My Umbreon and Charizard will not stop arguing with each other. My Umbreon has always been a more serious girl, but my Charizard is very cocky and he likes to show off. Any advice to make them get along?

I’d like to answer all of these asks at once for the sake of saving time. Many of these asks have very similar responses: I don’t have enough context to know for certain why your pokémon are arguing or lashing out at teammates (or guests, in the case of the above mentioned sylveon).

You see, a pokémon is never aggressive for no reason, but that reason is entirely circumstantial and dependent on a wide variety of factors. So the first step is to observe your pokémon to determine a trigger. Sometimes, it’s jealousy—a pokémon becomes jealous of another or of a human you’ve chosen to spend more time on. Other times, it’s simple personality conflicts, a personal dislike of each other, competition for resources that are actually less abundant than you realize, or anxiety over a new person or pokémon.

In each case, it’s important to find out what the specific cause is by observing your pokémon carefully. Read its body language, see what it and its target are doing just before violence breaks out, and see if there’s anything in particular that seems to provoke your pokémon. Consider also simply communicating with your pokémon and asking them if they can tell you what the problem may be. Although pokémon can’t often literally speak to us, they’re highly intelligent and may be able to indicate what’s upsetting them with gestures, barks, or simply by showing you.

Once you determine the cause of the issue, it will be far easier to resolve it. If two pokémon are arguing, serve as an objective mediator by suggesting compromises. Couple this with increased double training off the battlefield (that is, train your pokémon together outside of battles and have them perform tasks as a team) to strengthen teamwork.

If a pokémon is aggressive towards another who isn’t reciprocating, be sure to introduce them slowly, rather than at once. Set up a comfortable environment and allow your pokémon (both the aggressive one and the target) to enter this space, first for a short period of time and then over increasingly long periods until your aggressive pokémon can tolerate being in the same room as the other. (You may wish to teach your pokémon to heel before this.) Yes, even if your pokémon has never displayed aggressive behavior towards other members of your team, it may be worth it to go through this process with it and its target anyway. Think of it like meeting a new person. You may not like everyone you meet, or you may have gotten a bad first impression. However, if you’re in a comfortable atmosphere and you’re asked to interact with that person, the more you do this, the easier it will be to tolerate them.

If a pokémon is aggressive towards a human, it’s important to pay attention to why, especially if your pokémon is psychic or an absol. (The one in the above asks is not, but even so, this doesn’t rule out the possibility that your pokémon is sending you a warning.) If your pokémon is acting out of fear for either you or your safety, promise them that you’ll take their warning into consideration but reassure them that they don’t have anything to fear, especially if you know your human company well enough to determine right away whether or not such fears would be unfounded. If, however, your pokémon seems to be jealous or seems to dislike a person on a personal level, teach your human guests the best ways to interact with your pokémon partners and have them do so (cautiously at first). Let your guests feed your pokémon treats and play with them as you would. Allow them to connect with your pokémon as friends. All the while, reassure your pokémon that you’re not replacing them with human contact.

In each case, the point is that aggression in pokémon sometimes happens, but it never happens for no reason. It’s up to you as a trainer to determine what that reason is and to take steps to alleviate it, depending on what the specific problem may be.

Best of luck to all of you!

My Lucario has been really aggressive, lately. He picked a fight with my Midday Lycanroc and he bit me twice when I tried to separate them. What should I do?

As with all instances of pokémon aggression, it’s impossible to answer definitively without knowing the full context. The best thing to do for the time being is to take into consideration the surrounding circumstances and work from there. Is this recent behavior, or did it start when either of your pokémon (or both) evolved? Does your lucario seem to lash out only when your lycanroc does something, or does he attack on sight? If the former, what are your pokémon doing just before your lucario attacks?

Once you figure out what might be triggering your lucario’s attacks, then you’ll be able to work out a solution by figuring out what it is, specifically, that your lucario wants.

Until then, it may be helpful to you to browse our team building tag (http://bills-pokedex.tumblr.com/tagged/team-building ), as many others have encountered situations in which their pokémon have become aggressive towards their own teammates. Perhaps one of their situations may shed some light on your own.

