Happy Halloween! I hope that there aren’t any Rotoms possessing PC Boxes so you guys can have fun today.

Thank you, anonymous! Thankfully, no, we haven’t had any incidents of rotom infestations—or porygon-z infestations, for that matter. It has, by and large, been rather quiet.

We apologize for the lack of responses tonight, by the way. I’m not one for holidays myself, but my editor insists that I take breaks on them … for some reason. Normally, I would protest, but when else do I get to spend an evening watching horror movies she would consider to be offensive to her artistic sensibilities? (Honestly, Lanette, Chateau isn’t that terrible.)

In any case, we wish all of you a happy Halloween as well!

Darkrai

Darkrai
The Pitch-Black Pokémon
Type: Dark
Official Registration #: 491
Entry: According to Sinnohan myth, Darkrai is the lord of the new moon and of dreams, as well as a companion to Cresselia. As such, its mere presence can induce terrifying nightmares in even the strongest-willed creatures. To protect itself and conceal its true domain, it consciously uses its powers to inflict a deep slumber full of horrific nightmares on all those around it, an act which it does for the sole purpose of driving intruders away. Yet also according to Sinnohan myth, it actually means no harm. Incidentally, yes, the author is aware of just how contradictory most of this entry is, and yes, he does indeed think this is highly appropriate for a pokémon that looks very much like the embodiment of the scene phase he certainly never had.

Hey I’m the anon who had their mismagius circling the bed. I noted all my dreams had actually been really good. So I dug a little deeper and found something more sinister in the works. So it turns out a drowzee had been stalking me! I got up one of the nights she was circling me and noticed very sinister eyes at my window. I thanked her for all her hard work and gave her treats. Our relationship has gotten even better, I guess she was distant because she was so sleepy from protecting me at night

Poor mismagius. I’m very glad it worked out, anonymous, and it’s good that you thanked her for her hard work.

In the meantime, to avoid this problem in the future, I would suggest either putting up cleanse tags around your property or obtaining a guard houndoom or mightyena that you keep primarily outside. Either method should keep your drowzee “friend” from coming back.

Good luck, anonymous!

My pumpkaboo is nocturnal and likes waking me up at 2-4 am every night by laying on my chest and letting its glowing eyes wake me. When I do wake up she squeals and snuggles me. I love her but why does she do this and how do I get her to understand mommy needs sleep

Well, a lot of it has to do with pumpkaboo’s nocturnal nature. They’re most active at night, which means their 2 to 4 am is your 2 to 4 pm. As such, they simply get bored, especially if you’re not awake to give them affection. For this reason, some pumpkaboo owners like to give their pokémon plenty of toys—especially complex ones or sturdy ones that can endure heavy use—to keep their pumpkaboo occupied until they’re awake. Given that yours is sitting on your chest, waiting for you to wake up, I have no doubt it’s just that your pumpkaboo needs more stimulation during her most active hours, and this may be your solution.

Alternatively, wild pumpkaboo take it upon themselves to lead lost souls to the spirit world. In Kalos, they’re even considered an equivalent to the Grim Reaper. This, of course, shouldn’t be any cause of alarm. Rather, what I’m saying is that your pumpkaboo may also be worried that you’ve died, and it’s observing you breathe as you sleep while watching your spirit. You can reassure her that you’ll wake up in the morning by establishing a routine with her: wishing her good night every night, then wishing her good morning at a set time every day, just before feeding her breakfast. If she gets used to such a routine, she’ll come to rely on its dependency, rather than on her own observations, which will allow her to leave you alone at night.

I would recommend doing both (giving her toys and establishing a routine), as it can’t hurt to do both at once, and, if anything, it will be more of a comfort to her.

Best of luck, anonymous.

I suppose my question is a bit more on the technology side of things than the pokemon side, but why is it that Dusk Balls work better in the dark?

