The Nidorino Line

Nidoran (male)
The Poison Pin Pokémon
Type: Poison
Official Registration #: 32
Entry: A small, rabbit-like pokémon. An interesting fact about nidoran is that the first pokémon ever to be recorded using the move Poison Pin were members of this and its sister species, hence why they’re both described as “poison pin” pokémon in the pokédex. Of course, the story of how Poison Pin was discovered is equally interesting. Evidently, male nidoran are very protective of female nidoran, and female nidoran have a tendency to fire Poison Pin in tandem with their mates when alarmed. Suffice to say, this writer’s father learned very quickly about the value of antidotes.

Nidorino
The Poison Pin Pokémon
Type: Poison
Official Registration #: 33
Entry: The evolved form of male nidoran, by battle experience. It is interesting to note that nidorina and nidorino have co-adapted for the express purpose of defending different parts of their shared territory. While it is the nidorina’s job to protect the burrow and young via defensive maneuvers, it is the nidorino’s job to protect the general area with highly aggressive offensive maneuvers. Additionally, nidorino are specially adapted to do this job well; while the barbs of many other members of the nidoran family are small and retractable, the barbs of nidorino are, at minimum, six-inch-long venomous horns of danger. This in itself is not necessarily terrifying, considering the fact that many pokémon possess fangs or horns of unreasonable lengths, but in nidorino’s case, these horns are coupled with a nasty temper and a rather unfortunate tendency to charge at anything that is not a member of the nidoran family.

Nidoking
The Drill Pokémon
Type: Poison/Ground
Official Registration #: 34
Entry: The evolved form of nidorino, by exposure to moon stone. True to his name, nidoking rule over nidoran territory, much as a human king would rule over his kingdom: with an iron fist, a penchant for violence, and an extreme fondness for imperialism. Whereas nidoqueen tend to be more focused on protecting their habitats by standing their ground and fighting off intruders, nidoking seem more content on fighting literally anything short of a nidoqueen and her young. This includes other nidoking, anything with a type advantage to nidoking, inanimate objects that happen to be in the way of a nidoking, and bystanding researchers traveling along roads that cut through nidoking territories. It should also be noted that although nidoking are referred to as the drill pokémon (which is an allusion to its drill-like horn), this creature’s preferred form of attack is by smashing things with his heavy, armor-plated tail, an appendage so powerful it is capable of smashing through the engine of a jeep … which this writer mentions as an off-handed example that has subsequently and incidentally been included in expense reports to the Pokémon Symposium.

Any notable encounters with the Nidoran line, Bill?

Ah, the Nidoran line. This may be a bit complicated because the male and female lines are so vastly different from one another that they’re officially considered to be separate species, so I’m afraid I’ll have to cover them on two separate days. Below is the first, and tomorrow will be the second.

Nidoran (female)
The Poison Pin Pokémon
Type: Poison
Official Registration #: 29
Entry: A small, rabbit-like pokémon. An interesting fact about nidoran is that the first pokémon ever to be recorded using the move Poison Pin were members of this and its brother species, hence why they’re both described as “poison pin” pokémon in the pokédex. Of course, the story of how Poison Pin was discovered is equally interesting. Evidently, male nidoran are very protective of female nidoran, and female nidoran have a tendency to fire Poison Pin in tandem with their mates when alarmed.

Nidorina
The Poison Pin Pokémon
Type: Poison
Official Registration #: 30
Entry: The evolved form of female nidoran, by battle experience. Upon evolution, nidorina and their brother evolution lose their ability to breed. However, make no mistake: nidorina still possess mothering instincts—such as, specifically, the tendency to unsheathe their barbs and emit ultrasonic cries when anything threatens their burrow and young. As a note, what the pokédex says about nidorina’s docile temperament is true except in the above mentioned case, but the trouble with pokédex entries is that they never accurately describe how frequently exceptions to the rule occur. For example, in this case, yes, nidorina are docile, but it is highly useful to know that all routes where nidorina thrive are literally covered in nidorina burrows. Thus, when traversing routes through nidorina territory, bring antidotes. A lot of antidotes.

Nidoqueen
The Drill Pokémon
Type: Poison/Ground
Official Registration #: 31
Entry: The evolved form of nidorina, by exposure to moon stone. Nidoqueen are large, bulky pokémon covered in rock-hard plates. Both nidoqueen’s size and skin are highly useful in defending its young from threats, which it does with pride and enthusiasm. On the positive side, moon stone is very rarely found in nidorina habitats, making nidoqueen a very rare evolution to find naturally. However, on the negative side, nidorina territories really only need one nidoqueen to defend them, and that nidoqueen very rarely travels far from human roads. Luckily, hospitals are likewise very rarely far from nidoqueen territories.

ekans and arbok

Certainly!

