So an interesting thing is, despite knowing for centuries that Groudon and Kyogre existed, scientists never really took them into account in their calculations. There's plenty of historical evidence to back up their existence, everything from Sky Pillar to written records from the time of Sir Aaron, but people not from Hoenn didn't really seriously take this into consideration cause they didn't have context. It's a lot easier to dismiss something as nothing more than the mad ramblings of a king or the interpretation of a normal phenomenon through a supernatural lens when you're not from that region.
But now that they broke free again and in order to deny their existence you'd have to be willfully ignorant, so many things have to be rewritten. The very premise of Groudon and Kyogre's existence overturned so many scientific papers. Years worth of research needs to be re-evaluated and redone because it turns out, yeah, we were right, the gods are fucking with out weather!
Some researchers have recently proposed that the Unovan paleoflooding event ca 3000 years ago was caused by an awakening of Kyogre! Although other researchers think there's insufficient evidence of contemporaneous flooding elsewhere in the world. It's a major point of contention in the Unovan archaeology scene right now.
My biggest problem right now is the first two gyms, the so called “beginner” ones, are bug and grass. I only have my bounsweet and azumarill. And I know they could do it, eventually, but I also don’t want to push them too hard. Like, Lapis (azumarill) could probably take on the bug gym but she’s still getting back in the swing of battling after becoming disabled. And she’s still learning signs for battles. So it’s not fair to expect her to take on three bug types (well. Ones a normal type terastalizes into bug) in a row, and Bowsette can’t support very well because. Grass type. So I called the battle off when lapis was getting overwhelmed. But also the other “beginner” gym is grass type and neither lapis or Bowsette can do much there.
I’ve tried catching a third Pokémon to add to the team but… I haven’t been able to.
-💎 ( @flowerandjewel)
your pokemon definitely don't have great matchups, but let's see what we can do.
long post + battle strats under the cut
I've never trained or battled with a disabled pokemon, so I can't give you much advice there. keep working on teaching your azumarill battle signs, because that will help with speed and ease of communication. a lot of battling is learning how to work with your pokemon, and your pokemon learning how to work with you. battling is hard work, and takes time. make sure not to push your pokemon too hard. it can be a detriment if they're under a lot of pressure. focus on being encouraging, and reward behaviours you want to see more of.
now for battle strategy.
bounsweet, as a grass type, is obviously a bad matchup against bug types, and it's a similar situation with azumarill and grass. neither pokemon are known to have access to moves that change their type, so that's off the table.
the bug gym will probably be easier to tackle (ha ha) first.
according to research, most azumarill know rollout from a very young age. I'm going to guess and say that your pokemon aren't very experienced yet, but if your azumarill doesn't know/has forgotten rollout I'd see about talking to a move reminder.
rollout is a rock-type move that gets stronger with consecutive uses, though it's a bit more likely to miss than most moves. rock is super effective against bug type pokemon, so I'd give that a shot.
if your azumarill has defense curl and is having trouble, I might use that once or twice at the start of battle before committing to rollouts. azumarill tend to be tanky, and as a fully evolved pokemon they tend to be a little stronger, so you have that on your side.
tail whip is inferior for this purpose because you lower the attack the opponent pokemon, who in an optimal scenario are going to be fainting, and you don't want to break your rollout streak by tail whipping the next 'mon. defense curl raises your own defense, and given what you've told me you're unlikely to be switching out of lapis, so that should last you the battle.
this strategy also has the advantage of only needing two signs, so it shouldn't be too hard to teach.
if you want a bit of an edge up going in and are willing to give your opponent a free hit, you might try sending bowsette out first and having her use sweet scent before switching out, which will lower the evasion of the first pokemon you face and make getting the ball rolling (ha ha) on rollout easier. it shouldn't be necessary, though.
if you are still having trouble, my advice is that you're probably just not ready for the gym yet, and you should practice some more before trying again.
however, if you're willing to spend the time/money, getting your hands on a wide lens will increase the accuracy of rollout so that it almost never misses, but you should make sure it's worth the investment first. they're around P20,000 new in paldea, which is obviously a lot, but you can get them secondhand for around P5,000, which is a lot more reasonable. just make sure they're in decent condition (not scuffed, broken, etc. a bad lens can actually lower your accuracy).
a fire-type pokemon would obviously be a lot of help with both these gyms, and I'd recommend it for type coverage in the future as well. I can't give many tips on catching mons- most of mine picked me, if I'm being honest. there are always pokemon shelters, if you're desperate, and you'll be helping a pokemon in need of a home.
