#still no onix in there either which is silly.

[doki-mocha]

O Ive had luck finding bootleg figs on etsy whenever ebay fails me

I love those really tiny bite size pokemon bootleg figs. i like just coming across them in public rather than going the easy way out and buying it straight up. It seems faster and cheaper to just buyyyy it, but where's the thrill of the hunt. That's why I rather buy packs than buy singles.

[addierose444]

What's In My Backpack: SWE Intern Edition

This is the intern edition of the what’s my backpack post I wrote last fall! There is definitely a good bit of overlap between the two setups, but also some key differences. For folks who are new, this summer I am working as a software engineering intern at Microsoft on the OneNote Integrated Experiences (ONIX) team. To read more about my daily routine as a SWE intern, check out the post I wrote last week.  

Starting off with the bag, I’ve been using the OneNote branded Hershel Settlement Backpack that I received as an intern gift. Unlike the other Microsoft swag sold at the company store, the decal was printed and applied on campus in a maker space. The backpack has a 23-liter capacity and aside from being well built and comfortable to carry has no bells and whistles. My main gripe with the backpack is that it is just a bit too simplistic in that it is missing a padded laptop sleeve and organizational pockets. The backpack simply consists of the main compartment with an unpadded laptop sleeve and a small exterior pouch with a key clip. 

Inside the laptop sleeve, I carry “my” Surface Book 3. I mostly use the laptop for Teams calls and messages. For actual development, I use my desktop computer as it has more processing power. The desktop is right next to me in my office at work, but I connect to it from my laptop using Remote Desktop so I can use a single mouse and copy text between the two. I don’t really use the laptop outside of work, but feel a bit better about carrying it back and forth just in case I need to work from home. I don’t like the basic mouse and keyboard that I was provided with, so I use my personal mouse instead (more about that later) and the laptop keyboard. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Surface Book, the screen is detachable and can be used as an oversized tablet. I’ve used the tablet mode on occasion to watch training videos from the comfort of one of our beanbag chairs.

At the bottom of the backpack, I carry a lightweight sweatshirt and if necessary a raincoat. The sweatshirt is actually the same Smith sweatshirt I featured in my last what’s in my backpack post. You can shop for your own Smith merch at the Smith bookstore located on the lower level of the campus center or online. As for the raincoat (Marmot Minimalist Jacket), it’s made of GORE-TEX which ensures that my backpack (specifically the laptop inside) stays dry. I do get a little wet though as the jacket doesn’t zip when I have it over my backpack. I only pack/wear the raincoat on days where rain is in the forecast (a common occurrence in Seattle), but also keep a small umbrella in my bag just to play it safe. I haven’t used them a ton, but my polarized sunglasses (SunCloud Loveseat) are another backpack staple of mine. 

While my headphones (Bose QC 35IIs) are often either on my ears or around my neck, I still carry the case around to hold some miscellaneous items. (Again, recall how the backpack doesn't have much in the way of organizational pockets). Inside the case, I carry my headphone wire, a pen, my mouse (Logitech M320), my multitool (Gerber Dime), my spork (Eat’NTool), hand cream (Welda Skin Food), and a mini first aid kit. The reason I carry my mouse back and forth is so that I can still use it with my personal laptop as I really can’t stand trackpads. The two other items that just regularly live in my headphone case are a thumb drive and a USB C to USB A adapter.

One item that I never use outside of work, but still carry back and forth is my Microsoft tumbler. The kitchen (where I make my morning tea) is on the way to my office, so it seems a bit silly to walk to my office just to turn around and go back to the kitchen. I carry a water bottle (Studio Oh! Boho Llama Duo) as well, but don’t really use it at work as I just use my Microsoft tumbler for hydration (mostly sparkling water) instead. At this point carrying a water bottle is just habitual and in my view just a good thing to do. I’ve occasionally used it to water my office plant and it’s nice to have for the days where I’ve had to run to the bus. At the top of the bag where it can’t be crushed, I carry my lunch. As explained last week, I have a Stasher sandwich bag for my sandwich and a Stasher snack bag for my vegies (either baby carrots or sliced red pepper). 

