. If you don’t do it before it can use its first move, Skill Swap will let it switch that ability with Slaking, making that far more dangerous. Heal Pulse can heal any Pokémon half of their health back. Curse will cut Slowking’s Speed (not much of a problem since by this point it will have Slaking’s Truant), but it will boost Attack and Defence, making Zen Headbutt all the more deadly.

Slaking: Slaking’s ability means it attacks and then does nothing on the next turn. Slowking’s Skill Swap will remove that ability making this oh so deadly. Punishment damage increases every time you use a stat increase, so try to avoid that till this one’s out of the way. Bulk Up raises Attack and Defence, making the strong stronger. Slack Off heals Slaking’s health by 50% of its max HP. Return does damage based on how happy the Pokémon is. You better hope it’s miserable or this is going to hurt. And with Leftovers, it’s going to be healing itself every single turn.

Empoleon: Don’t try to inflict stat decreases on this Pokémon. Every time you do, its Defiant ability increases its Attack by 2 points, making it hit harder. Its Wise glasses already increase the power of Special moves as it is. Aqua Jet is a +1 priority move so will go first regardless of speed. Scald is a water move that can burn you, so watch out for that. Grass Knot does more damage the heavier you are, so light and speedy attackers may be safer here.

Nidoqueen: With Poison Point, any attacks that contact the Pokémon may cause you to end up poisoned. Of course toxic spikes may do that anyway. By leaving a set of spikes on the field, any Pokémon who switch in to that spot can take poison damage. Stealth Rock is the same basic deal, and both can be in the same place at the same time. Rapid Spin or Defog can get rid of both though, and they don’t effect Flying types or Levitating Pokémon. Quash will force whomever it’s being used on to act last in the turn, unless you’ve already taken your turn. The Black Sludge item will heal Nidoqueen at the end of each turn

Honchkrow: This can hit you pretty hard if you’re not careful. Its ability increases its critical hit ratio, which combined with Night Slash’s increased critical hit ratio means that it will hurt, a lot. Add to that, the Power Herb takes away the charge up turn the first time it tries to use Sky Attack. Thankfully that only works once, so after that Sky Attack will take a turn charging before it attacks again. Roost will heal 50% of Honchkrow’s health but will take that Flying type away, meaning any ground moves will hit till the end of the turn.

Nidoking: Sheer Force takes any move with an extra effect and makes it so that those effects never happen. Great thing for you, but it also increases the attack power of those moves, which is not so great for you. And all of Nidoking’s moves has an extra effect. Earth Power could make you lose Special Defence, Flamethrower could Burn, Ice Beam could freeze and Thunderbolt could paralyze. And that Life orb also increases attacks as well. Usually this would cost you some life, but one of the things that cancels this out is being held by a Pokémon with the Sheer Force ability. So yeah, this one will hurt.

Fighting’s a good shot to start off with, Empoleon, Slaking and Honchkrow could fall to that, although Slowking may be a problem there. Psychic, Ground, Water or Ice would help take out those two Nido’s, Ice also being useful against Honchkrow as well.

If you manage to make Royalty bow to your power, you’ll be given the Monarch Badge (begrudgingly anyway). You’ll also get TM60 – Quash and be able to head to Gym 5. I’d say that was Checkmate.

[WhoKnows_WhoCares]

Gym 5: If two heads are better than one, then this gym has got to have the best Pokémon around. The gym is simple and tests your Pokémon knowledge once more with a series of questions. There are 3 floors and 3 questions on a pillar in each one. Depending on your answers depends on which of the 4 doors may open for you. Get them all right on a floor, and you won’t have to face any trainers going upstairs. Get them all wrong though and you’re in a triple battle. Double battle and Rotation battle are available behind the doors for 1 correct answer and 2 correct answers respectively. A rotation battle is what you’ll face when you end up at the Gym leader on the final 4th floor.



Dugtrio: You instantly stuck when Dugtrio is sent out, Arena Trap will stop you from switching Pokémon, unless you’re flying type or otherwise levitating. Which may be a good idea because that will protect you from both Earthquake and those nasty Stealth Rocks, the latter will effect any Pokémon of yours that leaves and enters the field. Of course Stone Edge will be super effective against Flying types, so bare that in mind. And Toxic is going to do damage no matter what (unless you’re immune to poison), so don’t forget those antidotes. Focus Sash will prevent any form of 1 hit KO, as from full health it cannot be fainted when holding this item.

