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Hard Enough - Pokemon SI

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Viva01 said:
I made a detour over to the wall. "Hey! Shrek!" I called out. A series of squelching noises heralded that I had a pokemon's interest. "Time for training!" I said.

A large ribbit preceded a blue and white form landing in perfect three-point superhero landing. Then she winked at me.

I scoffed at my Poliwrath. "I was talking to Shrek, Hypnotoad. You've been spending too much time watching television instead of training if this is how you're acting" I said teasingly.
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Well, this is a revelation.

...and I know Brock probably wouldn't find it funny at all, but with Shrek (Swampert), Hypnotoad (Poliwrath), Shin (Kabutops), and Shelly (Omastar), he's actually got the makings of a team of strong water-type Pokemon.

Ironically, I bet Lola would be pretty proud of this fact (in so far as she cares about anyone else), given that she strongly prefers water Pokemon herself.

Viva01 said:
She nodded and the other pokemon straightened up at that. Titan grinned and I hummed. It was true that it had been a while since I'd had all of my pokemon from my journey together. Not that it was possible any longer.

Not since I lost my first Onix…
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This sounds like a sad story. Brock, I want to give you a hug.

Viva01 said:
I got closer and was surprised when Forrest kneeled next to her face, getting on her level. "Hey, you're doing great with your training! You just need to have time. It's been great having that drive but you're trying to leap a gap too large right now. I'm gonna start giving you building steps from now on."

She grumbled, but he reached out putting a hand on her. "Hey, you know you're a lot stronger than you were, right? I read a report about Missy taking you out only to have you take out a roaming swarm of Beedril no? Could you have done that a few months ago?"

She shook her head. Forrest leaned in and clenched a fist in front of Challenger's face, "Well trust in me that you're getting stronger. You're getting a lot more experience, and it is showing! In a few more months you'll probably be a powerful Golem!." She perked up at that and Forrest nodded. "Yeah, keep that goal in sight, and we'll re-evaluate where you're at then yeah?"

She raised her arms and bellowed her agreement at that. Forrest pat her on the head. "Now let me and Dad pamper you. You deserve it."

Flint hummed in an approving manner while Forrest leaned in to work on cleaning Graveler out the old-fashioned way with a wire brush that Challenger seemed to like. I frowned, oddly conflicted at how Forrest was falling into what Flint told him but also proud that he was showing good skills with pokemon. I just hoped he realised that when you had more than three Gravelers or Golem to work on it was demanding too much to wire brush them all. You had to find other methods for treating sand in the cracks. I huffed and I let him do as he wanted.
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I love that we get to see Forrest being good with Pokemon as he was in canon. He's had some emotional upsets and some growing pains as a young teen, but he's still ultimately the good-hearted young man who became the Pewter Gym Leader in another timeline.

It's also interesting to see the contrasts between Flint and Brock in their knowledge and methodology. Neither of them is wrong in their methodologies, they just have different prioritizations and expectations, given that Brock has many more Pokemon to take care of.

...I'm also now wondering what a non-water liquid would do. Probably it would be too expensive to use oil or vinegar in a water gun instead of the hose, but I'm curious if that would annoy or irritate the rock-Pokemon as much since it isn't water.

Viva01 said:
A dark part of me was pleased for half a second before I realised how horrible that was. "Sorry, Yolanda, Forrest has our… guest bailed up out in the pokemon area.

Yolanda blinked a bit and scowled. "He does? But…" her eyes flickered around at the other kids before she sighed explosively. "That's so… what he would do, wouldn't he?"

I nodded and ignored the way my guts wrenched as she slumped into her seat
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Ah yes. Flint coming back doesn't make everything good. There are still some old problems and some new problems, and it's going to be an adjustment for everybody.
 
In defence of Flint, it could be that he was scared of screwing things up with Forrest now that he's on a roll with connecting with him, so instead of interrupting him to go have breakfast with the whole family he's sticking with a one on one to keep the good thing going.

I mean, it's not a good solution or anything, but screwing up out of anxiety is much more forgivable than screwing up out of carelessness.
 
Obloquy said:
...I'm also now wondering what a non-water liquid would do. Probably it would be too expensive to use oil or vinegar in a water gun instead of the hose, but I'm curious if that would annoy or irritate the rock-Pokemon as much since it isn't water
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Vinigar would be worse since it breaks down minerals, even if energy wise it would probably irritate less

Honestly? Mineral oil bath, like baby oil stuff, with jets. Sand sinks to the bottom, dirt floats on top, air burst to dry and recollect some oil.

Or an air hose, actually?
 
