Category: Uncategorized

Ledyba and Ledian

Ledyba
The Five Star Pokémon
Type: Bug/Flying
Official Registration #: 165
Entry: A small, ladybug-like pokémon first discovered in the forests of Johto. Ledyba are actually notoriously timid. When one is separated from the rest of its swarm, it will lock up and drop to the ground, unable to move. At all times, it secretes a pleasant aroma in order to alert its fellow ledyba to its location and emotional condition; this scent causes ledyba to swarm around its kin until it feels comfortable enough to join them. Incidentally, it should be noted that this tactic does not work the same way for humans. Please note that spraying oneself copiously with cologne will, in fact, illicit the exact opposite response from anyone who surrounds you. The author may or may not know this from experience.

Ledian
The Five Star Pokémon
Type: Bug/Flying
Official Registration #: 166
Entry: The evolved form of ledyba, by battle experience. Because of ledian’s association with the stars (namely, that it gathers starlight for energy), some cultures believe this to be a highly lucky pokémon. Other cultures take ledian’s diminutive stature and affinity for starlight to be symbols of childhood. And still others, on some corners of the internet, “ship” ledian with the traditional symbol of bad luck, black purrloin, for reasons the author is sure makes sense in context, but he would rather not ask his magical girl-loving little sister for further clarification.

How common is mating between pokemon of different egg groups?

It depends on what you mean by “mating.” If you simply mean “going through the motions of mating,” it’s not particularly uncommon. Some pokémon will attempt to mate with, quite literally, anything that is also a pokémon.

However, if you mean “produce a viable offspring,” this simply doesn’t happen. Egg groups are actual designations that indicate a pokémon’s genetic compatibility with another pokémon. What that means is that all pokémon within a single egg group are just genetically similar enough to breed. Anything outside of a pokémon’s egg group are too distant in terms of genetic similarities to produce anything at all. It would be like a dog attempting to breed with a cat. There’s technically nothing that would stop one from trying, but nothing would come out of it because the two aren’t compatible enough to produce offspring.

Anything on caring for a Taillow and a Fletchling that live together, will they need toys or mirrors for their cage? I may be adopting them from someone and while I’ve been assured they get along great now, will I have to worry about them fighting once they get older and evolve?

Thanks to taillow’s flocking instincts and the fact that they were already integrated with one another previously, you will likely not need to worry about these two fighting. You may need to aware of possible tension later on in their respective evolutions because of swellow’s protectiveness compared to talonflame’s preference for solitary hunting, but by then, they should have spent enough time with one another that resolving this issue shouldn’t be too difficult. Tamed pokémon generally do remarkably well together if they’re taught from early ages to see one another as teammates, rather than members of opposing species, and this is something every good trainer has some concept of already.

The only thing you’ll really need to worry about is space. Both of these pokémon will need large cages by default, but as they evolve, they’ll need more and more area to fly about in. Talonflame especially need vast swaths of territory, especially given the fact that it will very likely want to exercise its signature fire abilities. If you’re a traveling trainer, you may have all the space you’ll need for your talonflame to feel comfortable, but domestic situations may be a bit more challenging. It’s best to give your fletchling or fletchinder an everstone to avoid the problem altogether, but if your fletchinder insists on evolving, move your talonflame’s roost outdoors.

Swellow, who are more used to nesting, may be fine indoors as well, but bird pokémon generally thrive better in fresh air. Yours may be just fine sharing a space with your talonflame, however—again because its flocking instincts will drive it to share space with other birds. The only thing you would need to add to this outdoor home would be a nesting box for your swellow, especially if the swellow is the female while the talonflame is the male. (Be aware that the two may be tempted to mate. If you allow this, then the box will be necessary. If your swellow is the male in the pairing, your talonflame can build a nest anywhere. Simply provide her with materials and be aware that “anywhere” may mean your roof. If they’re the same gender, then this point is moot, although your swellow will find comfort in the box anyway.)

