Board 8 > Going to play my first Pokemon game in about 15 years

(+) Yeah! (+)

Being reminded that my Pokemon are so slow can be painful. Vespiquen's attacks came after Onix. In the fight against Grant, I felt less special about receiving a fossil since he had Amaura and Tyrant (which looks like what came out of the Jaw fossil to me). Tyrant knocked out my Amaura in one hit. I probably made the wrong decision. Eventually I won the Cliff badge and $12,000! At the time, I did not know that Pokemon level obeying rules were overstated, but my first reaction to hearing it would be up to Level 40 was that I could run into trouble again with not just Frogadier but also Vespiquen and Roselia.

Current Pokemon team:
Lv 31 Frogadier
Lv 29 Vespiquen
Lv 28 Roselia
Lv 27 Pansear
Lv 25 Pancham
Lv 23 Amaura

I went back to the cave to discover that (after teaching Stength to Pancham) it led back to the area with the Orchard and Battle Chateau. I took this time to move boulders and smash rocks (unaware too late that smashable rocks reset) in the surrounding areas. In the process, I caught Axew, Wismur, Wingull, Dwebble, and Onix.

Going north of Cyllage, I caught Hondour, fought some more Team Flare members, and stopped when I came to Geosenge Town.
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You're probably okay evolving Pansear once it learns Flame Burst. Generally with stone evolutions, the reason to wait is only because most of them stop learning level up moves upon evolution. Pansear does learn something good at 43, but keeping it unevolved for that long probably isn't worth it. Stats will always turn out the same no matter what level you evolve a Pokemon.
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LordoftheMorons posted...

You don't really need any particular ball to catch any particular pokemon. Your capture chance is something like b*s*r*(1-2*current_hp/(3*max_hp))/255, where b is a ball modifier (1 for pokeballs, 1.5 for great balls, 2 for ultra balls, and greater than 2 for special balls if their condition is met; I find the most useful to be quick/dusk balls), s is a status mutliplier (iirc paralysis is 1.5, sleep is 2), and b is some base rate that depends on the particular pokemon species. If that formula gives you a number greater than 1 you're guaranteed to capture the pokemon.

That is kind of complicated for someone like me who hasn't has to use advance math in more than half a decade. I did find that since I play mostly at night, Dusk Balls seem to be the best. I did buy like 10 from whichever city they were being sold in (Ambette maybe?). Will all those specialty balls eventually be sold in Poke Marts?
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Evolving Pokemon via evolution stones is a case-by-case basis. In most cases, the pre-evolved form continues to learn moves, but there are some instances where an evolved form will learn a move that its preevo wouldn't.

Then there are cases like the Eevees where the Eeveelutions will learn their first type-based attack at level 16 or so, so you'll want to evolve Eevees before that (unless you want some of Eevee's moves, which I've never done, but to each their own).

As for Pansear, you'll probably want to wait until level 22 for Flame Burst or if you wanna go wild, 34 for Fire Blast. Of course, I'd recommend boxing it and getting something that isn't garbage. >_> Pretty sure you can find a better Fire Pokemon by eating Taco Bell and shitting one out.

Edit: oh, and regarding balls, I don't really care for the math aspect either. I just use a Quick Ball on the first turn if I want something. If that fails, then Dusk Balls for night/caves, Dive Balls for water, whatever I have on hand for anything else, and Timer Balls if the battle's been going on for too damn long.
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I believe the special balls are only sold at certain pokemarts, but I can't remember for sure.

The thing to keep in mind is just that your chance is proportional to the ball modifier (dusk is great at night/in caves, quick balls are great on the first turn but are the same as pokeballs afterwards), you get a bonus factor for status, and that your chances increase by around a factor of 3 for a pokemon almost at 0 hp vs being at max hp.
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So Quick Balls have a high chance of catching any non-legendary Pokemon on the first turn?
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They're guaranteed to catch many non-legendaries on the first turn, but definitely not all. There aren't many non-legendaries for which a quick ball would give you a less than 30%ish chance, though.
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30% chance is not great, in my opinion
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For many unevolved pokemon it'll be 100% (or close to 100%)
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I'll still toss a quick ball at legendaries just for shits and giggles. Don't think it's ever worked for me personally, but some people have gotten lucky.
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You have about a 2% chance of catching most legendaries with a quick ball on the first turn
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If you don't catch a Legendary in one turn with with a Quick Ball it might be faster to reset and keep trying again than to catch it normally.
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Since most legendaries are in caves dusk balls (then timer balls) work okay (relatively speaking, at best a 1HP, sleeping/frozen legendary with catch O-power level 3 after 40 turns has a 40% catch rate).
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That sounds insane
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I experimented with the Quick Balls, and holy crap they worked like you all said. Snubbull, Golett, and Hawlucha were caught in a single attempt. I also went around using Dusk Balls on Pokemon from this area and other areas where I failed to catch them. Binacle, Solrock, Lunatone, Yanma, and Eevee are also mine.

