Tag: asks

Hey Bill! I’m having some problems with my Hawlucha and Pignite. They have been rough housing a lot lately. Now, While this is normal as it more of “play” fighting, it getting to the point of being competitive? Like, they get too into it and start jumping off of tables and the room would be a mess by the time they’re done. Finally, my biggest worry that they may injure themselves during these “wrestling” matches. I tried to separate them but they keep on doing it anyway. Any advice?

You may benefit from giving them a space to battle. If you live in the suburbs of country, establish that they’re not allowed to battle indoors and reinforce this with positive reinforcement (by giving them treats whenever they keep themselves from fighting inside). Then, give them their own battlefield in your yard and be sure to oversee their battles. If you can, obtain a psychic pokémon that can separate them if they get too rowdy.

If you live in the city, however, that psychic pokémon I’ve just suggested may be essential to you, especially if it can learn Disable and possesses some level of precognitive skill. You see, a pokémon that possesses these exact characteristics can either see a fight and stop it before it starts or, if the fight breaks out anyway, use its telekinetic abilities to keep them separate until they cool off. Hence, a psychic-type can serve as an ideal mediator for fighting-types.

After that, of course, you will want to establish a safe place for the two to fight—a park or the courts at your nearest pokémon center, for example. Establish a routine in which you’ll allow them to battle so they’ll know they can regularly spar and fight as aggressively as they’d like without destroying your property.

In other words, the best way to establish boundaries is by offering alternatives and being consistent with your alternatives. Once you teach your hawlucha and pignite that there is quite literally a time and place for everything—including battles—they’ll be less likely to demolish your home and more likely to look forward to this special something every day.

But yes, consider getting a psychic-type too.

I’m a breeder specializing in bird Pokemon. Several months ago I acquired a pair of Dodrio, and I’d like to start breeding them at some point. However, I have some concerns. I’m getting used to seeing them bicker with themselves, but is there a possibility of my Dodrio getting territorial and violent against its own heads once eggs have been laid? Thanks for any advice, -Anonymous

Typically speaking, although it would be considered unusual if dodrio heads didn’t bicker amongst themselves, fights rarely turn violent. The reason why is because although they may not see eye-to-eye (forgive the pun), they each understand that they share a body. It’s even speculated that any damage done to one head is actually felt by the other two. For that reason, violence between heads (aside from light, annoyed pecking now and then, which you should fully expect and have probably already watched yourself) is extremely rare and would indicate a far larger, ongoing problem that you likely would have detected well before the dodrio grew to be of breeding age.

In a similar fashion, the funny thing about dodrio is that although each head possesses a separate brain, all three of them understand their body in terms of a unit. So while they may hold separate opinions, they will always do what’s best for them as a whole—and, for that matter, they will recognize possessions of theirs as theirs, rather than something belonging to a single head. This includes eggs: dodrio see their own eggs as a product of the three of them as a whole—which, to be fair, is completely true, as dodrio only have one reproductive system.

So, in short, you won’t have to worry about the heads fighting to the point where it becomes a real problem. At most, they may annoy each other to the extreme, but because they share a body, a dodrio head putting forth active efforts to do serious damage to one or both of its siblings is nearly unheard of—except, again, in cases in which the dodrio has extreme mental health issues and needs a comprehensive therapy program for stabilization.

Now, all three dodrio heads going up against the other dodrio is an entirely different matter, but given the aggressiveness of the typical dodrio, this may be a problem that may be difficult to correct until the hatchling has emerged and grown enough to be independent. Just … just make sure the heads don’t get tangled up with each other, and you’ll be fine. Possibly.

Come to think of it, be sure to wear a sturdy mask and thick gloves when you untangle them too.

I have bit of a problem. Basically, I was at a park and a Swanna was waddling with their Duckletts. Couple of them broke from the pack and was eyeing my sandwich. I decided to get some crumbs and feed it to the duckletts, but the thing is, they won’t leave me alone! They follow me home and would wait outside of the house. I tried to get my Galvantula to scare them off but the ducks simply hide & come back. I want them to go back to their family but they seem to have more interest in me.

