Tag: asks

Any tips for raising pokemon that have lost an eye? I recently caught a croagunk that’s missing an eye and need some tips.

First off, is it safe to assume that the croagunk is already used to living without one of its eyes? If no, I’ll cover that in a moment, but first, allow me to answer this as if your croagunk is already adjusted.

The biggest thing you need to know when dealing with a pokémon that’s disabled in some way is understanding what that disability actually means. In this example, you’ll need to know how the eyes work together in order to understand how best to work with your croagunk.

You see, when you lose an eye, the biggest thing is that your depth perception is affected. This in turn means your ability to judge distances will be affected, which, for a frog-like fighting-type pokémon, is a pretty big deal. While your croagunk may have had time to learn how to work around this and adjust accordingly, it’s a good idea to keep this in mind when giving orders. Get to know your croagunk’s battle style. Observe the exact things it does to prepare for a strike, and incorporate your observations into the orders you give it, even in the heat of the moment.

Then, of course, there’s also the fairly obvious point that your croagunk will have a blind spot. Again, this may be something it’s figured out how to compensate for, but be prepared to warn your croagunk if an opponent or other obstacle comes in from its blind side. Be particularly alert and train yourself to give orders quickly—perhaps even instinctually.

If, however, your croagunk has only recently lost its eye, you’ll first want to take it to a Nurse Joy to have it examined. Of course, you’ll want to do this either way, but a recent loss may need to be checked and monitored for potential infection.

After that, you’ll need to begin training. It may be slow going, especially given that your croagunk isn’t used to you, but have patience and be gentle. If you live in a town or city, you may also have access to therapists at your local pokémon center who may be able to work with you and croagunk. It certainly doesn’t hurt to ask. If not, consider asking Nurse Joy herself if she can offer therapy.

Outside of the pokémon center, don’t be overbearing when helping your croagunk. The last thing you want to do is rob it of its independence. Instead, teach it (how to punch, grasp, or leap) only until it starts to get the idea, then let it do it on its own. Be there, of course, if your croagunk is really struggling to adjust its movements to its eyesight, but wait until it signals for you to help. This can take different forms, depending on your croagunk’s disposition. If it looks like it’s getting angry, reassure it first that it’s doing the best that it can, then nudge its target a little closer to it until it can reach for it itself.

This, of course, isn’t the only possible signal. It might also grasp at the target, then look at you. If it does this, guide its hand to the target and then encourage it to follow through itself. Reward it every time it successfully reaches for its target on its own so it begins to learn how to calibrate itself in space without your cues, so to speak.

Also, concerning the blind spot, avoid approaching your croagunk from the side where it’s lost its eye. This is true even if it’s used to seeing with only one eye, but if it’s new to partial blindness, you don’t want to startle it. If you must, verbally let your croagunk know that you’re approaching so it can turn if it needs to. If it seems upset that it can’t see out of one eye, I would recommend a training session tailored towards helping it develop its spacial perception, as noted above, in a battle scenario. Don’t have it spar, of course, but rather have it train against stationary objects. The battling will hopefully boost its confidence enough that it will regrow its sense of self and inner strength. Alternatively, you can achieve the same effect with basic training exercises for day-to-day life or even for whatever its interests are. For example, if it’s not much of a battler and more of an artistic croagunk, consider setting up an art station in your home and having it create its own art. Any activity that relies on visual skills can be used for retraining, so pay attention to what catches your croagunk’s attention.

Best of luck!

I’m pretty sure my Serperior is using my computer when I’m away or asleep, or he’s at least trying to. I never find anything in browser history, but his vines tapping on the keys when he thinks I’m asleep in the next room are far too rhythmic for just play. How should I handle this? I doubt he’ll admit to it, seeing as he covers his tracks, but I’m worried he might get one or both of us into trouble, whatever he’s doing.

Have you tried enabling parental controls on your computer? Even if your serperior has learned how to use a computer, that should keep him out of trouble. If he hasn’t and is just tapping on the keyboard to mimic you (which is likely, as many pokémon like mirroring their trainers to be closer to them), it will still protect him from accidentally going anywhere he shouldn’t. On that note, if he is mirroring you, this isn’t a cause of concern at all, but you may wish to consider getting him a dummy keyboard (that is, one that isn’t connected to anything) and setting up a “computer” (which can be as simple as a cardboard box with a printed-out copy of your desktop pasted to it) to keep him entertained.