Weezing: There isn’t a lot hidden with this Weezing to be that worried about. Will-O-Wisp will guarantee your Pokémon is burnt. Double Team just makes it more annoying to hit which Flamethrower and Thunderbolt are moves everybody should really know about by now. Black Sludge will heal Weezing slightly each turn. Look for this one to be mainly used hit and run style.

Magneton: Attack wise, this one is pretty standard again, watch out for the Tri Attack though. It’s a normal move, but has a chance of Freezing, Burning or Paralyzing you. This one’s got insane defence though, along with being a steal type with a high defence anyway, the Sturdy ability will do the same as the Focus Sash did for Dugtrio while the Eviolite will boost the Defence and Special Defence of Magneton by 50% extra. You’ll need one strong Pokémon to take this one down.

Dodrio. Try not to confuse Dodrio, its ability increases its evasion under those circumstances. Substitute will take away health in order to leave behind a substitute which will absorb the damage you inflict until it eventually breaks. It can then use Roost to gain back this lost health. Accupressure can be used to boost its stats, although the one that’s boosted is random. Brave Bird does recoil damage Dodrio, but the Leftovers it has will also help to elevate that a little bit.

Magnezone: Here’s a Magnezone that not only has the Sturdy ability, but Levitate as well. That’s basically what the Air Balloon does, so don’t use any Ground moves on this Pokémon cause they won’t work. That said, the Balloon does pop when Magnezone takes damage from any other attack, bringing it back to earth. Watch out for Hidden Power, its typing is Ice, so ground types are in double danger here.

Hydreigon: Yeah, it’s shiny, but past that it’s also strong. Choice Specs boosts the attack power of special moves by 50% extra. Yeah, it’s then stuck using that one move afterwards. But one of those moves is Draco Meteor, with a base power of 140. Sure it cuts Special Attack after each use, but when it starts with 50% boosted anyway, is it really going to care?

Fighting types might be your secret weapon here, as 4 out of 6 are weak to them. Ice may also be good for both the Dugtrio at the start and that Hydreigon at the end.

When you’ve got through all this and proved your better than any number of heads put together, you’ll get the Trinity Badge and TM32 – Double Team. And it’s onward to Gym 6.

[WhoKnows_WhoCares]

Gym 6: Danger, warning sirens are a blazing and you need to head to a shelter, this gym is nothing but a disaster and it’s not even waiting to happen. You best get yourself ready for some of Natures worst disasters it can conjure up.

The gym is a heck of a ride from start to finish. First up you’ve got a maze of roadblocks to navigate while warning sirens and flashing lights go off. Get through that and you’ll have to face a volcano, jump across the flowing lava to get across this room. Its tidal waves and whirlpools in room 3, beware how you surf across here or you’ll be sunk and washed out. Be wary of the rolling boulders in room 4, the Eathquakes and Termors move them around and they’ll do damage if they strike you. You’ll gave to get through a nasty blizzard in room 5, low visibility and the wind is always blowing in your face making progress slow going. Speaking of winds, that’s what you’ll have to face in the 6th room. Near Hurricane strength winds will blow you all around the room, how you get through here is up to your own ability.

Once you’re through, The Gym Leader will use a team that personifies all that you have faced so far.



Absol: Night Slash takes advantage of Absol’s Super Luck ability, increasing the Critical Hit ratio of a move with an increased Critical hit ratio mean’s it’s most likely going to Critical hit. Superpower is a very strong move, but it will drop Absol’s attack and defence down a point each. It can correct the attack with Sword’s Dance though, which boosts attack by 2 points.

Camerupt: Watch out for that Solid Rock ability, it will reduce the power of any super effective move used on Camerupt by ¼. And with Leftovers, this one’s sticking around for a while. Stealth Rock is going to be thrown out and constantly damage your Pokémon every time they switch, and you’re probably going to need to be doing that with this team. After that’s out, it will probably try to poison you with Toxic. If you haven’t taken it down by now, Earth Power is a strong Ground type move that could reduce your special defense. Eruption works best when Camerupt is at full health, there it has a base power of 150. The more health it loses however, the weaker it becomes.

Gyarados: This one’s fairly straightforward. Dragon Dance to boost attack and speed, then let’s rip with an attack. Outrage is powerful, and attacks for a couple of turns but will leave it confused. Bounce will put it high in the air out of the reach of most attacks. And if you don’t know what surf can do by now, you shouldn’t be playing this game.

Whiscash: This one looks strong, and it is, with Dragon Dance boosting it up, Waterfall, Stone Edge and Earthquake all at its disposal, it’s a strong one to contend with. That life orb will boost the power of those attacks even more, but it will cost Whiscash 10% of its life every time it does damage, if you can survive long enough, it will basically assist you in taking it out.

