Tag: our world

There’s a new trend in hoenn where people are using Pokémon like the roselia line to use sweet scent and other soothing moves to relax people before/during massages, as well as with Pokémon in rescue shelters to relax them for care. Is there any repercussion to this or are moves like this safe?

Actually, it’s quite safe, for both the Sweet Scent user and the target. If anything, it’s just as therapeutic for the user as it is for whatever they’re treating, as it’s a healthy outlet for their abilities. Think of it like exercise for a human being: it helps develop parts of the body while at the same time allowing them to release pent-up stress and maintain their psychological health.

As for the target, there’s no such thing as overusing Sweet Scent or Aromatherapy (or similar moves). The worst that might happen is that it may trigger pollen allergies, but that will happen upon a first use, rather than due to prolonged usage. For this reason, it’s not a treatment that should be given to younger children or those with known allergies, but for everyone else, it’s perfectly safe.

Apologies if somebody already asked this, but why are there no dark-type gyms?

Bill: No one’s quite sure, actually. The Association has no rules governing what types gym leaders may specialize in. Dark-type specialists simply … don’t submit applications.

Personally, I’m a little inclined to theorize it has something to do with Karen. Ever since the dark-type was discovered and she claimed the title as the de facto leader of Johto’s Elite Four, she’s gained quite a following, consisting of many dark-type trainers who aspire to be just like her, if not like Grimsley of the Unovan Elite Four. But that’s simply a theory.

I’ve heard about Lt Surge having his electric pokemon save him in the war. I probably seem terribly uneducated, but what war a was he referring to? Before I’ve heard snippets about some kind of Johto-Kanto war, but what really happened there?

Sad to say, war is nothing new to our species, anonymous. In fact, the Johto-Kanto war (which was really less between Johto and Kanto and more between a number of different kingdoms that occupied the same space, as well as Sinnoh, back in the feudal era) and the war Surge had fought in are just two of a long, long history for humankind. World peace has only really been a recent thing, decided upon after the destruction of most of Western civilization.

Or, well, that’s a simplified explanation. In truth, world peace came about as a result of nearly a century of war and political turmoil, beginning with the second World War (perhaps the first, depending on whom you ask) and ending when the Cold War abruptly turned hot in the late 80s and early 90s. From what I understand, Lt. Surge fought in the Final War somewhere in the region of Fajir when the so-called “warning shot” was fired. That warning shot being, of course, the attack that flattened much of the American West and rendered Orre, which sat at the southwest corner of it, virtually uninhabitable by wild pokémon. (To this day, no one is quite certain what launched said attack. The media called it a conventional weapon of some sort, but researchers have noted that it looked suspiciously like the signature attack of a legendary rumored to live in Siberia—a hypothesis that’s only worth noting because there had been one other documented instance of that attack in use, during the Tunguska event in 1908. The only other viable theory is that the attack was launched by an American legendary, which—according to the conspiracy theorists, anyway—was responding to nuclear testing.)

In any case, thanks to the devastation rendered by the warning shot, world leaders decided to put aside politics once and for all and work towards establishing peace—at least on a national level, anyway. The downside of the swiftness of this agreement is that not that many people agreed to set aside differences they may have with others, which is why these days, the threats to our world come in the form of private organizations that have realized (also thanks to the warning shot) that modern technology has advanced just enough to allow for the weaponization of legendary pokémon. Such as, for example, Team Rocket.

In other words, anonymous, it’s my understanding that Lt. Surge fought in the last of a very long history of wars, which only ended because someone had very likely figured out how to harness the power of the legendaries. (Well, again. There are stories of nations doing this in ancient history, but our relationship with pokémon back then was far, far stronger than it is now.) But that’s about all I know, as I have very little interest in listening to the man’s war stories beyond understanding that such level of violence must never be repeated.