Dusk balls are actually part of a line of environmental/circumstantial capture devices that also include dive and net balls. While dusk balls were released to the public much later than the other three, they work essentially the same way. For example, have you ever wondered why dive balls work better underwater or in the vicinity of a large body of water? It’s because the ball is built in with sensors that gather information on the wetness of a certain area. Even when surfing, you’re bound to get a bit wet, and the dive ball understands this and increases the strength of its capture net. In the same way, dusk balls have sensors calibrated to detect light. The less light detected when you expand the ball, the stronger the ball’s capture net will be. In both cases, there is always a baseline; dusk and dive balls work just as well as basic poké balls when not in their respective environments. It’s just that their capture systems are designed in such a way that when certain conditions are met, their internal batteries give them a power boost when used on a pokémon.

As for why, specifically, these balls are designed to do such a thing, it’s because this specific line of poké balls was designed to capture very specific pokémon. Whereas dive and net balls were designed to capture ocean- and river-dwelling pokémon (and bug-types, in the case of the net ball), the dusk ball was originally meant to capture cave-dwelling and nocturnal pokémon.

Pumpkaboo and Gourgeist

Pumpkaboo
The Pumpkin Pokémon
Type: Ghost/Grass
Official Registration #: 710
Entry: This pokémon’s body consists of a pumpkin inhabited by a spirit. According to Kalosean folklore, the spirit awakens at sunset and maneuvers its pumpkin across fields and forests to locate wandering spirits and help them to cross over into the spiritual realm. According to Kalosean custom, meanwhile, the pumpkin makes an excellent pie, but seeing as the author is lactose intolerant and therefore cannot eat a pie whose secondary ingredients include butter and evaporated milk, he will just have to take his Kalosean colleagues’ word for it.

Gourgeist
The Pumpkin Pokémon
Type: Ghost/Grass
Official Registration #: 711
Entry: The evolved form of pumpkaboo, via trading. This willowy, pumpkin-like pokémon is known for its hair-like arms, which it uses to ensnare prey. Once prey is ensnared, gourgeist sings to them, instilling on them horrific visions of shadows and demons. Unlike most ghost-types, gourgeist does not do this to feed on a human’s fear; rather, they do it because they’re entertained by human pain and suffering. Also entertained by human pain and suffering: the trainer of a certain gourgeist, who thought it would be more appropriate to film a video of his mentor being subdued by his gourgeist and then share it with many of the other storage system administrators, all of whom were equally as entertained and disinclined to untangle the poor, helpless researcher who did nothing wrong to that gourgeist.

Since it’s almost Halloween, I decided to give my female Pikachu a bunch of cute costumes to possibly wear! But a strange thing I notice is that she seem to get “too” into character and even learn a random move that she didn’t have originally. For example, she just suddenly learned flying press in her wrestling costume (and tries to get me into a sleeper hold but that besides the point) and in her rockstar outfit, she gets Metor Mash instead. Is this normal for female Pikachus or what?

Yes, and it’s an interesting phenomenon, really. My partner first observed it in the contest halls in Hoenn, but apparently, female pikachu adore performing so much that certain costumes allow them to adopt certain personas and unlock specific dormant abilities. She theorizes that it’s similar to how all pikachu can learn Fly or Surf but can only do so under very specific circumstances.

In any case, it only seems to happen with five specific costumes, typically available in contest halls under the Angelic Beauty label—or, well, knock-offs thereof. No other costume combination seems to trigger latent moves, I’m afraid, although most pikachu will enjoy dressing up all the same.

I caught a Hydreigon recently and since I brought him home he’s been bringing me… presents in the form of killed pokemon… why is he doing this? He seems excited to show me these presents. He’s been mostly staying away from my other Pokémon, so no fights have been happening. I’m really concerned that one of my Pokémon could become these bloody presents at my door though

Unfortunately, hydreigon are also like cats in a way. As fearsome, bestial pokémon, they take pride in their ability to hunt … but they also expect their young to do the same. Technically, there are actually two possibilities at work here, but both of them are very, very similar. Either your hydreigon is trying to show you his catch because he’s expecting praise for it, or he’s showing you his catch because he’s trying to teach you how to hunt. You’ll be able to figure out which by observing his body language when he brings you his kill. If he sits back and cranes his main neck or if he lies down and rolls over, craning his neck at the same time, then he’s searching for praise. (Both positions are signs of submission among the hydreigon.) However, if he’s pawing at the corpse and looking at you expectantly, then he’s trying to teach you that this is what a kill looks like.