And if he isn’t mirroring you and manages to bypass parental controls and navigate his way to the worst parts of the internet … honestly, by that point, he merry well deserves to be there, considering how savvy he clearly is. Still, you may wish to teach him about Tor and get a VPN. Just in case.

Hey Bill, do Magikarp have any Natural Predators in the Wild? I ask because I recently saw a Dragonair eating what i think were Smallmouth Bass and began wondering about Predator-Prey Relations in the pokemon world.

Magikarp’s natural predator is everything. Or nearly everything. Humans don’t eat it because there’s not much meat to it, and it takes a particularly strong set of claws, teeth, or attacks (or a particularly hard rock) to get past magikarp’s scales. But it can be done, and practically everything that considers itself a predator might eat magikarp if they’re looking for an easy meal.

It’s actually one of the reasons why gyarados are so notoriously angry and vicious when they evolve.

Why can some pokemon let themselves out of thier pokeballs? Or is it that they all can but choose not to?

The latter, surprisingly enough. While poké balls are indeed capture devices (meaning there is a baseline capture rate for all of them), whether or not they can contain their captured pokémon until a trainer releases them depends entirely on the willpower of the pokémon in question. You see, inside every poké ball is a capture grid that works like an electrical net. So long as the pokémon’s will is neutral, it won’t disrupt the grid, and the ball will remain closed. If, however, the pokémon passionately wants to get out, there’s a chance they’ll disrupt the grid, which causes the poké ball to think a trainer has opened it, thus leading the ball to eject its contained pokémon. For some reason, smaller or basic-level pokémon seem to be more adept at disrupting the grid than larger, more evolved ones, which is why you might see pikachu break out of their balls more often than charizard, even if they’re both equally bonded to their trainers. Some smaller pokémon will even disrupt the capture grid every time, which means their poké balls are really only effective for the initial capture. (This occurs especially with pikachu.)

You may think this is a design flaw, but actually, it’s perfectly intentional. While, yes, a poké ball’s main points are to ensure a pokémon can be withdrawn from a dangerous situation or to prevent rampages, the poké ball is also designed to allow a pokémon to break free in dire situations, such as those in which its trainer is in danger and unable to summon them. That and it’s just seen as more humane to allow a pokémon to break free if it has the overwhelming need to shower its trainer with affection.

Hey Bill, an acquaintance of mine found some wild Dratini fry(barely newborn) and caught one. I was wondering how ethical it was to catch newborn Pokémon, and I’m actually sort of worried for both the mother and the Dratini in question! She’s a decent trainer, but that doesn’t mean she’s qualified to raise a literal newborn Dratini. Help!

I know this might sound a bit repetitive, but I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If a very young trainerless pokémon as rare as dratini appears before a human, there are two possible reasons for it. First, it was abandoned or lost as an egg. If this is the case, then its chances of survival are actually incredibly low. Second, it’s not a hatchling but rather a juvenile, which in some species’ cases are difficult to distinguish. However, the difference is extremely important; juveniles can survive on their own, whereas hatchlings cannot.

The driving reason behind both of these things is actually the same: most pokémon nests aren’t easy to find precisely because of human involvement. That is, while we aren’t technically predators for pokémon, it’s true that we do remove them from their natural habitat. Pokémon by instinct will make their nests hidden, inaccessible, or both precisely to protect their young until they’re ready to go out into the world on their own. While young pokémon won’t necessarily die if they leave their nests, they’re still vastly inexperienced and may not be able to stand up to predators or other pokémon without the watchful eyes of their parents, so it’s extremely rare for a pokémon that young to be on its own, without anyone to help it develop its skills enough to battle.

With that having been said, dratini nests are especially difficult for humans to reach. Part of this has to do with the fact that dratini are so few in numbers (and thus aren’t as bold as magikarp, for an off-hand example), and the other part is that dratini fry aren’t particularly strong. Unless your friend dove deep into very remote lakes and fought her way past a swarm of protective dratini or dragonair (or perhaps even dragonite), it’s likely she simply happened across a pool of slightly older, more independent dratini. If that’s the case, then her dratini will be fine in her care.

