Tag: eevee

Any pokemon can decide that they dont want to evolve, but I’ve heard this is most common with Pikachu. Is this true and why? I’d have guessed it would be eevee because it has the biggest decision to make out of any pokemon.

It’s true, but no one is quite sure why, especially given the fact that no other pokémon with stone-based evolutions have similar aversions. Even when the evolution in question wouldn’t result in a massive power boost (as in the case with jigglypuff and clefairy), if given the choice of whether or not to evolve, those pokémon would jump at the chance to do so. For that reason, scientists believe that it doesn’t have anything to do with the stone itself.

Given how common evolution is in the pokémon world, it’s unlikely that it’s due to the fear of evolving, either. Certainly, some pokémon have a sense of trepidation about evolution, given how drastically it alters their form (and sometimes, by extension, their minds), but at the same time, most pokémon see evolution the same way we humans see growing up and becoming an adult. When you’re a small child, you look forward to that change and all the freedoms it represents. As an adult, it’s entirely possible to become disenchanted, but the point is, when you’re a child, you very likely dream about what it would be like to be an adult. So to a lower stage pokémon, being fully evolved represents freedom and power, and many pokémon that can evolve dream of that … except pikachu.

Personally, my theory is that it has a lot to do with the pokémon that don’t see evolution as a pleasant experience. Pikachu is certainly rare in that the opinion is prevalent among their species, but there are certain individuals in every species that openly resist evolution. In many of these cases, these individuals simply see themselves as being perfect as they are. Thus, to them, evolution in part forces changes they don’t want on them, but more importantly, it also represents giving in and admitting that they feel they need to change. You could even say that resisting evolution is an act of rebellion—a way of showing later-stage evolutions that they can reach their potential without needing to change a thing about them.

As for eevee, the urge to resist evolution is actually rare because of that choice. To an eevee, evolution is a massive part of their identities; being an eevee is merely the introduction stage before they find out for themselves who they are. Some eevee know right away which evolution they wish to be, and thus, much of their time may be spent preparing for evolution. Others who don’t quite know take pride in the fact that they have a choice. They take their time deciding, and they value that choice highly. Certainly, there are a few individuals who find the abundance of choices highly intimidating, but these individuals are by and large rare. Overall, eevee generally find the choice itself to be both exciting and a vital part of being a member of their evolutionary family. A cultural identity, if you will.

Bill, my vaporeon just had its litter, 5 healthy little eevee babies. The only problem is, one of the babies is shiny and the mother is rejecting it! What do I do to ensure my silver baby stays healthy and alive?

As a warning, Bill, “donate it to me” is not an appropriate answer.—LH

You wound me, Lanette. You wound me. —Bill

Unfortunately, this means you’ll need to care for the puppy yourself. It’s very rare (and difficult) to get the mother to adopt her pup after she’s rejected it, and in some cases, she may even attack the puppy if you try to reintroduce it.

That having been said, there are three things you need to monitor for immediately after birth if you haven’t figure it out already: hypothermia, low blood sugar, and dehydration. If your puppy is shivering, that’s a good thing. If it isn’t and if its nose is losing color, that would be hypothermia. If your puppy’s nose and gums are wet, then it’s fine, but if you feel a sticky, mucous membrane in its mouth, then dehydration is setting in. Finally, if your puppy is more lethargic than usual or if it’s convulsing, then its blood sugar is dangerously low. The latter two conditions warrant a trip to your local pokémon center, but it’s important to know that there are ways to prevent your eevee from getting to this state.

First, heat. It’s important to stabilize your eevee’s body temperature within the first week. Use heat lamps and hot water bottles to keep your eevee warm; blankets shouldn’t be used in addition to this, as it’s very easy to induce heat stress in your puppy (which is just as bad as hypothermia … just less difficult to achieve). Try to keep your eevee’s environment at around 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) on the first two days, then drop the temperature down by a degree each day after that until your eevee can survive on its own body heat.

Feeding, meanwhile, is a bit more difficult to resolve, but it’s vital for not only the other two issues I’ve mentioned above but also the development of your eevee’s immune system. If you have another female mammalian pokémon that’s of breeding age, try to get it to nurse from her. If not, try to find a breeder or a friend with one such pokémon and ask them for milk, or purchase raw miltank milk or specially crafted eevee formula. The latter may be the easiest option, actually, as it’s readily available at all pokémarts and contains all the vitamins, minerals, and sugars a growing eevee needs. It just doesn’t quite provide the biological component that helps with a young eevee’s immune system, so some trainers prefer the more organic method if they can find it.

