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Okay, kind of a weird question here. I'm writing a new PMD story, and one of the things I thought it might be fun to explore is how pokemon that need to move around in water (like goldeen, mantine, etc.) go on missions. Would they be restricted to just water areas? would there be completely underwater areas only they could get to? Any thoughts on how this sort of thing would work?
Well I guess it depends on the type of story you plan to write. Where things are more set to be realistic, moreso creative to fit your style or goal, or completely fiction and anything is possible.
For the most part it seems any story with water types that rely on water (I.e: Goldeen, Magikarp, Feebas) they seem to just "float." So if you don't like some fish just magically floating. Then you could get more creative if you want to somehow use them outside of just water. Maybe they use their water nature powers to always keep some water underneath them to provide a surface to move around on. Like a sort of skimboard surface that provides them a way to move around.
Like for example. The movie The Incredibles, the character Frozone mostly used his Ice powers so he moves around quicker. If he didn't want to (or need to) he didn't have to and could just walk or run. Similar stances could be the same for the water type Pokémon as well. Where if in water. They didn't need that surface or constant wet surface to move around. Yet, in water, they have more power and while on land, they have less control since they nearly constantly maintain a wet surface underneath them to provide the surface to they can move on land.
Even like you mentioned. Underwater they could visit places others non-water types couldn't. Maybe create air bubbles or air pockets for those that can't breathe underwater like they can. Pikachu in the anime (one of the Pikachu specials I believe) was in a literal bubble underwater to travel with the water types. It provides him with the air necessary to travel where they were going.
Hm...those are interesting ideas! I don't know if I'll have them going through long dungeons using water to move around, but that sounds like it could work great for getting them to move through shorter distances, like through the town or small dungeons or such. I like the idea that they could bring non-water types underwater if they had to as well.
Going off of what I remember seeing in the anime, the primary issue for a lot of water Pokemon when out of water is not the issue of oxygen, but of movement. Pokemon like Magikarp and Goldeen are reduced to a state of helplessness on dry land, but do not appear to be in any danger from exposure to dry land and air, whereas Pokemon such as Milotic and Gyarados have body shapes that would facilitate much easier transport on the ground. Thus, one idea I had would be for land-based Pokemon to ferry their aquatic counterparts. This might take the form of a Mantine riding (Te)piggyback on his partner to provide covering fire and absorb any nasty water-type attacks or a Remoraid six-shooter.
I don't know why I never saw this before but this is actually a really cool question.
I like the Frozone idea that Chakra mentioned, where certain pokemon can manipulate the water to create pathways for themselves through the air. That'd be really cool for like a more magic based society, where the water types practice and hone their skills to be able to do this. There's a lot of potential to this.
Personally, I think a Zootopia approach would be fun as well. Have like water steps or salmon cannons placed around the town that allow the water types to be whisked wherever they need to go. You'd probably see it more prevalent in like bigger cities but smaller villages might have accommodations as well.
I don't have any ways to adapt Water Pokemon characters to a landbased setting, but I just had the following ideas: Planet Earth is 70% water, if the Pokemon world follows suit, that's a LOT of ocean for water-based Pokemon to explore! They could go treasure hunting in sunken ruins or the deepest ocean trenches, or perhaps a world where Kyogre won the battle against Groudon and Water Pokemon can explore all sorts of sunken cities and see what land life was like in a tragic way...
As for getting them on ground, perhaps incorporate canals, aqueducts, and fountains into city designs, or create something like a wheelchair but a fishtank instead for transporting them from one body of water to another?