Tag: Anonymous

In honor of Halloween, what Pokémon are typically the ones who are regarded as bad luck? You know how black cats are typically looked at with superstition, but what about Pokémon/pokemon typings?

Well, there is, of course, absol, although that’s based on a misconception. Absol predict unlucky events, but they don’t actually cause them. Nonetheless, in certain areas of Hoenn, they’re considered to be extremely unlucky, as the appearance of one surely means bad luck is to follow.

Meanwhile, in Johto (as well as some parts of Kalos and Unova), murkrow tend to be unlucky symbols, especially when seen at night, as their general presence will bring about misfortune and loss. In Unova, meanwhile, people tend to believe purrloin are unlucky, especially if they cross your path.

Some pokémon are thought to produce unlucky events under very specific circumstances. For example, when in the vicinity of electronic devices, kadabra are said to cause shadows to appear on TV and computer screens. Seeing these shadows is an omen of death, and thus, keeping kadabra in the house is considered to be unlucky. (It’s not true, though, just for the record.)

If you can hear wild mismagius or misdreavus, then that’s an omen of death as well, and both pokémon are also unlucky. However, not being able to hear either pokémon is perfectly fine, and tamed pokémon are generally safe—even lucky in some cultures. In a similar manner, seeing wild trevenant, litwick, or sneasel in their native habitats are extremely unlucky, and it’s thought that if you see either of these, you need to immediately turn around and go back the way you came, as proceeding the way you’re going may result in you disappearing forever.

And then you have vivillon. I’m not sure why a lot of people believe vivillon to be unlucky, but some people believe you shouldn’t keep your pokédex open to its National Dex entry.

As for general classes of pokémon, as one might imagine, most people shy away from dark- and ghost-types, as many of these either lead travelers astray or steal their life forces (or both). Some cultures consider psychics and fairies to be equally unlucky—fairies especially when it comes to small children.

My Rotom possessed its own Pokéball and can’t come out??? The Pokéball thinks it’s simultaneously inside and outside???

Press and hold the front button until you hear a pop. This is a safe factory reset for poké balls that fail to work properly. Once you hear the pop, immediately let go of the bottom of the ball (while holding the top, of course), as the ball will immediately eject any pokémon inside, including part of your rotom. Normally, the next step is to use the newly reset ball to recapture your pokémon (unless you’d rather not risk it, which is perfectly understandable), but in your case, you’ll want to set the opened ball on the ground or a solid surface and have your rotom come out. Now that the ball doesn’t recognize the link between itself and your rotom, this will give your rotom a window of opportunity to escape. This should be done quickly, as the ball may snap close and catch your rotom again.

The alternative is, of course, taking a hammer to the ball. (This won’t hurt your rotom, as it’s in an incorporeal form. It will only force your rotom to eject.) But of course, this destroys your rotom’s ball, so it depends on whether or not you’d like to buy a new poké ball for it.

Hey Bill, I just recently caught a dratini and while it gets along fine with my pikachu, it is absolutely terrified of my sylveon! My pikachu and sylveon are pokemon I always have out with me and I’m not sure how to curb my dratinis fear! Help please!

In general, whenever one of your pokémon is terrified of another, it’s best to start slowly. It’s good that your pikachu and dratini get along well, as it may be the key to your dratini’s predicament. Have your pikachu mediate interactions between your dratini and sylveon. Whenever dratini shows any level of discomfort, have pikachu be there to ground it and reassure it that sylveon is a friend who would never hurt it.

Moreover, have them start with short interactions and work up to longer conversations. Think of it like exposure therapy to humans: you want to begin with only a little bit of exposure to avoid trauma, and as your dratini adjusts to that level of interaction, increase the amount of time it spends with your sylveon, bit by bit, until it can tolerate long-term exposure. Eventually, when your dratini can tolerate conversations with sylveon, begin having them fight alongside each other in double-battles to reinforce your dratini’s progress. If you’re not a trainer, have them perform tasks together around the house.

Also, be sure your sylveon is in agreement with whatever you do. That is to say, ensure that your sylveon hasn’t done anything to warrant dratini’s fear, and be absolutely sure sylveon wants to interact with your dratini. If your sylveon is just as uncomfortable with the idea of being on the same team as a dratini, this is something you’ll also need to resolve using similar gradual introduction methods as mentioned above. Your pikachu should be able to help as well. If, however, your sylveon is very eager to make a new friend, allow it to be involved in the efforts to calm dratini down. Ensure your sylveon takes things slow and avoids showing affection through touch at first. At the same time, be sure that your sylveon extends friendly, welcoming gestures—just from afar. As dratini begins to warm up to your sylveon, then your sylveon may show physical forms of affection, but it should still be careful and wary for any signs of discomfort from your dratini.

