Tag: asks

Would you ever be interested in taking on an apprentice? After all, new pokemon are being discovered all the time, and it couldn’t hurt to know your work will continue! (I’m not calling you old, please don’t be mad.)

Absolutely, anonymous! I’m quite fond of taking on new students. Many of the other storage system administrators, in fact, were former students of mine—namely Cassius of Kalos, Bebe of Sinnoh, and Celio of the Sevii Islands. Of course, all of these cases were specifically for training related to the box system, but I would be more than happy to take anyone under my wing and train them in any of the fields I specialize in.

He’s … incredibly eager about taking on new students, anonymous. Notoriously so, even. There’s a reason why Bebe and Cassius jokingly call the storage system “St. William’s Home for Wayward Orphans.” —LH

Since becoming pregnant my gardevoir will not let anyone near me, nor will let me be alone at any point. I love her but this is really hard on my husband and I. What do I do?

It’s important to understand why your gardevoir is doing this before you can reach a resolution, anonymous. As you likely know, gardevoir are highly loyal pokémon, and thus, they possess a natural instinct to protect their trainers from any danger. When their trainers are pregnant, gardevoir will be especially adamant about protecting them, as it’s no longer about protecting just the trainer. Rather, it’s also about protecting the trainer’s child, which gardevoir perceives as being too weak to survive on its own—meaning gardevoir believes your baby needs extra protection, even if it hasn’t been born yet. In other words, at the risk of putting it too bluntly, your gardevoir sees everyone around you as a potential threat or an inadequate guardian. This goes especially for your husband. Your gardevoir may be attempting to judge whether or not he’s fit to be a father—or she already has, and the answer is no. Either way, as difficult as it may be, your main task here is to convince your gardevoir that: A) you’re doing all that you can to ensure the health of both yourself and your baby on your own, and B) your husband will be a competent father.

The first point may be the easier one to prove. Show your gardevoir that you’re capable of managing your health, attending the requisite doctor’s appointments, following your usual schedules, and so forth without her assistance. This isn’t to say you should make it clear that you don’t need her. Rather, the goal is to make every effort to reassure her that you and your baby are and will be fine. Sometimes, all it takes is to ask her to step back and watch you work for a day before she understands. Other times, you may need to keep up with this for a couple of weeks and insist on doing as much as possible yourself until she finally gets the idea.

Of course, if your gardevoir’s behavior is so extreme that she prevents you from attending doctor’s appointments, then it’s fine to be firm with her from the outset. Establish that it’s necessary for the health of your baby for you to interact with others, and try to explain to her that going to the doctor is a lot like seeing a Nurse Joy for her. Emphasize your baby’s needs, and she should be able to relent at least that much.

Meanwhile, the second point will likely be more of a challenge, as getting her to allow your husband to get close to you is an entirely different story. They key is, really, allowing your husband to do little things around the house. Allow him to take over cooking, cleaning, caring for your gardevoir, shopping—as many household tasks as he can shoulder. Have him show an interest in the baby by coming up with possible names, constructing a nursery, purchasing items you’ll need when the baby is born, or simply accompanying you on your appointments (once your gardevoir is more comfortable with the idea). The more he can show that he’ll be a good father, the more likely your gardevoir will be willing to listen to you. I say “will be willing to listen to you” because when it looks like she’s warming up to him again, that’s when you should tell her firmly that your baby needs their father (and family, for that matter) as well. Again, emphasize the baby’s needs, rather than your own, to appeal to your gardevoir’s current priorities.

Best of luck and congratulations on the upcoming addition to your family!

Bill, is your hair brown or green? I’ve seen you with both hair colors so I’m kind of confused.

Well, it’s certainly unusual to be asked personal questions. Not that I mind, of course.

My hair is naturally brown, but now and then, I like to dye it green. It’s currently dyed, should anyone be interested.

Should anyone also be interested, I dye it for personal reasons. Personal reasons that certainly do not have anything to do with the fact that people keep telling me I look exactly like my father when I don’t dye it. In case anyone was thinking that.

No one was, but now they are. Excellent job. —LH

I’m a Hoennian and am moving to Alola in a month with some friends. My concern is I have a Dewgong that was gifted to me by my Kanto born mother and I’m worried the Hot environment will be really bad for him. Any tips for us to become better acclimated?