However, if, perhaps, the dratini she had caught was indeed a fry, it’s actually safer in her care than out in the wild, as the nest was apparently too exposed to be safe. It’s also worrying if only one dratini, dragonair, or dragonite (whatever the mother might have been) was on guard, as dratini form colonies of many nests clustered together and guarded by multiple dragons. It may be a good idea to contact a local pokémon ranger or other authority to check on the nest and see if there’s anything wrong.

why do the people of johto not ask ho-oh for blessings? is it a trickster?

Actually, it was more like our ancestors let three pokémon die in the blaze that engulfed the temple dedicated to Lugia, and then said ancestors reacted very badly to their resurrection via Ho-oh, despite their extreme despair over the death of these pokémon. So Ho-oh decided that the following generations don’t deserve its presence until humankind is capable of living in harmony with pokémon in general again, and it left the beasts behind to watch our progress.

In other words, we don’t ask Ho-oh for things because the last time we did that, we angered it so badly it flew away and hasn’t been seen in Johto since (except supposedly for one unusual circumstance, but quite honestly, I’m not entirely sure if the kimono girls were being literal there).

Of course, we still honor it with festivals, but that’s mostly a gesture of helplessly throwing offerings at it with the hope that this would placate it. Granted, it’s been four hundred years since Ho-oh was in Johto, but there’s always the hope that this year…

It’s starting to get kind of chilly out where I live, and it’s got me thinking about autumn-time holidays. What festivities go on in the pokemon regions around the world?

Well, I suppose the best place to start would be Johto, not only because Johto is very fond of its festivals but also … because I’m from there, so naturally, I would know a thing or few about Johtonian holidays. 

But yes, Johto is big on holidays throughout the year, and autumn is the temporal home for quite a few. For starters, there’s of course the Autumnal Equinox Festival, which is when we honor our ancestors and give thanks to nature for the upcoming harvest. There are also minor holidays for the harvest throughout the region, depending on which town you’re visiting. The coastal towns tend to bookend the season with two separate holidays (Autumnal Equinox and the Fisherman’s Day holidays) to ask/thank Lugia for safe waters to fish and sail in before the weather gets too rough and bitter for doing either. In the more mountainous or farming-oriented communities, you tend to have more festivals, often geared towards asking/thanking Celebi or the legendary beasts for blessings. (A side note: You only honor Ho-oh; you never ask Ho-oh for blessings. And you do this during the summer solstice, not the autumn. Autumn is considered to be the beginning of Lugia’s domain more than Ho-oh, but that’s an entire side point.)

And of course, you have Goldenrod, which considers itself in a historical sense to be both a fishing and a farming community, which means it celebrates all of these (or at least it uses this as an excuse to celebrate all of these, as the Goldenrod custom is to use any excuse possible to throw a party).

Either way, these are celebrated with feasts centered around the bounty in question (fried and raw fish for the fishing communities; fruits, vegetables, and grains for the farming), and offerings are often made to local shrines for the deceased.

Then, after the harvest festivals, you have the Respect for the Aged Day, which I admit is more of a media-based holiday (in that you will often see the news or hear the radio interview the elderly during this time), but it’s also often celebrated (at least in Johto) simply by visiting the elderly members of your family. There is also a holiday meant for children (Shichi-Go-San), which is often considered a rite of passage: it’s when Johtonian children pass from young childhood into middle childhood, which might not seem like much to an outsider but essentially means you begin your preparations for a pokémon journey (or adulthood) at this age. So you’re dressed in traditional clothing (for the first time, if you’re male or a younger female) and taken to your nearest shrine to pray for luck and prosperity. As a note, Shichi-Go-San is not to be confused with Kids Day, which is a general celebration meant to honor and respect children, rather than a rite of passage from one stage of life to the next. Kids Day is celebrated in May, so it’s more of a spring/summer festival than an autumn one.

Finally, there’s also Thanksgiving, which is technically a labor holiday outside of Johto. Inside of Johto (particularly Goldenrod), it’s often celebrated much like it is in Unova, as another harvest holiday, because Johtonians are not at all ashamed to admit that they’re fascinated by Unovan culture.

