Where is the Water element in Water attacks?

[Jayc]

There is this theory of elemental attacks in the PokéWorld - that all attacks, special or physical, has element in them. That is, Tackle will have the user cloaking itself with Normal element before making contact, Thunder is pure Electric element striking the foe and Steel Wing harnesses the Steel element. This is because each and every type has a certain effectiveness against certain types i.e. Normal is ineffective against Ghost-types, regardless of whether it is a simple Slash or an energy-based Hyper Beam, whereas a Leaf Blade would still be able to (though rather strangely) hit a Ghost type. Leaf Blade and Slash would more or less deal damage the same way, but Leaf Blade can still hit Ghosts, because the Grass element it contains deals the damage, which Ghost-types are not immune to.

It is fairly easy to comprehend how certain attacks (notably most special ones) have and deal this elemental damage. No-brainer examples include Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, et cetera. Physical ones... well, I'll assume the element comes from those glowing body parts thing.

Then comes Water attacks, which require a good dose of imagination to figure out how exactly their elemental typing come into play...

Take Hydro Pump. It is executed by 'blasting the target with huge amounts of water launched under great pressure'. I get where the damage might have comes from - kinetic energy that the water has when it strikes the target deals the concussive damage. But where is the Water element in that? Does the water fired by Pokémon contain the Water element? I can barely see how different it is from any other plain water found anywhere throughout the Pokéworld; in fact, it has been used for purposes any water one might find in a toilet (i.e. showering).

So where is that Water element in Water attacks that make them especially damaging to, say, Ground-types? I highly doubt that if one were to pour a storage tankful of normal water on a Rhyperior, it would be seriously hurt.

 

[domesticshorthair]

I know that water causes erosion in rocks. Maybe it can do the same on rock or ground Pokemon. They could be afraid cause they might fall apart, or something. After all, in Right on Rhydon, the Sandslash, Graveler, and even Onix were terrified when the water started leaking on them. But then, how would the Rhydon get over its fear of water? Maybe it figured that apples were worth it?

 

[Shinx3000]

I did not think normal types or types cloaked themselves in anything when using a normal move, just used the power of their attack and physical attributes.

Also, I thought normal was the only type that did not use an element. The way I see it for water is:

Maybe the water is created from something inside the pokemon (maybe a kind of energy) and this creates the water. It replicates it like actual water, so it can erode rocks (rock types) wet ground types who would like it dry and not being wet (basing this of types like hippowdon that live in sand or mud), which hurts them and puts out fire, thus hurts fire types. Grass types would take a little damage from the initial force of the water hitting them, but since grass/plants absorb water, it does little to hurt them at all.

Normal types take more damage as they neither resist or are strong against water, too much they can drown but the right amounts can wash them clean (basing that on real world animals for that as normal types would be like them, with some differences, not drowning for one)

So where is that Water element in Water attacks that make them especially damaging to, say, Ground-types? I highly doubt that if one were to pour a storage tankful of normal water on a Rhyperior, it would be seriously hurt.

If you have not seen, TR Meowth in Anime fought Brocks onix and managed to defeat it by chucking a bucket of normal water over it and using fury swipes, so the water would have hurt it as I doubt the fury swipes did much. SO I think chucking a bucket of water over a rock/ground pokemon would hurt them a lot.

 

[Sleet]

To say that a Pokémon "cloaks itself with Normal element" in order to tackle something is more of a stretch than to say that pressurized water hurts a living ball of jagged stone, or a horse with fire for hair. It really makes perfect sense. More than most pairs (Psychic vs. Poison).

 

[ShinyFlareon]

^ I always thought the Psychic v. Poison matchup was kind of a physical display of 'mind over matter,' as is the Psychic v. Fighting matchup.

 

[Jayc]

To say that a Pokémon "cloaks itself with Normal element" in order to tackle something is more of a stretch than to say that pressurized water hurts a living ball of jagged stone, or a horse with fire for hair.

Then I don't know what's that shiny bit of light that trails behind a Pokémon using Double Edge or Quick Attack.

No, I'm not saying that it doesn't hurt a lot. What I meant to say was that if the water used was just plain normal water, why does it deal more damage to Rock-types and Ground-types (though I can understand how Fire-types get hit more with Water-type attacks)?

It really makes perfect sense. More than most pairs (Psychic vs. Poison).

About that... I have no idea.

 

[Sleet]

The shiny bit behind them is just a visual device used to show them moving fast.

And erosion is why it hurts Rock and Ground. While in nature, it breaks rock and soil down very slowly, when concentrated, such as with a Water Pokémon attack, it can do it faster. For a more extreme, real life example, see the water jet cutter.

 

[ShinyAeon]

Rock and Ground types require far less moisture than other creatures in their metabolism; too much essentially gives them H2O poisoning.

And attacks don't really glow (except, like, Pikachu's, 'cause they're made of lightning, or moves like Flash); that's just artistic license. You know when a Pokemon does a jumping attack, the way the background turns to streaks of some appropriate color? Well, the air behind the Pokemon doesn't really obscure the things behind it with stripes, it's just a visual representation of speed and movement. Similarly, the glowing of attacks is a visual metaphor for the strength the Pokemon puts into an attack. Think of it as the animated equivalent of "motion lines."


