Nolafus

Well, at least you have a nice manager and one that understands more easily. Did you ever tell her about what happened last Wednesday though?

Sorry about the shortage on that chapter. I meant to make it longer but the I saved it, it posted short, and went right back at it to finish it.

Wow, that's awesome for retail! When my brother worked at both Party City and Best Buy, his hours always changed!

Mmm, I guess... There are benefits to living at home, but going out on your own is good too. However, you should prioritize what you need to spend your money on (i.e. rent, bills, food, clothing, etc.). Just some food for thought...

Ah, is your schedule a set schedule or does it change by the week?

I know! It's like I'm a people now!

I wish I could say the same for you, because I barely play video games :(

So how was your weekend? :D

Well, you can try public wifi if you don't mind it, but I wouldn't vouche for it. It tends to lag, and BADLY! I would get on Showdown, but I have a feeling it would eat up my data plan like nothing. 3DS games usually do to an extent, though X/Y aren't bad for it. The most I ever use with them is a few Megabytes and that's after ten to twenty minutes.

Yep, that's basically what I've been doing since Gen V. Well, Gen V was when I started actually doing online battles. Now I have better access to the internet too, so that helps a lot when Pokémon X/Y. I used to have to jump around from hotspot to hotspot and spent a lot of time in the local library just so I could play Random Matchup. But, I haven't done that in over a year.

It always assumes the guise of the last Pokémon in your party. This adds to the strategy of using it. For starters, it's easy to bait people by intentionally selecting a certain Pokémon last and having Zoroark go first. Alternatively, you can put a certain Pokémon last and send Zoroark out later. It gets even more confusing for the other player when you put U-Turn on a couple different Pokémon that learn it. You can really mess with people's minds when they can't tell which Pokémon they're actually fighting. Your party's order will change depending on what Pokémon you switch with too, making it a nightmare for people trying to hammer Zoroark when you've really got another Pokémon in its place. The only times Illusion really fails you is if you send Zoroark out last or one of your Pokémon gets hit with a status problem. If Zoroark doesn't have it, the person may figure it out right away that you're using Zoroark. Of course, there are some people don't pay attention to the constant switch and lose track of which Pokémon actually got hit with the status affliction. I have had the boon of confusing people that much.

Choice Scarf is crippling a lot of the time because people don't account for defense. I've been going through, trying to beef up my team with Defense/Sp. Defense IVs lately since I actually have an Imposter Ditto with both. I've also done some additional breeding to get HP, Attack, Sp. Attack, and/or Speed IVs for Pokémon that can use them (depending on what I actually need). I don't go for all IVs unless I need them, though... It's time consuming enough getting Pokémon with the IVs I need to begin with (even with the Destiny Knot trick, it takes a lot of breeding and patience).

Well, Life Orb does have some uses on my team, but definitely not for Mienshao. It's the one Pokémon I actually use for OHKOs. It can be tricky pulling them off, though. I use HJK, Poison Jab, Bounce, and U-Turn. It's a good variety, and Bounce is the move nobody expects when I suspect someone's going to use Protect the first turn to stop HJK. They usually can't use it again right away, so it leaves them open to the potential paralyzing effect if the move itself doesn't automatically KO them.

Have you tried Life Orb on Zoroark? If you have it EV'd/IV's for Sp. Attack/Speed and have it with Modest nature, Life Orb has almost the same effect as Choice Band on Mienshao. At the very least, you'll be taking chunks out of your opponent's team, and they may even realize they're up against Zoroark if you can plan the moveset around its Illusion ability. It works great in conjunction with Mienshao or Delphox if you give it Focus Blast and/or Extrasensory. The confusion it gives other people is priceless. I know people frown on those tactics, but they work fantastically when you want to scare people.

You...use Life Orb? My preferred item is actually Choice Band. I swear by it, even though it restricts you to one attack. I agree with U-Turn, but not with Fake Out for the very reason that Choice Band makes pretty much any strong attack on Mienshao a OHKO, presuming you get the right type matchups, have perfect Attack and Speed IVs, Jolly Nature, and max out the Attack/Speed EVs. HJK, in particular, is always a OHKO so long as the defending Pokémon doesn't have Focus Sash or isn't immune/resistant to the attack. I'm sure I have PO'd a lot of people using Mega Evos whenever they suddenly get KO'd from one hit of HJK.

I don't blame you either. I'm just a little bit of a daredevil when it comes to using risky moves. I keep my Mienshao in-party specifically so I have a fast Pokémon with High Jump Kick on-hand. The risk of recoil from a miss doesn't phase me too much because 1. the move has a 90% accuracy rating, 2. it only misses if the opponent actually uses moves like Protect, and 3. my Mienshao has Regenerator (which drives people nuts enough when they hit Mienshao, it doesn't faint, and I suddenly switch it out to recoup some health).

I feel ya. I've been enjoying my job as well as of late, and it's much better indeed than sitting at home doing unproductive things.

So how have you been?

I feel like a bad pair for not chatting with you in so long, js :(

To be honest, I have notoriously good luck with Iron Tail. It's the move that catches people off-guard most of the time because they don't think it's going to hit and then it does, hammering them badly. But then, that may just be me.

Heavy Slam over Iron Tail, huh? I find Heavy Slam a little worthless because the damage is inconsistent. Aggron has the girth for it, but a lot of people use bulky Pokemon like Snorlax.

None at the moment, but I have given consideration to Toxic Spikes. The threat of poison sits well with me. Spikes and Stealth Rock are always viable, but I don't want to copycat people and use Ferrothorn. It's too obvious and easy to KO with Fire attacks, even with maxed defense EVs. I have considered Mega Aggron too. Aggron was my Steel-type of choice in Gen 3, but then attack categories changed too much.

Mmm, don't know about pairing it up with Delphox, but I could use it in place of Lapras if I decide to raise one at all. That's my only issue: Lapras is my cover for Delphox and Noivern. In turn, Aegislash is my cover for Lapras, Delphox, and Zoroark. I don't generally worry about type matchups, but my team is delicately balanced. Even with shared weaknesses, the team in general is designed strictly to drive the opponent crazy trying to keep up with my constant switching. Eventually, they get tired and I get the drop on them. It's just a tricky strategy because I have to sometimes switch to bait them into sending out a certain Pokémon, then switch again to get them up against one of my walls. At that point, they generally say <bleep> it and just attack.