The Geodude Line

bills-pokedex:

Geodude
The Rock Pokémon
Type: Rock/Ground
Official Registration #: 74
Entry: A stony pokémon native to mountainous areas, particularly those of the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh regions. At rest, geodude look exactly like ordinary boulders, to the point where it’s not uncommon for even the most careful hikers to trip over them. It should be noted that not only will geodude become violently angry if you trip over them or their brethren, but also, geodude are extremely common pokémon to the aforementioned mountainous regions. To any trainers currently journeying through the mountains, the author wishes you godspeed.

Graveler
The Rock Pokémon
Type: Rock/Ground
Official Registration #: 75
Entry: The evolved form of geodude, by battle experience. Wild graveler subsist entirely on rocks. It will consume at least a ton of these on a daily basis, usually while on the move from the peak of its native mountains to the base and back again. Unfortunately, graveler are not particularly careful pokémon, and they, too, have difficulty distinguishing ordinary rocks from the surrounding geodude. On the positive side, graveler are capable of managing geodude populations singlehandedly, so at the very least, geodude overpopulation has never been nor will ever be an issue to the human race.

Golem
The Megaton Pokémon
Type: Rock/Ground
Official Registration #: 76
Entry: The evolved form of graveler, via trading. This boulder-like pokémon’s shell is so hard it can withstand high-powered blasts, including the ones it generates itself. For this reason, it prefers traveling in this manner, propelling itself from mountainside to mountainside through the force generated by Explosion. A golem falling from the sky is not an uncommon occurrence in the harsh environment of the Johtonian mountains, so to any trainers currently journeying through that particular region, the author wishes you godspeed especially.

Geodude (Alola form)
The Rock Pokémon
Type: Rock/Electric
Official Registration #: 74
Entry: A rock-like pokémon native to the rugged, desert-like terrains of Ula’ula Island. If you accidentally step on an Alolan geodude sleeping on the ground, you’ll hear a crunching sound and feel a shock ripple through your entire body. Followed by, of course, something considerably worse, as you would have stepped on a live geodude.

Graveler (Alola form)
The Rock Pokémon
Type: Rock/Electric
Official Registration #: 75
Entry: The evolved form of Alolan geodude, by battle experience. When two Alolan graveler fight each other, it fills their surroundings with flashes of light and sound. Some people call this display the “fireworks of the earth.” Other, far more sensible people call it “oh gods oh gods we’re all going to die.”

Golem (Alola form)
The Megaton Pokémon
Type: Rock/Electric
Official Registration #: 76
Entry: The evolved form of Alolan graveler, via trading. An ornery pokémon, the Alolan golem is known to fire boulders charged with electricity to drive intruders on its territory away. If no boulders in its general vicinity can be found, it may switch to Alolan geodude. Either way, no pokémon says “[EXPLETIVE DELETED] you” to flying-types and vulnerable sacks of meat (such as and especially humans) more enthusiastically than the Alolan golem, apparently.

Pikachu

bills-pokedex:

Pichu
The Tiny Mouse Pokémon
Type: Electric
Official Registration #: 172
Entry: Trainers take caution—although cute and the first stage in a line of formidable battlers, pichu do not have a full mastery over their electrical powers until evolution. This is not to say that they aren’t that strong. On the contrary: they have the ability to generate voltages on par with their evolved forms. What they cannot do is avoid releasing said voltage when startled, happy, or simply standing in an empty room doing absolutely nothing, and suffice to say, this is why many of the reports of electrocution among Johtonians have to do with this very pokémon.

Pikachu
The Mouse Pokémon
Type: Electric
Official Registration #: 25
Entry: The evolved form of pichu, in response to closeness with its trainer. Due to its adorable appearance, its intelligence, and its penchant for doing tricks for treats, pikachu has become an extremely popular choice for a pet. However, should you wish to keep one, never forget that pikachu are still potentially dangerous electric rodents. This is not just a note concerning its ability to generate thousands of volts of electricity, nor is it simply a warning concerning its tendency to release electricity during thunderstorms or upon waking up each morning. It is also a note that this rodent can and will chew through wires if left unattended, and chargers compatible with Leppa-brand laptops run anywhere from ¥3500 to ¥9400 each.

