I have a lot of self esteem issues… is there a Pokémon who can help me feel more comfortable with myself?

Admittedly, while there are plenty of pokémon that are capable of instilling a sense of confidence in you (in fact, all pokémon can, thanks to the bonds they have with their trainers and the amount of trust they place in us), no pokémon can really force you to feel comfortable with yourself. The only real way to do that is to look within yourself and find all the talents that lie within. Remember that each of us has a reason for being—a meaning that drives us. However, don’t get me wrong. That meaning is not divinely ordained. Rather, it’s entirely dependent on self-reflection. We determine who we are simply by embracing what we can do and what we have within ourselves, no matter how difficult that may sound.

There are ways pokémon can help, of course, but it’s not in the way you would think. They can’t really do so directly. Rather, they accompany you on your journey. And I mean that quite literally.

You see, this is a lot of the reason why humans go on trainers’ journeys. It’s true that our society puts pressure on us to go on one, but there are reasons for that. A trainer’s journey pushes us to unlock our own potential, to open our minds by experiencing the world, and to find for ourselves what makes us who we are. It’s true that some people walk away from a journey never figuring that out, but for others, the journey is a deeply spiritual experience that could trigger an evolution of our own into the people we’re meant to be.

If you haven’t embarked on a journey, I would recommend that you think about it. If you have, keep your mind open and consider every challenge as your opportunity to find out exactly who you are and what you’re capable of.

However, if you choose not to go on a physical journey at all, don’t worry. Some people figure things out on their own without ever leaving home. The journey just helps some people, and the act of going on a journey can be metaphorical. You can “go on a journey” simply by interacting with pokémon on local battlefields or by doing quite a bit of self-reflection and meditation. Just remember that you have a lot of potential inside you, just waiting to be discovered. Don’t compare yourself to others and remember that your identity and abilities are yours alone.

But if you wish to get a pokémon, literally any one of them will help you with this. All pokémon tend to see us as we are, rather than through the lens of our own self-doubts. Each of them will believe in you over time, and all of them serve as excellent reminders, in their own ways, that there is something inside you worth respecting.

I hope this helps, anonymous. Best of luck.

Bill, whats your opinion on shiny hunters/breeders? Like the people who breed to find shinies (or natures or egg moves or stats or abilities) and toss all the babies that aren’t shiny or useful to them? I think it’s really inhumane :( I’ve heard of places who do exclusive shiny breeding! Like someone can go to them and ask for a specific shiny Pokémon and they’ll breed for it… it’s sick!

On the one hand, although I’m always excited by the prospect of finding and encountering rare pokémon, I am uncomfortable with the concept of collecting pokémon in the way some pokémaniacs do. Pokémon, after all, are living, breathing creatures, and to reduce their value down to their pelt or skin color is a little … problematic.

On the other, if you’re referring to shiny specialists (those who are paid to find or breed shinies for others), rest assured that there’s more to it than that. Shiny pokémon sometimes struggle in the wild as noted here, so trainers who are hired to find and catch them through legitimate means (that is, by obeying capture laws and avoiding poaching) often focus on species whose shiny variations would fare much better in a domestic setting than in the wild.

Likewise, all reputable breeders require certification to run a day care, so those who run services to breed for shiny pokémon are required to rehome the non-shinies. Oftentimes, if you ask these day cares, you’ll find that they often either give their non-shiny pokémon to starter distribution centers or run sizable no-kill shelters themselves, which are often open to those who wish to find pets as well as partners for trainers’ journeys. (Breeders are barred from culling their hatchlings or releasing them en masse into the wild. Either are great ways of failing inspections and having licenses revoked.)

Of course, reputable trainers-for-hire or shiny breeders are few and far between, and the shiny enthusiast culture often encourages seedier practices, rather than the legitimate ones. All too often, I hear about a trainer who essentially poaches a shiny or a trainer who accepts eggs from non-specialist day cares, only to release non-shinies into the wild en masse (thus often disrupting the local ecosystem). These would be irresponsible, especially because they’re often coupled with the tendency to treat the shinies they obtain as trophies, rather than as living beings. It’s unfortunate that this happens, yes, and it’s not something I condone, even if the shiny in question is a particularly rare pokémon I would love to see.

Thus, to put it in short, I’m fine with the idea if you obtain your shinies through legitimate means or set up honest, humane businesses that follow strict ecologically-friendly policies. I’m less comfortable with the idea if you don’t intend on following humane, eco-friendly practices.