In the front pouch, I carry my phone (Google Pixel 5a with 5g), mask (when I’m not wearing it), hand sanitizer, and wallet (Mywalit Magic). When in the office I am required to wear my Microsoft badge, but it otherwise lives in the front pouch as well. Inside my wallet, I carry the normal things like my driver’s license, health insurance card, debit cards, credit cards, and some cash. I also continue to carry my student ID (Smith One Card) for student discount purposes. It hasn’t actually been useful yet because it doesn’t have an expiration date which was required by one place I went. (I still got the student discount by logging into Moodle to demonstrate that I’m an active student). Intern-specific wallet items include my room key card, Seattle Bouldering Project punch card, Microsoft meal cards, and ORCA card (for Seattle public transportation). So yeah, my wallet is a bit full at present! 

[askkrenko]

Krenko’s Guide to Pokemon: Onix Line

Look, I’m not saying Onix is inherently a metaphor or was designed to be one, but just as we use euphemisms in the real world, there is absolutely no way that the men of Kanto don’t refer to their “Rock Snake Pocket Monster” and mean something entirely different from an actual Onix. DESIGN:  Onix is a huge serpent made of boulders stuck together, with an inexplicable spike on its head, and you know what? It gets the point across. Its size makes it scary, it blends in with the terrain enough to make it clear why it’s advantageous to look like that, and it’s design is simple but also detailed enough to not look silly. I really like the design of this long, hard beast. Steelix is then less interesting. The metallic sheen and tail spike are cool, and I do actually really like the head redesign, but the crossbars don’t strike me as anything that do anything but make it harder to go through tunnels, they look kind of goofy like stubby arms and legs, and Steelix’s huge head makes its body look short.  This thing is thirty feet long but because its head is so big compared to the rest of it, it looks more childish than Onix does. 

It seriously looks like this thing needs to keep growing, and it’s all because of its ridiculous, massive head. Shrink that thing down and we’ve got a much better serpent. Mega Steelix is an overdesigned mess. It still looks too short, it has a weirdly flat face, it has crystals now for some reason, and what’s with the blue hexagons?   Oh, and the crystals aren’t even sharp so it looks LESS dangerous than Steelix did. Onix has three forms and its later forms are just... less good.

EVOLUTIONS: I dislike trade evolutions, but what I really dislike is trade evolutions that require a specific item. If the item can do it, just let the item do it. You’re asking for extra steps with another player that don’t really enhance the gameplay. It’s just a chore.  At the time of this writing I’ve mostly completed my Crown Tundra and Isle of Armor Pokedex. I’m missing some Sword Exclusives... and I’m missing some Pokemon that only evolve by trading. Because I have to take time out of playing the game to actually get that dealt with. And the ‘requires a metal coat’ thing is just an excuse to explain why Onix couldn’t evolve in gen 1. At this point, just let it be a trade evolution. Onix, Magmar, Rhydon, Slowpoke, all of them.  Steelix is a great choice of Pokemon to Mega. While I don’t like the visual design, Steelix as a Pokemon always needed a bit more of a boost, and it was frankly a bit big. Very few Pokemon evolve past 450 stat total, and Type Null’s the only Pokemon with a stat total over Steelix’s 510 that gets to evolve (And frankly, Type: Null to Silvally is one of the smallest evolutionary jumps in all of Pokemon in terms of raw stats.) So yeah, Steelix was a good choice for a Mega, bring up a weaker full evolved Pokemon.

On the other end of the spectrum, Onix is big enough that adding a Baby Onix at some point would be an entirely reasonable option. This isn’t to say I think the games actually need one, just that there’s clearly room for it in the evolutionary line. 

Art by mark331

TYPING: 

While Onix was a Rock/Ground type, the decision to evolve it away from that was probably due to Rhydon and Golem already existing. Rock/Ground is very mediocre defensively. Though it has an immunity and five resistances, two of its six weaknesses are double weaknesses.  Offensively, the combo’s got super-effective hits on eight types, with nothing resisting both. But you’re not using Onix in a real fight, you’re using Steelix. Steelix is Steel/Ground, which gives it one of the best defensive lineups in the game. With eight resistances, two immunities, and four weaknesses, Steelix is capable of some serious tanking.  Offensively, Steel instead of Rock still gives Supereffective Stab against seven types, and once again there’s no type that resists both Steel and Ground attacks.

Art by Arvalis

STATS:  Steelix has 200 defense.

That’s it. That’s all Steelix’s stats. Okay, its HP and Attack are average. Its Special Defense is sub-par but not painfully so, and its speed is negligible. But it has 200 defense, one of the highest in the game, and when combined with its strong resistances, Steelix is one of the tankiest tanks around. 

