Tag: Alola

Please help! I recently moved to Alola with my Glaceon and she seems incredibly sick all of the sudden. Could it be the sudden change in temperature? She’s been staying close to the air vents and rushes into the refrigerator whenever she’s able, and spends all her energy freezing the house, it was 40 degrees this morning! She’s refusing her food, and I don’t want to spend a ticket going all the way back to Icirrus City, Unova, but I will if I need to.

This would be heat sickness, yes.

If you can, try to install an air conditioner in your home. If you can’t, improvise with a fan, a tub of water (which your glaceon will need to freeze), and perhaps a bag of ice. Give her plenty of cold water to keep her hydrated, and try to give her cooling foods (lettuce in addition to cold meats) to help keep her temperature down.

Whenever possible, you may wish to take her to the Pokémon League now and then. The facility is located at the top of Alola’s highest mountain, and as such, it’s perpetually covered in snow. The break will be good for your glaceon, and you might run into a potential ice-type partner that will work with her to keep her temperature down at home.

Best of luck!

Should I take any precautions when taking my ice types out during the day? I just recently got an Amaura from a friend and I’m worried about how well she’ll do in the Alolan heat.

Absolutely, especially if your pokémon isn’t native to Alola. Luckily, what this actually entails can be as simple as providing plenty of shade, preferably indoors, with air conditioning if you can afford it. (A fan will work just as well if you can’t. So would a kiddie pool full of water that your pokemon freezes.) Moreover, keep your pokémon well hydrated, and educate yourself on the signs of heat exhaustion. (Nausea, lethargy, and confusion being the topmost signs. If your ice-type is mammalian in nature, they may also run a fever.) When your pokémon start exhibiting signs of danger, bring them into a cool, shady area and provide plenty of water as they rest. If any of those symptoms worsen, take them to the pokémon center immediately.

That having been said, there’s a chance that your amaura will fare better than most ice-types because of its rock typing and natural hidden ability (Refrigerate tends to cool the air around the pokémon that possess it), but most definitely keep an eye on her for the next few days for any sign of discomfort or exhaustion.

Best of luck, anonymous!

Bill. You remember the Ultra Beast attack in Alola right? I volunteered to leave Unova with my Pokemon partners and other volunteers, and go to Alola to help with fixing the damage caused by Ultra Beasts. While there we lost a team of volunteers in Poni Island, and I was sent to look for them, and I stumbled upon what I think is an Ultra Wormhole. Do you think they are in the portal? What I see in the portal is a different looking Alola region. What should I do? Should I go in?

I can’t say for certain if they’ve gone through the portal, and I doubt it would be possible to know for certain unless you go through yourself. Even psychics don’t quite have the reach to tap into minds on different planes of existence. (Don’t ask me how I know this.)

However, I wouldn’t recommend going through yourself. That’s a dangerous move; after all, who knows what could be on the other side? It could indeed be a mirror of our own universe, or it could be a place full of dangerous and powerful pokémon. Dimensional travel isn’t always straightforward either, and you don’t know for certain whether or not the portal is stable enough to support a return trip.

I would recommend contacting the rest of your team and formulating a plan together. Best of luck, anonymous.

Hi bill, I need some advice for my lopunny here. See, I just moved back to Alola, and my lopunny can’t take the heat. I’ve tried suggesting we trim excess fur off her ears and cuffs and ankles at a furfrou salon and maybe shape them in cute designs, but she’s TERRIFIED of blades to her sensitive lops (she even attacked the barber). I don’t wanna trade her away or box her, please help a trainer out!

That isn’t so surprising. Lopunny in general are very sensitive about their fur, and if their owners can avoid trimming them, that’s all the better.