Strangely enough, it’s worth noting that Hoenn hosts a very similar climate to Alola, despite the vast difference in latitudes. Both are tropical regions known for warmer temperatures, so if your dewgong is used to the weather in Hoenn, it’s very likely it should have no problem in Alola. Doubly so because in Alola, there are actually places with colder weather, as evidenced by the fact that Alolan vulpix and sandshrew had to adapt to snowier climates. So if anything, it’s very possible that your dewgong will be more at home in Alola than Hoenn, strangely enough.

Nonetheless, when you get to Alola, keep an eye on your dewgong. If it looks uncomfortable, return it to its poké ball and keep it there until you can find a body of water. Then, release it in the ocean and allow it to soak. While the ocean around Alola is actually warmer than around Hoenn, allowing your dewgong to soak will help it manage its body temperature. It may also help to begin this regimen at night but perform it earlier and earlier each day until you start releasing your dewgong into the ocean during the afternoon. Then, follow similar steps to get it used to climbing ashore: allow it to swim during the afternoon but then allow it to come ashore at night, then repeat this process earlier and earlier until your dewgong can handle being ashore during the day.

Incidentally, this is just for routine care. Your dewgong should still be able to battle either way, thanks to its typing. Ice naturally bring down the temperature of a battlefield, and your dewgong’s water attacks may help it to stay hydrated (by exposing the battlefield to moisture) as it moves. Just be sure to allow your dewgong to soak in the ocean as soon as the battle concludes.

Also, I know you likely meant to ask what you can do in Hoenn to help your dewgong to become acclimated to Alola, but the truth is, the only spot of high heat in Hoenn would be in and around Mt. Chimney—which may be a bit much for an ice-type (even one that’s partly a water-type).

Best of luck in Alola, anonymous!

I was just recently offered the position of fairy type gym leader, and I was wondering how to choose the Pokémon I use in battle? I have very strong fairies but they’re probably too strong for gym Battles… what do I do?

It may be worth it to note that this is a fairly common question for new gym leaders. You see, all gym leaders have strong teams that may be too difficult for a trainer to defeat. We wouldn’t give someone gym certification if they weren’t strong, highly skilled trainers, after all!

For this reason, the first step in any gym leader’s career is to catch and raise a variety of pokémon at different skill levels. Gym leaders typically have two or three different teams, which they rotate to match their opponent’s general ability. Take Misty of Cerulean City, for example. Her more well-known team consists of a young staryu and equally young starmie, which she uses to battle novice trainers. This is because on a typical Kantonian journey, she’s the second gym leader in the circuit, so she needs to be prepared to battle trainers who don’t quite have the skills to take on a gym leader operating at full strength. however, occasionally, she faces experienced trainers from Johto or trainers doing the Kanto circuit backwards (starting from Cinnabar or Fuchsia and ending in Viridian), so rather than allow these trainers to blow past her gym, she instead challenges them with the team that helped her earn her certification, which consists of four highly trained, highly experienced water-types. Additionally, she doesn’t simply keep those; rather, she collects water-types who may one day replace her staryu or starmie if they grow too powerful. (Or, rather, she collects less powerful water-types whenever she isn’t busy loitering on my property uninvited, but that’s neither here nor there.)

The point is, anonymous, don’t feel restricted to your team. By all means, catch another set and train them until they pose an appropriate level of challenge for the trainers you will see on a daily basis. You should have time to do so before your gym is ready to be opened (assuming you’re taking the customary grace period given to new leaders for this exact purpose and for preparing their gyms), and there’s nothing in the rules that say you can’t work with a breeder if you’re worried about time.

Best of luck, anonymous, and congratulations on your new position!

The timburr and/or the sewaddle line please! You’re not far off completing the Unova dex :D

Well, I certainly can’t refuse a request like this, especially when you’re correct about how close the Unova Dex is from completion. Sewaddle will be along tomorrow, anonymous!

