Pokemon X: Battle Maison 50th win streak, only Ghosts!

Well, you know what the title says, I hit the 50th win streak! Before I explain what team did I use and how's the battle with the Battle Chatelaine, let me describe my thoughts on the Battle Maison.

Generally speaking, the whole point of the Battle Maison is trying to create a team consisting ultimate-tiered Pokemon (Ubers). You'd heard what I said. Get your Greninja going (never liked it), throw out Mega Kangaskhan (I totally hate that thing) and Choice Band your Talonflame (should I don't have Metagross or Bronzor with me, I'm going to get wrecked by Gale-Winged Brave Bird).

But I play it differently. Instead, I focus on using Pokemon of the same type in my teams. I know, that resulted a lot of failures, especially in my Psychic teams on Y, which includes running a Trick Room team, my Eviolite Bronzor as a wall, and my Dream-Eating Espeon. Reasons? Well, wrong timing of switching in and out (my Medicham got slain by a Magnezone, once!), unfortunate encounters (curse you, Hypnotist Focus Sash Gengar) and disgracefully defeated by my favourite Pokemon (a Mr Mime blasted my Gallade away (was that thing Specs-ed?) and a Gardevoir traced Magic Bounce and put my Medicham and Gallade into sleep).

Personally speaking, here's what Pokemon I hate to encounter in the Battle Maison:

5. Zoroark (prepare to be careful)
4. Houndoom (physical or special attacking, I hate both ways)
3. Tyranitar (if I encounter one with Sand Stream then I maybe doomed)
2. Gengar (Hypnosis+Focus Sash=Frustration unless you got a Choice Scarf user to backup for you)
1. Krookodile (I'm officially banning it in my wifi battles. You know why.)

See what I did here? Due to the fact I use Psychic and Ghost-types, I hate Dark-types with a passion. One time in the Battle Spot my elite Ghost team died to a Hydreigon! (I think that demon was Specs-ed) So for Mixia, Hydreigon is a nightmare for her ever since that battle and this nightmare is incurable, only the presence of Fairy-types can sooth her (I've been thinking the fact that Ghosts and Fairies do get along with each other). So Sylveon will be my Ghost team's savior (eat Moonblast, Hydreigon and Krookodile!).

Anyhow, let's get on to about my elite Ghost team.

Choice Scarf Chandelure

• Modest, Infiltrator, EVs in Sp. Atk, Speed
• Energy Ball, Psychic, Overheat, Shadow Ball

So the whole point of Choice users is that you should put them as the lead so you can give them some room to switch in and out, and Ghost-types can benefit even more as Choice users since they are no long disrupted by move and abilities that prevent recall, however, with the cost of being more vulnerable to Pursuit. Overheat* is for extreme STAB damage (Chandelure can switch in and out to get rid of the Sp. Atk loss), Shadow Ball for STAB or playing safe, as I said, Energy Ball is to get rid of Waters, Rocks and Grounds (which Chandelure is weak to) and Psychic** for coverage.

*If Overheat sounds too risky for you, you can choose to play safe with Flamethrower.

**I've researched about between Dark Pulse and Psychic, and I found out that Dark Pulse only helps hitting Girafarig better while Psychic opens up new coverage against Poison and Fighting.

***If the Hidden Power of the Chandelure is satisfactory to you, I won't mind letting it run that Hidden Power. My recommendations are Ice (takes down Hydreigon but can't hit Houndoom), Fighting (covers almost all Dark-types), Dragon (should you be running one with perfect IVs on all except Attack), Ground (can hit Houndoom but can't take down Hydreigon) and Rock (I'm watching you, Pyroar).

