Recently my late wife’s Aggron laid a small clutch of eggs. We turned most of them over to a licensed breeder, but my daughter decided to keep one and use it as her starter when she starts her journey in a few months. The two of us have been taking care of Aggron the past few years, but it had been fully evolved long before I met my wife. Is there anything we should know about raising a young Aron, both for the next few weeks at home, and later when my daughter sets out?

Luckily, you still have the aggron parent. That makes things immensely easier, not only because the aggron will do much of the work to take care of its child for you but also because aron will generally need many of the same things as aggron, just in smaller doses. Aron still need cool, dry places to sleep; rocks to supplement its diet (if you don’t feed it exclusively stone); and plenty of time to battle so it may gain experience and harden its shell. I would recommend a diet of pure stone, incidentally, as well as at least one hour of defensive training a day. Aron’s best traits on the battlefield is its defensive capabilities, so the harder its armor when it begins its time as your daughter’s starter, the better. It may also be worth it to invest in a sand bath of its own, complete with a few stumps or stones for it to Tackle. That way, it can bathe, play, and continue to work on training its defenses, all in one.

The only trouble you may encounter would be at the start of your daughter’s journey. Your late wife’s aggron may cause trouble, as losing her trainer would have been traumatic enough, but with the departure of her child and one of her caretakers, she may see the journey as less an opportunity for the both of them and more the act of losing half its family. It’s important to spend time with her and make it clear that you won’t leave her. If you have any other pokémon, have them bond with her too. If you don’t, consider getting her a long-term mate or ask the breeder who took on most of her clutch if she can visit until the hatchlings are adopted (or if she can spend time on the ranch, caring for any other pokémon—even this interaction will do wonders for her).

As for your daughter and her aron, have those two bond as much as possible. It sounds like the aron will still be young when it leaves home with its trainer, so you’ll need to focus on making the separation from its parent go as smoothly and as non-traumatic as possible. By having your daughter take an active role in caring for it—by feeding it, battling with it, playing with it, and so forth—the aron will bond with her more readily and, therefore, see her as its main family and caretaker, or someone who will be there for it and who it can trust.

In short, take care of the aron the same way as you would an aggron. The same could be said after your daughter begins her journey. She’ll need to continue feeding her aron and battling with it regularly. The only change is that she may need to polish her aron by hand, using a rag and standard steel-type polish, available at any pokémart. It’s just that prior to her departure, ensure that both your wife’s aggron and your daughter’s aron are emotionally prepared for the separation.

Good luck, and congratulations on your daughter’s journey!

May I ask what pokemon would be good to give as a first Pokemon to my disabled younger brother. (He uses a wheelchair because he can’t move his legs at all.) We live in Unova, but my sister and uncle travel a lot so we could get Pokemon from other regions, too. He’s going to be eight.

First and foremost, at the risk of stating the obvious, never use a service pokémon as a starter. I know this should stand to reason, but many people give their wheelchair-bound or otherwise disabled pokémon they believe can perform both functions. The problem with doing so, however, is in the fact that service pokémon should never be allowed to battle, as a fainted or injured service pokémon is not a pokémon that can do its job. Thus, if its human needs it during or immediately after a battle, it won’t be available to perform, which rather unfortunately defeats its purpose as a service pokémon.

That having been said, most likely, your brother should consider getting a service pokémon in addition to a starter, and he certainly can do so without having the former apply to his six-pokémon limit. That is to say, your brother can have a service pokémon in addition to a full team of six, and in that case, which one he chooses should be specific to his case. Very likely, he can work with one of several government or medical organizations to determine which one would be the best fit for him.

With all of that in mind, which starter would be best for him depends on what his interests are and whether or not your sister or uncle can get quite literally any pokémon for him. I do recommend against more energetic pokémon, such as fighting-types or some fire-types, however. While your brother may be able to handle these as he continues on his journey, giving him one early on may pose a difficult challenge, as he will be new to traveling and battling on his own. Energetic pokémon, particularly those of the fighting-type, typically demand rigorous training routines in rougher terrain, and they may not understand the limitations of their own trainer. There have been cases of more experienced trainers with limited mobility figuring out how to balance their limitations with their pokémon’s needs, but this usually comes after years of trial-and-error and, well, raw experience.