Best of luck, anonymous!

Some time ago, my Zoroark recieved an almost fatal blow against a wild Pokemon, and hes still recovering. The nurses warn me that he wont be able to recover fully and he wont be able to battle again. Im a bit worried because the rest of my team have been looking forward to having him back, and I’m in a panic about how to break the news that my poor Zoroarck wont be able to join in our battles, even if he still will be around. How do i break the news? His team mates are a Krokorok and a Lucario.

The important thing is to make sure your zoroark understands that his worth both as a living being and as your partner are not determined by the battlefield. If you can reassure him that the way you see him hasn’t changed, despite the fact that he can no longer perform what had been one of his main duties on your team, life during and after recovery will be a lot easier for him. My advice would be to find something he can do that will keep him close to you as often as possible. Don’t keep him from watching battles if he wants to do that; rather, simply keep him from joining. Preventing him from watching will make him feel excluded from your life, especially if you battle frequently. Perhaps even allow him to mentor your krokorok and lucario if his condition allows him to use his abilities outside of the high-energy environment of the battlefield.

As for breaking the news to both him and the rest of your team, break it to your team first. Tell them that their teammate will need all their support but that just because he can’t battle doesn’t mean he should be treated as if he can’t do anything. Make sure they understand that he needs them to include him in as many of their activities as he can physically handle, and let them know that most likely, your zoroark won’t appreciate being treated gently. Do this in a confident but gentle tone, and speak clearly. Although the news may be devastating to them at worst (or perhaps disappointing at best), getting them to understand your zoroark’s condition as quickly as possible will help you to break the news to your zoroark.

Once you’re ready for Zoroark, inform him gently. Have his team in the room with you for support, and let him know that you and the others will work hard to help him through recovery.

Best of luck, anonymous.

Bill, I have a serious problem: my recently evolved sylveon is extremely aggressive towards dragon-type pokemon. Recently my sylveon ran off and nearly Moonblasted some poor kid’s Goomy to death. Needless to say, this attracted police attention and my sylveon was ordered to stay in her pokeball in public. She was docile towards dragons as an eevee and is always friendly towards people and pokemon of other types. How can my sylveon be comfortable around dragons? Please help!!!

It’s unfortunate, but very occasionally, an eeveelution responds to its evolution with … unusual amounts of zeal, to put it lightly. This is often caused by the very nature of an eevee’s evolution. Because the eevee family possesses the highest number of branches of any pokémon family, the decision to evolve (as well as what to evolve into) requires more thought and passion on the part of the eevee than any other pokémon. Consequently, sometimes, an eeveelution tries a bit too hard to conform to its new identity by adopting traits it thinks are typical of their type. In a sylveon’s case, this can be particularly unfortunate or even dangerous, as the fairy type is often associated with mischief, magical superiority, and in some cases even bloodlust.

Thus, the first step to getting your sylveon to behave in the presence of dragons is to reassure her that she doesn’t have to be a typical fairy-type to be comfortable with herself. She is still very much a valid fairy-type, even if she befriends or otherwise treats dragon-types like any other type of pokémon. While that may sound like it’s easier said than done, it’s actually a simple matter of training more with her (although perhaps not on dragon-types). The more she battles and trains, the more she becomes accustomed to her body and your guidance.

The second step, of course, is to train her to treat dragons with respect. While it may be most effective to do this by acclimating your sylveon to an actual dragon-type, because dragon-types are rare and difficult to come by, consider training with a dragon-type doll, such as a dratini plush. Before exposing your sylveon to the plush, however, it’s important that you teach her to heel first. (A full explanation on how to teach a pokémon to heel is here: http://bills-pokedex.tumblr.com/post/163998759883/help-my-cubchoo-has-an-insatiable-appetite-for . Admittedly, this post covers how to do so with a cubchoo specifically, but the process can be adapted to sylveon or any other pokémon as well.) Once she understands how to heel, use the plush to simulate a dragon-type pokémon and place it in the same room as sylveon. Have sylveon heel, and if she obeys, reward her. If she attacks, try to remove the plush before she can complete her technique. Do this for at least ten minutes a day at first, then gradually work your way up until your sylveon can stay in the same room as that plush for an hour without even trying to attack it. If she succeeds, move on to real dragons (for example, the other trainer’s goomy) to further reinforce what she’s learned.