In other words, some relationships should start slowly and work up to a certain level of closeness, and that goes for pokémon too. Be cautious and careful, show your dratini that your sylveon won’t hurt it, and allow dratini to grow comfortable around your sylveon in its own time.

Best of luck, anonymous.

I absolutely hate bug types. So of course my purrloin has adopted the habit of bringing them inside the house to play with! First he brings them to me, and when I’m startled he lets them go and they either squirm or fly all over the place! How can I get my purrloin to stop doing this and play with his poke-prey outside and away from me?

As a warning, Bill, Misty knows where you live, so I wouldn’t dare make a comment about her or her fear of bug-types here. —LH

I wasn’t even thinking of it. Misty seems more like a dog person to me than a cat person. Although now that you mention it, she did have that togepi once, so… —Bill

Again, Bill. She knows where you live. —LH

To put it in short, anonymous, purrloin are very much like cats, and they have all the same instincts as our feline friends. This includes seeing us, their humans, as essentially giant hairless kittens. The act of bringing a human any sort of small, weak pokémon, including bug-types, is really an attempt to teach that human how to hunt.

That having been said, there are a couple of ways you can discourage this behavior. The first is by keeping your purrloin indoors at all times. This may be the trickier route, as many purrloin are clever enough to figure out ways to escape anyway, but if you supply yours with an incentive not to (in the form of new toys, particularly puzzle-like ones—some of which can be filled with treats or pokénip), he may simply decide to agree with you.

The other option is by giving him a toy filled with pokénip every time he brings home a new pokémon as a “reward,” then releasing his catch whenever he’s not looking. This may sound a bit backwards, as rewards are typically reinforcements for good behavior, but eventually, purrloin will want the reward over the pleasure of teaching you something, which means he may eventually switch to presenting you with any object (or even the empty toy) whenever he wants pokénip.

Best of luck, anonymous.

My misdrevus and I had a great relationship before it’s evolution, but since it’s evolved she doesn’t seem to want anything to do with me. I do notice at night she’ll fly over my bed in circles and do chants… is she cursing me?

It depends. If you still fall asleep as she circles above you, do you have good dreams or bad? If you’re having bad dreams, then yes, she’s cursing you, and it’s a good idea to take steps I’ll outline in a moment. If you’re having good dreams, then actually, no. Mismagius tend to be more aloof pokémon than their predecessors, likely because the dusk stone imbibes them with a dark magic of their own. As such, mismagius are in a constant state of meditating and quietly practicing black magic, especially shortly after their evolution, as they’re in a rush to master their powers before these energies backfire on them. However, if you can actually hear them, then they’re turning some of this magic on you—which is not necessarily a bad thing. If they’ve bonded with a human, then mismagius will have a tendency to use their newfound magic abilities to protect and bring happiness to their trainers. If you’re experiencing good dreams, then this is a sure sign that your mismagius still cares for you and is currently doing everything she can to please you. It’s important to thank her and encourage her to continue developing her abilities as much as possible. Perhaps even ask her if there’s a way you can help her train; she may be pleased with your interest in her magic, which in turn will guarantee that she will continue to bring happiness to you, rather than turn her incantations into curses.

However, if you’re experiencing bad dreams, then yes, she’s cursing you. If this is the case, then you need to find out what it is that’s upsetting her as quickly as possible. A mismagius’s magic can “pile up,” as it were, and some of the bad luck she’s wishing you in your dreams may begin to affect your waking life. Offer her treats or gifts, apologize for anything you may have done to her, and ask her if there’s anything you can do to make things right with her—then do exactly as she says. If this doesn’t work, regardless of what you may be tempted to do, do not force her out of your bedroom through cleansing rituals or cleanse tags. This will only anger her and lead her to curse you in your waking life. Rather, sleep with a cleanse tag under your pillow and continue to work with her during the day to figure out what it is that’s troubling her. It could really be any number of things, so I apologize for my vagueness in this advice.

Best of luck, anonymous.