As for general care, mirrors are certainly a good idea to keep them occupied, as are jingling toys, ropes, and different levels of perches. Always invest in heat-resistant toys for rather obvious reasons. You will also need a sand bath for your fletchling if it evolves. If it doesn’t, it will do just fine in a water bath alongside your taillow and/or swellow. Both need sources of drinking water either way. Additionally, both have similar diets and can eat seeds as well as dried insects if they don’t eat kibble. (However, be aware that your fletchling may also prefer worms—available at pokémon bait shops—as well as larger chunks of meat in its talonflame stage.) As for lining, you can line their cages with shredded paper and untreated newspaper. This is true even as fletchling evolves, as a fletchinder’s and talonflame’s droppings do not, well, come out on fire (unlike a number of other fire-types’ excrement).

Best of luck, anonymous!

thank you for the help with my pelipper! in this era of electronics i haven’t been using much physical mail, but now i can make time for it because i don’t even have to be near the post office. i even got him a cute little satchel and he LOVES it. and now my family and friends will be happy to receive their (totally dry) holiday cards too.

You’re very welcome, @basilbones. It’s my pleasure to help, and it’s certainly good to hear you’ve found a compromise! May your pelipper enjoy delivering those holiday cards just as much as your family and friends enjoy receiving them.

What exactly are pseudo-legendary pokemon (Dragonite, Tyranitar, etc.)? What does the term ‘pseudo-legendary’ mean, and what makes them different from “regular” pokemon?

Before I can answer this, it’s important to establish what legendaries are. For the most part, legendary pokémon are thought to be myths. They’re extremely rare to the point where it’s commonly thought that there are only one of each species in the world. Many of them are fantastically powerful, capable of manipulating the forces of nature themselves, if they aren’t simply embodiments of their respective elements. They are, in essence, kami—or, for lack of a better term in translation, what many would consider gods or simply spirits of nature themselves. Or in other words, the legendary pokémon transcend all other definitions of existence in terms of power and rarity.

Pseudo-legendaries are a step below that. These are the rarest pokémon from each region that we know are not unique. They are each able to evolve, and at the height of their evolutionary lines, pseudo-legendaries are capable of immense destructive force. This is in comparison to legendaries, who maintain a consistent level of power from birth (and thus do not need to evolve) and who aren’t simply strong but rather control nature. As strong as pseudo-legendaries may be, they can’t simply command nature on the level that legendaries can. Thus, a dragonite may be able to generate hurricane-force winds, but it can’t literally generate hurricanes the way lugia does.

On the other hand, as I’ve mentioned in above, legendaries are far rarer than ordinary pokémon. For example, up until recently, wild dratini colonies were thought to be a myth. If someone was lucky, maybe they might find a single dratini in their lifetime, but that was it. Then it was discovered that dratini colonies do exist, but they’re so rare and difficult to reach that only exceptional trainers can find them. Dratini otherwise breed only once in a decade (in the wild, anyway), which drastically limits their numbers. In short, a dratini is not something you simply stumble upon in the wild like you would an ekans. And dratini are one of the more common pseudo-legendaries. Beldum are even more ridiculous to find.

Of course, rarity isn’t the only thing that defines a pseudo-legendary, although it’s certainly one of the requirements. Again, power is another factor. While a Rock Slide may be devastating in the hands of an aggron, it’s far more devastating in the hands of a tyranitar. Likewise, metagross and goodra both can withstand far more damage than most ordinary pokémon, and salamence and garchomp are far faster. In short, the pseudo-legendaries are collectively stronger across the board—that is to say, offensively, defensively, and in terms of speed—than most ordinary pokémon.

Granted, yes, it’s true that there are pokémon that are a bit stronger than even the pseudo-legendaries—slaking, for a noteworthy example—but that’s why there is a list of criteria, rather than just one or two requirements. While, yes, slaking is indeed stronger (offensively, anyway) than all of the pseudo-legendaries under normal circumstances, slakoth are rather easy to find. Thus, they don’t exactly have that mythical element necessary to be considered a pseudo-legendary.

Putting it another way, if legendaries are the gods of a story, then pseudo-legendaries are like the mythical heroes. Just as heroes were designed to be better than ordinary humans due to their cleverness, their strength, and the general uniqueness of their being, the pseudo-legendaries are considered a step above ordinary pokémon for very similar reasons.

It’s not a particularly academic term, I must admit.

Do shiny pokemon know that they’re special? My shiny mawile has a bit of an attitude compared to her teammates, and I’m wondering if it’s just her personality, or if it has anything to do with her coloration. Is it bad to treat her differently?

