Metal Gear RAYn Dance

Venetian Masque

This story is fictional. Any and all similarities to characters, groups, or other entities in real life are coincidental.

Six PokéBalls, more than enough to kill anything that moves.

Colonel: Glad to see you could make it, Snake.

Solid Snake: No problem, Colonel. I've been itching to get into some action, lately.

Colonel: Good. Let's cut the chit-chat and get straight to business, shall we? Snake, your mission will be to infiltrate SMOGON, an organization known for holding symposiums regarding the topic of "Pokémon" competitive battling. We need you to procure as much tactical information as you possibly can so that we may prepare for any upcoming battles of our own.

Solid Snake: Right.

Colonel: Here, I will provide you with a file containing the data of those who you will need to keep an eye on. Once you come into contact with any of the personnel you see on this file, they will provide you with crucial help or valuable information that you must extract from them. Read it carefully, Snake. We cannot afford to make any mistakes. Don't forget that.

Solid Snake: Gotcha. I just read the file and keep those names and faces handy.

Colonel: That's correct. Now, here's the file.

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Vamp @
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Wacan Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 216 HP / 16 Atk / 132 Def / 144 Spd
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -Sp. Atk)
  • Dragon Dance
  • Stone Edge
  • Taunt
  • Waterfall
Colonel: The individual you see here goes by the name of "Vamp". He is known to be a "wizard with knives" and he is also recognized for his unusual style of fighting -- he gracefully approaches his victims before eliminating them. Exercise extreme caution around this one.

Solid Snake: Ugh. Sounds like a freak, if you ask me.

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Fortune @
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Damp Rock
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 240 HP / 76 Def / 160 Sp. Def / 32 Spd
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
  • Rain Dance
  • Thunder
  • U-Turn
  • Wish
Colonel: This is "Fortune". She is said to posses supernatural abilities that allow her to escape from battle unscathed. She is also armed with a large railgun, so expect hostility.

Solid Snake: Things are starting to look up already ...
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Fatman @
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Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Sp. Def / 4 Spd
Nature: Modest (+Sp. Atk, -Atk)
  • Grass Knot
  • Ice Beam
  • Stealth Rock
  • Surf
Colonel: He goes by the pseudonym "Emperor of Explosives" or "Fatman", named after the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. His bulky suit absorbs numerous assaults, so you'll need to find his weak point. He is a fan of setting traps, as well.

Solid Snake: Great ...

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Ocelot @
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Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 120 HP / 252 Sp. Atk / 136 Spd
Nature: Modest (+Sp. Atk, -Atk)
  • Dragon Pulse
  • Hydro Pump
  • Rain Dance
  • Signal Beam
Colonel: This is the final hostile you will run into; he goes by the name "Ocelot". He is a highly skilled sharpshooter and agent under command of "The Serebii"*.

Solid Snake: I remember this guy. He was a real pain at Shadow Marriland**.

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Raiden @
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Leftovers (formerly
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Lum Berry)
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 192 HP / 224 Def / 56 Sp. Atk / 36 Spd
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
  • Hidden Power [Ice]
  • Rest (formerly Roost)
  • Sleep Talk (formerly Thunder Wave)
  • Thunderbolt
Colonel: As for your only ally, he is codenamed "Raiden". Remember to contact him regularly as he will be investigating as well. He is currently armed with only an M9 to stun and render his enemies unconscious. You will need to back him up.

Solid Snake: He looks a little green, if you know what I mean. I hope he's had more than just VR training.
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Solid Snake @
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Choice Band
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Sp. Def / 252 Spd
Nature: Jolly (+Spd, -Sp. Atk)
  • Aerial Ace
  • Earthquake
  • Stone Edge
  • Sucker Punch
Colonel: Now Snake, let's take a moment to look over your equipment. Ah, I see you're sporting that Infinite Ammo bandanna. That will work well with that repertoire you have there. Remember, if you are incapable of using weaponry for whatever reason, you'll need to rely on CQC -- a good ol' sucker punch!