Congratulations on your new ducklett!

Edit: I have just been informed by my editor that this is a terrible answer and that I should really stop answering these asks without her input first.

In all seriousness, the best thing that you can do is take them back to their parent swanna. By doing this, you’ll essentially be bringing them home and allowing swanna to handle their children themselves. This process is, in other words, much like bringing a human child back to their parent. You’re allowing the parent to do what they need to in order to teach their children not to wander off and follow strangers again. It may also help to bring your galvantula with you as you attempt to release the ducklett back into the wild. Any added intimidation displays may chase the ducks back into the water. Or at the very least, they’ll call their swanna parent’s attention to you—which will, at the very least, ensure that it exercises some level of protectiveness and herding behavior towards its young. Of course, you’ll also likely be the target of a Hurricane at most, but on the positive side, the swanna will be more aware of its stray ducklett.

If you’ve already tried this to no avail (or if you’re afraid of ending up with a flock of ducklett and a swanna following you), it may also be a good idea to lead the ducklett to a pokémon center or day care. As odd as this might seem because it’s additional human contact and care, there are always professionals—either nurses or breeders—who may be able to rehabilitate the ducklett, teach them how to rely on wild food sources again, and release them back into their native pond.

Finally, as a serious note to all of my readers, this is one of several reasons why you should avoid feeding wild pokémon anything. Remember, pokémon that make their presence known to humans already have some level of interest in us and what we’re doing. Giving them food will only encourage them to trust you, which could lead to a number of different problems, ranging from the one described above to situations in which a wild pokémon is captured by a less-than-trustworthy human because it thinks it’s going to be fed. If you see a wild pokémon you don’t intend on befriending, it’s best to leave it alone.

I caught my scyther a few days ago, and she isn’t very much trouble but she’s scared of my flareon to the point where they refuse to be in the same room. How can I help them get along?

Scyther can sometimes be difficult to reach emotionally because of their proud natures and vastly different social norms. The reason I bring this up is simply because while I would normally say “employ team building exercises,” that might not work in this case. The fact that your scyther refuses to be in the same room as your flareon only makes matters more complicated.

What you should do first is work on getting her to trust you. Since she’s a recent capture, you’ll need to bond with her until she respects you and trusts your decisions. If you can establish yourself as the leader of your team (directing her through battles is usually the quickest way to do this), then she’ll be more willing to listen to you if you tell her she shouldn’t worry about another pokémon under your command. Not only will she take your advice to heart because you’re her leader, but she’ll also be convinced you have control over your flareon too.

But to reinforce this, if you have any other pokémon on your team, introduce them to her first, before you try again with your flareon. Have her work alongside them, and let her watch you command them during battle as well. The more she understands how your team structure works by interacting with the rest of your team and by watching you interact with them, the more she’ll understand that the team structure comes first.

In other words, your main goal is to emphasize that there is a hierarchy and that it works, and you should do this largely just by being a trainer and commanding her and your team through battles. While scyther aren’t exactly hive pokémon (they live in swarms and have swarm leaders, but these work like mammal packs, not insect hives), they respect social structure, even those set by humans, and they think in terms of that and seek out strong leaders as a result. Therefore, if you establish that there’s a social structure within your “swarm,” your scyther will assume that all other members of her new swarm obey you to the letter—or, in other words, she’ll believe that the other members of your swarm are perfectly safe because they can’t attack her without putting the swarm structure at risk.

Once it looks like she’s beginning to trust you and understand that her team is basically her new swarm (you’ll know by watching for any signs of respect from her, such as keeping her eyes on you and bending her knees to make herself look smaller than you), it should be safe to reintroduce her to your flareon. She’ll very likely still be a little bit wary around him, so it’s important that you keep watch over them until they feel more comfortable with each other. It may also help to reintroduce them in a place where there’s plenty of space, rather than indoors. This will give your scyther plenty of room to back away if she still feels too threatened to warm up to your flareon. (Forgive the pun.)

Best of luck, anonymous.

