Etesian

2x is the most damage-boosting you can get out of D-Curl, so Curse is much better, since it boosts your attack past that (and Walrein doesn't need it's already low speed). 2 Curses give the same power boost as 1 D-Curl, but with double the defense boost, and you can further boost your attack and defense. But this set is worthless against any Special attackers without Stockpile's boosts to SP.Def, and power boosts aren't even that necessary. From turn 3, you've already got 120BP, then 240, then 480. All but the world's bulkiest foes (or some Steel types) wouldn't be killed by that, and with the defense boosts on both sides, getting to turn 3 is nooooooo problem at all. And Rollout gives it a lot better coverage and works with the set well. Also, what else would you give it? It really doesn't get any other moves that fit with this set well. First, EVs. If you're not EV-training, you'll be surprised by what can manage to outspeed you, since gym leaders have EVs, IVs and set natures since E13. A full-EV Timid Rotom-W (86 Base Speed) outspeeds a no-investment neutral-nature Crobat (130 Base Speed). If you're not EV training, it'll be quite hard to outspeed foes. On the other hand, no IV Quiet Chandelure (80 Base Speed) outslows neutral-natured Trevenant (56 Base Speed). Also keep in mind that of those 450, the vast majority is unevolved. For Sigilyph, it doesn't benefit from Trick Room itself (unless you're facing some really fast foes), but I was think of having it set TR for the others who can utilize it.

It leaves you vulnerable on the Special side. If that's what you're after, Curse would be much better, since 2 Curses give you the same power boost D-Curl would give you, but you can go for more than 2 Curses (DC only buffs Rollout's and IB's power once). Hey, if you want, you can run Curse instead of Waterfall for the power-boosts, the only coverage you'd lose would be against Steel types and Keldeo.

I know, but I was thinking of using a save at the start of the game, right after getting a starter, so not having to wait on Ditto would be great.

Dragon Rage is reeeeeally bad at any point past Corey. I'd recommend a physical set, Dragon Dance, Flare Blitz, Dragon Claw, Shadow Claw/Wing Attack/Brick Break. Pretty self explanatory, sadly it gets no really good Flying STAB move. And make it Jolly. Both Close Combat and Force Palm are unnecessary. Crunch also gives it coverage it doesn't need, since Ghost and Psychic types are few and far between post-Radomus. I'd recommend Agility over Extreme Speed. After a single boost, no unboosted foe would outspeed it. Other than that, there's 5 options. Agility, Swords Dance, Close Combat, Crunch. The combo of Crunch and CC is only resisted by Fairy types, so you have room for both boosting moves. Agility, Blaze Kick, Close Combat, Crunch. Like above, but with less power, but more coverage. Agility, Nasty Plot/Calm Mind, Aura Sphere, Shadow Ball (unresisted coverage). Agility, Aura Sphere, Shadow Ball, Dragon Pulse. Swords Dance, Extreme Speed, Bullet Punch, Close Combat. Strong priority spam. You can also switch Agility with something else, but the speed boost would really help out a lot if you want to sweep. For Gardevoir, Shadow Ball<Charge Beam. CB is stronger after a single boost and gives better super-effective coverage. You could also swap Calm Mind for Trick Room, since your team would really benefit from it. A speed boosting nature also won't help it much, Modest would be better for it. Icicle Crash is a lot better than Ice Fang. If you get a Wide Lens from wild Yanma, it'll have 99% accuracy. With Zoom Lens, if you're slower than your foe (though you wouldn't be under Trick Room), 108% accuracy. Body Slam is also way better than Strength. Not only is it stronger (although barely), it has a 30% chance to paralyze the foe. There's also Curse, but keep both Ice Shard and EQ. Give it a Scope Lens. Focus Energy, Surf, Dragon Pulse, Agility/Ice Beam(via Remoraid pre-E13)/Hidden Power. Scope Lens + Focus Energy gives it guaranteed crits, Sniper makes those crits do x2.25 the not-crit damage. Shadow Ball and Dark Pulse the same Super-effective coverage, while Shadow Ball gets STAB, so D-Pulse is useless. Confuse Ray is also eh. You can get it Sludge Bomb and Thunderbolt pre-E13 via Stunfisk>Grimer>Gengar. Or Energy Ball and Psychic via Lotad/Petilil>Phantump>Ralts>Gastly pre-E13. Or there's Hidden Power, Disable and Curse. It doesn't get too much good stuff without TMs. Fine Flygon. Foul Play is worthless on things with high Attack stats, since FP takes the foes'. That Honchkrow can be waaaaay better. Moxie with Tailwind, Night Slash, Drill Peck/Brave Bird and Sucker Punch. Tailwind guarantees you outspeed, Moxie guarantees you hit hard, Night Slash+Scope Lens gives you even more power by critting 50% of the time, Drill Peck/Brave Bird are secondary STAB (BB's recoil hinders sweeps and the extra power won't matter after a couple Moxie-boosts under your belt), Sucker Punch is a "last resort" of sorts, to be used if you think you won't outspeed the foe and are about to go down. Air Slash, Discharge, Nuzzle and Light Screen would be better IMO. Though Emolga isn't all that great now anyways. Special Crobat is best Crobat. Nasty Plot, Venoshock, Air Slash, HP Fighting/Ground. Then make it Modest, like it needs the extra Speed. ....eh. Not-mega Manectric is bad. I'd actually disagree with the above, Charge is bad for it. It's defenses are bad no matter what. Instead of Thunder and Quick Attack, Ice Fang/Hidden Power/Crunch/Charge Beam would be better for it. It really doesn't get too many moves, even with TMs.