Any tips on raising ghost Pokémon? I hear a lot of bad things about them but I recently met a very sweet driftloon who I fell in love with and adopted as soon as I met

Well, it depends on the ghost, anonymous, as each ghost is its own species with its own requirements. I’m a little concerned about the sweetness of this drifloon, however, as drifloon are rather notorious for acting sweet until you grab hold of their strings, at which point they try to carry you away to parts unknown. Of course, the likelihood of it succeeding is slim (as drifloon can’t even lift a toddler on their own), but still, be wary of possible ulterior motives when it comes to wild ghosts.

If the drifloon actually wants to live with you for reasons that have nothing to do with your soul, then I do admit that ghosts are generally easier to take care of than most other pokémon. Mostly incorporeal ghosts such as the gastly and drifloon line are clean in that they don’t need baths, nor do they relieve themselves, thus eliminating two of the less desirable aspects of raising pokémon. They still may make a bit of a mess (as they’re far more mischievous in general than most other types), but this would be limited to typical poltergeist activity. This kind of behavior is difficult to train out of a ghost-type until you bond with it to the point where it takes your requests (for it to stop tossing your possessions about) seriously. Try to occupy it with soft toys instead—anything you wouldn’t mind allowing it to throw about.

By and large, while most ghosts are nocturnal, this is not the case for drifloon, whose normal hunting habits require it to be awake during the day, when its typical prey (small children) are awake. Thus, don’t be surprised if your drifloon keeps the same sleep schedule you do. Additionally, when they sleep, most ghosts prefer to take on incorporeal/invisible forms, to float in an unreachable corner, or to simply rest on a shelf where they can’t be bothered, depending on the pokémon and their usual mode of self-defense. The drifloon family prefers the second method, which means the usual beds I would recommend are not necessary in its case. However, be sure that your drifloon rests in a room without a ceiling fan or uncovered vent, as your drifloon won’t be consciously monitoring where it floats as it sleeps.

Normally, a drifloon’s diet consists of … well, let’s just say there is absolutely no way you can procure what a drifloon normally eats without being arrested. Luckily, drifloon will happily take most human food and poké-kibble as a replacement. As a general rule, ghosts (with the exception of sableye) are omnivores, but most, drifloon included, lean more towards a carnivorous lifestyle than a herbivorous. However, while scientists have argued for decades over the subject of what, exactly, the more incorporeal ghost-types get out of eating (as they don’t seem to need any particular set of nutrients), it’s always worth it to feed them a variety of foods, rather than feeding them exclusively meat. Granted, you could also get away with not feeding them at all, but this may encourage drifloon to go out and hunt your neighbor’s children instead.

As for activities, your drifloon won’t actually need much exercise, and ghosts by-and-large already have a full mastery of their powers by the time they make themselves known to humans. When the two of you get closer, your drifloon may allow you to hold one of its strings, at which point, it’s fine to take it outside and get it some air. Try to avoid taking it outside before it allows you to hold onto it, however. A stiff breeze may separate the two of you, and that would be rather unfortunate.

If you happen to be a trainer, however, it’s worth it to note that most ghosts can learn a variety of moves, and they tend to be eager students. Drifloon is no exception to this. What I mean to say is that it’s worthwhile for trainers to capture ghost-types, as these are quite easy to train (once you get past their mischievous streaks) and quite capable of being rather flexible on the battlefield.

But most importantly, anonymous, keep your drifloon away from small children. Technically, the child won’t be in danger because, again, drifloon can’t carry off a toddler on its own, but it will be just the worst for drifloon’s self-confidence.

Good luck, anonymous!

In a few weeks I’ll be looking after my sister’s clefairy while she’s busy moving. Do you have any advice for looking after a clefairy?

Well, first and foremost, never let a clefairy anywhere near your research equipment.

(I … what? —LH

It’s valid advice! —Bill)

In all seriousness, it’s important to know first how your sister cares for her clefairy normally and stick to those routines. Clefairy are highly intelligent, extremely curious, and slightly mischievous pokémon, and if you deviate from their routine and pamper them in the slightest, they’ll attempt to take advantage of that. Write down everything your sister tells you and stick as closely to that as possible. Most importantly, never let your guard down. Clefairy are cute, they know this, and they will take the first opportunity they can get to disappear on you if you take your eyes off them for a moment.

