What would be a good pokemon to introduce to someone who is afraid of them? Not a Garchomp, I’d assume?

Definitely a garchomp. The best way to overcome fear is by exposure, yes?

Edit: According to my editor, I should be ashamed of myself, so allow me to give you an alternative answer.

There are two possible routes you can take. The first is by giving them a starter, preferably from your regional professor. Many starters handled by Professor Oak and his colleagues have been bred for the express purpose of being partnered with extremely new and young trainers. Many new trainers only know the very basics of pokémon care, so each starter needs to be not only resilient but also tranquil around humans, even those who are particularly excitable. So if your friend (or whoever) is panicking, a starter would be the least likely to react to that panic.

Some starters, particularly the bulbasaur line, also evolve into forms equipped with certain abilities that have calming effects on nearby humans. Bulbasaur in particular eventually becomes venusaur, which is known for its highly soothing scent. This will also help keep your friend calm as they interact with not only venusaur but also any other pokémon around them.

Alternatively, there are plenty of other pokémon that possess other calming abilities naturally or are otherwise bred to be as calm as a starter. Take the happiny line, for example. Chansey and blissey especially dedicate themselves to calming and comforting others, and many individuals handled by breeders have gone through at the very least extreme basic training in pokémon nursing. That is to say, any chansey and blissey you obtain from a breeder has likely been trained to handle nervous or scared pokémon and humans, and thus, they’re highly empathetic and knowledgable about how to handle a human who might just be terrified of them. Bred audino in Unova receive similar treatment, as do jigglypuff and wigglytuff in Kalos. The togepi line also has a natural inclination to make others happy as well as an in-born sense of empathy, but some specimens may get a little too excited over the prospect of cheering another up.

Meanwhile, your other option is using a species that possesses other natural abilities that can calm a human being. Blissey, for example, lay eggs that can eliminate feelings of sadness and fear with just one bite. Alternatively, it can also use Heal Pulse, which while better known as a move that heals wounds, can also help a subject to relax. Other species that possess calming abilities include chimecho (who can emit sounds capable of calming even rampaging tyranitar), bellossom (who can emit soothing aromas), and gardevoir (highly empathic pokémon with the ability to project calming psychic waves).

The point is, anonymous, get a pokémon that’s been trained (or bred) to deal with nervous humans or a pokémon who can help a human enter a calm state of mind. Either of these kinds of pokémon are perhaps the least threatening ones in existence, so they would make excellent introductions for someone who would like to be exposed to pokémon but also suffers from poképhobia. Ideally, though, you’ll want a pokémon who can be both soothing and capable at dealing with humans, which means that out of all of the above mentioned creatures, chansey or blissey may be your best options.

Good luck, anonymous.

I own a large pool (large enough to keep quite a few pokemon in) which my Gyarados currently lives alone in. I’m thinking of getting a few more, what pokemon could safely live with a Gyarados? He is tame and has been trained so he will only eat food that I specifically place in his mouth for him (friend’s pokemon occasionally visit so he knows what is or isnt food)

Well, as noted in an earlier ask, you’ll want to be cautious of introducing anything that can breed with gyarados into a gyarados pond. This means any female fish-like pokémon may be a bad idea, as presenting a gyarados with one as a companion may trigger his more primal instincts. Male specimens, however, are fine, and there are quite a few stories of lifelong friendships between milotic and gyarados. (It’s likely because both of their preevolved stages can commiserate over being formerly the weakest fish in a pond, so to speak.)

The other sorts of pokémon that would be bad ideas to keep in your gyarados’s pond would, of course, be chinchou and lanturn, as they sometimes discharge electricity into their habitats. As you likely know, gyarados in their natural states possess a potent weakness to electricity, so being that close to either chinchou or lanturn may be dangerous to your gyarados’s health. Try to keep him away from anything that knows electrical attacks as well. Starmie that you obtain from a trainer or breeder, for example, may know Thunderbolt, and specially bred remoraid and octillery may know Thunder Wave.

All other pokémon that live in the water are excellent choices, but gyarados prefers anything it can swim with. Part of this is because gyarados tend to be highly competitive, but some part of it is left over from its time as a magikarp. (Magikarp congregate in schools and shoals to protect themselves, after all.) If you can get a pokémon that’s native to the same place your gyarados is from, even better. If you received your gyarados from a breeder, obtaining a local pokémon from the same sort of environment magikarp generally live (such as marill, wooper, psyduck, tentacool, and so forth) will do as well. This is largely because, as these pokémon are native to gyarados habitats, they’re more likely to be used to a gyarados, or they’ll at least adapt well to your gyarados’s presence.

