How to handle aquatic Pokemon

[Caitlin]

I was recently going through my notes when I found something stating that one of the characters in my story was supposed to catch an aquatic Pokemon. Feebas, to be exact.

The only thing is... how would I even handle it? I'm going for a semi-realism approach, and calling on a fish to use in a land battle seems silly. I have plans for this Pokemon to be used in coordinator contests, but other than that I really don't want him to be useless in the overall story.

So, how do I handle a fish in a battle situation if there's no water around? Should I just not bother using him?

 

[AetherX]

The only way I think you could do it is to only have Feebas come out when there's a body of water around. Personally, I think it would make sense for contest stages to have water around them (a la the anime Wallace Cup), just so that fish-like Pokemon could be used. Outside of contests though, I would think the trainer would probably go out of their way to be near water whenever possible just so that Feebas could come out.

 

[Thanatos]

If the contests involve more that 2 pokemon one could use surf?

Like what ^ said it does make sense for contests to have water allowing popular pokemon like Gyarados and Milotic to be used.

 

[Instrutilus]

Well, the Travelsverse is realism based as well, so I'll use my notes for assistance here.

Gills function perfectly fine when in air, it's when the gills dry and harden that fish start to suffocate. Pokémon can produce water from their body easily (well, more store it to use for fending off predators) so presumably some of them are able to use that water to prevent their gills from drying out, allowing them to breathe somewhat decently on land for a while. They just stay off the land because of the next issue: land-based movement.

Now, the whole land-based movement is more of an issue: their fins aren't designed to drag the creature about. I, personally, was going to have the trainer either carry the Pokémon itself in order to prevent it and them become easier snacks for 'Mon (Wild 'Mon will happily kill and snack on Humans that are dumb enough to wander around without anything to protect them) or, if in a sanctioned battle, either be provided water for the Pokémon or have it merely lie on the ground, mostly wriggling around and being generally unable to do anything other then fire Water Guns or Bubble attacks.

That's just my notes, hope they help...

 

[Necrozma]

You could also use a tiny bit of creativity.

- Feebas uses Ice Beam for example and "skates" over the ice.
- Feebas uses Surf to summon the wave and launch itself on the enemy. (combination move also possible)
- Feebas uses Rain Dance -> Swift Swim activates -> Thanks to the 2x speed, Feebas moves swiftly over the wet floor.

If you have double appeals you could have your partner Pokémon aid Feebas in the appeal or even use Feebas for the appeal. Since coordinators ARE meant to be creative, surely a character who owns Feebas would try and find the way for its Pokémon to participate somehow? Feebas can also simply Splash around the area (it's no issue until it's raining, it has water and can attack). Those are just my opinions however, I agree with the others as well. If you're planning a battle in the Contest with an aquatic Pokémon it would be convenient to have the water around the contest stage.

 

[Data_Error]

Many water Pokémon could believably be amphibious or otherwise battle on land. Otherwise, you would be restricted in the wild to whatever Pokémon are convenient in regards to the surrounding terrain. I would imagine that any League regulation arenas or gyms would be built with accessible pools to accommodate for aquatic Pokémon, including contest halls. Some Pokémon such as Wailord would nonetheless remain unusable in situations outside of large bodies of water, but such a restriction would act as a trade-off for the tactical advantage of hiding beneath the water's surface or simply having the advantage based on size. Of course, most water-dwelling Pokémon seem to have at least some capacity to breathe atmospheric oxygen, so the suggestion of using the Pokémon on a wet floor might be feasible if the Pokémon has some means of propelling itself (Gyarados, for example, might act similarly to an Onix with better underwater movement).

For your Feebas example, I would imagine contest halls having some sort of pool available as part of the facility, allowing for fishlike Pokémon to make appeals.