Do researchers know/have theories as to why evolutionary lines seem to cap at three stages?

It’s an issue of power, anonymous. At the third stage, a pokémon is usually at its peak potential without any enhancements. Pokémon don’t really have the sort of energy to achieve an evolution beyond the third stage, as the power involved in such a state would be extremely difficult for a non-legendary to control and highly risky for a pokémon’s physical form to contain.

This is, incidentally, why mega evolution is a temporary process and why many pokémon experience berserker states when first tapping into it. The mega evolution stone is essentially a catalyst that unlocks any remaining potential a pokémon has and pours it into their forms all at once. As this potential is usually not enough to trigger a full-scale evolution by itself, the stone provides an additional boost of energy, which often far exceeds the amount a pokémon is capable of handling. The end result is not only that blind rage but also the inability to hold that form permanently. After a while, if forced to maintain their mega evolved state, a pokémon will revert to their original forms on their own, as their energy will simply be completely spent.

But the point is, the reason why pokémon can only evolve twice at most is because they just don’t have enough—power, energy, aura … any one of those, depending on which researcher you ask—to achieve proper evolution for a third time. The closest some will ever come is mega evolution, which is half external anyway.

I found an egg on my porch with the note “please take care of it”. I don’t know what Pokémon it will be, what do I do?

Your first step either way is to take it to a breeder, a professor, or a pokémon center. The reason why is because all three have the ability to identify the egg, so if you were thinking of adopting it yourself, then you’ll need to know what’s inside it in order to prepare for its hatching. Even the exact temperature it needs to be at in order to hatch depends on what species of egg it is, so you quite literally can’t do anything until you know for certain what you’re dealing with on a literal level.

Once you’ve taken the egg to any of these three facilities, you have two choices. If you can take the egg, you have the option to do so. Simply follow the breeder, professor, or Nurse Joy’s advice on care up to and immediately after birth.

If you can’t take the egg or if you don’t wish to take the egg, you can leave it with them. Breeding centers, pokémon centers, and regional professors’ laboratories are actually the designated “safe haven” spots, or places where you can safely leave pokémon you can’t care for. (Why someone left an egg on your doorstep, I’m not sure, but that’s neither here nor there at this point.) Once left in the care of any of these three sets of capable hands, they will proceed to hatch the pokémon and care for them until they’re ready to be rehomed with a willing trainer, so you can trust your local breeder, professor, or Nurse Joy with the baby.

Either way, I wouldn’t recommend attempting to find whoever left the egg. It’s very clear that the person who did so doesn’t wish to care for the pokémon inside it (for reasons that could very well be completely valid, so please don’t take that to mean I’m accusing them of negligence), and if, on the very slim off-chance, the egg was illegally obtained, a reputable breeder, researcher, or Nurse Joy would be able to tell. (Pokémon professionals have a network set up for sharing information on poacher activity. If even an egg is missing from a habitat, we would know about it.)

Best of luck with whatever you choose to do, anonymous!

So why dont mammal like pokemon give live births? What is the advantage in the wild (or domestic) to lay eggs?

There are two advantages, anonymous.

First, a live-bearing arrangement simply costs more energy for the organism than simply laying an egg and allowing development to occur outside the body. Think of it like this: for all viviparous (live-bearing) animals, their young are physically connected to them right up until birth. The mother is required to basically care for them through their growth and development, and while the overall impact a fetus has on the mother’s body isn’t exactly as drastic as the entire phrase “[your choice of verb] for two” would imply, the fact of the matter is the mother quite literally carries, eats for, and generally manages the life for her young throughout the gestational period. Then, of course, there’s the actual birth, and given the fact that viviparous individuals are more developed when born than animals that hatch, the process of birth requires even more energy to undergo than simply laying eggs.

Second, keep in mind that battling is a huge part of a pokémon’s life, even in the wild. Moreover, battling for pokémon is much more dangerous than it is for animals, because while animals have their own self-defense mechanisms, pokémon use elemental magic and elaborate, violent techniques to fight. Carrying one’s young into battle may be fine once they’re born (see: kangaskhan), but when they’re still developing within the body, that poses quite a risk for them, especially if the mother takes an attack that can penetrate her body and reach her young (see: electric attacks, ghost attacks, psychic attacks, and so forth). Even attacks the mother launches herself could affect a fetus negatively—imagine attempting to generate electricity within your own body, for example. In other words, while it’s true that viviparous animals have a higher survival rate than oviparous, for pokémon, vivipary actually presents more of a risk, thanks to the biggest part of the average pokémon’s lifestyle. At least with egg-laying, a pokémon can guarantee that their eggs are out of range of an attack and thus, for the most part, perfectly safe. Comparatively speaking, anyway.

