Unlikely partners

Did you ever picked up a Pokémon in your team that you never really thought you'd have? Was it disappointing or did it pulled its weight?
I remember picking up a Gulpin back in Sapphire and for some reason became my most powerful Pokémon. I'm not a fan of most Poison types and didn't really knew its strengths and weaknesses, but it was surprisingly strong!

Amaura! I don't normally use fossils, nor do I normally use Rock types or Ice types (except when Water/Ice). Turned out it was Not Useful because of that type combo, sadly.

As for ones that turned out useful, I don't use many Normal/Flying types and usually prefer Flying to be mixed with a more offensive type, but one of the best Pokémon I ever had was my Swellow in Alpha Sapphire. I never outright checked the stats, but I can only assume I got a really good one. It basically turned into the sweeper for my team.

Rainbow said:

Amaura! I don't normally use fossils, nor do I normally use Rock types or Ice types (except when Water/Ice). Turned out it was Not Useful because of that type combo, sadly.

As for ones that turned out useful, I don't use many Normal/Flying types and usually prefer Flying to be mixed with a more offensive type, but one of the best Pokémon I ever had was my Swellow in Alpha Sapphire. I never outright checked the stats, but I can only assume I got a really good one. It basically turned into the sweeper for my team.

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I always wanted to use Amaura because it's so cute, never got around to do it...now you made me sad haha
I also had a similar experience in Gen 4 with Starly>Staravia>Staraptor. Staraptor kicked some serious asses with Close Combat for me ._. otherwise, aside from Hoothoot, I don't use the birds you get at the start.

When I first laid eyes on Torkoal he wasn't exactly the Pokemon I had been dreaming of. However, I was midway through Hoenn and still didn't have a fire type. I really didn't like Camerupt's design, so Torkoal it was.

Torkoal quickly won my respect and affection as I watched this turtle reign terror on Hoenn. He captured Rayquaza for me-- silencing the fury of the dragon with his protects and defense boosts. This fiery tortoise swept Wally's entire team on Victory Road and went down in the hall of fame.

I think this Pokemon has a lot of potential to be explore, he was good fun to play with in-game.

VisionofMilotic said:

When I first laid eyes on Torkoal he wasn't exactly the Pokemon I had been dreaming of. However, I was midway through Hoenn and still didn't have a fire type. I really didn't like Camerupt's design, so Torkoal it was.

Torkoal quickly won my respect and affection as I watched this turtle reign terror on Hoenn. He captured Rayquaza for me-- silencing the fury of the dragon with his protects and defense boosts. This fiery tortoise swept Wally's entire team on Victory Road and went down in the hall of fame.

I think this Pokemon has a lot of potential to be explore, he was good fun to play with in-game.

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Side note: I really enjoyed the way you wrote that! It was very entertaining :P
I never thought of using Torkoal either. Flannery is such a pushover with hers, but maybe it's because my starter of choice is Mudkip. How did it swept Wally's team? Is it more an offensive Pokémon or defensive?

I'd say Skuntank in the Sinnoh games. I wanted to try something different for my team, even if meant having to hoard my brother's DS Lite and trade over since he had Diamond and I had Pearl and Platinum, the two Sinnoh games it wasn't in.

It's a Pokemon that holds up really well in-game, especially with its decent stats and having only a single weakness. Not as bad of a Pokemon as you'd think.

Hikamaru said:

I'd say Skuntank in the Sinnoh games. I wanted to try something different for my team, even if meant having to hoard my brother's DS Lite and trade over since he had Diamond and I had Pearl and Platinum, the two Sinnoh games it wasn't in.

It's a Pokemon that holds up really well in-game, especially with its decent stats and having only a single weakness. Not as bad of a Pokemon as you'd think.

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Indeed! I wasn't a fan of that Pokémon either, before I saw that it could learn Flamethrower. With the awful lack of Fire Types in the Sinnoh games, Skuntank was a welcome addition in most of my teams.

Rainbow said:

Amaura! I don't normally use fossils, nor do I normally use Rock types or Ice types (except when Water/Ice). Turned out it was Not Useful because of that type combo, sadly.

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I can totally understand you. While its design is great, that type combination holds it back. When you have two 4x weaknesses, you know it's going to be a hard road if it wants to prove your worth.

Speaking of X/Y, I used Sylveon because I wanted to try out a Fairy-type but I was sceptical at first because I had never used an Eeveelution in a main story playthrough. Turned out to be something I didn't regret, because he became a real MVP of my team.

I'd go with Lunala. I used to not like it or use it, but I got one on th GTS for a mewtwo, and it is one of the best competitive pokemon.

Hikamaru said:

I can totally understand you. While its design is great, that type combination holds it back. When you have two 4x weaknesses, you know it's going to be a hard road if it wants to prove your worth.

Speaking of X/Y, I used Sylveon because I wanted to try out a Fairy-type but I was sceptical at first because I had never used an Eeveelution in a main story playthrough. Turned out to be something I didn't regret, because he became a real MVP of my team.

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A Male Sylveon? Is it wrong of me to consider certain Eevee Evolutions as Male while others as Female? I always considered Sylveon as a Female Evolution(it screams female by the design) while others come across as Male to me(like Jolteon).

