Absolutely. It’s a common misconception that absol bring disaster; however, what they’re actually doing is merely warning us of it. They just often have … rather inconvenient timing, I’m afraid.
Tag: asks
So my friend wanted to turn his haunter into a gengar, so I helped him with the trade, and when his gengar evolved and we tried trading back gengar completely rejected my friend for trading him in the first place. Now I have an extremely depressed gengar haunting my home. I don’t mind caring for him, it’s just that I don’t know how to connect with him. Whenever his original trainer comes over he basically becomes a poltergeist and knocks things over and causes destruction. What can I do
You may wish to mediate between your friend and his gengar. It seems that the gengar may be going through emotional turmoil because he believes he’s been betrayed by his former trainer (for lack of a way of putting that without sounding dramatic), so it’s extremely important that you help your friend to convince his gengar that he didn’t abandon him. Perhaps explaining to this gengar that it was to help him evolve will do, but if you’ve already done that, a live demonstration via a battle may allow this gengar to understand.
More than that, remind your friend’s gengar of the bond he shared with his trainer. This may be a painful step, so never do it without the trainer present and supporting you. Have your friend bring some of gengar’s favorite things along, and have him apologize and use those things as a peace offering.
It will take some time and a considerable amount of effort, but the main goal is essentially to repair the relationship between your friend and his gengar. In order to do that, remember that you should be the bridge for communication. Create a comfortable space and do your best to keep everyone calm and in conversation with one another.
Best of luck, anonymous!
Hey Bill. Is it true that sunlight can make Mimikyu very ill? Y’see I have one going to hatch soon, and I’m worried about my partner getting sick. Will its disguise be enough to protect it or should I take extra precaution when having Mimikyu around with me outside its Poke Ball, especially in battle, during daytime?
It is and it isn’t true, anonymous. It’s true in the sense that, yes, mimikyu become weakened through prolonged exposure to light. However, it’s not true in that they hardly get as sick as the rumors claim. Likewise, yes, the disguise seems to help shelter mimikyu, although they will still likely be uncomfortable with bright sunlight. My advice is to test your mimikyu. If it simply seems bothered, try acclimating it to sunlight gradually, just as you would acclimate a pokémon to a new home or a new team member. (That is, create a comfortable space, start off with short bursts of exposure, then gradually work your way up.)
If, however, your mimikyu seems panicked or particularly sickened, you may wish to use your mimikyu in short battles or rely mostly on the rest of your team.
whenever my mimikyus costume “busts” my pikachu spends all the time it takes til its fixed helping mimikyu make it look good again. the first time her costume busted my mimikyu cried and pikachu hated that so now they have some together time fixing it! just wanted everyone to know the mimikyu and pikachu rivalry is merely depending on the specific pokemon, but they really can get along just fine!!
This is indeed very true, anonymous, especially when it comes to tamed mimikyu and pikachu. Oftentimes, tamed pokémon will recognize their relationship as a sort of family to each other over inherent rivalries, so even supposed mortal enemies such as mimikyu and pikachu can get along quite well if their trainer understands how to meet their needs equally (both physically and in terms of affection) and provide them with a comfortable setting to interact.
not a question, but i thought it was cute. my mimikyu is absolutely enamored with my flygon, going as far as changing her outfit to look like flygon. well flygon was so flattered she and i made her a mimikyu costume! so now all of my team is making costumes representing each other. i have a sylveon in a serperior costume, serperior in a raichu costume, raichu in a sylveon costume, and a swampert who wants nothing to do with any of this
This is quite adorable, and you’re very lucky to have a wonderful and creative team, anonymous. Thank you for sharing!
So uh… I just read that the flame on a litwick is burnt by fuel of the life energy of Pokémon or people… now I don’t believe my litwick steals the life force of me or my team… but her light is always on… should I be worried she’s killing us or going out at night and killing others?
No need to worry, anonymous! It’s merely a myth that litwick need large sources of life force to survive. Very likely, your litwick is simply feeding on the smaller insects, mites, and other vermin that may be inhabiting your home. Perhaps also your houseplants.