them proceeds to write paragraphs....liar lol I thought so at first, but whadda ya know? I don't revise what I type too often.

Happy sanity-loss anniversary, Ark! May you find even more awesome music this account-year!

PM sent (and here it is for anyone else who wants/needs it), though I'd recommend Venoshock even if you don't get that Drapion, Crobat needs it's STAB Poison move and we have no idea when Sludge Bomb's TM will be added (no way to get it through breeding either).

Don't need Dark Pulse on Greninja, since we're done with all gyms Dark is super-effective against. If you go back to pre-E13 there's Ice Beam via Remoraid>Greninja. Alternatively, there's Hidden Power, depending on what you'd get. There's also the Bounce tutor in the Circus, or you can keep Dark Pulse, but it wouldn't do much good. Roserade isn't terrible bulky, your team is rather offence-centered and you don't have any special way of taking advantage of it, so T-Spikes can go. You also don't need Shadow Ball. And replace Nature Power. Most of the time, it turns into an attack of a type the foe resists, especially so in gyms. Get Extrasensory. Good moves for it are Hidden Power + Technician and Weather Ball (since you have that Ninetales). Pre-E13, there's also Sludge Bomb, check my guide for a chain to get S-Bomb and E-sensory (and Leaf Storm, if you want it, though I wouldn't recommend it). Giga Drain, Extrasensory, Sludge Bomb and Hidden Power, sounds good? I'd say get rid of Stealth Rocks. There's only one more gym-type weak to Rock we have to face, so it won't be doing much anymore. Instead, Gyro Ball would be quite strong, with Golem being one of the heaviest Pokemon around. There's also Rock Polish and Curse, depending on what you want to run. And stack up on some Normal Gems for Explosion. From breeding in pre-E13, you can get it Energy Ball (sadly, Solar Beam isn't possible). Something like HP Ice or Ground would also be great for it. It could also really use the power boost from Nasty Plot, as it's base Special Attack stat isn't all that high. If you don't want E-Ball, I'd recommend getting Heat Wave over Flamethrower, it's stronger, barely less accurate and hits both foes in double-battles. You could also go for Extrasensory or Dark Pulse for coverage. Recover is pointless, since we have healing items, and Medicham has low base Health, so Recover won't even restore all that much. Bullet Punch would be much better, due to it's low Speed, as a parting shot of sorts. For that Sylveon, level Eevee till level 45 to get it Trump Card. With Pixilate almost doubling attack's power (x1.95), TC has 80, 100, 120, 160 and, for the last use, 390 BP. Other than that, Yawn, Shadow Ball, Light Screen and Hidden Power are about the best moves it gets, maybe Moonblast for when TC has been used up, though you can just give it a Leppa Berry to hold. For Dragalge, you can get Scald and Thunderbolt via Panpour>Wooper/Piplup/Spheal/Seel/Psyduck>Stunfisk>Skrelp bred in pre-E13. Then just add Sludge Bomb and Dragon Pulse If you won't go back, just go with D-Pulse, S-Bomb, H-Pump/Surf. For the fourth move, it doesn't have too many good option, there's Acid Armor, Hidden Power or Toxic Spikes (Dragalge does have room for it, unlike Roserade) As for a version pre-E13 version of Reborn, here you go. Oh, and for natures, make Roserade Timid, Greninja Modest and Adamant would be ideal for Golem, though Impish is fine too.