In short, most water-types are perfectly safe to raise with your gyarados, especially given the fact that you’ve said he is well-trained and understands the difference between food and everything else. But the closer you can get to pokémon that would normally live with it, the better. If not, simply stay away from anything it would want to mate with or that its entire species is weak to.

So my Breloom keeps spraying spores out of her cap and I have to spend hours cleaning up the house because it’s really making my hay fever act up. Help??? Is this normal, should I be worried, and is there any way to stop it? I love her and all, but she’s really stressing me out at the moment. Thanks!

It’s actually very natural for breloom to spray spores, so it’s not exactly something to worry about. That is to say, your breloom is perfectly healthy; it’s simply that she’s responding to environmental issues.

Specifically, there are two reasons why a breloom may spray spores. The first and, to be honest, less likely reason is because she’s feeling threatened or stressed. If you’ve recently moved, if you’ve obtained a new pokémon, or if there is a bit of activity around your neighborhood (such as a construction project), your breloom may be attempting to comfort herself by spraying poisonous spores as a means of self-defense against the perceived threat. If you notice a slight purple sheen to your breloom’s spores, then this might be the case, and it’s important to calm her down and explain to her that she’s perfectly safe.

However, if this has always happened, if you’re finding it all along your baseboards, and if you don’t detect a purple sheen, then this may also be her way of marking her territory. In their native forests, breloom outline their territory with a boundary of spores. This boundary serves as a warning; to other pokémon, it means that beyond that line, there is a breloom ready to fight. So every time you clean those spores up, you’re basically erasing your breloom’s territorial boundaries, which in turn may be confusing her. To counter this, try to explain to her that the walls are territorial boundaries enough. If she doesn’t quite understand and still sprays spores, try to strike a compromise with her. Assign her a room (even a closet will do) that’s completely hers and tell her that she may only spray her spores there, as that is her only territory in the house. The rest of the house is your territory, and thus, you don’t appreciate having her mark every wall in your home. Reinforce either idea positively: give her treats, either for every day she doesn’t spray (for a few weeks, anyway) or for going into her designated space to spray whenever she feels the need.

It’s my younger brother’s birthday next month and I’m thinking about talking to a breeder to get him his first pokemon. I know pokemon given by the professor are good beginner pokemon, but he likes Ice types so I wanted to get him something special. What options for Ice type pokemon would be a good choice? (He will be turning 9)

Typically, researchers recommend starters who have the capability of evolving because the childlike base form is often easier to deal with or master. In the case of the ice type, this is largely relevant for lapras (difficult for a beginner to train, especially in a landlocked environment), cryogonal (notorious for being highly dangerous and difficult to train), and delibird (notorious for being incapable of learning anything other than Present), but a number of others are viable options. Thus, it’s more of a question of what’s available to you at the time, as a number of ice-types are highly rare in certain regions.

If you have the option to choose any pokémon, however, snorunt tends to be the easiest to train, as its humanoid traits make it the most agreeable to people. It’s also a highly social pokémon in that it’s prone to congregate in groups in the wild. In captivity, that often means it sticks as close to its trainer as possible and fares far better in more urban environments, where it’s surrounded by noise and people. (Trained snorunt see humans who are friendly to their trainer as extensions of their surrogate clan.) Of course, finding snorunt in the first place tends to be a bit more difficult, as snorunt are native to deep, icy cave systems and are not popularly bred pokémon. (There are, of course, snorunt breeders in the world, but they’re fewer in numbers than any other breeder.)

Smoochum is likewise highly sociable, and smoochum adapt to warmer temperatures a little easier than snorunt do. However, they’re also rarer and more difficult to obtain, and the only reliable means of doing so would be to contact breeders in regions where smoochum and jynx are native wildlife (namely Johto, Sinnoh, Kalos, and the northernmost territories of Canada).

