Hello I have a bit of an odd question. My primarina has always sang more classical music but as of recently she’s taken a liking to electronica and dubstep. Is this normal or should I let her DJ the next rave I’m having?

While primarina are most known for their more operatic inclinations (see: their signature Z-Move), they actually have different musical tastes and sometimes insist on incorporating these into their battle styles. For example, one primarina from Finland was world-famous for his exceptionally potent Sparkling Aria, which was made all the more powerful by his use of the death scream hallmark to hardcore black metal.

In short, it’s perfectly normal for your primarina to transition into a completely different genre, and by all means, feel free to nurture her interests by letting her DJ as many raves as she’d like.

what are common pokemon used in modeling?

Practically all of them, anonymous. The modeling industry consist of highly creative individuals, and many agencies emphasize the idea that quite literally anyone and anything can be a model. It’s admirably progressive, in my opinion. Especially considering the fact that I never would have been able to conceptualize using a muk as a model, yet one of our most famous pokémon models is a Kantonian muk named Fragrance.

Have you ever given starters to children? If so what?

The only starter I’ve given away was to my younger sister, and that was simply because I wanted her to have her pick of any viable pokémon in the National Dex and knew I could secure a starter for her on time. Would you believe it, though? Hundreds of pokémon, and she chose squirtle. That isn’t a complaint, of course; I merely find it curious that our older sister started with charmander, I started with bulbasaur, and she rounded out the traditional Kantonian trio.

In any case, while I could serve as a starter point for trainers in and around Cerulean City, it’s just that the Sea Cottage is too remote to be convenient for them to travel to me. Likewise, I could always travel to them, as the regional professors of certain other regions do (Rowan and Sycamore, for example), but quite honestly, the children of Cerulean already have Nurse Joy.

What was your starter?

Bulbasaur, actually! The circumstances in which I’d acquired a bulbasaur in Goldenrod City of all places were quite unusual, I admit, but I don’t regret it at all. If it wasn’t for that bulbasaur’s help, I doubt I would have done any of the things I’d achieved during my time as a trainer, from catching an abra to, well, realizing that I wanted to be a researcher instead. (Have you ever seen a venusaur bloom? I highly recommend it—it’s quite an incredible experience!)

Me, my Chandelure, and my Volcarona all recently moved to Alola from Unova and since Alola’s more… tropical, Chandelure seems to have a bit of trouble adjusted to the weather, although my Volcarona seems just fine. I’m not sure what to do or if I can even do anything, as it seems to be weather-related?

Hm. Without knowing the exact symptoms, it’s difficult to say. It is worth it to note that, given chandelure’s typing, it would be rather odd for it to feel the heat, so to speak. Perhaps it’s struggling with the humidity, at which point I’m afraid there’s not much you can do besides provide your chandelure with as dry a place as possible to rest. (Space heaters are especially effective with removing moisture from the air, so those may be a worthwhile investment.)

More likely, your chandelure is struggling to cope with the particularly bright and sunny daytime climate of the region. Many ghost-types like chandelure struggle with the brightness of the archipelago—doubly so for trained ghost-types, as their trainers frequently forget that most ghosts detest sunlight. If this is the case, be sure to allow your chandelure to sleep in a dark room during the day and train it only at night. This may wreak havoc on your own sleep cycle, but it will ensure the mental and physical health of your chandelure.

So I live in a house converted to two apartments, and am friends with the upstairs neighbor, and we both have house Pokemon. We have a male Alolan Persian, they have a female Umbreon, and we were making progress at slowly introducing them (taking one into the other’s house but allowing a clear exit, letting both explore the stairs), until Umbreon just /looked/ at Persian (no vocalization that I could hear, neutral body language), and now Persian refuses to even go near the stairs. Any advice?

Sometimes, two pokémon’s personalities aren’t quite compatible enough to promote a healthy relationship between them, even if they share elements and are otherwise extremely sweet and kind.

You’re on the right track with taking it slowly and giving both enough space to explore on their own and grow accustomed to their environment. If this has been going on for months, you may wish to consider taking the next step, which is a supervised, formal introduction (rather than the perhaps unsupervised chance introduction your persian has just had). Set up a time to meet with your neighbors and bring along both your pokémon. Your neighbor should leash their umbreon if they have a leash, but if not, it will be important for the both of you to keep your poké balls close by. Be sure to bring along treats or water for your persian so it will be easier to tell when he’s relaxed. Have the umbreon and your persian stay in the same room until your neighbor’s umbreon relaxes and begins to ignore your persian and until your persian seems calm and accepts a snack or water. Continue with this type of meeting until your persian understands that your neighbor’s umbreon is not a threat. Then, try an unsupervised interaction (in which you both leave your pokémon in a room) to be sure they can get along well.

