What Pokémon surprised you the must during battle?

What Pok?mon surprised you the must during battle?

So I'm currently on my play through of Pok?mon Sun with a rotation team, something I've never done before in the now 15/16 years of playing this series of games. With this team a lot of Pok?mon that I used have surprised me in battle, some Pok?mon I'd never thought I would like such Trevenant and Alolan Raichu.
I've had an amazing time playing this generation of games and having close calls with the Elite four with Pok?mon such as Crobat just holding on with barely any HP to deal the last bit of damage to win me the match.
Here is a quick list of Pok?mon I've used in this game that I thought would be awful but have formed a great bond with other the course of this game:

1: Alolan Raichu, I've never been one to jump on the Pikachu hype chain I find it cute but in game it performs at a meh level at best or just gets totally crushed, however Raichu a Pok?mon I haven't used since Gen 1 has really turned out to be a great team player. Using him more than I thought I would.

2: Masquerain, I'll admit that they are pretty weak stat wise but this little had pulled around a lot of battles in my playthrough my best memory is getting totally steamrolled by Nihilego. Masquerain held on with dear life before finishing it with a water pulse.

3: Trevenant, I really didn't like the design back in Gen 6 but having I thought I would use one for type coverage having picked Litten as my starter. Trevenants forest curse and switch in to Incineroar turned out to be a great tactic for teams what I didn't have the type advantage and the design has started to grow on me.

4: Starmie is something I have never used at all since I started playing these games but having caught one they turned out to be great team member blasting through most NPCS with a great special attack and speed. Not bad for a 180lbs beyblade.

5: Last but not least is Crobat, I hate Zubat as much as the next person and I only really caught one as a substitute while battling Lurantis as it would little damage while I healed up however getting solar bladed to next week left me with only Zubat. Thinking this was it and that I'd have to restart all over again with hardly andy healing items left. Little Zubat not only gets a crit on Lurantis but holds his own when a Trumbeak uses rock blast. After that I kept Zubat with me showed this one the love he needed to evolve.

So what mons have shocked you while playing and what memories do you have with them?

Sneasel, it surprises me how bad it is.

(I still love them though)

Not in my in-game plays, but I bred an Exploud - can't even remember why, never liked that Pokemon before - and I love it <3 I almost always include my Exploud in my battles online.

Noctowl is surprisingly good.

mate I agree Noctowl carried me through a Diamond playthrough a few years back. rest of my team sucked.
even after that I never thought much of regional birds until I got a godlike Swellow in Alpha Sapphire.

I'm currently surprised at how good my Alolan Raticate is doing in Moon. Never gave original Raticate a chance.

Butterfree was significantly handy in my Moon playthrough, since it had access to Sleep Power, which helped out a lot when catching several Pok?mon, and finally learning Air Slash had it's uses before I replaced it with Vikavolt.

I still use it to this day to hunt rare held items, like Razor Claw and Heart Scale. I would never get long term usage out of it in any other generation.

In my X playthrough early on, I had a Vivillon as a filler team member and he surprised because Struggle Bug seemed to always one-shot those early opponents. I had to eventually box him as my established team took form, but I still rotate him every now and then.