I have this cofagrigus that was confirmed to be my mother as a yamask who passed away when I was young. I am a traveling trainer and she gets along with my other Pokemon fine but I’m not sure if it would be appropriate to battle with. Any advice?

Well, this is an awkward situation, I must admit.

Ultimately, the decision should be left to her. While it may be awkward to give your mother orders through battling, she may still wish to battle on your behalf, either to protect you or to satisfy her own needs as a pokémon. Remember, she is currently a pokémon, so what she needs to maintain her mental and physical health may be different from her needs as a human. Moreover, battling is an integral part of the balance between mind and body for most pokémon, so keeping one from fighting when they want to may do more harm than good.

Communication will be highly important in this situation, and as members of the yamask line retain all of their memories from their past lives (including the ability to comprehend language), your mother will quite literally understand what you have to say if you speak to her, even if she doesn’t have the physical ability to respond verbally anymore. Talk to your mother and let her know you’ve figured out who she really is. Outline her options to her (to battle or to become your non-battling companion pokémon) and let her tell you through writing, signing, or any other means what she wants to do.

Is it socially appropriate for her to battle for you, meanwhile? Actually, yes. If you follow Unovan belief (which … would be true in this case, I suppose), then all members of the yamask line are technically spirits of the dead. We haven’t outlawed use of any of these pokémon, even if we have no way of knowing whether or not they were once innocent people, for the reasons mentioned above. Battling, for pokémon, is just another way to maintain their own mental and physical health (as odd as that may sound, considering it’s literal fighting), and humans have simply come to accept this as well as their roles in this process. No one will judge you for having your mother battle—so long as she’s fine with it, anyway.

My Mr. Mime has been behaving oddly lately. In particular his actions are in line with signs pointing toward impending evolution in other pokemon, but Mr. Mime doesn’t evolve as far as I am aware. I suppose he could be “miming” the actions of another pokemon, but none of my own other pokemon are displaying any such signs. Do you have advice?

First of all, if you can recall what your mr. mime was doing shortly before this behavior started, be sure to write that down at some point. Also, film your mr. mime in the coming, oh, week or two, just to be on the safe side. I have a few theories involving mr. mime, and I for one would be thrilled to see if one of them was accurate.

Bill. —LH

Edit: Fine, fine. We’ll just go right ahead and miss a golden opportunity to discover a mr. mime evolution for the sake of professionalism and “answering the question properly.”

It’s likely that your mr. mime has seen evolution occur outside of your team at one point or another, be it on television, by watching another trainer’s pokémon evolve, or simply seeing it in the wild. He may even remember how it felt if he began life as a mime jr. Evolution is a very common process in the pokémon world, so I wouldn’t necessarily rule out the possibility that he’s simply miming it if the rest of your team isn’t.

The question, then, is why would he want to do such a thing?

If he’s miming another pokémon’s evolutionary signs, then it could be an indication that he doesn’t feel as if you’re giving him enough affection. Evolution is seen as an important time of a pokémon’s life, both to the pokémon themselves and their trainers, and pokémon realize this. They know that evolution pleases their human partners (usually). Thus, some pokémon who have yet to evolve or who have evolved to their fullest but still aren’t quite as strong as others may undergo what researchers call “preevolution anxiety.” It’s a condition in which a pokémon constantly believes that their human partners won’t love them unless they do evolve, so they go through any lengths they can to achieve that process, even if they’re actually fully evolved. If this is the case, it’s important to be there for your mr. mime and to reassure him that he’s important to you. Oddly enough, I do not recommend telling him that you would love him regardless of his form (as this can be seen as invalidating his worry) but rather that he’s powerful enough in his current form. Verbal reminders and affection are fine, but it’s also a good idea to increase the amount of time you spend battling with him so that he can see his strength for himself. Battling will also reinforce the bond between the two of you, which in turn will help dispel any notion he has that you don’t appreciate him as he is.

