Reason #9: The Shroomish Factory pt. i - 11/08/25
I've always considered myself a hardcore Pokemon fan, even when I wasn't actively playing new releases. The last mainline game I played on release was Pokemon x in 2013, a game I enjoyed well enough but have little to no nostalgia for. I've spent the last decade replaying my beloved early entries over and over again and it wasn't until last year that I broke the cycle. Against my initial skepticism, I bought a used copy of Pokemon Scarlet alongside my friend who bought Violet...and it has been an absolutely amazing experience. Playing Pokemon Scarlet has re-taught me why I love this series and I'll defend it to my death, warts and all!!
I completed Scarlet's main campaign about a year ago and have been having a blast in the post-game! One personal project has overtaken the importance of the post-game story however: in an effort to finally learn competitive Pokemon battling, I've been breeding Shroomish like a crazy person. The amount of breeding I'm doing is patently unnecessary, but I've never attempted anything VGC related and wanted the complete experience! Once I decided to do this, I wanted to go all in!
To grossly oversimplify: I have an idea for a competitive Pokemon team. On this team is a Breloom (one of my all time favorite Pokemon!). Sure, I can go to Medali and catch a Breloom right now if I wanted to - but not all Pokemon are created equal.
Each Pokemon has what are called IVs or Individual Values, numerical values that are randomly generated upon birth and that ultimately determine the quality of their stats. Most Pokemon found in the wild have poor to middling IVs. But IVs are genetic! For every time two Pokemon are bred, 3 total IVs are picked from the pool of both parents to be passed down, with the remaining IVs being completely random. Two "No good" Shroomish have the potential to sire a "Decent" Shroomish, which could maybe go on to create a "Pretty good" Shroomish...so on and so forth, with the target being a child with at least 5 "Perfect" IVs. Coupling this with the randomization of Pokemon natures, breeding for competitive play can be incredibly laborious.
Generation 9 actually has many QOL features for competitive breeders that make all of this a lot easier, but again: I Want The Full Experience. And so. As of November of this year. I have bred and hatched approximately 300 Shroomish.
In a teaspoon first, this entry will be a two partner! mostly because it's too long and i've been writing it for hours. whoops! tune in tomorrow for pictures, more about my ideal Breloom, and an unfortunately exhaustive introduction and geneaology of my Shroomish.