I’m thinking about going on vacation next summer. Sevii Islands, Orange Islands, or Alola?

Hm. I suppose it would depend on what you want from an island vacation.

Allow me to put it this way: although all three of those regions are tropical in nature, their cultures make them vastly different. In Alola, the people are highly friendly and eager to share their culture with outsiders, in part because the tourism industry is the biggest contributor to their economy. As such, if you’re the sort of tourist who enjoys exploring historical landmarks and observing regional culture, Alola is an excellent choice for a destination.

Meanwhile, the Orange Islands also rely on their tourist industry, but it shares a lot of culture with its neighbors, Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn. Thus, people travel to the Orange Islands less to take in the regional culture and more to enjoy a tropical island paradise. There are plenty of resorts and relaxation spots throughout the archipelago, and the less-inhabited islands, such as the Seven Grapefruit Islands, are tourist destinations centered around the region’s agricultural industry or its unique gym circuit. (I would highly recommend the Orange Islands’ fruit tasting tour, for example.)

Finally, the Sevii Islands are far less inhabited than the other two regions, and due to that and its general isolation, the locals are less friendly towards outsiders. You’ll find it harder to partake in local culture or find a resort outside of Seven Island. Even then, Seven Island is more of a destination for trainers due to the Battle Tower, rather than a general tourist spot. (Seven Island is also home to the Tanoby Ruins, but that’s a highly sacred site to the Seviian people. Thus, it’s discouraged for most people to enter them.) On the other hand, the entire island chain features highly rugged territory, beautiful swaths of wilderness, and the best hot springs in Japan, so it’s worth exploring for those who enjoy hiking or training in rigorous environments.

Additionally, if you’re a trainer who likes transitioning from a vacation to your next big adventure, keep in mind that only the Orange Islands has a gym circuit. Granted, each gym is a bit nontraditional in nature. Rather than simply a battle, you’re required to participate in a challenge of skill before you’re permitted to face the gym leader. There are four gyms in all, culminating into a battle against the reigning champion. Thus, the Orange Islands may have something fairly close to the gym circuit you’re used to, but at the same time, it’s a vastly different experience from the traditional gym system.

Alola has its own trainer’s circuit in the form of the island challenge, but this is more of a local concept. Outsiders can participate, but they’re less encouraged to do so. However, the Pokémon Association is in talks with Professor Kukui about setting up an actual gym circuit in the region, but this won’t happen for a few years and is therefore less useful to you.

The Sevii Islands, as noted earlier, has no gym circuit or equivalent trial of their own; besides training in the wilderness, the only facility for trainers is the Battle Tower on Seven Island. Of course, also as noted earlier, the region is still filled with excellent training spots.

In short, if you’re the sort of person who just wishes to relax in the island sun, go to the Orange Islands. If you’re looking for a full tourist experience, try Alola. Finally, if you wish to go on a full-scale adventure in the wilderness, take your team to the Sevii Islands.

May your vacation be highly enjoyable, regardless of what you choose, anonymous!

Bill, I’ve noticed that many Kanto region pokemon, such as the Nidoran lines, Rhydon, Kangaskhan and to a point Lapras all share marked similarities. Do they have a common evolutionary ancestor?

If you’re referring to the fact that many of them are a bit “pointy,” there are two possible reasons for this.

The first and more scientific reason has to do with Kanto’s terrain and climate. Kanto is a region largely free of natural hazards such as the mountains of Johto, the deserts and volcanoes of Hoenn, the extreme cold of Sinnoh, and the barren wasteland of Unova. (I will stop commenting on Unova when it stops being amusing. Or true.) Instead, Kanto has mild seasons, shorter mountains to the north, lush but not necessarily unnavigable forests, and plenty of fertile land. In short, Kanto’s biomes aren’t exactly extreme, and even though there is some variation (grasslands versus forest versus coast, namely), the transition between them isn’t as abrupt as it is in other regions. Thus, most pokémon adapt to very similar environments and very similar climates, which results in a certain uniformity to the specific adaptations they take on.

