Category: Uncategorized

How do you feel about the ethics of the master ball? What if that technology could be reproduced by criminals? Also, would they work on a pokemon that already belongs to someone? I’m scared for my little baby wailord. He’s fragile!

The master ball is just another poké ball, only with an increased capture rate. So if there was anything unethical about it, then there would be something unethical about poké balls in general, in my opinion. After all, you could catch a legendary pokémon with a poké ball just as you could with a master ball; it will simply take more of the former than the latter.

Ultimately, the tool isn’t the problem; it’s the intent. If you used a master ball on a pokémon because either they wanted you to catch them or because you fully intended on taking good care of them, that would be perfectly fine and ethical. However, if you were a criminal intending on using the master ball to poach pokémon or to use a pokémon for nefarious purposes, then that wouldn’t be right, but again, it’s not right because of what you intend to do, not how you go about achieving it. So yes, I would be bothered if Silph allowed the schematics of the master ball to fall into the hands of a criminal organization, but I highly doubt that would happen.

As for your final question, rest assured that poké balls in general—including the master ball—cannot work on pokémon that already have a trainer. This has to do with with the fact that a conflict of trainer’s IDs (that is, the act of attempting to apply a trainer’s ID to a pokémon that already has one without first deleting or editing the original through releasing or trading, respectively) actually decreases a ball’s effectiveness to a dramatic degree. This renders a normal poké ball completely ineffective (a pokémon will always break free, even if they’re not trying to do so) and a master ball practically so (a pokémon will break free if they will themselves to do so).

Alright so some noob trainer came to the Alola region and caught all of our island guardians. That’s cool and everything, I respect his bravery and strength but jesus christ there’s ultra beasts invading the region and no one can do anything so I’m hoping he sees this and I want to tell him to put them god damn back before we all die

There are Ultra Beasts in Alola right now?!

I’m contacting your older sister to get her to confiscate your passport, just so you know. —LH

Can I evolve both my rockruffs into the different forms of Lycanroc or will this make them fight? Would it be better if theybecame the same one?

Allow me to answer your second question first. It depends on the form. Midnight lycanroc are generally lone wolves (excuse the pun) and will fight anything within its line of sight, including other midnight lycanroc. Midday lycarnroc, on the other hand, are highly loyal, including and especially to other midday lycanroc and rockruff. Consequently, if you have two midday lycanroc in the same room, they will most likely form a pack and get along perfectly, even if they were originally from two completely different packs.

However, to answer your first question, things aren’t quite as simple as that. While the above is true for wild lycanroc, tame lycanroc typically respond to memories instilled in them as rockruff. That is to say, if two rockruff were raised by a single trainer, evolving into two different lycanroc will not make them fight—not normally, anyway. There may be some tension, and if the rockruff didn’t get along before evolving, that will continue after their evolution. But if your rockruff had gotten along quite well before evolution, they will indeed continue to get along, even if one is a midnight and the other is a midday.

Still, always be prepared to moderate any potential bickering over food, water, or sleeping locations. Just in case.

My parents divorced a few years ago and I ended up moving from Snowpoint City to Malie City. Long story short, the experience left me with some pretty bad anxiety and my mother got me an Alolan vulpix as an emotional support animal to help. He was the sweetest, most affectionate thing I’d ever…or at least that was the case until he evolved a few weeks ago. I can’t take him anywhere without him shooting ice beams at strangers or getting super protective of me! What do I do to combat this?

This is a rare but unfortunate possibility in dealing with service pokémon. All of them normally receive training to minimize negative personality shifts as a result of evolution, but in the cases of wilder pokémon, such as most fox-like ones, sometimes, the training doesn’t quite stick.

Now, the reason why I say this is because it’s just a matter of training. It’s entirely possible for a service pokémon to be retrained to heel. If you’ve done your vulpix’s initial service training yourself, you can also do the same with your ninetales. Simply repeat the process you used to teach your vulpix to heel in public situations. It may take just as long as it had with your vulpix to retrain your ninetales, but be patient.

Alternatively, if you weren’t the one to train your vulpix, take him back to the service trainer who had, or take him to a pokémon center and ask for a trainer who specializes in conditioning service pokémon. Be prepared to be involved with the retraining process even here; your ninetales will respond far better with you present than if you simply left him in the trainer’s care. If you do choose this option, rest assured that you can still take your ninetales home at the end of each session. Just remember to continue reinforcing your trainer’s work as you go out and about with your ninetales.

Best of luck, anonymous!

With this, we are pleased to announce that Bill has completed the Pokédex (as far as we’re aware, anyway, given how frequently new pokémon are discovered). We are proud of the work we’ve done so far, and we’d like to thank you for staying with us for these past months.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that the blog is closing down! In fact, we’re far from through with writing! However, at this point, Bill would like to take a short break before attempting to tackle the highly requested mega evolutions and Alolan forms. He’s planning on getting back to those in March, but in the meantime, he’ll be back to answering your asks soon.

(On that note, we would also like to apologize in the backlog of those. We know some of you have been waiting since December for that, but luckily, Bill will finally get to your questions soon! Thank you for your patience.)