Patience, it's an ongoing quest. One we can't get to the end of yet, even after E14.

Makuhita, which you can catch in the Obsidia Slums, evolves at level 24 into Hariyama. Hariyama has no problem 2HKO-ing that Cradily. Other than that, Vespiquen is great for Florinia as well, just Headbutt trees in front of the Grand Hall till you get a female one. The gender ratio can be a bit of a pain, but if you lead with a male Pokemon with Cute Charm, you have 67% chance of encountering a female Pokemon, regardless of gender ratios (that's how it should work, haven't tried it personally).

Great team you got here, I don't have too much to add here. First, to address the above, I also run only 6 Pokemon (except for when I experiment with some sets), though 8 is perfectly fine too, especially if they're like this, I'd say keep 'em all, it shouldn't take too much time to grind up 2 members every now and then. Anyways, I can PM you a link to E12 or earlier, since we have no idea when/if Ice Beam's TM will be added. I'd also consider making Greninja Modest if you're EV traning. If not, it needs the Speed boost from Timid, but some extra power isn't bad either. And I too prefer Surf over Hydro Pump because of it's terrible accuracy. Greninja definitely isn't bulky enough to be able to afford missing a single attack. I'd really say go for Flamethrower over Fire Blast. It's not that much stronger, but that bad accuracy is definitely gonna be a problem, it's bulkier than Greninja, sure, but not by that much. Chandelure doesn't really get much from a Speed boosting nature, so I think Modest would be the way to go here. And again, no clue when/if we'd get Energy Ball. Also, Trick Room should definitely. Gardevoir, Chandelure and Heracross all benefit from it greatly (Gogoat doesn't care, he just sets up and does his thing). Be careful since the other members are harmed by it, but it's not too difficult to manage that. Though if you don't want it, good alternatives for it would be HP Fighting, HP Ice and Will-o-Wisp are all good options for it. A WoW/Hex combo isn't very good. Most of the time, it's better to just go for an attack right of the bat, than waste time burning the foe. Also....Trick Room and Timid? I agree with the above, Special Crobat is amazing, though I'm curious about you guys mentioning Sludge Bomb, don't we only have access to S.Wave? I think Venoshock (added as level-up move in ORAS) is your best bet. In fact, a Drapion (which is generally a really strong Pokemon) with T.Spikes makes Crobat all the more powerful, it's basically a free Nasty Plot boost for it's STAB move. Anyways, Nasty Plot, Air Slash, Venoshock and HP Fighting/Ground. NP is obvious, AS is STAB and Crobat's Speed really lets it put that 30% flinch chance to great use, Venoshock is STAB and can be it's strongest move by far if T.Spikes have been set, and HP Fighting/Ground. Shadow Ball/Dark Pulse aren't too good post Radomus, since Ghost and Psychic types would be few and far between. Meanwhile, a Fighting/Ground move deals with Steel and Rock types Crobat otherwise can't touch. Of course, then Modest would be the best nature for it. Trace would be more useful for it's ability. I also think Charge Beam is better than T-bolt, it's stronger after a single buff and can get you even more buffs. In which case I'd also switch Calm Mind for Trick Room, but that's just me. Also, I'd give it a Modest nature. Knock Off>U-Turn. U-Turn is a great competitive move, but nothing special in game. Knock Off is stronger first use, almost equal in power afterwards, and being able to remove foes' items is reeeeeally useful. Oh, and get this guy a Wide Lens too. Definitely go for Dragon Dance. The attack boost will really come in handy, and at +1, you're already unlikely to be outsped. If you've got the same EVs and nature, a Crobat can be outsped after one Dragon Dance. I'd recommend having something set up Trick Room due to this guys relatively low speed and not-quite-stellar defenses. In TR, you'll have no trouble sweeping at all. And give it a Wide Lens. Gogoat is actually really good, after some Bulk Ups, nothing's gonna stop this guy. But Leech Seed/Milk Drink are unnecessary since we have healing items, and any attack will do more damage than Leech Seed after some B-Ups. Instead, Aerial Ace gives almost perfect coverage, as do Rock Slide and Rollout. You can get Rock Slide from breeding pre-E13, while Rollout is easy. Rollout actually is a good move, after the second use it's already much stronger than Rock Slide, and with a Wide Lens there's only a ~4% chance to not get all 5 hits off, of which the last one has 480 BP. You won't be able to stop and heal, but after enough B-Ups, you won't even have to. Once more, I'd really recommend keeping all eight since they're all very useful. And maybe add a Drapion for Crobat. Sniper Drapion with a Scope Lens and Night Slash, Cross Poison, Toxic Spikes and Dig (Ninjask, pre-E13) or Swords Dance (Ninjask, pre-E13) (though a Dark-Poison combo hits only 9 non-legendaries for not-very-effective damage) is really good on it's own too, though Crobat's Venoshock really benefits from T.Spikes a lot.