Raichu
The Mouse Pokémon
Type: Electric
Official Registration #: 26
Entry: The evolved form of pikachu, by exposure to thunder stone. A raichu’s tail acts as its grounding wire. When a raichu stores too much electricity in its electrical sacs, it plants its tail and discharges electricity directly into the ground. This is vital to the well-being of an individual raichu, as not only do they gather electricity from their surroundings, but they also grow increasingly aggressive as their electrical stores grow. In that sense, a raichu is much like a drunken relative on Christmas, the sort who gets increasingly offensive the more alcohol he consumes until he needs to be escorted to a safe room to discharge a long and barely intelligible rant. …Not that this writer has seen his father do any of this at any point in his life.

Raichu (Alola form)
The Mouse Pokémon
Type: Electric/Psychic
Official Registration #: 26
Entry: The evolved form of pikachu, by exposure to thunder stone within the region of Alola. It’s said that the catalyst that enables a pikachu to attain this rounder, more spiritually-inclined form upon evolution is the consumption of Alolan pancakes, which are fluffier and spicier than any other pancake in the world. If this seems at all ridiculous to you, reader, then clearly, you have yet to try Alolan pancakes. They are, in the author’s opinion, an experience.

For the record, Bill is referring to literal pancakes. —LH

Of course. The figurative sort of pancake people from Goldenrod know about is the Unovan pancake, which, I assure you, I have never tried. —Bill

Well, that’s shocking. —LH

…no pun intended, oh my God, Bill. —LH

Zeraora

Zeraora
The Thunderclap Pokémon
Type: Electric
Official Registration #: 807
Entry: Although it isn’t actually the god or guardian of anything, unlike many other legendary beings, it is still renowned for both its power and viciousness. It is known for lunging at opponents from seemingly nowhere at blinding speeds, wreathed in lightning, to utterly eviscerate its targets with a combination of lightning-fast hand-to-hand combat techniques, mystical powers, and sheer brute force. Yet despite the amount of violence it displays, it still has gained a mass of devoted fans throughout the world, seemingly overnight.

Now that the author has gotten that lengthy and unsolicited tangent about half the cast of Rayquazaball Z off his chest, Zeraora is an aggressive, cat-like mythical pokémon supposedly native to the region of Alola.

Electrike and Manectric

bills-pokedex:

Electrike
The Lightning Pokémon
Type: Electric
Official Registration #: 309
Entry: This small, puppy-like pokémon stores static electricity in its fur, which it uses both as added defense and as a means to stimulate its leg muscles. Once its legs are charged, electrike is capable of reaching speeds faster than the human eye … making games of fetch between tamed specimens and humans particularly quick. Be warned, however—upon each successful fetch, electrike enjoys praise and belly rubs, the latter of which has led to an unfortunate number of electrocution incidents in electrike’s native region of Hoenn.

Manectric
The Discharge Pokémon
Type: Electric
Official Registration #: 310
Entry: The evolved form of electrike, by battle experience. In the wild, this dog-like pokémon is rare and frequently avoids humans, but it is not necessarily difficult to find. This is because its pointed main attracts lightning, which it collects in its fur and discharges constantly into the atmosphere around it. Unfortunately for manectric, such discharges lead to equally unfortunate consequences to both human and general surrounding alike, and more than one forest fire and electrocution have been attributed to this pokémon.

Mega Manectric
The Discharge Pokémon
Type: Electric
Official Registration #: 310+
Entry: The advanced form of manectric, via manectite. The fur on this mega evolved pokémon can store hundreds of thousands of volts of electricity. It is therefore not a spiky thunder doggo; please stop trying to pet it for youtube clicks.