Dang! Totally scooped by Sleet. Er...leaving my bit in, though, just for the heck...

 

[Martonimos]

Yeah, I'd say that the Water element in Water attacks comes from the water.

 

[ShinyAeon]

Ooo, just thought of something!

Rock types are vulnerable to water, but the Crystal Onix wasn't...that's because water can soak in to rocks, dissolving some of the chemicals in them and leeching them out...but crystals are impervious to water.

Yes, a substance that can leech out important parts of your body chemistry would definitely hurt a creature....

 

[coolcatkim22]

I have no idea what you're talking about.
Water is a element in it's self, so is fire and electricity.

 

[domesticshorthair]

Ooo, just thought of something!

Rock types are vulnerable to water, but the Crystal Onix wasn't...that's because water can soak in to rocks, dissolving some of the chemicals in them and leeching them out...but crystals are impervious to water.

Yes, a substance that can leech out important parts of your body chemistry would definitely hurt a creature....

Good point!

 

[Shinx3000]

Water is the water element. No, it's no different from ordinary water. Meowth threw water at Brock's Onix and Onix was still weak to it.

That was then about Meowth and Onix. If that were true, fire types would be hurt in rain, and in the ranger episode, chimchar was in the rain and his tail flame never went out,nor did he seem hurt, so I am thinking that its not normal water that affects the pokemon or rain (especially strong rain, wet rain like in ranger episode)would hurt a lot of pokemon that are weak to water. Rain and water pokemon are connected and it ups their powers, but this water is slightly different, or at least different force that is put on the pokemon to hurt it.

 

[Sleet]

But at the beginning of the series, Charmander was hurt by the rain. I think just regular rain isn't strong enough to hurt Fire types.

 

[Kalylia]

Or the rain isn't strong enough to hurt strong fire types.

If you tossed Chimchar into the ocean, he'd be hurting pretty badly. I promise.

 

[ShinyAeon]

Or the rain isn't strong enough to hurt strong fire types.

Yeah, I'd say that if a fire type is feeling reasonably healthy, moderate rain would be no more unpleasant than a chilly temperatures to someone who's used to them...not something they really want to be out in for a long time, but bearable for a while.

Charmander was alone and lonely and discouraged, and already worn out from waiting much too long for that #@%!ing #@&%! Damien.

If you tossed Chimchar into the ocean, he'd be hurting pretty badly. I promise.

Yeah, and so would you...once Ash and Pikachu were done with you....

 

[Legacy]

I agree with this.

Fire-types are weakened by every-day rain, but it doesn't damage them so much that they faint or anything.

In movie 8 that bonsley wouldn't go swimming in that spring so that kind of proves all water is pretty much the same in that regard.

but water from water attacks is obviously a lot more concentrated and powerful.

 

[Trainer'sInsomnia]

I agree with this.

Fire-types are weakened by every-day rain, but it doesn't damage them so much that they faint or anything.

In movie 8 that bonsley wouldn't go swimming in that spring so that kind of proves all water is pretty much the same in that regard.

but water from water attacks is obviously a lot more concentrated and powerful.

Not just in movie 8, but Brock's Sudowoodo in "Leave it to Brocko" as well. This implies that water in general affects the rock types, which means every other type scenario applies the same to normal "elements" as well. It just all depends on the degree.

A match isn't necessarily going to blaze up a single blade of grass, but it'll burn it. I imagine the same concept applies.

And as for the illustration and such that caused this confusion, I think that's just a way to show "force". I think you only generally see it for the physical ones... IE Pikachu's Iron Tail, tackle, etc... To imply it's not a simple "Tail Whip" or "shove".
---

In some instances, you can assume that these elements are a bit extraordinary, which would explain how a stupid "Bubble Beam" can do so much.

But in other instances, you also have to assume that they're less than the normal elements, which is how something like a "Thunderbolt" or "Flamethrower" doesn't actually kill humans or Pokemon.

 

[PlasmaDavid]

I like to stick with my "Pokemon inhabit a slightly different dimension and thus have different properties\powers and interact with the real world slightly differently" theory.

This would somewhat explain Pokemon not killing each other instantly all the time, as well as Pokemon not killing people (much) with attacks, though of course you can put that down to the anime being... well, an anime.

I like to think Psychic pokemon use their powers to cause the poison in Poison pokemon to somewhat "attack" the pokemon from the inside, or something like that.

 

[Shinx3000]

This would somewhat explain Pokemon not killing each other instantly all the time, as well as Pokemon not killing people (much) with attacks, though of course you can put that down to the anime being... well, an anime.

Well, I always assumed Humans evolved from pokemon overtime... in real world we evolved from monkeys overtime and in pokmeon world, pokemon came first and there are ones hat look human and thats why humans in pokemon world are tougher and don't get killed so easy by attacks and maybe why Ash has an aura.