meteorman | (no subject)

✦ Horizon Gym Directory ✦
beyond the horizon, over the next hill

✦ As in, beyond the horizon, or broaden your horizons
✦ Themed around mysteries, cryptids and the unexplored
✦ Located on Route 36 across from the northern entrance of the Ruins of Alph

✦ All winners are entitled to one egg from Ford's breeding projects
✦ Winners against Regular and Elite teams receive the Voyager Badge, a Weakness Policy, and p18000
✦ Winners against the Junior team receive a sticker version of the Voyager Badge

Museum Hours: 9am to 5pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Closed Monday.
Challenges Accepted: Wednesday through Saturday.
All challengers must pass the same test to challenge the Gym Leader. It is a puzzle that plays on the idea of making the familiar strange and it changes weekly. Trainers are presented with a small description of a Pokémon as written by an alien who has never seen it before, parts of which are written in code. Correctly guessing the name of the Pokémon gives the challenger the password up to the battlefield. Trainers can do this by simply going on gut instinct, by solving the coded portions for more information, and/or by beating junior trainers for hints. Working as a group to solve the puzzle is allowed and encouraged but sharing the answer after the fact so that others can bypass solving it is not.

✦ Layout ✦ Teams ✦ Badge Requests ✦

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

✦ Regular Teams ✦

All Regular Team Pokémon are level 50. There are four teams as shown below:

✦ Team One consists of Sliggoo, Dragalge and Garchomp.
✦ Team Two consists of Sigilyph, Gothitelle and Claydol.
✦ Team Three consists of Pyukumuku, Primarina and Jellicent.
✦ Team Four consists of Sableye, Golurk and Cofagrigus.

The challenger will face one of the four teams at random. Challengers may also request 'partial randomization' where they may choose three of the four teams and face a team made up of one Pokémon randomized from each (ex. the challenger chooses Team One, Team Three and Team Four; they battle Dragalge, Pyukumuku and Sableye). The challenger may also choose 'total randomization' where they may face any three out of the twelve.

Regular team matches are three against three. The challenger is allowed to switch and heal their Pokémon during battle; Ford cannot switch but is allowed a single Full Restore.


Sliggoo \| Hydration Hover for Moveset	Dragalge \| Poison Touch Hover for Moveset	Garchomp \| Sand Veil Hover for Moveset

Weather is what this team is all about. Sliggoo is going to set up a Rain Dance first-thing in order to make use of that Hydration ability, and then focus on wearing down its opponent. It can raise its Defense if it needs to (and it might need to) and also restore its health with a Rest that will immediately heal at the end of the turn it's used, making it a solid opener that can set up and whittle down a challenger's team. Dragalge continues the weather shenanigans by refreshing the Rain Dance. In the rain her high-power Thunder hits with 100% accuracy and all of her Water moves get a boost in power. She can also poison opponents, making her a great threat all around. Finally Garchomp swaps the rain for sand with Sandstorm, boosting her already-high speed thanks to her Sand Veil ability and hopefully doing some guaranteed passive damage to her opponent. Her range of hard-hitting moves means she's got something for most threats a challenger could bring to face her, including some Fire moves for those pesky Ice types and Sunny Day in case she really needs to boost those moves and take them out fast. Unless an opponent can match this team in a weather war they're likely to face some trouble.


Sigilyph \| Magic Guard Hover for Moveset	Gothitelle \| Competitive Hover for Moveset	Claydol \| Levitate Hover for Moveset

This team relies heavily on stat-boosting moves and setup trickery to ensure its offensive moves pack a lot of power. Sigilyph starts off and will always attempt Hypnosis first thing, aiming to take out the challenger's first Pokémon quickly with Dream Eater. If Hypnosis doesn't land the strategy then becomes a combination of restoring health with Roost and setting up Light Screen and Reflect to minimize damage. Once Sigilyph is safely behind its setup, Ford will swap to offensive moves. When Sigilyph faints, Gothitelle will come in. Gothitelle's strategy is more directly offensive. He knows quite a few coverage moves and, more than that, can put a Future Sight in place and then Calm Mind and Protect in between with damage already certain down the line. Gothitelle's role is less about staying in as long as possible and more about hitting as hard as possible and then leaving its opponent in a bad spot: with low health, the inability to heal or badly-lowered stats. Claydol continues this trend with access to many high-power damaging moves, including Dazzling Gleam to deal with Dark Types. A well-timed Calm Mind can make its range of special attacks even more formidable, while Power Trick can render the already-devastating STAB Earthquake even more so. If the challenger has made it as far as the Claydol then they can expect an aggressive reception.


Pyukumuku \| Innards Out Hover for Moveset	Primarina \| Liquid Voice Hover for Moveset	Jellicent \| Water Absorb Hover for Moveset

This team is a setup and stall team. Pyukumuku is out first to set up stat boosts, maybe a Toxic, and then Baton Pass out into one of its teammates. Should the challenger bring a Steel type to deal with Primarina, Pyukumuku will use Soak and attempt to safely Toxic-stall it out of the way if possible before Baton Pass is used. Primarina is the main battler here, packing a decent variety of attacking moves as well as more stalling tactics like Encore and Substitute. When he's taken down Pyukumuku is back in for another round of setup, provided the challenger didn't already knock it out. Of special importance is using Soak on the challenger's Pokémon to make it even more susceptible to Jellicent's Grass-type draining moves. Jellicent, with its access to Recover and along with those draining moves, rounds out the strategy and can also Spite challengers into eventual Struggle defeats in a pinch. If Ford is reduced to just Pyukumuku then it becomes a drawn-out stall battle, with use of moves like Recover, Pain-Split and sparing use of Purify to keep Pyukumuku at full HP while whittling down the opponent with Toxic, Bide and Counter.


Sableye \| Stall Hover for Moveset	Golurk \| Iron Fist Hover for Moveset	Cofagrigus \| Mummy Hover for Moveset

This team is solidly offensive. Sableye's Stall ability may seem like a downside, but it means a guaranteed double power Payback any turn she chooses to use it. She also has a few priority moves to get around the handicap, as well as Poison-type moves to cover her one weakness to Fairy types. Confuse Ray, Toxic and Will-O-Wisp mean she can also leave the challenger with a nasty parting gift once her HP gets low. Golurk is out next, and it has a few tricks up its sleeves depending on what it's facing. Against a Dark type it can break out one of several Fighting moves to try and cover its weakness. It can use Defense Curl and Rollout in combination for increasingly-powerful Rock type damage. Along with some other coverage moves and Stealth Rock, Golurk is meant to hit hard regardless of what's in front of it and put a significant dent in the challenger's team. Should Golurk fall, though, Cofagrigus is there to avenge him. Her first order of business is to set up a Trick Room, and then she can go on the offense guaranteed to move first against all but the slowest of opponents.