I had no complaints about Pansear. She was my #5 Pokemon (in terms of usage), but as a change-of-pace and type-advantage Pokemon, she was more than fine. Pancham would be my first thought to replace. However, if the Pansomething Pokemon are really that bad, I decided to swap her out for Inkay.

Back at Geosenge, Serena came up to me and said that there's something weird about Team Flare. You think? I tried following the lone Team Flare member, but my progress was halted at this ancient artifact northeast of town. There's obviously a secret entrance, but there doesn't appear to be anything that I can do right now.

Going through what little there is to Geosenge Town, I found a woman who told me to meet her at the hotel to discuss stones. Nothing that she said made it any clearer why we couldn't have this discussion outside. This town is crazy, as if having half of your houses without any doors didn't tip anyone off. This is probably a cult town given their fascination with the supernatural.
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The monkeys aren't that bad for in-game use. Fast, decent mixed attacking stats, and they get a decent variety of TM moves. It's just there's generally a lot of better options, especially in XY with a regional dex of 450 Pokemon.
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I was stopped by Korrina while trying to leave town. I prayed that she wasn't actually a member of this town's cult as I had no intention of being a sacrifice to a giant stone. Thankfully, that wasn't the case and now that I can see her close up, I can see that her helmet is rather normal...ish. She made me fight her, and I will demand a badge if I win.

I had no fun with this fight. Nearly all of my moves were fully or mostly ineffective. Her Lucario is apparently strong against normal, rock, bug, ghost, grass (I'm pretty sure on this one), ice, and psychic moves. Water was normal, while Lucario was immune to poison. I had to go through this twice. I didn't get the badge that I totally earned, and I'm going to call BS when I have to fight her in the gym and her Lucarios go from Lv 25 to 35.

While out on Route 11, Sycamore called me to let me know of a supposed Mega Evolution guru in the next town. He didn't give me the "guru's" name. I hate my job. Further on this route, I found an odd pairing of martial artist and psychic. The battle was nothing special, but at the end, Frogadier evolved into Geninja. I feel like I've heard that name before.

I like having a wide variety of moves (type-wise and little overlap with other Pokemon in my party). I made the painful decision to forget Round for Water Shuriken despite already having a Water Move (Water Pulse I think) and not a good history with those low-power moves that attack 2-5 times. I fully expect to replace it with something like Aerial Ace in the near future.
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I entered a sky battle mistakenly thinking that it would be 1-on-1 again. 1-on-3 in which my one is susceptible to flying moves? This would have been a disaster if not for me remembering that I had potions.

Entering Reflection Cave, I saw signs prohibiting the use of rollerskates and bikes. Why? Whatever the (dumb) reason, I had to move on. I caught a Carbink, Roggenrola, Solosis, Mr. Mime, and Mime...Jr.? Okayyyyyy... I eventually fought Battle Girl Hedvig or something. I lost five of my Pokemon in that fight. She had a red Pokemon in a martial artist uniform, and it decimated my team. It took out Greninja in one critical hit move whose name I forget. All of my Pokemon were seemingly fragile to her two Pokemons' moves. Only Vespiquen survived. I used my escape rope and took this time to buy half a dozen of them. I also made Greninja forget Water Shuriken in favor of Aerial Ace.

I am really glad that I turned EXP Share on. I can't imagine how (more) severely unprepared I would be if everyone except Greninja was like Level 15. I'm also this close to swapping out Pancham for a double-type like Hawlucha or Croagunk. I saw that there were some movable rocks in the cave, so I will hold onto her for now, but in the next town, I am strongly considering a change. All Pancham is to me right now is a Pokemon to whittle would-be captures down to 1 HP.
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What level is your Pancham?
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I really like Pancham and Amaura, but they (especially Amaura) have pretty common weaknesses, so if you're not too skilled in the type matchings, taking Amaura with you might not be the greatest idea.
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mnkboy907 posted...