Also, you don't need a TM for breeding. For Energy Ball, I put Lotad/Petilil at the start of the "chain" because they learn it via level-up. How a move was gotten doesn't matter for breeding, all that matters is that you have it. Also, if you care about any details for breeding, how it all works and used to work, etc, then check out my guide in this section, it's pinned.

Yeah, 2 hours counts as quick, totally. Sorry for the wait, but I like doing this as well as I can, and this quality takes some time. A-ny-ways, here's what I've got for ya! Having all 3 Grass moves on Venusaur is super redundant. I'd say keep Giga Drain only. Petal Blizzard comes from it's weaker attack stat, Petal Dance locks you in and confuses you at the end, Giga Drain has good power and heals you, which'll really come in handy since it's decently bulky. -Naughty is also a bad nature for it, you're wasting it's good Sp.Def, while not helping you by a lot. Or at all. You could go back to pre-E13 and get it Sludge Bomb via Grimer>Stunfisk>Wooper>Snubbull>Roselia>Venusaur. There's also the option of Sunny Day+Chlorophyll+Solar Beam, which would be even better if you had other stuff to take advantage of sunlight, like a Heliolisk. Alternatively, there's Leech Seed, Hidden Power, Amnesia and Sleep Powder. And Worry Seed can come in handy. -There's also a physical set that could work well, with Curse, Power Whip, Double Edge, Leech Seed/Bulldoze (TM at the end of E13). For Noivern, Moonlight is pointless since we have healing items. Super Fang is also not too great unless, and Shadow Ball has unnecessary coverage, we're past both Shade and Radomus. Hidden Power could be neat, depending on what you'd get, we also get Flamethrower later, but I'd reeeeeeally recommend Tailwind. -IMO, Hurricane has sucky accuracy, and Noivern's speed lets it utilize Air Slash's high flinch chance. IMO, Clefable works in comp, but not too well in-game, since healing items exist. If you want to keep it, I'd recommend Minimize, Cosmic Power, Moonblast, Stored Power. It has quite a niche in being able to reliably buff it's defenses and technically it's attack (Stored Power) at the same time, boosting it's evasion incredibly well, and resisting status/weather damage via Magic Guard. This set oughta work out really well. -It's also too slow to get anything from a Speed-boosting nature, something like Calm/Bold/Modest/Relaxed/Sassy/Quiet would work well on it. -If you want an alternative, Sylveon is an excellent Fairy type, but the above set could really do some work, (just set up Evasion before defense). With access to both Trump Card and Pixilate, a 390 BP hit can be set up even pre-battle, though even the previous uses of T-Card have quite some power (x1.95 due to Pixilate and new STAB). It also gets Light Screen, Hidden Power (Ground would be neat), Shadow Ball(it's some coverage) and Yawn. Whaaaaaat, this thing gets Boomburst!? Man, that almost makes a Special set sorta-viable. And Trapinch gets Rock Slide at level 15!? Man, I'm getting one in my next game. Anyways, Flygon doesn't get too many useful special moves and it's Sp.Attack is rather low compared to it's Attack stat. -Anyways, Quiet is really bad for it, I'd actually recommend the opposite nature with Jolly. And Rock Slide is better than Boomburst IMO. It comes from the stronger attack stat and can actually do super-effective damage. -Other than that, good stuff. Almost perfect Arcanine! Only thing I'd recommend as a change would be Agility instead of Crunch. Crunch gives unneeded coverage, especially since it's already got almost-perfect neutral coverage with just Fire and Dragon moves. A single Agility boost lets it outspeed everything (unless it's some fast Chlorophyll-er, Swift Swim-er or Sand Rush-er). Keep Adamant, it wouldn't need a Speed boosting nature with Agility. Discharge>>>>>>>>>Lock-On + Zap Cannon. The always-para effect is neat, but you'd only be attacking once every 2 turns, while Discharge would have a 2x30% chance to para, so effects are almost the same. Discharge is also stronger, it's 2x80 compared to 120. -Anyways, Speed boosting natures are pointless on it. Also, I'd definitely say keep Sturdy Mirror Coat, it can and will help with events similar to that Garchomp back on the volcano. For the last move, Metal Sound can help the team out (more than Screech since you have more SP.Attackers than physical ones), Hidden Power can be good, Tri Attack is neat, T.Wave can also come in handy, and Sturdy+Explosion is a good combo. Skip