Tag: asks

What do you consider good outfit choices for a starting trainer in each region?

Are they aware of what your fashion sense is like? —LH

Excuse you. I have an impeccable fashion sense. Also, you’ve clearly been speaking to my older sister, and I would appreciate it if you’d stop. Or at least tell her to give me back my jacket. How am I supposed to exude the aura of a steampunk mad scientist without it? —Bill

Is that what you were doing? —LH

Always dress for practicality, anonymous. Remember that you’ll be spending much of your time hiking outdoors, so you’ll need outfits that fit the typical climate and terrain of the region.

For example, Kanto and Johto are similar in terms of terrain and climate in that both are temperate areas with four seasons and plenty of mountainous terrain. (Johto is, incidentally, slightly more mountainous than Kanto.) What outfit you’ll need depends on the season, then, but always have a decent pair of walking shoes or hiking boots to navigate the more mountainous routes. Pants—regardless of what certain younger trainers will tell you—tend to be better choices than shorts shirts due to the prevalence of tall grasses in Kanto and ground-dwelling poison-, grass-, and bug-types in the forests of Johto.

Hoenn is far warmer and more tropical (despite being not that far from Kanto and Johto), and it’s far, far wetter. Shorts and short-sleeved shirts are best here to help keep one cool, and sneakers or waterproof shoes will help a new trainer navigate the sandier and muddier terrains. Keep in mind also that part of your journey through Hoenn will take you past volcanic areas and through an actual desert, so be sure to wear sunscreen and hydrate yourself.

Sinnoh, by contrast, is a far cooler region. Some areas are perpetually covered with snow, and the southernmost parts of Sinnoh rarely reach temperatures above 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Jackets, long-sleeved shirts, and pants are highly recommended, and consider bringing a warm coat if you plan on fully exploring Mt. Coronet and other northerly points. Additionally, some parts of Sinnoh are wetter than others. While traversing these, keep in mind that denim retains moister far better than other materials, so jeans are ill-advised (as wearing wet jeans can cool your body temperature to dangerous degrees, especially as you sleep in the cooler Sinnohan wilderness).

Unova is similar to Kanto and Johto in that it also experiences four seasons, but it tends to be somewhat warmer and dryer (and dustier…) than the others. Part of this is due to the giant desert taking up a large portion of the region, and other parts are due to the fact that Castelia and Nimbasa have the very strange ability of leaving anyone who passes through them with the distinct feeling of being covered in film. Long sleeves, pants, and walking shoes that are suitable for a large amount of use on concrete are ideal. (Yes, even through the Unovan desert. There are sandstorms there, and as such, you will likely regret leaving any part of you unprotected. On that note, pack goggles if traveling to this part of the region.) Also, be aware that the outer edges of the region are swampier and full of more coastline than Central Unova, so bring an extra pair of socks.

Kalos likewise is a more temperate region, but it shares many similarities with Sinnoh. Parts of it (namely Snowbelle and the areas surrounding Dendemille) are perpetually covered with snow, but other than that, Kalos is full of coastline, marshland, and forests, while the average temperature may be comparable to a sunny autumn day. Long sleeves and pants are likewise advisable, and a coat is essential for the more wintry areas (especially Route 17).

Finally, Alola is a highly tropical region and famous for being such. Its key attractions for trainers include lush rainforests, volcanoes, seaside caves, and plenty of coastline, as well as the perpetually snowy Mount Lanakila. Additionally, while most days are sunny, it’s not unusual to be caught up in a heavy tropical downpour, especially during the monsoon season. Wear clothing that will keep you cool but always keep a poncho close at hand. A coat is advisable if scaling Mount Lanakila, but it’s better to keep this in storage until you absolutely need it, as the rest of the region tends to be blistering hot. (Well, if you’re used to Johtonian temperatures, anyway.)

Otherwise, be sure to do your research into the region you’re visiting. Many trainers keep travel blogs to help newer crowds decide things such as what to pack, so it may be worth it to run a search on the region you’re considering.

Best of luck, new trainers!

