Tag: Anonymous

Would you please write about Cherrim? A very underrated pokemon in my opinion. It’s so cute!

My editor would agree with you concerning the aesthetic qualities of the cherubi line, but it is indeed true that both pokémon are criminally underrated.

Cherubi
The Cherry Pokémon
Type: Grass
Official Registration #: 420
Entry: A small, cherry-like pokémon originally discovered in the forests of Sinnoh. Unlike many other pokémon, cherubi’s second head does not contain a brain. Rather, it contains supplemental nutrients it needs to grow. Once depleted, this second body shrivels up and may be plucked to aid in its preparations for evolution. (The ball will otherwise fall off on its own.) Meanwhile, like many grass-types, cherubi is edible, and the ball is sometimes gathered and cooked once lost. However, it should be noted that this ball must be fully cooked and eaten in small doses at that. It is a coincidence that this is pokémon #420, but it’s a very apt coincidence.

Cherrim
The Blossom Pokémon
Type: Grass
Official Registration #: 421
Entry: The evolved form of cherubi, by battle experience. For much of its life, cherrim will hide within its dense, dark violet petals to conserve energy. However, when exposed to bright sunlight, cherrim will open its blossom and become more energetic, outgoing, and otherwise joyful, and thus, even in its closed, overcast form, it is strongly inclined to seek out the outdoors, especially during sunny weather. For this reason, it is one of the few pokémon the author and presumably many others in his social media network will never be able to identify with.

How accurate are “official” pokedex descriptions? Pokemon are incredible creatures, but I seriously doubt Larvitar can eat an entire mountain, and even if it could, I doubt every single Larvitar has done that just so it can grow.

Yes, admittedly, some of the pokédex entries in the official Regional Dexes are … questionable at best. In some cases, this is because many researchers use aides who are rather young and imaginative. The minimum age for becoming a research assistant in the field of pokémonology is actually about ten due to … odd circumstances a few years ago. That may or may not have involved myself.

In any case, the consequence of this is that older researchers such as Professor Rowan may rely on younger aides to do fieldwork and write up initial observations. This isn’t to say that Professor Rowan never does any work himself; rather, it’s to say that sometimes, the help that he receives to manage otherwise unmanageable amounts of work are, well, students. The Symposium does its best to verify information before approving it for the National Dex, but now and then, odd details can slip by us, unfortunately. That’s why we constantly update the National Dex to the best of our collective abilities.

The other reason why pokédex entries may seem a little off is because the field of pokémonology is well-stocked with rather colorful professors. Take Professor Westwood V, co-inventor of the original Kanto Dex, for example.

…

…I’m not quite sure how one would describe Professor Westwood V, actually.

In other words, yes, if it seems a little unlikely, it probably is, but I can at the very least assure you that all of the information in this pokédex is highly accurate.

Disclaimer: Note that my partner said “highly,” not “completely.” —LH

What causes a pokemon to evolve with an evolution stone I mean like do they have to be touching it for a certain amount of time or something? Say a Pikachu doesn’t want to evolve and comes into contact with a Thunder stone, would it still evolve?

Evolution is a bit of a complicated subject. For the most part, you can’t actually force a pokémon to evolve, even if all conditions are otherwise met. The pokémon must also wish to evolve in order to initiate the process.

Before I say anything more, allow me to clarify that evolution stones contain a form of radiation or energy that can trigger pokémon evolution by physical contact. However, evolution is ultimately a matter of will. A pokémon that does not wish to evolve can actually touch an evolution stone without consequence if they will themselves to remain in one form. Likewise, other pokémon may evolve immediately if they wish to by letting their internal guards down, so to speak.

However, it should be noted that resisting evolution for long periods of time may be stressful to a pokémon, so if yours is clearly attempting to resist, it’s highly recommended that one removes the evolution stone as soon as possible and, if necessary, apply an everstone to absorb the evolutionary energy.

How did the pokemon numbering system come about? I mean, why are the different pokemon numbered in the first place and why are some evolutionary lines sometimes split by hundreds of entries in between?

For the most part, the number system actually reflects a pokémon’s registration to the International Pokédex, a vast index composed and maintained by a joint effort between the Pokémon League and the Pokémon Symposium. (You may know it better as the National Dex.)

However, it’s certainly not a perfect system, no, and it certainly gets complicated from there. 

First, allow me to establish the cardinal rule of register pokémon to the National Dex: in order to register a pokémon with the National Dex, one must come up with definitive proof that a pokémon exists. In some cases, an evolution or a pre-evolution of a pokémon may be harder to obtain than the rest of the line, so the rest of the line ends up getting registered first, and the straggling member or members of the line are registered later, after the link is proven and established beyond a reasonable doubt.