the Dark move for Barbaracle, same reason as above. You could also make this guy Adamant, since it'll never get outsped after it sets up Shell Smash anyways. Alternatively, an Impish or Careful nature can help with taking a hit if necessary. -Also, it's time to go Yanma hunting. Those wild ones can carry Wide Lens, neat items that boost all moves' accuracies by 10%, giving Stone Edge 80%>88%, Cross Chop 80%>88% and Razor Shell 95%>104.5%. If Barbaracle misses, it's in real trouble, so every last bit of accuracy helps, and this is quite a bit of accuracy. -Or you can gamble!! With a Zoom Lens, both Stone Edge and Cross Chop have a 50% chance to crit. I love this guy. Give this guy Cross Poison and Night Slash, Sniper as it's ability, and a Zoom Lens. 50% chance to crit, with 2.25 times the regular not-crit power, as opposed to the regular x1.5 crit power boost. -Other good moves for it are Swords Dance (bred pre-E13 via Ninjask (you also get X-Scissor and/or Dig like that (I'd recommend Dig, waaaay better coverage)) (Ninjask also gets you Slash if you want even MORE crits, but it covers only 5 more fully-evolved Pokemon, so I'd rather not go for it)) -Oh, and make it Jolly or Adamant. Chandelure gets both Energy Ball via Petilil/Lotad>Phantump>Litwick or Swirlix>Castform>Litwick and Flamthrower via TM later or, if you want it now, Growlithe/Vulpix/Houndour/Numel/Torkoal/Tepig/Skuntank/Litleo>Snubbull>Swirlix>Castform>Litwick. Something like Hidden Power Ground/Fighting (maybe even Ice) or STAB Shadow Ball would be great on it too. -And definitely give it the Trick Room TM later. -Oh, and Modest/Timid work best. Ah, Sigilyph, not the easiest thing to set up with, a HUGE pain to take down once it gets it's buffs going. It would be doing the same thing as Clefable, with Cosmic-and-Stored Power. Unfortunately, we don't yet have any Toxic Orbs (legally, though you could get it around E13 by exploiting a glitch), so it's standard comp strategy of spreading statuses via a combo of an Orb, Magic Guard and Psycho Shift isn't available (legally). -If you want to know how to get that Toxic Orb, to spare you the spoilers, read the first post here (only the first cuz eventual spoiler), explore around till you find some Card Key (something like that, forgot what it's called) and go back to Corey's gym. -Save for the Powers, useful moves for it are Tailwind, Trick Room, Air Slash and Charge Beam. Heracross' optimal set is gained from pre-E13 breeding, Earthquake and Rock Slide via Geodude>Crustle>Heracross. Counter isn't too good since it's not all that bulky. Counter and Mirror Coat are best for things with sky-high health and Sunkern-level defenses (see Wynaut), and Heracross doesn't quite fit the bill. -Other than that, if you won't "journey through time", Night Slash/Bullet Seed/Rock Blast, Close Combat and Megahorn are about your best bet. Also, Moxie is waaaaaaay better for it than Guts. Oh, and make it Adamant/Jolly. This one's tricky. It really doesn't get a lot of good stuff, but I think I have a sets. It sounds like I'm nuts, but actually works really well. Well, it's sink-or-swim, actually, it depends if you can set up your buffs properly. Stockpile/Curse, Rollout, Ice Ball, Waterfall/Surf with a Wide/Zoom Lens. .....don't look at me like that, I'm sane. I tried it, and it really does work. Yes, Rollout. -Stockpile to get your defenses up, which won't be too tough since it's rather bulky already, and you need it since you'll be locked into a move for 5 turns straight, can't even use items. Curse can get your attack up, but buffs on both sides would be much better and you'll be hitting hard anyways. -Rollout and Ice Ball are both moves that hit a max 480 power if they keep hitting. Now, people avoid these moves because they start out at a low 30 Base Power, doubling every time, but having only 90% accuracy. Sure, if you run a calc, there's only a 59% chance to hit all uses of Rollout/Ice Ball. BUT!!! If you give it a Wide Lens, accuracy of it is boosted to 99% per use, giving you less than a 5% chance of not getting all five hits of. With a Zoom Lens, there is no chance of missing (though there may be slower foes, so Wide Lens are much safer). -For a nature, Brave would be ideal if you want to use Zoom Lens, but you won't outspeed too many foes anyways, so it's fine either way, but Adamant/Sassy/Relaxed/Impish/Careful all work too. Aaaaand there's that! Really liking some of your team members, good stuff. If you want me to elaborate/change something, do tell.