By contrast, however, psychic and grass pokémon tend to be less demanding in that department, as their abilities are more meditative or internally-focused. Thus, they require less vigorous physical training and more internal growth and meditation, and these involve training routines anyone can keep up with. In fact, a psychic-type’s need for meditation and mindfulness exercises may be important for your brother’s own development as a trainer. Unova actually has an excellent choice in the form of munna (who, itself, is a formidable battler), as well as solosis and gothita, but ralts is an excellent choice as well. Should you choose a grass-type (which don’t so much meditate as quietly and contemplatively absorb sunlight for the sake of sustenance), most grass-type starters except snivy work well, as do oddish, petilil, budew, lotad, and seedot. (I would, of course, not recommend pokémon that have a tendency to drift on the wind, namely hoppip or cottonee.)

Of course, ultimately, you’ll want to take into consideration what he wishes to train as well. If he does want to train fighting- or fire-types, there are certainly calmer members of either classification you may consider. The point is, don’t give him something that would be too demanding or challenging right away.

I wish you and your brother the best of luck, anonymous. May his journey be filled with wonder.

It’s my younger brother’s birthday next month and I’m thinking about talking to a breeder to get him his first pokemon. I know pokemon given by the professor are good beginner pokemon, but he likes Ice types so I wanted to get him something special. What options for Ice type pokemon would be a good choice? (He will be turning 9)

Typically, researchers recommend starters who have the capability of evolving because the childlike base form is often easier to deal with or master. In the case of the ice type, this is largely relevant for lapras (difficult for a beginner to train, especially in a landlocked environment), cryogonal (notorious for being highly dangerous and difficult to train), and delibird (notorious for being incapable of learning anything other than Present), but a number of others are viable options. Thus, it’s more of a question of what’s available to you at the time, as a number of ice-types are highly rare in certain regions.

If you have the option to choose any pokémon, however, snorunt tends to be the easiest to train, as its humanoid traits make it the most agreeable to people. It’s also a highly social pokémon in that it’s prone to congregate in groups in the wild. In captivity, that often means it sticks as close to its trainer as possible and fares far better in more urban environments, where it’s surrounded by noise and people. (Trained snorunt see humans who are friendly to their trainer as extensions of their surrogate clan.) Of course, finding snorunt in the first place tends to be a bit more difficult, as snorunt are native to deep, icy cave systems and are not popularly bred pokémon. (There are, of course, snorunt breeders in the world, but they’re fewer in numbers than any other breeder.)

Smoochum is likewise highly sociable, and smoochum adapt to warmer temperatures a little easier than snorunt do. However, they’re also rarer and more difficult to obtain, and the only reliable means of doing so would be to contact breeders in regions where smoochum and jynx are native wildlife (namely Johto, Sinnoh, Kalos, and the northernmost territories of Canada).

You could also try snover, which is also rather friendly to humans and nearly sapient at that. Its evolution, abomasnow, is also a lot quieter and more docile than jynx, froslass, or glalie. (Especially glalie.) It also has the ability to photosynthesize, making it easier for extreme beginning trainers to handle. On the other hand, snover and abomasnow prefer quiet areas, so it’s not a particularly good choice for trainers in highly urban regions such as Unova, Johto, or Kalos. That and with its dual weakness to fire, it may be a particularly challenging option for any region with native fire-type pokémon or resident fire-type gym leaders or Elite Four members. (Again, that would be Unova and Kalos.)

If your brother would prefer something a little less humanoid, spheal is both docile and fairly easy to train, and its water typing makes it an ideal choice for those who wish to counter ice’s weakness to fire. It also evolves into a pokémon with fantastic defensive capabilities, which means it’s one of the least frustrating choices for a young trainer. The downside is that as a partial water-type, your brother will need to understand how to keep a spheal hydrated, not to mention spheal’s evolutions are not particularly mobile on land. (Spheal is, however, as it can roll rather quickly.)

