Long-time fans of the Pokémon series will most likely have at least heard the name Whitney once or twice before. The Johto region from Pokémon Gold and Silver and their remakes Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver may have given fans one of the best Rivals of the series, but Whitney is arguably more infamous.
Whitney, the region's third Gym Leader, and the franchise's very first Normal-type specialist, was the first major hurdle that many fans ever had to overcome in a Pokémon game. To this day, if someone mentions Whitney or her strongest partner Miltank, some fans will have a sort of knee-jerk reaction of anger and annoyance. However, this reputation may not have been fully deserved, as the developers at Game Freak put the perfect counter to Whitney's Miltank right out in the open.
Why was Whitney's Miltank such a challenge? First, Miltank's Normal typing means that its one and only super effective weakness comes from the Fighting type. Most other Pokémon therefore only do neutral damage to Miltank, while Ghost type attacks do no damage at all. Also, Miltank's stats are consistently almost all very good, particularly strengthening its Defense and Speed stats while also giving it a high amount of HP.
Overall, Miltank is just a pretty decent Pokémon in general, but Whitney's Miltank goes above and beyond with its very powerful set of moves: Stomp, Attract, Milk Drink, and Rollout. Stomp does a lot of damage to Pokémon who are smaller than the user, and by this early point in the game, most of the player's Pokémon are likely smaller than Miltank. Attract makes it so that any male Pokémon affected may be completely immobilized in the battle. Milk Drink heals up to half of Miltank's entire HP.
Finally, Miltank's primary attack, Rollout, does an increasing amount of damage the more times in a row it hits. Combined with Miltank's high speed, if Rollout picks up enough momentum, Miltank can one hit KO many Pokémon before they even have a chance to move. On top of all this, Whitney's Pokémon are about three or four levels above any other local trainer, and Miltank follows up after Whitney's first Pokémon, a Clefairy that can also do a decent amount of damage.
Whitney's Miltank is a very powerful Pokémon, for sure, but one thing in the game works heavily in the player's favor against it. In Goldenrod City, the same place where Whitney's Gym resides, there is a large Department Store. If the player climbs to the fifth floor, they will find a man who wishes to trade his Machop for a Drowzee caught by the player.
As Machop is a Fighting type Pokémon, it's the perfect opponent against Whitney's Miltank. Further, because it comes to the player via a trade, it will level up faster than any normally caught Pokémon on the player's team, allowing it to easily catch up to Whitney's level in a short time. Finally, this Machop will always be female, so it's completely unaffected by Miltank's Attract. Given the fact that the tall grass on Route 34 just south of Goldenrod is flush with Drowzee to catch, there's little reason not to take advantage of the trade.
While Whitney's Miltank can still be a challenge even with this Machop, many fans agree that it does make the battle far easier. Those who might want to keep that difficulty level intact might still choose to forgo using the Machop in the fight, and the more hardcore fans who play Nuzlocke challenges and Randomizers might not even have the option to use it. However, for the casual audience, knowing that Game Freak put in this specific counter against Whitney's Miltank can relieve a lot of those feelings of annoyance and nervousness that they might have as they prepare to go into it again.