This is, of course, just speaking in terms of broadly celebrated holidays. Some towns in Johto have additional holidays that they celebrate locally, such as one town dedicating an entire festival in November to wobbuffet. No particular reason; it’s just that this specific town really likes wobbuffet.

Other Japanese regions—including Kanto, Sinnoh, and Hoenn—share many of these holidays because, quite obviously, we’re all one country (which means that state holidays apply to all of us, and we all share a baseline culture), but attitudes towards them tend to vary by regional culture. In Sinnoh, there’s a particular emphasis on local harvest holidays and the autumnal equinox because it’s largely a farming region, and even then, many of its stories center around giving thanks to pokémon. This is not only a reference to Shaymin but also to the Sinnoh folk story about returning the bones of the animals and pokémon you’ve eaten to the wild to be resurrected. It’s important, in other words, to give thanks and respect even the pokémon you intend on consuming in order to ensure the balance of life is maintained—or at least, this is true for a Sinnohan. That having been said, Sinnoh does indeed have one other holiday not shared with the other regions, and that is Gratitude Day, to honor Shaymin and the Sinnohan ancestors.

Then you have Unova, Kalos, and Orre, which as western regions, tend to celebrate similar holidays due to the shared heritage of either their founders or their countries themselves. For example, all three celebrate their military veterans in a holiday that’s called Veterans Day in Unova and Orre and Armistice Day in Kalos. Both holidays are celebrated on the same day (November 11) and in similar fashions because ultimately, they share an origin (World War I specifically, but World War II and the Great War all play important parts in those regions’ histories).

On a lighter note, though, each of these regions also celebrate Halloween, although there’s far more emphasis placed on the fun of it (that is, costumes, candy, and horror) in Unova than in elsewhere. In Kalos, it’s often celebrated just after a festival dedicated to gourgeist, the Gourgeist Festival. In fact, the Gourgeist Festival is often when most of the customs associated with the Unovan Halloween are observed, particularly the costumes. Conversely, in Unova, Halloween is celebrated just before the a number of holidays meant to honor the dead, including the Wishing Bell Festival (if you live in Mistralton City) and Day of the Dead (if you’re Mexican-American). As a side note, Day of the Dead is a very fascinating holiday with its own history, and its customs tend to vary from community to community. For example, in Castelia, there’s often a parade, whereas in relatively quieter towns such as Nuvema, celebrants simply bring offerings for the dead to their local cemeteries. Sometimes, these celebrations also incorporate Halloween and other autumn festival customs as a means of “rolling it up into one,” so to speak.

Finally, there’s the second biggest autumn holiday to Unovans and Orreans, Thanksgiving. Supposedly, this is meant to be a holiday dedicated to the story of Unova’s founding, but really, it’s more of a modern-day harvest festival, in which the Unovan family gathers together over a massive feast (often involving turkey, pumpkin pie, and awkward political conversations). Or at least, that’s what it is from my understanding. This is not to be confused with the Grand Harvest Festival, which is a Unovan festival in mid-September meant to honor a time when Unovans learned to settle their differences and work together in peace to restore and protect the nature around them. On the other hand, this holiday is followed quickly by the ones where Unovans fight over resources to the detriment of their fellow Unovan, so I suppose one could say these holidays are unintentionally related.

Alola technically is part of the same country as Unova and Orre and thus shares many of its holidays, but because Alola possesses a very unique culture with a separate history, less emphasis is placed on the state holidays and more on the local ones. In Alola, this means that there’s a lot more emphasis placed on honoring the tapu. While each of the tapu have their own holidays, Tapu Bulu is especially celebrated throughout the autumn season. Each of the islands has their own separate festival for them, but on Ula’ula Island, Tapu Bulu’s home territory, the Tapu Festival is a week-long celebration in mid-November. Some of the customs include leaving offerings within the ruined buildings of Tapu Village (or Ruins of Abundance, if you’re willing to traverse the often unrelenting Haina Desert), as well as the standard battles (often at the top of Mount Lanakila) to entertain the tapu. The latter also involves a series of challenges staged through the Lanakila cave system that participants must get through to reach the top of Lanakila.