Alternatively, swinub’s ground-typing can achieve the same results as spheal’s water-based abilities, and it can travel on land. Likewise, it has the ability to hunt for edibles in any given environment, making it highly useful outside of battle as well. Of course, getting it to stop eating anything and everything it finds and leaving nothing left over for their trainers is an entirely different matter, and a trainer should keep in mind that although swinub is fairly easy to teach, when it smells food, it may ignore everything its trainer says unless it happens to be very well trained.

The others may be a touch too rare or too difficult to train. Vanillite, for example, are only really popular in its native Unova, and as such, there are no breeders for vanillite outside of that region. Likewise, while vulpix and sandshrew can be ice-types, the only way to obtain them are via breeders or trainers from Alola, which can get rather costly. Conversely, cubchoo is easy to train and easier to obtain than vanillite, sandshrew, or vulpix (as their cute looks make them highly wanted pets), but after evolution, cubchoo becomes the fierce and highly carnivorous beartic, which may perhaps be a bit more difficult for a nine-year-old to handle. Amaura is extremely difficult to obtain (in that it may only be resurrected from fossils), bergmite is just as dangerous as cryogonal, and sneasel, while not particularly dangerous when tamed, is prone to highly rebellious behavior when not paired with an experienced trainer.

Of course, if we wish to go over every option, there are also pokémon that evolve into ice-types, but it should be warned that quite a few of these are not particularly mobile. For example, seel and shellder evolve into dewgong and cloyster, respectively, but neither of them travel well on land.

However, you also have eevee, which under certain circumstances can evolve into the ice-type glaceon, and in comparison with the other aforementioned pokémon, there are absolutely no disadvantages to training an eevee, and in fact, your brother may wish to start with that, now that I think about it.

Bill, eevee can only evolve into glaceon when it comes in contact with very specific boulders, all of which are located in extremely treacherous spots in only three regions on the planet. —LH

You’re right. Anonymous, give your brother one of the above and an eevee. — Bill

Which Eeveelution would you recommend a trainer beginning their journey in Sinnoh should aim for? I’m sure some are easier for beginners than others.

All of them. Just get a full team of eeveelutions. Rotate out a couple as needed, but just put together a full assortment of eeveelutions. You will regret nothing.

Edit: I have just been informed by my editor that this is “an inadequate response” and that I should “take legitimate questions seriously, Bill,” so allow me to revise the above statement.

Let’s assume that you’re either starting with an eeveelution of your choice or that you’re starting with an eevee that you have the option of evolving using any means possible soon after you receive it. (We can also assume that “any means possible” includes the method needed to obtain a sylveon, which evolves via a technique most easily performed in Kalos.) Let’s also assume that you intend on tackling the traditional order of the Sinnoh League circuit, which begins in Oreburgh and ends in Sunyshore.

That all said, which you choose depends entirely on your battling style and what the rest of your team will be by the time you reach Eterna. If you’re the sort who battles according to type advantages, the very first gym in the circuit is run by Roark, who is a rock-type specialist. Therefore, the easiest eeveelutions to have with you would be vaporeon, leafeon, or possibly glaceon, whereas the most challenging eeveelutions to have would be flareon and jolteon. However, the second gym is run by grass-type specialist Gardenia, which means glaceon will have the overall best advantage for the first two gyms, followed by leafeon (which has a defensive advantage against its own type).

By the time you clear these gyms, you should gather together enough pokémon that the rest of the circuit will depend less on what type your eevee has become, although it certainly doesn’t hurt to take these into consideration. Which is to say after the second gym, glaceon may struggle with Maylene unless you’ve obtained support in the form of a psychic- or flying-type (of which there are numerous options in Sinnoh), as well as Byron (who should really be approached with fighting-types anyway). Vaporeon will face far more struggles thanks to Pastoria’s water-type gym and Sunyshore’s electric-type gym, and leafeon should be brought nowhere near Snowpoint’s ice-type gym. Again, though, all of these have counters in the form of Sinnoh’s native pokémon.