What level is your Pancham?

It was 29 or 30, but I will provide an update tomorrow
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Oh, then it is close to evolving.
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It evolved on Thursday
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Exploring the cave more, I was confused when I found out there were female Mr. Mimes. Shouldn't it be easy to code in Mrs. or Ms. or Miss? I caught a Woobat, Chingling, and a lipstick-wearing Wobbufett as my slow trek through the cave continues. The encounter rate is atrocious and why I hate caves in Pokemon games. I only had two repels, and needless to say it wasn't for long enough.

During the Wobbufett fight, Pancham evolved into Pangoro and its soulless eyes. I now have three dark Pokemon in my party. A lot more Wobbufett encounters followed, and I hate them. I can't switch Pokemon or escape (which is what I normally do to Pokemon that I have already caught). It KO'd Greninja in one hit that wasn't super effective against it. I am still baffled as to what could have possibly taken away 100 HP like that.

Later on, I found a giant, glowing spot at a dead end. That screams like it will house a legendary Pokemon in the future. At the end, I met some scientist who said a lot of gibberish. Among them were Reveal Glass, Unova, and three proper nouns that I'm guessing are legendary Pokemon.

Oh, sweet Jesus I finally made it out! I used like five escape ropes and saw a bunch of Pokemon KO'd, but that nightmare is over! I didn't end up on a route but straight up in Shalour City. I think this is Korrina's domain. You wouldn't guess it based on the music.
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Pancham line is possibly my favorite in X/Y (it's close between them and the Tyrunt line)

just for that, I say keep it
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Wobbuffet uses Counter and Mirror Coat to deal back double the damage it took.
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"Know how your hair sticks out all over the place when you wake up? Think Mega Evolution is like that?" - some kid in town
- Is anyone ever going to make sense in this game. I feel that like is a pipe dream that is becoming more and more unlikely

I keep going through trash cans in hoping that I find something, but I am like 0-30 now. According to Einstein, that makes me as insane as the people in this game. Some woman in the tunnel between Route 11 and 12 spoke in like German or Austrian. I wonder if that was intentional or a gaffe.

"So I know this Hiker who really likes Ferris wheels. It looks like he finally found love." - some random guy in town
- Capitalizing Hiker without a proper noun after it aside, I am back in the camp that these people are totally more insane than I am.

I went ahead and bought 10 Super Repels for my sake. I strongly considered dropping Pangoro for Hawlucha, but the former's attack must have exploded in the evolution that I feel compelled to give her one more shot.
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mnkbear907 posted...

Wobbuffet uses Counter and Mirror Coat to deal back double the damage it took.

Well that explains it
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That line about the hiker is referencing Black/White (or BW2).
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The Tower of Mystery looks like it's part of a completely different town not just with it being closed off at a distance with what appears to be several other buildings but the architecture is unlike the rest. Inside, I met up with the guru. Until Tierno called the guru "Mr." I thought it was a woman the entire time. They soon gave a close-up, and I can see that what I mistook for long blonde hair was a pasty, bald head and disgustingly long eyebrows.

There's apparently a single Mega Ring (required for evolution), and the only people who want it are Serena and myself. I actually don't care since it doesn't appear I will be using an eligible Pokemon, but I have no choice. Seeing how poorly Serena has fared in my presence, I expect this to be a cakewalk. She said something about determining the best trainer in Vaniville, but with a population of eight, that is a meaningless distinction.

Pangoro was prepared to dish it out but not take it. Other than that, the battle went how I expected it. The terms were that the winner receives the ring, but Korrina decided to be a bitch and make me fight her in a gym battle before I can have it. I decided to climb the Tower of Mastery, but I was not "approved" to do so. Validation better not have to come from Korrina...

It is a Fighting-type gym, and my Pokemon suck against fighting types, so I will think about restructuring my team before tackling it.
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Specifically this Hiker:


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KCF0107 posted...