Citae Arc d'Astrae. Unown.

Nice new avi, Rose. Don't you agree, PWB?

Er, I don't think posting EVs is necessary in this case, since they seems to just be random. Rather, natures would be nice to know, but I'll just leave my recommendations anyways. Anyways, 2 Water moves is redundant. I'd say ditch Dive, get Grass Knot. There's also Hidden Power, and Ice Beam bred pre-E13, since Dark Pulse is unnecessary since we're past both types weak to Dark (Psychic-coverage is fine cuz Cain). And Timid is good. Again, 2 Ground moves. And Foul Play is bad, since it takes the foe's attack stat and buffs. Krook's already got high attack and Moxie boosts, which is completely wasted on Foul Play. Give it Crunch. Double-Edge or a Fang can also be used instead of Dig. There's also Stone Edge/Rock Slide bred pre-E13. Jolly>Adamant cuz Moxie boosts. Arcanine has a muuuch better set. Agility, Flare Blitz/Heat Wave, Outrage, Close Combat. Adamant>Jolly since you'll be outspeeding everything anyways after a single Agility boost. Leavanny OP. No, but really, it needs Sticky Web. It gets it if you level Sewaddle to level 31 without evolving it. Leaf Storm won't do anything on it. It's not too bulky, so rather than Swords Dance, Screech would be the better move for it. Jolly. Oh, and with a Scope Lens, Leaf Blade will crit 50% of the time. .....hey, if it works for you. It actually looks like it can do work, not too bad. But I'd recommend putting Curse somewhere in there, don't really know in exange for what though (definitely not Sucker Punch, gives it some Speed). Adamant/Brave/Relaxed/Impish all work. And grab a Zoom Lens from the O.Dept Store to give all of it's moves a 20% accuracy boost (so 96 for Stone Edge and 108 for Hammer Arm) Again, high attacking stats mean that Foul Play is worthless. Grass Knot, Hidden Power, Nasty Plot (though it's risky) and Extrasensory are all options. And make this guy Timid, he needs the Speed.

