There’s a rotom loose in my neighborhood who is going through the power lines and scaring people by popping up in their homes. We’ve had rolling black outs since this rotom showed up. What do we do?

Have a pokémon who can use Mean Look on hand. The faster, the better. Once this rotom appears, have your pokémon trap it with Mean Look, then attempt to catch it.

This might seem a bit brutish, especially since my typical philosophy is to understand a pokémon and then meet its needs first, but rotom are unfortunately extremely quick, especially when close to sources of power. It’s better to trap it if at all possible, then attempt to communicate with it. Catching it is merely a form of security (to prevent it from escaping once Mean Look wears off), but if you’re quick or can appeal to it thoroughly, that may not entirely be necessary.

As for how to get it to come to you in the first place, this may be a bit tricky, but typically, the more appliances you have on hand, the more enticing you may make your own home. Having a lot of personal fans, for example, or computer equipment you wouldn’t mind losing—anything to give rotom a wide variety of options to possess.

Best of luck, anonymous!

Hi Bill, zzzrt! I’m a Rotom with an awezzzome trainer, and while we get along juzzzt fine, we have a zzzlight problem. I’m a compulsive shutterbug, and I love pozzezzing camerazzz. I take zzzo many photoz that my Trainer keepz having to zpend lotz of money on ztorage for my habit… and I can’t let him delete any! They’re too preciouzzz! I figure since you know Pokémon zzzo well, you could help me ztop. PS, he doezn’t know I’m posting thiz… yet. Thought I’d zurprize him.

I’m very tempted to ask you several questions, Rotom, but my editor is currently glaring at me via video chat, so I gather that would be a terrible idea.

That having been said, have your trainer purchase a film-based camera. Mini cameras are currently making a comeback, so if you enjoy the feel of something new, that may be an option. Alternatively, older models sell for rather cheap on PokéBay. Ensure that the camera lacks a roll of film, transfer into it, and click away.

Alternatively, if you wish to surprise your trainer, rather than ask for a camera, consider transferring into something else around the house that can move or click, such as a fan, a washer, a remote computer mouse, or any of the like. Use the movement of these objects to relieve your urge to manipulate a camera shutter until you feel comfortable inhabiting a camera without needing to take pictures. The transference of movement should help you by way of being an outlet so that you shift your needs from taking a picture to simply releasing your pent-up energy.

Good luck, little rotom!

So uh, there was a thing going around on Chatotter where couple of trainers in the Alola region got a special “Rotom” pokedex and the entries… Are interesting to say the least. Have you heard about this? If so, do you think Rotom may have something to do with the weird and creepy entries?

I have indeed, anonymous! You don’t get to where I am in the field of pokémon technology without having your fingers on the metaphorical pulse of, well, pokémon technology—and the “rotom dex,” as it’s called, is certainly the innovation of the year. I’ve heard about it for months, ever since word first spread out of Kalos about its development, and believe me, since the moment I’d heard about it, I have always wanted to get my hands on one. Unfortunately, while I could easily get the shell, the rotom is the difficult part. Even with my connections, not a single one has a rotom to trade, let alone any definitive leads on where one might be (outside of Sinnoh’s Old Chateau, which is unfortunately spoken for in terms of a trainer).

That aside, it’s entirely possible. Being ghost-types, rotom are naturally mischievous, and they don’t lose all of their personalities upon possession of an electronic device. On the other hand, Alola is hardly the only region with morbid entries (for good reason, oftentimes), so in some cases, it may simply be the nature of the subjects themselves. This, quite honestly, is one of the many reasons why I would love to get a rotom dex of my own.

(The other reasons, of course, largely involve the idea of holding actual conversations with a ghost-type pokémon.)

My Rotom possessed its own Pokéball and can’t come out??? The Pokéball thinks it’s simultaneously inside and outside???

Press and hold the front button until you hear a pop. This is a safe factory reset for poké balls that fail to work properly. Once you hear the pop, immediately let go of the bottom of the ball (while holding the top, of course), as the ball will immediately eject any pokémon inside, including part of your rotom. Normally, the next step is to use the newly reset ball to recapture your pokémon (unless you’d rather not risk it, which is perfectly understandable), but in your case, you’ll want to set the opened ball on the ground or a solid surface and have your rotom come out. Now that the ball doesn’t recognize the link between itself and your rotom, this will give your rotom a window of opportunity to escape. This should be done quickly, as the ball may snap close and catch your rotom again.

The alternative is, of course, taking a hammer to the ball. (This won’t hurt your rotom, as it’s in an incorporeal form. It will only force your rotom to eject.) But of course, this destroys your rotom’s ball, so it depends on whether or not you’d like to buy a new poké ball for it.

Hello, I was traveling through Floaroma Town recently (I’ll be staying a while) and the PC in the Pokemon Center is down since a Rotom has taken it over. The Nurse Joy there said that the Rotom’s trouble has just been taking over the PC and preventing trainers from using it, no pokemon have been released from it, and that someone has been contacted about the problem. I was wondering how long will getting the Rotom out take and is this a common problem?

Rest assured, anonymous, it’s not a common problem. It should be resolved in a few hours.

Or it will be once someone stops letting the rotom get away by taking selfies with her possessed computer instead of doing her job.

To be fair, Bill, do you remember what happened when you found the giant slowpoke? —LH

That was an anomalous slowpoke! That’s different! —Bill

Rotom

Rotom
The Plasma Pokémon
Type: Electric/Ghost
Official Registration #: 479
Entry: While its natural form is a foot-tall ball of pure plasma, the intangibility of its body as well as its natural affinity to electricity make it a volatile research subject. It has been known to enter and control elec̜țr̢ọṇḭc͜ d̶e̴v̶i̴c̴e̶s̴,̸ ̷r̷̼͑ẻ̷͔s̶̙̋u̸̧͝ḷ̸͆t̵̞̓i̶̲̚n̶̬̔g̷̬̊ ̷̞̀ȉ̶̪ǹ̷̟ ̶͇̐ê̶͎r̸̗̍r̶̢̓o̵̤͒r̵̫͛s̶͎̅ ̵̥̚o̴͉͒f̷̯̈ ̷͚͒á̶̢n̵͕̓ ̵̟̀u̷͉̕n̷̫͌u̵̪͘s̶͙̅û̷̦a̵͙͠ḻ̷̓ ̴̯̒n̸͙̂ä̶̜́�̷̱̍�̸̦͌�̴͍͗�̷̹͗�̴̘̔�̴̼͠ *:･ﾟ✧(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