Hello! I work at a small store in a mall, and my beloved Nidorino is with me almost every day! There is a popular chain store across from us that sells earrings and does piercings, and my Nidorino is absolutely ENAMORED with the idea of an ear piercing. I would happily get him one, I love it when his spunky personality shows, but I’m worried. Is piercing a Pokémon’s ear considered abuse? Being a poison type, is there a higher risk of infection? The employees are happy to do it, but I wonder!

So long as your pokémon gives you consent in this sort of situation (and most pokémon can), it’s actually not considered abuse, although admittedly, there is a bit of discussion in certain pokémon professional circles over whether or not a pokémon would fully understand what body modification entails. (Strangely, yes, this is a common enough question for there to be a debate. It’s just that I normally hear this question asked regarding fighting-type pokémon and tattoos or, bizarrely enough, pikachu and spiked fur.) Personally, I believe that so long as the pokémon and piercer or artist are fully consenting to working with one another and so long as the methods used are, well, legitimate, it’s perfectly fine to help your pokémon modify its body in whatever way it wishes. The professional body modification community evidently feels the same way, as there are plenty of people willing to modify pokémon if you know where to look. They aren’t nearly as common human-only tattoo parlors or so forth because of the above-mentioned debate, but they’re there.

As for the risk of infection, actually, no. Poison-types are generally immune to their own poisons, and if anything, their poisons can actually be a disinfectant, as, well, it can be toxic to bacteria too. Alternatively, some poison-types are symbiotic with powerful strains of bacteria (such as in the case of trubbish, one of the few such pokémon capable of being modified) and thus wouldn’t actually feel much in the way of an effect there. If anything, piercing a nidorino or any other poison-type may pose more of a danger to the piercer, as there’s a chance that the piercer could be exposed to either toxins or bacteria or both as part of the pokémon’s natural defense mechanisms. This goes doubly if your nidorino’s ability is Poison Point. However, if you take your nidorino to an experienced piercer who’s worked with pokémon before, they should know how to avoid a nidorino’s quills.

So I just found what I believe is an ultra beast. It’s small and purple and not like any Pokémon i know. It’s hurt but I’m afraid to take it to a Pokémon centre in case someone sees me with it. I know we know little about UBs, but do you have any basic Pokémon care tips? The injuries are minor cuts and bruises but I’m worried they’d get infected. Also,do you know ANYBODY trustworthy enough I can hand it to who would know how to look after it, or better, Send it back to its home?

Not to be curt, but if it’s injured, take it to a pokémon center.

First and foremost, a pokémon nurse’s priority is on healing an injured pokémon. They won’t judge you or report you to any sort of government body or what-have-you for owning a pokémon they don’t recognize. If anything, their inability to recognize such a pokémon may present a bit of a challenge for them, but ultimately, if they don’t know what your pokémon is, they’ll treat it as best as they can anyway, based on their knowledge of your pokémon’s injury, type, and general physiological profile (i.e., mammalian, avian, or so forth). Furthermore, pokémon centers are hospitals. It’s highly unethical for anyone from any sort of authority to break in and take your pokémon away for this reason, and you’re generally protected by poachers by virtue of the fact that you’re in a highly public area with highly trained and extremely powerful nurse pokémon (as well as teams of trainers who use pokémon centers as meeting places and who don’t take well to thieves).

Second, I can’t offer care tips for legendary or mythical pokémon or the Ultra Beasts. It’s not that I don’t want to (although I’ve been very open about the fact that my policy concerning owning legendaries is “put that back where you found it or so help us all”); it’s more because these pokémon aren’t that well understood. In the cases of legendaries and mythicals, they’re so rare that there simply aren’t enough cases of human interaction with such pokémon in recorded history to know what their needs are. In other words, very, very few people have interacted with these pokémon, much less caught them, and those that caught them are generally extremely competent trainers (not that those who ask for pokémon care tips on this blog aren’t competent, of course).

