victory_road | (no subject)

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[Note, this is a mass-text to Armin's close friends (Shiro, Tyler, Steven, Jean, Angel, Maya etc etc). If you have long-term CR with Armin, feel free to assume your character was included in this text.]

I guess there is officially no way back now...

[Attached to that rather cryptic seeming message is a photo. It's a photo of a very official-looking document. There is a Pokemon League header, and while the complete letter is not visible, enough of it is to make out the words 'Dear Mr Arlert.

We hereby grant you permission to build your gym in the applied for location. A League-certified contractor and building crew will contact you within three business day to--'.

It is done. It is time. And he is absolutely terrified.]

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I am really glad I found it. We'll close off the bay so my Lapras won't have to worry about anything. And part of the bay will serve as the gym's actual battle arena. You should come visit when it is all done.

I will. I definitely will. And maybe I can be one of your first opponents too, at least for your regular team.

You are welcome to. I don't even mind telling you that my regular team consists out of my Chinchou, my Whiscash and my Azumarill.

Oh, *excellent*. I don't know their movesets, of course, but that'll still help me plan. Thank you.

I look forward to seeing what sort of strategy you can come up with. Though, you should probably keep in mind that battling underwater comes with its own set of rules and conditions. Sort of like how battling in the rain is different from battling in harsh sunlight.

Honestly, I need to make a better study of weather conditions.

But how's battling under water different, then?

Well, naturally Water types are empowered by being surrounded by their element. So both them and their attacks are more powerful. And any pokemon abilities that would ordinarily be activated by being out in the rain (like Rain Dish or Swift Swim) are also activated by being underwater. Water is an excellent conductor so Electric Type attacks have boosted accuracy, but unfortunately, damaging Fire Type moves are basically useless. They are just immediately doused by all the water. The presence of the water also changes how certain types of moves behave. Sleep powder, for example, spreads easily in the open air, but underwater it acts very differently. The move itself loses much of its accuracy, but on the other hand, the spores actually do stay present in the water for a short while (until the regular wave motion washes them away) so there is the risk of coming into contact with those spores until they are washed away. Plus, most pokemon who have never fought underwater generally need some time to adjust to the way the difference in water pressure affects how they fight. They might find any projectile attacks less powerful at first, though with a little bit of experience most pokemon can compensate for this. Same for the increased manoeuvrability underwater. Pokemon can move in all three dimensions, much like they can when battling in the air. It does require a bit of a changed perspective.

So obviously I should have the pokemon I'm going to bring with me practice maneuvers in the pool.

What about non-spore/powder grass attacks?

Most work exactly the same once a pokemon gets used to using them underwater. Health restoring moves that depend on sunlight aren't quite as powerful as outside the water though.

That makes sense, given that the water would make the sunlight diffuse.

If you get really deep down, those moves don't work at all because the sunlight doesn't filter down that far. But I'm definitely not having gym battles take place that deep!

Isn't the pressure down there pretty crazy anyway? No wonder you don't want to!

The increase of pressure is about one atmosphere per ten meters. The midnight zone starts at roughly 1000 meters below the surface, so at that point, you are already dealing with 100 atmospheres of pressure. And it just gets more and more the further down you go. And yet, pokemon like Wailord can dive 10,000 meters on a single breath. They really are incredible.

They *are*. I really can see why you love them so much.

Speaking of Wailords, how *does* Heavy Slam work in underwater battling?

[He might be thinking of how to use 2000 Leagues to face Armin, given its Ghost/Grass typing and established aquatic nature as a Dhelmise.]

Gravity doesn't really play a role like it does on land, so underwater pokemon simply the full weight of their body. Imagine being rammed by a Wailord at full speed. If they are close enough to the seabed or any rocks, I've seen pokemon use that move to smash other pokemon into that. I definitely wouldn't want to get caught in the middle of it.

Edited 2020-10-15 02:57 (UTC)

*Definitely* not.

[Oh good. 20,000 Leagues ought to be fairly useful on some of his opponents, then.]

Edited 2020-10-16 02:55 (UTC)

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