Oh no, they never skip leg day. Apparently, standing on one set of toes while meditating does wonders for one’s legs, although they will typically also train their kicks beyond that as well.
On that note, don’t get in the way of a medicham’s High Jump Kick.
You know, I was a trainer for a year, and I’ve spent all my life thereafter working with them and studying enough of their culture to build machines to help them and to understand our species’ relationship with pokémon.
Yet I don’t think I’ll ever understand why they measure something as abstract as battle experience with levels or why other trainers take that system so seriously.
(Not to be rude about it, of course, anonymous. Levels are just measures of a pokémon’s battle competency, not an indicator of age. A newly hatched pokémon can be a higher level than an elderly one and vice versa.)
Only if they’re radical enough, anonymous.
To put it very simply, these three pokémon have realized they’re all cats and have thus formed a clowder-pride hybrid. Furthermore, they have decided that while you are indeed the hand that literally feeds them, you are also a strange-looking and incompetent cat who doesn’t know how to persian/pyroar. They have thus taken it upon themselves to care for you like they would a kitten, and they may be confused as to why you’ve yet to understand how being a cat pokémon works, despite how hard they’re working to teach you.
It’s likely nothing to worry too much about unless the shiny objects are stolen goods and/or Leilani switches to live (or dead) prey. Then you may want to consider training them to tone down their lessons.
For the most part, it’s tradition. While there are indeed general league rules about gym types (mostly to avoid having multiple gyms of the same type in the same league), most gym leaders choose their types or themes, based on preference, family obligations, or other personal factors.
The inclination to do so has a lot to do with how the original leagues were established. Back in the feudal days, warlords of Kanto and Johto represented themselves with an element and a crest. In order to settle minor conflicts, clans sometimes sent representatives to battle high-ranking officials of each other’s armies using pokémon of their clans’ respective types. This way, disputes can be settled with very little bloodshed. These battles became the foundation of gym matches, crests became badges, and once the League was established and feudalism fell, anyone can become a gym leader (although some leaders, like Falkner, are indeed descendants of those old warlords).
As for the Elite Four and champion … similar principle, but they often represent the emperor and the imperial guard, whose battles were more for recreation than conflict resolution.
Well, luckily, unown refuse to mate in captivity, and it’s a complete mystery how they do it in the wild (which is to say, there’s no such thing on this plane of existence as an unown hatchling).
But if they did, probably, yes.
bluefox4 replied to your post “So, I’m visiting Johto and recently picked up an… unconventional…”
Wait… where’s Unown’s mouth?
Put simply, not all of that is its eye.
There are two important things you should know about caring for an unown:
1. Don’t turn your back on it. An unown’s powers are strange and mysterious, and letting your guard down around it is an invitation for equally strange and mysterious mischief.
2. Never let your unown within sight of another unown, especially a wild one. If that should happen, strange and mysterious mischief will be inevitable.
Other than that, you could quite literally stick your unown on a wall and leave it there, and it will likely be perfectly healthy and content.
(You may think that this is rather disrespectful of me to say, considering the fact that the unown were once minor deities in Johto, but to be fair, everything was once a minor deity in Johto. Some old cults simply died off sooner and more spectacularly than others. While it’s true that the Ruins of Alph is still a sacred site to Johtonians and while we do indeed take the messages left within its depths with extreme seriousness, the unown themselves are very much akin to the fae to us. We don’t worship them, but we do acknowledge their power and understand that bribery is an excellent way of keeping them out of our hair.)
If you do offer it more care than that—which wouldn’t exactly hurt, to be perfectly honest—it’s a pokémon with very simple needs. It doesn’t need to eat, but it will eat anything your other pokémon would eat if offered. Likewise with water. It doesn’t often need amusement or enrichment (as it’s often most content watching others), but if you wish, it’s often fond of puzzles. As the only move it can learn is Hidden Power, training should include both meditation (to develop its mind) and target practice (to hone its power and aim). It doesn’t need a litter box (don’t ask how it eliminates waste, as this is actually a mystery for researchers as well), and as for a bed … I wasn’t joshing when I said you can stick it on a wall. That’s where it’s most comfortable, and if you don’t do it, it will simply find the most comfortable spot to perch. It’s just heavily recommended that you select a spot for it, as it will otherwise often stick itself above its trainer’s bed. To watch them. All night long.