Additionally, as for why many of them have similar defense mechanisms (lapras, nidoran, rhyhorn, and so forth are all covered with horns and spikes), it’s essentially because the only real threat most Kantonian pokémon face are other Kantonian pokémon. That abundance of horns, thorns, and other things that discourage physical contact are really the best defense mechanisms against an entire region of pokémon who aim to battle one another, rather than against any specific environmental hazard. This is also why the vast majority of grass-types in the region are also highly poisonous, can exude poison, or are essentially walking balls of things that can choke a kangaskhan.

Alternatively, the second and less scientific explanation is that they’re all descended from Mew, so they’re all basically siblings.

It really depends on whom you ask: the religious sects of Kanto or Kantonian scientists.

How do we know what the shiny variations of legendary pokemon look like if there is supposed to only be one of each species? And how do we know their typings if it’s so hard to get close to one? Is the “one of each” thing simply a myth telling us how rare these pokemon are?

Legendary pokémon are rather unique in that there are actually an abundance of depictions of them via ancient art. Remember, legendaries are essentially gods or powerful spirits to many cultures, and as such, many humans have created paintings, idols, statues, and so forth depicting what legendaries are normally like. We can gather that the images we see are of “normal” variations if that legendary is of a particular color in many of its depictions. For example, we assume that Ho-oh’s normal coloring includes blue, green, and violet because most of the paintings in Johto depict it as such. Thus, if we ever see Ho-oh without those colors, we can safely assume that this is a variant color, not its normal coloration. (Either that, or our ancestors were wrong.)

As for typings, we don’t always know for certain, although we can collect data from exceptionally strong trainers who have managed to encounter or capture one themselves. For those legendaries we still have yet to catch (Arceus and Ho-oh, for example), the officially listed typing is more or less a hypothesis based on what we know from their respective legendaries. Ho-oh, for one, is listed as a fire- and flying-type because it’s a bird known for its sacred flames. Lugia, by contrast, is a flying- and psychic-type (as opposed to water or dragon) because the legends about it describe abilities that are more in line with psychic-types than water- or dragon-types … and also because we have data from trainers who have managed to get close enough to Lugia to observe it.

Finally, as for your question concerning uniqueness … that’s a difficult one to answer. For some legendaries, it’s very true that there are more than one, and the uniqueness the pokédex emphasizes is really just a label, as you say. This is the case with Latios, Latias, and Lugia (although the lugia Johtonians worship is a very specific one, not just any lugia—and lugia are extremely rare either way). Meanwhile, for other, more powerful legendaries (such as Arceus, Dialga, Palkia, and so forth), it’s very likely there’s only one. Then there are legendaries who are somewhere in between—that is, we don’t have enough data to determine whether or not they’re unique. This is the case with legendaries such as Mew or even Ho-oh.

In short, much of what we know about legendaries is tied to conjecture based on legends and folklore. In reality, we don’t have a lot of data to know for certain if many of our assumptions—of populations, of powers, and even of color—are completely true.

I suppose a follow up question would then be why not just make Dusk/Dive/etc. balls perform better under all circumstances? Is it to preserve their battery life or something? (also what happens when a poke ball runs out of power?)

Actually, it’s because those balls were specifically designed for certain types of trainers. As uncomfortable as it is to admit this, it’s largely due to business. Putting it another way, ultra balls are the best type of universal poké ball (meaning its capture rate is consistent in all situations, and it’s the best type of ball available to the public wherein that’s true), but it still has a reasonable chance of failing. Meanwhile, you have balls that work better than the ultra in certain situations, but in other situations, they’re comparable to poké balls. Additionally, these other balls can be marketed towards certain demographics. Dusk, for example, can be marketed towards those who specialize in cave or nocturnal pokémon, dive can be marketed towards fishermen and swimmers, timer can be marketed as a last-resort poké ball for trainers after specific pokémon, nest can be marketed towards those with exceptionally strong teams, and so forth.