If he’s miming his own evolution, then what’s actually happening is a reversal of what you would think it is. To put it simply, mr. mime is mentally regressing to his mime jr. stage and forcing himself to relive evolution. There are many reasons why a pokémon may “regress” to earlier stages, but the most common is security. There are elements of the above in this logic; as in, he may be reliving his evolution in part to seek your approval. However, on top of that, earlier stages of certain evolutionary lines are sometimes seen as younger versions of oneself. In other words, he’s seeking the security he felt when he was younger, and to do that, he’s acting as if he’s a mime jr., right at the cusp of one of the most major processes he has ever undertaken. It is, thus, a two-in-one feeling: he gets both the sense of impending approval from the evolution and the youthful, carefree state of his prior evolutionary stage. If this is what your mr. mime is doing, then while you should still reassure him as you would in the previous paragraph, you should also work towards building his sense of self-confidence, safety, and mindfulness. Integrate him into more of your life and set aside time to meditate with him. Both of these actions may help to reduce his worry that he’s in any sort of danger (of being abandoned, in general, or so forth) by increasing your presence in his life and reassuring him that he’s not alone. Any other activity you can do together that will instill in him the idea that you’re there to help will further reinforce his sense of security.

Alternatively, it could be something else entirely. If he’s tensing up or if he looks like he’s struggling to hold something back (say, evolution), it could be a dietary problem. Add more leafy greens to his diet and increase his liquid intake. If he seems to have more energy or that he’s constantly irritable, consider increasing the amount of time he spends meditating, decreasing his sugar intake, and ensuring that he’s getting the proper amount of sleep.

But, ah, if he does evolve, please send the video and any data you’ve collected to [EMAIL ADDRESS REDACTED]. That kind of discovery could stir things up in the Pokémon Symposium, and I would certainly love to see the look on some of my colleagues’ faces when they’re presented with information that proves them wrong about mr. mime evolution.

Bill. —LH

What? Oh, it’s not as if you wouldn’t find it entertaining either! —Bill

Another Kangaskhan question sorry it’s my favourite! Is it true that it is actually the baby that “mega evolves” and not the mom? I’ve heard this theory from a few different people and it got me curious.

Quite all right, anonymous. I thoroughly enjoy answering questions from curious readers.

That said, to answer yours, while I’ve jokingly said in the past that neither of them do (although it is true that kangaskhanite’s effects are questionable at best, as you give it to the mother, not the child), this is essentially how it works, yes. Researchers are not completely certain about the exact chronal mechanics behind it, but essentially, the joey temporarily ages to the point where it’s just short of the right age to leave its mother’s pouch permanently. Then, it leaps from the pouch and fights alongside her. The mother, meanwhile, remains unchanged throughout the entire process.

Is the baby in a Kangaskhan’s pouch a whole seperate pokemon? Is it a Kangaskhan and is it even safe for it to be there while its mom battles?

It is indeed a whole separate pokémon—a baby kangaskhan, in fact. Now, I know that there are certain simulations out there (some may even call it a “video game”) in which players who breed kangaskhan end up hatching adult-baby kangaskhan pairs straight from a single egg. I’d like to tell you that these simulations are, in fact, ridiculous. Basically, what actually happens is that an adult kangaskhan carries an egg within its pouch that eventually hatches into a joey. The joey remains in her mother’s pouch (I say “her,” as kangaskhan is an exclusively female species) for the next three years until she reaches maturity and develops her own pouch. After that point, she leaves and finds her own mate. In tamed situations, this means the mother of your kangaskhan egg will do the same. If you’ve obtained your egg from a breeder, then that means you’ll end up with a joey, and it’s important to keep that joey warm for the next three years (usually within an artificial pouch that you strap to yourself).

As for whether or not it’s safe for a kangaskhan to battle while carrying a joey, it depends on how old the joey is. Extremely young joeys (those a year old or younger) should be kept away from the battlefield, but their mothers will often refuse to battle, making this not as much of a challenge as it sounds. Older joeys are typically stronger and more resilient, and as such, their mother will begin to seek opportunities to battle so she can teach them how to do it on their own. She will usually go to great lengths to keep her joey safe, so on your end, it is considered safe because the mother will never enter any situation she thinks would put her young in danger. In fact, in some cases (such as in “mega evolution,” which is in quotes because of things I’ve mentioned in previous posts), the mother will push her joey to battle alongside her.