Abomasnow: First, as soon as Abomasnow enters the battle, instant Hail Storm. This not only damages none Ice types per turn, but Blizzard will not miss… and that’s a damn powerful move. With Ice Beam and Giga Drain for back up (the latter healing itself) and Protect to stop you hitting it, this one’s trouble. The Focus Sash will protect it from being 1hit KO’d, so this one will probably do something nasty no matter what you have up your sleeve.

Pidgeot: U-turn will make the Pokémon switch with another once used, if Pigeot is the last one out though it can still use this move. Hurricane is a powerful flying move, but its accuracy is only 70% if it’s not raining. That sharp beak will boost the damage of all Pidgeot’s flying moves, which is all but pursuit.

This is a tough team to beat, there isn’t much that will take on the whole team, but if you don’t have a wide and varied move-set by this point you won’t really have reached this point. Electric will take out 2 of this team, Fighting another 2. Grass is probably best for that Whiscash as well.

Once you win, Clarissa will congratulate you on your Emergency Preparedness, you’ll get the Apocalypse badge and TM17 – Protect. Now onto Gym 7

[WhoKnows_WhoCares]

Gym 7: Rubbish, Pollution, Toxic Waste. Whatever your opinions are on what that stuff is or isn’t doing to the planet as a whole, you can’t deny the stuff stinks. Literally. Thankfully, one city has a damn good clean up man, cleaning up the place. The problem is that he stock piles it in the Pokémon Gym he runs.

Once inside the gym, first get rid of the toxic air with some kind of HM move that clears the air (or if I have to spell it out for you, Defog) – the gas comes back after a while courtesy of the leader himself. While you can see and navigate, you need to reduce the acid in the lake by rooting through the rubbish and hitting some switches. That’s easier said than done when you have to root around the rubbish to find those switches, and there’s some nasty surprises for you and your Pokémon amongst that lot. Once you get across to the leader, better be stocked up on antidotes.



Garbodor: Toxic Spikes is intended to be throw out and sit on the field, they’ll effect any Pokémon entering the field on the side they’re thrown to. You can get rid of them via Rapid Spin or Defog. Any Pokémon that’s immune to ground type moves (by being flying type or can levitate) will be able to avoid its effect. Toxic will Poison you, no questions. Most Poison moves have a chance of poisoning your Pokémon but Toxic’s is guaranteed. Watch out for Gunk Shot, it’s only got 70% accuracy but it has 120 base power and a 30% chance of poisoning, but you’ll probably be poisoned by this point anyway. Speaking of, Venoshock will do double damage if it hits a Pokémon already poisoned. It also has a +1 priority, so it will most likely strike you first regardless of if you’re faster or not. If the Black Sludge healing every turn wasn’t a problem, that Aftermath ability will cause extra damage to you once it goes down

Weezing: Venoshock’s there just to take advantage of you already poisoned, but Weezing is worse than that. Smokescreen will lessen the chance of you landing a hit, and the Focus Band has a chance of making sure that any hit that could cause it to faint will leave it with only 1HP. With that, Destiny Bond will basically make it so that if you KO Weezing, it will take your Pokémon with it. But Destiny Bond doesn’t have any increased Priority so if your quicker, you can avoid this fate. That’s where explosion comes in. With a base power of 250, you won’t be surviving this once it goes of. Get rid of this one as quickly as possible and hope it doesn’t take you along for the ride.

Muk: With Fire Punch and Thunderpunch, this Muk is not to be messed with, and with Payback doing double damage on the damage received this turn, it might not be the best idea to be faster than it in this case. With Poison Touch giving a chance to Poison you every time you make contact, you really need to play the lottery if you’ve come this far without getting poisoned.

Scolipede: There’s two tactics with this Scolipede. With BrightPowder and Double Team, it’ll raise its evasion to sit back while you die of being poisoned. The second tactic is to use moves like Megahorn and Earthquake to do major damage. And watch out for Endeavor, when Scolipede is low health, this will make your health match it.

Drapion: The Sniper ability changes the damage of critical hits from x2 to x3, and the Scope Lens increases the chance of hitting crit’s. Add to that the already high chance of Criticals on Night Slash, Cross Poison and Poison Tail, and this Pokémon is going to hurt. Aqua Tail is its counter for Ground Types, Drapion’s only natural weakness.