It actually depends on a number of factors, anonymous, including whether the pokémon is wild or domesticated and what species it is. Many pokémon are actually colorblind, and while some researchers claim that alternately colored pokémon also put out slightly different scents than their average-colored kin, there really isn’t enough evidence to substantiate that claim. For this reason, by and large, the pokémon themselves might not notice a difference.

However, coloration does play into the predator-prey dynamic. A differently-colored prey pokémon such as rattata, for example, are far easier to spot in the shadows of their native forests than the average-colored deep purple rattata. For that reason, they’re far easier for avian predators to spot and hunt down (as birds are not colorblind), which means other rattata may give them a wide berth. Conversely, stantler, which are normally brown to allow them to blend in with their environment, are also larger and stronger than rattata. Thus, stantler herds will typically rally around alternately colored individuals (which are normally bright gold or green) to protect them from larger predators that can see color (such as ursaring).

A similar phenomenon occurs with predatory pokémon, actually. Smaller or more solitary hunters such as sneasel normally rely on their coloration to help them blend in with their surroundings and avoid being detected by their quarry (or, in sneasel’s case, the avian parents of the eggs they’re trying to obtain). However, shiny sneasel are brightly colored due to errors in melanin production, and as a result, they’re far less successful hunters. If a shiny sneasel is lucky, it can coerce other sneasel to do its hunting for it, but by and large, other sneasel will force it to fend for itself. On the other hand, mightyena, which are pack pokémon, will always make sure every member of their pack is strong enough to hunt, which means the chestnut-colored mightyena will always have something to eat, regardless of whether or not its coloration makes it easier for avian and large-game quarry to spot. The sheer numbers of the pack will guarantee that the hunt is successful.

Then, of course, you have pokémon whose alternate colorations are so close to their normal colorations that even if the specimen could see color, it wouldn’t matter. For example, no wild pikachu can tell the difference between themselves and any pikachu with a slightly different color. Thus, the shiny pikachu is treated just about the same as an average pikachu within the same colony.

On the other hand, among wild pokémon with slightly more advanced cultures, alternate coloration can be considered a status symbol. For example, jynx seem to believe that shiny members of their species are destined to be elders, and thus, if a pink jynx exists in a jynx tribe, she’ll be the one to care for smoochum exclusively (an honor given only to elder jynx due to smoochum’s extreme value to the exclusively female jynx tribe). Likewise, pale fur and pink ears are signs of status among clefairy, to the point where they regard any cleffa born with such traits as being destined to become a colony leader—or clefairy king or queen, depending on the gender. Thus, if a shiny cleffa is born in a clefairy colony, the entire colony will eventually take orders from it once it evolves. It will also be the first to be offered a moon stone during a clefairy evolution ceremony. (Granted, it’s normally difficult to tell which individual in a colony is the clefairy king or queen until they direct their colony to attack you en masse, but that’s a different story.)

With that all said, domesticated pokémon tend to be different. This is largely due to human influence, actually. Because humans value shiny pokémon over average-colored ones, it’s easy to get carried away and dote on a shiny more than the rest of one’s team. That, in turn, may cause the shiny to become pampered, which indeed affects a pokémon’s attitude towards its teammates. It’s important from the outset to instill a sense of equality among your team, especially if you only have one or two shinies in a full team of six. In other words, the earlier you begin treating your shiny pokémon just as you would any other, the easier it will be to integrate that pokémon into your team.

Of course, there’s also nothing wrong with grooming a pokémon for a specific purpose (such as pokémon shows, where color variations are a key factor), but it’s also important to make the rest of your team feel valued at the same time.

Regarding your mawile, her attitude could be due to any number of reasons. It could very well be her natural personality, or—if this is a sudden change or if she’s a new addition to your team—it could have something to do with the way she had been treated earlier. Alternatively, it could even be part of a mawile’s natural mischievousness. It’s difficult to say right off the bat, but I can tell you that if she has always been like that and if she is not a new addition, then it’s unlikely that it has anything to do with her coloration.

I tripped down the stairs yesterday and now my Machamp won’t let me walk on my own. I didn’t even get hurt, but now she’ll literally kind of freak out and pick me up if I try to walk by myself. What should I do?

Ah, worried pokémon. I’d hate to say it, anonymous, but it’s heartwarming to know a pokémon cares that deeply about its trainer. The bond between the two of you must be magnificent!