A long time ago, in a Pokemon world far away, I gave Pokemon Yellow its first run and had this preconception that certain Pokemon were good while others were crap. One Pokemon in particular that fell into my latter category was Paras. Bug types in Generation 1 were really shafted due to a lack of moves and consequently power behind them. As such Psychic types run amok in Generation 1 while Bug types get ignored. Yet it's typing made it one of the few Bug Types with an actual Bug move(Leech Life) who could take on Psychic types without getting KO'd by a Super Effective Psychic Attack(other two Bug types who learn Bug type moves are part Poison, hence cant combat Psychic types). Furthermore, being part Grass meant that it could hurt Water, Rock and Ground types and learn the HM Cut, making it a relatively worthwhile Pokemon to have on a Team. Plus it learned the exclusive and signature Spore attack and I'll never forget it from the Anime. It's only drawback, if there was one, was that it was a bit slow and its stats leave much to be desired(could have been a bit stronger). It also was a pain to level too.

CodeHelmet said:

A Male Sylveon? Is it wrong of me to consider certain Eevee Evolutions as Male while others as Female? I always considered Sylveon as a Female Evolution(it screams female by the design) while others come across as Male to me(like Jolteon).

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Well, in Moon I have a male Primarina with a +Sp. Atk nature and perfect IVs in said stat. and I'm proud of him!

Hikamaru said:

Well, in Moon I have a male Primarina with a +Sp. Atk nature and perfect IVs in said stat. and I'm proud of him!

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Not bad and how decent were the stats on your Sylveon? I wouldn't know how far off perfect my Paras was as I've reset my Yellow multiple times since that day. It was a pretty good one though.

i caught a jigglypuff in leafgreen and it became my best pokemon

CodeHelmet said:

Not bad and how decent were the stats on your Sylveon? I wouldn't know how far off perfect my Paras was as I've reset my Yellow multiple times since that day. It was a pretty good one though.

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I don't remember his exact IVs, but his defenses managed to hold up well. I think his Speed may have been a bit higher than average as well.

This happened to me a number of times in the 5th gen games, where a Pokemon I never really planned on using ended up being a key player on my team. Just off the top of my head, Zebstrika and Druddigon helped carry my first playthrough of White, when I really just caught them in the first place for Pokedex purposes. And I never planned on using a Swanna in White 2 with Samurott on my team, but since it was the first shiny I'd found in years, it made its way into the party, and it actually pulled its weight right until the end.

CodeHelmet said:

Not bad and how decent were the stats on your Sylveon? I wouldn't know how far off perfect my Paras was as I've reset my Yellow multiple times since that day. It was a pretty good one though.

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Paras in Gen 7 helped me destroy the Water Trial with its Dry Skin ability. I was pretty impressed by the little bug.

Bellsprout said:

i caught a jigglypuff in leafgreen and it became my best pokemon

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Did you made it evolve into Wigglytuff?

Brendino said:

This happened to me a number of times in the 5th gen games, where a Pokemon I never really planned on using ended up being a key player on my team. Just off the top of my head, Zebstrika and Druddigon helped carry my first playthrough of White, when I really just caught them in the first place for Pokedex purposes. And I never planned on using a Swanna in White 2 with Samurott on my team, but since it was the first shiny I'd found in years, it made its way into the party, and it actually pulled its weight right until the end.

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Those are pretty cool Pokémon I also wanted to eventually use, but never got around doing it. Did you find the Shiny Swanna as a Shiny or was it still a Ducklett?

Soapyyy said:

Those are pretty cool Pokémon I also wanted to eventually use, but never got around doing it. Did you find the Shiny Swanna as a Shiny or was it still a Ducklett?

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Found it as a Ducklett on the Driftveil Drawbridge while trying to collect a bunch of wings. It was later in the game, so I had to grind for a bit with it so that it was up to speed with the rest of my party.

I definitely admit Swanna isn't that terrible. It's actually a good rain abuser if you manage to get one with its hidden ability which is Hydration. Definitely learned that thanks to Pokemon Showdown where I had one absolutely wreck a random battle.

Brendino said:

Found it as a Ducklett on the Driftveil Drawbridge while trying to collect a bunch of wings. It was later in the game, so I had to grind for a bit with it so that it was up to speed with the rest of my party.

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Hikamaru said:

I definitely admit Swanna isn't that terrible. It's actually a good rain abuser if you manage to get one with its hidden ability which is Hydration. Definitely learned that thanks to Pokemon Showdown where I had one absolutely wreck a random battle.

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Because of this I looked up how Ducklett and Swanna are as Shiny and they're Pink/Purple! They're so cute I'm going to breed one, I happen to have a DBHA one as well <3
Pretty sad I never picked it up, I might restart White 2 to get one on my next team :3

Bellsprout said:

i caught a jigglypuff in leafgreen and it became my best pokemon

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i caught one as well... in firered :) i named her puffy.. she was my third pokemon that i caught :)

she's really pretty helping, with her sing attack ^^

her other moves are, rollout, flash and double-slap