The quest for Nita: The true test begins

(This is my second entry on this today. Check the previous one for all the details on the EV training session.)

Off to the Battle Maison we go!

I quickly noticed that even with the animations off, the battles took a while, between "Sylveon's Truant!" and "Blaziken's Speed Boost!" and everything else. Also important: one of these days I'm just going to switch instead of BPing. I need to wire that into my brain posthaste, as is the need to megavolve Heracross instead of picking a move in a hurry. I need to be PATIENT, above all else.

Anyway, the first little surprise came in battle #3, as an opposing Sceptile had a Focus Sash. Nothing major, but this whole build is meant to beat things like that, and the fact that it popped up as early as battle #3 suggests that this stuff is quite commonplace. Battle #4 featured a Charti Berry Crobat. Another perk I just realized: these berries now cut damage by 10% instead of the usual 50%. Even Mega Kangaskhan doesn't get a ratio this good, with "only" 33%.

Battle #5, on the other hand, revealed a weakness: Roar sails right past Protect. Fortunately, the Exploud that used it sent out Heracross, which can just megavolve, kill it with Arm Thrust, then switch right back to Durant. The following Mr. Mime wasn't exactly what I wanted to see, but fortunately Durant could survive its Psychic with over half its health left. I also realized at this point that I needed to give Blaziken's Protect some PP Ups, because I couldn't set up Hone Claws all the way through with the Protect PP I used up against Exploud. I took care of that after the fight.

Battle #7 started out with an Espeon. Frankly I didn't feel like tempting fate to see if it had Magic Bounce or Synchronize, so I smashed it with X-Scissor. It had a Focus Sash, and took the opportunity to set up a Calm Mind. FUCK. This was followed by a Yawn on the Truant turn. I took the bait and killed it with a second X-Scissor... even if it meant falling asleep. Next was Donphan. Can Mega Heracross take out this defensive titan with Bullet Seed? The Scary Face on the switch was not enough for it to outspeed Heracross afterwards, but Bullet Seed was just barely enough. Next was the fast but frail Tentacruel... which used Toxic Spikes. Game over. Phew, crisis averted.

The ninth opponent led with a Tauros that used Substitute on the first turn - just like that, Durant's Scarf just paid for itself. Thanks to it, if it's not a Prankster user, I can break through any kind of substitute. I started feeling a bit sleepy after the fight, so I called it a day. Now all I have to do is repeat that 41 more times, and the trainer card star's mine. It's not going to be easy though, with two close calls in the first nine fights. When I start fighting legendaries, including the dreaded Prankster Tornadus and Thundurus, I won't be given this much leeway...