Select Button: 2nd Impact

Salutations soldiers to the sanctum of Select Button. Sorry I am late, but I just got my copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (gave up 5 of my old games for it) and I've been playing it out like popped collars. First off, I want to start with a big-time thank you for all the views so far, as well as the questions and comments you all leave. I have a lot of material to work with for the coming weeks, but I would not mind more comments left with questions and requests for me to answer.  While I am on that subject, let's get to my chosen long question of the week.

Kimi asked me from my Yahoo: My two favorite Pokemon are Typhlosion and Floatzel. If you can, can you make a party of 6 Pokemon to go with each of my favorites?

The short answer? Yes, yes I can. Typholosion is a powerhouse Special-based Fire starter, and Floatzel is a strong and speedy sweeper for Waters. Though there is ample chance to make a Sunny Day/Rain Dance team with the two you have picked, I didn't want to take that route because it would be hard to depend on the weather when everyone is going to do it. Come March 30th, Pokemon Black and White players can send their Pokemon to the Dream World,and from there can befriend special Vulpix and Poliwags that will evolve into a Ninetales with Drought (permanent sunshine when it is sent out, only changes when another weather move or ability is used) and a Politoed with Drizzle (permanent heavy rain, following the same rules as Drought). These abilities used to be held by Groudon and Kyogre, two legendary Pokemon that usually aren't allowed in tournaments that use the Smogon tier list. All the current Pokemon have a chance to be befriended in the Dream World, and most of them come into your game with an ability they have never had before, so keep an eye out for it Pokemon faithful.

Allow me to start with explaining some of the mechanics I will be using for this post. If you guys need any more explanation for these mechanics, feel free to ask in the comments and I will answer them in a future post going in-depth into Pokemon. First, Effort Values (EVs). When you battle with any Pokemon, you don't just get EXP for beating them. You also gain a certain number of EVs, based on two details: 1.)  their highest base stat and 2.) their level of evolution, although there are rare cases where some Pokemon will give you more than 1 stat EV. For example, if you kicked a Crobat's keister, you would get 3 Speed EV's, because Crobat is a Stage 2 Pokemon (Basic - Stage 1 - Stage 2) and its highest base stat is Speed. You can gather 510 EV's on a Pokemon total, but each stat can only hold 255 EV's at a time. The Effort Values bear fruit when you look at your Pokemon's stats and will see that for every 4 EV's on a Pokemon, 1 point is added to that stat over its base value, adding a total of 63 points if you put the max amount of EV's on a stat (Protip: when you get to 252 on a stat, stop and save the other 3 for something else). Using Vitamins will add 10 to the stat you picked the vitamin for, and will stop working when you have added 100 EV's to a stat.  Using the Power set of items (Power Bracer, Power Band, Power Scarf) will double the amount of EV's yielded by a Pokemon defeated, and a Macho Brace will also double it. If your Pokemon is infected with Pokerus, they will also have their EV's yielded doubled. There is no way to know the exact value of EV's you have on a Pokemon so you can keep track, so I would use a tally mark when you are actively EV training. It makes a big difference when competing against other Pokemon players.

Some of the moves I have chosen for the Pokemon increases stats in battle. The way increasing stats work is quite simple. Let's focus on Swords Dance. It increases the target Pokemon's Attack stat by 2 stages. A stat increased/decreased in battle can only be reduced by 6 stages up and down, meaning you can only hit +6 to -6. Adjusting stats in battle will increase a stat by 50% increments/decrements. Having a -6 in one stat means that stat is 25% of what it used to be, but having +6 has that stat increased by 400% of what it used to be. This is the X-Factor of having stat-increasing moves in the game, though some Pokemon don't need it because they either have abilities that help their stats or they are holding an item that helps them.

Natures are also a determining factor in the stats of your Pokemon. You can determine what the nature of your Pokemon is by looking into its information and the first line tells you its nature. Natures can provide a beneficial 10% increase to that Pokemon's stats while also decreasing another stat by 10%. Some Natures are neutral and don't do anything, but if you are looking for a specific nature it is a good idea to breed the Pokemon.

