Tag: Anonymous

How often are starter pokemon given out? I assume when the professor runs out you cant just try again tomorrow. Is it like every month? Also, do they carry more of each type every time or is it strictly limited to one of each (like 3 bulbsaur, 3 charmander, 3 squirtle?)

It often depends on the source. Some sources give them out all year long, with new starters available nearly daily. These are sources who give out more common pokémon that are easily obtainable throughout a given region.

However, professors are special cases, as regional ones often give out a set of three starters (one grass, one fire, and one water) designated as “official starters” by the Pokémon Association. These may only be given out once a month, largely because it takes time for a breeder to obtain and hatch eggs of each species, as well as ensure that each hatchling is suitable for battle.

In rare cases, a professor may give out something other than their usual three starters, but usually, these are fantastically unusual circumstances. For example, Professor Oak once gave a boy from Pallet Town a pikachu that was extracted from someone’s home and scheduled to be released into Viridian Forest, but due to the rather … unique case of the boy, it was given to him as a starter instead.

I was wondering, what does Cubone look like without their mother’s skull? I’m assuming that not all Cubone inherit their mother’s skulls (particularly those breed in captivity since the breeders probably don’t kill the mothers so that the Cubone can have a skull). Are breed Cubone given a fake skull to wear?

That’s pretty much it, anonymous. In captivity, because real marowak skulls are considered to be inhumane, breeders simply give newborn cubone helmets made of synthetic bone, based on a generic cast available to all ground-type and cubone-specific breeders. This must be done because an actual cubone’s head is very soft at birth—almost soft as a human’s head—and because pokémon are often battle-ready at birth, not offering the cubone protection may be leaving it prone to brain damage.

For those curious, in the wild, the act of laying an egg and raising it to the point where it’s ready to hatch marks the end of a marowak’s lifecycle. Oftentimes, laying an egg itself severely weakens the marowak, and because male marowak are focus on protecting the female, the female marowak is left to protect the egg. Hatching, then, often distracts one parent or the other from their task, allowing one of marowak’s many predators to come in and kill the distracted parent. If neither parent is killed, then one parent—usually the mother—sacrifices itself to give their child a bone helmet.

As for what they look like underneath, they’re basically lizards, anonymous. Think of a tiny, orange, slightly rounder charizard head, and you’ll have a cubone.

I think my umbreon is afraid of the dark? During nightfall she clings to my side and sometimes whimpers. Her circular lights shine, but it doesn’t seem to help her. Instead of roughing it, I’ve been taking her to Pokémon centers so she doesn’t have to be afraid, and I keep a little nightlight for her so she doesn’t have to rely on her own lights. What can I do to help her with her fears?

Stay with her. Sometimes, if your umbreon is newly evolved, it may take her a bit of time to adjust to the darkness because she herself is adjusting to the dark element within her, not to put it dramatically. She may even outgrow the fear over time on her own.

In the meantime, you can help her conserve energy by investing in a nightlight or lantern with adjustable brightness. Start the first few nights at the maximum brightness until she feels comfortable, then keep it on until she falls asleep. After a few nights, start off with the brightest setting, then slowly adjust it down a little bit. The next night, turn on the light and adjust it so that it reaches the amount of brightness you had achieved the previous night, then adjust it downward again. Keep going until your umbreon can tolerate having the light on at its dimmest setting. Then, the next night, don’t turn it on.

You can do this either in a pokémon center or in the outdoors, but I would recommend doing it in a pokémon center until she can get used to the darkness inside a building. Then, take her outside and repeat the process.

Additionally, do relaxation exercises with her before bed. Have her sit beside you and meditate. This can also help her control her inner darkness and hone her abilities until she feels more comfortable with them. Also, communicate with her during the day and at sunset to ask her what about the dark is so frightening. Although she might not be able to respond to you as children do, the act of asking her will allow her to think about it during meditation and face her fears on a psychological level.

Of course, don’t assume it’s not a valid concern, either. By asking her, she may be able to point out a clear danger as well. If you have a pokémon that can use Foresight, it may be a good idea to have that pokémon use it: if the technique doesn’t reveal any immediate dangers, it can at least put your umbreon’s mind at rest.

