Hm.
I wonder if we could use some combination/fusion of repel and smokebombs to deter the bugs from pursuing us. Something that releases a large cloud of something really unpleasant to them, to encourage them to go be somewhere else. It would be super-useful in that situation.
Smart.
@wdango so would metapods/kakunas start with only harden like in the game? Or have stuff like poison sting and tackle from their preevolution?
In this case, cocoon Pokémon are all helpless and don't even have Harden lol.
It's a metamorphosis process that finishes automatically.
how do you train pokemon in this setting? If the only option to train them is to battle other pokemon with the risk of death always looming over us, going for the easy weaklings might be as much of a trap as going for dangerous challenges. It's also worth it to point out that it might not be as easy to evolve pokemon here as it is in the game-- Murkrow is said to evolve "as early as 4-5 years old"; despite being a fourth to a third of its average lifespan, it still comes off as being actually fairly quick for this setting. After all, if it was that easy to train and evolve pokemon outside of battle, Magikarp would be incredibly viable.
Depending on exactly how short of a lifespan we're talking about, we might also want to avoid pokemon known to be short-lived, even if we decide to go into breeding-- A Better World hints at wanting to grow attached to pokemon as companions, and it's hard to grow attached to a pokemon you know will only live for a few years at best.
You can train Pokémon outside of combat, no worries. In fact, you'll be doing minimal combat as much as you can, unless it's a subjugation mission.
Yes, evolution isn't a level up thing, since there is no concept of level in this quest. Different Pokémon have different evolutionary requirements, which can be discovered through in-depth research.
I'll throw in Magikarp for free -- it needs to swim up a waterfall of a certain height and then it will naturally evolve. Unlike most Pokémon, a Magikarp's evolution into a Gyarados is almost instant.
Kotone doesn't yet see Pokémon as things to get attached to, but maybe eventually. Right now she's more thinking putting them to use in industry/technology.
I'm still considering going for magikarp if we have a way to level it up well. Perhaps get some money, buy a bunch of rare candy, and stuff it until it learns tackle/evolves?
Rare Candy isn't a thing. Levels also aren't a thing.
I think you might be overestimating Abra. They literally just sleep all the time. As long as you're far enough away that it couldn't feel you telepathically I'm pretty sure you could just tranq it.
Admittedly it detection range is likely to be quite good, but if anything works, a long distance sniper-tranq will.
If they can detect you at even a sniper's max range and port out, there'll likely be no real way of getting them at all, bar dark-types.
Even if we assume that its detection range and reflexes are such that we can hit it from a long distance before it can teleport (which, I admit, is entirely possible), the real issue is finding it in the first place. Abra teleports even in its sleep-- once every hour, double-checking the pokedex entries. Unless the QM isn't canonizing all pokedex entries-- Murkrow's information generally reflects its entries, so I'm inclined to think that they are-- we aren't finding something that moves that often while leaving no tracks unless we have some kind of psychic energy detector or just set up in known haunts of Abra and hope we get really, really lucky. Speaking of which-- what kind of equipment do we actually have access to, anyway?
Smart. Sniping it at long range with a tranq is something that is guaranteed to succeed provided you actually hit it.
But yes, finding it is definitely the problem in this case. And training it to be useful outside of its sleep patterns.
...And preventing it from running away when you release it for the first time. But there are ways to do this.
You have access to firearms, explosives, incendiaries, drugs, poisons and venoms, ropes, some traps, your phone..... Ghillie suits. Repels will be difficult to requisition but possible. Medkits. Painkillers and adrenaline syringes, also hard to requisition, but possible.
Bunch of stuff.
Ash is a special case who gets access to TMs, but you can't even use one yet, let alone requisition one.
Special elemental bullets might be available, but they're expensive so you're unlikely to get many if at all. Depends on your interviews tbh.
Don't forget you probably have to deal with Pokémon that aren't your target, too, as long as it's in the same habitat.
