Bill, some people have asked you about enrichment for various Pokémon. May I suggest children’s picture books? Most Pokémon, in my experience, love to be read to, and to look at bright, colorful pictures. It’s a great bonding exercise between trainer and mon. My scyther especially loves books by Mo Willems, like “Knuffle Bunnelby” and the Donphan and Tepiggy series.

Ah! Excellent suggestion! Yes, books can sometimes be excellent devices for enrichment, as are art supplies, music, and so forth. Of course, it’s also important to be aware of your pokémon’s preferences as well. Some pokémon simply don’t enjoy reading or being read to and should be given other materials. You’ll be able to tell whether or not your pokémon is engaged with the material you’ve given them by their body language and whether or not they’re focused on you (as opposed to quite literally anything else in the room).

i have a bulbasaur who when she hears music dances with vines, leaves, and the coloring of sweet scent. shes very talented, and this has been noticed by several talent scouts (a video of her went viral recently and now people keep showing up at my home and trying to contact me) well shes very shy and these scouts arent taking no for an answer, and its terrifying my sweet bulbababy! what can i do to prevent these scouts from trying to invade my home?

Contrary to popular belief, the police forces of most regions are actually somewhat competent, and a restraining order is actually quite easy to get. I would suggest utilizing either if the talent scouts in question attempt any home invasions.

Alternatively, you could do what my mother often did when I was a child: use another pokémon to remove them yourself.

I read that in certain regions, Poison Pokémon aren’t allowed out of their PokéBalls. I was considering going on vacation to Kalos with my Skuntank. Would it be okay for him to leave his PokéBall and walk with me if he doesn’t use any poison-based attacks?

Certainly! Kalos has no such restrictions on tamed poison-type pokémon, and even then, there’s really no need to worry that your skuntank will do any harm to the environment. As an animal-like pokémon (as opposed to the literal embodiment of pollution, as in the case of the trubbish and grimer lines), skuntank do not passively leak toxins into their surroundings. They simply release toxins when threatened, so as long as your skuntank is calm at all times, the two of you should be fine.

I work as a Pokemon breeder, but recently my Parasect has been giving me a bit of trouble… She’s unusually protective of the eggs we keep, and considering what they’ve been known to do with their eggs, I’m a little worried? Is there any chance of them being infected by the Paras fungus?

Quite honestly, no. The tochukaso mushroom (that is, the one that grows on paras backs) requires a very specific host.

Allow me to explain with an example. The fungus O. unilateralis is a rather unassuming-looking organism, consisting of a single fruiting body (bit that reproduces and releases spores) in the form of a tiny stalk. However, the problem that O. unilateralis faces is that the floor of the forests in which it exists do not harbor the right conditions for it to thrive. The moisture there isn’t optimal, and never mind releasing spores when you’re surrounded by tall plant life.

Thus, the spores of the O. unilateralis make do … by infecting the ants it shares its habitat with. Over a matter of days, O. unilateralis’s signature stalk will grow out of the infected ant while its mycelium reaches inward and seizes control of the ant’s body. It then drives the ant to crawl up a stalk of grass or other plant, clamp down hard onto the stem, and stay there until it dies. Meanwhile, O. unilateralis draws in the moisture it needs to release its spores, and its spores travel much further than they would have if the fungus were stuck on the ground. Yet all other wildlife is more or less unaffected by O. unilateralis’s presence. Birds can eat infected ants without being infected themselves, pokémon can brush up against entire fields of it without feeling any effects whatsoever, and even humans—who are admittedly less equipped to survive the deadlier parts of nature than animals or pokémon—can touch the fungus without any ill effects (for the most part).

In the same way, tochukaso is to paras and parasect as the O. unilateralis is to the ant. It thrives on the backs of that evolution line and only that evolution line; any other organism that touches it is completely unaffected by it (assuming they’re not allergic to mold, anyway). So while it comes as no surprise that your parasect is protective of the eggs in your care (she is following her own/her parasite’s instincts, after all), it’s very, very unlikely that any of the hatchlings are actually infected.

However, it is very likely that she’s spraying your eggs with spores anyway (as per her instincts), so it’s important that you wipe each egg shortly before hatching and try to keep your parasect from spraying the newborns.

Hey bill! Ive been recently having some trouble with my toxicroak. Since I moved to alola he hasn’t been dealing well in the heat, which I’m assuming is due to his dry skin ability. Do you have any advice?

Keep him as moist as possible, anonymous. I know. That sounds a bit … odd, but that’s the simple truth. A toxicroak’s means of thermoregulation depends heavily on how moist its skin is. While toxicroak without the Dry Skin ability can generate a layer of mucus to trap some moisture in, those with Dry Skin have trouble producing this mucus. That’s why they need to be supplied with cool water: pools, frequent trips to the beach, plenty of water to drink, and so forth. The more hydrated your toxicroak is and the more your toxicroak bathes himself in water, the easier it will be for him to deal with the heat.