You could also try snover, which is also rather friendly to humans and nearly sapient at that. Its evolution, abomasnow, is also a lot quieter and more docile than jynx, froslass, or glalie. (Especially glalie.) It also has the ability to photosynthesize, making it easier for extreme beginning trainers to handle. On the other hand, snover and abomasnow prefer quiet areas, so it’s not a particularly good choice for trainers in highly urban regions such as Unova, Johto, or Kalos. That and with its dual weakness to fire, it may be a particularly challenging option for any region with native fire-type pokémon or resident fire-type gym leaders or Elite Four members. (Again, that would be Unova and Kalos.)

If your brother would prefer something a little less humanoid, spheal is both docile and fairly easy to train, and its water typing makes it an ideal choice for those who wish to counter ice’s weakness to fire. It also evolves into a pokémon with fantastic defensive capabilities, which means it’s one of the least frustrating choices for a young trainer. The downside is that as a partial water-type, your brother will need to understand how to keep a spheal hydrated, not to mention spheal’s evolutions are not particularly mobile on land. (Spheal is, however, as it can roll rather quickly.)

Alternatively, swinub’s ground-typing can achieve the same results as spheal’s water-based abilities, and it can travel on land. Likewise, it has the ability to hunt for edibles in any given environment, making it highly useful outside of battle as well. Of course, getting it to stop eating anything and everything it finds and leaving nothing left over for their trainers is an entirely different matter, and a trainer should keep in mind that although swinub is fairly easy to teach, when it smells food, it may ignore everything its trainer says unless it happens to be very well trained.

The others may be a touch too rare or too difficult to train. Vanillite, for example, are only really popular in its native Unova, and as such, there are no breeders for vanillite outside of that region. Likewise, while vulpix and sandshrew can be ice-types, the only way to obtain them are via breeders or trainers from Alola, which can get rather costly. Conversely, cubchoo is easy to train and easier to obtain than vanillite, sandshrew, or vulpix (as their cute looks make them highly wanted pets), but after evolution, cubchoo becomes the fierce and highly carnivorous beartic, which may perhaps be a bit more difficult for a nine-year-old to handle. Amaura is extremely difficult to obtain (in that it may only be resurrected from fossils), bergmite is just as dangerous as cryogonal, and sneasel, while not particularly dangerous when tamed, is prone to highly rebellious behavior when not paired with an experienced trainer.

Of course, if we wish to go over every option, there are also pokémon that evolve into ice-types, but it should be warned that quite a few of these are not particularly mobile. For example, seel and shellder evolve into dewgong and cloyster, respectively, but neither of them travel well on land.

However, you also have eevee, which under certain circumstances can evolve into the ice-type glaceon, and in comparison with the other aforementioned pokémon, there are absolutely no disadvantages to training an eevee, and in fact, your brother may wish to start with that, now that I think about it.

Bill, eevee can only evolve into glaceon when it comes in contact with very specific boulders, all of which are located in extremely treacherous spots in only three regions on the planet. —LH

You’re right. Anonymous, give your brother one of the above and an eevee. — Bill

When untamed, which pokemon type would you consider the most dangerous to humans? Poison-types because of their toxicity? Dragon-types because of their ferocity? Or, if it ultimately comes down to certain species, which species do you consider the most “dangerous”?

Honestly, quite literally every pokémon is capable of being dangerous. All of them are capable of wielding forces of nature humans only dream of coming close to harnessing, and pokémon do it with the intent to battle against others. This is one of many, many reasons why we must respect all of them.

But! As that’s hardly a proper answer, I must say it’s difficult to decide. Perhaps the legendaries, as those are frequently the avatars of the strongest or most fundamental elements of nature themselves. How can you possibly defend yourself if the avatar of space decides to thrust you into a trans-dimensional rift that leads to the other end of the universe?

Out of the more terrestrial pokémon, though, I suppose the answer would indeed be poison-types … or, more specifically, the likes of grimer, muk, koffing—all the ones that possess abilities that can kill or corrode on contact. While we have antidotes that can handle the vast majority of poison-type abilities, the bodies of grimer and muk contain bacteria that, if worked into open wounds, could infect one with a whole slew of rather nasty incurable diseases, some of which are highly infectious if given the right vectors. Then you have koffing and weezing, whose gases suffocate, rather than poison, which is not something that you can treat unless you’re aware enough of it happening to get as far away as possible. Unfortunately, some of the gases expelled by koffing and weezing distribute themselves rather quickly, so the range of effect can be quite wide and inescapable. The gastly line operates on the same principle, actually, only with an additional soul-stealing element due to their ghost-type natures.

The other pokémon, while fearsome, are at least avoidable for the most part.

