#pokemon uses it for evolution and to teach new moves

[dravidious]

I rest my case.

-

Fuckin BULLSHIT the one on the right is way better you only need 1 stroke to draw it!

Speaking of some things being objectively better than others for very important reasons, I booted up my brother’s old copy of Hyrule Warriors yesterday and tried to get A-ranks in the adventure mode, only to gradually realize just how important the level-up system is, meaning that no matter how good you are, the only way to have a chance of getting A-ranks on the later stages is to grind until the enemies don’t take 5 whole minutes each to kill.

Then I ranted to myself in my room about how Ultrakill’s P-ranks are way better

[prof-lemon]

I study artificial Pokemon, but did you know there are also artificial moves?

Pokemon naturally learn moves as they gain experience. They can also inherit moves from their parents, or even gain moves during the process of evolution. However, some moves can only be learned by Pokemon with human assistance. These "artificial" moves are often considered in three distinct categories, based on the origin of the move.

Culturally taught moves are moves that are passed down in certain cultures or as part of cultural traditions. Draco Meteor is a very famous example of this. The move has been passed down through generations of Dragon Tamers and the Draconid people. The "ultimate moves" (Frenzy Plant, Blast Burn, and Hydro Cannon), were originally taught by the people of the Sevii islands. Moves that can only be learned by Legendary or Mythical Pokemon, such as Relic Song, are often passed down through generations of families.

Competitively taught moves are moves specifically taught by experts for competitive battling. Moves like Scorching Sands are taught in dojos on the Isle of Armor by masters. In Kanto, expert trainers of Eevee and Pikachu have a few moves they teach as well.

Finally, there are machine taught moves. These are moves engineered for use as Technical Machines, or TMs. Most recently are the TMs engineered at Unova's Blueberry Academy. These include moves like Alluring Voice and Upper Hand. These are similar to competitively taught moves, in that they are often created for the sole purpose of competitive battle. However, they differ in the techniques by which they are taught.

Artificially constructed moves are nothing new. Many cultures have been teaching Pokemon moves that are not naturally learned for generations. However, advancements in TM technology have made engineering moves a much more common practice. Modern artificial moves are more about effectiveness in competition. However, there are still many people and places that teach moves as a part of their heritage. Some techniques and traditions for teaching moves are even considered intangible cultural heritage. While the techniques we use may differ, the goal is almost always the same; to solidify the bond between people and Pokemon.

[bimbombimbo]

thistook like way too long it was supposed to be a doodle

anyways uhhh kid sniper and his trapinch!!! + grown up.. and flygon.. i have been rotating tf2 pokemon in my brain !!

You guys wanna listen to me ramble about tf2 Pokemon so baaad.. go on.. click on the read more thing...

OKAY SO i need to get this out of my system

It's probably obvious that Mick had been a difficult kid (of course, given that he was an outcast probably: the slim, small, weird kid with no body hair) and very much without friends. He'd have been the object of, mockery and nasty jokes and things like that; school sucks buddy!

Applying that into a Pokemon world: Mick would have definitely wanted a huge, strong pokemon. Probably to be able to properly defend himself, one like Kangaskhan, or a Zangoose or a Seviper (or even better, a Charizard just like he'd seen on TV!). Of course, having a strong pokemon would require years of training (and bonding too!), something that required a level of patience little Mick hadn't built yet. So, knowing his way into the woods due to always hanging around there by himself (comfort? escape? who knows), he goes deeper and deeper. Yeah, he tries to catch creatures he deems "strong", and horribly fails, again and again.

During one of these awful attempts, he returns home, frustrated and tired. However, the constant trips to this unknown part of the outback (and, of course, making a lot of noise) had attracted a teeny tiny creature: a Trapinch! The weak link of his group, low level, weak thing (but fierce and with a high defense), its presence isn't recognized until Ms. Mundy finds a lot of her crops missing and others bitten.

Of course, Mick finds the plague and brings it back to the outdoors, away from home. But it refused!Going back to the little boy's house each time it is taken away. Catching it on a small trap, Mick is willing to exterminate it, but something talks to him. Maybe he saw himself in the eyes of that tiny critter (who was struggling in a cage that wasn't made for it), or maybe he learned some empathy from his mother, or maybe he just wanted to contradict his dad. So, he keeps it in the end.

Clearly, the kid doesn't expect much from this, little creature that fits in his backpack (bad idea: he shouldn't have brought it with him to school, now he's also the weird pokemon kid). But still, he feeds it, he brings it with him everywhere (can't trust his dad enough), and slowly gets used to its presence.

The Trapinch soon tags along Mick into his hunting trips. The kid trains his precision with the bow and, in a couple of years later, his dad's rifle. Understands his companion's hunting method too, and slowly begins to train and teach new moves to it. A bond is forming! Through the years, Mick starts seeing the Trapinch as a pet (not that his family didn't had pets, but this one? it was his. the connection was visible between them)

The bullying problem doesn't stop though. Mick learns to avoid it, and avoid telling his parents about it (given that he already defends himself, and he doesn't want to make a fuss out of it). He drops school around his last years, dedicating himself to only hunting for some time, taking about a sixteen/seventeen year-old guy probably.

And wahoo! Word gets around about the quiet guy that headshots all the bunnies and deers and just like that he gets his first actually sniper job. (Not really going into that, let's focus on the pokemon aspect instead)

Trapinch probably evolves around this time. Not an extremely incredible event (some evolutions are televised) but Sniper might have not expected a Big Dragon-Fly. Vibrava is such a cool pokemon tho, it gets a while for Sniper to get used to the new name.

- Fun idea a friend of mine commented: "Vibrava can get him his jars to pee. It can also work as a bomb helicopter or smth: it grabs the jarate, flies above the enemy and drops it in their head"

However I do think they wouldn't have gone in much sniping jobs together, given a feral Vibrava's nature of, uh, the ultrasonic waves thing. It probably goes away a lot, into the outback all by itself. That's fine, but Sniper can't stop thinking his pokemon is going to leave and not come back some day.

Around this time, Sniper gets his contract at RED, travelling to Americs (probably around, 23 years old?) Forgive me for I don't know much about dates and ages! I headcannon Sniper to be in his mid 30's during the comic (Even though I'm pretty sure he's canonically 26, I'm sorry, I can't imagine him being younger than 30)

Sniper brings Vibrava with him into his (recently obtained) van, close to RED headquarters. For obvious reasons, it is not taken into the matches, but it's left out of its pokeball to explore around. At first, it doesn't return to sleep one night. Then it happens more often.