As for the Ultra Beasts, we also don’t know enough about them to understand what their specific needs are, but in their case, they’re simply too new and destructive to our world. Thus, all instances of Ultra Beasts have already been secured by the work of the International Police and the Aether Foundation, the latter of whom has only just started releasing their research on actual, captive specimens (as opposed to theoretical research based on brief sightings).

Third and related to the above, it’d be odd to jump to the conclusion that you’re dealing with an Ultra Beast, just because it’s not an easily recognizable pokémon. It’s possible (and, quite honestly, more likely) that you’re looking at a poison-type pokémon from a different region on Earth, perhaps one that isn’t yet logged in the National Dex program. “Small and purple” describes many poison-types, after all. (This, incidentally, is why I also can’t offer tips for general care. “Small, purple poison-type” covers quite a lot of ground, even if we didn’t consider any known legendaries or UBs, and how one would care for a venonat differs vastly from how one would care for a koffing.)

In short, if you’re worried about this pokémon’s minor injuries and general condition, don’t be afraid to take it to the pokémon center. The nurse there may even be able to help you positively identify what you’re dealing with, which in turn will make figuring out how to take care of it immensely easier.

Best of luck, anonymous!

{Note from the mun: Like the last ask, this one is also among the newer batch. It’s just that Bill’s been getting a lot of questions about how to care for a legendary or Ultra Beast lately, and it might be worth it to note that various asks and entries have already established that both classes of pokémon are so rare that it’s very, very unlikely that an ordinary person would encounter them. Bill likewise only knows about them via second-hand accounts, theories, and folklore for the most part. Just to clarify! Carry on!}

Please explain to me why the Pokemon Symposium decided to name it the ‘Grass’ type and not the ‘Plant’ type.

Somebody explain to me why they did this, and perhaps we can start from there.

…

Seriously, this is like calling every mammal pokémon a mouse, which I know was an actual issue with the pokédex classification system, but nonetheless…

Furthermore, while we’re on the subject, why is it called the flying type and not the wind type? Flying isn’t even an element, never mind the fact that some of these pokémon can’t actually achieve the amount of power or lift to fly on their own or for long distances to begin with! The mantyke line and hoppip line in particular, but then you have the doduo line, which, despite the fact that they can be taught to use Fly, can’t actually fly on their own. Granted, fine, the actual moves associated with this element have more to do with the act of flying than the generation of wind, but by that logic, perhaps we should rename the normal type to hitting.

Then, if we’re really going to be discussing this subject, what about the steel-type? Just because it’s metal doesn’t automatically make it steel, for Ho-oh’s sake! Half of these pokémon are made of pure iron ore or iron alloys that have only trace amounts of carbon, if any at all. Magnemite, for example? That’s pure magnetite, not steel! Honestly, this is simple chemistry and/or earth sciences!

And while we’re at it, the dark type, which [THIS MESSAGE IS TRUNCATED.]

Believe it or not, he goes on for a good twenty pages. You’re welcome. —LH

Hello! I’m one of the handful of alolan trainers lucky enough to have recieve a rotomdex. The little guy’s a sweetheart, and super helpful too. Recently though, he ended up getting sick. I took him to the pokemon center near my house already, and they looked at him and gave me some medicine to relieve the symptoms. Thing is, he wants to stay in the ‘dex while he’s resting. He says he’d prefer being able to talk to me normally, and he feels more comfortable that way. (1/2)

To him, no, as your rotom itself is technically in an incorporeal, electric state. If anything, this may be worrisome because the medication is only effective when rotom has a body—that is, when it’s not possessing something else. For this reason, his recovery may be slow going, although if you regularly coax him out to take his medicine and rest for a few moments, he should eventually recover.

To his chassis, possibly. When a rotom overheats while possessing an appliance, what’s actually happening (other than literal overheating) is that rotom is generating excess electricity. This risks overloading its borrowed body, if the heat doesn’t simply melt the wiring.

In short, as comfortable as he may be, he really should spend time outside of the pokédex until he’s feeling better.