My fiancé and I are getting married in March, where would a good place to honeymoon be?

Johto. It’s a place full of culture and history, the people are friendly, and contrary to popular belief, most of the fauna—humans included—won’t actively try to kill you.

But seriously, anonymous, that depends on your tastes. Alola and Hoenn are popular honeymoon destinations due to their tropical environments and relatively low population densities, but some people prefer the charm of Johto, the culture of Sinnoh, the bustling populations of Kanto, or Unova … for some reason.

I admit I’ve never thought about planning a honeymoon myself, as I have no intention of getting married, so I can’t entirely claim expertise on the matter. My partner and editor, as I understand it, largely feels the same. But with all decisions, at least the two of us can say that you should think carefully about what it is you’d most like to do immediately after your wedding (besides, well, consummating it) and plan your honeymoon around that. If you’d like to lie on the beach or relax in warm environs with beautiful scenery, this would be why Alola and Hoenn are popular destinations. If you’d much prefer to do something on your vacations, Sinnoh has plenty to do if you’re looking for hiking or visiting quiet towns, and its sister region of Johto also has plenty to do if you prefer more urban environments.

Good luck, and congratulations, anonymous!

So in Alola, pokémon are usually treated as equals if not like humans. I’m on my journey away from there, and I’ve pretty much been discriminated and harassed for being very equal with my lucario (platonic partner) and my other pokémon. Any advice?

I’d hate to tell you, anonymous, but the sad thing is that any form of deviance to the social norm is often met with resistance of one kind or another. Although in my opinion, you have the right idea in treating your pokémon as equals (they are, after all, fantastic beings from whom we humans can learn quite a lot), the problem is that our society is so ingrained in a trainers’ culture that we often forget that our relationship with pokémon isn’t all about collecting them and having them battle for us. Rather, the whole point of training is to bond with our pokémon friends and to experience the world with them, rather than by using them.

Still, humans have the unfortunate tendency to think in terms of speciesism. Some of us believe the human race are the dominant species, so therefore, to those people, pokémon are beneath us. To place ourselves as equals to pokémon would be to revoke our humanity. It’s an archaic system, honestly—one that I’ve always found quite odd, considering how many of our cultures revere legendary pokémon.

In any case, I say all of this to explain why people may discriminate or harass you. The above certainly isn’t the only reason. (Thanks to the “morph” fandom—that is to say, the internet subculture centered around humanized pokémon, such as half-human/half-meowth creatures, for example—some people believe the act of seeing oneself as a true equal to a pokémon implies something about the human’s private life.) But it’s a major reason, besides the fact that people just don’t like things that are different from them.

The important thing is … ignore them unless they actually physically harass you. You may be able to educate a few people, but unless you want to escalate a situation, it’s best to choose your battles in a metaphorical sense. Otherwise, sometimes, it’s either not worth it or not possible to force others to agree with you. People will likely still discriminate against you, despite your best efforts. I don’t mean to depress you, of course. It’s just that humanity is a little bit complicated like that.

Rest assured, though, that you’re not alone in maintaining such a philosophy. There are plenty of people in the world who view themselves as equals to their pokémon, many of whom aren’t even from Alola. For example, most fighting-type and psychic-type specialists in each of the gym circuits and Elite Four rosters take this view, and this philosophy seems to be prevalent among native Johtonians and Sinnohans. If you need someone to talk to, simply seek one of these people out, and they would be more than eager to support you.

Best of luck, anonymous. Stay strong, and know that you’re not alone.

I’m a trainer, but I’m finding that the battling lifestyle just isn’t my thing. I love exploring around with my pokemon but battles are just not my cuppa. I worry that it would be unfair to my pokemon to just settle into a non-training life after my Journey is done, though. Do you have any advice on keeping their skills integrated into other things?

