Could be due to random variation of move timing. If I'm not mistaken, a random value from 1 to 2 seconds is chosen and then added to the duration of a defender's quick move.
If this is the case, and you're unfortunate to only get +1 second then it might not be enough to defeat the defender in time, whereas with the old Bubble it was slow enough that you could take down a Bubble defender even with the lowest random time added.
I tried using an Electrode with Volt Switch, using a Gastly to attack. It worked sometimes but wasn't consistent at all. Like maybe 1 in 5 tries actually worked, maybe even less, despite Gastly having no attack IV requirement.
As for Caterpie, it depends on the defence IV of the Kadabra as well as the Caterpie's attack IV, it's not a guaranteed matchup unlike Gastly.
The reason the Kadabra "ignores" your moves is because of lag. What is being displayed on screen isn't necessarily what's happening on server side. On your screen your Pokemon might be attacking but on the server your Pokemon could already have fainted.
If your first attacker faints then your second is pretty much guaranteed because defenders perform a second attack soon after their first. If your first attacker faints, the defender's second attack should have already hit your second attacker before it even has a chance to switch in, but it takes time for your phone to register it, and by the time you get the signal saying that your second attacker should have fainted already, the Kadabra's probably used Confusion again and killed your third attacker, so if you don't want to waste revives, your second Pokemon should be something that isn't a Bubblestrat attacker that you can just transfer once it faints.