As for your second set of questions, from what I understand, it’s more that Kukui selects rotom he’s befriended and deemed responsible enough to take care of his proteges. This may sound a little odd, but from what I also understand, this is completely typical for Professor Kukui…

Hey Bill, I might have a slight problem. My Murkrow likes to gather shiny things, as they do, and I had to leave for a trip. My sister had come by to make sure that Murkrow had food, water, and was played with while I was gone. When I returned Murkrow has taken over a room with shinies. My sister hadn’t checked on Murkrow’s nest since Murkrow doesn’t like other people near their shinies. Anyway, I have managed to remove the knives they got but any advise on working with Mirkrow to shrink nest.

Unfortunately, anonymous, your fate is completely inescapable. You will simply have to live indefinitely with your new hoard of shiny objects.

On a serious note (please don’t look at me like that, Lanette), while murkrow are intelligent creatures, they don’t exactly keep thorough inventory of what’s actually in their collection. You could very well shrink your murkrow’s collection by covertly taking items out of it, so long as you space removals out enough for them to not notice.

Alternatively, if you’d like to confront the problem a little more directly (which you may need to do in order to avoid having your murkrow add more items to their collection in the interim), approach the problem as you would any other bad habit. Clearly establish why you can’t keep large collections, and train your murkrow to resist taking new objects. Reward your murkrow every time they resist or every time they willingly give up an item (the latter especially to cement the idea that downsizing is a good thing). Perhaps also go over their collection, show them which items you wish to discard first, and reward them for allowing you to take them. (Naturally, be firm—but not intimidating—if they retaliate, either because you’ve approached their hoard or because they refuse to let you take items away.)

Best of luck, anonymous!

Any advice for someone converting religions from Johtonian to Unovian

Don’t. 🙂

On a serious note (as I can see that my editor is logging into my account to queue up a few episodes of Binaclebob Trapezoidpants as we speak), unlike Johto, Unova doesn’t actually have a regional religion attached to its legendaries. This is largely due to culture: Johtonians view their legends to be highly powerful kami (god-like spirits), whereas Unovans merely see their legendaries as highly powerful pokémon attached to very human bits of folklore. To most Unovans, worshipping the dragons or the Swords of Justice would be like worshipping pikachu.

There is, of course, an exception in the form of the Kami Trio (that is, Landorus, Thundurus, and Tornadus), which are worshipped by certain groups of native Unovans, and thus, it may be harder to convert to such a religion. Some groups absolutely would not allow you to do so. Others may allow it if you married a member of their culture.

Otherwise, Unova is a melting pot of cultures, so despite what their government may have you believe, there really isn’t any one religion. Some Unovans worship pokémon, others humanoid gods, and some a mix of both. I admit, then, that this would be a rather broad subject to cover, and I might not know enough about each religion to adequately answer. Your best bet would be to find a church or a very patient follower who’s willing to share their way of life with you and work from there.

Of course, you could also be referring to Neopaganism, in which one may adopt figures of power as parts of their pantheons, regardless of whether or not those figures were ever worshipped as gods to begin with, but if that’s the case, I quite literally know nothing about that other than the fact that one can do that, which I admit is just a bit cooler than worshipping a rainbow fire bird. (I say this with the utmost affection, being a worshipper of said fire bird.)

At which point … carry on.

How do Eevees evolve with friendship or affection in the wild? And why can’t you normally catch wild Eeveelutions except for Espeon and Umbreon in Alola?

Friendship (or more accurately and commonly known, happiness) evolutions are perhaps the easiest type of evolution for pokémon to achieve in the wild, as these rely less on a pokémon’s environment, age, or experience but instead on their state of mind. All a pokémon needs to do is achieve a state of complete happiness with themselves and their lives—which, yes, is easier to do when in the constant care of a human but is still possible in the wild. This should also explain why espeon and umbreon are so easy to find comparatively. It’s not that the others don’t exist but instead because an eevee will be more likely to evolve into either of those in their native habitats than the others. That and the other evolutions require additional environmental factors that aren’t really present within the Alolan nesting grounds on Akala, so if an eevee wishes to achieve an alternate evolution, they would need to journey far from their home fields. Not all of them go home, either: many wander alone or congregate in territories far too remote for humans to reach.