I need advice. A wild absol has recently taken to hanging out in my back yard. It comes almost every day, and just sits there, looking at me. It doesn’t appear to be injured, and when I ask it what it wants it runs away, only to return the next day. If it’s trying to warn me of an impending disaster, it’s not very forthcoming about what that disaster is. It’s giving me both the willies and a reputation for being a jinx. I have no pokemon of my own to battle the thing with. What do I do?

Absol rarely are forthcoming, but take a good look at its body language to be sure.

If it looks concerned, worried, or deadly serious, keep an eye out for further activity. The more agitated it seems, the closer to disaster you are. Pay attention to it if it begins to bark or if it runs at you. You see, absol predict disaster; they don’t bring it. As such, when they appear before humans, what they’re actually doing is making an active attempt to warn or protect us. Thus, in a way, this absol may be keeping an eye on you because it knows there may be disaster in your future, but it’s not immediate. It will, however, take action and do everything it can to warn you away from danger if it senses that the threat is very close at hand. (Unless of course it’s a particularly sadistic absol … at which point keep an eye out for any excited behavior anyway.)

If, however, it looks relaxed, it simply feels that your yard is a safe place to sit, or it found a food source somewhere close to where you live. You may consider approaching it and offering to train it in this case (and if you do, be aware that you’re dealing with a wild pokémon and thus should do so cautiously), but otherwise, it’s really nothing to be concerned about.

Bill, what would you say if someone told you Celio might one day build a religion around you?

I’d say it’s not the first time someone’s insinuated that Celio’s loyalty is anything other than simple friendship (and perhaps a little misplaced admiration). Most people have Celio all wrong, in my opinion. Certainly, he’s a bit excitable whenever I’m around, but that’s perfectly normal whenever a person looks up to someone else, right? In any case, we’re just friends; I doubt it would escalate into anything else on either side. Celio is, after all, ultimately a rather down-to-earth, rational human being. Sometimes, he’s even more grounded than the rest of us.

But for the sake of covering everything (as it were), should anyone in the administrator community even think about forming a religion based on me, I would like them to know that they can do so over my dead body.

When my Kommo-o was a jangmo-o it lost pretty badly to a golisopod… since then it’s been extremely aggressive with wimpod and golisopod, going as far to attack my friends unsuspecting wimpod when they came over. What should I do about Kommo-os anger?

It’s important to note that this isn’t simply anger but rather aggression born from fear. The importance of this distinction is simple: if it were simply anger, then all you would need is to teach your kommo-o calming techniques. However, because there is clearly an element of fear to its behavior—or at least I gather that there is, judging by its reason for being aggressive towards a particular species—then you would need to address that fear specifically.

Granted, yes, it’s also important to help your kommo-o deal with its aggression in a positive manner by training him to calm on command (Tip: Use positive reinforcement to teach your kommo-o to heel. Reward your kommo-o each time you tell it to heel and it sits or otherwise remains still. Combine this with extra training to let out pent-up aggression), but that’s simply step one of a longer process.

Once your kommo-o learns how to heel and calm itself in high-stress situations, you’ll need to begin exposure therapy. It may be worth it to catch or breed your own wimpod to give your kommo-o regular exposure and thus consistent training; otherwise, set up a regular schedule with your friend. Either way, have your kommo-o interact with a wimpod in a comfortable setting. Begin with a short time period (and have the wimpod’s poké ball in hand) and be firm and quick about heel commands. Also be sure to reward kommo-o every time it holds back instead of outright attacks wimpod to reinforce the idea that it can have positive interactions with members of the wimpod line.

You’ll notice that I avoid telling you to help your kommo-o train and defeat a golisopod. While some trainers prefer doing this, the truth is that this avenue carries a lot of risks. It could help your kommo-o get over their latent fear of the wimpod line, yes … but it could also teach your kommo-o that wimpod and golisopod are easy to bully. It’s far safer to promote positive interactions and to help your kommo-o master its aggression.

Best of luck, anonymous!

Hey Bill I was hoping that you would be able to help me out. I recently started living in an apartment with roommates and my Murkrow keeps stealing one of my roommates stuff and harassing them whenever they are here. My Murkrow behaves around my other roommate and doesn’t steal her stuff its just my other roommate that Murkrow bothers.

