Um, hi, yes, my Houndoom Hannah has recently begun expecting a litter of puppies. Any good advice?

Invest in a lot of aloe.

On a serious note, for the most part, a lot of the care will be handled by the mother for the first few months. Simply give her enough space, be sure she’s comfortable, take her to regular pokémon center appointments, and follow everything your Nurse Joy tells you, and the delivery will be relatively painless. Moreover, once hatching, the pups will likely stick to their mother (and the mother will insist on this if the pups don’t), and of course, the usual feeding, grooming, and so forth will be done by Hannah.

Once the pups grow and become more independent, assuming you keep all of them, care of them will follow the same basic outline as the care you’ve given Hannah. I would simply recommend that you fireproof as much of your home as possible and keep an eye on them, as houndour pups are naturally curious, mischievous, and social—and the latter is relevant because one possible way of communicating for houndour is through their use of fire. Something will be set on fire in your home, in other words, and this will simply be a part of your life until you teach Hannah’s puppies otherwise.

If, however, you choose to give away the puppies, be sure to find a reputable shelter or breeder, or simply leave them with the pokémon center. There are quite a few shelters out there that may be either high-kill or less-than-reputable (that is, fronts for illegal pokémon fighting rings), so it’s worth it to do your research beforehand.

Best of luck and congratulations!

I am a Hoenn native and met my boyfriend on an abroad trip to Kalos. We’ve been together two years now and he moved to Hoenn with me but when we visit his mother I can barely understand her due to differences in language. Is there any Pokémon that can help bridge the gap? I’m trying to learn more Kalosian and she knows some Hoennian but not enough to have conversations efficiently

The easiest solution would be to recommend a telepath, especially particularly intelligent ones such as members of the abra line, as they can “cut out the middle man,” as it were, by projecting what you and your boyfriend’s mother mean into each other’s minds in a way that the both of you can understand. However, it would be far, far more productive to use a pokémon that can both translate verbally and act as a teaching aid.

To that end, chatot and murkrow tend to be popular among those who are learning new languages, as they can remember simple phrases and help their human partners recall past lessons or match concepts to new vocabulary. In your case, you could, for example, teach a chatot a word or phrase, connect it to a concrete concept, and have chatot teach your boyfriend’s mother or vice-versa. Alternatively, that chatot can serve as a translator if either of you teach it your own language in your own time—or at least enough to translate simple conversations.

Hi Bill. What happens to Pokemon if their trainer suddenly dies. Do they go to family members, or are they sent to a place to be adopted? Could you give a Pokemon to someone in your will if you had one?

Excellent question!

The answer is … quite honestly, all of the above. If you have a will, you absolutely can leave your pokémon in the care of someone trustworthy, and in fact, many people do just this (often in addition to leaving their pokémon portions of their estate). Of course, for people who don’t have a will, their pokémon are often left in the care of their next of kin, any other blood relative, or a designated receiver such as a friend or significant other, and if one can’t be found, they’re placed in a pokémon shelter or left with breeders to be adopted by other trainers.

Incidentally, the storage system is set up to do this automatically. If you’ve signed up for a system account (which you are automatically if you’ve been given a trainer’s license), then the system will automatically recall your pokémon and send them to whomever you’ve listed as your emergency contact (who often is one of the above-mentioned relations) the moment you’re listed as legally deceased in your home’s national database. This way, even if you die abruptly on the road, your pokémon can be brought to a safe place.

Does “watering” a plant pokemon involve more than simply providing enough drinking water?

It could. Usually, giving them enough drinking water in a dish is enough to keep them hydrated, but some—such as bellsprout and oddish—prefer to be rooted in dirt and watered as you would a houseplant, either instead of or in addition to providing water in a dish. Likewise, while the plant half of some pokémon (such as members of the bubasaur line) remain hydrated simply by sharing fluids with their hosts, it’s often more effective to water them as well.

Should I bathe furry warm blooded Ice type Pokémon like Sneasel and Alolan Vulpix with warm or cold water? I don’t want to make it uncomfortable for my Pokémon.

Typically, warm-blooded ice-types are best bathed in cold water, but it also depends on the pokémon’s preferences. Because they’re warm-blooded, they have better thermoregulation than cold-blooded (both biologically speaking and “as in, their blood is literally ice”), which means they may be able to tolerate higher temperatures. Spheal and dewgong with the ability Thick Fat, for example, may prefer lukewarm water, and perhaps as a holdover from their fire-type ancestors, some Alolan vulpix prefer warm baths. Start off with a cold bath for your pokémon, then increase the temperature if they indicate to you (through shivering, splashing about, or pawing at the faucet) that it’s too cold. Keep adjusting until you find your pokémon’s preference.

Also, keep in mind that some ice-types should not be bathed, even if they’re furry, unless they absolutely need it (either because they’re filthy, covered in a toxic substance, or already too sick to bathe themselves). For example, members of the sneasel line self-groom and should be left alone, and the swinub line, being part ground, should be given a dust bath instead.

Can Ice Pokémon be caught and trained if you live in an area without much ice?

Absolutely! Case in point: Alolan vulpix and sandshrew. The key is creating a comfortable atmosphere for them to spend a lot of their time in. A cool home with plenty of air flow (fans are sufficient if air conditioning isn’t feasible for you) will be enough, and be sure they have access to plentiful sources of cold water for hydration. Be aware of their health as well and never force them to train under hot sunlight if you can.

There are, of course, a few pokémon who are literally made of ice, such as vanillite, bergmite, and so forth, and these cases may be more sensitive to cold than mammalian ice-types such as snorunt, spheal, and Alolan vulpix. However, even these are trainable even in tropical climates, so long as their trainers keep an eye on their conditions. If your literal ice pokémon looks lethargic and wet, bring it into a cool place immediately and allow it to rest within a refrigerator or cold bath. (Granted, it should also be noted that literal ice pokémon are harder to come by in tropical regions to begin with, but the point is that if you happened to receive one in a trade or from a breeder, it’s still possible to raise them so long as you’re careful.)

bills-pokedex:

It has come to our attention recently that in the time we’ve been on hiatus, we’ve forgotten to change our description and about page to indicate clearly that our askbox is temporarily closed. Terribly sorry for this! However, yes, because Bill is dealing with other duties in addition to a backlog of asks consisting of over 200 questions (well, over 180 at the moment) dating back to the beginning of summer, we’ve been on hiatus until he can get the backlog under control.

Thank you for your patience, and we apologize for the inconvenience and confusion!

—LH

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!

bills-pokedex:

It has come to our attention recently that in the time we’ve been on hiatus, we’ve forgotten to change our description and about page to indicate clearly that our askbox is temporarily closed. Terribly sorry for this! However, yes, because Bill is dealing with other duties in addition to a backlog of asks consisting of over 200 questions (well, over 180 at the moment) dating back to the beginning of summer, we’ve been on hiatus until he can get the backlog under control.

Thank you for your patience, and we apologize for the inconvenience and confusion!

—LH

It has come to our attention recently that in the time we’ve been on hiatus, we’ve forgotten to change our description and about page to indicate clearly that our askbox is temporarily closed. Terribly sorry for this! However, yes, because Bill is dealing with other duties in addition to a backlog of asks consisting of over 200 questions (well, over 180 at the moment) dating back to the beginning of summer, we’ve been on hiatus until he can get the backlog under control.

Thank you for your patience, and we apologize for the inconvenience and confusion!

—LH