As for sylveon, though, that’s also possible, but it’s less common than an espeon or umbreon evolution. Instead, an eevee needs to be affectionate … with a mate. This also explains their rarity in the wild. They’re not actually rare; they’re simply in breeding pairs and thus avoid contact with humans as vehemently as possible.

My Bayleef is at level 56 and she still won’t evolve! I know she isn’t holding an Everstone, too. Could this be related to the seasons? Thanks bill

Does she want to evolve, anonymous? Sometimes, pokémon resist evolution on their own out of their own personal preference. (Some do this better than others, which is why an everstone isn’t always needed.) If she seems to be under a lot of stress, that could be it. It’s important to talk to her, then, to determine her wants and needs, and if she does indeed want to remain a bayleef, get her an everstone to help her.

On that note, it’s true that her environment could also factor into an actual inability to evolve. Evolution takes a lot of energy, so it’s easiest for grass-types like your bayleef to evolve in spring or summer. Alternatively, pollution and stress also stunt evolution, so if you live in the city, consider a trip out to the country. You’ll need at least a week of relaxation before your bayleef would be ready to evolve.

Best of luck, anonymous! (…although as a tangent, it always confuses me that some trainers refer to battling prowess and experience with levels. Maybe I’ve lost touch with the trainer system, but I will never make heads or tails of that…)

Hi! I was wondering if the Skitty line, Ralts line, Rowlet or Bunary lines react badly to soap at all? Like, any kind of soap. Or perhaps I should ask about general hygiene instead, uhhh… help? pls? :(

The ralts line can be safely bathed with soap, as that can easily be washed off their skin. Just be sure to get all the soap residue off and follow up with coconut or baby oil (or simply a moisturizer for humanoid pokémon) to avoid drying out your ralts’s skin.

All bird pokémon, meanwhile, should only be given a water bath at most. That is, it’s important to give many of them a bath consisting only of water at a temperature they can stand. (Rowlet is among the pokémon that need such a bath, but there are a select few, such as the torchic line, that will need a sand bath instead. That would be just an outdoor shallow pit filled with sand or dust.) Water baths not only help a bird wash off excess oil and dirt, but the temperature and the act of splashing or soaking helps them maintain peak mental health—that is, it’s just as relaxing for them as a bath would be for us. It’s just that soap can dry out the skin too much by stripping away all of the natural oils of a bird’s skin, not to mention it can be difficult to completely remove from a bird’s feathers.

Finally, never bathe a buneary unless they can’t bathe themselves (and even then, only bathe a buneary if they’re very clearly in need of a bath) or if they’re covered in something that would be toxic to them. Members of the buneary line bathe themselves (like cats and feline pokémon), and if dampened and not properly dried, a buneary’s soft fur and tufts can grow mold. That and a bath can be traumatic for them.

Actually, the same (never bathe them unless they can’t bathe themselves or get into something toxic) can be said for skitty and all other feline pokémon, but the concern there is less about their health as it is yours. Feline pokémon are generally very adamant about their hatred of baths.

Best of luck concerning your team, anonymous!

Edit: This post now includes information regarding the skitty line (and Bill will, in his words, be “adequately retrained in basic reading comprehension skills”). Thank you for your patience! —LH

Why do so many Alolan forms of Pokemon gain a secondary Dark typing? I would think a bright and sunny place like Alola would do the opposite of giving Pokemon an affinity for the dark.

Not necessarily, anonymous. In some cases, primarily when it comes to the rattata and grimer lines, these pokémon had to hide beneath buildings until nightfall to avoid extermination by humans or hunting by other pokémon. Thus, they adapted to the darkness of Alolan nights, rather than the brightness of Alolan days.

The meowth line, meanwhile … no one’s quite sure how selective breeding managed to give it an affinity for the dark type, to be honest. But given how adept standard meowth are at conning their owners into giving them more treats or affection, it’s perhaps not surprising…