Breeding Pokemon can pass down abilities, moves, and natures down to the child Pokemon. Some Pokemon can only learn a move via breeding with another Pokemon so keep that in mind. Pokemon set to breed must be in the same egg group and be able to breed (legendaries can't breed, except Manaphy to get a Phione) and be put in the Daycare Center of whatever region you are playing. The egg will always hold a Level 1 or 5 (based on Generation) pre-evolved version of the mother. When it comes to passing moves down, the child will get any moves they could start with, as well as any TM/HM and move tutor moves that that Pokemon can learn that the father knows (Say you breed Flygon (male) and Scizor (female). Flygon has U-Turn. The resulting Scyther would know U-Turn). Also, any level-up move that both parents know that the child could learn will also be passed down (If two Umbreons that both know Trump Card will pass down Trump Card to the resulting Eevee). If the father knows a move that that Pokemon can pass as an egg move, that will be passed down (for example, if a male Ninetales were to mate with a female Typhlosion and the male Ninetales knows Extrasensory, the Cyndaquil child will know Extrasensory despite it not being in its level-up learnset). If the mother is holding an Everstone, there is a 50% percent chance that the resulting child will have the same nature as its mother. There is also a 40% chance that the mother will pass down the Hidden Ability they learned from the Dream World in Generation V titles. That being the case, to get a Typhlosion with Extrasensory and the ability Flash Fire, you would need to have a male Ninetales that knows Extrasensory mate with a female Dream World-provided Typhlosion. And you have a 40% percent shot of getting it.

Breeding with a Ditto is an entirely different story. Ditto can be either parent, but you cannot hatch a Ditto. So a male Pokemon can be matched with a Ditto, and the resulting egg will hold the TM/HM and tutored moves the male had. If the Ditto in the matchup has a nature you'd like to have on that Pokemon, you can have it hold an Everstone and have it pass down that nature 50% of the time. If you mate a female Pokemon with a Ditto, the egg will not have any moves other than what it would start with.

Now allow me to start with Typhlosion's party:

• Typhlosion - Ability = Flash Fire (Dream World Ability) Moves: Lava Plume/Wild Charge/Extrasensory (gained by breeding with a Vulpix or Shiftry that has it)/Focus Blast EV = 252 Special Attack, 252 Speed, 6 ATK. Held Item = Choice Scarf. Nature = Modest
  
• Heat Rotom - Ability = Levitate Moves: Overheat/Thunder Wave or Will O' Wisp (up to you)/Hex/Thunderbolt EV = 252 Sp. ATK, 252 HP, 6 Speed. Held Item: Wise Glasses. Nature = Modest.
  
• Chandulure - Ability = Flame Body Moves: Hex/Pain Split/Heat Wave (breed with Magcargo)/Energy Ball EV = 252 Sp. ATK, 252 Speed, 6 Defense. Held Item: Red Card. Choice Specs.
  
• Darmanitan - Ability = Sheer Force Moves: Fire Punch/Bulldoze/Rock Slide/Brick Break EV: 168 Defense, 172 Speed, 168 Sp. Defense Held Item: Life Orb Nature: Adamant
  
• Ferrothorn - Ability = Iron Barbs Moves: Curse/Gyro Ball/Power Whip/Ingrain EV: 168 Sp. Def, 172 ATK, 168 HP. Held Item: Leftovers Nature: Brave.
• Blaziken - Ability = Speed Boost (Dream World ability) Moves: Baton Pass (breed with Eevee family that have it or Lopunny)/Work Up/Protect/Blaze Kick EV: 168 HP, 172 Sp. Def, and 168 Defense. Held Item: Focus Sash Nature: Jolly.
  