In short, helping any pokémon overcome their fears takes a bit of patience, anonymous, but in your case, it will take plenty of meditation and communication if it doesn’t simply resolve itself. Best of luck.

My altaria and flygon have been fighting a lot recently since flygon evolved. Before I used to fly primarily on alratia but since I’ve been training my flygon I’ve been taking Him more often… im really worried one of them is going to get seriously injured. What do I do?

Ah, therein lies the problem, anonymous. Any time you shift attention from one pokémon to another, especially if you don’t explain the situation beforehand, you risk instilling a sense of jealousy in one of them. Yes, this happens even if the jealous pokémon is one of the nicest, most selfless you’ve ever worked with or if the jealous pokémon had been close friends with the one you’re affording more attention to.

With that in mind, in order to rectify the situation, you need to do two things. First, you need to explain clearly to your pokémon (both of them) that you’re not replacing either of them. You’re simply redistributing tasks. Of course, it’s also important that you offer this explanation without implying that your flygon is simply better suited to flight than your altaria. Otherwise, you risk provoking your altaria to “prove” that it’s just as capable of a flyer (by fighting your flygon again).

The second task will help you avoid this implication. What you need to do is, quite simply, spend more time with your altaria. Find something that it does best and work with it every day. Spend a little more time training it. Do everything you can to make it feel important to you or to make it feel as if you’re spending an equal amount of time with it as you do with your flygon. The more effort you put forth to make your altaria feel like a part of your team, the more your altaria can rest easy that its place hasn’t been taken by flygon. And thus, once you figure that part out, it will be less likely to instigate fights with its partner.

Likewise, your flygon may also be less likely to display dominance over your altaria, but I would also keep an eye on him and reassure him that your altaria is not a threat too.

Best of luck, anonymous.

How many nights can you stay at the Pokémon center? Do they kick you out after a certain period of time? Do they feed trainers? Can you have your Pokémon out within rooms? Do they have accommodations for larger Pokémon? Or Pokémon with health issues? Do they have beds designed for specific Pokémon?

All excellent questions!

To answer in order:

You can stay at a pokémon center up to a week. Because the free accommodations are for trainers, the clientele usually moves on after that period unless their pokémon are in need of more longterm care. If your pokémon are healthy, then yes, they will ask you to move on, but if you have a pokémon that isn’t yet healthy enough to continue on its journey with you, then you’re free to stay as long as you’d like. However, it’s also worth it to note that trainer culture is structured in a way that makes staying in one place a rather stigmatized concept. Most trainers don’t want to stay for longer than a week, which in turn means most Nurse Joys will sympathize with you if something prevents you from leaving. Many even give you the option of helping out around the center to earn your keep, as it were.

Additionally, you can only stay at a pokémon center if you’re a trainer. Anyone else, even researchers, are required to find other accommodations, even if their business in town is with the pokémon center.

Meals are complimentary to trainers (only) as well, but you only get two of them a day: breakfast and dinner. The cafeteria is open all day long for snacks and boxed lunches, of course, but beyond those the aforementioned two meals a day (or if you’re not a trainer), everything else requires you to pay.

Smaller pokémon—that is to say, pokémon that are no bigger than the average human—are allowed out in your room, but keep in mind the rooms are only as large as the average college dorm room. Most trainers prefer to keep their pokémon in their poké balls for this reason.

There are temporary outdoor accommodations for larger healthy pokémon such as courtyards, but because centers typically take up a finite amount of space and because of the high amount of trainers in the area, it’s highly recommended that you keep your pokémon in their poké balls unless you’re present to watch over them. Usually, you can let them out for feeding and exercise via training during the day, so it’s never really any trouble for a pokémon to stay in their devices for such a long period of time.

As for pokémon with immediate health problems (including larger pokémon), they usually stay in the clinic. The clinics take up most of a pokémon center’s grounds and interior space, and as such, there are plenty of beds for all pokémon, from the smallest to the largest. Pokémon may use these beds for as long as they need to heal.

For longer-term health issues such as pokémon diabetes, these pokémon usually stay with their trainers at all times. If the pokémon is on the larger side (such as a snorlax), then they’re typically kept in their poké balls until their trainers can use the courtyard or surrounding area for their daily care. If a pokémon has a condition that would require constant care, then these pokémon are likely not on trainer’s journeys anyway, and if they ever visit a pokémon center, it’s purely to use the clinic.