And it finally happens. Vibrava doesn't come back for a day, two days, a week. Of course, Sniper feels devastated, thinking it's gone for good (but leaving his window open everyday, just in case...)

He wakes up one day (or is it night? probably too early to notice), having heard a strong wind move his van. Groggy, goes outside to check if a storm of some kind is approaching, and he'd greeted by an enormous, dragon-bug thing that grabs him by the arms and lifts him up in the sky.

Flygon is way stronger than Vibrava. Bigger, of course, and more active. But still playfully bites at his hands, and still lays on its back demanding belly rubs like a dog (just like it used to do when it was a Trapinch). They go on camping trips together a lot. Sniper could technically go on its back, but he doesn't want to leave the van alone.

Sniper probably looks back to when he was a kid and is glad to not have uh, eliminated the pokemon when he had a chance.

FUCK THAT'S A LOT? i ain't reading allat 😂 if you're here thanks for reading i love you

[orangeoctopi7]

New season of Ninjago! I'm currently six episodes in.

(also I'm writing this the morning after I watched these episodes so my thoughts might be out of order)

Awkward teenage Riyu design is cute, but in that awkward, mid-stage pokemon evolution way.

"Intelligent George" is just every adult Ninjago fan on YouTube throwing around theories over the last year.

Sorry Lloyd, prophetic dreams of doom run in the family.

Hey, wait a sec. You know who else has prophetic dreams? Why are you not going to Zane with this?

Please give Arin a "you don't need powers to be powerful" arc.

All this talk of shattering all the good inside someone is reminding me of a certain other spell used to remove all the goodness from Garmadon back in season 8, but I doubt they're actually meant to be connected.

Slightly disappointed that the pink Serpentine isn't Skales' wife.

Euphrasia couldn't take on the master of Smoke, the elemental master she probably has the best type match up against? I don't wanna sound like one of those fans, but jeez, Morro would have destroyed this guy.

The Kai-Nya siblings dynamic continues to be on point.

Wyldfyre continues to be the best character.

I was honestly expecting Sora's fear dream to be more of the same insecurities we saw from her last season, but she actually has moved past that and now she's afraid of having to go back to Imperium. I was pleasantly surprised by that.

Oof, Nya's dream is giving me so many feels. This is foreshadowing, isn't it?

"Jay would never forget me. And even if he somehow did, he'd never be this calm and collected about a stranger coming up and hugging him."

Oh. Oh, we're not seeing Wyldfyre 's fear dream? Oh, she doesn't want to talk about it? *Rubbing hands together* I think we're gonna get some backstory and lore here!

*Bonzle to Cole and Geo* "You are my da-ads. You're my dad's. Boogie Woogie Woogie."

Suddenly Basketball

Ah, the dragon masters. The fact that dragons can learn spinjitzu honestly makes sense to me, all the way back in the pilot, I thought the way the dragons spun around in order to travel to the other realms was obviously related to Spinjitzu.

I like that Rontu is basically just a typical gym coach in dragon form.

Egalt, on the other hand... Well, I do really like his design. But man, he's just every bad "teaching" method from Wu rolled into an even grumpier old man. Talking down to his students, constantly being negative instead of giving positive reinforcement, no clear instructions, giving no answers or even hints to Arin's question, nothing! Maybe I care about this more than other people because I've worked as a teacher on and off for years, but even when I first started watching the show, back when I was still in college, I was already noticing these things about Wu and they already bothered me.

Anyway, calling it now, the students from "last time" Egalt keeps vague-ing were Wu and Garmadon, and Wu learned all his bad "teaching" methods from this guy.

Bonzle being a living spell is weird, but honestly not that out of the question for a crazy fantasy world like Ninjago.

Ok, so I'm going to break the first rule of enjoying Ninjago and think about the timeline. Judging by what Wu said, I'm guessing Bonzle ran into him some time early in season 2? And when did all this with the Forbidden Five happen?

Anyway, very excited to see where this is going, if only I didn't have to work today.

[aurheatum]

toa anniversary mun day

under cut

Name: 

Nel, i mean it’s Sarah technically, but once you start getting multiple notes in the mail with Nel on them I think it counts. Nelfes works too. I respond to most anything tbh

Pronouns:

she/her or they/them

Birthday (no year):

Dec 6th Saint Nicholas Day : )

Where are you from? What is your time zone?

Chicago. CST [GMT-5].

Roleplay experience:

Over ten years, started on Neopets and other forums. Moved to Gaia Online and then Tumblr indie space some time in 2011.

Got any pets?

Baby boy

Favorite time of year:

Springtime or Autumn

Some interests and things you like:

I’ve always been super into mythology, all of them. I used to think that Carl Jung was onto something with the collective unconscious but then Anthropology and the reality of multilineal evolution ruined that for me (college will teach you things); but that’s alright because humans their ability to create and interpret their surroundings with equal parts love and fear is still pretty cool.

Some funfacts & trivia about you:

-Agnostic but i work in an occult library (it’s pretty quiet; the new age bookshop across the street has all the events)

-One time on Gaia Online I was kicked out of an Okami RP bc I didn’t make my posts aesthetic enough, and I thought it was just the most heart wrenching thing -I’m not sure what people stand to gain back in Ye Old Runescape luring new players out into the wild and PKing them but I was gullible enough to follow some other players at like 7 yrs old and this would have happened to me if i wasnt SUPER good at clicking my mouse and running out of there. Surviving such a harrowing experience made me think i was truly invincible.

-I was supposed to write my final paper for my Japanese Buddhism class on… surprise, Japanese Buddhism but I really wanted to talk about Kenji Miyazawa’s writings instead so I spun it through a lens of his Nichiren conversion and its impact on his poetry. My prof saw right through me but I still got an A.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play?

Tales of RPG series raised me as a person so u know. I like Persona 1-2 era SMT though I’ve played Nocturne and IV as well. What else? Okami, LOZ: Twilight Princess, farm sims and visual novels. Genshin, on and off.

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon:

Psychic; wooper family (clogsire im so glad u joined us)

How did you get into Fire Emblem?

My neighbor would bring over Path of Radiance so I could play it on my gamecube with my own save back in the day

What Fire Emblem games have you played?

Tellius duology. Sacred Stones, FE 13-16; currently doing Blazing Blade. Archanea one day.