By contrast, there is a poké ball that works better than ultra balls (the master ball, specifically), but this is not available to the public. The reason why is because if everyone has access to a ball that has a 100% capture rate all of the time, they’ll be less likely to buy balls because they’ll need far, far fewer of them.

In short, it’s not so much because of a technological restriction as it is because of capitalism, anonymous.

As for what would happen if a poké ball’s battery runs out, that’s extremely unlikely because of how long the lifespan of a ball’s power source actually is (and because various transfer systems also recharge said power source every time a ball is converted to electricity and data), but should it happen, there’s a failsafe within the ball that will automatically release your pokémon just before the battery dies. It’s the same failsafe that’s triggered whenever your poké ball becomes too damaged to safely contain a pokémon.

on my journey i came upon a home i thought was owned by a normal elderly couple; my goodra had no problems with them, so we decided to spend the night. The moment i walked the threshold my happinny burst from her pokeball and started crying and screaming, trying to push goodra and i back out. the elderly couple turned out to be haunters, luring us in. my houndoom took care of them but how do i make sure to never fall for the ruses of ghost pokemon? what would they have done to us if we stayed?

Ghost pokémon are unfortunately notorious for being tricksters, anonymous, and many of them have the ability to either turn invisible or mimic the appearance of something else. Even those that have tangible bodies or are tied to tangible objects (such as sableye and spiritomb, respectively) have some techniques in their arsenals that allow them to trick a passing human.

The best strategy to avoid such encounters is to be heavily aware of your surroundings. Never enter buildings in the middle of nowhere unless you know who lives there, and never enter abandoned structures, either. Be very careful when you enter graveyards and memorial towers, and do so in a group if at all possible. Most importantly, always keep a pokémon on hand that can sense danger if you happen across any of these structures. Your happiny, for example, is a baby pokémon, which means it has a heightened sensitivity towards all things supernatural—a quality that allows her to notice by instinct if something is wrong. However, a better choice for future reference would be any pokémon with Foresight, a psychic, or even a fellow ghost-type.

As for what the haunter might have done, oh, any of a number of things, anonymous. Some haunter merely like to play with humans by tricking them and scaring them. Others lure humans in to feed on their life forces. Either way, it’s safe to assume it wouldn’t have been pleasant for you.

how do i become a pokemon researcher like you or oak or any of the other professors?

Well, regarding the specific details of it, generally speaking, becoming a researcher requires years of academic work, sometimes in conjunction with an internship or an abundance of lab work under a professor. From there, it really depends on the specific type of pokémon researcher you wish to be. For example, Professor Oak is strictly an academic researcher, meaning he’s associated with Celadon University and thus the world of academia, not with the industry. By contrast, my partner and the editor of this blog, Lanette Hamilton, works strictly as an industry researcher, meaning she’s employed by commercial laboratories (the Pokémon Cutting-Edge Technology Research Center and Devon Co., specifically) to come up with new ideas that can be marketed and sold to trainers. I work as a bit of both: my behavior research is done in a more academic realm (through Celadon University, specifically), but my technological research is supported through the PCETRC. (No, there is not an easier acronym … much to our dismay.)

And as one can expect, each of these paths were vastly different, as the specific way academic research works is different compared to working in the industry. Think of it as the difference between becoming a novelist and a journalist. Both are essentially jobs that require many of the same skills and the same academic foundations, but where those paths end are entirely different. As such, whereas journalists tend to have steady work and structure to their daily lives (and thus security to pursue their work), novelists may have the freedom to write what they want, when they wish to write it. In a similar fashion, being an industry researcher means you’re employed by a lab, and thus, you may use your skills on very specific projects. On the other hand, you also get all the funding and equipment you need (generally speaking) to pursue that work. By contrast, academic pokémon researchers have their own personal labs where they may carry out whatever research they wish when they wish to do so; they simply need to report to the university every so often (or, well, teach) in order to maintain their sources of funding.