Exploring the cave more, I was confused when I found out there were female Mr. Mimes. Shouldn't it be easy to code in Mrs. or Ms. or Miss?

Yeah, the Japanese name for Mr. Mime doesn't indicate a gender, so when Gen 2 introduced male and females, the "Mr." issue became solely an English translation issue.

KCF0107 posted...

I keep going through trash cans in hoping that I find something, but I am like 0-30 now. According to Einstein, that makes me as insane as the people in this game. Some woman in the tunnel between Route 11 and 12 spoke in like German or Austrian. I wonder if that was intentional or a gaffe

I do the same thing sometimes. I also check bookshelves and whatnot, until I remember that Pokemon games never have interesting things in locations like that. When Gen 5 came out, I remember thinking they skipped out on a great chance to make Trubbish/Garbodor a "mimic" type Pokemon that could attack you when you looked in certain garbage cans.

Gen 6 was a worldwide release, and Nintendo/Game Freak/whoever was big on the whole 'international' thing, so you'll see things like people speaking other languages.

KCF0107 posted...

It is a Fighting-type gym, and my Pokemon suck against fighting types, so I will think about restructuring my team before tackling it.

Yeah, you're heavy on Dark types. Might need to get a Psychic or Fairy in your roster for this gym. However, Lucario's Steel type cancels out its weakness to those types. You could bring a Fire or Ground type to handle Lucario
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Eerieka posted...

When Gen 5 came out, I remember thinking they skipped out on a great chance to make Trubbish/Garbodor a "mimic" type Pokemon that could attack you when you looked in certain garbage cans.

he does in gen 6
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I don't remember that, but I'm glad it happened!
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KFC friend have you saved in Lumere city yet
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No, but I think that I already downloaded the patch.
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Large update tonight
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KCF0107 posted...

Large update tonight

Excited for this.
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KCF0107 posted...

She said something about determining the best trainer in Vaniville, but with a population of eight, that is a meaningless distinction.

I mean, would you really want to live in a town of eight people and still not even be the best in your hometown?
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That's a fair argument
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KCF0107 posted...

I faced my first 2-on-2 battle. I don't remember those being a thing. It was nothing special, but I wouldn't mind there being more of them.

Those are known as Double Battles, and they were introduced in Gen III with Ruby/Sapphire.
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I didn't rearrange my Pokemon team, and the Shalour City gym ended up not being as tough as I originally feared. I did lose Pangoro and Roselia, but only Korrina's Hawlucha was a threat. She had a Mienfoo and Machoke, but I had already faced them at basically those same levels throughout the gym. I am puzzled as to why she didn't use her Lucarios. Did she not want to win?

With a Rumble Badge and an extra $20,000, I am also able to use Surf, not that I have that HM yet. The big thing that I still don't have the damn ring that I was promised despite not wanting! I have to make it to the top of the Tower of Mastery?! I can't believe that they are making me go through all these hoops for the sake of the plot that I also don't care about! Korrina even has the audacity to say that she's not giving me the runaround. Fuck you, that is precisely what is going on here! I will battle you again but only if it's to the death!

I did decide to part with Pangoro for now. In a surprise move, I decided to swap her for Axew. I thought perhaps that was a bad idea since I still had to climb the Tower of Mastery, but I clearly had the wrong idea. I had to fight nobody to reach the top. We can add Lucario as the fifth known line to use Mega Evolution (Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Aerodactly). I am apparently using Korrina's Lucario to fight her other Lucario. I can't tell them apart. I'm surprised she doesn't use nicknames.

I was demolished. I was KO'd at the hands of a critical hit on the first attack. I could be wrong, but the move sounded like a fighting move, and I wouldn't have guessed that fighting types are weak against those moves. I guess that I am taking this Lucario too. I have to put it in my party, but it is leaving as soon as I reach the Pokemon Center. Given the apathy Korrina has toward her Lucarios, I'm surprised that both didn't want to join me, not that I would show any less apathy.
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Lucario is fighting/steel. Steel is weak to fighting.
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KCF0107 posted...

So Quick Balls have a high chance of catching any non-legendary Pokemon on the first turn?