Instead, try these steps:

  1. Always supply your lopunny with plenty of fresh, cool water. (You may wish to add ice cubes to her water bottle for added chill.) The more hydrated she is, the easier it will be for her to handle the heat.
  2. On that note, be sure she has plenty of vegetables, not simply kibble. Vegetables can be an added source of liquids, which will help to keep her hydrated.
  3. Allow her to rest indoors as much as possible. When it’s not possible, give her plenty of shade. A shelter lined with cool materials (such as ceramic tiles and frozen water bottles or ice packs) can be sufficient enough at home, while an umbrella may be helpful on the go.
  4. Consider adding a fan to her shelter and running it whenever possible.
  5. Mist her ears, rather than trim them. That is, use a spray bottle to gently moisten her ears. This is important because a lopunny’s ears are vital to maintaining one’s body temperature, so the added moisture to her ears will keep them cool. Be careful not to get any water in her ear canal or on the tufts at the ends of her ears, as this can lead to infection and molding, respectively.
  6. Brush her tufts and ears regularly to remove excess fur without needing to trim. Usually, lopunny can tolerate brushes better than razors, but be gentle either way.

Follow these steps vigorously at first, and your lopunny will find it easier to adjust to life in Alola. Granted, you should follow these steps regardless, but at the very least, making her comfortable by following the above will allow her to nurture a tolerance to heat in as stress-free a manner as possible.

Best of luck, anonymous!

What do you consider good outfit choices for a starting trainer in each region?

Are they aware of what your fashion sense is like? —LH

Excuse you. I have an impeccable fashion sense. Also, you’ve clearly been speaking to my older sister, and I would appreciate it if you’d stop. Or at least tell her to give me back my jacket. How am I supposed to exude the aura of a steampunk mad scientist without it? —Bill

Is that what you were doing? —LH

Always dress for practicality, anonymous. Remember that you’ll be spending much of your time hiking outdoors, so you’ll need outfits that fit the typical climate and terrain of the region.

For example, Kanto and Johto are similar in terms of terrain and climate in that both are temperate areas with four seasons and plenty of mountainous terrain. (Johto is, incidentally, slightly more mountainous than Kanto.) What outfit you’ll need depends on the season, then, but always have a decent pair of walking shoes or hiking boots to navigate the more mountainous routes. Pants—regardless of what certain younger trainers will tell you—tend to be better choices than shorts shirts due to the prevalence of tall grasses in Kanto and ground-dwelling poison-, grass-, and bug-types in the forests of Johto.

Hoenn is far warmer and more tropical (despite being not that far from Kanto and Johto), and it’s far, far wetter. Shorts and short-sleeved shirts are best here to help keep one cool, and sneakers or waterproof shoes will help a new trainer navigate the sandier and muddier terrains. Keep in mind also that part of your journey through Hoenn will take you past volcanic areas and through an actual desert, so be sure to wear sunscreen and hydrate yourself.

Sinnoh, by contrast, is a far cooler region. Some areas are perpetually covered with snow, and the southernmost parts of Sinnoh rarely reach temperatures above 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Jackets, long-sleeved shirts, and pants are highly recommended, and consider bringing a warm coat if you plan on fully exploring Mt. Coronet and other northerly points. Additionally, some parts of Sinnoh are wetter than others. While traversing these, keep in mind that denim retains moister far better than other materials, so jeans are ill-advised (as wearing wet jeans can cool your body temperature to dangerous degrees, especially as you sleep in the cooler Sinnohan wilderness).

Unova is similar to Kanto and Johto in that it also experiences four seasons, but it tends to be somewhat warmer and dryer (and dustier…) than the others. Part of this is due to the giant desert taking up a large portion of the region, and other parts are due to the fact that Castelia and Nimbasa have the very strange ability of leaving anyone who passes through them with the distinct feeling of being covered in film. Long sleeves, pants, and walking shoes that are suitable for a large amount of use on concrete are ideal. (Yes, even through the Unovan desert. There are sandstorms there, and as such, you will likely regret leaving any part of you unprotected. On that note, pack goggles if traveling to this part of the region.) Also, be aware that the outer edges of the region are swampier and full of more coastline than Central Unova, so bring an extra pair of socks.

Kalos likewise is a more temperate region, but it shares many similarities with Sinnoh. Parts of it (namely Snowbelle and the areas surrounding Dendemille) are perpetually covered with snow, but other than that, Kalos is full of coastline, marshland, and forests, while the average temperature may be comparable to a sunny autumn day. Long sleeves and pants are likewise advisable, and a coat is essential for the more wintry areas (especially Route 17).

