Blarrg

Nobody here has given you any useful information 1. Yes this game is much harder than the original games. AFAIK, gym leaders/e4 in the normal playthrough have better movesets, more pokemon, EV trained pokemon, max IVs, and proper natures. If you don't know what EVs and IVs are, here is a short summary IV: Individual Value. Varies amongst all pokemon and cannot be changed. You can look at these on your pokemon summary. Each stat has a maximum of 31 IVs, equating to +1 to each stat for each IV by level 100. EV: Effort Value. Gained from gaining experience based on the pokemon defeated. Different pokemon grant different EVs when defeated. Maximum of 510 in total and 255 in an individual stat. Every 4 EV points in a stat increases it by 1 by level 100. Nature: All natures are different. Natures grant +10% and -10% stat growth to specified stats. For example, and Adamant natured pokemon will have 10% more Attack and 10% less special attack, good for pokemon with lots of physical attacks. Some natures are neutral stat growths. 2. Switching out automatically when a pokemon faints is a crutch put into the original game just to make it easier. Whenever you battled people that were not computers, or even in battle frontier, this option is not available. There are moves in the game such as U turn and Volt Switch that can be used to damage and switch out at the same time, very useful for prediction on fast pokemon such as Jolteon. With that information out of the way, chances are your pokemon are not EV trained and not properly natured. That is probably your first step in improving your lineup. Another thing to think about are the moves of your pokemon. For most pokemon, your moveset should be focused on either physical or special attacks, which allows you to make the decision of which nature is best and which EVs should be dumped into. For example, your Dragonite can be used as a physical attacker and you would want moves like Dragon Claw, Dragon Dance (to boost your attack/speed), Earthquake, and Fire punch. This is a powerful set with a lot of type coverage. Similarly, your Lapras could function as a Special Attacker with Surf, Ice beam and Thunderbolt. Once you know what role your pokemon should be, think about obtaining ones with the correct nature, then EV training them. If you just want to beat the Elite 4, EV training alone should suffice once you get a proper moveset. Nature and IVs are important but not required for beating the storyline. Any EVs you've gained already through the story can be lowered using EV reducing berries.