Mega Steelix ups the stats that needed it most. While a defense rise from 200 to 230, while amazing and the new highest, is actually kind of negligible at that point, upping Special Defense to 95 and Attack to 125 turns Steelix into the full package, minus the part where it always, always, always goes last.  The weird part there is, Onix has a respectable speed of 70. Guess all that metal slows it down.

ABILITIES:  Steelix has three ability options and, honestly, they all should be good but none of them really live up to their full potential on Steelix. Sturdy is probably the least necessary of the three, but Steelix is still vulnerable to one big hit from a strong hit from a special sweeper, and being able to give a flat ‘no’ to those is useful.  Sheer Force is a particularly powerful ability that increases the damage of attacks by 30% by removing their beneficial secondary effects.  Steelix has a decent variety of moves that can take advantage of this, most notably Iron Head and Rock Slide, but also the elemental fangs for type coverage.

Rock Head is probably Steelix’s strongest ability. Rock Head removes recoil damage from attacks, and while Steelix only has two attacks that can take advantage of this,  one of them is Head Smash, a 150 Power Rock Move that normally deals 50% of the damage dealt as recoil damage.  Rock Head doesn’t have the versatility of Sheer Force, but a Super-Effective Sheer Force Thunder/Ice/Fire Fang is still only doing slightly more damage than a neutral Head Smash, and Steelix’s best attacks, Earthquake and Body Press, can’t benefit from either. Mega Steelix, sadly, does not get Rock Head. Mega Steelix gets Sand Force, which increases the damage of its STAB and Rock moves during a sandstorm. Obviously, this takes effort to set up, and Steelix doesn’t get the Rock-type defensive benefits, but hey, if you’re going to Sandstorm, Mega Steelix is a great idea.

Art by Isabelle Rathner

MOVES:  It’s weird to say, but Steelix’s strongest attack isn’t STAB. While Mega Steelix just Earthquakes basically everything forever,   Steelix’s 200 defense to 85 attack ratio means Body Press outdamages even Earthquake, though it does have the issue that more things resist Fighting than are weak to it. 

From there, you’ll want some coverage. Earthquake, Head Smash (with Rock Head), various Sheer Force attacks, etc, are all options.  Steelix is also slow enough that Gyro Ball is often very strong for it, especially if you get a nature with -Speed instead of the more obvious -Special Attack.  Mega Steelix is heavy enough to reliably Heavy Slam, but I wouldn’t try it with regular Steelix. 

Generally, for coverage you want to combine Ground with Steel or Fighting with Rock.  “Ground and steel” might seem obvious because Steelix is Ground and Steel, but Head Smash and Body Press are both as strong as Earthquake, and how well your Steel moves work really depends on what you’re fighting. And you can use three if you really want to. 

Then you get the setup moves. Steelix has two great setup options. Iron Defense raises its already insane defense to a ludicrous level and functions as Swords Dance for Body Press. On the other hand, Curse increases  the Power of Gyro Ball while also raising Attack and Defense one stage. It’s not as much raw power as the Iron Defense+ Body Press strategy, but, as said, a lot of things resist Fighting. In fact, Fighting and Steel make a good attack duo for coverage purposes, and Curse still increases damage from Body Press, just by one stage instead of two. What makes Steelix interesting here is that with a few turns of setup it can start sweeping, and its defenses mean there’s only a few attacks that can do good damage against it.

For a more defensive option, try having another Pokemon lay down Spikes, then have Steelix use Stealth Rock and bat Pokémon about with Dragon Tail. Whipping up a Sandstorm also works great in this scenario.  Combine with Leftovers for maximum longevity, and your opponent will probably take a lot of random damage throughout their team before something’s able to put a serious dent in Steelix.

Art by Tious

OVERALL:  Steelix is a lot of cool stuff that interacts in weird but not quite great ways. Sheer Force is a strong ability, but it can’t really take advantage in the way Nidoran can. Rock Head is great, but it doesn’t get STAB with either of the moves it applies to, unlike Aggron who gets Rock Head with STAB Head Smash. And then there’s Sand Force, which is strong, but as Steelix isn’t actually a Rock type, it doesn’t get the special defense boost.

You know, I kept thinking it, but this whole time it feels like Steelix would be better if everything else were identical but it was Rock/Steel instead of Ground/Steel... Though I guess Steelix’s defenses are overall more favorable, so maybe not.