Poison is annoying, and it affects almost everyone in the same way. That’s kind of Foxamivalth’s plan, but it fails thanks to the fact that Poison Types and Steel Types are both immune to being poisoned, and that’s a large amount of threats down. Psychic type’s are super effective on Poison Types… if only there was a Steel/Psychic type you could call upon. A good move to know would be Miracle Eye, not only does it reset the opponents Evasion stat and prevents it from increasing (useful against that Scolipede), it can also remove the Dark Type’s immunity to Psychic moves. This will allow Psychic moves to not only hit Drapion, but be super effective. If you don’t have those though, then you’ll need Antidotes, Antidotes and a whole lot more Antidotes.

Once defeated, you’ll get yourself the Plague Badge and TM06 – Toxic. And it’s onward to the 8th and Final Gym as well.

[WhoKnows_WhoCares]

Gym 8: Friendship is one of the most important factors in life. The bond between you and your Pokémon should be very strong to get here. But on the off chance you just used brute strength you could be in trouble right now. The last Gym is a test of you and your Pokémon’s friendship to the highest degree. Once inside the gym, you’ll be presented with a door. You have to go one way while your Pokémon go another way. Inside you’ll have to navigate your maze and solve simple puzzles to push switches, which opens up paths for your Pokémon to go down. They then perform similar tasks, pushing similar switches to open paths up for you to move. Working in tandem like this, you and your Pokémon can make your way to the end of the maze, meeting back up and getting ready to take on the Gym Leader.



Lucario: ExtremeSpeed is one fast move, with a Priority of +2, its unlikely you’ll hit Lucario first regardless of if you’re faster. Of course, it’ll probably go for Swords Dance first, boosting up its attack. Close Combats immense power is only offset by it dropping both defences on Lucario. And don’t forget Ice Punch has a chance to freeze you.

Swoobat: Calm Mind boosts both Special Attack and Special Defense, this is good because both Psychic and Air Slash are both special attacks. Air Slash and Heart Stamp have a good chance of making you flinch, which if you’re slower than Swoobat will stop you from attacking that turn.

Blissey: Watch out for that Take Down, it’s strong but it does do recoil damage to Blissey. Sing will put you to sleep leaving you open to both Take Down and Double Slap. Softboiled will make sure that Blissey will stay in the fight by restoring its health.

Espeon: Toxic’s aim is to poison you and you should be use to this by now. Swift never misses regardless of the users accuracy and the target’s evasion. Morning Sun will heal a portion of health to Espeon, it’ll do more if you’ve set the Sun blazing for whatever reason, but less if you’ve got it raining or hailing.

Umbreon: Faint Attack is basically a Dark version of Swift, it never misses. Return is more powerful the more friendly a Pokémon is with its trainer, and do you really want to guess if this Umbreon is not friendly enough for Return to do maximum damage? Foul Play is a nasty little move. Rather than calculating the damage the move does using the User’s Attack stat, it uses the Target’s instead. So if you’re a Pokémon with a high attack, this will hurt.

Leavanny: Bug Bite is an interesting move. If it hits you while you’re holding a berry, not only will it do Double Damage, but it will steal the berry and use it itself, regardless of if it conditions are met for its use. Leaf Blade has an increased chance of producing a Critical Hit. Once Leavanny is down to its last 3rd of its life, both X-Scissor and Bug Bite get an increased damage thanks to the swarm ability.

Fighting is a decent choice for half this battle, Lucario, Blissey and Umbreon will all drop to a Fighting type (although only use physical attacks on the Blissey). Both Swoobat and Espeon are Psychic types, so try a Dark type on them, then you only have the Leavanny to worry about.

Once beaten, you’re awarded the Companion Badge and given TM27 – Return as your prizes. And that’s it, you’ve defeated all 8 Gym leaders and beaten The Pika Club League.

Or you would have done, if we didn’t have an Elite 4, you kind of still have to beat them…

[WhoKnows_WhoCares]

Elite4: Your first challenge in the Elite 4 is to face the Overall Winners from the original Gym Leader’s competition. These two users teamed up to create a Gym and Team that was so impressive, it was unanimously decided to be the overall best entry and won the top prize back then. Shrine_Sprite and Kikyo were also both former Forum Moderators. They battle in a Double Battle, each with their own set of Pokémon and it’s a killer of a line up.



Minun: Both Shrine_Sprite’s Minun and and Kikyo’s Plusle can be played either defensivly or offensively. With Rain Dance at its disposal, Minun not only powers up Swampert’s water type move, but makes the move Thunder never miss. And since 3 out of 4 Pokémon have this move, including Minun, that could be a big problem. On the defensive side, Double Team will crank up Minun’s evasion and make it harder to hit, it can then use Baton Pass, switching in Swampert and passing along all those evasion boosts along. And that’s deadly.