Hey bill, y’know molayne does know professor kukui. Like, they grew up together . If you’re ever in alola, go say hello

Bill would, but every time he goes to Alola, he tends to get … distracted. —LH

Lanette. They have. Wild eevee. Wild. Eevee. —Bill

That didn’t stop you from meeting Professor Sycamore in Kalos. —LH

He said he knew where to get high-quality poké puffs so eevee would evolve into sylveon faster. —Bill

I am a Hoenn native and met my boyfriend on an abroad trip to Kalos. We’ve been together two years now and he moved to Hoenn with me but when we visit his mother I can barely understand her due to differences in language. Is there any Pokémon that can help bridge the gap? I’m trying to learn more Kalosian and she knows some Hoennian but not enough to have conversations efficiently

The easiest solution would be to recommend a telepath, especially particularly intelligent ones such as members of the abra line, as they can “cut out the middle man,” as it were, by projecting what you and your boyfriend’s mother mean into each other’s minds in a way that the both of you can understand. However, it would be far, far more productive to use a pokémon that can both translate verbally and act as a teaching aid.

To that end, chatot and murkrow tend to be popular among those who are learning new languages, as they can remember simple phrases and help their human partners recall past lessons or match concepts to new vocabulary. In your case, you could, for example, teach a chatot a word or phrase, connect it to a concrete concept, and have chatot teach your boyfriend’s mother or vice-versa. Alternatively, that chatot can serve as a translator if either of you teach it your own language in your own time—or at least enough to translate simple conversations.

Hi Bill. What happens to Pokemon if their trainer suddenly dies. Do they go to family members, or are they sent to a place to be adopted? Could you give a Pokemon to someone in your will if you had one?

Excellent question!

The answer is … quite honestly, all of the above. If you have a will, you absolutely can leave your pokémon in the care of someone trustworthy, and in fact, many people do just this (often in addition to leaving their pokémon portions of their estate). Of course, for people who don’t have a will, their pokémon are often left in the care of their next of kin, any other blood relative, or a designated receiver such as a friend or significant other, and if one can’t be found, they’re placed in a pokémon shelter or left with breeders to be adopted by other trainers.

Incidentally, the storage system is set up to do this automatically. If you’ve signed up for a system account (which you are automatically if you’ve been given a trainer’s license), then the system will automatically recall your pokémon and send them to whomever you’ve listed as your emergency contact (who often is one of the above-mentioned relations) the moment you’re listed as legally deceased in your home’s national database. This way, even if you die abruptly on the road, your pokémon can be brought to a safe place.

Hello Bill! I have taken interest in pokemon performing, but don’t know much about it like the regions, age, or what pokémon qualify. Hope you can help me!

Admittedly, I never had much of a personal interest in pokémon performing or showcases in general. This is more Lanette’s field, to be quite frank, so I’ll allow her to take it from here.

LH: Well, to start things off, most regions don’t hold pokémon showcases, largely due to the popularity of pokémon contests, a similar sport. Just about the only places where you can participate in showcases are in Kalos (and Europe in general) and Unova (although musicals are more popular over there). Still, it’s worth it. I personally enjoy watching showcases more than contests, just because there’s more variety in the sub events and emphasis on style and synchronization between pokémon and performer.

On that note, practically any pokémon can participate in a showcase, but it’s important to know that, just like in a contest, you have to be strategic about who you use. Of course, most performers don’t know the theme of the first half of a showcase until it happens, so unlike in contests or even gym battles, I don’t mean research the next showcase when I say be strategic. What I mean instead is, of course, choose pokémon who work well together and whose abilities can be combined to highlight not only each other’s skills but also your creativity. Of course, building a routine for the second half of a showcase (the freestyle performance) is important too, so always keep that in mind when choosing which pokémon to enter.

As for your age, that’s rather simple. Just like with contests, you can’t enter showcases unless you have a valid trainer’s license. In most regions, this means you must be ten or older in order to register.

Is it cannibalism if my Nuzleaf eats greens? He doesn’t eat nuts though.

This is actually an excellent question with an awkwardly simple answer: no. Just as eating beef doesn’t automatically make you a cannibal, allowing your nuzleaf to eat greens doesn’t make him one. There are plenty of species of plants, so a plant eating another plant is really more or less akin to an animal eating another animal, if we oversimplify things.

However, technically speaking, you would be more of a cannibal than your nuzleaf. Although plant pokémon bear striking similarities to actual plants on a cellular level, they’re not even in the same phylogenic kingdom (as opposed to us humans and cows, which are). So, yes, there’s nothing wrong with nuzleaf eating plants.