On the other hand, if we consider average battling capabilities, espeon has an excellent distribution of speed, offensive, and defensive abilities, making it one of the easier eeveelutions to train. Taking into consideration the fact that its type is neutral to the first two gyms and effective against the third, espeon may be your best choice, but you’ll encounter difficulties against ghost-type specialist Fantina, as well as against Elite Four members Lucian and Aaron. Alternatively, there’s jolteon, which is slightly faster than espeon, but it’s slightly weaker, it lacks physical defenses, and it will run into trouble with not only Roark’s partial-ground-types but also Byron’s, as well as Volkner’s electric-types.

In my personal opinion, however, it’s much better to go with a more defensive pokémon if you’re starting out than one that can hit quicker and faster, which means either flareon or umbreon would be ideal choices. It should be noted, though, that although flareon excels in defending against special attacks, it does not do so well in defending against physical ones, which is a problem when going up against Roark’s gym. However, if trained well, it would be an effective team member, especially in light of the fact that fire-types are rare in the Sinnoh region, whereas many of the obstacles you may face might require the assistance of one. Meanwhile, while umbreon has the best overall defenses of any of the eeveelutions (never mind type advantages against both Fantina and Lucian), it’s also the slowest and weakest offensively. However, umbreon’s defenses are so impressive that the trick with training it is simply to chip away at an opponent while they struggle to defeat you.

As for sylveon, it’s not exactly a terrible choice at all, but it should be noted that a fairy-type would struggle against Byron, Flint, and part of Aaron’s team. On the other hand, it would excel against Maylene, and it boasts decent—but not necessarily excellent—offensive and defensive capabilities (but rather unimpressive speed).

In short, for a beginner, it depends. If you focus on type advantages, leafeon may be the best choice, all things considered. Espeon and flareon are the best for those interested in offensive pokémon, and umbreon is the best in terms of defensive trainers. Get a jolteon if you wish for something speedy.

But really, all of them are excellent choices.

The Froakie Line

Froakie
The Bubble Frog Pokémon
Type: Water
Official Registration #: 656
Entry: One of three pokémon traditionally offered to new trainers at the beginning of their journeys in Kalos. True to their species name, froakie are known for their tendency to protect their delicate skin with bubbles. However, skin protection is just one of the many uses for these bubbles. Another use is, of course, to protect a froakie’s eggs when mating, and the foam itself is typically generated early in the fertilization process when the male mounts the female to agitate her foam sacs. Thus, trainers, when you find your male froakie hugging your female froakie from behind to create a cloud of bubbles, rest assured that there will soon be a daycare owner who will tell you that an egg has suddenly appeared and that he has no idea how it might have gotten there.

Frogadier
The Bubble Frog Pokémon
Type: Water
Official Registration #: 657
Entry: The evolved form of froakie, by battle experience. Supposedly, frogadier possess unparalleled speed and dexterity that enable it to achieve incredible feats of agility. For example, according to one report, a frogadier owned by a Kalosean researcher has been found to be capable of scaling a 2000-foot tower within a minute. Of course, considering the fact that Kalos’s tallest structure, the Prism Tower, is only 1062 feet in height, how this specific ability has been tested is a very good question.

Greninja
The Ninja Pokémon
Type: Water/Dark
Official Registration #: 658
Entry: The evolved form of frogadier, by battle experience. Gifted with ninja-like skills, greninja can appear from seemingly nowhere and generate a barrage of throwing stars made of compressed water. Incidentally, yes, these stars can, in fact, shear through metal; yes, the author has learned this the hard way; and yes, he has not yet forgotten that a certain Kalosean professor owes him quite a sum of money for the destruction of one rental motorbike thanks to his protege’s greninja.

The Fennekin Line

Fennekin
The Fox Pokémon
Type: Fire
Official Registration #: 653
Entry: One of three pokémon traditionally offered to new trainers at the beginning of their journeys in Kalos. Fennekin are popular starters for their adorable appearances and behaviors. They are frequently found trailing after larger pokémon or their trainers while chewing cutely on twigs they find along Kalosean forest paths. These twigs fuel fennekin’s internal fires, so in order to combat this, they shake their large ears cutely in order to expel hot air. Considering the number of cute traits and the species’ identity as a fire fox, it should be worth it to note that the vulpix line, a fellow fire fox evolutionary tree noted for their vain dispositions, do not get along with fennekin and have been known to engage in vicious physical assaults on fennekn out of jealousy, despite the fact that the two lines are actually distantly related. Therefore, it is ill-advised to leave a fennekin in the same room as a vulpix. Unless, of course, you happen to be the sort of trainer who is somehow entertained by reality shows such as Undella Shore and Real Housewives of Orre … at which point the author respectfully asks you to relinquish your trainer’s license at the nearest pokémon center.