All young eevee need to be fed about once every two to three hours. (If it’s healthy, it will cry to let you know when it’s time.) If not feeding from another pokémon, you’ll need to give it its milk or formula from a bottle. Be sure to sterilize the bottle before loading by boiling it for five to ten minutes in water. Dry thoroughly, then fill it. Finally, warm the bottle gently until it reaches a temperature of 95 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (35 to 37.8 degrees Celsius)—or human body temperature, in other words. If a drop of it applied to the back of your wrist is too hot for you, then it’s too hot for your eevee.

Once your eevee reaches about two to three weeks, you can begin to wean it. Feed it milk in a flat dish to teach it how to eat from a bowl for the first two weeks, then give it specially made eevee puppy kibble (available at any pokémart) in addition to the milk for the next two. Decrease the amount of milk you give it each day after you begin feeding it solid foods. After a month, you can switch completely to the kibble and water. (Do not feed it anything but kibble until about two months.)

Finally, one last thing not that many people think of: getting it to relieve itself. Eevee don’t really know this at birth; rather, their mothers lick their stomachs to get them to go. You can simulate this behavior by rubbing your eevee’s stomach after feeding. Do this for two to three weeks after birth (or, in other words, as you feed it milk or formula), or it simply won’t relieve itself.

Make it past a couple of months, and your eevee should be able to survive on its own, just like any other eevee. But it’s important to remember that until then, it’s a good idea to avoid reintroducing this one to its mother. You may be able to expose it to its brothers and sisters, but the mother may attack your shiny eevee on sight. It’s a leftover instinct from the wild—behavior designed to discourage a shiny from coming back and putting the rest of the litter in danger by drawing in a predator, basically. After the eevee can survive on its own and begins mastering its attacks, the mother may take an ambivalent stance towards her puppy, but it’s unlikely that she’ll ever see it as hers. It’s up to you to give that hatchling the love and affection it needs to grow.

Best of luck, anonymous.

Hey Bill! Is there anyway that emotional based eeveelutions could transform into two different forms at the same time? What if say- during the night, your eevee has max friendship and love ? Could it turn into a Sylbreon?

As exciting as that might be, anonymous, unfortunately no. Evolution is a full-on transformation into a set form: there is no such thing as a hybrid evolution (in this sense, anyway—some people argue that slowbro and slowking are hybrid evolutions, but that’s another story) for the same reason hybrid hatchlings don’t exist. They’re two separate genetic entities, in other words, defined by very specific criteria. Think of it like a light switch, in other words, wherein the conditions for the state of being “on” are completely different from those of being “off.”

That having been said, an eevee in this scenario would evolve based on which emotion is stronger. If they feel generally happier, they’ll evolve into either espeon or umbreon, depending on the time of day. (Eevee will evolve into espeon if they’re exposed to any form of sunlight, including the little amount they get at sunrise and sunset, incidentally.) If they feel a stronger sense of belonging and physical comfort, they’ll be sylveon instead. Usually, one emotion is stronger than the other (either happiness for their trainer or pack or the feeling of being loved by their trainer or pack), but if the feeling is exactly equal, they’ll remain as eevee until one emotion outweighs the other.

Unless, of course, the eevee has chosen its particular form. If an eevee at equilibrium actually wants to be an umbreon instead of a sylveon or vice-versa, then they’ll will themselves towards that form.

This is, of course, also not taking into consideration environmental factors (such as proximity to a moss-covered rock), but seeing as you’ve specified emotion-based evolutions for eevee, I’ll keep it at this.

My Eevee originally wanted to become a Sylveon, but recently he resisted evolution so I let my Espeon talk to him to ask why and he now wants to become a Jolteon to impress another trainer’s Flaaffy he just met (literally, just met her yesterday). Can I discourage him from making such a hasty decision? She has shown no interest in him and I doubt the trainer is going to stay in town for much longer. He seems to just be blinded by “love”

Oh dear.

First and foremost, yes, you can discourage him from going through with this decision. But first, ensure that he has absolutely no way of coming in contact with thunderstone. Remove any source of it from your possession to ensure that your eevee doesn’t get impatient and sneak off with it himself.

Once you succeed in doing that, your best chance is to wait until the flaaffy and her trainer leave. Eevee can be stubborn when it comes to mating partners, so you’ll need to be patient. If it looks like they won’t leave for quite some time, however, work with the flaaffy’s trainer if you can to let your eevee continue with his attempts to woo her. Sometimes, getting rejected repeatedly with increasing fervor on the flaaffy’s part will trigger a decrease of interest in your eevee. Of course, do keep an eye on both pokémon to ensure that the flaaffy doesn’t do too much damage to your eevee.