Ekans
The Snake Pokémon
Type: Poison
Official Registration #: 23
Entry: An ekans develops its venom as it grows. This means that the venom of a young ekans is not as potent as the venom of an older ekans, and newborn ekans lack venom entirely, although their bites are still painful. When determining the age of your ekans, always judge by the length, not by whether or not it possesses venom; the longer the ekans, the older the specimen. Allowing an ekans to bite you in order to determine whether or not it possesses venom is not only a reckless idea but also the cause of death of many early Kantonian settlers.

Arbok
The Cobra Pokémon
Type: Poison
Official Registration #: 24
Entry: The evolved form of ekans, by battle experience. It is said that the elaborate patterns on its belly vary from area to area. Unlike most rumors concerning pokémon, this is true. Arbok from different regions have adapted different patterns, based on what its prey would find most intimidating. For example, Japanese arbok possess terrifying but simple markings that resemble noh masks. European arbok possess markings that resemble the faces of dragons or local monsters. American arbok, meanwhile, possess markings that resemble the most terrifying faces of all: clowns.

The Wurmple Line

Wurmple
The Worm Pokémon
Type: Bug
Official Registration #: 265
Entry: There is an easy way to tell if a wurmple will evolve into either a cascoon or a silcoon. What you’ll need to do is this: upon encountering a wurmple, grab it by the ridges on the back of its neck and [ERROR]

Silcoon
The Cocoon Pokémon
Type: Bug
Official Registration #: 266
Entry: The evolved form of wurmple, by a combination of battle experience and the individual’s personality. As a reflection of the wurmple’s own nature, silcoon are inherently graceful and beautiful and are known for both the softness and pure whiteness of their silk and the fact that they drink the dew off their own threads until evolution. In order to better understand silcoon and its close cousin the cascoon, imagine the most energetic morning person you have ever seen in your life. Have someone give them coffee and tell you that you are not, under any circumstances, permitted to punch them. This is the silcoon according to all cascoon.

Beautifly
The Butterfly Pokémon
Type: Bug/Flying
Official Registration #: 267
Entry: The evolved form of silcoon, by battle experience. True to the rule that the cuter a pokémon looks, the more likely it is that the pokémon in question possesses either a violent temper, the means to disembowel you, or both, beautifly are among the most beautiful and vicious bug-types in the pokémon kingdom. Its mouth is actually a coiled needle that can grow to be at least double its body size in length when straightened, and needless to say, it uses this needle to stab anyone who gets within reach of it as it feeds on flower nectar.

Cascoon
The Cocoon Pokémon
Type: Bug
Official Registration #: 268
Entry: The evolved form of wurmple, by a combination of battle experience and the individual’s personality. As a reflection of the wurmple’s own nature, cascoon are literal balls of hatred and rage, capable of remembering you, your face, and the fact that you hit it, looked at it strangely, or put it within two feet of a silcoon. It is highly advisable to apologize profusely to your cascoon on a constant basis to avoid being Psybeamed in the face immediately upon its evolution into dustox.

Dustox
The Poison Moth Pokémon
Type: Bug/Poison
Official Registration #: 269
Entry: The evolved form of cascoon, by battle experience. Despite its initial burst of rage, dustox settle into a more passive persona as they age. Rather than live solitary lifestyles and engage in aggressive, territorial behavior, dustox are more prone to congregating with their fellow dustox near sources of light, and they typically only attack when directly threatened. However, the main problem with dustox is that their scales are covered with an extremely toxic powder that happens to be released with every flap of their wings, which means they are also far, far more likely to inadvertently poison anyone who happens to be anywhere near them, much to the typical dustox’s dismay.

The Weedle Line

Weedle
The Hairy Bug Pokémon
Type: Poison/Bug
Official Registration #: 13
Entry: Weedle uses its sensitive and prominent proboscis to locate and separate its favorite leaves to eat from its least favorite leaves. All weedle have very specific leaf preferences, as well as acute senses of smell in order to sort leaves on the forest floor based on these preferences. If anyone finds this at all strange or unusual, the writer would like to remind his audience that humanity’s own obsession with gardening has resulted in over 7500 different types of tomato, and if you use the wrong type for sauce, your sister who possesses far more culinary talents than you will ever have will ensure that you are painfully aware of what, precisely, each of those 7500 different varieties of tomato are for.