Braixen
The Fox Pokémon
Type: Fire
Official Registration #: 654
Entry: The evolved form of fennekin, by battle experience. This bipedal fox-like pokémon keeps a twig in its bushy tail when not engaged in battle or in the vicinity of fellow members of the fennekin line. In either condition, the braixen unsheathes this twig, the tip of which—as a result of friction against its stiff, flint-like hairs—catches on fire as soon as it’s fully drawn. Once lit, braixen may use this light to communicate with its fellow pokémon by waving its twig in elaborate patterns before it. A visual representation of multiple braixen communicating by twig fire with one another may be seen here.

Delphox
The Fox Pokémon
Type: Fire/Psychic
Official Registration #: 655
Entry: The evolved form of braixen, by battle experience. A five-foot-tall fox gifted with powerful flame and psychic abilities, delphox’s signature attack involves combining its elements to create a vortex of fire that reaches temperatures of up to 5400 degrees Fahrenheit. In theory, this attack draws in its opponents and inflicts a devastating blow of the fire element. In practice, given the fact that a vortex of hot air creates a powerful vacuum, this attack draws in literally anything around it save for itself and inflicts a devastating amount of property damage.

The Chespin Line

Chespin
The Spiny Nut Pokémon
Type: Grass
Official Registration #: 650
Entry: One of three pokémon traditionally offered to new trainers at the beginning of their journeys in Kalos. Also a small, rodent-like pokémon native to the thick forests of the aforementioned region. Although this pokémon’s spines are normally soft and pleasant to touch, it can tense them at any time into points that are capable of piercing into solid rock. Thus, regardless of how cute and tame a chespin may look, it is somewhat ill-advised to pet this pokémon.

Quilladin
The Spiny Armor Pokémon
Type: Grass
Official Registration #: 651
Entry: The evolved form of chespin, by battle experience. A hardy but peaceful pokémon, quilladin prefer not to fight, but if they do, they can easily protect themselves using their hardened wood armor, which boasts a weight and sturdiness comparable to the quebracho tree family. Supposedly, in rare cases, quilladin are capable of forming wooden armor hard enough to resist bullets, but testing whether or not your quilladin is capable of this is also somewhat ill-advised.

Chesnaught
The Spiny Armor Pokémon
Type: Grass/Fighting
Official Registration #: 652
Entry: The evolved form of quilladin, by battle experience. Valued among trainers for their unrivaled physical defensive abilities, chesnaught support enough bulk to overturn a tank with one Tackle, as well as armor hard enough to withstand an electrode’s Explosion. As a side note, attacking your chesnaught with a tank or detonating an electrode right beside it in order to test its defensive capabilities is also somewhat ill-advised.

The Oshawott Line

Oshawott
The Sea Otter Pokémon
Type: Water
Official Registration #: 501
Entry: One of three pokémon traditionally offered to new trainers at the beginning of their journeys in Unova. A small but tenacious otter pokémon, oshawott quickly attacks using the scalchop it normally stores on its stomach. According to the Unovan pokédex, this scalchop is made of the same elements as claws … which means absolutely nothing because a lot of things in the natural world are made of the same elements as claws.

Dewott
The Discipline Pokémon
Type: Water
Official Registration #: 502
Entry: The evolved form of oshawott, by battle experience. True to its species, dewott trains endlessly in order to master sword-like techniques with its dual scalchops. There are many interpretations as to why dewott do this. Some researchers note that the scalchop is a difficult weapon to master, so dewott compensate for this with elaborate swordplay styles unique to each individual specimen. Others say dewott are secretly training to avenge their fallen masters, to which the first group of researchers will often respond by telling the second to stop watching terrible kung fu movies and that their tastes in film is questionable at best. The author, of course, wishes to respectfully disagree by informing his editor that kung fu films are an art form, thank you.