As for beds designed for specific pokémon, unfortunately, no. This is because having beds for each specific pokémon would take up far too much space, so instead, the beds are typically generic and capable of handling most pokémon that are human-sized or smaller. Larger pokémon are handled in larger observation rooms, on mats designed to handle heavy pokémon, if they aren’t simply treated in an outdoor space separate from the general courtyard.

Hi Bill! I’ve been reading through your posts on hear and feel like I’ve learned a lot but I have to say, I’m starting to worry about some of my dark types. From what you’ve been saying, most dark types are kinda nasty but all of mine are massive softies. The only time I’ve ever seen them violent or aggressive was when they thought me or my family were being threatened. Do I have to worry about them hiding something or is this sort of thing normal?

LH here, anonymous.

Normally, I let Bill answer these questions himself, but because of reasons that involve my partner’s inability to not scare readers, he’s currently distracted … by another episode of Binaclebob Trapezoidpants.

That said, don’t worry, anonymous. Most of Bill’s pokédex entries are written tongue-in-cheek and refer to either each species’ official entry in the National Dex (which are often themselves referring to wild pokémon only) or his own experiences with these pokémon (which are often harrowing because my partner is a wonderful researcher when it comes to fieldwork—this is, after all, the same man who thought grabbing a honedge by the hilt because “that old wives’ tale about honedge possession can’t possibly be real” was a brilliant idea).

Actual, tamed dark-types are surprisingly more loyal and sweet than most other pokémon. This is because in the wild, dark-types rely on their abilities to sneak or to gang up on other pokémon to survive, either because they’re not actually that strong on their own or because other pokémon would do the same to them. For that reason, they’ve garnered the reputation of being vicious, but actually, when they feel safe—such as in situations when a human is taking care of all their needs—they lose their need to be vicious and adopt more friendly and open personalities. Of course, some pokémon, such as houndoom, will always be aloof in comparison with their non-dark counterparts, but that’s just the way they are. It’s not really any indication of whether or not they’re good, evil, vicious, or friendly.

So really, you don’t have to worry about your own pokémon. They’re most likely every bit the massive softies they seem to be on the surface.

Honestly, though, it’s probably fairy-types if anything that you’d have to worry about. Those know how to use their cuteness to get what they want, but honestly, that’s not exactly dangerous. Just slightly nefarious, but only insofar as pokémon treats are concerned. And honestly, how can you argue with a face that pink and cute?

are there pokemon who absolutely cannot become service pokemon? i was thinking of retiring my pikachu from battling, but he is really helpful when im having anxiety issues so i dont want to stop traveling with him.

There are a couple of things to consider, anonymous.

First, I would hate to say it, but service pokémon are typically trained for their tasks from birth. That isn’t to say your own pokémon can’t help you in their own way, but official service pokémon often need at least a year of task training and public training. You see, being a service pokémon isn’t just about knowing how to perform the tasks a human partner may need. It’s also about knowing how to be professional and calm at all times while on the job, and it’s about knowing how to focus, even in the most distracting of situations. For example, if a pet growlithe barks threateningly at a service growlithe, the service growlithe must know how to remain composed enough to focus on their work, not on attacking the other growlithe. Likewise, service pokémon must be calm and collected, even in settings jam-packed with people or in situations that are life-threatening to either their human partner or themselves (or both).

In some cases, a battle-ready pokémon may be taught to become a service pokémon, but to do so effectively, they must attend training with a specialized trainer, one who is not only capable of teaching a pokémon how to assist with their human partner’s disability but also how to heel and obey properly in any situation. This trainer must be certified for service training, and at the completion of the pokémon’s education, that pokémon must undergo thorough examination to ensure they can work reliably at all times. Only then may a pokémon be awarded the license to be a service pokémon. However, it’s also worth it to note that not every region allows for this process to happen with battle-ready pokémon, as battle-ready pokémon often react to situations with a battlefield mindset (that is to say, by attacking or preparing itself to attack), even years after retirement. Among the regions where you can train any retired battle-ready pokémon to become a service animal, you have Unova, Alola, and Kalos. For all others, it’s highly recommended that you double-check your local regulations.