Bill, I’m not sure this is at all reassuring… —LH
My duskull has a habit of trying to scare me and my other Pokémon. Well recently I got a baby wooper and duskull scared her and it made her cry. Duskull has been too upset to scare anyone or get near wooper at all. Is there any way I can make my duskull feel better?
Well, presumably, your duskull understands that its habit of scaring people and pokémon will need to change, which means it may be easier to work with at this point. Thus, your first step is really to train your duskull proper ways to interact with others. Explain to it that approaching others from the front, fully visible, may help reduce its likelihood of accidentally startling or scaring someone. Have it practice, and reward it every time it approaches you without scaring you so it can understand the right and wrong way to approach someone else.
At the same time, check your baby wooper and work with it to introduce it to your other pokémon. Allow it to get comfortable being around others so that when you reintroduce it to your duskull, it will be a bit more used to interacting with other pokémon.
Then, set up an introduction. Provide your pokémon with a safe, comfortable place with toys and distractions. Get your wooper settled in, then bring your duskull over. Reassure your duskull every step of the way, but have both it and your wooper take things slowly, so to speak. If at any point, they seem uncomfortable with each other, immediately withdraw one or both of them, then try again at a later date.
In other words, the easiest solution to making your duskull feel better is to work with it and to prepare it for a gradual reintroduction to your new family member. If your duskull goes into the interaction understanding how to avoid scaring others and if the reintroduction is slow and comfortable for everyone, then your pokémon should have no trouble becoming friends.
Best of luck, anonymous!
Continuing on from a previous ask about Sableye, I live on the seaside and I find my Sableye, Jester, eating a lot of sand. He doesn’t seem to be unhealthy or in pain, but it’s unclear whether or not I should stop him based on his stone-based diet.
It depends on whether you mean he’s eating sand in lieu of rocks or in addition to. If he’s replaced rocks with sand entirely, he may find some difficulty meeting his nutritional needs. If you can supply him with stones, it’s best to nudge him back onto a stone-based diet. If, however, this isn’t within your means, try putting him on poké kibble but allow him to continue eating sand to supplement that diet.
The important thing is that he receives the best possible diet to support his body, and to be honest, sand is a decent source of minerals. The problem is that it isn’t as hardy as a purely rock-based diet, so at best, on a sand-only diet, your sableye may become lethargic or lose a few of its jewels. At worst, your sableye may suffer quite a few health issues, with the most severe being a weakened skeletal system, depending on the exact composition of the beaches by your home. Supporting a sand-only diet with poké kibble may at least provide a baseline supply of vitamins and minerals to keep your sableye going, even if all it consumes otherwise is its species’ equivalent to sugar.
hello mister!! i’m a bit concerned about my gengar, Noir. he hasn’t done anything wrong, no, but he’s super affectionate!! he loves giving hugs! the only problem is, well. he’s poisonous. i’ve been knocked out, at best, by the fumes he can give off! he’s a good pokémon… but how can i return the affection without fainting???
Over time, through exposure, you’ll build up tolerance to his poison, anonymous, so don’t worry. Of course, this will take quite a bit of time, so this may not sound so reassuring, I admit.
To avoid fainting now, keep pecha extract on hand. You can find pecha extract in organic food or supplement stores, but if not, antidotes contain pecha extract and will work just as well. Antidotes simply won’t smell as pleasant, which may or may not be an issue for the next step.
That being, of course, that you should soak a handkerchief with either pecha extract or antidote and then cover your nose with the handkerchief and breathe in every time you feel lightheaded around your gengar. This should keep you on your feet long enough to reciprocate.
My daughter will become a trainer soon, she adores dark types and wants one to be her starter, what dark type would you suggest for a beginning trainer?
It’s always an excellent idea to start off by asking the new trainer in question what their favorite pokémon are specifically and work from there. It’s possible that your daughter might already have a starter in mind, and it doesn’t hurt to indulge her if the starter in question is easy to obtain. She will, after all, be bonding with her starter under your supervision (for the most part), so even the rowdiest dark-types may be suitable starters, if she’s given enough time before the start of her journey.