Swampert: With the damp ability, Swampert is basically immune to Selfdestruct, Explosion and the Aftermath ability. If you had any plans to use any of those to take down this monster, change them now. With Rain Dance at its disposal, it can keep making sure the weather is in favour of the Elite 4 in this match, which it can take advantage of with its Water Pulse move. If you’re not a flying type or a Pokémon that is levitated in some way, Earthquake is going to do damage. Of course if you ARE flying type trying to avoid Earthquake, you’re dead from all the Thunder’s flying about. Don’t look for it to throw it out though while Plusle is its partner or the little guy will also go down. Mirror Coat will take any Special attacks that it gets hit with and return them to the user with 2x the damage, so you may want to stick to Physical attacks against this one.

Plusle: Like its counterpart, Plusle can be both on the attack and defence here. If both Plulse and Minun are out at the same time, the Plus and Minus abilities increase their attacks by 50% extra damage. Meaning Thunder is going to really sting here. Nasty Plot raises the Special Attack by 2 points, which Plusle can either use itself to bring the Thunder or use Baton Pass to grant those boosts to Porygon-Z. Helping Hand will boost its teammates attacking power that turn with an extra 50% damage, that will work on any attack that either Minun or Swampert would use.

Porygon-Z: That Analytic ability will boost Porygon-Z’s attacks by 30% extra if it attacks after the one it’s targeting. That could be a good enough reason to not use fast Pokémon against this one. Magnet Rise will grant Porygon-Z with the Levitate ability for a few turns, taking it out of the range of Ground attacks. This means Swampert can start throwing Earthquake around all it wants and not worry about hurting its partner. With both Thunder and Psychic, it can take full advantage of any Nasty Plot boosts Plusle may send over. And just to be even more cruel, Porygon-Z can heal itself thanks to Recover.

There is a LOT of damage boosting going on around here, so you’ve got to be really careful with what you’re going to throw out here. Ground may be a good idea to avoid all the Thunder’s rocking around, but then that Swampert is probably just going to come in and rip you with its Water attacks. Good Luck picking your team for this one, you’re going to need it to win and progress to the next Elite-4 Member

[WhoKnows_WhoCares]

Elite 4: Next up, your challenge is to survive the cold and harshness that winter can set upon you. Powerchu’s Pokémon can all survive in cold weather enviroments such as the deep snowy mountains or the arctic conditions of the North Pole. You’d best be ready, or else Powerchu’s squad could be the chilling sound of your doom



Sawsbuck: The Expert Belt that Sawsbuck is holding will boost the damage of any super effective moves meaning that what will hit you hard will hurt you a little harder. Thankfully, it’s only got 2 attacking moves to really take advantage off this feat. Jump Kick is a strong Physical Fighting move with a strong downside, with a 95% accuracy, if it happens to miss, then the user takes 50% of the damage it would have inflicted. This also occurs if the move is blocked by either Protect or Detect, so think about that when you’re facing this guy. Seed Bomb is just a standard Grass attack, so don’t worry about it all that much (unless you’re weak to Grass moves). Sawsbuck’s other moves are Agility and Baton Pass. The former will boost Sawsbuck’s speed up, look for a couple of these to happen before it uses Baton Pass to transfer that speed boost to any other member of Powerchu’s team.

Articuno: Yeah, that’s right, he’s got a legendary and your only problem with this is how much its going to hurt you. As you’d expect, holding the NeverMeltIce item is designed to increase the power of Ice moves, of which it only has Ice Beam. Although not the strongest of Ice Moves available, it is the most reliable and with the NeverMeltIce, pretty deadly. Signal Beam is a nasty Bug type move, with 75 base power, it’s pretty strong, but it also has a chance to confuse the target, and that could be deadly for you. Hurricane also has a chance to confuse you, it also hits a hell of a lot harder and can also hit any Pokémon that have taken to the skies, so don’t thing you can get away from it like that. Thankfully its accuracy isn’t great unless it’s raining. Roost will heal half of its max health, keeping this threat around a lot longer.