Kakuna
The Cocoon Pokémon
Type: Poison/Bug
Official Registration #: 14
Entry: The evolved form of weedle, by battle experience. In this stage of its evolutionary line, kakuna are strictly preparing for evolution and therefore remain nearly immobile. However, it is important to note that “nearly immobile” is not the same as “actually and completely immobile,” and should you accidentally stumble onto an entire tree covered with kakuna, said kakuna will extend their poison barbs through their shells in order to remind you of what that difference is.

Beedrill
The Poison Bee Pokémon
Type: Poison/Bug
Official Registration #: 15
Entry: The evolved form of kakuna, by battle experience. Quite obviously, training a weedle to its beedrill stage takes a lot of determination and audacity. This is not only because the kakuna stage is nearly immobile, therefore requiring a trainer to exert the patience needed to help their kakuna cultivate the experience required for evolution, but also because the resulting beedrill is a fiercely territorial and aggressive creature armed with three potently venomous stingers each measuring a foot long. Trainers who wish to keep beedrill are highly advised to keep healthy stocks of antidotes, pecha berries, and whatever they feel would be best to sedate a three-foot-tall bee that can fly at one’s face at violently high speeds.

Skrelp and Dragalge

Skrelp
The Mock Kelp Pokémon
Type: Poison/Water
Official Registration #: 690
Entry: Its colorization, leaf-like appendages, and propensity to travel in large groups makes skrelp nearly indistinguishable from rotting kelp in the calmer, shallower waters of coastal regions. Additionally, both of the possible natural abilities for this species involve poisoning on contact, and as such, it is both understandable and not uncommon for beaches to shut down upon the sighting of a skrelp forest. Yet interestingly enough, Kalos, the region with the highest population of skrelp, is also home to the most nudist beaches in the world, which should say a thing or few about the Kalosean natives.

Dragalge
The Mock Kelp Pokémon
Type: Poison/Dragon
Official Registration #: 691
Entry: The evolved form of skrelp, by battle experience. Whereas skrelp possess milder venom and prefer to drift and allow prey to stumble across them, dragalge have the audacity to chase down ships and melt hulls via their highly acidic venom. Why this is so, no one quite knows, but it’s been the cause of an innumerable amount of shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean since the advent of maritime travel. Interestingly enough, the Great Britain, nation to the north of Kalos and the other French regions (and therefore home to the second largest skrelp and dragalge population in the world), is also home to a proud naval history. Said history involves one of the largest and longest-lasting navies ever created and, therefore, one of the largest totals of human life lost to dragalge ever counted. Between this and the Kalosean nudist beaches, it can be gathered that the human species is a strange and ultimately unreasonably stubborn thing with a fixation on defying nature.

The Zubat Line

Zubat
The Bat Pokémon
Type: Poison/Flying
Official Registration #: 41
Entry: A two-foot-tall eyeless, cave-dwelling bat known for detecting its prey using echolocation and, upon alighting on said prey, latching onto it with inch-long fangs and draining its very life force from its body. Also, given the prevalence of tunnels and caves in every region, at least half of the reason why this writer neither envies trainers nor desires to be one ever again.

Golbat
The Bat Pokémon
Type: Poison/Flying
Official Registration #: 42
Entry: The evolved form of zubat, by battle experience. Travel to deeper caves with larger zubat nests, and you may encounter its evolution, which is little more than a flying mouth full of void and fangs. Those of you who plan on traveling through the Kantonian league circuit should rest assured that golbat only feed on blood until absolutely full, and at that point, they become too lethargic to continue chasing down prey. Also, they are the third most common cave-dwelling pokémon in Kanto, right behind their pre-evolved forms and living boulders.

Crobat
The Bat Pokémon
Type: Poison/Flying
Official Registration #: 169
Entry: The evolved form of golbat, in response to closeness with its trainer. Arguably one of the easier evolutions-by-closeness to achieve, as zubat and golbat, when caught, are typically both astounded and thrilled to find themselves not simply electrocuted or buried under a pile of boulders on a cave floor. As such, despite the fact that it is not exactly famous for it, crobat are notably loyal and protective of their trainers. Which, really, is a good thing, as evolution gives them an extra pair of wings and a growth spurt that enable them to become one of the fastest, stealthiest, and largest flying predators in the pokémon kingdom, and its healthy diet of blood, naturally, never changes.