If, however, your persian still seems tense during the supervised interactions, continue to keep both pokémon separate, even when you’re not at home. Try a supervised interaction again after a few days. If your persian never feels comfortable with your neighbor’s umbreon, then it’s likely that his personality just isn’t compatible with hers, and this is unfortunate but perfectly normal. That scenario will simply require you to keep the two separate indefinitely.

Of course, his avoidance of the stairs might also stem from other factors. If, for example, your neighbor’s umbreon has marked the top of the stairs (or the stairs themselves) as her territory, then your persian may be avoiding them for that reason alone. There are products on the market that you may be able to use to remove those scent markers, but it will be up to your neighbor to train their umbreon to not mark public spaces.

Alternatively, the problem may be the stairs themselves as well, so be sure to test their integrity and make sure there’s no chance that there are exposed nails or splintering boards.

Best of luck!

My Swanna keeps bringing home random Pokemon and trying to keep them. They keep trying to run but she keeps trying to force them to stay until I order her to let them go, but then she gets mad at me! I suspect that this might be because she can’t lay eggs, but what can I do?

There are a couple of things you can do, depending on whether or not you have room for another member of your team.

The first and possibly easiest choice is to consult a breeder and adopt an egg. If your swanna is indeed under the influence of her nesting instinct (and you will know if she is—the behavior you described alone is a hallmark of such for swanna, but she may also be attempting to build a nest somewhere close to your home), then allowing her to bond with an egg may be the best way to pacify her. Be sure that the first pokémon the hatchling sees is your swanna, and she will be able to channel her energies into raising her adoptive child from there. You will, of course, be expected to offer some level of care for the newborn as well (particularly in the form of food and toys), but your swanna will fortunately see to grooming, early training, and general basic care, particularly if you were able to secure a bird pokémon’s egg for her.

Alternatively, if you have no room for a new team member, you may be able to placate her with toys and distractions (such as battling), but if she’s aggressive towards you, her own trainer, then this may be less effective than the above solution. Still, it’s certainly worth trying; there is always a chance that with enough distractions, your swanna will calm down just enough for you to reason with her.

Best of luck, anonymous!

Are there illnesses that can be passed from pokemon to people and/or vice versa?

Yes, of course. In fact, many diseases can pass from one species to the next—even from pokémon to animals besides humans and vice versa—and a number of these have had historically devastating consequences.

While I could name a number of those (certain autoimmune diseases, smallpox, a number of neurological diseases including rabies, and even some forms of tuberculosis, to name a few), the most readily apparent, the most important, and the least graphic to talk about would likely be influenza. Technically, it’s just as rare for the flu to jump from a pokémon host to a human as it is for it to jump from animals to people, but it still is a possibility, especially in areas where consuming pokémon is prevalent and where sanitation isn’t quite up to code. Once it makes the jump, however, this strain of the flu can be just as contagious as any other, which means it can still be a very real threat. (You may have heard of the torchic flu outbreak that began in Orre a few years ago, for example.) So even if you do live in a region where pokémon consumption is low and where medical and sanitary education is high, it’s still important to vaccinate both yourself and your pokémon (if both you and your pokémon are medically capable of doing so), just in case you encounter a trainer or other traveler who isn’t quite as lucky as you are.

Of course, there are plenty of other diseases that don’t necessarily make the pokémon host sick but can certainly sicken you. This is especially true with parasites, as well as bacteria normally contained in pokémon fecal matter. Some pokémon—particularly reptilian ones—may also carry salmonella on their skin, so in general, it’s an excellent idea to wash your hands after cleaning your pokémon’s enclosures and after handling reptilian pokémon.

As for pokémon getting sick from our diseases, despite the fact that human beings are not actually the cleanest organisms in existence (there is a reason why we have an extensive list of procedures for self-maintenance), it’s less common for a disease to jump from us to them. However, it still happens, and it’s often said that if a trainer is sick, then their team is too. So always practice good hygiene on your travels (even if it doesn’t seem that convenient to you), and if you feel under the weather, be sure to keep your pokémon within their poké balls as much as possible and seek shelter to rest until you’re well again.