Then, of course, it depends on the specific field you wish to research. Pokémon researchers who focus on pokémon medicine may find themselves doing quite a bit of lab work. Those who focus on paleontology or ethology, meanwhile, may find themselves doing quite a bit of supervised fieldwork.

At its root, though, the path to becoming a pokémon researcher starts with self-reflection and finding the right mentor. Once you’ve decided that you wish to become a researcher, pay attention to what about pokémon catches your interest the most. Follow your heart, not your skills. I know that seems a bit unusual considering the fact that pokémon research requires more intellect than any other pokémon-centered field, but a good researcher is nothing without passion.

Also, forge a relationship with your professors, especially those who specialize in the fields you wish to pursue. Find a mentor and let them help you decide what path to take. (Never be afraid to ask for guidance! A good mentor will be eager to help you on your path.)

Most importantly, be prepared to work hard. Every step of the way, especially if you work in academia, you will always be asked to show your work, as it were. In the world of academia, if you don’t have tenure (as Professor Oak has with Celadon University), it may be tricky to secure funding and equipment for your work. Industry researchers, meanwhile, are required to provide results according to a schedule. Either way, it’s not easy to be a researcher, but of course, if it was easy, it wouldn’t nearly be fun, would it?

how can you tell if a pokemon like swirlix or kadabra or pumpkaboo want to evolve considering they only do so via trading? what about ones who evolve via stones?

Even though trade-based evolutions take an exceptionally long time to evolve naturally, they’re still aware of the process. Likewise, they’re often aware of their evolutionary requirements’ relationship to the trading system, especially if you explain, very simply, that they can evolve by trading. (That is to say, they may not know the exact details, but they understand that you’d be telling the truth if you explain that they can evolve through the process.)

With that having been said, they and pokémon with stone-based evolutions have a slight advantage over most other pokémon: they have complete control over when they evolve. As such, they will let you know if they want to evolve through body language. Watch your pokémon for any of the following signs:

Excitement when you bring up the topic of evolution

Interest in evolutionary stones (if they evolve by stone) or trading machines or devices (if they evolve by trading)

Eagerness to train (as to them, training and growing more powerful is still a part of their evolutionary requirements, even if they don’t evolve by battle experience)

If your pokémon shows one or more of these signs, consider sitting down with them and discussing evolution. Then, at your earliest convenience, present them with either your trading device or an evolutionary stone and watch for their reaction. If they seem excited and ready, then it’s time to help them evolve. If not, leave them alone and consider discussing evolution with them at a later time.

In other words, you’ll be able to tell whether or not your pokémon is ready to evolve simply because they’ll tell you so; it will just be a nonverbal confirmation.

Hey Bill, why do some Pokémon evolve when traded? How do technological advancements influence a pokemons evolution?

To answer this, allow me to go into a very brief description of what happens during evolution.

Now, most of you have probably noticed that a pokémon glows when it evolves. This is because there’s a sudden buildup of energy within a pokémon’s body. While most of that energy is consumed, the glow comes from the output of the specific processes that trigger evolution. It’s just that the buildup itself is the evolutionary trigger. This is also why pokémon either need to reach a specific level of strength or inner power or they need to be exposed to items that have high amounts of natural radiation of a compatible type in order to fulfill their “evolutionary requirements” (or, in other words, the specific levels of specific types of energy they need to trigger evolution). Endorphins can also present enough energy to trigger evolution, which is why some pokémon can evolve simply by being happy enough.

In other words, consider evolutionary requirements to be akin to a light switch. Most pokémon have switches that can be flipped “on” (for “evolve now”) or “off” (for “don’t evolve”). Evolutionary requirements are the specific factors a pokémon needs to have enough energy to flip that switch from on to off.

With so-called trade evolutions, the requirements are a bit different. For those species, the energy they need to evolve is typically a significant amount—far too much for many to store during their careers as battle-ready pokémon. Because of this, if you see a “trade-based evolution” in the wild, they’re typically extremely old. In other words, unless an extreme surge of energy is involved, these pokémon have evolutionary switches that are extremely difficult to nearly impossible to flip on their own, so they spend their entire lives building up that energy.