That having been said, remember that clefairy are heavily influenced by the moon. If your sister’s clefairy is staying with you for more than a month, be prepared to allow it outside for its monthly moon ritual (an energetic dance beneath the light of the full moon). If you have any other pokémon or soft toys, it’s important to have them ready, as clefairy often seek warm, soft things to cuddle next to after it wears itself out from its dancing. Otherwise, a soft bed—preferably one with plenty of blankets it can burrow into—will do just fine to make it feel comfortable.

Additionally, clefairy are predominantly cave pokémon, so they can be kept occupied with boxes or special “clefairy trees,” or scratching posts with multiple branches. If you don’t wish to buy a clefairy tree just for this stay (which is understandable), be sure to keep an eye on your sister’s clefairy to keep it from climbing your furniture and burrowing into your laundry piles. If you can get a few cardboard boxes your sister won’t need for packing, this should be enough to keep her clefairy in line. You likely won’t need to trim your clefairy’s nails (which is an ordeal), but definitely be warned that some clefairy will claw at furniture. Supply your sister’s with soft toys to keep it from doing this. Finally, jingling toys and shiny, crinkling objects are also excellent ways to keep a clefairy occupied, but ask your sister for her clefairy’s preferences.

On a temporary basis, pokémon in general can be fed kibble, but should you wish to give your sister’s clefairy a treat at all, give it nuts or berries. Don’t feed it fairy cakes. It’s a misconception that they like those, and in any case, you very likely don’t want the resulting sugar rush. Of course, also keep a dish of clean water available for it as well.

In terms of waste elimination, most house clefairy relieve themselves in covered litter boxes, but some have been trained to use toilets. If your sister’s uses a litter box, you should change this daily if possible. If your sister’s is toilet-trained, just be warned that toilet training does not include teaching them how to flush. Be aware that an accident may happen because clefairy, normally timid pokémon, may be alarmed by any change of scenery. Just have patience and let your sister’s know where its litter box (or the toilet) is.

As for cleaning it, clefairy can self-groom, but once a week or if it gets into anything particularly vile, you can give your clefairy a bath in a sink using pokémon soap available at most pokémarts. Some clefairy are also trained to brush their teeth on their own; your sister will likely have a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste specially made for hers that’s part of its routine. If it isn’t, don’t worry about it; clefairy teeth can go for a week without being brushed.

A few notes on some common behaviors: clefairy can largely entertain themselves (especially if you give it boxes), but they also enjoy being petted. If your sister’s nibbles at you, that’s usually a sign that it trusts you, and if it butts its curl against you, that means it likes you enough to mark it as its own. (The curl contains scent glands, much like a cat’s cheeks.) Meanwhile, another common sign to look out for is an uncurled tail, usually in conjunction with paler fur. This is usually a sign that your sister’s clefairy is getting sick, so it’s important to take it to the pokémon center as soon as possible. Finally, if your sister’s clefairy starts vocalizing frequently at night, that’s a good sign that the full moon is approaching or that it’s already here. Let it outside and keep a close eye on it for dancing.

Finally, a warning: a clefairy that gets too comfortable in its new habitat will usually try to nest. That doesn’t mean it’s trying to mate. Rather, it means that the clefairy will assemble materials to fashion for itself a nest—materials that usually include soft objects, such as clothing. Every clefairy has the ability to generate a strong adhesive in the backs of their throats that harden into a crystalline substance when in contact with air. These clefairy then use this substance to glue together materials to form that nest—which is to say that if you start noticing your sister’s clefairy gathering your personal items into a pile, it’s a good idea to keep it from spitting on them and gluing them together. If you can’t stop it from doing this, all pokémarts sell cleaners that can neutralize this substance, but it will still be a bit of a challenge to clean. Don’t lose your temper at your sister’s clefairy (for this or anything else), however. Yelling at a clefairy is a great way to scare it, which then may drive it to hide somewhere in your home or even run away—neither of which will end well for something as small as a clefairy.

But most importantly, never let one anywhere near your electronics. Just … just trust me on that.

Best of luck, anonymous!

Is it ethical to bring fossils back to life? (Ecologically and for the sake of the pokemon’s sanity)

First, it’s important to keep in mind that when we say fossils are revived, what we really mean is a specimen was built using a copy of a genetic sample. It doesn’t mean that the pokémon is literally revived from the dead, memories and all. The pokémon’s sanity is typically fine, as it was born in this time period and has no memory of its species’ prehistoric lives or habitats.