It even has a good chance of catching Xerneas or Yveltal (Gen VI's version exclusive Legendary Pokemon) on the first turn.
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Serena came up just as I was about to head east and handed me Surf. I am assuming that all HMs will just be forced upon me in clumsy encounters like this. I should go back to Ambette Town or Cyllage City to test it, but I might be able to here right before the Tower of Mastery. Using Binacle as a guinea pig, I caught a Mantyke and Tentacool before realizing that Surf doesn't allow me to enter deep water. Seems odd, but I know complaining won't change things.

Speaking of having stuff forced upon me ad nauseam, I am now the owner of a Lapras. I was supposed to show it the world, but the inside of a Pokemon box will have to do. I wonder what's it like to live in a Poke Ball. Axew getting some development will have to wait because I am forced to Surf here. I brought out Binacle again since I don't want Greninja to learn it without knowing how to unlearn HMs.

Prior to surfing, I caught a Chatot, Tauros, Slowpoke, and Pinsir. The trek into the water was a short one. What was even the point? Did they know I wanted to train my Axew and decided to screw with me?

I soon came upon what appears to be a Skiddo farm. I accidentally committed what I assume to be a Class A felony in Kalos by ridding another person's Skiddo and leaving the premises with it. I did nab a few items, not that I expect it to be a viable defense to the authorities.
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Surf is the best water special attack in the game so that's one HM you shouldn't worry about not being able to get rid of. Most things you might put it on are things you won't want to delete it from.
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Before long, I reached Coumarine City. Serena challenged me to a battle in front of the gym. Again? Is she still hung up over the ring? Can I just give it to her to appease her easily bruisable ego? Moving on, I had my Old Rod upgraded to Good Rod. It all makes sense why I could only find Luvdiscs before. In the monorail station, the professor showed up just to give me Fly. Now this is a forced encounter that I can get behind! What the hell, Vespiquen can't fly? How can a Pokemon that can participate in air battles not fly?!

In the other monorail station, I heard a conversation between two kids wondering what was cooler between Pokemon and monorails. They are not worth my time. Making my way to the Pokemon Center, I subbed out Binacle for Hawlucha so that I could fly to get more Dusk Balls only to find out that I need the next badge to use Fly. I should have known that, but it bummed me out hard. Axew is back in, and I am having it hold Lucky Egg to get it closer to fighting shape faster. I also bought 15 Quick Balls here.

A little girl said Unova was a region, so that talk with the lady at the end of Hell's Cave was probably meaningless to me. In the same house as her, a man was either able to play a non-existent piano with his mind or thought me gullible and simply pressed a button to play pre-recorded music from some device. I fear for that child's future.

I finally caught up with Serena. She wanted to see Mega Evolution, but she will be sorely disappointed. "As a Pokemon trainer, I find you interesting" said Serena about me. I don't know why, but I burst out laughing. How amazing would it be if Serena just completely loses it with her losses piling up and feeling useless and joins Team Flare?
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Well this gym was not what I expected. With a name like Coumarine, I expected a water type gym, but with it being a gigantic tree house, it is definitely grass-themed. A red beret, ranger whatever had the evolved form of Pansage here, so I kind of have an idea of what the Fire Stone would have done to Pansear. Back to the ranger, I wonder what goes through the heads of the people in these gyms. Why are they even there? Are they employed by the gym leader? Is that actually a paid job?

The leader is apparently "Old Man" Ramos. He is probably like 29. When I caught up to him, I realized he was actually an old man, but I suppose he could be 29 if he did A LOT of drugs and just had poor genes. For a grass type gym, I didn't have to endure many grass type moves. The TM I even received from Ramos didn't even feature a move that was used on me. Well, I now have the Plant Badge and can use Fly!

Update
Lv 44 Grenina
Lv 42 Vespiquen
Lv 40 Roselia
Lv 37 Amaura
Lv 35 Inkay
Lv 24 Axew (Lucky Egg working out!)
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Your team looks better. At least you got rid of the monkey (I hate those monkeys with an irrational passion). You could evolve Inkay if you want, but its less cute after it evolves. It also has a bullshit evolution method. Read if you want to find out how: You have to hold your 3DS upside down when it levels up.
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KCF0107 posted...

What the hell, Vespiquen can't fly? How can a Pokemon that can participate in air battles not fly?!

Yeah, it's dumb. Of all the very many winged Bug types, only a single one can learn Fly, despite how big many of the other ones are. Nevermind that most of the little foot-tall birds can learn it.
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