I'd recommend avoiding the grass gym until you get another teammate or are much more experienced unless it's necessary. paldeans don't have a set order for the gyms, right?
my only tip for the grass gym with your team as-is is that grass resists grass, so avoid using those moves on your opponents. go for rapid spin instead, which hits for neutral effectiveness.
Nods nods nods. I am taking notes yes. I’ll work with lapis on the defense curl and rollout thing! She actually does already know rollout, and I had tried with it, but the moments when she didn’t hit, that’s what led to loss, because while she can take hits decently well, she can’t take them THAT well, and the extra defense will definitely help when like, rollout misses or something.
I’ll have to look around to see if I can find a wide lens that’s a decent price but also not bad…
And… yeah I probably will leave the grass gym for now. I saw my brother take him on and his last Pokémon was a rock type terastalizes to be grass… but it still had rock type moves. So just making sure my next mon is super effective against grass won’t work because rock is good against them. Maybe once Bowsette evolves, since rock won’t be super strong but neither will grass like it would against lapis? I think there’s an ice type kicking move right? Maybe she’ll learn that?
grass resists itself, so that might provide some defensive bonus depending on how the gym leader plays things. the only super effective move v grass that steenee can learn is triple axel via TM, an ice type physical attack.
given that you're in paldea, you may want to look into having a non-water tera type for azumarill. I haven't researched terastalizing very heavily, so I can't advise about what tera type would be best, but I'll lay out some options.
I do know that the STAB from a pokemon's tera type stacks with its normal STAB, which could make its fairy type moves extremely powerful.
steel is the most defensive single type, but azumarill lacks the moveset to take advantage of a steel type STAB. on the other hand, it doesn't share any weaknesses with azumarill, and turns its grass and poison weaknesses into a resistance and an immunity. so with a steel tera type you'd be sacrificing the offensive potential another type could give you for some incredible defense and the potential to completely change an unfavourable matchup.
I'm not clear on what exactly the process for changing a pokemon's tera type is, so it might not be reasonable of feasible to do it right now, but I'd think about it. you also might want to take into account the order of the gyms when thinking about when to change your tera type.
some guy who calls himself a "cemetery groundskeeper" or something thinks all those skeletons belong to him. easier to find them out in the woods where nobody's using them
My biggest problem right now is the first two gyms, the so called “beginner” ones, are bug and grass. I only have my bounsweet and azumarill. And I know they could do it, eventually, but I also don’t want to push them too hard. Like, Lapis (azumarill) could probably take on the bug gym but she’s still getting back in the swing of battling after becoming disabled. And she’s still learning signs for battles. So it’s not fair to expect her to take on three bug types (well. Ones a normal type terastalizes into bug) in a row, and Bowsette can’t support very well because. Grass type. So I called the battle off when lapis was getting overwhelmed. But also the other “beginner” gym is grass type and neither lapis or Bowsette can do much there.
I’ve tried catching a third Pokémon to add to the team but… I haven’t been able to.
-💎 ( @flowerandjewel)
your pokemon definitely don't have great matchups, but let's see what we can do.
long post + battle strats under the cut
I've never trained or battled with a disabled pokemon, so I can't give you much advice there. keep working on teaching your azumarill battle signs, because that will help with speed and ease of communication. a lot of battling is learning how to work with your pokemon, and your pokemon learning how to work with you. battling is hard work, and takes time. make sure not to push your pokemon too hard. it can be a detriment if they're under a lot of pressure. focus on being encouraging, and reward behaviours you want to see more of.
now for battle strategy.
bounsweet, as a grass type, is obviously a bad matchup against bug types, and it's a similar situation with azumarill and grass. neither pokemon are known to have access to moves that change their type, so that's off the table.