That having been said, though, most species can be service pokémon. The only exceptions are cases in which the pokémon would pose a threat to surrounding humans (such as grimer, muk, and cryogonal) or are far too large to be usable (onix, steelix, wailord, gyarados, milotic, and Alolan exeggutor). Pokémon that have difficulties traveling on land (most aquatic pokémon) as well as pokémon that are made up of materials that may be detrimental to their environment (slugma and magcargo) tend to have varying regulations associated with them, depending on the region. In Hoenn and Alola, all of these pokémon are perfectly legal, but in Sinnoh, they’re barred. Of course, keep in mind that if you’re traveling to other regions, the only thing that matters if where your pokémon got its papers from, not whether or not your service pokémon is legal in the region you’re currently in. For example, if your service pokémon is a goldeen, you can travel anywhere you’d like with it. It’s just that if you live in Sinnoh, you can’t get a goldeen service pokémon. Also, you may have difficulties, as Sinnoh is a primarily mountainous region with an abundance of land routes that your goldeen may struggle with, but the point is, your service goldeen will still be legal.

So in conclusion, it’s possible to retire your pikachu and train it to be an official service pokémon. However, it really depends on which region you live in and whether or not you’re willing to have your pikachu undergo a full year of training. You can still travel with him, however, as it’s possible to set him as pet or companion pokémon, or one that you’re incapable of using for battle, so if you’re not willing to go through all that hassle, that’s an option as well.

How are there still people that thinking keeping pokemon is cruel? Shouldnt the fact that battling increases happiness, and that some pokemon evolve by happiness under our care, be enough to show them that they are clearly fine with it? Pokemon are intelligent enough to let us know how thet feel about the situatin though arent they

They are indeed intelligent enough, anonymous, but it’s unfortunately the capturing part of it that confuses most people. Oftentimes, people who are of this opinion believe that trainers enslave pokémon using poké balls, then essentially treat them as objects to collect. They see the poké ball as the equivalent to chains or a leash, so they’re convinced that pokémon can’t truly voice what they do and do not want in their relationship with humans. Moreover, they see the act of ordering a pokémon what to do (on the battlefield, for example) or treating pokémon as pets as reducing their identities to mere accessories to humans.

As much as I can understand this argument, I still have to disagree with the notion. Frequently, these opinions are founded on a misunderstanding; people often forget that humans and pokémon form a necessary symbiotic relationship and that poké balls are more like houses to pokémon than cages. I suppose it should go without saying (least of all because I’m certain I’ve covered this in an earlier post), but even disobedient pokémon choose to be with us. After all, one only needs to look at pokédex entries to realize that pokémon are not only fully capable of freeing themselves if they wish to, but they’re also fully capable of killing us if we pose a threat to them or their lifestyles.

Still, as I’ve said, I can understand the argument. In many ways, we humans have done quite a bit to harm our environment and encroach on pokémon territory via developing our cities and towns, so it’s easy to see us as an invasive species, in a way. Likewise, to be fair, many pokémon are near sapient or even far more intelligent than humans, so the question of whether or not it’s ethical to keep them and treat them as pets is still a valid one. For those reasons (and because often, it’s difficult to convince someone who holds this opinion that the act of capturing pokémon is not equivalent to enslaving them), I generally feel that it’s necessary to respect the opinions of those who believe training is wrong—so long as they respect the opinions of those who see nothing wrong with training pokémon. This, I admit, is why I was never all that comfortable with that Team Plasma nonsense that went on in Unova not too long ago. It’s one thing to believe pokémon must be free or to share your opinion with others. It’s another thing entirely to impose that view on others by force. Especially if you employ a strong dose of hypocrisy while doing so.

how do i properly care for a chinchou?

As one would assume, chinchou are primarily aquatic pokémon. As such, just like many other aquatic pokémon, they’ll need a pool or tank of clean water, and it’s important to keep a regular maintenance routine with it. Your chinchou will be doing everything in its pool—eating, sleeping, excreting wastes, and so forth—so it’s of the utmost importance that you ensure the water’s changed regularly. It may also help to invest in a filter, but this shouldn’t take the place of regular weekly cleaning.