In both cases, thank him for the offering, give him a treat, and dispose of the body (perhaps by burning it, if it’s large) whenever he’s not looking. If he’s trying to show you how to hunt, tell him politely that you appreciate his efforts but that it’s not necessary for you to hunt the way he’s trying to show you. You may even want to let him watch you cook and eat to show him that you’re perfectly fine without hunting. (Sometimes, this method remedies the other motivation behind displaying a kill, but usually, otherwise, that behavior will simply continue until your hydreigon realizes on his own that he doesn’t need to show off a kill to get affection out of you.)

As for your other pokémon, luckily, you don’t need to worry. It’s not so much because your hydreigon recognizes them as teammates as it is because your hydreigon recognizes them as tamed pokémon. Wild pokémon are much more of a challenge to catch and kill (as they more often run or congregate in large groups), and thus, your hydreigon will always go after them instead. Even when faced of a shortage of wild prey, hydreigon would rather go without killing anything at all than killing something owned by a trainer. I’m not sure how comforting that statement is, but at the very least, the point is that your pokémon are safe.

My Rotom possessed its own Pokéball and can’t come out??? The Pokéball thinks it’s simultaneously inside and outside???

Press and hold the front button until you hear a pop. This is a safe factory reset for poké balls that fail to work properly. Once you hear the pop, immediately let go of the bottom of the ball (while holding the top, of course), as the ball will immediately eject any pokémon inside, including part of your rotom. Normally, the next step is to use the newly reset ball to recapture your pokémon (unless you’d rather not risk it, which is perfectly understandable), but in your case, you’ll want to set the opened ball on the ground or a solid surface and have your rotom come out. Now that the ball doesn’t recognize the link between itself and your rotom, this will give your rotom a window of opportunity to escape. This should be done quickly, as the ball may snap close and catch your rotom again.

The alternative is, of course, taking a hammer to the ball. (This won’t hurt your rotom, as it’s in an incorporeal form. It will only force your rotom to eject.) But of course, this destroys your rotom’s ball, so it depends on whether or not you’d like to buy a new poké ball for it.

I absolutely hate bug types. So of course my purrloin has adopted the habit of bringing them inside the house to play with! First he brings them to me, and when I’m startled he lets them go and they either squirm or fly all over the place! How can I get my purrloin to stop doing this and play with his poke-prey outside and away from me?

As a warning, Bill, Misty knows where you live, so I wouldn’t dare make a comment about her or her fear of bug-types here. —LH

I wasn’t even thinking of it. Misty seems more like a dog person to me than a cat person. Although now that you mention it, she did have that togepi once, so… —Bill

Again, Bill. She knows where you live. —LH

To put it in short, anonymous, purrloin are very much like cats, and they have all the same instincts as our feline friends. This includes seeing us, their humans, as essentially giant hairless kittens. The act of bringing a human any sort of small, weak pokémon, including bug-types, is really an attempt to teach that human how to hunt.

That having been said, there are a couple of ways you can discourage this behavior. The first is by keeping your purrloin indoors at all times. This may be the trickier route, as many purrloin are clever enough to figure out ways to escape anyway, but if you supply yours with an incentive not to (in the form of new toys, particularly puzzle-like ones—some of which can be filled with treats or pokénip), he may simply decide to agree with you.

The other option is by giving him a toy filled with pokénip every time he brings home a new pokémon as a “reward,” then releasing his catch whenever he’s not looking. This may sound a bit backwards, as rewards are typically reinforcements for good behavior, but eventually, purrloin will want the reward over the pleasure of teaching you something, which means he may eventually switch to presenting you with any object (or even the empty toy) whenever he wants pokénip.

Best of luck, anonymous.