As much as the coward tactic would work to save our pokemon, we the trainers will still be exposed and judging by what happened to the leader of the EEE, them ruin types have no problem attacking trainers. Also Mike has Heatran out right now, not Charizard.
Oh and AB,
Magma Storm's description says that it traps a pokemon in pillars of fire. I dunno exactly how that would work in the games (my extent of poke-knowledge is Red/Blue/Yellow, a little Silver, and Fire Red) but how would it work in the RP context? Would it render it's target unable to attack, or would it lock them into only attacking Heatran, or would it just deal continuous damage over a few rounds?