The Pika Cup is open to inexperienced Pokémon between the levels of 15 and 20. If you do not have Pokémon yourself, you can opt to rent Level 15 Pokémons for the battle.
Rules
- Enter with six Pokémon.
- Choose three out of six Pokémon.
- Maximum three-Pokémon level total can be 50.
- No two Pokémon asleep or frozen.
- Mew can't be used.
- Get a Continue for a perfect match.
- No selfdestruct move with the last Pokémon.
Type Distribution
This chart shows the overall type distribution in this battle. Water and Poison types are abundant, so bring along Electric or Grass Pokémon as well as a strong Psychic or Ground type.
Suggested Rental Pokemon
When you don't have pokemon of your own, your only choice is to rent pokemon. You can get away with this during Round 1, but in order to win Round 2 battles, you don't stand a chance if you use only rental pokemon. The pokemon listed here are not necessarily the pokemon you must choose to win and may not be best for your particular fighting strategies. However, given the limitations of rental pokemon and the task at hand, they are the ones that will give you the best chance. If you have pokemon that you have trained, by all means, substitute it for a rental pokemon. Despite generally having less powerful attacks, trained pokemon are much better than rental pokemon in just about every way.
Starmie
Starmie is not only incredibly fast and powerful, but it has both water and electric attacks. This gives you an advantage against other water-type pokemon because you have resistance to water, but can issue a powerful electric strike. Bubblebeam and Thunder are both respectable attacks and make the rental Starmie formidable against a broad range of foes. In addition, Starmie knows Substitute, a move useful if the opponent is charging up an attack or is underground using dig.
Cloyster
Cloyster is relatively quick for a pokemon with as much defense points as it has. The very last trainer of this cup has a deadly Dragonair that can really only be dealt with a powerful icy attack. Cloyster's Aurora beam fits nicely into that category. Among the other ice-type pokemon available, of which there are very few, Cloyster is the best choice. It also knows Supersonic and Hyper Beam, useful for when you only have a chance to attack once before your pokemon is taken out of the fight and clamp, useful for taking down slower pokemon, even if they have both type and level advantages.
Abra
Although Abra is the lowest of its evolutionary chain, its attacks make up for the statistical downsides. Anyway, if you need more defence, you can always use Abra's Reflect attack. Although it will mainly be used to combat poison type pokemon, Abra also knows Thunder Wave and Seismic Toss. Thunder Wave will render even the most powerful pokemon slower than a Slowpoke and prone to missing attacks. Seismic Toss is useful when you want to know for sure exactly how much damage next attack will cause (Seismic Toss does the same amount of damage as the user's level).
Voltorb
Voltorb is, without question, the fastest pokemon available from the rental selection. This in itself would be a good reason, but is also knows several very useful moves. Thunderbolt, the hard-hitting electric attack, and Thunder Wave, one of the most effective paralytic attacks in the game. Take Down works when you are pitted against another electric-type and if you don't mind objectifying your pets, Explosion makes Voltorb a good pokemon to turn to when you need to soften up a particularly powerful enemy.
Dratini
Dratini is one of the other pokemon that has an ice type move, Blizzard. Like Starmie, Dratini can also be a versatile fighter. It is immune to water, electric, and fire attacks and it has a wide range of attack types. This makes it a good pokemon to put on your list when you need a third pokemon to send into battle and don't know who to choose.
Diglett
When Diglett's on your side, you can be fairly sure that you will have the first strike. Diglett has surprisingly powerful attacks for its size.
Poke Cup
Boulder Badge
The first round should be a pushover. A decent psychic pokemon should be able to deal with anything this guy throws your way. Have a fire or flying type in reserve anyway, just in case, but you shouldn't need it.
Cascade Badge
If you have the rental Dratini on your team, now's the time to use it. Use Blizzard on Geodude and the Flying types and use Fire Blast on the Grass types. If you don't have a dratini, any powerful ice-type pokemon will do. Switch it out with a psychic if it is gets too hurt to take on the grass / poison pokemon. This battle should also be a pushover.
Thunder Badge
For this battle, use a strong electric-type pokemon as your front man. If all goes well, you'll never even have to switch it out. The only thing that may trip you up is the Nidorino, which you could probably also dispatch with your electric pokemon. Have a psychic or grass as backup just in case, though.
Rainbow Badge
Another pushover. It looks like he went and robbed a volcano. His entire team consists of fire-types and a Drowzee. Throw a water or ground-type into the battle first and have some in reserve. It is possible that he will send out the Drowzee first, but it isn't particularly strong or dangerous, so it really shouldn't matter. At the end of this battle, you should have amassed four continues if everything went smoothly.
Soul Badge
Mr. Fix, as he calls himself, will be your first real challenge if you have a strong team. His pokemon are relatively diverse compared to what you have faced thus far. You'll need a good ground type pokemon to combat his electric pokemon. Dratini is also resistant to electric attacks, but his only effective move for this battle is Thunder Wave. His level 18 Porygon should be dealt with cautiously. It knows Psychic as well as Ice Beam and is sometimes his starter pokemon. Also watch out for Kingler and Raichu who tend to use Body Slam which can cause paralysis (very annoying).
Marsh Badge
This battle is harder than any of the previous ones. Start with a psychic pokemon and hope he sends out Gastly or Machop. Only psychic pokemon have resistance to other psychics, so if he sends anything else out, you should be able to get a few good attacks in. If you have the rental Starmie, you'll probably need it here. It's Bubblebeam / Thunder combo works well against Seadra and Rhyhorn. For the third pokemon, bring something that can deal damage to the Rhyhorn in case the Starmie (or other water pokemon) doesn't get it. Wigglytuff is a demon. If you manage to paralyze it, you can use Cloyster's Clamp attack until it gives in.
Volcano Badge
During this battle, you will have to face either a level 20 Gyarados that knows Thunder or a level 20 Tentacruel. Either way, your best bet is to start with the rental Starmie that knows Thunder, but can also fight Arcanine. The Arcanine will tend to dig, so make a substitute, then hit it with Bubblebeam. Make sure to have another fast electric-type in reserve just in case Starmie isn't enough. You'll probably also want a psychic pokemon to clean up what the rest can't or to square off against Mr. Mime. Win this one and you're on to the final battle.