Oooh, free stuff. *Likes* Hope it's a female, so I can get them the best possible movesets and make an army

PO's Reborn-League's leaders were forbidden from having any Legendaries, so I doubt it.

You know what hurts more? When someone interferes when you get guessed. Zeph

I think that's highly unlikely. In the Reborn-League (which is what the game is kinda based on), leaders weren't allowed to have any Legendaries, and since Megas have very similar BSTs, I doubt they'd be getting one of those either.

Well, he wasn't born and raised in the Orphanage, and they kept his Pokemon, they didn't get rid of them, so him having a good team is fine, especially since he (somehow) became a leader even before he was sent to the orphanage (since Dr. Connal doesn't let them outside) and any training he'd have to do would just be putting his team together, so I see no problem in him being strong form a story perspective. He's also not constantly doing gym battles where we fought him, the place just had to make-do, though the place doesn't even matter (remember double-battle Serra? no field effects there). And in E13, we heard on the news that other leaders will be doing "the heavy lifting" too, since they plan on doing something now that the Barrier-PULSE was set up. And if you're saying the gym leaders should handle everything, that wouldn't make for much of a game if WE never did anything, would it?

First of, let me say that Grass Knot is in the game still, it's a TM in the Meteor Hideout where you get the Aster & Eclipse double-battle in E13. Holy hell, I didn't even notice that huge Ground weakness without Taska mentioning it. Anyways, Lucarion is fine. Though it can take hits, so give that Life Orb to Greninja. Keep Extrasensory, we're past both types weak to Dark. Same applies to the gyms weak to Psychic, but Cain is still around. I really dislike Hydro Pump's accuracy and it's not much stronger, so I'd run Surf over that, but it's up to preference. And Mind Plate can be ditched, since that's likely going to be the least-used attack out of those 4. An Ice Plate, or whatever it's called, would be great. Arcanine doesn't need Hidden Power (especially not Dark, if it learns Crunch, though you need neither). Sunny Day also only boosts 2 moves on your team (the 2 Flamethrowers). I'd recommend Outrage, Flare Blitz/Heat Wave, Close Combat and Agility. Don't bother with Extreme Speed, Agility lets you outspeed all foes anyways. Intimidate would also come in handy waaaaaay more often, as foes would never use Fire moves on Arcanine anyways. You can also swap Timid for Adamant then. Well, here's something unique, a Raichu. Anyways, I'd reeeeeeally recommend grabbing a new one with HP Ice, giving it the Grass Knot TM, keeping Thunderbolt and Nasty Plot. Also, if you can predict an Electric attack and get the boost, then Lightning Rod is fine, but if not, Static is better for the para-chance. As has been stated, Wide Lens, and Hammer Arm+Bullet Punch<<Brick Break+Agility. Priority is unnecessary since you'll outspeed everything anyways after Agility. Hammer Arm is a bit stronger than Brick Break, but HA seriously interferes with Agility boosts, and Screens, when set, are really annoying. Great Zoroark, that HP will really come in handy, but there's only one Gym weak to Fire left. Till then, you can go for Grass Knot. Perfect Tyrantrum. But give it a Wide Lens too. As for items for your team, can't go wrong with gems! Just stack up on them in the O.Dept.Store, they go for like 200 bucks a piece. And although they don't work currently, they'll be fixed and Metronomes are great.