First Fire Emblem game:

POR

Favorite Fire Emblem game:

Tie between 3 Houses and Radiant Dawn

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 

It’s rhea okay. I wont lie and i wont pretend it isnt evidence of my spectacular taste either

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: Tiki (first S support was olivia bc i wanted a pink haired kid)  - Fates: honestly i’d have to revisit, i know i first married niles as m!corrin - Three Houses: I married each lord on their route tho it’s much funnier if you dont i think (First route was Crimson Flower but I saved at the split so I could marry Rhea first lmao) - Engage: Saphir 🥰

Favorite Fire Emblem class:

War Cleric or Qi Adept

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class?

I’d be the mage you have to drag around and treat with baby gloves only to learn like a single good spell I think

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation?

Leicester Alliance tbh

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with?

Based purely on mechanics bc i love them all prob Soren dlc, Sigurd, Celica, and Lyn.

How did you find TOA?

End of 2020/beginning of 2021 I was really trying to get back into rp but couldn’t get into the various systems on discord. One community that I was trying was affiliates with The Officer’s Academy and an active tumblr community rly caught my interest. The rest is history!

Current TOA muses:

Rhea 3H, Micaiah Radiant Dawn, and miss Hortensia engage

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again?

This blog right here! I put her down for a bit and probably will again but. It’s not like she ever leaves, instead of brain there is Rhea u see (i bear this burden so u do not have to)

Have you had any other TOA muses?

I played Sephiran for a hot sec and Ingrid for around a yearish iirc. Both very fun

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards?

Not really? I need to be able to connect with them on some level obviously, and I tend to prefer characters who have like a clear childhood or background for why they are That Way. Micaiah was actually p difficult for this reason but being able to really shape her based on what little we know also made me ever more fond. ♥️ I love to stare at pegasusknight and serenesforest supports pages late at night tehe

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most?

I don’t particularly plan ahead but I really love when threads reflect past character development whether in a thread with the same muse or different. TOA extended universe… I’d like to do that more I think but first I have to actually make a support page huh? Since Rhea’s back she’s made more bonds though and that makes me happy.

Favorite TOA-related memory: Definitely Unlocked 2021! It was my first event after really starting to warm to the TOA community and i was an awe of the scope of the events. The mods thought this far ahead?! We can do this?! Every event since has just been even more fun but the surprise and intrigue i felt then really stayed with him

*How do you pronounce TOA?

Toe-uh. Like Dee-En-Dee. you know.

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day that you’d like to share? 😉 

I think I mentioned I muse Hubert before, and also that I can't really seeing myself maintaining a blog for him? So other than that, no. I do think Nimh could be quite a bit of fun though *laughs*

[lovepmd]

Poor RTDX!Partner.

They get partnered with the Hero who has the experience of four past adventures and renewed spite. Hero knows how to Move Tutor, dungeon explore, and all sorts of crazy terraforming. There’s not much DX!Partner can teach this time around save for (once again?) sticking to Hero without many questions.

Multi!Hero wants to go to the moon and space this time around. If Arceus (or whatever keeps making them save the world) thinks that they’ll silently accept things—it’s dead wrong. They were going to kick Pokémon’s development up a several notches in defiance. Also, it was downright cruel to stick them with possibly another version of Rescue!Partner. Their first Partner against what used to be a new world.

Hero can’t help comparing both versions and always feels guilty. This “world” might resemble the one they saved four times over, but it isn’t. Pokemon know about Mega Evolution and Fairy Types when it took the past world several years to get to that point. (Which was really weird in Multi!Hero opinion.) They aren’t sure if there’s any “next” or if they’ll remain in this world. Will they be stuck in an endless cycle of saving the world? Will they go back to whatever human world they came from? Will their past four partners never know where they disappeared to this time, will this one think they are too crazy to stick by?

For once in their current life, Hero has to unpack all the feelings they have kept off to the side for years. For once, they have to mourn what they once lost and more recently lost.

They have to admit at the end of the day—when the crazy experiments have stopped, when they are alone in the base, when they don’t have to keep up the manic energy—they might be pretty messed up. Subconsciously, Hero knew the entire situation itself was messed up. They were transformed without their consent and missing many memories. They had to risk body and mind and mental health to save the world. They were subjected to the limbs of something not even the Legendaries could fully explain.

No matter what good came from it, the amount of friends and dare they say it—family—they made… They certainly tried to distract themself in the madness of being on various teams. Hero’s tired. Tired of being the only human, tired of having to save the world, tired of having to spend so much effort to belong. Tired of having to say goodbye without much warning.

While all their pondering and worrying couldn’t change the situation, they allowed themself to feel small. Multi!Hero allowed themself to feel mortal, to feel like they were just another soul in the world, to feel the closest to ordinary they could get. It had felt almost fun in the beginning to be a hero. To be someone larger than life that could actually get things done. There was worry and stress that most didn’t see. Yet the human was doing good, right?

No need to care about what anyone else thought as long as they were doing good in the world. Plus, they had cool powers!

Nothing’s ever that simple though. And contrary to what they’re physical from was, the human-turned-Pokemon wasn’t a child. They were closer to a teen or young adult who had to go through something hardly anyone could dream of being possible. If they were to go back to being human right now—would they be okay? Not just in an emotional sense, but would they be able to function after all their experience. Would they be able to say goodbye to everything they built? When they didn’t know if the world they were going back to lacked Pokemon or had humans and Pokemon together?

The way Multi!Hero knew things—the Pokemon anime, the Pokemon games, was almost clinical. As if someone implanted some of the base facts without emotion attached to any of it. It was very hard for them to tell if they came from the world were Pokémon were fictional (and wasn’t that a doozy of a revelation), or if that media was from a world where Humans were trainers and caught Pokémon. Or some crazy mix of both.

The fact they couldn’t answer that, scared them.

(Sorry, I went on a bit of spiral about a what if.)

[ranger-rai]

This probably sounds both stupid and incredibly detrimental to a Pokémon’s health. But, could you theoretically try to teach a Pokémon how to use type energy they don’t normally learn naturally by giving them a status condition? (Burn, poison, paralyzed over asleep.) We don’t exactly have TMs widespread in my region, one of the smaller Oblivia islands.

I am aware of how insane this sounds.

I’d have berries or the status curing medicines on hand. I just. Could this actually work to teach a Pokémon a move of a type it doesn’t normally learn? Kinda hoping to win a debate with someone.

Hmmm, realistically, no.

It's not impossible, but it's like saying, "Could I learn to control ice by giving myself a brainfreeze?"

Pokemon have inherited abilities based on centuries of evolution and adaptation for survival.

The only way it might even be possible is if you had your pokemon exposed to the thing you were trying to adapt them to every day, and over the course of breeding through generations might you see a difference.

It's not likely that your pikachu will suddenly start being able to use flame thrower because it gets burned every day.