Solid Snake: Right, Colonel ... Just leave this up to me.

* Lame attempt at referencing "The Patriots"
** Lame attempt at referencing "Shadow Moses"

---

Yes, once again, I've done yet another Rain Dance RMT. Since Water-types are my favorite, I'm always up for improving my team and tweaking things around here and there. This time I wanted to attempt in using some useful resistances to help the team take hits more easily while also improving some synergy.

Updates will be added when I'm convinced enough to change some of the sets. I'm stubborn, so this may take a while.

I decided to write with a little role-playing in mind with all the Metal Gear Solid references. This was to make the reading a little more interesting/humorous for you guys. I hope you enjoyed the read and I appreciate any (constructive) advice given.
 
A Few nitpicks:

-Signal beam doesn't do anything for Kingdra. I would go with Waterfall over Signal beam. Change your nature to Naughty/Rash (preference) and put those 120 HP EVs into attack. Also, Draco Meteor isn't a bad option over Dragon Pulse.
-I would give Zapdos Thunder over Thunderbolt since Rain dance seems like it's going to be up most of the time.

Great team otherwise. Very solid.
 
For Kingdra, I chose Signal Beam specifically for Celebi. Yes, that makes it quite situational in use, however they appear to be quite common. With Stealth Rock up, I believe I can OHKO a standard non-CM Celebi with minimal Sp. Def investment and 2/3HKO all other variations (depending on whether or not they Calm Mind...).

As for Dragon Pulse over Draco Meteor, that was due to the Special Attack drop. Trust me, I was all for Draco Meteor in the past. I could go mixed, to compensate for that, but I honestly find Kingdra more suited to sticking with special sweeping. Blissey is taken care of by Dugtrio and Gyarados anyway, to an extent. Although the former needs to be wary of Ice Beam while the latter with Thunder Wave. Even still, I'll contemplate whether on not it should go mixed.

Thank you for your suggestions.
 
Celebi is taken care of, to a cetain extent, by Empoleon. Dugtrio can revenge kill it too. But if you want some extra insurance, that's fine.

I suggested Waterfall because none of your Pokemon can OHKO Blissey, which IMO, is a problem. Dugtrio can't take on Blissey as well as some people like to think, and Gyarados is pretty good, but incase it goes down early somehow, you'll find yourself having trouble with Blissey. For that reason, I suggested Waterfall. But it's up to you really, again.

Final nitpick is that nobody on your team can take status effectively. A Swift sleep from say, a ScarfGar will be troublesome to your team. Also, random Thunder waves will incapacitate most of your team (Kingdra/Gyarados/Empoleon and Jirachi). To get rid of this thread, I suggest you drop Roost + Thunderwave from Zapdos and use Rest + Sleep talk. This gives you a great switch into ScarfGar and generally an amazing status absorber which is essential to any Rain Dance team (since most Pokemon on those teams are sweepers). Also, Zapdos' Thunder wave doesn't really seem to do anything. Your team is quite fast, especially in the rain so paralysing your opponent isnt your #1 priority. So yeah, that's why I suggest Rest + Sleep talk.
 
Hmm, I'm not too sure how well Empoleon would last against Celebi. If I recall correctly, Celebi's Grass Knot should put a nice dent in Empoleon, and all he can do is return an Ice Beam that may get recovered off.

Not to sound rude by picking on this statement, but are you saying that Kingdra's Waterfall can OHKO Blissey? Or, that with the damage she's accumulated, she'll eventually go down? Because the latter can be said for many Pokemon, really.

I agree that I do need a status absorber, and Zapdos is indeed a good candidate for that. Thunder Wave was mostly for Dugtrio, ironically, as it is Adamant, it can't quite keep up with some of the quicker threats, but that may or may not be a problem. I'll have to research some more. Thank you again, I'll take this into consideration.
 
Waterfall won't OHKO Blissey but should Blissey switch in on a Surf (and take some SR damage which you lack), Waterfall will then KO it. Simply put, it can kill Blissey off and stay unscatched most of the time.
But in that case, you may as well keep Signal Beam if you are worried about Celebi.
 