Finally, Alola is a highly tropical region and famous for being such. Its key attractions for trainers include lush rainforests, volcanoes, seaside caves, and plenty of coastline, as well as the perpetually snowy Mount Lanakila. Additionally, while most days are sunny, it’s not unusual to be caught up in a heavy tropical downpour, especially during the monsoon season. Wear clothing that will keep you cool but always keep a poncho close at hand. A coat is advisable if scaling Mount Lanakila, but it’s better to keep this in storage until you absolutely need it, as the rest of the region tends to be blistering hot. (Well, if you’re used to Johtonian temperatures, anyway.)

Otherwise, be sure to do your research into the region you’re visiting. Many trainers keep travel blogs to help newer crowds decide things such as what to pack, so it may be worth it to run a search on the region you’re considering.

Best of luck, new trainers!

Hello Bill, I recently caught an Absol and raised him. We are trying to take on the Battle Tree but usually lost, so I tried to take him and my Goliosopod to Resolution Cave, but my Absol seems completely against going too deep within the cave, only seeming to accept the early foggy section with the hanging vines. Is there something deep within the cave that seems to continually concern my Absol? Both he and Goliosopod are more than capable of handling the wild Pokemon.

Hm. Resolution Cave is located on Poni Island, yes? If so, I must admit I’ve never been there myself, and Poni Island is notoriously rough and barely charted territory. There are rumors among Alola natives of dangerous pokémon deep within Resolution Cave, but other than common but rather ordinary pokémon of exceptional strength, many of these rumors are unsubstantiated. Likewise, according to the Alolan administrator Molayne (who himself has a team strong enough to protect him against the wild pokémon of Poni Island), the terrain of Resolution Cave itself is rough and dangerous, but he admits he’s never been much further than the area you’ve described. It could very well be that your absol is simply reacting to the risks presented by these pokémon, or perhaps risks presented by the terrain of Resolution Cave itself. Either way, I would trust your absol on the matter.

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.

if alola is such a harsh environment for both cubone and marowak, then why is it that only marowak evolved to become a fire type

Alola isn’t so much a harsh environment as it is a different environment from the other regions where cubone and marowak thrive. More specifically, cubone are largely unaffected by their Alolan environment in all ways except the circumstances of their evolution. You see, most cubone have latent spiritual inclinations, possibly due to their natural passions and the lifelong sense of grief that tends to be inherent for their species. Under normal circumstances, however, they evolve into ground-types to anchor themselves more to the physical world, but upon death, even marowak are more inclined to release spiritual energy. (There was one such instance of a violent haunting at Pokémon Tower, caused by the spiritual energy released by a recently deceased marowak.)

The region of Alola, however, is saturated with a lot of spiritual energy itself, largely due to the presence of the tapu. While cubone are still born ground-types (as that’s their natural state of being, spiritual tendencies aside), they soak up the spiritual energies like a sponge. So in an environment that’s already high in that type of energy, a cubone will incorporate some of what they’ve soaked up into the only major physiological process they go through: evolution. Consequently, that energy drives them to gain the ghost element when they take the form of a marowak. This is why all cubone will evolve into an Alolan marowak, even if they were originally born in a completely different region.

As for why Alolan marowak gain the fire element as well, this may have to do with the vulnerability of a cubone during that physiological shift. As in, they’re already forcing themselves to change elements, so the normally tropical environment causes cubone to incorporate fire into the genetic makeup of their evolution. If, however, a cubone is raised primarily on the slopes of Mount Lanakila (a snow-covered part of Alola, where ice-types such as vulpix’s and sandshrew’s Alolan variations thrive), then the change becomes more of a conscious effort than a subconscious one; the extreme cold of Lanakila’s environment forces that cubone to adopt the fire element to cope.

why does alolan persian have such a fat god damn head

It’s mostly fur, actually. They are, as my partner puts it, “round and fluffy,” and they are perfect the way they are.

I think this anonymous was asking about the reason behind the adaptation, Bill —LH

Edit: Oh. Well, that’s simple, anonymous. They were deliberately bred that way, to be honest. Because Alolans, too, acknowledge the wonder of a fluffy mane. (This may or may not also be why there are feral eevee on one of the islands.)