Ultimately, it could even be considered abuse (however, in a lab, it's called "research"), it's still frowned upon.

If you really wanted your pokemon to have a new type, you should visit paldea and study Tera types, it's a much safer way for a pokemon to experience other types, and after time they can give off some energy of their Tera type, it's not quite the same as naturally having the type, but perhaps it could help, who knows?

[taranodongirl]

Ideas for my own Pokemon x Twisted Wonderland fanfic Part 2

Alexia's Pokemon Part 1

Alexia’s Pokemon

Ben the Swinub : Alexia’s first pokemon. They met when she was 6 and they both got lost in a mountain. They are both the same age and have a bond similar to Ash and Pikachu. Ben is very upbeat, cheerful and can read his trainer very well. He is a lot more social than Alexia and is a major help in Alexia meeting new people (for good or bad). His name is based on the song “Ben” by Michael Jackson and I feel that it fits their friendship bond.

A group of 14  Unknown that spell Kokoro ?! Kiseki (a reference to my favorite Vocaloid song and to how Alexia’s kind heart and open mind are her greatest power): as a child, Alexia would often explore the ruins and play with the Unknowns that lived there. Since Unknown can read the minds and hearts of sentient beings they found Alexia’s autistic mind fascinating and used their reality altering abilities to teach her how to use her Aura abilities. Alexia’s mother however is afraid of Unknown and made her family move (this is one of the events that led to Alexia temporarily living with Professor Kakui and starting her Pokemon journey early), but 14 of the Unknown followed her and unofficially became part of her team. They do not battle or have their own pokeballs, but they gave her a special charm and occasionally teleport visit her.

Rocky: a male Buneary that hates his evolution’s feminine appearance and wants to be the strongest, toughest, and manliest Buneary in the world. He wears a luchador mask to hide his cute appearance and keep a masculine appearance and a belt with an Everstone on it. Rocky has a pretty good relationship with Epel due to them having similar struggles and even used Sucker Punch on Vil and Rook for their treatment of his friends.

Tonka: a Turtwig that served as Alexia’s starter pokemon in Sinnoh and is now a Grottle. He likes chewing on her head and sometimes forgets how big he is, because of this he decided to not evolve into Torterra. He has a little brother Turtwig named Tucker who came from an egg that Alexia brought on her journey and hatched in Twisted Wonderland.

Prince Nettles: a Mareanie that came in handy in the Octovinelle Arc. Nettles would eat the anemones off the contract victims' heads which  would temporarily release them (and poison them) until Azul noticed what happened. He evolves durning the overblot fight and his poison becomes strong enough to incompassitate Azul long enough to defeat him. Nettles became good friends with Vil’s Gloom and helped him gain self confidence.

Poseidon the Magikarp: A friendly Magikarp that Alexia often carries around in a water filled hamster ball like container with a leash. He evolves into Gariados and becomes upset that he can no longer travel that way and Alexia considers letting Posidon go because she is worried that she is holding him back from his love of travel, but after defeating Jamil’s overblot, Poseidon lets her know that he wants to stay with her. He becomes the pokemon Alexia uses for surf.

Belladonna the Croagunk: an adult, female, crogunk with freckles on her cheeks and usually wears a maroon scarf with purple flowers embroidered on it. She has a strict and maternal personality, especially towards Alexia and the baby Pokemon, and is extremely strong and will go above and beyond for her team, even if she has to break through walls to do it. When Belladonna was a wild pokemon, she was considered an outcast among the other crogunk for her freckles so she wasn’t able to find a mate and have her own babies, so she wondered off to greenbelt near a town and tried to make friends with the children, but the kids found her rigid and unreadable face uneasy and were too scared to approach her. One day, she met Alexia who had a rough day at school and was covered in ink (she decided to play connect the dots with her freckles in an attempt to make friends but instead she got in trouble for drawing on herself) and Alexia said to her “You have freckles just like me!” and connected the pokemon's freckles too which formed flowers that are the same shape as the flowers embroidered on her scarf that she would get later. With that their bond began and Alexia and Ben would visit the Crogunk and explore the greenbelt together, not always talking but still enjoying their company. One day they found some flowers and when Alexia wanted to pick them, but Belladonna stopped her and signaled with her poison jab that they were poisonous and this inspired Alexia give her the name Belladonna. In Twisted Wonderland, Belladonna can often be seen with Alexia and the baby pokemon, but she also tends to show up in random places and surprising people. She doesn’t like Crowly’s incompetence and will often use poison jab or brick break on him for any offense she can find. She later finds two pollywag eggs and becomes a surrogate mother to them.

Sparkplug the Magnezone: Alexia had this pokemon ever since it was a Magnamite. It is a good friend and a trained orthodontist, which is handy since Alexia wears special braces that Sparkplug can remove when she needs to eat and put back on perfectly. Sparkplug later gives birth to a Magnamite which befriends Tinker, Ortho’s Meltan and moves into Igniahide's dorm.

[doubleddenden]

I've been quietly working on a fakemon region for 15+ years

You'd think I'd have made a lot of progress...well, yeah? But also nah

I have a lot of designs made. I even have regional variants and regional exclusive evolutions. My main issues I have is that

A. I need to redo most of them, because the older ones look like absolute shit

B. I need to make a bunch. Evolutions, pre evolutions, etc.

C. I need to finish a bunch

And you know what? With over 106 things I gotta work on for the base dex, do you know what my dumbass self decides?

I decided on a regional gimmick I wanna try

...

Well, a second one. The first one is a type changing scarf that changes or adds a secondary type, which I made before gen 9's Terrastilizing. Basically Pikachu with a Dark Scarf becomes Electric/Dark, whereas a Charizard with a Dark Scarf goes from Fire Flying to Fire Dark. Simple right?

So the second one is similar, just... makes more work for me lol

But it has potential to be cool design wise and offer a ton of variety.

Still workshopping the name, but the concept is somewhat similar to Armor Digivolving from Digimon. Basically with the power of certain items, some Pokemon can be temporarily evolved into another and changed back at will. In fact, said form can be attained at any point in the evolutionary line.

So for instance: a Pikachu could have 3 of these evolutions, but so does Pichu and Raichu. One form might be Electric/water, electric/flying, or electric/steel, and all have a unique ability.

The way it works is that for a Pokemon like Pichu, said evolution would give it the same bst as Pikachu, and for Pikachu, the same bst as Raichu, but as a fully evolved Pokemon it does not gain more than that. Each evolution would take the bst of said Pokemon and rearrange the stats to suit its needs (like a scyther/scizor situation), plus come with 1 or 2 level appropriate moves upon evolution.