Typhlosion is built to use its impressive Special strength to cover types you might have a problem nailing weaknesses with. Extrasensory is there so you have a Special move that flinches, to take advantage of the speed you'll have over your opponent with the Scarf. Remember to tag out if you need to use a different move than the first one you used. Modest nature increases your Sp. ATK while reducing your ATK, and Wild Charge is there purely to hit Waters as hard as you can if you need to, but your first priority is tagging out to Ferrothorn in case of WatersLava Plume has a good chance of burning, which is good for the Pokemon with Hex on your squad. Speaking of, Heat Rotom. In Generation V, Rotom has the distinction of changing his type from Ghost to whatever type the move he would gain from taking over appliances would provide. So Heat Rotom, in your squad, is Electric/Fire, with Levitate. No Ground weakness for the win! Your Heat Rotom will be slower than other Electrics, but it is meant to be a bother to your opponents' team. You want to base your status-changing move to something that'll either cut their Attack down like burning, or cut their speed by paralysis. It's your choice. If you cut their speed, you can bother them quick though, getting in that Hex to do massive damage in their weakened position. Use Overheat as a last resort since it cuts your Sp. ATK by two stages after use. Thunderbolt can paralyze too, just remember that. Chandulure is your backup special sweeper, and has Heat Wave for the chance to burn. Energy Ball is a back-up in case you face a Water team, but remember that you are using a Choice item. Flame Body has a chance to burn them on contact, so remember that in case you want to cripple the whole squad. Ferrothorn is your Water vengance squad, and is sturdy as hell. It will deal damage to those who make contact with it, so Ingrain on your first turn, knock out their Pokemon with Power Whip or a souped-up Gyro Ball (It'll be at max power since you'll be slower than basically any Pokemon you face), then Curse when the next Pokemon comes in, since they might want to buff their stats on their first turn in too. Be careful for Fires, they deal 4x damage to you. If you see a fire move coming, tag out to Typhlosion to bath in the sweet power-increasing fires of Flash Fire's increase from Fire moves. Leftovers will also heal you while Ingrain is, so this Pokemon has the chance to take on 2-3 Pokemon consecutively. Darmanitan's Sheer Force ability is broken. You get a 30% increase in using attacks with a secondary effect, and with Life Orb equipped, you get another 30% increase in attacks. Sheer Force negates Life Orb's life-draining effect, so you get 60% increase in damage with virtually no drawback. It's scary broken. Fire Punch won't burn, true, but it'll do 157 base damage. For perspective, Hyper Beam is a 150 base power attack. That's not including Darmanitan's harsh Attack strength, so you'll be hitting for game every time you use Fire Punch. The other moves are just to take care of other types you would need to worry about, all with drawbacks so you'll get Sheer Force's boost. Now Blaziken is not to be used to attack. It is a Passer, which is a Pokemon that boosts stats up, then passes them onto another Pokemon in wait with Baton Pass. With Speed Boost, you'll be increasing your Speed at the end of every turn by 1 stage. So depending on how you want to use your first turn, you can use Work Up to increase your Atk and Sp. Atk by one stage, your Speed will increase, you'll take some damage (thus the EV's in everything defensive), next turn you can either Protect to cancel the opponent's attack or use another Work Up. Now the next turn comes, and you'll have either 1 stage of Atk and Sp. Atk or 2, and 2 stages of Speed increased. You Baton Pass to whoever you feel like (I don't suggest Ferrothorn, he doesn't need the speed) and they'll come in with twice the amount of Speed and either double or 1.5x the amount of Attack and Special Attack they had before. Strikes fear in the hearts of your opponents, I promise you that. If Blaziken is the only one left, then Blaze Kick and hope for a win, but you'll outpace your opponent doing it. And you are hitting for a decent amount of strength for a Passer.