Probably the most interesting part of caring for an unown (besides the constant avoidance of being drawn into a bizarre alternate dimension) is figuring out the typing of your unown’s Hidden Power. You may be lucky and have an expert in the matter living right in your town. These experts can take a look at your pokémon and, after only one glance, determine what type they wield, and these readings are often pretty accurate if you’re working with a reputable reader. If, however, you don’t have access to a reader, it becomes a simple matter of taking your unown out and battling against as many different types as possible, then using process of elimination to figure it out. It’s actually quite exciting, and given that trainers offer a wide variety of pokémon to battle against, it’s an excellent opportunity to meet new friends.
Best of luck, anonymous!
It’s come to our attention that we have yet to finish our run of new pokémon and mega evolutions. Rest assured we haven’t forgotten; it’s simply been easier to answer asks as of late. However, we hope to return with the remaining entries in July. Thank you for your patience!
Before we do, we feel the need to clarify what will and won’t be covered. Alolan forms and the remaining mega evolutions will be covered; the following will not:
Primal legendaries (While these are technically considered to be mega evolutions, they’re functionally primitive forms of legendaries and not standalone forms themselves.)
Ash-greninja
Variations of pichu (spike-eared, pikachu-colored)
Cosplay pikachu
Purple kecleon
Other variations that are either merely color/form mutations or forms for which there is only one recorded example
Excellent question!
The rules generally depend on the gym. They all need to be approved by the Association, of course, but whether the challenger is allowed up to six pokémon (i.e., League limits) or only as many as the gym leader will use (leader limits) is entirely up to the gym leader’s preference. Some gym leaders work with types or within arenas that are difficult to tackle with just a handful of pokémon; others believe that it’s a far better challenge to place additional limits on the challenger.
The same thing can be said for time and switch limits, actually. If you listen closely to a referee at the start of a match, they’ll usually announce whether or not you or the gym leader can switch pokémon and whether or not you’ll battle under a specific time limit. (If it’s timed, then the goal is to knock out as many of your opponent’s pokémon as possible within that time frame while avoiding losing many of yours. Whichever side has more pokémon standing or pokémon in better condition wins.)
Generally, the most common rules are as follows:
Technically, battles within a gym must also take place within a sanctioned battlefield, of a certain length and width determined by the League and Association. If a battle takes place on such a field, then there are usually rules about TKOs, or instances in which a pokémon is thrown out of bounds. This is especially true for battles that take place in stadium arenas or arenas with spectator seats, as these rules confine the battle to a certain area and prevent bystander injury. As such, boundary rules are actually mandatory … if a gym battle is taking place inside a gym. (In truth, a gym battle can take place just about anywhere so long as a gym leader is present and states clearly that it’s a gym battle. Also technically, a League-licensed referee should also be present, but certain gym leaders from certain hometowns of people writing this post have managed to convince certain branches of the Association that a dairy farm and her farmer uncle are sufficient enough requirements for a gym battle. And because there was a precedent in one league, things just went downhill from there. Not that I’m bitter about the disorganization or anything.)
As for your questions concerning team limits, there are surprisingly few of them, thanks to the entire concept of skill matching. Even if you’re a seasoned veteran, a gym leader likely has a team that can match yours unless they’re extremely new to the job. If that’s the case, then they’re required to inform you and give you the option of taking them on as-is, finding another gym that suits your skill level, or compiling a team that would match their highest levels. If you do take on their team with your strongest, then the badge is still legitimate according to league rules, but it’s frowned upon within trainer culture to accept such a win, as essentially wiping out a gym team effortlessly defeats the purpose of a gym challenge. For this reason, it’s usually common courtesy—not a hard rule, mind you—to use weaker gyms to help train your younger or newer pokémon.
Finally, there is actually one main rule: no legendary or mythical pokémon. It’s not because you shouldn’t own them in the first place (there are, strangely, no rules against that—although, yes, it’s still a taboo to do so); it’s more because using a legendary or mythical within a gym against gym pokémon can not only injure the entire gym team but also potentially cause severe structural damage to the gym itself. Using them in the final league tournament, however, tends to be okay so long as you’re in the finals. And possibly an idiot.
Bill. —LH
What? It’s true. —Bill
The Pokédex According to Bill 