Take the chansey line, for example. While everyone knew about the existence of chansey, blissey, and happiny, it was less understood how they were related. Chansey that breed on their own with compatible partners, without the aid of any external item, only produce more chansey. It was only within the past fifty years that it was discovered that giving the chansey that had gotten their hands on a luck incense before mating would produce a happiny, and only in the extremely recent past has this been done in a controlled environment to prove that a link between the two existed.

Blissey, meanwhile, was connected to the second, unwritten rule of registration to the National Dex: all of them followed a certain order. Putting it another way, the National Dex is the overall pokémon index, but every region has its own Regional Dex, consisting of pokémon either native to the area or that are known to be obtainable using methods best achieved in that region. So, while blissey had always been a known fact, for whatever reason, Kantonians have never been quite as skilled at achieving happiness-based evolutions as Johtonians, and thus, Kanto-raised chansey generally do not evolve into blissey. (Johtonians are, of course, completely unashamed of any comment they make towards Kantonians regarding this matter. Especially in light of everything else Kantonians say about us.) Thus, blissey is registered to Johto’s Regional Dex, but it is not registered to Kanto’s, despite the fact that its previous evolution is considered a Kantonian native.

Here is where the story gets a bit complicated. As I’ve mentioned a moment ago, Regional Dexes get indexed to the National Dex in a certain order, and that order depends on the establishment of the regional Pokémon League. The National Dex, after all, is a joint effort between the League and the Symposium, so without a League present, only a Regional Dex can be maintained for the sake of the scientific community. (Of course, we still know about the pokémon that live in each region. It would be rather preposterous to assume that we don’t. We simply can’t archive them in the official database that trainers rely upon, but they are indeed recognized by the scientific community regardless.) Once a League is established, the region’s own pokédex is added to the list, right where the National Dex left off. Thus, because the National Dex was originally established in Kanto, Kanto’s Regional Dex was archived first, followed closely by Johto’s because Johto shares many of its League resources with its sister region. Thus, blissey, despite being a known evolution of chansey, wound up being indexed over 100 places away from its predecessor.

As for why pokémon are numbered in the first place, it’s essentially for organizational purposes and for the sake of trainers. The pokédex, after all, comes in two modes. The first mode is the full pokédex, and the second is a notes mode, where all of the entries are blank. One of the unspoken duties trainers have is to assist the pokémon research community with their own observations (as battling and training are essential parts of a pokémon’s lifecycle that researchers, unfortunately, often cannot observe for themselves), and thus, the notes mode exists to allow trainers to record their own thoughts on their catches. Numbering each pokémon allows them to get a visual understanding of which pokémon they have and haven’t yet observed.

So people eat pokemon, I get it, but something bothers me. How do we decide what pokemon to eat? If you come across say a wild Miltank, how do you decide whether it would be better as a partner/team member or as a tasty cheeseburger?

Oh, the answer’s quite simple, anonymous. It’s the same way you would decide whether or not to eat a wild animal. I would presume that every time you come across a deer or a cow, you wouldn’t instantly attempt to slaughter it for its meat, and you wouldn’t cut down every tree you come across for its wood, either. In much the same way, humans look at pokémon and decide for themselves whether to catch it, eat it, or leave it alone for the most part.

Of course, most people eat domesticated pokémon anyway, rather than pokémon found in the wild—meaning you would eat farm-raised miltank or torchic instead of those you encounter in a field. After all, farm-produced pokémon meat (including those from grass-types, which I suppose would be more vegetable-like than meat-like) is typically raised specifically for consumption. Thus, it goes through an approval process to ensure that it’s safe to eat and obtained in a humane manner. Meat you slaughter yourself or obtain from sources that haven’t been officially sanctioned by your country’s agricultural department could be contaminated with any number of diseases or otherwise unfit for human consumption, not to mention you can’t simply slaughter a pokémon and call it humane.

In short, I suppose the answer is even simpler than previously stated: you don’t choose at all unless you’re involved with the pokémon food industry. I suppose you could if you’re a hunter, but although I am not one myself, I would assume that those who go out hunting for pokémon are doing so specifically to find and kill pokémon, rather than to catch them for their teams.

Do Torchic actually taste like spicy chicken?

Of course not, anonymous. The components that make food spicy—such as capsaicin, glucosinolates, and so forth—are not found in muscle tissue but rather in the cells of plants (and, well, plant-like pokémon, to be fair). Thus, without seasoning, it’s possible for oddish to taste spicy, but torchic? No, I’m afraid not.

However, torchic do actually taste like smoked barbecue chicken, so you at least have that.