Samurott
The Formidable Pokémon
Type: Water
Official Registration #: 503
Entry: The evolved form of dewott, by battle experience. A master of katana-like swordplay, samurott engage in battle by unleashing an intimidating cry, followed by a vicious, lightning-fast attack with its seamitars, or the blades attached to the front legs of its armor. Not only can samurott unsheathe these blades with incredible speed and dexterity, but they are also capable of dual-wielding both of their seamitars at once … which is itself impressive for a pokémon that requires four legs to stand.

The Tepig Line

Tepig
The Fire Pig Pokémon
Type: Fire
Official Registration #: 498
Entry: One of three pokémon traditionally offered to new trainers at the beginning of their journeys in Unova. Noted for its adorable appearance and equally adorable proclivity for exhaling fireballs from its distinctive nose when excited, tepig are not only a popular pet in Unova but also a popular subject in children’s books set in the Unovan countryside. However, because of its proclivity for exhaling fireballs from its distinctive nose when excited, attempting to make live action films of the aforementioned children’s book has frequently been met with disaster.

Pignite
The Fire Pig Pokémon
Type: Fire/Fighting
Official Registration #: 497
Entry: The evolved form of tepig, by battle experience. A hardy and aggressive pokémon, pignite is capable of launching devastating, full-body attacks. In order to fuel these attacks, pignite often consumes whatever is within reach, regardless of whether or not it is actually edible to most other pokémon. It should go without saying that it is a good idea to keep all hands, limbs, clothing, wallets, and valuable research equipment out of reach of this pokémon at all times.

Emboar
The Mega Fire Pig Pokémon
Type: Fire/Fighting
Official Registration #: 500
Entry: The evolved form of pignite, by battle experience. A master of hand-to-hand combat, emboar possess the power to set their chins ablaze with a full beard of fire. This beard can then be used to set its fists on fire for devastating punches and palm strikes, consume emboar’s body for flaming Rollouts, or any of a number of other incredible physical attacks. Yet the thing emboar is most known for is the fact that it is in the third starting pokémon of the fire and fighting elements to be announced in a region, as when it comes to pokémon research and training, repetitive elemental combinations take precedence over the individual qualities and behaviors of an evolutionary family.

The Snivy Line

Snivy
The Grass Snake Pokémon
Type: Grass
Official Registration #: 495
Entry: One of three pokémon traditionally offered to new trainers at the beginning of their journeys in Unova. Swift and intelligent pokémon, snivy are capable of executing incredible feats of agility in battle, regardless of whether or not their trainers order them to do so. That having been said, to answer some of the most common questions about this species, yes, researchers are aware of its species designation; yes, we are and have always been aware that snivy has limbs; and yes, it made sense at the time.

Servine
The Grass Snake Pokémon
Type: Grass
Official Registration #: 496
Entry: The evolved form of snivy, by battle experience. Despite having limbs, servine prefer to slither along the ground with such deftness and ease it is often described as “sliding.” It does this despite the fact that its ability to photosynthesize (and therefore fuel its basic bodily processes) can and will be inhibited if mud and dirt covers its scales. However, one explanation is that it preferred battle method is to sneak up on its opponent and use Vine Whip on them before they become aware of servine’s closeness, which is to say that servine’s locomotive preference is deemed worth it for the sake of fighting dirty.

Puns, Bill? Is that what this blog is reduced to now? —LH

Oh, come now, Lanette. You may think I’m stooping to a new low, but you know as well as I do that I was already there. —Bill

Serperior
The Regal Pokémon
Type: Grass
Official Registration #: 497
Entry: The evolved form of servine, by battle experience. Noted for their noble looks, serperior have the capability stopping their opponents in their tracks, simply with the toss of a head and a particularly withering glare. This, in addition to their sleek but elegant looks as well as their general attitude towards their trainers and fellow pokémon, have earned it the nickname the regal pokémon, which makes it the only member of this evolution line with a completely logical and fitting species name according to the general public. (Yes, we know.)