Steelix is a great tank, and it has a few options of what to do while tanking, especially now that Body Press exists. Mega Steelix is even stronger, with a real attack stat. 

I just find myself moderately disappointed in all three ability options, despite them all being great ones. 

Also I still think Onix looked cooler.

[nuzblog]

November 25th, 2017

The second generation of Pokemon is my least favorite. It is the generation with the most lackluster Pokemon designs, an absolutely borked level curve, garbage Pokemon distribution, and a whole mess of other design issues. But then... all of those criticisms are based on my experience with SoulSilver. Perhaps things will be different playing the originals? I do think they made some pretty important improvements over generation 1, fixing a lot of those games' issues. Hard to say at this point.

Now, before I discuss my entry into the world of Johto, I think it is worth discussing rules. Since my last attempt at Blue ended successfully, I think I'm going to keep the same general ruleset for a bit longer. The only real question the new mechanics in the game brings up is that of eggs - do hatched Pokemon count as acquired where they are acquired as eggs, where they are hatched, or what?

For this, I think I'm going to use the logic that I can't exactly breed a Pokemon I don't already have, and say that, with the exception of gift eggs such as the Togepi one in this game, eggs are essentially free. If I ever want to spend a chunk of time while nuzlocking to breed for better natures, abilities, egg moves or IVs... then I'm freely allowed to do so. That's the simplest thing, I think.

It's also worth mentioning what does and doesn't count as an important battle for this game. At the moment, I'm only counting the battles against the rival and against gym leaders - I can heal after either, and I must match party size for both.

Oh, and then there's the matter of Pokemon Boxes. In Gen 1, a Pokemon would be identical when retrieved from the box as it was when it was put in. In Gen 2 and onwards, Pokemon Boxes heal the Pokemon put into them... which is no good for a restricted-healing challenge, right? I think my solution here is that, while Pokemon can be put INTO the box whenever, they can only be removed from the box under one of two circumstances - either on the other end of a battle that I had to restrict my party for (in which case, the boxed Pokemon needs to be at full health when boxed), or when healing at a Pokemon Center. Which, yes, means my box usage is limited too. That's the only way I could think to keep it fair.

Now that that's out of the way... I started playing Pokemon Silver at 2 AM, on the 25th.

NITE

After speaking to Oak, setting the time, naming myself Sheen, and getting the game started, I make my die roll for my starter. In this generation, I find all 3 starters pretty lackluster, but Chikorita is a cutie that stays cute, and Totodile has a solid charm to it, so I would be happiest with either of those. Naturally, then, I get the worst possible result - Cyndaquil, a Pokemon that I find completely unimpressive, and that others around me have a tendency to call far worse things. So, maybe not optimal in terms of me loving it. That's fine.

At this point, I took a short break to figure out my nickname scheme for this one. I think attaching a guessing game to this one is pretty silly, because it's not really a puzzle of any kind. If you already know about the thing, it's obvious, and if you don't, then it's impossible without Googling. Also literally only one person has ever indicated any interest in this guessing game for name scheme thing, so like... I don't feel bad about forgoing it for this playthrough. The theme for this run of Silver is that I'm using the titles of songs by Neil Cicierega, who is my favorite human being. His musical projects include Lemon Demon, for his original music; Deporitaz, his far older, mostly instrumental stuff; his mashup albums in the Mouth series; one-song wonder Sunshine and Grapes; and his internet filmmaking prowess often extends to music as well, with some oddities being exclusive to videos on his Youtube channel. If you're unfamiliar with his work, I encourage you strongly to get familiar.

I name my Cyndaquil "IndieCindy", for the song Indie Cindy and the Lo-Fi Lullabies, off the album Dinosaurchestra. You can listen to that song here. I'll try to link the songs when I mention the name of the Pokemon named for them.

From here, I start the trek to Mr. Pokemon's house. What kind of name is that for a character? Mr. Pokemon? Like, really? Also, you know how in Gen 1, there is a single short route that is designed to be navigated in two directions between the professor's lab and the macguffin that lets you start actually playing the game proper, Pokeballs and all? In Gen 2, there's a fairly lengthy route with Cut trees and ledges that don't actually make the return trip any better, and then a city, and then a route North that is bisected (but half of it is cut off with a Pokemon Battle, which is tbh a pretty smart way of restricting your path compared to most Pokemon games) and lengthy and again, clearly not designed with a hasty return in mind. Oh, and there's a red herring path off of that first route.