Beartic: Icicle Crash is a nice little Ice move that has a 30% chance of making you flinch. The best way to avoid that is to somehow be immune to flinching, or failing that just be faster than Beartic to avoid the flinching part. Beware of Brick Break if you rely upon Reflect or Light Screen as part of your tactics, as this move will smash that to bits while delivering its decent damage. Thrash is a very strong move that goes on for 2-3 turns, hitting most of the time. At the end of it, it will confuse Beartic though, which could end up working in your benefit if it can keep hitting itself afterwards. Watch out of Rest. It heals the user to full health but puts it to sleep for 2 turns. But Beartic’s Chesto Berry will remove that sleep status for the first time of using it, putting it at full health and right back into the game. Be aware of the Snow Cloak ability as well, it will raise Beartic’s evasion when there’s Hail around. While unable to cast Hail itself, Walrien does possess the ability, so it’s best to be prepared for a hard to hit Pokémon here.

Walrein: As mentioned above, Wailrein can cast Hail. The Icy Rock its holding changes Hail from 5 turns to 8 turns in effect, and damage any Pokémon without an Ice type. Also that Ice Body ability will allow Walrein’s HP to regenerate while Hail is going on, so look for that to be constantly thrown up. This will also cause Blizzard to change its accuracy to 100%, meaning it will hurt, a lot. Aqua Ring is there for another health boost,

It’s not an easy battle, but then as an Elite 4 it shouldn’t be. Fire should serve you well against most of the team, although Electric or Fighting would serve you better against Wailrein. Beware of the Hail, as once that comes into effect its going to become a lot more of an advantage to Powerchu’s team. Once you succeed, it’s onto the next member of the Elite 4

[WhoKnows_WhoCares]

Elite 4: If you think there maybe something strange in your neighbourhood, chances are Undead may be near by. Beneath the cool image of this Elite 4 member lays a scary heart who loves all those spirits that still roam the earth, or at least fight in Pokémon battles. And don’t bother asking the age old question, there is nobody you can call to help you out here, other than your own Pokémon.



Drifloon: It’s a simple set up, using stockpile, it will store energy, raising its Defence and Special Defence as a result. It can store up to three times, which will greatly increase the amount of damage Spit Up will do afterwards. Thunder is powerful, but its accuracy isn’t the greatest unless it’s raining, and if you’ve made it rain you’re really asking for that thunder to hit you. If all else fails, Explosion will take itself out and most likely you with it. And beware of that Aftermath ability, knocking out Drifloon will cause you to take some damage.

Litwick: That Shadow Tag ability is a problem, as now you’re unable to switch your Pokémon. Litwick will jump in on a Pokémon it feels it has a large advantage against, punishing them when it does. Pain Split might actually be one of Litwick’s best weapons. It takes both your current HP and Litwicks, and gives you both the average. When used correctly, Litwick can heal while damaging you at the same time, and depending on how low HP it has, it could be very significant. Overheat is one of the most powerful fire moves in the game. The trade off is a slightly lower accuracy and the dropping of Special Attack power of the user by 2 points. Look for this one to be its hit and run tactic, switching in to use overheat then switching out when you’re dead again to get rid of the negative stat decrease.

Frillish: With Rain Dance at its disposal, its Hydro Pump power is increased and Drifloon’s Thunder attack becomes a bigger threat if it’s still around. Recover will help Frillish stick around for a lot longer than you’ll want it to, with both Hydro Pump and Ice Beam, this Pokémon can be really lethal. And that Cursed Body ability has a 30% chance to disable the move you just used to attack it with, making this Pokémon a threat more to your long term plan as much as the short term.

Haunter: Haunter’s first goal is to put you to sleep with Hypnosis. Now that it’s got an opening to constantly attack, it will, with Dark Pulse, Shadow Claw or Psychic depending on which would be more advantageous. And as soon as you wake up again? Back to sleep with Hypnosis.

Golurk: The Iron Fist ability boosts the attacking power of that Mega Punch Golurk is packing, and it wasn’t a light tap to begin with. Heavy Slam does more damage the heavier the user is than the target, and being that there isn’t a lot of Pokémon heavier that Golurk, this could turn out to be its hardest hitting move. Earthquake is a pretty basic Ground move which you should know how to avoid by now.

Shedinja: Good news, Shedinja has 1 HP. Bad news, it can only take damage from 5 different types. Unless you use one of those that would be super effective against it, the Wonder Guard ability will prevent the damage from occurring. There’s nothing majorly surprising with Shedinja otherwise, its Confuse Ray will try to make you damage yourself while Sand Attack will make you miss it should you manage to break through Confuse Ray. Otherwise, you should get warning when it’s about to use SolarBeam, assuming you didn’t set the weather to blazing sun for some reason

There’s a false sense of security when you look at this Pokémon and their moves. They seem like not much of a threat and if you treat them too lightly, that’s where they’ll do the most damage. Each one is capable of some little annoyance which when built up could end up destroying you as a whole. Dark Types may be your best friend here, but don’t think that this will be a cake walk. If you do manage to do this, it’s onto the last Elite 4 Member.