Timburr
The Muscular Pokémon
Type: Fighting
Official Registration #: 532
Entry: This short humanoid pokémon always carries a square log with one arm, which it often uses as a blunt melee weapon. These logs are typically of various sizes, but their weight is a good indicator of how old a timburr is. If the log is small and light, then the timburr is a hatchling. If the log is roughly the weight of the timburr itself but slightly taller, then the timburr has reached the peak of its evolutionary stage. If, however, the log is at least twice as heavy and large as the timburr, then it’s close to evolution. Trainers will know that evolution is just about to begin if the timburr throws its log with ease away from its body. Incidentally, it should also be noted that the average timburr is twenty-six pounds, that the statement that the log will be at least twice as heavy as that is not an exaggeration, and that taking a fifty-pound block of wood to the legs is not a pleasant experience.

Gurdurr
The Muscular Pokémon
Type: Fighting
Official Registration #: 533
Entry: The evolved form of timburr, by battle experience. Thanks to their well-developed bodies, gurdurr can lift and carry solid steel beams without breaking a sweat. Additionally, although their muscles are naturally well-toned, they enjoy training themselves constantly using their steel beams and any exercise equipment they can find. Many even adopt strange diets of nutritional powders in order to bulk themselves up and sculpt sets of muscles that they then show off to groups of other gurdurr. Attempts have been made to decipher the gurdurr’s language during such meetings, but the nearest translation any researcher has been able to achieve was the phrase, “do you even lift, brah,” repeated over and over again.

Conkeldurr
The Muscular Pokémon
Type: Fighting
Official Registration #: 534
Entry: The evolved form of gurdurr, via trading. This muscular pokémon is known for carrying not one but two pillars of solid concrete, which it crafts itself shortly after evolution. Conkeldurr uses its own formula for mixing concrete—a formula that, if you believe the Unova Dex, was passed on to humans 2000 years ago. Of course, if you believe archaeological evidence, concrete was actually created by an ancient human civilization in the Middle East roughly 7500 years ago and was commonly employed by the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians since at least 1400 BC. Then again, as we all know, the Unovan account of human history has never been wrong ever.

When Psychic types “talk” to humans, do they have their own voices and accents or do they just sound like that little voicr in you hear

It depends on their level of mastery over telepathy, actually. Younger, less powerful pokémon tend to sound exactly as they do when speaking aloud. That is to say, an abra’s words will sound like an abra’s barks do to your ears. 

As they get older or more powerful, however, they gain the ability to replicate different voices, and thus, they sound however they feel like sounding. Some of the most powerful pokémon, I’m told, tend to use deeper voices, occasionally with accents seen as being “high class” to humans, all in an effort to instill an appropriate level of respect. For another example, my own kadabra most often reminds me of my grandfather’s voice: bass, smooth, and with an accent much like my own. Amanita’s munna, conversely, often “speaks” with a high-pitched, feminine voice, even though the munna is actually male.

In general, though, psychic pokémon make an effort to avoid using your voice when it speaks. This is for two reasons. First and foremost, using your voice increases the risk that you mistake what they have to say for your own inner thoughts, leading you to inadvertently ignore them. Second, it doesn’t exactly do wonders for one’s emotional stability, no.

I got my pikachu in Johto, if I were to evolve it in Alola would it become an alolan raichu or be a normal raichu because it isn’t originally from Alola?

Unfortunately, should you be hoping for a psychic raichu, the truth is that Alolan raichu are the byproducts of adaptive evolution. That is to say, the pikachu of Alola simply have a slightly different genetic code than Johtonian pikachu (or, for that matter, any other), so pikachu brought to Alola will always evolve into the non-psychic variation. To that same end, pikachu brought out of Alola to other regions will always evolve into the psychic variation.

Thus, to answer your question, a pikachu born in Johto will only evolve into non-psychic raichu.

So I read in a magazine a boy named Ash Ketchum and his greninja were able to sort of fuse and create an Ash- Greninja. Is this fusion possible with all types of Pokémon? Or was that story a hoax?

It’s difficult to say, anonymous. The “Ash-greninja” is a fairly new discovery, and not much is known about how it works and whether or not it’s possible for others. We assume that it’s similar to mega-evolution, but until we fully understand that, it may still be a mystery.

I do know, though, that Ash Ketchum is a rather unique individual, so it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if this is a talent of his alone. On that note, I fully believe that the story was not a hoax … but then again, I first learned of this evolutionary anomaly from Professor Oak, so perhaps my opinions were influenced just a little from the outset.