Anyway, I make the trek. Maybe it's supposed to feel like a burden of an errand? If that's the case, then mission accomplished, but it still sucks not being able to train anything other than IndieCindy the entire time. By the by, I didn't realize that they started the starter off with a berry attached! I actually think that's pretty cool. I mean, the "Pokemon are holding items" mechanic is new to this game, so adding a held berry to the starter Pokemon is actually pretty clever. It does also keep me from having to use the Pokemon Center in Cherrygrove. I do purchase some Potions there though. And, I get the Map for my PokeGear.

The walk to Mr. Pokemon's house is generally uneventful. I pick berries (Hey! It's BERRY!), I fight stuff. I get the Mystery Egg and Pokedex, I walk back. But first I fight my rival!!!! Now, in Gen 1, the first rival fight was scripted immediately after both you and your rival get your starter. As such, the playing ground is equal - both combatants are at the same level, and both essentially have just one normal type attack of equal power and one status move. In this game, however, the first battle is on the other side of two full routes worth of encounters. I was around level 8, but if I really wanted to, I could have been grinding even higher. I had Smokescreen and a solid stat advance. In other words, I got a head start. Meanwhile, my rival had just stolen his Pokemon, and for that matter, while mine came with a berry and I had since equipped a fresh berry to it, his lacked the berry. So, it was an easy battle. I'm not sure if this was a good or bad design decision. Future games have gone back and forth on this change - Gen 3 also has plenty of grinding time before fighting your level 5 rival, but Black and White have you fight both your friends before even leaving your house. I think it's just different, and not better or worse necessarily. Which, is fine.

Anyway I beat ???'s Totodile, and move on to Professor Elm's lab. Interestingly, this is my infinite healing spot for this game, because Sheen's mother apparently doesn't love him. I mean, all she does is take a cut of his money to spend on the stuff she wants, and doesn't even heal him. Messed up! I, of course, make sure my mother doesn't get shit. I have enough issues about my money being co-opted by my family already, I don't need it to be happening in the virtual world too.

I get to name my rival, and his name is Luster. Since I'm playing Pokemon Silver, I think Sheen and Luster are reasonable names for the characters. I also get 5 Pokeballs, and NOW the game is open to me!

I caught a Rattata on Route 29, named it Jaws... and promptly fell asleep.

DAY

I woke up and started playing again around 4:30 PM, because I'm working overnights so my sleep schedule is now the weirdest. On the way to Cherrygrove, I stopped at Route 46, and caught a Geodude, whose name is Rock Star. Now THAT's useful. After all, the first gym is flying type. I could have got an Onix in an in-game trade in Violet City, but that means forgoing Togepi. Not that I really am interested in using Togepi... but just getting a wild rocky boy is really more optimal. I heal my new teammates at Elm's lab, and start grinding Rock Star and IndieCindy a bit. Mostly, this is so that it will be night-time in-game, and the Hoothoot I want will be available on Route 30.

NITE

Surely enough, once I do pass enough time, I do see that Hoothoot, who I catch and, after careful consideration, I name Drinky-Bird, before realizing that T.I.M.E. would have been WAY better. The Name Rater is in Goldenrod, so I can fix this pretty soon, I guess. I box Jaws away, and move on with the game. Going towards Violet, I get Youngster Joey's digits, so that I can get obnoxious phone calls about his failed attempts to catch Hoothoots ever 20 minutes or so. Hooray.

On Route 31, we get our first brush with the duplicate clause as I first encounter a Rattata before finding a Bellsprout. Now, I LOVE Bellsprout, so this would rule... if I didn't JUST use a Bellsprout in Blue. Now, I know Nuzlockes are all about working with what you get, but I just... I would find that so boring. I loved Penthes, I can't just tarnish his memory like that. I catch the Bellsprout, name it Stickly, and box it.

In Dark Cave (which has awesome music, by the way. One of the best songs in the series, just about, I'd say), I catch...!! A Zubat! Amazing! I call it King Bob and box it too, when I arrive in Violet City. I also heal when I do, since I was running low on PP. After a touch of grinding, to get a STAB move (Ember, Rock Throw and Peck) onto everyone, I head into Sprout Tower. My encounter there, a Gastly, sadly goes down because getting moves that could actually touch the ghosts also increased my power too high to not oneshot them. Oh well. First wild Pokemon murdered instead of caught. It happens!

