Posted

Mar 5th 2009

Sage! Sageroot won the first Firefly Badge after a number of tries, his team changing ever so slightly each time to give him increasing advantage until he managed to overcome me when we were both on our last leg! It was an impressive battle, and I'm glad how it turned out.

You see, Sage is practically a student of mine, in that no one else has come to me for advice in training as much as he has. He's come a long way since his first challenge at the gym.

I certainly learned a lot, as well. I'm already training new members of my party to close up the strategic gaps that Sage managed to pry open!

Being a gym leader is a different sort of challenge... I'm limited right now to 9 Pokémon, with the same 4 always appearing in my party, which is why I'm training more. Challengers can always come back with new Pokémon designed to wipe out my core team, especially if they notice that I never swap them out after several rematches.

With the type limitations I've also run into strategic limitations, especially in single battles. I'm forced to play very differently than I would if I was not limited to two types. As a result, I'm considering a permanent switch to double battles for this gym, as they are something I particularly excel at.

However, this IS the nature of Pokémon gyms, isn't it? Having a flawed team, being defeatable? An unbeatable gym would be pretty lame.

By the way, I've started accepting members of the new Sheezyart League Breeding School I plan to open. Take a look here for the details.