The other consideration is, of course, where you live. Most dark-types are a bit difficult to obtain in certain regions (or at all), so your choices may be rather limited. For example, while sneasel is a perfectly viable starter in Johto, it’s extremely rare and difficult to obtain in Alola (and its ice typing and dislike of bright light mean it may not fare well in that region anyway), so I wouldn’t recommend even bothering to search for one, even if your daughter is rather keen on them.
With those two considerations in mind, I always like to recommend analogues to the traditional grass, fire, and water starters, as part of the reason why these types of pokémon are often given out as starters is because some combination of these stand the highest chance against the first gym of a circuit. With that in mind, houndour is actually a wonderful choice for a fire-type analogue, but quite honestly, it’s an excellent pokémon beyond that as well. Houndour are often loyal to their partners and incredibly intelligent to wit, and thus, they’re remarkably easy to train.
Beyond that, however, your daughter may need to have patience, as a number of excellent choices only become dark-types in their advanced stages of evolution. For example, litten and froakie are both traditional starters and thus ideal choices for beginning trainers, but the both of them are pure fire- and water-types (respectively) until evolution. Still, if you’re looking for both loyalty and either power or speed, you can ask for no better dark-types than incineroar and greninja.
Regarding partial grass-types, however, it’s a bit more of a challenge. Cacnea (which evolves into cacturne) is an excellent choice, of course, but cacturne may be a bit mischievous and difficult for a younger trainer to handle. On the other hand, the other grass-type option, nuzleaf and shiftry, are powerful, intelligent pokémon in their own right, but seedot (their base stage) is notoriously difficult to train due to its lack of powerful offensive moves at first.
Alternatively, if your daughter is less interested in the traditional trio and more interested in more unconventional choices, you may be interested in:
- Pawniard is quite possibly the best choice, in my own opinion. Its disposition is often easy to work with (especially as they will often take orders from anyone who establishes themselves as an authority figure), and it will grow into a rather powerful companion with all the resistances and defensive capabilities of its steel-typing. However, bisharp (despite the loyalty it inherits from its pawniard stage) are a bit of a gamble. Some evolve and retain some semblance of their pawniard personality; others become quite cold and violent (towards an opponent, not their trainer). If your daughter chooses pawniard, she should be careful as she raises it.
- Alolan meowth and Alolan rattata. Both are equally powerful and easy-to-train pokémon, which is why they’re often either starters for trainers beginning in Alola or otherwise among their first catches. However, outside of Alola, these pokémon may be difficult to obtain (as noted above), with meowth being easier to find than rattata. The same can also be said of purrloin, although replace “Alola” with “Unova” there. They are also even more fickle and mischievous than Alolan meowth, so your daughter will need to keep her guard up at all times until earning a purrloin starter’s trust and respect.
- Sneasel is actually a rather popular choice in Johto, due to its speed, stealth, and intelligence. However, it’s also a fickle pokémon (meaning your daughter must work hard to earn its respect at first), and as noted above, it doesn’t fare well in tropical climates with an abundance of bright, sunny days.
- Sableye tend to be a less popular choice, but they have a cult following of their own due to the ease in caring for them (simply give them a few rocks and some water, and they’ll be fine), the beauty of their jeweled skin, and their surprising stealth and power. However, they dislike bright sunlight even more than most other dark-types, so they’re also difficult to train without inverting one’s sleep cycle.
- Scraggy are highly popular in Unova for their personalities, but it’s extremely important for your daughter to know that because they’re partial fighting-types, their natural moves consist only of techniques designed for close, physical combat. She will need to keep a particularly close eye on the state of her pokémon during battle if she chooses one of these.
- Absol is an often sought-after pokémon for dark-type enthusiasts, and they’re exceptionally strong as starters as well. However, they’re also difficult to find, and in some cultures, they are quite literally omens of death and destruction.
- Both sandile and stunky are equally excellent choices with few drawbacks (even in terms of personality). However, naturally, your daughter will want to be aware of stunky’s defensive stench.
- If none of these interest her, eevee evolves into the dark-type umbreon. Just a thought.
Best of luck to your daughter, anonymous! May her journey be exciting!
The Pokédex According to Bill 