NemiTheNen said:
Vinigar would be worse since it breaks down minerals, even if energy wise it would probably irritate less

Honestly? Mineral oil bath, like baby oil stuff, with jets. Sand sinks to the bottom, dirt floats on top, air burst to dry and recollect some oil.

Or an air hose, actually?
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Honestly, a proper sand-blasting might work.
 
Daniel is most likely a member of Team Rocket. But good luck stealing anything when Brock is stuck at the Gym due to the Trainer Rush or whatever it is called.
 
Pinklestia said:
Daniel is most likely a member of Team Rocket. But good luck stealing anything when Brock is stuck at the Gym due to the Trainer Rush or whatever it is called.
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with how busy everyone is, it'd be expected that some sort of weakness would show itself. It's just that Brock has a fairly solid system in place for basically everything. His surprise Porygon is still there after all.
 
Obloquy said:
...and I know Brock probably wouldn't find it funny at all, but with Shrek (Swampert), Hypnotoad (Poliwrath), Shin (Kabutops), and Shelly (Omastar), he's actually got the makings of a team of strong water-type Pokemon.

Ironically, I bet Lola would be pretty proud of this fact (in so far as she cares about anyone else), given that she strongly prefers water Pokemon herself.
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You forgot Tide (Lapras) that said while that is 5 if your looking at it as a water type team it's fine under add one or two water types to the roster but isn't that good if you were going to go monotype though Swampert is one of the top picks for that due to having a mega and being one of the few physical based ones especially with waterfall for stab and ice punch and earthquake for coverage.
 
This is hilarious XD I KNEW this was where Brock's Dark typing would come out, and it did. Gonna bite him in the butt hard, of course, but Karen would certainly be surprised XD
 
I'm legitimately excited to see Brock's mom try to come back and take over. He's gonna flip when she does that, and it will be glorious. Sabrina probably won't be too happy as well.


Edit: I can't stop thinking about a far future dark/psychic doubles gym now. Sabrina would have to leave her gym…. Or maybe they would only have the doubles as a special challenge in one of their gyms.
 
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IndigoPhoenix said:
I'm legitimately excited to see Brock's mom try to come back and take over. He's gonna flip when she does that, and it will be glorious. Sabrina probably won't be too happy as well.
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With Flint, at least the older kids remembered him. With the mother? She left like as soon as the youngest was born, and that started the downward spiral for Flint. I don't think she would get the sympathy from the kids that Flint gets; the only one in her corner would be Flint himself.
 
Jordisk said:
With Flint, at least the older kids remembered him. With the mother? She left like as soon as the youngest was born, and that started the downward spiral for Flint. I don't think she would get the sympathy from the kids that Flint gets; the only one in her corner would be Flint himself.
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Yep, It kinda honestly feels like Flint and Lola didn't have the healthiest relationship either, with the ways that he keeps trying to make excuses for her bad behavior. It's possible that after he got PTSD in the war he latched onto her as a coping mechanism, which definitely isn't a healthy way to see your partner. We haven't actually seen Lola's side of the story yet, but with the way that she's regarded by Brock and his siblings, it make me think that she was a much worse/more irresponsible parent than Flint was.
 
Gratz Flint by trying to spend time with the one kid you managed to avoid spending time with the rest.... and your oldest Son and your oldest Daughter are still picking up the slack....
 
NemiTheNen said:
Or an air hose, actually?
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This is what I was thinking! A powerful air hose would be more comfortable for the pokemon and would certainly save on the water bill. Get one of those and create the equivalent of a pokemon car wash using rotating brushes? Heh, it'd be like giving the pokemon a rock polish spa treatment every day. :)
 
IndigoPhoenix said:
Edit: I can't stop thinking about a far future dark/psychic doubles gym now. Sabrina would have to leave her gym…. Or maybe they would only have the doubles as a special challenge in one of their gyms.
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Honestly, Sabrina can cross-continent teleport multiple times per day. She and Brock could get married and she could just teleport to Saffron and back to run the Gym every day if she wanted too, although here might be some tax and regulatory issues if she isn't officially living in Saffron City despite running that Gym.
 
Obloquy said:
Honestly, Sabrina can cross-continent teleport multiple times per day. She and Brock could get married and she could just teleport to Saffron and back to run the Gym every day if she wanted too, although here might be some tax and regulatory issues if she isn't officially living in Saffron City despite running that Gym.
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Cue Mr. Mohawk CPA bringing up an obscure tax loophole regarding how a Gym Leader's primary residence is where the majority of their Pokemon are stabled from a statutory perspective. :p
 
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