Well this one proved to be a bit of an interesting exercise given how limited the options are, so let's get to it! With some extra character to.
This, is Mr.Brickheart
He is the proud owner of Brickheart Builders, one of Unova's most prestigious construction companies, having inherited the role from his father, who inherited it from his father before him, and so on. The company has worked on a ton of projects around Unova in it's long, long history, from helping to build a number of Castelia City's skyscrapers, to erecting the Skyarrow Bridge, and helping with the expansion of Mistralton City's airport. The company has seen it all.
He grew up in Mistralton, and even knew Skyla growing up (leading to a lot of his workers asking him for her number, despite it not being his to share.) Got his degree at Castelia University, and paid his dues working in the company before his dad retired. But overall he is pretty chill for an owner, even when he's on the clock as a foreman. However, while he may not focus on being a pokemon trainer like Skyla, don't let him catch you doubting his abilities as a trainer or as a boss. Or he WILL quickly show you why he is to be respected.
Like how each of OSHA's rules is written in blood, each of his Pokemon has a story behind it.
Crustle @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Earthquake
- X-Scissor
This Crustle has one job, preparing the worksite by...
adding hazards? Admittedly this is the newest member of the team, so it's not quite up to snuff on the construction aspect of the team it's on. But Sturdy ensures that it's able to get at least one of the hazards up if doesn't get taunted. It also has a sitrus berry for some healing in case the opponent tries a multi hit move to break Sturdy. EQ is just solid coverage, and X-Scissor can help against pesky grass types.
This was a fairly recent catch, as it had been blocking the way of one of the excavators. But it's pincers are handy for cutting down steel beams, trees, and whatever needs cutting really. It can also carry workmen and equipment on it's back, which is handy.
Gigalith @ Smooth Rock
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Sandstorm
- Stealth Rock
- Explosion
- Stone Edge
Like Crustle, this Gigalith has one job, set up Sandstorm. Sadly it wouldn't get Sand Stream until much later on in Gen 7, so we have to deal with manual Sand for now, and thus need Sturdy to ensure we get it up (again, barring Taunt). SR is in case Crustle wasn't able to get it up. Stone Edge is our main STAB, and Explosion is for blowing holes in the opposition.
Gigalith can easily tow heavy loads for the company, and if need be, lend some of it's energy to any broken down or under fueled equipment. This one was found in a cave that the company was building a tunnel in.
Sigilyph @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Dark Pulse
- Charge Beam
- Ice Beam
This odd looking bird has Magic Guard, not only keeping it safe from it's Life Orb, but also not getting chipped down by Sandstorm, which is shown in game at the one place Sigiliph can be caught at, is none other than the Desert Resort and it's eternal sandstorm. From a battling standpoint, Sigiliph's role on the team is to intercept any Fighting or Grass type pokemon that might get a funny idea about trying to counter the rest of the team, on top of the oodles of coverage this thing is able to pack, all boosted by the Life Orb. Psychic is the main STAB, Dark Pulse is amazing coverage. While Charge beam helps against Water types a bit, while also having a chance to boost Sigilyph's SpAtk, and Ice Beam completes the BoltBeam coverage, while also nailing grass types and dragon types.
Sigilyph is pretty freaking handy to have for a construction company, being able to use it's psychic powers to hold things in place, or carry things around that would be too hard to transport by land. It's also good at providing security after hours in case vandals try to break into the work site, following in it's ancient flight path as a guardian. This one was found observing some of the construction on Route 4, having been drawn away from it's usual grounds of the Desert Resort by the commotion.
Archeops @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defeatist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Endeavor
- Quick Attack
- Rock Slide
It's Unova rock types, so
of course, we gotta feature the fossils. Arcehops here while strong, is limited to being useful until Defeatist is activated, at which point it becomes less than useful, and with how low it's base defenses are, it's not going to be hard for it to use it's Sash. So the strategy here is to nail the opposition with either EQ or Rock Slide, take a hit to trigger Focus Sash, then Endeavor to bring the opponent down to 1 HP and in range to be KO'd either next turn by Quick Attack, or by the next mon up.
Carracosta @ White Herb
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Aqua Jet
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
Carracosta of course, being the next mon up as the other Unova Fossil. The strat here is pretty basic. Sturdy to live a potential OHKO, Shell Smash to boost it's offensive stats to high heaven (and potentially take advantage of someone using a turn to heal off the Endeavor damage from Archeops.), and then a White Herb to restore it's stats afterwards. From there Aqua Jet picks off weakened mons, and EQ and Stone Edge form a nasty duo of moves to hit a majority of mons hard.
Archeops & Carracosta were gifted to Mr.Brickheart by the Nacarene City Museum, as thanks for his efforts to ensure that no artifacts were damaged during construction on Route 4. Archeops is a much faster flier than Sigilyph, and thus is tasked with carrying small but vital pieces of equipment, and messages in case electronics are not working for some reason. Carracosta on the other hand can ferry workers and some equipment around for builds on the water.
Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Flash Cannon
- Flamethrower
- Roost
Finally we get to the ace of the squad,
Hydreigon!
Dark Pulse is the very reliable main STAB, with Flash Cannon to cover it's weaknesses to Fairy, Bug and Ice types respectively while hitting Fighting for solid damage. Roost is to recover off the damage from the Life Orb. Main strategy here is to blast whatever remains of the opposition after all the other mons into smithereens. Between the Hazards, the Sandstorm Chip, having to maneuver around all 3 of Sigilyph, Archeops, and Carracosta. Not much is going to be 100% ready to face this thing (unless your a specially bulky Fairy type or a Blissey). It also has a solid resistance to Water & Grass, and an immunity to Ground, letting answer 3 of Rock's biggest weaknesses as a type.
As for how it represents Rock types / fits in the theme, Hydreigon's pre-evo Deino is found within Victory Road's caves, with all the rock and ground type mons, and the hoards of Swoobat, where Brickheart was doing some work back when he was still working his way up the ladder. He found the poor thing confused because of all the loud noises that it couldn't see where it was coming from. So he gave it some food, and switched to quieter tools. Eventually befriending it, and deciding to catch it for himself, and they haven't been separated since. Hydreigon is able to combing the strength of Carracosta, the speed and flight of Archeops, while also commanding an intimidating presence to deter would be ne'er-do-wells and earn the respect of the workers.
@ Leftovers
@ Air Balloon
@ Life Orb
Item: Normal Gem. Ability: Sturdy. Moves: Stealth Rock, Rock Blast, Superpower, Explosion. First Rock. Puts more rocks into the field and explodes with Normal Gem.
Item: Fight Gem. Moves: Drain Punch, Payback, Rock Tomb, Mach Punch. Has literally rocks in his hands. For a Gem researcher, this Mon can be useful when mining. Attacks with everything it has.
Item: Water Gem. Ability: Solid Rock. Moves: Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Ancient Power, Aqua Jet. Another rock, even has Solid Rock as ability. Just like Conkeldurr, attacks with everything it has.
Item: Rock Gem. Ability: Sturdy. Moves: Shell Smash, X Scissors, Rock Wrecker, Smack Down. Another Rock, this one uses the Rock Gem to fire off the most powerful +2 Rock Wrecker in existance. Alternatively, can also use the weaker Smack Down to avoid the recharge turn and before dying support the next Mon.
Item: Ground Gem. Moves: Earthquake, Iron Head, Rock Slide, Horn Drill. Just like Conkeldurr, this Pokemon is useful for mining new Gems, digging deep down to find them. Attacks with the most powerful moves possible, having the option to OHKO things with Horn Drill.
Item: Flying Gem. Moves: Acrobatics, Stone Edge, Heat Wave, Earth Power. Ace Mon. Fastest and strongest Rock in Unova. Hopefully, can clean with Acrobatics boosted by Flying Gem + the insane coverage this Mon gets.
. Rock Slide, X-Scissor, Shell Smash, Earthquake)
. Stone Edge, Sandstorm, Stealth Rock, Earthquake)
. Rock Slide, Acrobatics, Earthquake, U-turn)
. Rock Slide, Aqua Jet, Sandstorm, Toxic)
. Head Smash, Flare Blitz, Hammer Arm, Scald)
. Rock Blast, Tail Slap, Bullet Seed, U-turn)
: Well it's not like I wasn't going to add any Fighting-types to my team, but why Emboar and not Conkeldurr? Because this is a Rock-type team, and therefore I believe every member should be emphasizing something Rock-type related. Conkeldurr can learn Rock Slide and Stone Edge, but Emboar is on of the few Pokemon which learns Head Smash. And while Scrafty can also learn learn Head Smash, Emboar gets Reckless as a Hidden Ability and also Flare Blitz so I just feel there's more synergy there. Also I gave it Scald as its a fun gimmick plus his Ground-types super effectively (and if it can get a burn all the better). But, with it holding a Life Orb and focusing on recoil Moves, Emboar is meant to be a flash in the pan, it may be strong but all that fighting takes its wear and tear on the body.
: And now the surprise choice. Just looking at its stats and you know why I picked it for a Rock team: Skill Link Rock Blast (and Bullet Seed). I think I've told the story before of using a Skill Link Cinccino in my White 2 playthrough and had a lot of fun with it. Cinccino would also be a good Pokemon for a boxer to have in their corner, able to clean them quickly and provide some comfort (not only is its fur soft but its oil is good for the skin) before the next round. And while it may look small, cute and soft, it has a 95 base Attack (and 115 base Speed) so all those Rock Blasts, Bullet Seeds, and Tail Slaps are going to hurt; Teach them to judge an opponent by appearance.