My Empoleon has SR. D:

Now I see what you mean about that whole scenario, though. I'll still think about it.

I'll definitely take your advice on Zapdos. I do need a status sponge.
 
Hmm, how does this look for Zapdos? The only significant difference from before is the moveset and item.
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Raiden @
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(Leftovers)
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 192 HP / 224 Def / 56 Sp. Atk / 36 Spd
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
  • Hidden Power [Ice]
  • Rest
  • Sleep Talk
  • Thunderbolt / Thunder
I chose to drop the Lum Berry as RestTalking essentially covers that role. Thunder is still iffy for me as I would prefer not to rely on Rain Dance for it to hit. I can't say that I don't like that paralysis chance that comes with it, though.
 
Looking good. Leftovers > Lum Berry is the better option, as you said. Also if you are a bit iffy about Thunder, Thunderbolt is still the best option if you want to be safe.
 
I have a Kingdra absolutely identical to yours, and I can say from experience that Ice Beam is still greater than Signal Beam for general use. It's still SE against Celebi and is even better than Dragon Pulse, STAB or not, against the plethora of dragon counters you'll see the second you send out Kingdra.
 
Demoncleaner said:
I have a Kingdra absolutely identical to yours, and I can say from experience that Ice Beam is still greater than Signal Beam for general use. It's still SE against Celebi and is even better than Dragon Pulse, STAB or not, against the plethora of dragon counters you'll see the second you send out Kingdra.
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Hmm, well true that Ice Beam is still super effective against Celebi and definitely adds a lot more coverage, but I find that Signal Beam takes a larger portion out of Celebi's HP, meaning a Recover might still leave it in KO range. My team already packs quite a few Ice attacks anyway (Zapdos and Empoleon).

On the topic of STAB Dragon Pulse, I chose that because of Garchomp, mostly. Lately, it seems many Garchomp have been holding Yache Berry, so an Ice Beam may not do the trick and it will KO my Kingdra in retaliation. A STAB Dragon Pulse from my Kingdra can still OHKO Garchomp. Of course, I have to rely on Rain to outspeed it, especially if it's Outraging. Thank you for the suggestion, though. I will do more testing concerning these. :>
 
I think OMASTER would be a good addition, it hits as hard as empoleon, can take a physical bash, but gets rain dance sweeping points. It hits hardest out of all swift swim abusers.

BONUS POINTS!

Just because it is UU doesn't mean it totally sucks... it has 361 SPECiAL ATTACK! and can reach over 400 SPEED IN THE RAIN!! Not only that, but it takes unboosted earthquakes ...moderately well... with an insane BASE 125 DEFENSE hitting a base stat total of 500!!

That's because it is a fossil, which usually have a decent base stat total. It resists fire 4 times, ice, normal, flying, poison... (did I miss something?) It has similar weaknesses to empoleon...

It also can survive a garchomp earthquake (It switches in alot) it can almost always OHKO yache chomp with HYDRO PUMP!! (95.80% - 112.61%)It can use it's rock stab to demolish... enemies... Naturally, it can learn stealth rock and toxic spikes, and with 344 HP and 383 defense, it is as tough as gliscor... and can utilize icy wind or protect for gimmicks. With no investment is special attack, it can still hit 266 special attack.

Unfortunately... the good news ends here... it no longer resists water like empoleon does, and it cannot kill suicune, celebi or blissey. It is 4x weak to grass, and only cressilia, blissey and uxie's grass knot will not send it to the stone age.