the bug gym will probably be easier to tackle (ha ha) first.
according to research, most azumarill know rollout from a very young age. I'm going to guess and say that your pokemon aren't very experienced yet, but if your azumarill doesn't know/has forgotten rollout I'd see about talking to a move reminder.
rollout is a rock-type move that gets stronger with consecutive uses, though it's a bit more likely to miss than most moves. rock is super effective against bug type pokemon, so I'd give that a shot.
if your azumarill has defense curl and is having trouble, I might use that once or twice at the start of battle before committing to rollouts. azumarill tend to be tanky, and as a fully evolved pokemon they tend to be a little stronger, so you have that on your side.
tail whip is inferior for this purpose because you lower the attack the opponent pokemon, who in an optimal scenario are going to be fainting, and you don't want to break your rollout streak by tail whipping the next 'mon. defense curl raises your own defense, and given what you've told me you're unlikely to be switching out of lapis, so that should last you the battle.
this strategy also has the advantage of only needing two signs, so it shouldn't be too hard to teach.
if you want a bit of an edge up going in and are willing to give your opponent a free hit, you might try sending bowsette out first and having her use sweet scent before switching out, which will lower the evasion of the first pokemon you face and make getting the ball rolling (ha ha) on rollout easier. it shouldn't be necessary, though.
if you are still having trouble, my advice is that you're probably just not ready for the gym yet, and you should practice some more before trying again.
however, if you're willing to spend the time/money, getting your hands on a wide lens will increase the accuracy of rollout so that it almost never misses, but you should make sure it's worth the investment first. they're around P20,000 new in paldea, which is obviously a lot, but you can get them secondhand for around P5,000, which is a lot more reasonable. just make sure they're in decent condition (not scuffed, broken, etc. a bad lens can actually lower your accuracy).
a fire-type pokemon would obviously be a lot of help with both these gyms, and I'd recommend it for type coverage in the future as well. I can't give many tips on catching mons- most of mine picked me, if I'm being honest. there are always pokemon shelters, if you're desperate, and you'll be helping a pokemon in need of a home.
I'd recommend avoiding the grass gym until you get another teammate or are much more experienced unless it's necessary. paldeans don't have a set order for the gyms, right?
my only tip for the grass gym with your team as-is is that grass resists grass, so avoid using those moves on your opponents. go for rapid spin instead, which hits for neutral effectiveness.
So I met this Gengar shortly after my parents died and I moved into a foster home. He kind of just.. lurked and messed around with my dick foster parents, which was cool in my book, but we only really became friends once I escaped that house. He helped me steal stuff like food and clothes and in return I let him stay with me. We are very close and I would probably have died had he not chose to stick by my side.
…Then again had I not caught him like last week I probably would have died of soul snatching because it turns out that Gengar naturally siphon your life force when constantly exposed to them.
alternative: if your parents had any alternate baby names for you, that could be funny. dead sibling energy.
popsicle. or mr. freeze. gengar often chill their surroundings.
snatcher, mr pickpocket, moondancer or moonshadow (based on folklore about laughing shadows being attributed to them), pantomime (gengar like to imitate people's shadows), King of the Cackling Dark (king for short)
zenful or zenmore could be fun to contrast with your banette. peeper, either in the sense of being noisy or in the sense of looking at something- meditite do have large eyes, and peering at you through a narrow cave could probably be considered peeping. door-a. adoorable? spelunky or senior spelunk, because you found them while exploring a cave.
you could also name them after a style of martial arts, or a monk.
zenful or zenmore could be fun to contrast with your banette. peeper, either in the sense of being noisy or in the sense of looking at something- meditite do have large eyes, and peering at you through a narrow cave could probably be considered peeping. door-a. adoorable? spelunky or senior spelunk, because you found them while exploring a cave.
you could also name them after a style of martial arts, or a monk.
@dr-eepy these are great name ideas. I’m especially fond of Sir Flatbread… I’ll have to think about it because I try not to make impulse decisions, but uh, your permission to use that? -🌸