Pokemon using this method do not level up while in this form, but they do "hold" the experience until they are taken out of the form, in which case it gains any accumulated exp at once- like Shadow Pokemon in Colosseum until they're purified.

This is not a hold item, but rather an item you can use multiple times to activate or deactivate the evolution from your bag. They're not the equivalent of megas- remember, same bst- so it's just meant to give you more strategies to try out.

Oh, and you can teach them tms, including new ones they couldn't learn before. Certain moves, however, will be forgotten when you turn it back.

As far as how many there'd be- I'm still workshopping it, but some can have 1, some can have 2, and some can even have 3. Some can even share a form, such as Heracross and Pinsir.

For some, there's even an advanced form- akin to Golden Armor Digivolving basically- that actually DOES give them a Stat boost- basically picture Charizard becoming Reshiram or something. Only a small handful, though.

As far as story goes, I have it in my head, I even have a pretty rough layout of the beginning in PowerPoint format, but it is mainly concepts, rough explanations, and dialog.

I also have a bunch of trainer sprites made.

As far as actually programming, uhhhh I have Pokemon Essentials. I tried to follow a tutorial and already screwed up. It's tough as hell

Don't get me started on music. Idk how to even start that

And to make even MORE work for myself, I'm thinking about trying to remove my "signature" styling quirk to make it more normal styled. It's hard to quit tbh but I wanna try.

Keep in mind the most help I've had is getting input from friends about some stuff. I wish I had a team working on this lol

Anyway that's all

[maryellencarter]

"What is it about Pokemon specifically that you can't seem to get into?"

You know, I think that's what I'm kind of trying to figure out. It seems like it should be my jam. I didn't grow up gaming -- I'm the right age for the Pokemon phenomenon, give or take, but I was extremely sheltered and had never even picked up a video game controller until about four years ago. (I did get into Mass Effect on PC about twelve years ago, but for a long time that was the only video game I'd ever played.)

I mean, I'm an incurable completionist: I own every single purchasable furniture item in ACNH except one I haven't tracked down yet. I'm all about mathy combat: I calculate potential sneakstrike damage in my head to choose the optimal weapons in Breath of the Wild. I love adorable tiny creatures and evolving them into other slightly less adorable creatures: I have a complete Kanto dex in Pokemon Go, although my increasing mobility issues and the growing pay-to-break-even nature of the app have discouraged me from playing anymore.

But I've tried Let's Go Pikachu, Brilliant Diamond, Scarlet, and Violet, and I haven't gotten past the late midgame in any of them. Partly that's because they really try to force you to have a friend group that plays -- I actually resold my Let's Go cartridge because I was so upset when I found out Gengar was a trade evolution so I wouldn't be able to get one (Gengar is my favorite pokemon, it's so fat and happy and Halloween) -- but I don't think that's the whole reason?

I've been chewing on this for a while, and I'm thinking... it seems to me like a big part of it is that I mostly play games where the devs are more or less on your side. Prepare for the fight the way the game tells you, and it'll be challenging but you'll have good odds of winning. Pokemon has an almost soulsborne attitude where it expects you to go into the fights from about the third gym onwards and *lose* at least once, because there was some kind of clever gotcha with dual-typing or move coverage where they set you up to fail -- you brought a Psychic type to the Fighting gym like the door greeter said, and got owned by Dark moves or a Lucario that has only Steel-type weaknesses.

And that's... probably a good type of game to exist for children? Learning that you're not always going to have all the information, that you will fail, that you might have to step back and refine your plan based on new data and try again, those are all good things to practice. Even as an adult.

But the game never tells you, and the general cultural attitude around Pokemon never tells you, that that's the kind of game it is. You go into a soulsborne, you know from the tutorial area that your ass is there to get kicked. You go into Pokemon being told it's a fun cozy game you can beat while playing like a five-year-old who just picked the mons they liked the best, and the first couple gyms bear out that impression before they flip the script on you.

And I know a big part of the problem is that that is a lesson I could probably use, that it's okay to fail. I tend to be far too much of a perfectionist as well as a completionist. But because it's a game, and I'm aware it's a game that has designers making all these decisions, finding out each new way I've been set up to fail always feels like a slap in the face. I play games when I want something I can succeed at, because god knows the rest of my life isn't that.

So why do I keep coming back? Mainly because it is The franchise for collection completionists, I think. Even that gets annoying, with version exclusives and time-limited mythicals and what all manufactured FOMO, but it's so tempting.

I am kind of interested in learning how to play the older games on emulators, but I'm not sure where one starts with that. I have a gaming laptop that I'm sure could run an emulator, but every time I google it I suspect I'm going to have to finally give in and make a Reddit account in order to access the communities where they teach you about those things.

(A bunch of people have recommended I try Legends Arceus as a different sort of pokemon experience, and I really appreciate the suggestions! I've watched a bunch of Legends Arceus gameplay, and with all the respect in the world, I tend to wind up at "if I wanted to play Breath of the Wild, I'd just boot up Breath of the Wild". The influence is... very apparent. I don't even mean that as a slight -- literally every franchise has been trying to catch up to the ways BotW revolutionized what game worlds are expected to be! But if I'm going to fall in love with Pokemon, it's going to be for the things that make it the most itself? Whatever those are, which I think is what I'm really trying to figure out here.)

Tussling with yet another failed attempt to get into the pokeymans (I think rationally it's probably a genre that is Not For Me, like platformers, but that seems so fucking *stupid*), and I have Some Questions for People. Unfortunately I can only put one poll per post, so please be patient while I stack some reblogs.

[bubonickitten]

I joke around a lot about how I would pay So Much Money for a Pokemon: Eevee Version where the entire selling point is finally giving us an eeveelution for all 18 types and also some dual-types.

And then I saw this:

And I am no longer joking.

With 171 potential combinations, it is entirely feasible to make a Pokemon game centered around Eevee.

Why? Because Eevee deserves it. And because we have had an egregious dearth of new Eeevee content since Sylveon dropped.

Here's my pitch:

The region you live in is an island where Eevee basically became the endemic dominant organism. (If Gamefreak really wants to fuck around and find out, they could play around with real-life evolutionary theory concepts. They've used recent games to teach kids about stuff like environmentalism and conservation and energy/power production, so why not?)

The Pokemon Professor in the game will be a distant relative of, idk, Professor Rowan or Professor Sycamore, who decided that studying Pokemon evolution is too broad and decided to focus on what really matters: Eevee and Eevee-Associated Phenomena.

The player is tasked with filling out the Eeveedex.