-All these calcs are assuming max special attack, rain dance, and life orb-

With the life orb tacked on so that it loses it's tanking abilities, it can deal out 70.05% - 82.21% to max HP cress, 53.68% - 63.02% to standard curselax, (77.49% - 91.34% to "chainlax") And still manages 39.83% - 46.95% (easy 3HKO) to blissey. If it runs specs,(rain must be passed to it) it nails her for a TWO HIT KO AFTER STEALTH ROCK! (45.93% - 54.07%)

It also gets a free special defense boost in sandstorm, empoleon does not.... AND IT LOOKS COOL! CB mence's dragon claw and scarchomp outrage fail to 3HKO it and it OHKOs back, if it runs the defensive set. It can make a good choicetran killer, because it 4x resists fire, takes LOL form hidden power ice, and can take an explosion.
 
Seds, that's a horrible post. What does it do BETTER than Empoleon? Garchomp is covered fairly well by Gyarados, and Garchomp outpseeds Omastar anyways. I'd try Stealth Rock on Jirachi though; make Empoleon the SubAgillityPetaya set; Surf / Ice Beam or Grass Knot / Substitute / Agillity. Change Gyarados to 252 Atk / 232 Spd / 24 HP; in this metagametime, it needs as much power as possible. Give it LO, and make Jirachi your lead; Rain setup is the most important part of the team and should be started right off the bat. Resttalk garchomp should be Calm, it lets you beat Gengar, something that will suck especially if it's Scarfed. Kingdra should be Draco Meteor / Surf / Rain Dance / Waterfall, it beats Blissey and Gyarados. Signal Beam dosen't do more than a STAB Surf. I really don't like Gyarados on a Rain Dance team; it's not really supportive, Kabutops is much more useful because of Stone Edge and the power to outspeed many threats. Aqua Jet / Waterfall / Stone Edge / SD @ Mystic Water / Life Orb or Aqua Jet / Waterfall / Stone Edge / X-Scissor or Brick Break @ Choice Band. In my opinion, the Swords Dance is more useful to beat more walls, but it's up to you. Other than that, good team. I really like this team.
 
seds said:
Snip.
Click to expand...
Most of the reasons you mentioned for Omastar's losing points to Empoleon are why I chose Empoleon over it. Thank you for the suggestion, though.

Wayff said:
Seds, that's a horrible post. What does it do BETTER than Empoleon? Garchomp is covered fairly well by Gyarados, and Garchomp outpseeds Omastar anyways. I'd try Stealth Rock on Jirachi though; make Empoleon the SubAgillityPetaya set; Surf / Ice Beam or Grass Knot / Substitute / Agillity. Change Gyarados to 252 Atk / 232 Spd / 24 HP; in this metagametime, it needs as much power as possible. Give it LO, and make Jirachi your lead; Rain setup is the most important part of the team and should be started right off the bat. Resttalk garchomp should be Calm, it lets you beat Gengar, something that will suck especially if it's Scarfed. Kingdra should be Draco Meteor / Surf / Rain Dance / Waterfall, it beats Blissey and Gyarados. Signal Beam dosen't do more than a STAB Surf. I really don't like Gyarados on a Rain Dance team; it's not really supportive, Kabutops is much more useful because of Stone Edge and the power to outspeed many threats. Aqua Jet / Waterfall / Stone Edge / SD @ Mystic Water / Life Orb or Aqua Jet / Waterfall / Stone Edge / X-Scissor or Brick Break @ Choice Band. In my opinion, the Swords Dance is more useful to beat more walls, but it's up to you. Other than that, good team. I really like this team.
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Thank you for your comments, however I have a lot to say in disagreement.

Firstly, I rather not lead with Jirachi as it can be Taunted right from the get go, having that supposed setup time become nonexistent. I also want Jirachi to have at least one other attack that isn't U-Turn in the event that it is my final surviving team member; so Stealth Rock isn't an option for it, leaving Empoleon to that, which I am fine with.

I already explained why I did not want Draco Meteor / Waterfall on Kingdra. I feel that Kingdra is best suited for special sweeping, so Draco Meteor is shooting itself in the foot while Waterfall doesn't have the full potential it could have if it just went physical (I find mixed Kingdra a bit gimmicky). Also, Signal Beam DOES DO MORE DAMAGE to Celebi, which I wouldn't use a not very effective water attack against. That's the reason I'm using it, if you did not read that earlier.

