[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

"I agree. And look the bright side: We now know the location of another Legendary HM. Wait to go Valder/@Nylon!" Heart give a positive finger to Ventus mercenary. "Now we have a destination to go. Flying Delta Onix here I come! Ohohohohoho, maybe a flying Golurk would be awesome too. A giant rock golem looks cool too, ohohohoho!" Heart giggle with though in his mind. He so damn want put his hands in that HM! "Next destination: Nature Preserve!" Say Heart with stars in his eyes.

"...I'd much prefer my stylish Unfezant, thank you very much.  And do we know for certain that a Delta Onix can learn Fly in the first place?"

That reminds Nathan of something.

"...*sigh*...oh yeah, right...you guys wanted to teach some more pokemon Rock Smash...I was going to postpone this until we had access to a PC on the surface, but...well, guess the plan's changed since we have access to a PC now..."

Nathan opens his journal again.  Lecture time!

"There are a few important things to remember about HMs.  One: they're stronger than the average move and carry no drawbacks that moves of similar strength typically have.  Two: They can be used infinitely so long as you don't break them (they're really hard to break, though).  Three: They're incredibly rare and valuable because of the above and the fact that we've lost the knowledge of how to truly replicate them.  Four: the moves used to be much, much more widespread and used than they are today.  It used to be that every trainer had at least a Rattata that was able to crush boulders."

Nathan frowns.

"...and it's because of that last one that the League cracked down HARD on who was allowed to use HMs and when.  There's nothing illegal about a pokemon knowing an HM.  That's perfectly fine.  What is illegal is using an HM in battles that aren't regulated by League officials.  Things like Gym Battles, the Elite 4 challenges, and official League tournaments are usually the only times you can use the moves without risking someone calling you in for misuse of a move that's too powerful for an average trainer to handle."

"...on top of that, if you know where an HM is and make that known, you risk getting swarmed by trainers looking to teach their pokemon the move.  Or worse, the League catching on that you have it and confiscating it if they deem you're misusing the HM and distributing it to too many people who end up abusing the power of the move (and that's not including any...other punishments the League may throw in).  So, if there's anything we need to keep in mind, it's this: the only pokemon that we should probably teach HMs are the ones we intend to keep for ourselves, and we need to limit who we use the moves against, preferably only using the moves when absolutely necessary or when we're in the middle of nowhere. I'd also highly recommend only teaching the move to obedient pokemon to prevent accidental usage of the move.  If we don't keep our heads low where HMs are concerned, things are going to go south fast.  Is that clear?  We can get in a lot of trouble if we don't stick to those guidelines.  HMs are not tools for fame and profit if you want to avoid getting noticed.  The more people that know you have pokemon with HMs, the more likely it is that they're going to ask questions and connect the dots..."