The gym leaders still specialize in particular types, but they still only use Eeveelutions, of course. A fire-type leader can have Flareon as their signature 'mon, sure, but for the rest of their team it'll be dual fire types. Which might actually add to the difficulty level, especially if you get some weird type combos like fire/grass, because then you can't just walk in and annihilate their entire team with a single not-overleveled water type unless it's got some appropriate moves.

The Elite Four follows the same trend but with trickier type combos. The Champion has a six-Pokemon team full of the most seemingly contradictory type combos, like fire/water and normal/ghost. And lots of unexpected movesets, like the absolute badass that is Cynthia.

In the post-game Professor Oak will show up to give you the National Dex and you can have access to other 'mons, as a treat, but until then? You get Eevee and its various -eons. It's Eevee's time to shine, which means Eevee and -eons only.

(I might make one (1) exception. There can be That One Fisherman with an entire team of Magikarp, if Gamefreak insists on carrying on that trope. Or he could just have a team of six Vaporeon that only know Splash. I'm willing to compromise.)

[patriamrealm]

I got some questions about the aspects AU

how do people gain aspects?

is it a normal thing for modern trainers?

How does the transition from one evolution to the next work?

What kinds of abilities do the wardens of Hisu have?

How would the people of Hisu see someone with an aspect if they weren't a warden?

Would the MC have an aspect before coming through the rift?

If they do what would it be?

I'm also not sure if this will go anywhere but I have an idea for a character in your AU. Not sure if I will but I might make a story, would you be ok with me doing that?



Ok Yes I have put way too many thoughts into this so lets get into it! Also absolutely you can write a story using this au idea I would absolutely love to read it! >///< Onto answering the questions you have,I'm going to put this under the cut because this is going to get long.

So! The way people gain aspects of their partner pokemon is through the bond between them not that different from the way certain pokemon evolve thorough friendship between them and their trainer.

-----

Having aspects is very normal for modern trainers which moves into the next note. While having aspects is normal it's decently rare to go though evolution with their pokemon.

Much like with gaining the aspects in the first place the bond is very important but along with it people have to train much like their pokemon to get stronger to the point they can evolve.

If people go through the effort, time and getting into battles themselves they tend to evolve at the same time as their partner pokemon though that's not a necessity.

If a pokemon needs a stone or item to evolve that's a third thing that the person with aspects needs to evolve as well. It's pretty rare for a person in modern day to be fully evolved. the ones you'd be most likely to see fully evolved are gym leaders, the elite 4, champions, battle facility heads and the like.

----

The wardens have the same abilities as their noble pokemon, save for Sabi, Lian, and Ingo. The two kids don't have any abilites yet because they havn't been wardens for that long and it's harder to gain aspects with fully evolved pokemon than it is pokemon people pretty much grow up with. and Ingo because he's got aspects of his partner Chandelure, he has picked up some poison type moves like smog and managed to learn shadow claw. He has been learning to battle more like Sneasler because she insists on teaching him.

As for the people of Hisui reacting to people with aspects that aren't of the nobles, well they don't think Ingo has any aspects at all they think he's just a full on ghost. He's not even sure he's alive at this point either. Fear was a big reaction to him and the people of Jubilife villiage are even more fearful of him than the clans were at first. By a lot actually.

But if someone else were to gain aspects of a pokemon that wasn't a noble and wasn't a warden. The MC for instance, the clans would think they've been blessed by the Almighty Sinnoh.

Jubilife villiage and Kamado in particular though. Suspision and fear are the biggest reactions. It has been difficult enough for them to deal with their extreme fear of pokemon let alone the wardens of the clans wielding the same kind of power that the strongest pokemon in the land hold. That already was very new to them and no one else in the world had had that happen before, not to such a repeatable degree that it's expected for wardens to gain aspects of their nobles. A kid falling from the sky and gaining aspects of a pokemon not even remotly related to the nobles? Yeaaa not good.

Also I like the idea of the MC having just been about to or did just start their journy when they were suddenly kidnapped by god and tossed into the past so they bond with one of the starters in Hisui you get from Professor Laventon. (I went with cindiquill because that's the one I picked when I played)

[pokemoncaretips]

Which, if any, dragon types would you recommend for someone who wants to branch into them?

Lets talk applin!

General notes: The smallest and lightest of the dragon types, applin are native to Galar, with a small introduced population in Paldea. With two evolutionary forms to choose from, the applin line is a perfect start for people looking to get into dragon keeping.

General care: The applin is a very small pokemon, easily mistaken for a bug type when moving between apples. It has a very delicate skin, and I don't recommend handling it without gloves, as the salts on your skin can make it uncomfortable. The apples it lives in are both food and shelter in one, and if it doesn't have access to apples it begins to dehydrate. An applin can become weak enough to die if deprived of shelter for longer than 3 days, and it is utterly unable to defend itself.

When happily ensconced in an apple, however, the applin is very easy to care for. Secretions in its skin slow down the decaying process of its home, and one large apple can last an applin just over two weeks before it's depleted and it needs a new one. Don't panic if you accidently fumble its apple, as it licks a sticky saliva over the apple its hiding in that hardens to a tough coating.

Finding an applin is fairly easy, and often if you approach apple farmers in Galar asking for applin they'll thank you for it. Applin infestations can damage their crops.

If your applin is suddenly going from an apple a fortnight to multiple apples a week, it's ready to evolve. I've already offered advice here on what to do, but now we'll go over the different care requirements of the evolved forms.

The flapple is a highly strung pokemon. It has no teeth, but with glands that spray a nasty acid when threatened, it doesn't need them. They make excellent warning systems, which is a polite way of saying they'll scream loudly at the slightest strange noise or sound. Belligerent and determined, they have the dragon attitude crammed into a body that weighs just under a kilo. Despite this, they're largely frugivorous, eating soft berries and the occasional bug pokemon. The acid in their cheek pouches can be used to dissolve harder foods, but they prefer softer ones like blukberries.

The appletun is markedly different. Slightly larger, but not by much, they tend to be nearly half a metre in height and around 13 kilograms. They're calm and sedate, but don't be fooled. Unlike the flapple, the appletun is largely insectivorous, using the sticky sap on its back to lure in bug pokemon. This makes up most of its diet, and if you live in an apartment block, you may have to provide feeder pokemon if it doesn't like kibble. Though unless you have a particularly fussy specimen this is unlikely. Most appletun enjoy the standard insectivore kibble.

Appletun also require a lot of cleaning, as that sticky nectar gets everywhere. Though easy to remove with warm water and a cloth, if you have sensory issues relating to textures, you may struggle with this pokemon.