Now onto your Floatzel team:

• Floatzel- Ability: Water Veil (Dream World ability) Moves: Ice Fang/Aqua Tail/Me First(breed with Lucario or Absol)/Crunch EV: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP Held Item: Choice Band Nature: Adamant
• Milotic - Ability: Marvel Scale Moves: Rest/Ice Beam/Scald/Mirror Coat (breed with Corsola) EV: 128 Def, 252 Sp. ATK, 128 Speed. Held Item: Leftovers Nature: Modest
• Jellicent - Ability: Cursed Body Moves: Hex/Brine/Pain Split(breed with Litwick or Misdreavus)/Wring Out EV: 252 Sp. ATK, 252 Speed, 6 HP. Held Item: Life Orb. Nature: Timid
  
• Gliscor- Ability: Poison Heal (Dream World ability) Moves: Fire Fang/Fling/Earthquake/U-Turn EV: 252 Atk, 252 Spd. 6 Sp. Def Held Item: Toxic Orb Nature: Adamant
• Kingdra - Ability: Sniper Moves: Focus Energy/Brine/ice Beam/Dragon Pulse EV: 252 Sp. ATK, 252 Speed, 6 HP. Held Item: Scope Lens Nature: Modest
• Seismitoad - Ability: Poison Touch Moves: Drain Punch/Earthquake/Venoshock/Poison Jab EV: 252 Atk, 128 Spd. 128 Sp. Defence Held Item: Rocky Helmet. Nature: Jolly

Floatzel cannot get hit. That is all I can say, his defense is not abyssmal, but it's nothing to write home about either. That's why you have Aqua Jet. It's your oh-crap move. Ice Fang is for the Dragons and the other Ice-weak Pokemon you will run into that you should be faster than given your Base speed. Remember, it's a Choice Band, so the move you use better be worth it or you are tagging out. Luckily, Ice Fang can flinch as well as freeze, and since you are faster you might have a shot of keeping the pressure. Crunch is for the ghosts you'll run into. Me First will require you to tag out, but it is for Dragons and Ghosts, and any Pokemon that uses a move they are weak to. Your opponent might catch on after the second time getting Me First'd. Milotic has Marvel Scale, and you will use it when you Rest. Your defense boost will make going to sleep worthwhile, and you'll be Resting after taking out a Pokemon or two beforehand. Mirror Coat is for when your opponent is growing too predictable or you know the opponent's Pokemon. If it is Chandulure, you are Mirror Coating your first turn regardless of how hard he thinks he's hitting you. Kingdra is your anti-lightning (Water/Dragon, only weak against Grass) critical hit beamer. Sniper increases the damage increase from criticals, and though your moves won't have a high critical hit ratio, Focus Energy will help you have a higher hit ratio. Gliscor is another anti-electric, this time a sweeper that can Earthquake them. You have Fling so you can throw your Toxic Orb after being poisoned, which will heal you. It will be a harsh attack when you throw the orb, and afterwards you can U-Turn out to a better choice if you run into a Ice type. Jellicent is your Special sponge with added speed and Special attack so you can last longer. Pain Split is your healing move of sorts, use it on big bulky Pokemon while you are at your weakest to get the most health. Seismitoad is the new mud Pokemon (Water/Ground) and it does a good job. Higher stats than Quagsire but it isn't Swampert, but the ability to poison via attacking added to Venoshock and Poison Jab makes it an anti-grass if they get in your way, but remember Steel is completely immune to Poison.

That's all I can say for the long question, any questions about anything I shared can be dropped in the comments. As for my short question, here's one from myaddictionizyou:

Why does Togepi live in an egg?

Well, that's simple. Togepi represent a bird hatching from an egg, and it was the first baby Pokemon introduced that would soldier on the advent of baby Pokemon, it was only necessary to showcase it still being in its egg. The shell doesn't shed until it evolves into Togetic, where the print of its egg is represented in its down feathers. Its shell is full of happiness, so I figure a Togepi without its egg shell would be 1.) rather cold and 2.) very sad. We wouldn't want that in our baby Pokemon. It was only in its egg for four episodes, and it was the first Johto non-legendary introduced in the show, the first being Ho-Oh.

That's it for the second entry into Select Button. Keep the hits coming, especially since HubPages is having Weekly Contests next month, and it would help if I had a lot more questions to work on. Remember, leave them in the comments or ask them in the window on the left. Or reach me privately with my contact info in the first hub for Select Button detailing all the criteria.

Til' Next Time, I'm Reyes "JustIceRei" Reyes III. Quit to Main Menu.