#mint potionomics

Tinkaton

Tinkaton is an adorable creature that wields a crude, gigantic metal hammer weighing over 220 pounds and swings it like it weighs nothing. The design references small and seemingly innocent looking girls with gigantic weapons from JRPGs, and Mint is that archetype played completely straight. She flattens cookie dough with her hammer! She's a basher, not a slasher. The evolution line mirrors Mint's weapon quest: Tinkatink starts with a rattle-like hammer that gets stolen constantly, Tinkatuff fights to collect metal for a stronger one, and Tinkaton's final hammer is the crude-but-devastating culmination of all that effort. Mint searches endlessly for a legendary weapon, finds duds (a glowing sword useless for stealth, a heavy rock that's just exercise equipment), and ultimately discovers her journey is about building herself up.

Herdier

Herdier is the "Loyal Dog Pokémon" and it's acting as the protective companion Mint's two dads would absolutely have given her when she for Rafta. Loyal, practical, tough enough to handle monsters, and hardwired to keep its charge safe. The White pokedex entry says it "helps Trainers, and also takes care of other Pokémon," making it a parental proxy; the family's love in canine form. The hidden ability Scrappy lets Normal-type moves hit Ghost-types, and Mint is nothing if not scrappy, refusing to back down from anything. The design detail about Herdier's cape of hard fur functioning as armor parallels Mint's role as a tank: she protects others, and Herdier protects her.

Corvisquire

Corvisquire is the middle evolution between Rookidee and Corviknight, and that middle-evolution energy is exactly where Mint is in her arc. She's not Rookidee anymore, she's past the "just arrived in town" stage, she's fighting real monsters, she's completed dungeons and quests. But she's not Corviknight yet—not the legendary armored knight, the famous hero whose name people recognize from trading cards. She's Corvisquire: bold, intelligent, punching above her weight class, still growing into the hero she'll become. "I'm not the worst. But I'm not the best. Not in any category."

Cubone

Cubone is probably most famous for mourning its dead mother. Mint also has no mother—only two loving dads and eight siblings (tragic backstory = ironic contrast). Plus, Mint loves Bones-based gifts and Cubone wields a bone as its weapon. There's a genuine connection beneath the comedy, though, where Cubone is classified as the "Lonely Pokémon," and Mint, for all her cheerfulness, is a bit lonely in Rafta. She's surrounded by legends she grew up idolizing but can't quite bridge the gap from fan to peer. "I'm eating at the same table as people I've written fan fic about!"

Charcadet

Charcadet has a two-path evolution that captures Mint's inner tension: Armarouge (Fire/Psychic paladin, defensive, protective) or Ceruledge (Fire/Ghost dark knight, aggressive, haunted). Mint is clearly on the Armarouge path—she's a tank who shields her allies—but the Ceruledge potential simmers underneath, the part of her that's "really mad" and chases con artists off her dads' property with a +1 stapler. The Scarlet pokedex entry says Charcadet's "firepower increases when it is in a good mood, and it starts firing off sparks indiscriminately when it gets excited," and that's Mint's enthusiasm made elemental. A girl who might "blush so hard my head bursts into flames" and whose Fortitude card captures the energy of someone burning with conviction.

Bramblin

Bramblin is a Grass/Ghost type—a tumbleweed—and it captures two of Mint's interests in one creature: the botanical (Plants are another favored gift) and the spooooky (the Bones and Mana she also loves). The evolution into Brambleghast is the real clincher: it happens when Bramblin takes 1,000 steps using the Let's Go feature. Not leveling up, not using a stone, just putting one foot in front of the other. Mint's a tank, "and tanks keep moving forward." It's a perfect fit for her whole ethos!