Hey bill what’s up. So my pidgy was my emotional support Pokémon’s for years, but now he’s a pidgeot and I’m having trouble bringing him places due to his size. I clearly need something smaller. Any suggestions on a Pokémon gentle and small?

It would actually be best to work with another pidgey, as that’s likely what you’re most used to, and its disposition and skillset will closely match your original emotional support pokémon’s. Sticking with the species you’re most used to will help maintain a sense of security and normalcy, which you may need at moments when your mental health is at its lowest. Just remember to give the next one you get an everstone. You may want to specifically ask for a pidgey that doesn’t wish to evolve to avoid stressing your new emotional support pokémon out.

If you wish to try something new, though, there are plenty of options for pokémon that can’t evolve (or can’t do so on their own) but fit those criteria. Munna, for example, is a rather popular choice, but if you wish to stick to flying-types, togetic is small, can’t evolve unless you give it the extremely rare shiny stone, and is well-known for being gentle, caring, and fantastically good at sensing the emotions of its trainers. Woobat, being part psychic, is also fairly popular, and it doesn’t get much bigger as a swoobat. As for popular emotional support pokémon that can’t evolve at all, you may wish to consider farfetch’d, delibird, oricorio, or chatot. Delibird especially is noted for being fairly easy to train as a support pokémon, partly due to its kind nature and mostly due to the fact that it’s not particularly well-suited for battle (meaning if it interacts with humans, it’s often to serve in a capacity other than on the battlefield … which in turn means it may already understand that its relationship with you may be more domestic in nature).

My advice would be to work with your local pokémon shelter. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and inquire about which pokémon would best suit the role of a companion to you, rather than as a member of a battle-ready team. Most pokémon shelters are run out of centers, so the staff would not only completely understand if you’re seeking an adoptee for medical reasons but also be prepared to help you if you have any questions.

But above all, though, remember that the best emotional support pokémon is actually the one you feel the most comfortable with. So while you’re at the shelter, you may wish to keep your mind and options open. If you see a pokémon that you immediately feel drawn to, consider that one. (Of course, ask the staff if the pokémon that calls out to you has a calm disposition, but other than that, you should be fine.)

Best of luck!

Hi Bill! Me again! This time it’s not about Sunlight, rather it’s my pidgeots newly hatched pidgey. I named him lucky after he survived a rather serious accident that left him grounded for almost 3 months. Now he’s all healthy again but he is terrified of flying higher than my shoulders, about 160 cm. Is there anything I can do to help him overcome this? I’d love to take him with me when I hike since his mama is getting up in her years and doesn’t have all the energy anymore.

Actually, the best thing you can do is let Lucky’s mama do the healing. A mother knows best how to coax their child into being the best they can be, and I have no doubt your pidgeot recognizes that Lucky is struggling. Let her show him that there’s nothing wrong with flying. The fact that she needs to take it slow will work to her advantage: it means her lessons will be slow and easy for Lucky to handle.

Above all else, be supportive and patient throughout this process. Let Lucky rest when he needs to, but offer words of encouragement and place him back with his mother when he’s ready. He won’t be ready to fly above your shoulder height within days, but perhaps over months, he’ll slowly climb in altitude until he’s soaring.

Best of luck!

The Pidgey Line

{Short note of explanation: The following is a complete rewrite of the pidgey line’s pokédex entries, rather than simply an entry for mega pidgeot. This probably won’t be a common thing but rather just a thing that might happen from time to time with the least funny entries. Sorry! Carry on!}

Pidgey
The Tiny Birb Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Official Registration #: 16
Entry: A small, extremely common bird-like pokémon native to Kanto. This pokémon is popular among younger trainers, not only for how easy it is to catch and train but also because humans apparently take delight in calling a nearly direct descendant of the majestic dinosaur pokémon “birb,” “smol boi,” and/or “four pounds of whoop-[EXPLETIVE].”

Pidgeotto
The Birb Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Official Registration #: 17
Entry: The evolved form of pidgey, by battle experience. The crest on its head is a set of feathers that help stabilize this pokémon during high-speed flight. However, the author will not discourage anyone from assuming that they are “leafs” that pidgeotto “wears on its head to enhance its beauties.”

Pidgeot
The Birb Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Official Registration #: 18
Entry: The evolved form of pidgeotto, by battle experience. The author can neither confirm nor deny whether or not this pokémon would sell its trainers to Giratina for one corn chip, but he can say it’s more likely for pidgeot to do it than honchkrow.

Mega Pidgeot
The Birb Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Official Registration #: 18+
Entry: The advanced form of pidgeot, via pidgeotite. This bird-like pokémon keeps itself in the air by sheer force of anger alone. You may think the author is quoting yet another bird-themed meme, but actually, no, that is a literal and scientifically accurate statement.

Is it possible to spay a bird pokemon? I have a female pidgey who has become close friends with a wild taillow who keeps coming into our backyard who happens to be male. I’d like to keep their friendship going but I’m not sure if I’d be prepared to take care of any eggs or hatchlings they might have. If it isnt possible, do I just need to supervise them all the time?

