Tag: Piplup

Dear Bill, My birthday was a few days ago, and my family, in their ever present lack of communication, got me a Rowlet, a Piplup, and a Torchic, along with a SNivy, Turtwig, and Treeko. Do i need to worry about the Avian starters picking fights with each other? and what of my Grass Reptilians? Also, any Care tips you can suggest for them? and are there any concerns i should watch for in their Later Stages? I’d rather avoid issues BEFORE i need to take a ‘Mon to the Pokemon Center ER.

This is … quite an ask, I must admit. So to begin, I’m afraid I can’t offer care tips for six vastly different pokémon in a small amount of space, so I’ll simply offer this as a general tip: read up on each pokémon species to get hints about their basic needs. For example, treecko is a tropical insectivore, so it will need a moist environment and a largely insect-based diet. While you could possibly double up on habitats or diets for like pokémon, it’s also worth it to be aware that two pokémon, as alike as they may be, might actually have different needs. (Turtwig is an herbivore, and snivy needs larger prey, like feeder mice.)

If you’re out on the road and these are meant to be your starters for a journey, it might be easier to care for all of them (that’s what kibble and general care facilities at pokémon centers are for), but if you live at home, a team this diverse might be difficult unless you have a lot of space and money. If it is difficult, consider leaving a few at a shelter or rehoming them. This goes especially if you plan on evolving them, as their needs—not only for space but also basics—will increase exponentially. It’s not impossible to house six fully evolved starters if you’re not a trainer, but it’s difficult. And, well. Expensive.

As for your avian pokémon fighting one another, most bird-like species are actually highly social, so it’s more likely that they’ll form a flock (and perhaps try to rope in some of the reptiles while they’re at it), especially once they understand they’re part of the same team. The others, meanwhile … generally, you shouldn’t have a problem because in most cases, starters are bred to be amicable with other pokémon, but keep an eye on that treecko and snivy.

Best of luck!

The Piplup Line

Piplup
The Penguin Pokémon
Type: Water
Official Registration #: 393
Entry: One of three pokémon traditionally offered to new trainers at the beginning of their journeys in Sinnoh. An intensely proud penguin pokémon native to Sinnoh’s frigid northern climes. Due to its proud nature, it is a difficult pokémon to raise and will frequently disobey its trainers and refuse food, purely because piplup in general believe that they are above being tamed. Thus, it is highly advisable to employ reverse psychology when first training piplup. When piplup refuse to eat, simply pretend to not want to feed it, and it will eventually attempt to take your food, as it will believe doing so would be an act of disobedience. When this tactic begins to fail (due to piplup growing wise to it), it is then that a trainer will need to switch tactics in order to continue giving their piplup the impression that feeding is somehow still disobeying their wishes. The author humbly and quite seriously suggests reverse reverse psychology.

Prinplup
The Penguin Pokémon
Type: Water
Official Registration #: 394
Entry: The evolved form of piplup, by battle experience. In general, a piplup’s attitude does not improve upon evolution. Quite the contrary—each individual prinplup develops the unfortunate opinion that they are the most important being in the world, and thus, they isolate themselves within separate nests dug into the icy cliffs of northern Sinnoh, far from each other and any other pokémon they deem morally and genetically inferior. In other words, prinplup form opinions the exact same way most Kantonian politicians do, and the best prinplup trainers can do is take a page from the average Kantonian citizen by pointing their prinplup in the general direction of an opponent and letting them go at it, so to speak.

Empoleon
The Emperor Pokémon
Type: Water/Steel
Official Registration #: 395
Entry: The evolved form of prinplup, by battle experience. While empoleon are generally more mellow than either of its predecessors, they are, as a whole, still vastly proud of their abilities. It is just that they’re more likely to gather in groups, possibly because they realize that some interaction with one another is necessary for the sake of their own species. However, every empoleon-piplup rookery has one lead empoleon that makes the decisions for the rest of the flock. This empoleon is usually determined by sight: they choose the empoleon with the biggest horns to be their superior … a process that, contrary to popular belief on the internet, is not a euphemism.