Yo Bill! So, I live in a surburan area just outside Hearthome city and my little girl has been having some trouble coming home after school. Normally she walks home, but recently she’s been having trouble with a trio of mischievous murkrow trying to peck at her head and scaring her. I was planning on getting her a pokemon because her birthday is coming up. Any ideas on what could be a good choice for scaring off those murkrow?

For a young girl living in Sinnoh, electric-types are the easiest and best choice. Above all else, you’ll want something that can attack from a distance—not necessarily with the intent of hurting the murkrow so much as scaring them off. Electric-types not only have that capability and a well-known type advantage against flying-types such as murkrow but also the ability to spread their attacks if necessary. That is, while a Thunderbolt can strike a single target, with practice, it can also catch multiple birds with one shot, unlike Rock Slide (which requires a considerable amount of accuracy training) or even Ice Beam (which concentrates the ice element into a single beam … never mind the fact that not that many pokémon near Hearthome can utilize it).

As for which pokémon, specifically, to use, to the south of Hearthome is a rather famous pokémon collector named Mr. Backlot. His garden is open to the public, and it’s routinely stocked with different pokémon he wishes to share with others. You’ll be able to find pikachu and pichu there on a daily basis, both of whom may be excellent choices, as well as plusle and minun as part of the rotational stock. Alternatively, although they’re fairy- and normal-types, other stock pokémon such as porygon, clefairy, and castform may also be excellent choices with the right TMs. If, however, none of these will work or if the garden is closed (as it sometimes is, being on private property and all), pachirisu may also be an option for you, so long as you’re willing to cross Mt. Coronet.

Best of luck, anonymous!