My Magikarp is quite close to evolving, and the closer it gets, the more fearful I am about it becoming Gyarados. We have a great bond so I’m positive that everything will go well, but Gyarados is still a very intimidating pokemon. The stories of Gyarados rampaging and its short temper still frighten me a bit and I don’t want to hurt its feelings by appearing afraid. Any advice you can give on how to prepare myself and possibly some information on Gyarados care?

First and foremost, congratulations on your impending evolution, anonymous.

Second, although it’s not unusual for a pokémon’s personality to undergo a shift during evolution, remember that above everything else, your magikarp will still be your magikarp inside. So long as you’ve given it the best care as possible and so long as you make it clear you’ll continue to do so after evolution, your gyarados will have no reason to hurt you.

In fact, in many cases, although wild gyarados are ferocious and violent, tame gyarados, particularly those you’ve raised as magikarp, only act out if you make it known that you’re afraid of them or if you make it clear that you’re about to hurt their owners. Otherwise, they tend to be rather docile and incredibly loyal. This is true for practically any “ferocious” pokémon. The quicker you establish the idea that you’re both willing and capable to meet their needs as a caretaker and a trainer, the quicker they are at bonding with you. If you find it difficult to remind yourself of this, take a moment to ground and center yourself (meditate, in other words) in order to achieve a calm mental state before approaching your gyarados.

As for care, the most important thing to remember is gyarados are both carnivorous and far, far bigger than magikarp. You’ll need a large body of water (a lake or olympic-sized swimming pool) to give it plenty of room to exercise. Feed it at least sixty pounds of raw meat and fat at least every twelve days. (Tamed gyarados can have their meals broken down into five pounds once a day daily, but some gyarados prefer larger chunks. This should also be reassurance that if you’re unable to feed your gyarados on a particular day, it can survive. Doubly so if it’s an outdoor gyarados, as they tend to supplement their own meals with birds that happen to fly over their habitats.)

Gyarados also tend to roar and snap at random, but these aren’t normally displays of aggression towards their trainers. Rather, it’s often a gyarados’s way of playing—or hunting, if it happens to spot something flying overhead. These acts are perfectly harmless, so it’s recommended that you don’t prevent your gyarados from engaging in them. However, if you absolutely must, do so in a reassuring tone but explain things clearly to it. Contrary to popular belief, gyarados are highly intelligent pokémon and understand the meaning of the word “no” if told by a trainer they’re already loyal to.

Lastly, never keep a gyarados of the opposite sex in the same habitat as this one. Gyarados become difficult to reason with when mating, and their rituals are highly aggressive, loud, and violent.

Good luck, anonymous.

Follow up question about Absol. So, should I assume that my Absol keeping a friend of mine from leaving the house has something to do with bad luck? Like last week a Gengar tried to drain their life force, they tripped down the stairs of their apartment building, and somehow set their hair on fire. So, is my Absol trying to keep them in place to try to protect them? Since Absol hasn’t let them leave my house for 24 hours now. At least they can do their work from home.

Given your friend’s personal history … yes, your friend’s absol may be trying to protect them.

I would recommend bringing meals to your friend’s home and removing all sharp objects.

About pokemon that wear ‘clothes’ or hold something – Hitmonchan’s gloves, Hypno’s pendulum, Machamp’s pants, Throh/Sawk’s robes, etc – where do they get these, Are they actually part of the pokemon? I understand that Cubone can just pick up bones or Klefki can find keys but I don’t know, clothes seem a bit odd to me

It depends on the pokémon, really. Some of them find their signature items. For example, hypno hew their pendulum from local stones, then tie them to the end of insect silk, pokémon hair (including, in some cases, hair from their own ruff), or dry grasses. The threads and stones used tend to depend on the hypno: each one has their own individual preferences, which means this is an effective way to tell two otherwise identical hypno apart.

Sawk and throh, meanwhile, tend to get their clothes from leavanny, if they don’t simply make their outfits themselves. As incredibly humanoid pokémon, they actually integrate weaving and tailoring into their training and maturation. Where they picked up these skills is not entirely known, but local folklore in Kalos and Unova speak of a wandering trainer who passed this knowledge onto any pokémon who was willing to listen. Why, however, seems to be more of a zen riddle.