Well, anonymous, keep in mind that you don’t necessarily have to take an active role in battling to raise pokémon, and it’s not necessarily unfair to the pokémon themselves if you don’t. A journey is only a temporary condition, after all. Once you get to where you’re going—literally or philosophically speaking—you and your pokémon have every right to retire, especially if you find that battling isn’t your best talent.

It’s just that battling is the easiest way to exercise them and bond with them, but there are plenty of alternatives to doing so. For example, even walking your pokémon and letting them spar amongst themselves are adequate replacements for battling. Playing fetch or other games with them may be as well. Alternatively, what most researchers do is allow pokémon to help them as research aides, and what most breeders do is employ their former team to herd pokémon and help raise and hatch eggs for currently traveling trainers. Some people (particularly those who are neither researchers or breeders) have their pokémon help out around the house doing minor tasks, like keep up with the cleaning, assist with grocery shopping, and so forth.

What’s most important to you during this transitional period, though, is communicating as much as possible with your pokémon. Let them know that you’d like to retire (emphasizing that this is your choice and that it has nothing to do with how well they’ve been doing as your pokémon) but also ask them what they would like to do as well. Some of your team may wish to part ways with you (which may be heartbreaking, I know), but others may transition easily, adopting tasks you suggest once you explain what you want to do instead of traveling. The more you include your pokémon in your decision to retire, the easier it will be for them to retire with you.

Are the kimono girls still a thing? I know your mom was one but I think if they’re not around anymore they should have a new group of them. I have a sylveon I think would make a lovely addition

Yes, of course! Johto has a very proud set of traditions, dating back nearly two thousand years, and kimono girls are part of that. They’re the keepers of our traditions, and it’s their duty to pass their knowledge on to the next generation so that our culture will live on until the return of Ho-oh. It’s not that our culture as a whole will be forgotten if kimono girls don’t preserve it; it’s more that they’re another cultural resource, one that makes sure at least some part of our regional identity is still alive.

Thus, there are actually always more than one troupe of kimono girls, most of whom are from Ecruteak City. The most famous of these, of course, are associated with the Kimono Dance Theater, as the kimono girls of that particular place are the ones who are taught the Kin no Mai and Gin no Mai (the specific prayer-dances meant for summoning Ho-oh and Lugia, respectively). To be fair, these would disappear if the kimono girls had no successors, and given the fact that Ho-oh and Lugia are a major part of our culture, I suppose in a way, the troupes do safeguard the future of our region.

That having been said, I admit that sylveon are not traditional partners to kimono girls, but ever since the rise in popularity of the fairy-type (partially due to the registration of the Kalos Dex and partially due to the rising popularity of my fellow descendant-of-a-kimono-girl, Valerie), it’s become a bit of a trend among the kimono-girls-in-training of Ecruteak City to pamper eevee and hope they become sylveon. Or so my younger sister tells me. In any case, technically, there’s nothing in the rules for being a kimono girl that states they can’t own recently discovered eeveelutions (or, for that matter, that they can’t own any pokémon they want), so sylveon is a perfectly viable addition to a kimono girl troupe.

Did you have anyone in mind, anonymous, or were you thinking of becoming a kimono girl yourself? If the latter, be warned that a kimono girl’s training is notoriously rigorous, but should you still be interested, the best place to begin would be Ecruteak City.

Hey, Bill, I know this is outside your range of expertise, but do you know exactly how much one Poke is, (compared to the USD or the Japanese Yen)? Or if there isn’t a conversion system, what are some household items and their relative costs?

Bill: Currency is a strange thing in our world, reader. Decades ago, we did away with a lot of forms of it to replace it with a universal currency (the poké) to make things easier for trainers. It’s very much the same case as languages, which we’ve also done away with in favor of a universal alternative due to the high volume of globetrotting trainers. For that reason, the exchange rate is largely irrelevant because neither the yen nor the dollar still exist.

However, if it helps at all, the current cost of a loaf of bread is about P160, and rice or a carton of eggs is usually P200. If you’d like a few non-edible examples, a ticket for one train ride on either the Goldenrod MTB or the Celadon Metro costs about P200 each, assuming you’re not taking an express line. A nice pair of slacks, however, can be upwards of P7000. A cheap internet plan may be P4030, but on the positive side, a cheap, prepaid cellphone is usually only P50.

For the sake of not depressing anyone, I’ll refrain from telling you how much rent in a student housing complex is if you’re not lucky enough to have a scholarship for it.