While it’s possible to spay a bird pokémon, it’s extremely difficult and could lead to complications that, in short, means it’s not worth trying unless the pokémon’s life is somehow jeopardized by being intact. That having been said, I’m afraid that’s about all you can do, anonymous, other than training your pidgey to ward off unwanted advances on her own and to avoid mating if at all possible. The only other suggestion I can make for this is to look into options for rehoming eggs in a humane manner, just in case.

Recently my brother brought home a young Pidgey and my two Swellow (both male) are both very protective over it. They’re not fighting with each other, I mean they are working together, almost like parents, to look after this Pidgey. They take turns trying to feed or guard it and are occasionally becoming aggressive towards anyone who goes near. Why could they be doing this, and is it a common thing?

Out of all the common, bird-like pokémon in any region, taillow and swellow are actually the most social. They commonly organize themselves in massive flocks that are much, much larger than even typical pidgey flocks, especially when it comes time to lay eggs and raise their young. In fact, the reason why tamed taillow vocalize so much is simply because they’re running on instinct: young taillow vocalize to call other members of its species to it so it can seek comfort in numbers.

Upon evolution, swellow tend to be a little more independent (much like other evolved bird-like pokémon), but their flocking instincts never really go away. Even as swellow, they’ll respond to young taillow and swoop in to protect and care for those that seem to be abandoned.

That’s basically what your swellow are doing with your brother’s pidgey. To your swellow, that pidgey is simply an odd-looking but abandoned pidgey, so they’ve accepted it into their “flock” and are attempting to raise it until it’s strong enough to find a mate and hunt on its own. Very likely, though, your swellow will stick very close to your brother’s pidgey throughout its life, as even when it reaches maturity, they will see it as another member of its flock and will engage in typical taillow flocking tendencies as your brother’s pidgey seeks out a mate, lays eggs, and hatches its own young.

In short, it’s so common that this is textbook swellow behavior. I wouldn’t worry about it too much unless it’s particularly disruptive to your or your brother’s lives.

Not Unova related, but is it true that pupitar move by farting?

That’s a bit crudely put, but … yes.

Actually, it’s quite interesting that you mention this, anonymous, as while scientists don’t necessarily call it that (formally, anyway—we certainly do privately and when not in earshot of a pupitar), it’s known that the gases pupitar specimens emit consist largely of a mix of sulfur, methane, carbon dioxide, and other elements and compounds prevalent in human flatulence.

It is also the exact chemistry of the gases that fill the more inhospitable mines of the Johto region. In fact, the phrase “pidgey in the coal mine” comes from the old practice of bringing a caged pidgey into Johtonian coal mines and using them to detect pupitar nests. This is because when in the vicinity of pupitar nests, the pidgey would, well, faint from the gases pupitar emit from their anal jets. Humans, due to their much larger sizes compared to pidgey, often lasted a little longer—or, at least, long enough to evacuate the field of pupitar gas.

The Pidgey Line

Pidgey
The Tiny Bird Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Official Registration #: 16
Entry: A small, normally docile pokémon that is extremely common to Kanto and Johto. As such, along with rattata, pidgey are typically among the first pokémon a beginning Kantonian trainer captures. This is made all the easier thanks to the fact that pidgey also prefer kicking up sand using low-powered gusts of wind at ground level before fleeing, rather than engaging in a proper battle, but its small wings and the amount of energy it expends in blinding its foe make it difficult to get away quickly. Still, as a pokémon not known for either its battle prowess or its defensive capabilities, it, too, tends to be permanently stored rather quickly, but as of late, it has enjoyed an upsurge in popularity, partly because of pidgeot’s newly discovered mega evolution and partly because, according to the internet, it is “an adorable birb” who “wears leaf for enhance its beauties.”

Pidgeotto
The ~~Birb~~ Bird Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Official Registration #: 17
Entry: The evolved form of pidgey, by battle experience. Like many other pokémon, evolution grants pidgeotto more confidence and aggression. It goes from being a docile pokémon to a highly territorial one that tends to claim a large swath of land as its home. Additionally, it possesses keen eyesight and the ability to swoop down onto prey from great heights and snatch its target with deadly claws. However, what it has not outgrown from its days as a pidgey is its love for bread, so travelers hiking through Kanto should beware when carrying sandwiches.

Pidgeot
The Bird Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Official Registration #: 18
Entry: The evolved form of pidgeotto, by battle experience. While pidgeotto’s aggression calms a bit upon evolution, its hunting behaviors otherwise remain the same. In fact, pidgeot’s sharpened eyesight, its ability to fly at Mach-2 speeds, and its capacity to generate hurricane-strength winds make pidgeot far more deadly than its much more hostile pre-evolution. Luckily, pidgeot only exist naturally in the mountains around Victory Road, so most trainers needn’t worry about the fate of their sandwiches. Strong trainers thinking of challenging the Elite Four, however, are a different matter, but by then, you might already be aware of the sizable list of pokémon that would also do unspeakable things to you for a sandwich and any fish-like meat inside it. In short, the deadliest object a trainer can carry with them throughout their journey is a tuna fish sandwich.