However, these pokémon may also change that switch through trading—and even then, only through specific kinds of trading. You see, just handing someone else a pokémon and reregistering it at a pokemon center (as many trainers tend to do) isn’t enough to flip that switch, but editing trainer data automatically via the digital trading system (incorporated in the GTS, the PSS, Wonder Trade, and the older trading machines available at any pokémon center) may also override a pokémon’s evolutionary requirement data with conventional data. The reason why is because for these specific pokémon—and not for any other pokémon, hence why evolutions don’t happen after trade for every species in existence—evolutionary data tends to occupy the same space as the data for their current trainer’s identity. Reregistering at a pokémon center desk allows a human to input the trainer’s identity manually, avoiding editing any unnecessary information, but doing it automatically overrides the entire block, including the part that dictates that the subject needs extra energy to evolve. (To preemptively answer a question, the reason why this trainer data needs to be edited is so that each pokémon may be officially recognized as having changed hands. Without those edits, official league equipment will register that pokémon as belonging to another trainer, which may inadvertently trigger anti-theft measures.)

Consequently, the process of editing each pokémon’s information makes it easier for them to flip their evolutionary switch from don’t evolve to evolve. Meanwhile, the extra boost of energy given to them (through the process of being converted into electricity and data for the transfer and then being converted back into matter) stands in for the energy any other pokémon needs to evolve, which results in, very long story short, evolution.

In other words, the simple answer is that trading involves directly editing a pokémon in data form and giving them an extra boost as they come out of this state, which is why they can evolve. This can’t happen with any other pokémon simply because their data isn’t formatted the same way.

I recently evolved my haunter into a gengar and he’s become very cuddly since. He used to wander off and return after a certain distance but not he won’t leave my side unless it’s to battle. Is this normal?

I assume you evolved your gengar via trading, rather than by obtaining a particularly old haunter who was just about to evolve naturally. (That’s a possibility as well. A little-known one, as neither trainers nor the pokémon involved find waiting that long to be all that pleasant, but it’s still a method nonetheless, which is why you might come across wild steelix or gengar.)

That having been said, even if you receive your gengar back, the act of trading can sometimes shake a pokémon. Certainly, many who agree to the process do just fine afterwards, but there are those who can’t help but feel as if the act of trading trivializes their relationship with their trainers. Some of these cases feel indifferent to their trainers afterwards, and their partners must then work to rebuild their bonds and reassure their pokémon that trading did not affect how much they care.

Other cases are very much like your gengar: afraid that they can lose their trainers very easily. In these cases, it’s important for the trainer to reinforce the idea that their pokémon that they would never give them up and that the fact that they wanted them back means that those pokémon are still wanted. You can do this simply by making gengar an even more important part of your team. Spend more time with him. Give him a little more affection. Work with him through an extra hour of training. Do everything you can to make him feel wanted and loved, and this will allow him to understand that all you wanted was to help him evolve.

So in a sense, it’s normal, but it’s not usual. It’s rare that this happens. (Normally, either of the other two possibilities—in which a pokémon isn’t affected by trading at all and in which a pokémon grows distant—are far more common.) But it’s also reversible through a bit of extra care.

Of course, also don’t rule out the possibility that it could be something else. Communicate with your gengar and see if he just wants to be more affectionate or if he’s actually being protective due to a real and valid threat. It’s most likely simply a side-effect of the process, however.

Completely, totally innocent question because I am curious. Are pokemon affected by alcohol in any way. This is for science.

Yes. For some smaller pokémon, alcohol is literal poison, so I would not recommend giving them any. It’s also completely lethal to fire- and electric-types, as it interacts badly with their internal fire and electric sacs.

Meanwhile, alcohol has similar affects on larger and more humanoid pokémon as it does on humans, but I wouldn’t recommend this either, as a drunk pokémon’s abilities may have adverse affects on the human body.

In other words, please don’t get your pokémon drunk, anonymous.