Additionally, don’t forget that chinchou primarily live in the ocean, which means they’re saltwater pokémon, rather than freshwater. Adding sand at the bottom of your pool or tank is one step to making your chinchou feel at home, but the second step must be to add saltwater whenever you cycle its habitat’s water supply. You do this by mixing sea salt (available at most pokémarts and pokémon pet supply stores) with any water you add to your tank or pool. Always be sure that the water is clear and that the pH and temperature are just right before adding it to your chinchou’s habitat. If the water is cloudy, then that means the salt hasn’t been fully dissolved, which means the salinity will be too off-balance for your chinchou to handle.

Granted, yes, chinchou, like all pokémon, are highly adaptable and can survive in freshwater (or even on land), but to maintain its peak health, it should be allowed to swim in saltwater on a regular basis. For most people, it’s easier to keep a saltwater habitat than a freshwater and saltwater one, but if you have more freshwater pokémon than marine pokémon (for example, if you also raise magikarp, goldeen, feebas, carvanha, and so forth), it may be more convenient to keep a freshwater tank for all of them. Just be sure to give your chinchou a saltwater bath a few times a week to give it the nutrients it needs and to maintain the texture of its skin.

Chinchou are also carnivorous pokémon, and in the wild, they thrive primarily on shrimp, krill, some cephalopods (particularly cuttlefish), and small, bottom-dwelling fish. In captivity, it’s recommended to put them on diets consisting of mostly fresh or frozen shrimp or pieces of frozen fish (or, if you can afford it, pieces of squid or octopus). Avoid feeding them canned sardines, anchovies, or other fish, as tempting and cheap as that might be, because the processing techniques often render canned fish too fatty for pokémon consumption—especially in the cases of anchovies and sardines. Every so often, you may feed your chinchou frozen peas to add variance and fiber to their diets. If all else fails, there is, of course, pokémon kibble.

As for entertainment and sleeping arrangements, your chinchou will be perfectly comfortable just sleeping at the bottom of its tank, especially if you’ve lined it with sand instead of rocks. Some enjoy sleeping inside artificial caves, so making or buying one and adding it to your tank may be a good idea. Additionally, most chinchou feel safest when hiding in seaweed forests. While you’re rather limited on what you can grow in a domestic tank (many species of aquatic plants found in the ocean can’t actually be grown at home), you can still invest in a few samples of macro algae to simulate chinchou’s native forests. Yes, as much of a hassle as that sounds, it’s better to use real vegetation instead of plastic plants. Oftentimes, plastic plants do nothing more than accumulate bacteria and present just one more thing you need to clean on your weekly maintenance routines. Meanwhile, if you add real macro algae to your setup, they often help regulate the oxygen and nitrate levels of your chinchou’s water supply while giving them a place to rest and hide. That and they sometimes make excellent between-meal snacks for your chinchou.

So long as there’s plenty of water for your chinchou to swim about in, it doesn’t really need anything else in terms of toys. It will simply spend much of its time swimming along the bottom of the tank or coming up to sun on the surface. The only other thing to keep in mind is that every so often, they discharge electricity (as do all electric-types), and it’s highly recommended that you avoid contact with the water when that happens, as it may accidentally electrocute you in the process. If you’d like to minimize the likelihood of that happening while adding something to your own routine that allows you to interact more often with your chinchou, set up a lightning rod somewhere near your pool and set aside time each day to have chinchou come ashore and do lightning training under your watch. That is to say, set aside time each day to direct chinchou into attacking a lightning rod using its electrical techniques, such as Thunder Wave or Electroball. Not only will this give your chinchou plenty of time to discharge its excess energy in a safe manner, but the training will also be excellent target practice as well as preparation for full-scale battles.

In short, initially, chinchou may be a bit more complicated than most pokémon to prepare a habitat for, and the routine maintenance is not only time-consuming but also an absolute requirement. However, once you get your chinchou’s tank set up and integrate it into its new environment, chinchou are among the least fussy pokémon to care for, as they’re frequently content with just water, food, light, and a bit of sand and algae to sleep on at night.