Roy's Crocalor one day evolving into Skeledirge is so interesting because Skeledirge is described as gentle and caring, with a rather calm personality and a pleasant singing voice that soothes others. It's also rather slow and bulky. It complements his newly acquired Shiny Lucario because Lucario is known for being calm and disciplined and its use of Aura, which Roy is using, is based on focus and being able to calmly read the thoughts and movements of others. Lucario is already showcasing Roy's shift towards a more composed and level-headed demeanor. He still has his outgoing and adventurous personality but it's more tempered under a principled and focused demeanor. Skeledirge will solidify that even further with its more gentle personality, but with focused power, especially since its signature move will be Torch Song, which involves that singing voice but also a powerful and focused blast. There's an underlying sense that with those two his battle style is shifting towards something more composed and controlled, with a strong sense of judgment and focus.
Meanwhile Liko's team is shifting towards something inherently opposite, not just to Roy but also to her own outwardly gentle and sweet personality. Meowscarada is Grass/Dark and has Flower Trick (involving deception, trickery, and even brutality with flower bombs detonating at varying intensities), Sucker Punch for a sneaky surprise shot, Magical Leaf for precision strikes, and Acrobatics for fast melee attacks, meanwhile Hattrem hasn't evolved yet but Hattrem and Hatterene both have this underlying violence and cruelty in their demeanor. Hatterene gaining a Fairy-type further highlights an underlying cruelty and brutality. Liko has already shown a more ruthless, underhanded battling style with Floragato/Meowscarada and her team in general highlights a battle style that instead is much more chaotic, unhinged, and even violent. Whenever she gets a Pokemon capable of Mega Evolution I feel her Pokemon is going to fit in line with that: something cruel, dark, and subtly evil, befitting a chaotic and unhinged battle style.
While Roy is tempering his spirit into a more focused purpose, channeling raw power into something more controlled and focused, Liko seems to be embodying a duality around her own kindness: gentle and sweet outwardly, with a compassionate personality, but this hides a fierce, almost cruel side in battle. Early series Liko would often throw in the towel just so she wouldn't hurt others or inconvenience them but Liko in battle nowadays is becoming someone who is more "I will do anything to win" and asserting dominance through intensity and chaos, not caring whether it's "fair".
Roy's battling style seems to be gaining the strength of composure and judgment. Lucario having aura highlights power of judgment, able to assess the field and act accordingly under a composed demeanor. In other words, a composed power of judgment. Liko's battling style on the other hand is a lot more cruel and unhinged but has this underlying boldness that her ruthlessness and underhandedness highlights. She's becoming increasingly bold in her tactics using her own sharp tactical acumen. But that boldness also leads to adaptability, as she's able to think and adapt to varying battle conditions and exploit aspects of both her opponents and her allies alike to claim victory. In other words, a bold power of adaptability.
Their teamwork now is seemingly interesting in that regard: Roy gaining "composed power of judgment" alongside Liko gaining "bold power of adaptability" (now where did I hear that before?). That contrast not only has interesting implications for their teamwork but also their own characters, especially in contrast to how they were in the beginning of the series.
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