The Mareep Line

bills-pokedex:

Mareep
The Wool Pokémon
Type: Electric
Official Registration #: 179
Entry: A two-foot-tall, sheep-like pokémon native to the fields of Johto. This shy and docile pokémon stores electricity in its fluffy wool. The more electricity it stores, the more its wool puffs out. Eventually, the wool falls off naturally, and at that point, it can be collected and spun. If used immediately, mareep yarn can serve as a handy natural battery for small devices. However, if allowed to discharge its electricity through a grounder over a period of two days, it can be used as an adequate (albeit slightly glowing) substitute for yarn made of sheep wool. It is thus favored by crafters for its brilliant properties, as mareep wool can add shine and glitter to most knitting projects. Such as, for example, a … rather charming autumn sweater a grandmother sends to her grandson who doesn’t have the heart to tell her he hasn’t worn sweaters in years.

Flaaffy
The Wool Pokémon
Type: Electric
Official Registration #: 180
Entry: The evolved form of mareep, by battle experience. A two-and-a-half-foot-tall sheep-like pokémon native to the fields of northern Johto. Also: a sheep half-covered in coarse, electrified wool and half-covered in rubbery, non-conductive skin. Also: apparently what androids dream of, the author has been told.

Ampharos
The Light Pokémon
Type: Electric
Official Registration #: 181
Entry: The evolved form of flaaffy, by battle experience. Although ampharos loses its evolutionary line’s signature wool (except in its mega-evolved form, in which it gains long, flowing locks), it gains a tail tipped with a jewel capable of emitting brilliant light. This light is so bright it can be seen from space if wielded by a healthy (and perhaps angry) ampharos. Knowing this, the people of ancient, seafaring civilizations often used ampharos, both to communicate over long distances and to guide ships around rocky shores. It is therefore one of the few pokémon that has ever guided entire naval fleets using the power of its rear end.

Mega Ampharos
The Light Pokémon
Type: Electric/Dragon
Official Registration #: 181+
Entry: The advanced form of ampharos, via ampharosite. Upon mega evolution, ampharos gains not only an affinity for the dragon element and a boost in power but also a long, luxurious mane of wool. Additionally, it gains the ability Mold Breaker, which some believe is actually the result of the sheer power of the glory of its godly locks.

That is most definitely not true … although yes, ampharos’s mane is rather impressive. —LH

Yo Bill! So, I live in a surburan area just outside Hearthome city and my little girl has been having some trouble coming home after school. Normally she walks home, but recently she’s been having trouble with a trio of mischievous murkrow trying to peck at her head and scaring her. I was planning on getting her a pokemon because her birthday is coming up. Any ideas on what could be a good choice for scaring off those murkrow?

For a young girl living in Sinnoh, electric-types are the easiest and best choice. Above all else, you’ll want something that can attack from a distance—not necessarily with the intent of hurting the murkrow so much as scaring them off. Electric-types not only have that capability and a well-known type advantage against flying-types such as murkrow but also the ability to spread their attacks if necessary. That is, while a Thunderbolt can strike a single target, with practice, it can also catch multiple birds with one shot, unlike Rock Slide (which requires a considerable amount of accuracy training) or even Ice Beam (which concentrates the ice element into a single beam … never mind the fact that not that many pokémon near Hearthome can utilize it).

As for which pokémon, specifically, to use, to the south of Hearthome is a rather famous pokémon collector named Mr. Backlot. His garden is open to the public, and it’s routinely stocked with different pokémon he wishes to share with others. You’ll be able to find pikachu and pichu there on a daily basis, both of whom may be excellent choices, as well as plusle and minun as part of the rotational stock. Alternatively, although they’re fairy- and normal-types, other stock pokémon such as porygon, clefairy, and castform may also be excellent choices with the right TMs. If, however, none of these will work or if the garden is closed (as it sometimes is, being on private property and all), pachirisu may also be an option for you, so long as you’re willing to cross Mt. Coronet.

Best of luck, anonymous!

The Grubbin Line

Grubbin
The Larva Pokémon
Type: Bug
Official Registration #: 736
Entry: This small, larva-like pokémon lives underground in tropical regions, particularly wherever electric-type pokémon are found. It spends most of its life burrowing beneath the surface of the earth, coming close to emerging only when it feeds. During its feeding times, it will dig upwards until its long, strong pincers emerge from the earth to clamp down around a root so that its mouthparts can bite down and drink the sap from its target. Unfortunately, grubbin often have some level of difficulty telling the difference between a young tree and a being of equal weight and stature (specifically, humans), so trainers may wish to be cautious when traveling through known grubbin fields.

