Tag: asks

Bill, I have a question regarding my Dusk Lycanroc. Lately, it seems she’s gotten rather lazy and she doesn’t seem to want to get up and walk around like she used to. She’s even started to put on weight, and it’s also hurting her performance during battle. How can I entice her to exercise more?

Not to alarm you, but my first piece of advice is to take her to get a thorough checkup at the nearest pokémon center. Sometimes, laziness can be mistaken for lethargy, which is a symptom of quite a few medical conditions. Laziness itself can also stem from medical conditions of either a physical or psychological nature, so either way, if this is a sudden change, it may be a good idea to make sure she’s all right. If Nurse Joy finds something, pay attention to what she advises in terms of care. You may need to make more than a few lifestyle changes before your lycanroc is ready to battle again.

If she’s perfectly healthy, however, there are several ways you can get your lycanroc active again. The easiest may be buying toys, including a food dispenser toy, as motivation for her to get on her feet—or, well, paws. Play with her through simple games such as fetch, tug-of-war, or hide-and-seek. She may also be bored, so this is an effective way of introducing something new, different, and exciting to her schedule.

Additionally, consider adding to your team. New pokémon aren’t just a great addition to your household; they’re also playmates, battle partners, or even rivals for your lycanroc. Once she sees the new addition, your lycanroc may feel enough motivation to get up and start training again in order to keep up and hold your attention.

Finally, take her outside to new places as well. Oftentimes, when laziness isn’t tied to a health issue, it’s simply tied to boredom. Taking your lycanroc to a park, to town, or generally someplace new will break up the monotony of the day and reinvigorate her.

Best of luck, anonymous!

Hey Bill, what advice do you have for if your pokemon don’t like fireworks? Is there a way to help them understand that the sound from them isn’t going to cause them or me any harm. I tried putting my Houndoom into her pokeball last year but she broke out since she was concerned about me being harmed by them. I was perfectly safe in my house. Any advise would be nice.

That depends on how far you’d like to go to avoid them. If you’d prefer to stay at home tonight, then find an isolated room deep in the house. A basement would work best, but in a pinch, try to put her into the furthest bedroom from the fireworks. If you have a fan or white noise machine, place them in the room and turn them on to help dampen the sound. A TV tuned to static will also do. Give her plenty of water and treats, and stay with her for as long as you’re willing. Only sedate her if this doesn’t work.

If, however, you’re able and willing to travel tonight, consider spending the holiday in a remote area or in a town that isn’t hosting fireworks. Sometimes, it’s just as fun to hold a bonfire on a remote beach as it is to be anywhere near a fireworks display.

If all else fails and you have more than one pokémon, you may consider using the PC system as well, but this is (understandably) a last resort.

My leafeon recently had a litter of eevees and she’s taking excellent care of most of them. Expect the little runt. I’ve had to resort to hand feeding but do you know anyways to get a mother to accept a baby she’s already rejected? I’m not home all the time and have no one else to feed the little one so I’m worried he won’t get enough nutrition if I can’t get my leafeon to let him nurse. If you could help I’d be very grateful.

One important thing to know is why a mother pokémon would reject her offspring. In the cases of canine pokémon such as the eeveelutions, it’s often because the rejected puppy is seen as the least capable of surviving. It may be sick or too weak to live, so the mother sets it aside to focus on nurturing puppies that have higher chances at survival.

So your first step with this eevee pup is to see if he was rejected just because he’s small. The only way you can do this is by taking him to the nearest pokémon center, explaining the situation to your local Nurse Joy, and getting a thorough examination. If all is well aside from his size, the unfortunate second step involves quite a bit of work. First of all, you may need to continue feeding him through a bottle until he grows stronger and larger, as your leafeon will likely continue to reject him until she sees that he stands a chance.

The other half of the equation is that, after a few days to a week of vigilant care, you’ll need to reintroduce the pup to his mother … by assisting with feeding. It works very much the same way as it would with introducing new pokémon to one another: set up a calm environment, be present for the reintroduction, and place the puppy close to his mother for as long as she can tolerate him. Have her turn on her side and coax the puppy into nursing from her. (Point of clarification: Yes, mammalian pokémon produce milk. They’re not exactly monotremes, as that’s a word reserved for animals, but the concept is the same.) Keep the mother calm through gentle words and petting, but if she looks like she may attack, gently remove the puppy and switch him over to formula as quickly as possible. Continue doing this until the puppy grows and the mother begins to recognize him as her own.

