Pokemon Lunatic Crystal v1.6 - Gym Leader Misty

The 5th Gym Leader of Kanto in Lunatic Crystal is Cerulean City's Misty. With some of the strongest Water types in the game with good coverage, as well as a powerful Wild Card, Misty is one of the toughest fights of the hack.

Her team consists of Politoed, Dragonite, Kingdra, Gyarados, Lapras and Starmie.

Politoed is the lead and its' main goal is to try and put your Pokemon to sleep with Hypnosis. It also has STAB Surf, as well as Ice Beam and Earthquake for coverage, making it pretty difficult to deal with as with good Special Defense it's likely to live at least one super effective hit and fire back with a coverage move or put you to sleep. It can also recover HP with Leftovers. Countering Hypnosis with a Miracleberry is the best bet here and try and hit it for super effective damage with a Pokemon that is not weak to its' moves.

Dragonite is up next and it's Misty's Wild Card. In case you are confused as to why she has a Dragonite: she has a Dragonair in Stadium 2, so I took it and evolved it. Anyway, Dragonite isn't weak to Grass, nor Electric moves and has incredible stats, Thunder Wave to paralyze, a decent STAB Attack in Hidden Power Flying, as well as Earthquake and Ice Beam for coverage. It also has a Focus Band that can let it withstand attacks that would KO it. Still, Dragonite as always is very weak to Ice Moves so the best strategy is to exploit that.

Kingdra is always a tough one to handle, with good all round stats and an incredible defensive typing that only leaves it with one weakness. STAB Outrage will do a lot of damage and it also has STAB Surf and Ice Beam, as well as Toxic to badly poison your Pokemon. Paralyzing or putting it to sleep isn't easy either as it has a Miracleberry to recover from status, which also lets it heal the confusion from Outrage. The best answer is to either have an Outrage user of your own that can either outspeed or take two hits from Kingdra, Blastoise is the ideal counter here as it resists everything Kingdra can throw at it.

Gyarados is an all-out attacker with both physical and special moves. It has STAB Hydro Pump and Hidden Power Flying, as well as Earthquake and Thunderbolt as coverage options. Gyarados also holds a Quick Claw which can randomly let it move first. The obvious counter would be an Electric type but with Earthquake and Quick Claw it's never a 100% safe answer, a fast Rock type like Aerodactyl could work but it's facing a Hydro Pump in return. The best answer is a Pokemon with Thunderbolt that isn't weak to Gyarados' moves, like a normal type like Porygon2. Zapdos can also completely destroy Gyarados if you're not against using legendaries.

Lapras is a tough Pokemon to deal with. It's a jack of all trades and aside from low Speed, it's good in every area: High HP, solid defensive stats and typing, a fantastic STAB combination and decent Special Attack. Surf and Ice Beam are the STAB options, with Ice Beam's damage being boosted further by a held Nevermeltice and it also has Solarbeam to use against Water types that would otherwise wall it. It also has Confuse Ray to spread confusion. The best answer here is a strong FIghting or Electric type.

Starmie is Misty's ace. It has great Speed and Special Attack, with a very good STAB combination consisting of Hydro Pump and Psychic, as well as Thunderbolt to deal with Water types, not only that but it also has Recover to heal its' HP. Hydro Pump's damage output is also increased with a held Mystic Water. Notably however, Starmie does not have Ice Beam so using a Grass type here isn't a bad idea. Putting it to sleep or paralyzing it also a good choice or if you have Jolteon you can outspeed and KO it with Thunderbolt.