And finally, there are a few globally celebrated holidays, including Diwali (the Hindu festival of lights) and the Jewish High Holidays (primarily the Jewish new year Rosh Hashanah and the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur). This isn’t to say that the above-mentioned holidays—Day of the Dead, for example—aren’t celebrated outside of the regions mentioned above. It’s more to say that practically every region has a significant population of Hindu and/or Jewish people that these holidays are recognized on some level by practically every region.

Of course, this just scratches the surface because the world is such a vast place with so many different peoples and customs that it’s impossible for me to cover them all. However, if you’d like to mention your own region’s autumnal holidays, by all means, send an ask!

What info do you have on the “people of the water” or on samiya in general?

Unfortunately very little, as they keep very much to themselves and are so few in numbers and so quick to move from place to place that it’s difficult to keep track of them.

It is known that they’re a highly nomadic people whose origins are a matter of strong debate. Some stories say that they’re from Sinnoh, as what’s known about their lore seems to center around Manaphy. Others say they’re from Kanto, as their technology bears striking similarities to the tools of Pokémopolis, Pokélantis, and other extinct Kantonian cultures. There are even claims that they’ve come from Alola, Hoenn, Unova, and more than one region in the South Pacific. Perhaps the most creative theory is that they’re remnants of the lost continent of either Atlantis or Mu. However, as interesting as that theory is, it seems to only be supported by fringe conspiracy theorists on the internet. I would say that the most mainstream theory is the one that proposes the People of the Water are from Kanto, as that’s the one with the most compelling argument.

Regardless of where they’re from, what’s known about them is that the People of the Water are actually a collection of small, nomadic tribes scattered throughout the globe. Many take on odd jobs in the towns and cities they pass through, but some take on professions centered around water, such as one particularly notable tribe that formed a rather famous water circus.

Samiya, meanwhile, was built as a temple for the Manaphy. Stories conflict concerning whether or not the People of the Water ever used it as a place of residence—or, in other words, we’re not sure if it was ever a city for the People of the Water or even a part of one. It’s simply their best-kept secret, a floating fortress that travels from one ocean to the next, completely undetectable by even modern equipment. (It’s part of the reason why we’re not even sure if it actually exists, although we do indeed have one report of its sighting in recent times, from one of Professor Oak’s own proteges.) The Sea Crown, the People’s holiest object, is actually the item that powers Samiya and ensures it remains afloat. Supposedly, it has some sort of power over water-type pokémon as well, but again, this is merely a rumor, rather than confirmed fact.

In short, I’m afraid at most, all I have are rumors and very sparse scraps of information. It would certainly be wonderful to know more—especially if the People of the Water are connected to Manaphy—but unfortunately, unlike the Draconids, they’re not likely to divulge anytime soon.

So… Hypothetically… If I get a magnezone and it magnetizes my wheelchair to the top of its head, I could theoretically make a hover craft?

Well … I’d imagine this would be a rather tricky question to answer. Technically speaking, it’s true that magnezone are perhaps just wide enough, but their shape would make it difficult. For starters, there is the antenna, and contrary to what one might think, this antenna can’t really bend. So to begin with, you’ll need to work around that—perhaps by, instead of situating your wheelchair at the very top of its head, balancing it on your magnezone’s magnets. Then of course, there should be some consideration both for the weight of the wheelchair itself and the electrical equipment therein if you’re using a motorized wheelchair. You could very well render it inoperable after such a ride, but perhaps that would be a moot point. Third and finally, you’ll also likely need to take into consideration the fact that your magnezone won’t be battle-ready so long as it’s focusing on magnetizing your wheelchair—and for some time thereafter, for that matter. For this to effectively work, you would need your magnezone to periodically if not constantly charge your wheelchair, which would deplete its electrical reserves and wear it out. Likewise, it probably shouldn’t use its electrical abilities while supporting you for obvious, electrocution-related reasons. However, if you keep it calm and give it a moment before using it in battle, perhaps that won’t be so bad.

So in short … with some adjustments to your plan and some side considerations, very likely!

Best of luck, anonymous!

Don’t wish them the best of luck with something you would do! —LH

Come now, Lanette. We should be encouraging our young, inventive readers to be scientifically creative! —Bill