Charjabug
The Battery Pokémon
Type: Bug/Electric
Official Registration #: 737
Entry: The evolved form of grubbin, by battle experience. Like many pupa pokémon, charjabug is a largely immobile pokémon. It spends most of its time buried just beneath the surface of the earth in very close proximity to trees, which it will continue to feed on throughout the duration of this stage. The sap and detritus it consumes is then converted into electricity, which it stores as it prepares to evolve into its final form. Because it spends much of its time preparing for this evolution, charjabug is fairly easy to find and dig up. Once dug up, it’s an extremely handy to keep on hand, as one only has to give it one end of a USB cable to charge their pokégears and other devices. Of course, this is also an excellent way to lose a USB cable, as charjabug don’t always understand the difference between a wire and food, but at least by that point, your gear should be fully charged. Besides, what sort of unfortunate soul travels without backup cables these days?

Vikavolt
The Stag Beetle Pokémon
Type: Bug/Electric
Official Registration #: 738
Entry: The evolved form of charjabug, by battle experience when in an area rich with magnetic minerals. Like its cousin and natural rival pinsir, vikavolt possesses a pair of huge jaws, which it relies upon for its highly potent attacks. However, unlike pinsir, these jaws are primarily used to channel electricity into strong blasts, and as such, electricity is often seen arcing between these jaws, especially shortly before it attacks. Needless to say, either way, just like with its fellow beetle pokémon, it is a highly ill-advised idea to stick one’s hand between these jaws, even if it’s for science and the sake of measuring the exact voltage a vikavolt puts out. Just assume that the voltage is a relatively high number (because it certainly feels like such).

Hi! I’m an electric type gym leader, and I have a Luxray, Ampharos, Jolteon, and Manetric. Thing is, I need a starter team of three Pokemon for newer trainers. Do you have any ideas for electric type Pokemon that are easy to raise? (If possible, ones that weren’t mentioned already) Thanks so much!

Honestly, mareep and electrike are excellent choices and could be easy to obtain if the members of your team have breeding partners. Mareep are a rather timid pokémon and thus are considered to be easy to tackle for newer trainers. (Novices in Johto tend to train against these, wooper, and bellsprout, for example, along with the usual pidgey, hoothoot, sentret, and rattata offerings.) Electrike, meanwhile, is speedier and a bit more aggressive, but it’s just loyal enough to understand what you mean if you order it to hold back.

Other than that, it would largely depend on which region you’re living in. While rules vary from league to league, most gym leaders seem to prefer building teams of pokémon that are native to their region. Do research into what’s available in your location and compare the average battling capabilities of each available species. Take into account both physical and special prowess, as well as what moves they can naturally learn and their special abilities.

As for which is easy to raise, they all have their individual strengths and drawbacks, but it may be important to note the following:

1. Pikachu can sometimes be a handful for unprepared trainers, as they can be both capricious and ornery at times, particularly to trainers they don’t trust.

2. While grubbin (which is not an electric-type but evolves into one) is one of the easier ones to evolve, charjabug only evolves when exposed to strong magnetic fields and thus may be difficult to raise to maturity as a result.

3. If the reason why you’re preparing a new team is because many of your challengers are novices, keep in mind that your trainers may only know the very basics of battling and type matching. Hence, pokémon such as emolga or those that can resist most types of damage (such as togedemaru and members of the magnemite line) may prove to be a bit too difficult for your average challenger.

4. Voltorb don’t learn Self-Destruct until they’re old enough to understand that using it freely is dangerous, but this doesn’t mean they won’t use Sonic Boom or Spark more often than they should.

Best of luck, anonymous!

Tapu KoKo entry please!

Why stop at just Tapu Koko?