That having been said, as always, start slow. Begin by sitting. Sit upright with your feet on the floor. When your machamp begins to look worried, speak to her in a reassuring tone. Let her come close and have her reach out for you but not touch you. If she picks you up, ask her to put you back down wherever you were sitting. Ask her, not order her. Ordering her may exacerbate the situation.

Once she reaches out for you, take her wrist and pull yourself to your feet. If she panics and picks you up then, ask her to put you back down, as you had earlier. (As in, ask her to seat you, not place you back on your feet.)

Keep doing these two steps until she allows you to stand. Once she does, allow her to walk with you. Let her support you as you walk across the room at first but gradually work your way towards shifting your weight so that you support yourself. Once she realizes you’re walking basically on your own, pull away from her a little and show her that you can walk.

If you perform this process gradually, you’ll eventually work your way up to the point where she trusts you to stand on your own two feet. Once you remedy the immediate process, you can begin to work on the deeper issue, which is the fact that she seems overprotective of you. This can occur for a variety of reasons, including issues that were born from her former trainer (assuming she had one, considering she’s a machamp and not a machoke). It’s important to isolate what it is that’s causing her anxiety and see if you can find a way to reassure her and to convince her that she doesn’t need to be afraid of losing you.

Best of luck, anonymous.

How much will a breeder usually charge to adopt a pokemon? If it differs between them, what factors decide the cost? Demand, rarity, region,etc.?

There are a plethora of factors that go into price differences, anonymous, and it certainly doesn’t help that there isn’t really a standard for such. (There really should be, but unfortunately, the Pokémon Association thought that was too minor of an issue to address … just like they thought half of the other points I felt may be important to the prevention of pokémon trafficking were unimportant, but that is neither here nor there.)

That having been said, species is definitely a major factor. Rarer species call for higher prices by default, with starter pokémon generally being so expensive they’re extremely difficult to obtain without a Symposium ID (which allows you to get one designated regional starter each per season for free, so long as you intend on giving them to trainers). This is largely because the amount of security needed to protect their breeding stock from pokémon thieves will play a huge part in how much that breeder charges. Of course, don’t get me wrong concerning rarity. More common species—which are typically bred for show purposes or for particular characteristics that are not present in their wild counterparts (such as specific fur colors)—can still fetch about 50000 pokéyen on average, and even then, it depends on which variations you’re looking for. It’s simply that rarer pokémon such as the starters and pokémon such as beldum and dratini are generally more sought-after on the market, which means they’re seen as being more valuable among breeders than more common pokémon.

Besides overall rarity, some regions have regulations concerning what you can and cannot breed (and in some cases, how many eggs of certain species you can hatch), so in some areas, certain species can be more expensive than they would be if they were bred and sold elsewhere—if they can be bred at all. For example, the entire continent of Australia has very strict regulations regarding which grass-types may be bred. Members of the shroomish line especially, given their tendency to spread their spores to mark their territory, are prohibited from being bred except privately and indoors. Meanwhile, starly can be bred in any region, but because they’re considered to be an invasive species in certain parts of the United States, breeders may only have a handful of starly readily available for adoption (as the regulations tend to limit how many starly they may have to encourage trainers to catch wild ones for the sake of population control).

Of course, as mentioned earlier, certain variations can affect price too. As a general rule, “shiny” pokémon (or those with alternate coloration) may fetch far higher prices than their normal variations, and genetic mutations such as pichu with spike-ear syndrome could fetch even more. Additionally, a pokémon’s special ability varies from individual to individual, and some special abilities are extremely rare within species. In some of these cases, the “hidden” special ability is highly valued, and a pokémon that possesses one may even be more costly than a shiny. For example, people generally value a torchic with Speed Boost more than they do a torchic with alternate coloration, and thus, the former will typically be more expensive than the latter.

And finally, you have custom orders. Very occasionally, a trainer may contact a breeder looking for very specific requirements. These tend to be the most expensive services a breeder can provide, as getting all of a trainer’s requirements may involve hatching many, many eggs, not all of which are guaranteed to find homes. Thus, if you wish to obtain a shiny Speed Boost torchic of a certain disposition, then expect to pay much, much more than you would an ordinary caterpie (a common pokémon that has absolutely no regional regulations anywhere in the world placed upon it).