[WhoKnows_WhoCares]

Elite 4: Are you afraid of the dark? How about of Dark Types? WhoKnows_WhoCares isn’t, in fact he loves Dark Types and is ready to show you their awesome power. Then again, hasn’t most people been showing you their awesome power of whatever they love? And you’ve beaten them now right? So this should be a walk in the park… yeah well maybe not so much.



Umbreon: Starting off with this little set up, it’s designed for pure annoyance more than anything. Toxic is a tactic you must be familiar with by now and here it’s going to be used for the same effect. If you want to try use a fighting type to exploit Dark Types natural weakness, then Umbreon has a little Psychic surprise for you. Umbreon doesn’t need to worry about its attacking stat when using Foul Play as the damage is calculated using the target’s attack stat, not the user. With Wish used to heal, a decent defence stat and that BrightPowder increasing its evasion, you’ll need a little luck to take this one down.

Sableye: If Umbreon’s job is to poison you, Sableye is built to burn you. Will-O-Wisp is a move that burns you instantly. The Wide Lens item will boost the accuracy of the move (and the rest of the move set as well), while that prankster ability will increase the priority of non-attacking moves. That means than not only Will-O-Wisp be thrown out faster, but Recover and Taunt will pretty much be first out, regardless of if your faster than Sabelye itself. And with Foul Play as its only attacking move should it require it, Sableye doesn’t need to worry about any of its stats beyond HP, Defence and Special Defence.

Scrafty: If you think this team is nothing but status inflictors, Scrafty is here to prove otherwise. With a part fighting type in the mix, there is a temptation to use flying types against it, so Scrafty is packing an Ice Punch as a counter to that. Drain Punch will not only damage you but heal Scrafty as well, leaving it in the battle longer. There’s a lot of boosting attack with Scrafty as well. Dragon Dance will boost the attack and speed, the Muscle Band will boost the power of all those physical attack moves as well and if it manages to take down one of your Pokémon then that Moxie ability will boost its attack yet again. If you don’t take this one down quick, it could become unstoppable.

Bisharp: Beware this Bisharp. Much like Scrafty it’s designed for pure power, but other than swords dance it doesn’t have any way for it to boost up its attack power. But be careful because there is a way you can boost it for Bisharp. If you do anything to try and drop its stats, the Defiant ability kicks in, boosting its attack stat by 2 points. With Substitute at its disposal, it can sacrifice some of its health to leave behind an object that will absorb some of the damage aimed at Bishap. Thanks to that Leftovers, it won’t be too worried about that health sacrifice either.

Houndoom: From pure Physical attackers to a pure Special one. Nasty Plot simply raises the attack power of Special Attacks by 2 points. And with Wise Glasses boosting the power of those Special Attacks as well, this one is going to hurt. Fire Blast and Dark Pulse easily take advantage of this, as does Hidden Power, being a special attack as well. It’s a Grass type move on this Houndoom by the way, so be wary if you’re going to use a Water type against it.

Honchkrow: Great news, that life orb its holding will drain away Honckrow’s health a little every turn. Bad News, its going to seriously boost the attack power of its moves while it does. And with two extremely powerful moves in its set, I will be very impressed if you survive a hit from either Brave Bird or Superpower. Roost will be used quite a bit to recover all that lost health of its. Sucker Punch may be a decent fall back move for Honchkrow, but it will only work if you’re planning on using a damaging move that turn yourself.

Fighting types are most likely your best bet here, although there is a LOT of surprises throughout that are designed to help punish that idea. Try Odor sleuth on the Sableye to remove that Ghost immunity to fighting or maybe even Miracle Eye to get rid of the Dark typing. This will allow you to hit super effective moves on it and take it down quicker.

If you do manage to get through this team and defeat the Elite 4 as a whole Congratulations. You can now sit back and relax and… well actually you can’t. After all, what’s an Elite 4 Challenge without a Champion at the end of it?

[WhoKnows_WhoCares]

So here it is, Finally, the last person you have to face. Honest. There isn’t anybody else after this battle. And what is the theme of this team that Pikachu3828 is rocking? To defeat you. There is nothing more than that and he’s brought along some of his favourite Pokémon to do the job. So if you’re ready, let’s begin.