Of course, keeping him in a cool, perhaps air-conditioned place may help too.

Best of luck, anonymous!

My little female Bagon evolved into a Shelgon a little while ago, but now she doesn’t seem as playful as she was as a Bagon. Is this normal for a Shelgon?

Actually, yes, anonymous. While a shelgon has limbs and is generally more active than other pupal pokémon (metapod, pupitar, and so on), it’s still a pupal-stage pokémon. As such, yours and all other shelgon like her are actually conserving energy for their next evolution—while, perhaps, focusing completely on imagining their first moment of flight.

That having been said, I wouldn’t worry about her sudden change in mood, anonymous, and certainly don’t be alarmed if she seems less energetic and less hungry than usual. Simply support her as much as you can, take her to the pokémon center for regular check-ups, and give her what she needs when she needs it, and she’ll be able to evolve and … well, perhaps not be quite as playful as she had been, but at least she’ll be as energetic.

Best of luck, anonymous, and congratulations on your recent evolution!

is it okay to let my bisharp drink tea or coffee with me, or other human-like pokemon for that matter? he’s just so civil that sometimes i forget he’s a pokemon at all!

Only if he wants tea or coffee, anonymous. Some bisharp prefer hot cocoa, and we should not judge them.

My Eevee recently evolved into a Flareon without my permission. (I don’t even know where he found a Fire stone) How do you care for a flareon without him burning down my house? I’ve never had a fire-type before.

Ah yes. Eevee can be quite tricky like that, especially if they’re particularly keen on one of their evolved forms.

That having been said, caring for a flareon is rather straightforward, anonymous. Use the exact same techniques as you had when your flareon was an eevee, just with minor alterations. For one, you will likely need more of everything: more food, more time spent training, larger toys, and so forth. Your eevee has spontaneously grown from a precocious, foot-tall ball of fur to an equally precocious, three-feet-tall ball of fur, and thus, you’ll want to accommodate accordingly.

The other change you’ll need to make is, of course, fireproofing everything. You may need to keep your flareon outside for the first few weeks. As eevee are not fire-types, yours has likely never wielded fire before now and will likely need some time to learn how. Giving him a safe environment away from your valuables and flammables would be the best way to do this. Just be sure that this safe area might also be shielded from the rain. (Perhaps consider giving him a place on a sheltered porch or building a specialized dog house on stilts or a platform to keep him out of the rain and away from yard flooding during rain.) Once he shows a reasonable amount of control over his new abilities, reintroduce him to your home carefully, but consider investing in fireproofing sheets (specialized, plastic-like sheets for new pet fire-type owners) to cover your furniture.

Best of luck, anonymous!

When my pikachu evolved from pichu, it’s electric sacks on its cheeks stayed pink instead of turning red. I’ve taken him to the Pokémon center and he has a clean bill of health. Is this occurrence common?

Absolutely. While all pokémon have a common coloration, an individual specimen’s coat, pelt, or so forth can actually vary wildly from the standard. And that’s not even referring to “shiny” pokémon or albino or melanistic ones. The variation can be as minor as a pikachu’s cheeks being the wrong shade.

So yes, anonymous, what your pikachu is displaying is actually a common occurrence, albeit not quite as common of one as the completely standard red-cheeked pikachu.

Do Fossil Pokemon need any particular help adjusting to modern life? I plan on raising a Kabutops and I want to make sure s/he will be able to live comfortably and not be freaked out by the dramatic change of scenery by being dead for 300 million years.

Generally, no. So long as you can approximate their diet and living conditions, they should get along well. For example, feed your kabutops meat, offer a pool of warm water for swimming, keep it well exercised and hydrated, and give it a solid surface on which it can sharpen its scythes, and it should thrive in your care.

Of course, there are a few cases in which it might be more of a struggle. For example, archen once ate a very specific fruit that is currently extinct. Some archen may be picky and not easily satisfied by anything but this fruit, which makes the species difficult to raise. However, there is a chance that you may be able to wean it onto a different fruit (persim berries are perhaps the closest fruit in taste, whereas belue is the closest in texture and look) without much of a problem.

Would a fossil fall victim to the culture shock of being brought back to life after 300 million years, however? No. Revived fossils rarely remember the prehistoric era they came from, and those that do are kept strictly for research purposes. Those given to the public, however, are born in this time period and thus are, for all intents and purposes, modern pokémon. They simply act on instinct regarding preferences on occasion.