Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Squeaks of Rage - Jun 1 24 A

Normally, I’d have one session of single battles and one session fo double battles, though I don’t really care which goes first. This time, as I’m still testing out the 8th team, the Spidops Team, this is a second session over this month because I’m still not quite sure if it’s up to par with my other teams. I made some changes under the hood between the first session and now, based on what I was having trouble with and what turned out to be unnecessary for the team, and here’s how it went.

Type: Double Battle
Opponent: Jamie
Battle Court: Mesagoza (Central Plaza)
Music: Kitakami Pokémon
My Pokémon: Tad (Poliwrath), Wendy (Toxtricity) (Amped), Kelvin (Flareon), Lincoln (Braviary) (Hisuian)
Opponent’s Pokémon: SeekPeace (Annihilape), Maushold, Kyogre, ?

Maushold is a Pokémon that used to turn up a lot but hasn’t been seen quite as much lately. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, as Maushold is my favorite Generation IX Pokémon, and I wanted to put it to use but didn’t because it had a reputation early into the generation for being ridiculously good. Not only is it because of their very powerful signature attack of Population Bomb, but their other signature move, Tidy Up, is Dragon Dance and Rapid Spin rolled into one. Maushold is also one of the few fully evolved Pokémon who can have Friend Guard as an Ability, which pairs up nicely with Follow Me.

One move I thought Maushold could do that, it turns out, they can’t do, is Fake Out. That’s why I used Upper Hand on the first turn. Besides Protect and Terastallization, I realized later on that there isn’t much a Maushold can do against an incoming Fighting-type move. But what’s done is done; Mausold used Beat Up to power up Annihilape’s Rage Fist to 250 power, which meant the only way this team was taking this fellow down is to outrun it…which doesn’t account for Jamie’s other Pokémon. That put me up a creek without a paddle.

For the record, I selected the Pokémon that I did because I had expected Kyogre and Rillaboom to show up first. When I see a lineup with the two of them there, that’s what usually happens.

Annihilape’s nickname of “SeekPeace” appears to be a political statement, but I’m not entirely certain of that. One thing that DOES confuse me, however, is why there’s no space between them, as you certainly can put in a space between the words. Is it a reference to something in particular?