Quoted By:
Six badges were obtained today, but not without a heavy loss and a blow most grave.
I had dreaded Valerie's Sylveon from the start, suspecting that it may well claim the life of one of my companions, and my suspicions were correct - Hindenburg fell in battle today.
Vitani had just tanked a monstrously powerful Psychic off of Valerie's Mr. Mime, and with Light Screen up, I couldn't hope for a 2HKO with Flamethrower as I'd planned. Knowing that another Psychic would kill her stone dead, and knowing that Croc, despite her overwhelming physical attack stat, could very well have been outsped because of her nature and Gleamed post-switch, I sent in Drifblim, who tanked yet another Psychic and finished Mr. Mime with Fly.
Then Sylveon made his entrance, and I was in trouble. Excluding Conker and Croc and 'Burg's Fly, all of my 'Mons were special attackers - and Conker's attack, while serviceable, is not monstrous. I also knew that whatever I switched to would be hit with a Gleam full force. It was Morton's Fork - either I let Drifblim do as much damage as possible, or I switch and lock myself into a desperate attempt to keep everyone alive.
Hindenburg took to the sky one last time, and took almost half of Sylveon's health down with her. I switched into Vitani to do a little more damage with Flamethrower, and she soldiered two Swifts and landed in the red. I then gambled, switching to Croc knowing that she outsped him, hoping he would Swift again instead of Gleam.
My hope paid off, and one Dig was all that was needed.
Lazuli, briefly boxed, has returned to the team in the wake of what has happened. I recently acquired a Karrablast on Route 14, too, but only so recently evolved it - I had to find a Shelmet on my X, and I entered the gym confident that I could win without her.
I did...but at a price. The humanity, indeed.
Farewell, Hindenburg. You'll be missed.