Finally, I don't want my entire team to be overly reliant on Rain Dance, which is why Gyarados is there. He can fend for himself (while making use of the Rain's benefits) and adds useful resistances to my team -- resistances being the core strategy I intended to make use of in the team, also explained earlier.

And by "resttalk garchomp", I assume you meant Zapdos? I'll consider Calm on it for the reasons you gave, I suppose.

I apologize, I know you were trying to help, but it doesn't seem that you paid much attention to the rest of the thread.
 
There's not much that I can say about this team, it seems pretty solid. Personally though, I'd put Jolly over Adamant on Dugtrio. Adamant with Choice Band has failed me so many times that it's not even funny, and that's why I always make sure to use Jolly now.

If the reason for having Duggy on your team is to revenge kill stuff, then having it as fast as possible is best IMO, because then it actually gets to trap more, without getting its ass kicked. For instance, having something to reliably revenge-kill Infernape, especially the MixApe, is quite important.

Also, is there any big reason for having Wacan Berry on Gyarados? You already have Dugtrio to take Electric attacks aimed at Gyarados, but I'm just wondering if you have some sort of other purpose for it.
 
Thanks for replying to my thread, Prof. Bologo! <3

You're absolutely right about Dugtrio. I didn't double-check Dugtrio's speed with Adamant after removing Thunder Wave from Zapdos, so he is indeed outmaneuvered by the likes of Infernape who he is to kill for whatever reason Gyarados cannot.

As for Gyarados, it may seem silly, but he's basically a play on Yache Berry Swords Dance Garchomp. They share the same number of weaknesses (all four types being quite common, except maybe dragon), both have useful resistances, and both are quite bulky. Though, Gyarados does lack in speed and power from the beginning, he does come with a useful trait.

Yeah, I know I can't really compare the two, but with the Wacan Berry, he can survive most Thunderbolts, even if they have STAB backing them, as long as they lack Choice Specs. In the case of Gengar, he can take a Thunderbolt from it and Dragon Dance in return, out-speeding and OHKO'ing Gengar on the next turn, assuming it does not switch or isn't wearing a Choice Scarf that is ... :(

Anyway, I figure Jirachi can heal it up with Wish if need be. Why? Would you suggest Leftovers instead in the long run?
 
Wow, I never thought this thread would be bumped again. Haha.

Thank you for the suggestion DragonKnight900, though Game Freak201 has the right idea in that it just doesn't give Dugtrio the "oomph" he would like. And another thing, even though Life Orb does have the advantage of freedom in move selection, his Arena Trap ability already eases prediction.
 
Semi-ancient bump (more than a month!), however I didn't want to create a new RMT just to ask my question. My Gyarados has enough HP for maximum leftovers recovery + 1, to ensure that it can come in on Stealth Rock 5 times. However, according to the analysis, this is true only when it's equipped with Leftovers.

So, my question is: Should I just drop the HP EV's to a lesser amount or leave them as they are? The reason I ask is because I was considering a more offensive spread with 184 EVs in speed. The only things that came to mind was to tweak HP or Def to get those desired Spd EVs. My problem is that the the HP helps it survive two Thunderbolts from most Pokemon with Wacan Berry. One the other hand, the Def EVs help it cushion some physical hits, though Intimidate may already be enough for it get by.

I was also pondering on whether or not I should replace Thunderbolt on Zapdos with Discharge and Stone Edge on Dugtrio for Pursuit? Discharge is for spreading status effects, which I like to do (perhaps I could replace a Pokemon for one with Toxic Spikes ... ?). Pursuit because most Flying-types and Levitating Pokemon are likely to switch, making Stone Edge/Rock Slide a little less useful. Pursuit has the nifty chance to kill Azelf and Gengar on the switch, however.

Well thought out advice is always very much obliged.

EDIT: Oh! I was also thinking about bringing Bronzong back to take Empoleon's place, actually. Hypoosis would be nice, and I like the RD specific set in the peer edits. Should I?
 
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