The classic Aegislash

• Brave, Lum Berry, EVs in HP, Attack
• Shadow Sneak, Swords Dance, Sacred Sword, King's Shield

Everyone knows how to run an Aegislash. Give it Sacred Sword and Sneak or Claw then let it to finish the job. No-brainer, right? But hey, it has some purpose. King's Shield is to cripple down Crunch, Knock Off, Pursuit and Foul Play (I've never seen Punishment in action, but it may be dangerous if Aegislash runs Swords Dance and/or holding Weakness Policy) plus anything that is potentially dangerous to your team, as long as it makes contact. Shadow Sneak is for revenge-killing Focus Sash users that defeated your Pokemon while survived. After 3 Sword Dances Shadow Sneak wrecks almost everything.

Oh, and King's Shield is good for calculating what damage will your Aegislash receive from the move that damaged it before the turn it uses King's Shield.

Lum Berry? If Aegislash gets hit by Swagger, burned, fell asleep and paralyzed (although Aegislash doesn't cares about speed), it can carry on normally again, for once (you might be laughing well when Aegislash consumes Lum Berry after a Swagger).

Mega Gengar

• Timid, EVs in Sp. Atk, Speed
• Destiny Bond, Sludge Bomb, Dazzling Gleam, Shadow Ball

You know what you are going to do with Gengar: either sweep things or use Destiny Bond take down a foe you believe that is impossible to defeat. Be sure to time the Mega Evolution right: If Gengar Mega Evolves, it loses the Ground immunity.*

*Oh, and it's good for driving Choice users that used a Ground move crazy (assuming that Gengar didn't Mega Evolve).

How this team works

You noticed that my team is prone to Ground, right? This is why Gengar is here for. Thanks to Levitate, you can let it block off a Ground move or two, as long as you don't Mega Evolve it. Use Destiny Bond to remove major threats to the Ghost team, such as Skuntank, Weavile, Drapion, Krookodile and maybe some Dragon Dancers.

Aegislash helps in crippling those Crunches with King's Shield, and dashing Dark-types out with Sacred Sword. It can be also useful for revenge-kill those with 1 HP left due to Sturdy or Focus Sash.

With such a moveset, Chandelure is able to cover almost anything. Just watch out for Houndoom or Hydreigon; they can't be hit by such attacks effectively unless you consider Hidden Power. Encountered something that is weak to both of Chandelure's STABs? Then either play safe with Shadow Ball, or use Flamethrower as an alternative to Overheat.

So the whole point of this team is predictability and timing. Predictability involves timing on King's Shield and when to Swords Dance while timing involves when you should switch out Chandelure and when to Mega Evolve Gengar.

How the battle happened

(Sorry, I forgot to save the battle)

Ah, here's come the part I've been waiting for: challenging Nita once again. Here's comes my story-telling narration again

Spoiler alert: Nita uses the Forces of Nature, and all of them are in Incarnate Forme.

"After getting through Punks, a random Hex Maniac who thinks I'm some doctor from another planet, running to some Psychics and too many shenanigans, I finally managed to reach the 50th win streak. Here's goes running into Nita again!" said Mixia after her 49th match.

"Aegis-Aegislash!" groaned Spectris, the Aegislash which Mixia claims to be Spectre's descendant.

"You passed through those trials? Then may Xerneas salutes you. We can tell by how you faced some users of the Pokemon of legends we've heard and seen. We wish you luck. May our blessings help you in the trials after this trial."

"Here she comes, Battle Chatelaine Nita!" the Maison's announcer announced.

"So, we meet again." said Mixia when Nita steps down to face the Ghost trainer.

"It's been a long time, Mixia! You haven't forgotten me, right? I might go mental if you say you did, with how I've been waiting!" said Nita.

"Yeah, it's a very long story. The first attempt is my wrong timing thanks to a Porygon-Z, the second attempt is because of Gyarados, but for this time, I'm not going to fail!" replied Mixia.

"That's the spirit of never giving up! And that's why I know you're the only trainer worth the challenge, with no guff! Judging from your... rather eerie team of Ghost-types." added Nita. "So let's get cracking on it!"

"Wizzy, I'm prepared to make your jaw drop." said Mixia.