Also, use the fact that you have an espeon to your advantage. As a fellow member of the eevee family, your espeon is in the best position to explain evolution to your eevee, as they will know how grave the decision is for their kind. If it looks like your eevee is growing restless to evolve, if he’s being particularly ornery over the denial of a thunderstone, or if his interest in flaaffy refuses to wane after a few days, have your espeon sit down and communicate with your eevee on what it means to evolve. If you have any other evolved pokémon, allow them to join in on the discussion.

If your espeon can’t convince him, however, try sitting down with him and explaining to him yourself that evolution is a process that should only be undertaken for oneself, if one is absolutely certain that the form they’ve chosen is right (as it’s irreversible and all). I would only try this as an absolute last resort to reason with him, as it sounds as if your eevee is set in his decision. Allow for time to whittle away at his interest first and then try to speak with him about it.

If, even after going through all of these options, your eevee still wishes to evolve into a jolteon for the sake of love, consider finding him a potential mating partner of a type that he can’t possibly evolve into (as far as we know at the moment). Glameow, for example. In the best case scenario with this option, your eevee will become too distracted by his new partner to care about the flaaffy. In the worst case scenario, you’ll be the discoverer of a new eeveelution.

Good luck, anonymous!

So, I have an Eevee who I would like to evolve into an Umbreon which fits my team best, but after it wouldn’t evolve for a long time with all requirements met, I eventually discovered the Eevee was resisting evolution because he wants to become a Flareon. Is there a way I could at least try to persuade him to become an Umbreon? In the end however, I would never force him if it is something he is that strongly against.

I would hate to tell you this, anonymous, but very likely not, especially if your eevee feels so strongly about a certain evolution that he would resist doing so naturally, despite meeting all of the conditions for it. You could certainly try to outline his options in a tactful manner, but be sure to avoid comparing umbreon to flareon (as this may inadvertently cause him to feel that you would be disappointed in him if he chose not to evolve that way) and emphasize that you would support his evolution, regardless of which form he feels the most comfortable in. If anything, use this opportunity to test the strength of his convictions and ensure that he’s thought his decision all the way through, not because you wish to ensure he’s made the right choice with regards to his evolutionary form but instead because you wish to ensure he’s made the right choice in choosing to evolve at all.

This is because, ultimately, evolution is a permanent thing. While you’ve said you wouldn’t force your eevee to change his mind, this is something I feel is important for trainers to keep in mind generally speaking, as some trainers are not as conscious of their pokémon’s wishes as others. But when you get to the heart of the matter, evolution cannot be reversed, meaning the choice to evolve and the choice of which form to evolve into will affect a pokémon for the rest of their lives. That pokémon must be completely comfortable with both decisions before undergoing the process, or else the process itself will become a traumatic experience, either during or once the realization of what it means settles in. There have been cases of pokémon evolving to the “wrong” evolution (it happens most frequently with members of the oddish line for some reason), only to become far more aggressive once evolved.

So for the sake of your eevee’s sanity, I would suggest trusting his decision if he’s certain of it. If your eevee would be happiest being a flareon and you need an umbreon, there are certainly other options to take as a compromise, including allowing your eevee to evolve and then adopting a second eevee who would be far more open to the idea of filling that niche. Eevee and its evolutions are social pokémon when tamed anyway, so fitting a flareon and an umbreon on the same team can actually produce emotional benefits.

Inspired by one of your recent asks where you mention how some pokemon may inherit traits from their parents, I decided to breed one of my female Pikachu with an Eevee and a Meowth (no cruelty involved!) to see what the results would be. The newborn Pichu did not have any dramatic changes, but when I evolved both of them into Pikachu, the changes showed through a lot more. What do you think?

Bill: This is a perfect example of the concept at work. It’s very true that newborn pokémon may not exhibit characteristics at that early of an age, but as you’ve seen with your pikachu, those traits eventually become pronounced as the pokémon grow. Congratulations on both of the new additions to your family.

(I must also compliment you on the pikachu fathered by an eevee. It looks like it has a wondrously luxurious coat!)

Which Eeveelution would you recommend a trainer beginning their journey in Sinnoh should aim for? I’m sure some are easier for beginners than others.

All of them. Just get a full team of eeveelutions. Rotate out a couple as needed, but just put together a full assortment of eeveelutions. You will regret nothing.

Edit: I have just been informed by my editor that this is “an inadequate response” and that I should “take legitimate questions seriously, Bill,” so allow me to revise the above statement.

Let’s assume that you’re either starting with an eeveelution of your choice or that you’re starting with an eevee that you have the option of evolving using any means possible soon after you receive it. (We can also assume that “any means possible” includes the method needed to obtain a sylveon, which evolves via a technique most easily performed in Kalos.) Let’s also assume that you intend on tackling the traditional order of the Sinnoh League circuit, which begins in Oreburgh and ends in Sunyshore.

