Pokemon Mutations

[CrimsonKS]

Anybody else remember the very first Pokemon battle in the Reborn? The one where you battle Cain's Nidoran?

It was a male Nidoran. Male Nidorans can't learn Scratch.

Or can they?

Reborn is definitely a tough region, and it may just be a coincidence, but if humans can mutate, what's to stop the same from occurring in Pokemon?

[Jiggle]

You call it mutation, I call it illegal pokemon. Please report to proper authorities.

[CrimsonKS]

By that logic, that makes shiny Pokemon illegal, doesn't it? Mutation is the next step in evolutio - wait, wrong speech (Sorry Magneto and every Mutant from Marvel).

[Lugruf]

The reason why Nidoran has Scratch is quite easy to guess. According to Bulbapedia, at level 5 a Nidoran should have Peck and Leer. Peck is flying type move, so it hits grass types super effectively. This would make the first combat impossible to win for grass types, and it would be unfair. By giving Scratch to Nidoran, the combat is equal for all pokemon.

[DemICE]

*coughenergyballtyphlosioncough*

[CrimsonKS]

I know that it's to make the first battle a fair fight, but I still like to think that mutation in Pokemon would be cool, ya know? Even if it is just shiny coloration as the mutation.

[Foamy]

Any moveset discrepancies (such as Scratch on Nidoran-M) are the result of personal error.

In other words, Ame thought that the Pokémon was capable of learning that move when it actually wasn't.

[Dreamy]

Hey, if she was really incredibly bothered about this very minor detail that was probably an intentional decision for balance reasons, she could always replace it with cut. that's a little more powerful, but with slightly reduced accuracy and pretty much legal (except maybe where Cain got TMX1). if it did too much damage, that instance of nidoran could have an attack dropping nature or something to balance it out a bit more.