Oranguru and Passimian

Oranguru
The Sage Pokémon
Type: Normal/Psychic
Official Registration #: 765
Entry: These orangutan-like pokémon are of particular interest to pokémon ethologists and paleontologists. This is largely because of its notably human-like behavior. While it often spends its time separated from pokémon and engaging in self-education through meditation, it will sometimes venture down from its home to feed and care for wild pokémon as part of what is apparently a human-like moral obligation. More importantly, oranguru also possess the ability to create and use tools as well as command other pokémon in battles against human trainers. Captive oranguru have even shown the capability of using poké balls, which all in all means that a pokémon uprising is a very real possibility for our future, but the author, for one, would welcome our oranguru overlords.

Passimian
The Teamwork Pokémon
Type: Fighting
Official Registration #: 766
Entry: These lemur-like pokémon are of particular interest to pokémon ethologists and paleontologists. For one, scientists have noted that passimian form primitive colonies that very much resemble those of humankind’s own primate cousins and thus, in much the same way, may help pokémonologists understand the origins of the more humanlike pokémon, such as sawk and throh. Second, passimian have been known to make their own tools (namely, the polished coconuts they’re often seen carrying) with an almost humanlike intelligence and level of care, thus intriguing pokémon ethologists on the subject of pokémon sapience. Third, very little else is known about the passimian, as they have a tendency to congregate in groups of ten to thirty specimens, each armed with a polished coconut, to swarm and attack pokémon paleo-ethologists … such as the author.

The Pikipek Line

Pikipek
The Woodpecker Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Official Registration #: 731
Entry: A small, woodpecker-like pokémon native to the tropical forests of Alola. It’s best known for using its sharp, hardened beak to drill holes into tree trunks at an incredible rate of sixteen pecks per second. Once drilled, pikipek use these holes to store a variety of things, including berries that it will later feed on or shiny objects that have caught its attention. It also sometimes stores its eggs in these holes after mating but will often leave its nest if an egg falls out of it, a habit rarely displayed by any other bird pokémon. Because it’s such a rare habit, studies have gone into why pikipek will leave a nest and all its contents, including any other egg in it, if an egg falls out, especially given the effort pikipek expends to make such a nest in the first place, but the results are still largely inconclusive. Leading theories include “pikipek literally cannot adjust their nests once a clutch is laid honestly it’s that simple” and “pikipek just really hate themselves and trees and quite possibly also gravity.”

Trumbeak
The Bugle Beak Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Official Registration #: 732
Entry: The evolved form of pikipek, by battle experience. This woodpecker pokémon is known for its ability to create a wide variety of calls by modulating its voice and bending its highly flexible beak. While there have been many studies into these calls (particularly in which different calls are recorded, interpreted, and indexed into a trumbeak lexicon), of particular interest to researchers and children alike is the “noot noot” call, which consists of a trumbeak rounding its beak and emitting two short, loud cries. Because of the amusing nature of these calls, a number of trumbeak cartoon characters have emerged since this pokémon’s discovery, all of which communicate primarily with this single call. However, it was only recently discovered that the “noot noot” call is actually a warning cry, as shortly after emitting this call, a trumbeak will often shoot a volley of berry seeds from its rounded beak at any invading human who has haplessly wandered into its line of sight.

Toucannon
The Cannon Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Official Registration #: 733
Entry: The evolved form of trumbeak, by battle experience. Contrary to Unovan pop culture and marketing, toucannon does not “follow its nose” to “delicious fruit flavor.” First of all, that nose is actually a beak. Second, it does not so much follow it as heat it up to over 200 degrees Fahrenheit and proceed to smash it into boulders, stubborn fruit, and humans who believe following toucannon will lead them to delicious tropical fruit caches.

Morelull and Shiinotic

Morelull
The Illuminating Pokémon
Type: Grass/Fairy
Official Registration #: 755
Entry: This small, mushroom-like pokémon are why it’s highly inadvisable to go mushroom hunting in Alola (that is, its native region) unless you happen to be an expert mushroom hunter. Specifically, in the darkness of the Alolan jungles, the inedible morelull can easily be mistaken for the highly edible and delicious balm mushroom. There are, of course, two ways to tell morelull and balm mushrooms apart. First, if it’s resting beside a mossy rock, chances are it’s a balm mushroom, whereas if it’s resting at the root of a fruit tree, it’s likely a morelull. Likewise, if it does nothing when you nudge it gently with the toe of your boot, it is likely a balm mushroom. On the other hand, if it begins to glow and spew a cloud of sleep-inducing spores at you, there’s a good chance it’s a morelull.

Shiinotic
The Illuminating Pokémon
Type: Grass/Fairy
Official Registration #: 756
Entry: The evolved form of morelull, by battle experience. The other reason why it’s an ill-advised idea to hunt for balm mushrooms in the jungles of Alola is because morelull are often found in the vicinity of at least one shiinotic, which is not only bigger and more powerful but also is highly predatory and prone to feasting on the energy of any prey it considers to be worthy for consumption, including humans. While an effective form of protection against shiinotic would be the standard flying- or fire-type pokémon that can attack from outside shiinotic’s attack radius, it is often more recommended by locals to bring another mushroom-like pokémon, such as parasect or breloom. Shiinotic are often prone to engaging in territory wars with such pokémon, and thus, they provide an adequate amount of distraction while the seasoned, human mushroom hunter slips away. While one would think this recommendation is due to basic logic (fire and hurricane-force winds are far more destructive than close-range attacks from pokémon that are immune to shiinotic’s Sleep Powder), in actuality, it’s more because Alolan natives, for whatever reason, find the drama and in-fighting between fellow mushroom-like pokémon to be hilarious. (To be fair, they’re right in that regard.)