In other words, is it safe? For younger joeys, probably not. For older joeys, it’s not only safe; it’s also highly encouraged. Of course, either way, the mother kangaskhan will let you know fully well when her joey can battle and how intense of a battle she may have. It would be a good idea to listen to the mother kangaskhan, of course, as the mother kangaskhan may know Sucker Punch and definitely has fewer qualms about attacking her trainer than most other pokémon.

Are pokemon with Sweet Scent, such as Bulbasaur, a good partner for someone with anxiety, specifically social anxiety? Also, what others are out there that can help deal with it?

Before anything else, you may benefit from reading my earlier post on service pokémon, as any pokémon that is kept primarily to help humans with either physical or psychological limitations through their day-to-day activities is considered to be a service pokémon. (In this sense, pokémon are a bit more flexible than animals.) This includes those pokémon that assist those who have anxiety disorders or those who simply need a pokémon to help them focus on the present. I’m throwing a link to that post in this one not to simply say “read that post” and leave it at that; that would be rather rude of me. Rather, there may possibly be information in that post that I’ve simply forgotten to include in this one.

That having been said, to answer your question, absolutely. They tend to be preferable to many other service pokémon trained to handle forms of anxiety, social or otherwise. Most Sweet Scent users have the passive ability to emit pleasant aromas with or without Sweet Scent’s assistance, and as such, they’re a bit more subtle in their approach than an empath, a Singer, or a member of the chansey line. That and this passive ability also has the added benefit of affecting all parties within its range of effect, which means the pokémon’s human companion has the added reassurance that there’s a very good chance any conversation held upwind of their partner will be pleasant.

Of course, as I’ve mentioned above, those aren’t the only pokémon that are used, and although they’re the most popular for anxiety specifically, other humans may have different preferences or needs that require the services of other pokémon. For example, some people may prefer the services of a psychic pokémon, such as ralts, to influence their emotional states. Now, keep in mind this does not mean that the psychic pokémon forcibly enters their human partner’s mind and “erases” their anxiety. That would actually be highly unethical, after all. Rather, psychic pokémon—particularly those with empathic powers (so, again, such as ralts)—have the ability to project certain auras. Think of it like feeling a rush of adrenaline when you hear a fast-paced song or feeling uneasy when you hear a low, vibrating tone. In a similar way, an empathic pokémon influences the psychic energies around itself so that it projects a certain emotion outward that your mind can sense and, subconsciously, adjust itself to. In other words, a ralts may project a feeling of extreme happiness, and your mind would pick up on it and decide for itself to feel at ease because the atmosphere simply feels safe. Thus, the process isn’t quite as invasive as it sounds. Rather, the most invasive a pokémon will ever be is to break into your mind and stop you from doing something dangerous, but obviously, those are in extreme circumstances that may not entirely be relevant to the question at hand.

Back to the point, the reason why grass-types are more preferred than psychic-types is that the passive psychic method really only works for one person. While this is fine in severe cases wherein it’s necessary to focus only on the person with anxiety specifically, it doesn’t quite have the added reassurance of guaranteeing that all human participants are essentially on the same emotional plane.

The same, of course, could be said for the less subtle pokémon, such as those with Heal Pulse (which can be soothing for some people), those who can emit soothing sounds (such as the chimecho and jigglypuff lines), and so forth, although these are seen as less desirable options than either Sweet Scent users or psychic pokémon. While some people find healer or auditory pokémon to be the most effective for their needs because they (the humans) simply respond better to healing waves or soothing melodies, these pokémon may also call attention to one’s social anxiety, which some feel defeats the purpose of having a service pokémon specifically to help them in social situations.

In short, there are a wide variety of different pokémon that may suit your needs. It depends on the specific effect you’re looking for and what your needs specifically are. After all, while it’s true that social anxiety is something specific, there are many different ways to approach it, depending on how severe it is and what a person’s situation may be.