Other pokémon, however, actually do grow their “clothes.” Gardevoir is of particular note in this case: the part of its body that appears to be a flowing dress is actually just a few flaps of skin meant to regulate body temperature and channel heat away from its horn. Hitmonchan is similar; those are not boxing gloves but rather its actual hands.

As for machamp’s pants, while it does indeed find its own belt over time (the belt is a sign of accomplishment, and thus, machamp go about without one until they feel as if they deserve one—at which point they fashion it themselves using stones, grass, and leather), it … is not actually wearing pants. That’s merely a hardened shell of skin covering its reproductive and waste elimination areas.

Why does my manectric refuse to listen to commands? To clarify, yes, he was traded to me and I do only have 3 gym badges. As soon as we get into battle, he suddenly does his own thing and thinks his decisions are better than mine, but other than that, we get along great and it’s almost like we’ve never been apart. What causes this?

This behavior tends to present itself in stronger pokémon, which in turn are typically pokémon that have been with a single trainer for a long while. As such, when one finds itself traded to a completely new trainer—especially if they haven’t been given much of a warning and definitely if the trainer is a complete stranger—it can be difficult for that pokémon to adjust. Even if the two of you get along great socially, on the battlefield, it’s a different story, as the act of battling is far more demanding than simply socializing. For you to battle effectively, the two of you need to be in sync. Your trust in each other must be at its peak, and that’s not something that can simply happen. Imagine, if you will, attempting to work with a complete stranger on an extremely delicate and important project. You may want to be nice to the stranger outside of that situation, but inside, you need to know that your partner knows what they’re doing. Disobeying orders is your manectric’s way of saying he’s not entirely sure you do—not to put too fine a point on it, of course.

That having been said, the solution to this conundrum is rather simple: build your relationship with your manectric. Work together with him off the battlefield and treat him as well as you can. Allow him to watch you battle using other members of your team so he can understand the way you work. Most importantly, understand that it may take time for your manectric to build up enough trust in you to let you command him during battle. He is, after all, working through the fact that his last trainer had left him—in his eyes, anyway.

I have (or rather, had) two Luxio – a male and a female – and the male just recently evolved into Luxray. The two have been mates for years, since they were Shinx, but since the evolution, Luxio seems to be rejecting Luxray. Though physically he has changed, he is acting no different than he used to and is still interested in Luxio, however, she doesn’t appear to want anything to do with him with is upsetting us both. Why is this happening?

While not a perfect equivalence, think of evolutionary stages like human stages of life. The most basic stage is usually a pokémon’s childhood, the middle stage is adolescence, and the final stage is adulthood. Now, granted, this isn’t a literal comparison. Pokémon in their final stages never see mating with basic-stage forms as the same thing as pedophilia, and breeders generally don’t, either. But in some cases, pokémon understand that there is some difference between their form and another form, even if that difference is vague and difficult for the pokémon themselves to define.

That having been said, it’s very likely that your luxio has been put off your luxray because there is a bit of a physical difference. Your luxray is about as mature as he will ever get, and thus, his body chemistry is slightly different. Perhaps his maturity is too, and neither you nor he can perceive that. Your luxio, meanwhile, does see a difference and may be experiencing uneasiness towards your luxray or even jealousy over his evolution.

At this point, it’s important to establish communication with your luxio to determine which it might be. Ask your luxray to wait in another room or as far from your luxio as possible, then sit down with your luxio and ask her what’s on her mind. If she looks agitated or restless, ask her if she’d like to evolve and gauge her reaction. If she seems interested in that question, form a plan to give her extra training and establish a consistent and daily routine until she evolves. Then reintroduce her to your luxray and see what happens.

If she looks a little more sullen, however, it’s very possible that she simply sees your luxray as a completely different pokémon. Do your best to reassure her that your luxray is still the same as always. If possible, after speaking with her, reintroduce her to your luxray gradually, as if introducing her to a new member of your team. Have your luxray give her a bit of space at first and have them work towards building a new relationship from the ground up. Starting basically from scratch allows her to approach the relationship while feeling less pressure to connect immediately with a pokémon she basically considers to be a stranger, which in turn means she’ll be far less on-edge around your luxray.

If all else fails, however, inform your luxray that she’s letting him down gently and perhaps get a breeding partner for them both. (It’s also possible that your luxio has already taken care of that part or that she has already laid an egg with either your luxray or another pokémon. I would observe her a bit before sitting down with her as well.)

Good luck, anonymous.