Tiny and lightweight, with diets fairly easy to accommodate needs, the applin is that rarest of rare pokemon: an easy care dragon type. Care rating: Green

Training: The applin itself is surprising courageous with a trainer at its back, and is willing to throw itself into battle. As well, the entire line is pretty sharp, and picks things up well.

With the flapple, teaching it to not spew acid at the slightest noise of VITAL. Socialization training is the first thing you need to get onto when you get an applin if you intend to evolve it into flapple. They'll always be nervy, but if you can teach them to stop and check in with you instead of screaming and spraying, then they're excellent watch pokemon and battlers.

Appletun have a strong history as service pokemon for trainers with anxiety. Training rating: Green.

Safety: This one gets one of my rare "variable" ratings, as each evolution is different. Applin of course are solid greens, lacking any teeth, claws or venom. And the entire line is quite small and lightweight, which is one of the major safety issues with dragon types.

Appletun are slow, sedate and quiet, and though they'll spray sticky nectar if they feel threatened, this does nothing worse than burn slightly if it gets in the eyes, and can be washed off.

The flapple is as dangerous as it gets, which to be fair, is pretty dangerous. That acid is no joke, and was in fact used long ago in Galar to do metal etching. With good training, it can restrain this weapon, but I still wouldn't trust flapple near small children.

On another note. If you encounter a clay coloured flapple in the wild, that's NOT a shiny. Quietly back away. Flapple repair damage to their apple shell with a clay coloured secretion. That flapple is a high level, VERY experienced battler, and is likely very dangerous. Safety rating: Variable

Overall ranking. With an easy early evolution and a small compact body plan, the applin line is excellent for those looking to get into dragon keeping, whether you want something friendly and fun, like the appletun, or a steady ramping up of challenge, like the flapple. You really couldn't ask for a better starter dragon.

[pokemonshelterstories]

Hey, this is a bit of an odd question, but I hope you can help by sharing your opinion? I was one of those crazy flying type girls as a child- trying to fly and everything. So when my mom got me a starly at 10, I was over the moon. It was a while back, when there were a lot more lax cultural attitudes about kids going on 'journies'. Me and Opinion the starly set out and roamed the land for a solid few months before the predictable happened- I didn't go through proper Fly training and broke my arm trying to teach a Staravia a move that he wasn't ready for. It was a stressful situation, and my mom didn't really educate me on evolution, so when I was stuck back home Opinion was... it wasn't a good fit for him anymore. Eventually, my mom took Opinion to a shelter while I was at school, and... that was that. I don't know what happened to him.

It's been over a decade and I still just... can't trust myself with pokemon. I know that, logically, setting a ten year old on free roam was stupid and reckless of my mother, but I loved pokemon so, so much. I wanted to do the best for Opinion, and I still feel like a failure- like I could have advocated for his needs more. I was the one that loved pokemon, so I feel like... I should have known better. Logically I was ten, but... I don't know. I want to get involved with my local shelter, but I'm so afraid I'll be the one to hurt another pokemon. I'm terrified of even holding my friend's skitty. I know it wasn't strictly my fault, but... I don't know how to take that step forward when I've already failed a pokemon that depended on me.

I'm sorry if this is a bit heavy. But I've been following you for a while and I don't really know who else to ask. Most just say to 'find a new partner and start a new journey', but starting a journey is what cost me my first pokemon.

thank you for sharing your story. there are plenty of people who've had similar struggles with their pokemon journey- but they often don't get as much attention as stories of young people who manage to become champions

as someone who was afraid of working with pokemon for a long time (not because i was worried about hurting them, but because i've always been scared of pokemon in general), you have to take it at your own pace. honestly, i'd recommend touching base with a therapist who specializes in the relationship between people and pokemon. losing opinion the way you did sounds like it was really traumatic for you, especially since you never got closure.

of course, it's important to remember that you were 10 years old and couldn't really be expected to make decisions for and care for another living being all by yourself. but, as someone who's messed up plenty of times with the pokemon i've worked with- training pokemon isn't easy. even the best of trainers make mistakes. i was definitely not a good advocate for my pet meowth as a kid, or even really all that good of an owner. but one of the greatest thanks you can give to the pokemon you messed up with, and one of the greatest gifts you can give to the pokemon you'll come to know, is to take what you've learned and use it to better the life of other pokemon. that could be helping at a shelter, or it could be just sharing your story around. starting a journey doesn't sound like it's what you need right now, but i think you have a lot to offer any pokemon you eventually come to work with, and i think just spending some quiet time with some pokemon at a shelter might be a good first step for you!

[originalwinnercheesecake]

Anne, Sasha, and Marcy as Pokemon Trainers

.

So apparently my new favorite thing is to take story based family cartoons and turn all the characters into Pokemon trainers. I have already done 2 posts for The Owl House, Gravity falls has a post saved in my drafts, and I have plans for multiple other cartoons. The Owl house just ended, and that has sme poeple talking about Amphibia to again (I know the endings were different, I am not gonna say which ending was better. One show was about the hardships of growing up, one show was about the importance of finding a supportive community). But I figured now was as god as any time to do my Amphibia trio as trainers post. I am only making Anne, Sasha, and Marcy pokemon trainers. The amphibious characters I am using as inspirations for their teams.

ANNE BOONCHUY”S TEAM:

Froakie: It’s a tough little Frog pokemon, and I picked it to represent Anne’s bonds with the Planters and the Frog citizens of Amphibia.

Torracat: Anne loves her cat Domino more than almost anything in the world. When she first tells Sprig and Polly about Domino she states “You would like her. She has fire”. So  I had to give her a fire-type cat pokemon. I chose the second evolution of Litten’s line because Anne has a;ready invested so much time into raising and training Domino, that I feel like she would have already evolved the first time.

A western Gastrodon: I picked this one for a couple reasons. 1.) I really wanted to give Anne a sea based water-type because she mentions that loves the aquarium in her home town and goes there whenever she feels sad. Also while I know a sea slug and a garden snail are not the same thing, Gastrodon still reminded me a bit of Bessie. I went with its Western apparence because it is blue, Anne’s calamity color

Ambipom: Since Tennis is Anne’s sport I tired to find a tennis based pokemon that she could train/play with. There is not any pokemon that are tennis based. So after looking and finding nothing I decided to instead give Anne an Ambipom. She could teach one to play tennis with her. It stands upright and has two gloved hands on its twin tails for holding and swinging a racket.

