Tag: Staryu

Hey bill I’m an exclusive water type trainer and my boyfriends parents came to me about getting a starter for their daughter. Considering they live in sootopolis, Hoenn they figured a water type would be best. While I agree, I’m Not quite sure which of my Pokémon to breed for her. I have a starmie, Dewgong, dragonair, azumarill, Lapras, and milotic. What do you think?

I can tell you right now that lapras, feebas, and seel may be a bit difficult. While Hoenn is indeed a heavily aquatic region, much of the gym circuit takes you inland—up a volcano, no less. Even if your boyfriend’s sister plans on keeping her starter in its poké ball for much of her journey, the dryness of Mt. Chimney, Lavaridge, and the Hoennian desert may make it difficult for training pokémon not well-adapted to land.

Of the remaining three, dratini may be the most difficult to train. It doesn’t learn powerful moves right off the bat, and it’s slower to raise and evolve than the other two, even considering the fact that one of them can only evolve via exposure to a water stone. However, it is the most powerful option in the long-run, so it really comes down to how much patience your boyfriend’s sister is willing to exercise.

Meanwhile, staryu and marill (or azurill, depending on whether or not you plan on giving your azumarill sea incense before breeding it) are both perfectly fine choices. Both are fully capable of traveling on land, both are equally easy to raise, and both learn moves rather quickly (compared to dratini). Staryu may be a little more challenging to bond with because it’s not as expressive as marill, nor is it quite as affectionate, but on the other hand, marill’s secondary fairy typing instills in it a natural mischievousness that may be a challenge to a trainer who’s not quite expecting it. Additionally, marill may be easier to raise (and certainly easier to evolve), in part due to its ability to bond with its trainer and in part because its defensive capabilities make it more difficult to defeat, but on the other hand, staryu and starmie learn a wider variety of moves and have generally better offensive capabilities.

In the end, I would recommend either a marill or staryu, as those two may be the easiest for your boyfriend’s sister to train. Between the two of them, you would have to ask yourself if she would prefer a more defensive, more affectionate pokémon or a mysterious pokémon that’s a bit faster and can hit harder by default.

Of course, as always, be sure to ask the new trainer what she would like as well. She may even be willing to train a dratini if she has her heart set on something a bit more mystical.

But … try to steer her away from the idea of raising a seel, feebas, or lapras in the heart of the Hoennian mainland. Just … just trust me on that.

Staryu and Starmie

Staryu
The Star Shape Pokémon
Type: Water
Official Registration #: 120
Entry: A starfish pokémon native to warm seas. Known for being a resilient pokémon, staryu are capable of regenerating any part of its body that it loses in battle, so long as its jewel-like core remains intact. Moreover, the core functions as not only a staryu’s source of power besides the organs located at the tips of its arms but also its main form of communication, as the gem is capable of flashing in specific patterns understood only by other staryu and starmie. Thus, a staryu’s core is a fascinating organ with multiple extremely legitimate purposes and is not there “just to look pretty,” contrary to what some former gym leaders have been telling the schoolchildren of Cerulean City.

Starmie
The Mysterious Pokémon
Type: Water/Psychic
Official Registration #: 121
Entry: The evolved form of staryu, by exposure to water stone. In ancient times, the people of Kanto once believed that starmie were really staryu transformed by the reflection of the stars. While this has been found to be completely untrue, starmie do apparently have a connection with space. Specifically, at night, starmie have been known to lie on their backs and shoot radio signals from their jewel-like cores into the sky. While the scientific community is not in agreement with why exactly they do this, the prevailing theory is, of course, aliens.