So ... yeah. I like Poke'mon. This was a "blow-off steam" piece I fiddled with between all my schoolwork. I'd beaten Poke'mon Pearl a while back, and me and wanted to choose "Master Teams" to play through an entire game with. Between the two of us, we have every single version of the game, all the way back to Red and Blue. (Is that sad? That sounds sad; way more for me than her.) So we had our pick of whatever we wanted, and after setting some around rules (i.e. only one legendary, one from each generation if you can) we had everyone ready to go.

So, my trainer is Xio "shee-oh", a short, big-mouthed Pokemon breeder from Solaceon Town (I figured her grandparents were the ones running the daycare.) Since half my team was bred by my Pearl trainer, that started the seed of Xio's story. Xio likes people to underestimate her, and is a genius at battling, but lacks even the remote basics of social skills. Anything outside of Pokemon or Pokemon battling miffs her or reduces her to an ADD state.

KATABATIC the Tyranitar - Traded from SoulSilver as a level 17 Larvitar. He's got super-high Attack and Defense stats. Since all of my Pokemon were traded, all of them suddenly stopped listening to me after hitting level 11. The very first time I used Larvitar was in a desperate gambit against Roark's last Pokemon. Larvitar was down to 1 HP after ignoring my pleading/commands, then suddenly lashed out with Rock Smash and KO'd Roark's Rampardos in one hit. He also happily ate the first lvl. 2 Foul Poffin me and made the first time we made poffins together. I knew when I saw "capable of taking a hit" I had a good Pokemon on my hands.

CATASTROPHIC the Typhlosion - Traded from Poke'mon Pearl. Bred from 's SoulSilver Typhlosion, this guy popped out of his egg knowing Fire Blast, FlameThrower, and Dig. It was nothing short of hilarious seeing a Lvl 1 Cyndaquil fry something with a Power 90 or 120 attack, when all his opponent probably knew was Tackle. Easily the biggest gun in my arsenal, especially now that he knows Eruption, Focus Blast, and Earthquake. He has super high Special Defense and Special Attack, which is a nice counterpoint to my Tyranitar.

TRAP the Mightyena - Traded from PalPark at lvl 3. The sole female of my group, Trap is so called because her high Attack stat gave her Bite attack the astonishing propensity to KO a lot of Pokemon in one hit; failing that, she'd make them flinch. Jaws like a steel trap. She's kind of my ensemble darkhorse (no pun intended) because she's got nice Defense because of her Impish nature, and nice Speed because of her "likes to run" descriptor. Poor caught about 20 Poochyenas trying to find one with an Impish nature for me, which took her about 4 hours. Because I said I wanted a male Impish initially. Yeah. But I loves mah Trap; here she's sporting her Blackglasses, but most of the time she holds the Scope Lens for a higher crit ratio.

Espeon - Traded from Pokemon Pearl at lvl 1, bred from my Glaceon and a Ditto. She knew Shadow Ball out of the egg, which is a great attack for a Psychic to know. She almost became a Leafeon because I mistakenly leveled her up in Eternia forest, and then almost became an Umbreon because I was playing at night and she suddenly decided she loved me. Regardless, Espeon has super-high Special Attack, and can easily stand alongside Typhlosion as the Pokemon packing the biggest punch. I also taught her Grass Knot, just because I hate Quagsire that much.

Jolteon - Traded from Poke'mon Pearl at lvl 1, bred from my Flareon and Ditto. We were only supposed to have 1 Eeveelution on our teams, but I could not, NOT find a Pokemon from Generation 4 that I liked. Manectric just doesn't have the stats or movepool, much as I loved him, and he was the closest contender. So graciously allowed me a second Eveelution. Jolteon's been my favorite Electric type since Red, but her Platinum movepool was a little disappointing. She knows Dig and Thunderbolt, and I may well teach her Rainy Day and Thunder, but Jolteon's big stat is, naturally, her Speed. Which I've realized that I as a battler don't really value all that much. So she's nice to have when Water and other Electric Pokemon show up, but I guess I just remember her being a much bigger gun in Pokemon Red.

Suicune - Traded from SoulSilver at lvl 40. Easily one of my favorite Pokemon of all time (second only to Mewtwo). I love Surfing on Suicune, just because the mental image is hilarious. Not to mention it ought to terrify any Trainer. Each of my Pokemon knows, for the most part, 4 moves of different types according to their corresponding high stat. Suicune can take out Fighting, Flying, Bug, Dark, Psychic, Rock, Ground, Poison, Steel, Fire, Grass, and Ghost Pokemon with super effective attacks. (Anyone left still has to withstand attacks powered by legendary stats.) So Suicune is my nigh-invulnerable mop-up (all she needs to worry about are Electric and Grass, really), which I kind of need since my team as a whole is pretty vulnerable to Fighting moves.

So yeah. I fear no battle! Now if I could only figure out how to fight someone in Rhode Island ... I also want to do a OCT with some of them sometime. Definitely Trap and Catastrophic.