There are two possible reasons why your murkrow is doing this. First, your roommate (we’ll call them Roommate A for now) may have more expensive or otherwise “shinier” objects than you or your other roommate (Roommate B). Second, your murkrow may consider Roommate A an easier target (which in itself has its own subset of possibilities: that your murkrow is entertained by Roommate A’s reaction or simply wants their attention).

Regardless of why it happens, there are a few things you and your roommate may wish to consider doing to stop this:

1. First and foremost, training is always a good place to start. Murkrow are intelligent, so sometimes, they can be right handfuls, but with patience and some positive reinforcement (say, presenting your murkrow with an object of your roommate’s and rewarding it every time it doesn’t immediately reach for that object), you may be able to instill good habits in your murkrow.

2. Second, you may wish to help Roommate A become acquainted with your murkrow. Like many pokémon, murkrow can tell when a human is uncomfortable with them, and dark-types especially enjoy using this to their advantage or amusement. Helping your roommate bond with your murkrow (for example, by sitting down with them and walking them through interactions) will help them become used to your pokémon and vice versa. Eventually, your murkrow will be less inclined to steal from your roommate, simply because the two will have bonded enough to see each other as equals—or at least enough for your murkrow to respect your roommate.

3. Or simply have your roommate lock their room and place an object too heavy for your murkrow to move (such as a cooler filled with heavy books) in front of their door.

Im a pokemon researcher, and I am currently studying on an island. I was flying around on my Staraptor, trying to get a better view of the area, when I came across a flock of Hoothoot. This doesnt sound exciting at first since Im near Johto, but to my suprise, all of the specimin were shiny! I at first assumed that perhaps the hoothoot living here were more pack like similar to mightyena, but i later discoved that all hoothoot on the island were shiny! Any idea on why?

As you likely know, shininess is determined by genetics, and in turn, genetics are governed by the basic principles of biological inheritance and natural selection. That is, if two individuals both have a certain trait, then there is a certain chance that their offspring will also have it. The offspring, in turn, has a chance of passing that trait to their offspring, and so on and so forth.

In an area with a larger pool of eligible mating partners—such as the Johtonian mainland, for example—the frequency of shiny individuals is kept low because, as shininess is a rare trait to begin with, the likelihood of two hoothoot with the shiny trait is lower than the likelihood of two hoothoot without. 

However, islands are isolated communities, which means they’re considerably more restrictive when it comes to eligible breeding pools, and thus, it’s far easier for two individuals with the shiny gene to mate. If they pass their genes on to their offspring, that offspring enters the mating pool and, in turn, has a chance of passing their shiny gene on to their offspring, even if their partner is not a carrier. If this is allowed to continue over many, many years, then soon enough, the traits for standard colorization ends up being bred out of the community, leaving only those who carry the gene for shininess.

In short, what you’re observing are the results of many, many years of natural selection at work, anonymous.

I work at a pokemon rehabilitation center, and one of our recent pokemon is an illegally obtained Alolan Vulpix, who is very young. I was never trained in caring for alolan pokemon, because of the fact that I’m stationed in Fiore. What does it need?

For the basics, you may wish to consult this post: http://bills-pokedex.tumblr.com/post/154749948831/what-are-different-care-methods-for-alolan-vulpix 

Essentially, caring for an Alolan vulpix is very similar to a standard vulpix; the only difference is in its temperature tolerance and how one cares for its coat. However, so long as you keep it cool and brush it daily (especially right around the time it blows out one coat for another), then it should be fine.

Meanwhile, be sure to care for its psychological needs. Illegally obtained pokémon often go through some form of trauma, either due to the abuse involved in being captured or in being “cared for” thereafter. Evaluate this vulpix’s psychological health as soon as possible, and if it seems it’s developed any nervous habits, be sure to take the appropriate steps in order to reestablish trust. Always place this vulpix in a comfortable environment, approach it slowly and with non-threatening gestures, and provide plenty of affection throughout its stay with you.

Best of luck, anonymous!