The real monster... IS MAN.

My enjoyment of saying "Gracemander" is one of the things that sold me on this storyline.

Panel two is a pretty accurate representation of the first fights in early Pokemon games, really. As of the XY and Sun/Moon games, your starter monster has an elemental attack to begin with (and your poor first opponent will be weak to your element). Back in the day, however, you just had tackle and the like, meaning no elemental advantage either way. It was just a back and forth of rather pathetic attacks.

You were still pretty much guaranteed to win, however, which I think was because your opponent would use attacks that affect your stats instead of just attacking? That, or there's behind the scenes stat nonsense, but I'm sure there's something that keeps it from being an even match.