Use of moves outside battle

[Lord Kyuubi]

Hello, dear writers (and non-writers). So something I've been wondering about for quite some time now is how many functions could be found for pokemon moves and abilities and suchlike in everyday life situations, not related to battling. I mean, HMs are a thing, but they're mostly very simplistic and straightforward, and even then they're only really used in travelling.

So yes. I was wondering about how other moves, abilities and other capabilities could be used in situations not involving any fighting. Not necessarily limited to use in travelling either, but really, just any situations they might be useful. So, yeah, any ideas, anyone?

 

[CrystaI]

Anything is possible if you are that creative enough. You may get all the possible inspirations by looking at many other different fantasy mangas, animes and games. Even within the Pokemon franchise themselves, there are suggestions.

Example, in Pokemon Ranger games, all the pokemons are not used for battles, but for helping the others using their abilities. Moving obstructions away from the road, extinguish fire using water pokemons' Water Gun or Rain Dance, cutting grasses using Cut, etc. In the Pokemon Special Pokemon Ranger Batonnage the Comic Darkrai Mission Story, Hajime also ordered a Starly to use Gust in place of cushion to save Prof. Shinbara from falling.

Also from manga, in the Pokemon Special Yellow Chapter, Koga ordered his Golbat to use Confuse Ray as an alternative method to light up the place.

Inspired from one fantasy manga I read recently. In the same situation of someone falling from place of very high altitude, there are many different moves of pokemon may use to save the person from injury. If it is water-type pokemon, using Surf at the expected falling point to create a large wave acting as cushion (though, you will be soaking wet, but still it is usable). For grass-type pokemon, Vine Whip can do the cushion job. If it is bug-type pokemon, String Shot or Spider Web may also do. For psychic-type, it is just as easy using Psychic or even Telekinesis.

For fire-type pokemons, cooking is really the most common use of the pokemon's ability. If not cooking, then like the Crystal Onix episode in OI saga, using Charmeleon's fire for glass molting.

Ice-type pokemon's ability can be used in place of the fridge and freezers. I do remember PokeSpe Dia's Rotom did in fact produced ice-cream. Well, in the case of Rotom, because it is in fact a fridge......

For electric-type pokemon, I could thought of one very specific occasion that is very useful, which is used in place of a defibrillator, a medical device used to deliver a therapeutic dose of electrical energy to the heart of patient of life-threatening cardiac arrest, in case that such particular medical device is not available. In my fanfic, I planned to have one such scene like that, where one character was facing such medically critical condition due to the cause of extreme stress, it was the doctor that was there think up of such way of using his Shinx in order to save its trainer. Note: This act requires professional medical knowledge. Therefore do not imitate if your story don't have a real doctor character. And do not imitate this scene if you don't meant it to be plot-important.

I can continue more and more if I wanted to. But I'll rather leave it for now. As long as you are creative enough, anything is possible.

 

[Drakon]

Protect, Light Screen and Barrier can be used to make platforms or shields.

Leech Seed could be used to produce vines to temporarily shore up a structure.

Pretty much any move has non-combat related uses if you think about it hard enough.

 

[Jimmy 3 People 0]

Protect, Light Screen and Barrier can be used to make platforms or shields.

I used this idea in OBC, though it never actually came into play, where Winona's Salamence used Protect when flying to create a barrier to keep anyone from falling to their death.

 

[PiccoloX]

The use of moves outside of battle can be practical or simply to add flavor to the story. Try not to look at it from a game/series/manga perspective and more along the lines of a fantasy story. Pokemon are magical animals with nearly limitless possibilities and the only reason "moves" exist is because thats how we, as humans, would mist likely identify with what type of power a specific Pokemon is capable of.

Calling a burst of flame "Flame Thrower" kinda trivializes the biological makeup that would allow this creature to produce fire. It also seems like it's based more on size, as in a Charmander spitting fire with the same proportionate force as a Charizard would naturally have a smaller flame. Would that mean the Charmander used Flame Thrower and the Charizard used Fire Blast? No. It's merely how we, as humans, would identify with the ability.

Some stuff I played around with in stories regarding alternate uses for a Pokemons combat move:

Spoiler

In the RP "A World Without Legendaries" I played a Smeargle whose use of Transform was imperfect, but would give him an advantage when he wanted to conceal his identity. It was imperfect because he wasn't a Ditto. Unlike the simple minded Ditto he had too much on his mind, so he couldn't form an exact duplicate, often leading to how he interprets what he's turning into. Also, since he was a solid being, unlike Ditto, he could only add to his physical mass via paint expelled from his tail.

In "The Story of Yewer" the tsudo-villain Tregrenos (MissingNO.) used the move Mimmic against a prior enemy, duplicating the Lucarios Aura Sphere. He did this not to attack the Lucario, but to threaten him. He wanted to show his enemy what he could do, wanting to see the fear in his adversaries eyes.