Mixia sends out her Chandelure while Nita sends out Tornadus, a green, genie-like creature. Chandelure shoots out a Shadow Ball at Tornadus, then it barely survives a Hurricane. Chandelure throws another Shadow Ball, knocking out Tornadus, and Landorus was sent in.

Landorus outspeeds Chandelure thanks to the Choice Scarf, and blasts Chandelure away with an Earth Power. Intelligent Mixia tricks Landorus by sending out Gengar when it fires an Earth Power at the Shadow Pokemon, only to find out that Gengar is levitating, perfectly dodging an Earth Power while casting Destiny Bond. Frustrated, Nita switches out Landorus and sends out Thundurus.

"You were at disadvantage just now." taunted Mixia.

"Everyone understood the frustration of Choice-bound Pokemon. I can tell that when the first time you used a Choice-bound Chandelure." replied Nita.

While Spectris is sent out, it gets hit by a Crunch from Thundurus. Spectris continuously cripples the Thundurus' Crunch with a King's Shield, then a Swords Dance, then again a King's Shield. Spectris carefully hits Thundurus with a Sacred Sword, bringing half of the Bolt Strike Pokemon's health down, but recovered by consuming a Sitrus Berry. Panicked, Mixia commands Spectris to go back to its Shield Forme as a safety measure, crippling Thundurus' Crunch. Spectris then carefully strikes Thundurus with a Shadow Sneak, perfectly taking it down.

"The spirits are on my side now. Landorus is left and all I need to do is... Wait, did that Landorus just blasted Chandelure with an Earth Power and Chandelure got outsped? thought Mixia.

Nita finally sends out Landorus. Mixia commands Spectris to switch back into its Shield Forme to observe if Landorus is going to cast Earth Power again. It did. And Spectris casts a Shadow Sneak as a parting gift to Landorus before getting blasted away by Earth Power.

"Yikes. Now I'm really at disadvantage." said Nita.

Gengar is finally sent out. Due to being bound by Choice Scarf, Landorus has no choice but continuously unleashing Earth Power. This provided Gengar a free attempt to blast Landorus away with Shadow Ball.

"Wahey, that was such great fun! You are really a strong one, Mixia! It's been a long time since I've been defeated like that!" congratulated Nita.

"It was a path that is difficult to stroll in, my friend." replied Mixia.

"I can hardly wait myself for the next battle between us, you bold thing! The Battle Maison and Nita will always be here and waiting for you next visit! You'd better come again- and no guff!" Nita added. The Battle Chatelaine then leaves.

Mixia redeems her Battle Points, and hearing that a monument is presented outside the Miaons's entrance hall in honour of the Ghost girl's victory, Mixia rushed to the entrance hall in order check it out.

"Neat!

The yellow monument says:

"This monument is to commemorate the trainer with the love for Ghost-types, Mixia, for managing to completing 50 consecutive battles in the Kalos Battle Maison's Super Single Battle Challenge."

"Perhaps it's time for me to either move on, or try other challenges..." thought Mixia.

My thoughts on my team

Needless to say this team can go to High-rank (OU), as long you can play it with correct timing. And speaking of timing, sadly, my glory didn't last long when I quit due to Aegislash being close to being Leech-Seeded to dying by a Venusaur with Substitute spamming Protect, with Chandelure and Gengar getting wrecked by Blastoise's Aqua Tail. My predictability is not that good, okay?

Okay, so I maybe either going for Rotation Challenge, or finding a replacement for my elite Ghost team. I'm in the choice of Evioltie Dusclops (it has freakishly high defenses), Eviolite Misdreavus (involves a lot of utility but it's totally worth it!), Prankster Sableye (just imagine it spamming Calm Mind, Recover and Will-o-wisps!) or Sucker Punch Spiritomb.

Anyhow, check out Mixia's new trainer card!

"Wizzy's going to cry when he sees this. Oh! Do I look cute in my Battle Maison outfit?"

If you noticed, the trainer card picture is less dim and brighter than the previous pictures. I was trying to be self-sufficient here!