Honedge and Bronzo: Honedge is a single bade which is the weapon Anne learns to wield during her time on Amphibia. Bronzo is a shield and representative of Anne’s protective nature for towards her friends and her willingness to leap to the defense of those in need

Anne’s team: Froakie, Torracat, Western Gastrodon, Ambipom, Honedge, Bronzo

SASHA WAYBRIGHT”S TEAM

Crogunk: its a fighting toad, and represents Sasha’s bond with Grime and the Toad citizens of Amphibia.

Doublade: Sasha learns to wield dual blades during her time in Amphibia

Pom-Pom style Oricorio: Surprise, surprise there actually is a cheer leading based pokemon. Well actually its 1 pokemon with 4 different styles based on what color flower nectar it is fed. Cheer leading Pom-Pom style is flying and electric, and is maintained by giving it nectar from yellow flowers. I imagine that is what Sasha would feed hers.

Hitmontop and Braixen: So when Sasha creates a introduction title for herself, after hearing General Yuana’s many times, she recounts that she is “Captian of the cheer squad, top scorer on the arcades dance game, and 1st lieutenant of Grimes Army”. She seems equally as proud of her dance skills as she is of her fighting skills, so I gave her two fighting type pokemon that also have moves when it comes to dance

Houndour: okay Sasha is really protective of her loved ones too, but unlike Anne she is a lot more forceful and alpha type. So instead of a shield she gets an alpha guard dog... I also wanted to give her a dog because she cannonly struggles with going back and forth between her parents houses, and according to Matt was just starting to realize her bisexuality during the shows original run and that realization was scaring her. the girl is going through a lot and I feel she needs something furry to pet/hug.

Sasha’s team: Crogunk, Doublade, Pom-pom style Oricorio, Hitmontop, Braixen, Houndour

MARCY WU’S TEAM

Marcy was actually the hardest of the three girls to chose a team for, and I had to change and eliminate some pokemon I had originally picked out for her, but I eventually buit a team that I am satisfied properly represents Marcy’s character

Treeko: It’s a Newt and reprasentative of Marcy’s bonds with Yuana, and lady Olivia and the Newt citizens of Amphibia

Decidueye: I looked for a bow and arrow or crossbow pokemon but no. Deidueye as the only archer pokemon I could find. it’s high level but since Marcy is both the most strategic and researched of the group, as well as an experianced battler I could see her being able to level it up fast.  Still after giving her Decidueye I had to take pigeot (Joe Sparrow) off her list.

Ledyba: Marcy has a notable interest in bugs in the show (ants, spiders, ladybugs, and beetles). I looked at the pokemon counterparts and I picked Ledyba because it looked liked the one that was the least likely to injury her while training.

Lampent: she is good a architecture and public lighting.

Rotom: closest thing I could find to an electrical/ computer based pokemon

Klefki: she wants to go to new and unknown areas to adventure. I did not want to give her an unknown, because I have already given it to a couple other nerd characters and they’re supposed to be rare. So instead I am giving her klefki to unlock new doorways to hidden adventure. plus its a fairy type which appeals to Macy being a fantasy nerd.

Marcy’s team: treekco, Deidueye, Ledyba, Lampen, Rotom, and Klefki.

[cutekittenlady]

My new pokemon challenge needs a name!

I just had a successful first stream with a new Pokemon challenge I made up (at least I think its new I haven't seen anybody else doing a playthrough with these exact rules so yeah) but the thing is the challenge needs a name. I would love to make it stand out and even see other people try their hand at it.

So yeah the rules are as follows;

You have to nickname every pokemon you catch/receive. After all you want to differentiate them from others of their species.

Only the first pokemon you enounter in every area is catchable (not sure how to apply this to SV but figure that bridge can be crossed when its approached)

Multi-leveled/multi-part areas are considered one area. Can use repels to get to specific areas/floors to get specific encounters.

Gift encounters such as eggs are considered freebies

Special in-game encounters like sudowoodo and snorlax are considered optional. If skipped a pokemon can still be obtained from the area, if the pokemon is intended to be caught but somehow fails then the area is considered lost.

Every first catchable encounter is you ONLY opportunity to catch this specific species of pokemon or any member of its evolutionary family. This applies to pre-evos, branch evolutions, etc.

example: if you encounter Eevee first but fail to catch it you can never use any eeveelution for the rest of the playthrough.

note: special in-game encounters count as species encounters whether they succeed or fail.

You can only own a single pokemon of each type. Multi type pokemon cover both types. Tera types also count since they're semi-permanent. Although other temporary type changes caused by abilities, moves, etc don't count.

You can only have a single pokemon of each nature. Those who are alike will fight after all. If a pokemon you catch has a conflicting nature you have to release it immediately after catching it.

There are also some special rules specifically to address HM's. Basically there are no HM mules or HM slaves in the challenge, but you do have 3 new options instead. Each comes with its own pros/cons. You can use them interchangeably or combined so long as they don't violate each others rulesets.

Default. You teach an HM to a member of your team. A regular member of your team, not being trained fully for this sort of work, can only learn one HM each. The HM is permanent and can not be removed until the playthrough is over. And only right before potentially being transferred.

'Hired Help'. You're trainer, instead of using a member of your team, can instead bring in some 'hired help'. This is a pokemon contracted to the team to fulfill a specific HM obligation. They do not have a nickname, only temporarily fill a typing slot though only on the team they are immediately on (ie to use a "hired help" who is a water type you need to temporarily box any water types you already have), do not count as a route encounter, and only count as a species encounter if their species has not been encountered previously.Since they are not your pokemon and are not considered a member of your team officially they can not take part in battle. If forced out by a move like whirlwind or roar they must be immediately called back.They fill a semi-permanent slot on the team until you win a major battle against a gym leader, rival, or plot relevant evil team encounter. At which point its contractual obligations will come to an end and it must be immediately released. This is also the only pokemon that can not be used on a team when facing the pokemon league.

'Utility Specialist'. The utility specialist is the most direct replacement this ruleset has for an HM mule/slave. This is a pokemon your trainer has specially trained for the use of field moves like HM's. You can only have 1 Utility specialist on your team but once it's added it's a permanent member and can never be removed for any reason. Not a gym battle. Not the pokemon league, champion, evil team, elite four, etc. They fill type and nature slots, have a nickname and are considered the official encounter for their respective route and species. They are also the only member of you're team you can specifically seek out. As a trade off for all this, they are the only option listed that can have all 4 of their move slots filled with HM moves.

So yeah this is the ruleset I'm currently doing a playthrough of Pokemon White with, and am wondering if you guys have any suggestions for names for this specific type of challenge? Also feel free to ask any sort of questions you may have regarding the challenge.