This might be difficult to do, I know, considering what you’ve said about your schedule, but reintroducing a pup takes quite a bit of time and effort. In the end, it’s worth it, but you will need to figure out how best to care for the eevee pup in the meantime. If you have another pokémon, they might be able to assist, or you could discuss things with your local Nurse Joy to see if the puppy can be taken care of at the pokémon center in the interim. Just be sure that you do as many of his feedings as possible and that you set aside time to reintroduce him to his mother every day to minimize trauma and help him grow.

Best of luck!

Hey Bill, I found a huge charizard with fur and paws instead of scales and claws the other day. I didn’t catch them since I wanted such a wonderful beast to stay wild. But they let me pet them and they even hugged me! Anyway I was wondering how this would’ve come about, like what kind of genetic tomfoolery could’ve made such a wonderful dragon?

You know, my colleague in Sinnoh told me that there was a term for this.

She called it a “fursuiter.”

(Alternatively, I think you found a typhlosion…)

There’s a wild spearow that lives in my yard that likes to peck at it’s reflection in the window. Since it hasn’t actually broken the window, I’m not sure how serious the issue it, but it is irritating to hear it go “boop, boop” against the glass sometimes. I’m sure if it was really thinking its reflection was a rival, it could easily break the glass with a peck attack. Does it want my attention or something? It flies away when it sees anyone approach from inside.

There’s a quick test you can try to see if it wants your attention. Instead of approaching from the inside, attempt to approach it from outside if you can. It may still fly away, but if so, keep an eye on it. If it looks back at you while it’s flying, follow it, as that’s a very good indicator that it needs your help. If it stays and studies you, that’s also a good indicator. Approach slowly with your hands visible until it’s comfortable enough to show you what it wants. If it flies away without looking back, if approaching it from the outside isn’t an option for you, or if it outright attacks you, keep reading.

If it doesn’t want help (as indicated by the last option above), then it’s most likely confused or bored, rather than angered by its reflection. At the very least, it probably sees its own reflection as another spearow, and it’s trying to investigate. (Spearow are actually highly social within their own flocks, and unless a spearow is obviously a member of a flock from a territory bordering their own, they will generally attempt to befriend other spearow and draw them into their folds.) At most, though, it’s likely that its reflection simply entertains it. Alternatively, it could be attracted to something inside your home or to a reflection of part of the branch, if it’s pecking low.

All of these situations can be resolved rather easily with a little bit of work on your part. One thing you should do is ensure that anything that could be of interest to a spearow (indoor plants, art pieces that resemble insects, and so forth) are moved away from the window. After that, apply vertical strips of tape, a cheap window film, or even window paint to break up or obscure most of the surface area. If this still doesn’t help, draw the blinds or curtains. While this won’t necessarily disrupt the spearow’s reflection, it can at least minimize the number of things that could be attracting it and show it that it’s only looking at a window, rather than another spearow.

If all else fails, however, you may wish to consider catching it or adopting a good electric type. (Word of warning: Don’t use a pikachu.)

Best of luck!

Hi, I have a zorua who is interested in being a wild riolu,s friend. But she is too shy to approach him so I was wondering how to help her build confidence. Also how she should approach in a calm way.

It may be easiest to be the bridge between the two, anonymous. What I mean is try befriending the riolu yourself first. Coax him into trusting you (preferably without simply giving it treats, given that one should never feed wild pokémon) and build a relationship with him. The more your zorua will see you interacting with this riolu, the more she’ll be comfortable befriending him herself, partly because you would be showing her that it’s okay to befriend this riolu and partly because you would be showing her methods to approach him calmly.

If that doesn’t work (that is, if your zorua is still too shy for interaction), you may need to work on building her confidence. If you have any other pokémon or know any other trainers, have her practice interacting with others. Feed her treats for positive interactions and be as supportive and encouraging during these play dates as possible. It might even help to have her spar with others in order to help her feel comfortable with herself.

Then, when you encounter the riolu again, stand by her side and keep her calm as she approaches. Have her approach slowly but with purpose, and have her begin with calmer actions (such as sniffing riolu as a hello). Perhaps allow her to offer a toy or a treat (yes, even though humans shouldn’t feed wild pokémon). Ultimately, let the riolu lead the interaction, but be present to help your zorua stay calm and in control.

Incidentally, some blogs may suggest that zorua disguise herself as a riolu, but this is actually not the best idea. It’s far better to approach a new friend as you are so you can feel comfortable being yourself around them later. Having your zorua disguise herself as something she’s not could lead to confusion, disappointment, or even hostility down the line if she drops the illusion in front of her new friend.

Best of luck, anonymous!