Tapu Koko
The Land Spirit Pokémon
Type: Electric/Fairy
Official Registration #: 785
Entry: The guardian spirit of Alola’s Melemele Island. Supposedly the bravest of the four Alolan guardians, Tapu Koko is known for observing islanders and bestowing blessings upon worthy trainers. These trainers are then encouraged to undertake the island challenge, a type of journey specific to Alola, geared towards the training and selection of each element’s next kahuna. While Tapu Koko tends to be the most active tapu in selecting such individuals, it is also known for being the most capricious when it comes to deciding which among them actually becomes a kahuna. For this reason, trainers on Alola may start out on a journey to become strong enough to represent their island and elemental specialties, but they could very well find their lives veering off into an entirely different direction thanks to one of Tapu Koko’s sudden change of heart. Not that the author is complaining about such a process, of course. We did get Molayne out of such an arrangement. As well as a wealth of fantasy YA novels that seem to keep the editor happy.

Once again, Bill, I don’t judge you for your literary tastes. —LH

Tapu Lele
The Land Spirit Pokémon
Type: Psychic/Fairy
Official Registration #: 786
Entry: The guardian spirit of Alola’s Akala Island. It is said that this legendary pokémon scatters glittering scales as it moves and that these scales have the ability to restore one’s health upon physical contact. The latter is highly useful because as with all adorable, pink pokémon described on this blog, Tapu Lele is also infamous for being fantastically cruel and sadistic, and it’s both telepathic and capable of warping the fabric of space to create a strange and highly dangerous pocket dimension around its immediate area. In other words, you will very likely need these scales as Tapu Lele uses its psychic abilities to thoroughly destroy you.

Tapu Bulu
The Land Spirit Pokémon
Type: Grass/Fairy
Official Registration #: 787
Entry: The guardian spirit of Alola’s Ula’ula Island. Supposedly, this pokémon is extraordinarily lazy. Rather than attack an opponent head-on, it simply wills the vegetation around it to grow and ensnare the challenger before it delivers a devastating, close-range blow itself. Honestly, though, the author is intrigued by the fact that some people of Alola consider this to be evidence of Tapu Bulu’s laziness. If anything, it’s a brilliant strategy, and given how much effort the author has put into trying to will plants to do his bidding, he can safely say Tapu Bulu’s battle strategy is really much harder than it looks.

Not a good harvest, Bill? —LH

Oh, the garden was perfectly fine this year. It’s a certain half-plant, half-toad starter with a penchant for eating my crops after I explicitly tell him not to that’s the problem. —Bill

Tapu Fini
The Land Spirit Pokémon
Type: Water/Fairy
Official Registration #: 788
Entry: The guardian spirit of Alola’s Poni Island. This mysterious island guardian is supposedly the most laid-back of the four tapu. Unlike the others, who either actively seek out humans to observe (Tapu Koko) or toy with (Tapu Lele) or who actively avoid human contact altogether (Tapu Bulu), Tapu Fini prefers allowing humanity to do whatever it likes and will often only reveal itself to the truly worthy as a result. This may seem like Tapu Fini is putting in extra effort to avoid being detected, but in actuality, given the fact that her shrine is located in the highly unrelenting environment that is Poni Island, the fact that it surrounds itself with a dense fog full of danger, and the fact that the aforementioned shrine is called Ruins of Hope for a reason, it may be safe to say that Tapu Fini allows the environment to do much of the work when it comes to protecting her—much more than Tapu Bulu does, anyway.

UB-03: Xurkitree

Xurkitree
The Glowing Pokémon
Type: Electric
Official Registration #: 796
Entry: One of the Ultra Beasts, or strange pokémon that had appeared from another dimension. According to witnesses, this pokémon is capable of discharging incredible amounts of electricity by connecting its plug-like tail into the earth and channeling and amplifying the planet’s natural electrical current. Interestingly enough, the bulbs and head of this pokémon also glow like Christmas tree ornaments as it undergoes this process. However, attempting to plug this pokémon into a domestic outlet and use it as a Christmas ornament tends to be ill-advised, less because this may destroy your home’s electrical grid (although, yes, it will do that too) but more because the plug head is only adaptable to outlets used in South Africa, so it’s a little pointless to even try.