That all said, which you choose depends entirely on your battling style and what the rest of your team will be by the time you reach Eterna. If you’re the sort who battles according to type advantages, the very first gym in the circuit is run by Roark, who is a rock-type specialist. Therefore, the easiest eeveelutions to have with you would be vaporeon, leafeon, or possibly glaceon, whereas the most challenging eeveelutions to have would be flareon and jolteon. However, the second gym is run by grass-type specialist Gardenia, which means glaceon will have the overall best advantage for the first two gyms, followed by leafeon (which has a defensive advantage against its own type).

By the time you clear these gyms, you should gather together enough pokémon that the rest of the circuit will depend less on what type your eevee has become, although it certainly doesn’t hurt to take these into consideration. Which is to say after the second gym, glaceon may struggle with Maylene unless you’ve obtained support in the form of a psychic- or flying-type (of which there are numerous options in Sinnoh), as well as Byron (who should really be approached with fighting-types anyway). Vaporeon will face far more struggles thanks to Pastoria’s water-type gym and Sunyshore’s electric-type gym, and leafeon should be brought nowhere near Snowpoint’s ice-type gym. Again, though, all of these have counters in the form of Sinnoh’s native pokémon.

On the other hand, if we consider average battling capabilities, espeon has an excellent distribution of speed, offensive, and defensive abilities, making it one of the easier eeveelutions to train. Taking into consideration the fact that its type is neutral to the first two gyms and effective against the third, espeon may be your best choice, but you’ll encounter difficulties against ghost-type specialist Fantina, as well as against Elite Four members Lucian and Aaron. Alternatively, there’s jolteon, which is slightly faster than espeon, but it’s slightly weaker, it lacks physical defenses, and it will run into trouble with not only Roark’s partial-ground-types but also Byron’s, as well as Volkner’s electric-types.

In my personal opinion, however, it’s much better to go with a more defensive pokémon if you’re starting out than one that can hit quicker and faster, which means either flareon or umbreon would be ideal choices. It should be noted, though, that although flareon excels in defending against special attacks, it does not do so well in defending against physical ones, which is a problem when going up against Roark’s gym. However, if trained well, it would be an effective team member, especially in light of the fact that fire-types are rare in the Sinnoh region, whereas many of the obstacles you may face might require the assistance of one. Meanwhile, while umbreon has the best overall defenses of any of the eeveelutions (never mind type advantages against both Fantina and Lucian), it’s also the slowest and weakest offensively. However, umbreon’s defenses are so impressive that the trick with training it is simply to chip away at an opponent while they struggle to defeat you.

As for sylveon, it’s not exactly a terrible choice at all, but it should be noted that a fairy-type would struggle against Byron, Flint, and part of Aaron’s team. On the other hand, it would excel against Maylene, and it boasts decent—but not necessarily excellent—offensive and defensive capabilities (but rather unimpressive speed).

In short, for a beginner, it depends. If you focus on type advantages, leafeon may be the best choice, all things considered. Espeon and flareon are the best for those interested in offensive pokémon, and umbreon is the best in terms of defensive trainers. Get a jolteon if you wish for something speedy.

But really, all of them are excellent choices.

Bill what is it about the Eevee line that made you so interested in them? Cuteness? The branched evolutions? And Lanette is the answer that he gives an honest one as far as you can tell?

Well, I must confess that part of it is personal. My mother was a kimono girl, and she had kept her espeon from her days as such. So in truth, I have grown up alongside one of eevee’s evolutions, and many of my fondest memories (as well as those that are … not-so-fond, admittedly) involve that very espeon or the eevee kits she mothered.

Additionally, yes, part of it is for scientific curiosity, as while the general idea of how eevee can have so many alternative evolutions is known, there is still a vast body of questions concerning its genetic code and how many evolutions it actually has. For example, scientists are discovering new evolutions every few years, and we are still not certain as to whether or not eevee can possess an evolution that boasts more than one type.

Not only that, but also, the fact that it accepts evolution so readily makes it an ideal subject for evolutionary scientists in much the same way as the fruit fly has been the subject of much genetic research. Eevee alone has unlocked or may unlock many of the secrets to pokémon evolution that had plagued researchers for centuries.

And finally, how can anyone resist such a cute button nose or those fuzzy ears and tail? Honestly.

All of this is true, although I still question my partner’s opinions. I, for one, can resist eevee’s “cute button nose” and “fuzzy ears and tail” quite easily. Skitty and clefairy are far, far more charming. —LH

I’m sure they are if you enjoy having all your wires chewed up or covered with clefairy’s crystalline spit. —Bill