The problem, of course, is in the ecological side of things. Fossil pokémon can’t be reintroduced into the wild, for example, because time has progressed to the point where the ecosystem has stabilized without them. Thus, reintroduction would actually be considered the introduction of an invasive species, which could be disastrous for some regions. (Hoenn, for example, as one of its registered fossil pokémon was an apex predator.)

That and a fossil’s survival rate may be questionable at best, given that it may be difficult to find adequate habitats or alternative food sources for them. For example, the archen line lived in the jungles of Unova and fed primarily on the fruit of the archen tree. However, due to climate changes and tectonic shift, Unova is no longer blanketed with tropical rain forest expanses, and the archen tree itself is completely extinct. While it may be possible for archen to at least survive in a comparable climate (the Amazon, for example), the question is whether or not it will adapt to modern local fruits on its own, what with the fact that archen fruit supposedly comprised much of its diet. (This can be a bit of a challenge, even in domesticated settings.)

Thus, if fossils are revived en masse, rather than occasionally for research purposes, the resulting pokémon can only be kept in captivity—except for kabuto, which can be introduced to wild kabuto populations, but that’s a different story. In all other cases, it’s a bit too risky.

In light of all of this, you could say that the question of whether or not it’s ethical  at all is still up for debate. Naturally, scientists would take the best possible care of captive fossil pokémon, and contrary to popular belief, most respectable scientists are concerned enough about ethics to revitalize fossils responsibly. (The idea that we would create a specimen capable of thought, study it, and then cull it without a second thought is a gross misrepresentation of modern pokémonology.) Still, whether or not we should revitalize fossils is a bit problematic, as a life in captivity, or for the sole purpose of captivity, is not much of a life at all, according to some people.

I suppose this is one of the rare instances where I leave the question up to you, readers. Officially, there are rules that ensure the process is done responsibly, but there really is no word on whether or not creating life is truly ethical. It’s a problem scientists have faced with artificially created pokémon—such as porygon and voltorb—as well.

My boyfriend just recently got a job at a casino, and I was wondering what kind of Pokémon would be allowed out by patrons? I figure ghost and psychic types would be considered a no go due to cheating. And would blackjack or other card dealers have pokemon with them to ensure cheating wasn’t occurring?

Psychics and ghosts, as well as any pokémon with precognitive abilities (namely absol, which can predict when their owners will lose disastrously and thus warn them from placing certain bets) are the ones that are typically banned from most establishments, yes. However, there are other pokémon that are barred, depending on the game and region in question. For example, chatot’s exemplary memory means it’s generally banned from blackjack tables due to their ability to count cards. Likewise, anything capable of learning Psychic (or telekinetic moves in general), regardless of whether or not they actually are psychic-types are also barred from roulette tables, slot machines, and pachinko parlors. Because that last quality covers an extensive list of pokémon due to the TM system, pokémon in general are barred from Sinnohan casinos, many of which rely on slot machines.

Additionally, most regions prohibit trainers from releasing members of the chansey line, members of the togepi line, and anything that evolves by happiness or affection, as these may attack game machines or dealers if they sense any sort of unhappiness in their trainer, including mild forms stemming from particularly long losing streaks.

Also, wailord, onix and steelix, and any large or lethal-to-the-touch pokémon are barred, but this is less because of casino rules and more because releasing any of these pokémon indoors, within crowded places, is generally considered to be rude.

Most other pokémon are perfectly fine to keep with you, however.

As for your question concerning what blackjack owners may be given, many casinos employ telepaths to ensure that no one is even thinking about cheating, yes. However, other houses may prefer to use intimidation tactics by employing tyranitar, aggron, machamp, or other large pokémon capable of reaching over the table and breaking a player’s arm at a moment’s notice. You’ll especially see these pokémon in the Johto region, where many casinos are quite literally run by the yakuza.

Of course, cheating can sometimes be a difficult thing to prevent, even with these precautions, as some players can be tenacious and clever enough to figure out how to do so with practically any pokémon in existence. And on that note, if anyone is curious as to why I know any of this, it’s because a wise man once told me that one must know the customs thoroughly in order to break the rules, and I’m pretty sure the reason why the Goldenrod yakuza has not broken this wise man’s legs yet or banned him from their game corner is because they’re still thoroughly impressed that he had figured out how to cheat a card flip table using only a metapod.

My mother, however, has always been somewhat less impressed.