I ascend the tower, getting as much XP as I can out of it, and also the Flash HM, which is... basically useless. Hooray? Encountering Luster but not fighting him here was pretty cool. I then fight the gym trainers, before briefly diverting over the the Ruins of Alph to catch an Unown, mostly for funsies.

It's J. I name it Worddis, and try to figure out its Hidden Power type. First, I test it on another Unown, which is Psychic type. It does neutral damage, ruling out Psychic, Fighting, Dark, Ghost or Bug type Hidden Power. I head into Sprout Tower, and try it on a Gastly, where it also does neutral damage, ruling out Normal, Poison, Grass, and Ground. I head to the route, testing it on a Hoothoot, and AGAIN the damage is neutral, ruling out Electric, Ice or Rock. I then enter the Dark Cave, and try it on a Geodude... and it's STILL neutral, ruling out almost every other type EXCEPT for Dragon. So... Dragon Hidden Power. Absolutely useless. Thanks for nothing, Worddis. Welcome to the box.

I heal again in Violet City, since I had one leftover from my battle against Luster, and I battle Falkner and his weird ass level 9 Pidgeotto.

As you might expect given the fact that my Geodude must be at least level 11 to know Rock Throw, making it higher leveled AND being super effective and STAB... it's basically a joke. IndieCindy returns to my party, and I grab the Egg from Elm's Aide while I'm there, counting as my Pokemon for Violet City.

Route 32 grants me a Wooper, which... rules! I haven't used a Wooper, but its typing is great (4x Grass weakness is a fine trade for an Electric-immune Water type!) Its name is Rainwater. I grind it up a bit, teach it Mud Slap, and make the trek back to Elm's lab to heal again before I stop playing for the 25th, so I can catch Farfetch'd in Pokemon Go and also go to work.

NOVEMBER 26th, 2017

When I get home from work around 5:40, I keep playing, because I'm a disaster. Berries respawned, so I grab a few, although I don't go too far out of my way for them. I keep heading down Route 32, reaching Union Cave. I find pretty quickly that the cave's only new Pokemon for me is Onix, which would have made that in-game trade even uselesser. I heal using Route 32's Pokemon Center before venturing further into the cave, which I guess counts as Johto's first dungeon? It's so short and easy with Rainwater. I do end up finding the Onix while going through, and I name it My Trains. I consider using it instead of Rock Star, for that eventual Steel typing... but I decide to keep Rock Star for now.

On the other side of the cave, on Route 33, I catch an Ekans, who I name Goosebumps. Can I just say how pleasing Ekans' sprite in this game is? Maybe it's because I just had to spend a whole game that is, quite frankly, ugly as sin, but something about the direction of this Ekans sprite is just... so nice. Noticing this, I recalled the long-abandoned endeavor of the "Pokemon Sprite Guy" to review the sprites of every Pokemon to determine the best. He ended up choosing Ruby/Sapphire's, but somethng about how this Ekans is facing away from the direction most sprites face is really pleasant to me.

As I'm walking to Azalea Town, my egg hatches, and I have a Togepi! I name it Cookie, and keep it, My Trains and Goosebumps boxed. I speak to Kurt, and enter the Slowpoke Well, catching my Slowpoke first. Luckily, I get a female one. Why luckily? Well, so I can name it Amnesia. I box it too, though. I have a perfectly servicable Water type.

IndieCindy evolved beating the rockets in the well! I heal once I'm done, and head in to fight Bugsy...

Who is also a total pushover. Cindy's got Fire, Drinky's got Flying and Star has Rock. Bug is weak to ALL of these, and Bugsy's ace, Scyther, is DOUBLE weak to Rock.

I didn't realize this game had the Twins trainer class in it, though. Weird, given its lack of double battles! Might they have intended to include doubles in this game but not had the time or cart space? Anyway, seeing two trainers send out one Pokemon each, one after another, definitely reminded me of the encounter I had in Pokemon Sun where I was definitely expecting to be fighting all 5 Team Skull Grunts at once in a Horde Battle a la the Aqua/Magma Grunts in ORAS... but since Gen 7 hates every type of battle that is newer than Gen 3, it's just a single encounter with 5 Pokemon.

That's where I stopped playing, and it's been a few days as I put off writing this. But now it's written! ... Of course, I can't quite post it until my blog looks nice, and this literally took me all day, and I have a headache and I just want to play more, but I can't until I get my Pokemon Silver blog theme looking choice. Blugh.