Gyarados: If you think you can just throw out an Electric Pokémon out to take on Gyarados, watch out for that Earthquake, especially if it manages to get a Dragon Dance off to boost its Attack and Speed. If it does take down any of your team that Moxie is going to boost its Attack even more, making its moves hurt that bit more. Bounce will take it out of most moves hitting it for a turn but one that will is Thunder, perhaps that could still be an option here.

Tyranitar: This is built for one thing, strong attacking power. First of all, its ability will start off a sandstorm which unless your part Rock, Steel or Ground types will slowly chip away at your health. Pursuit damages you more if you decide to switch out that turn. With 3 strong attacks at its disposal after that (two of them boosted by STAB), this is one big threat. Made more of a threat with that Choice Band. It boost the Attack power by 50% making those hard hitting moves hit harder. It is then forced to keep using that one move, so if you switch in something it may not like, look for this to hit and run, coming back latter to be a threat once again.

Zangoose: Another pure attacker here. Toxic Orb does nothing but inflict Poison on the holder after one turn. So how does Zangoose benefit from poisoning himself? Well that ability of Zangoose will boost its attacking power by 50% once it’s poisoned. Sure, it will take itself out eventually, but it will damage you a lot while it does, especially if it Swords Dance as well. Oh and once poisoned, that Façade will also boost its attacking power as well to twice its 70 Base power. Also beware of that Close Combat, it’s a strong move normally, but with all those Attack power boost running around, Zangoose will do a lot of damage while it’s slowly killing itself.

Drapion: You should be familiar with pretty much everything here by now. Earthquake and Crunch have no real surprises, Pursuit only does some serious damage if you’re switching out the same turn while Poison Jab has a chance of causing Poison on you. The main goal here might be to poison you with Poison Jab then continue to damage you with the rest of its move set. And should any of the moves end up being critical hits, that sniper ability will further increase that damage output.

Druddigon: There’s a heck of a game plan here with this Druddigon. First things first, it throws out Stealth Rock, causing damage to your Pokémon every time one comes into battle. And with Roar in its arsenal, it can force your Pokémon to switch whenever you don’t want them to. Glare will cause Paralysis, cutting your speed in half giving Druddigon even more chance of hurting you before you can hurt it. Even if you do land a move, be aware of that Rough Skin ability. Any move that makes contact means you lose some of your health. To make matters worse, the Rocky Helmet does exactly the same thing meaning your going to be losing a fair bit of health on each attack you land. With so much passive damage Druddigon can deal out, it may never need to use that Dragon Claw attack.

Genesect: The final Pokémon we’re detailing here is the current final Pokémon in the dex. First thing to note is that Download will increase the Attack stat or Special Attack stat depending on which of your related defence stat is lower. Now that it has a minor advantage there, there’s not a lot tricky here. It’s got all the common attack bases covered, Fire, Thunder and Ice, and if one is super effective against you then the Expert Belt will increase the damage once again. U-Turn is an interesting move, after doing damage, Genesect must switch with another Pokémon if there is one. With its steel typing as well, don’t be surprised to see Genesect switch in if Tyranitar needs to switch out due to its Choice Band, thus being protected from the Sandstorm. It may then use U-turn to switch Tyranitar back in, allowing it to pick a different move.

Well there you go, the final team to beat. And I’m not telling you what you need to have to beat it, if you want to beat this league you really should know what to do by now. I wish you luck in defeating this mighty team, and a congratulations if you succeed. And with that, the league is finally defeated. Until the next time, anyway.

[WhoKnows_WhoCares]

So there we go, finally finished. Its been far too long in the making but now we see it all complete. There were a lot of amazing entries and it really was a shame we had to narrow it down to 8 winners. It also wasnt easy but we just about managed it.

We try to think of the order of gym placement as the reverse order of placement for the winners. In reality, gyms 1-5 were so close that they're not exactly places 8th-4th. It really is more like your all 4th, just missing out on one of those legendary dogs.

Speaking of, its not hard to work out who did win one of those rare pokemon on the AA. Congratulations to Clarissa, Foxamivalth and SageofMagic. You'll each recieve a PM shortly detailing how you'll recieve your prize.

Congratulations to all our winners. It was a lot of fun to read your entries and make all your artwork. I've hoped you've enjoyed the results write ups as well as our bonus Elite 4.

Actually you know what, here's a little bonus suprise prize for all the winners. Very soon you should be able to select your customised Gym Leader sprite to place on your AA breeder card should you like. The Elite 4 also will have this option but the Gym Leaders themselves get one additional extra, as well as your Sprite showing, your Gym Leader Badge will show up as well. Look for that to show up for you soon and once again, congratulations