I’m lucky enough to own a lot of land and so I let my Pokémon roam on it. I have a rule, no Pokémon larger than 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide in the house because I don’t need them knocking things over on accident. Well Pokémon like my pikachu and sylveon sleep with me at night and my outside Pokémon, like my venusaur, are getting jealous. What do I do?

Ah yes, the struggle of raising a venusaur.

The trick, anonymous, is spending as much time equally with all of your pokémon as possible and to create habitats that your larger pokémon will feel welcome in. For example, while my eevee, clefairy, and rattata are allowed to roam anywhere they wish in my home (so long as they behave themselves), my kadabra and venusaur are limited due to their inherent abilities and sheer size, respectively. However, I’ve taken steps to reassure my pokémon that I care for them equally. My kadabra and I spend an hour a day with each other meditating and training his abilities, and I quite admittedly spoil my venusaur with a “secret garden” of his own. (As a note, while I don’t expect many people to be able to afford a greenhouse, even just a modest garden that you and your venusaur spend time maintaining together, without the help of other pokémon, is sufficient.)

The key is to spend time making sure each of your pokémon is loved, in addition to ensuring each gets an equal share of, say, food, water, exercise, and so forth. Once you validate each of your pokémon, it will be easier to reassure them that their treatment isn’t different in the amount of affection you give but rather the form that affection takes, which in turn will allow your pokémon to maintain harmony with each other.

This is good advice, Bill, but didn’t your kadabra and clefairy get into a violent battle that took out your kitchen? —LH

That was once. —Bill

A month. For this past year. —LH

Exactly! They’re getting better! —Bill

I live in Kanto, and caught a Vulpix in the wild quite a while ago, and a friend from Alola recently traded me an Alolan Vulpix. They seem to be rather jealous of each other, and keep fighting over toys and food. I’m afraid my Kantonian Vulpix might hurt my Alolan Vulpix, any tips to keep them from fighting?

You may have introduced them to one another too quickly, anonymous. It may be prudent to start over by following similar steps outlined in this post (http://bills-pokedex.tumblr.com/post/159389928380/so-i-live-in-a-house-converted-to-two-apartments, or formal supervised introductions in which you place both vulpix in the same, comfortable room a fair distance apart, then work your way to a point where they can interact comfortably in close proximity to one another). As it stands, it’s very likely that your Kantonian vulpix is experiencing jealousy due to fear that it may be replaced, whereas your Alolan vulpix may be experiencing jealous because it considers the older vulpix competition for resources. If you provide both with equal amounts of everything (food, toys, and so forth) and work to introduce them slowly and through supervised play, perhaps reinforced with team building exercises, you may be able to alleviate some of the tension between them.

Best of luck, anonymous!

My boyfriend got me a buneary for Valentine’s Day, while Cute I have a very rambunctious espurr and sylveon who mess with it constantly. How should I handle bunearys comfort?

Sometimes, teammates push around new recruits because they perceive them as easy marks, so to speak. This may be the case with your new buneary, as not only are members of this species bred to be rather cute and docile, but also, given the typical dispositions of espurr and sylveon, I wouldn’t be surprised if either of yours were attempting to assert some sort of dominance. Think of it as your espurr and sylveon showing the newcomer that you prefer them, in a way.

While team building and mediation techniques are still most certainly important (to make it clear to all members of your party that they are a team and that you expect them to treat one another with respect), what may be more effective is simply training your buneary a bit. Teach it moves to defend itself and make it be a valuable part of your team’s day-to-day activities. If you battle, then most definitely allow your buneary to battle as well. The more you train your buneary, the more its confidence will grow, which in turn will allow it to assert itself to your espurr and sylveon.

Best of luck, anonymous!

I use my gardevoir, roserade, and tsareena in Pokémon contests. While usually they get along fantastically, my tsareena and roserade and been getting in a lot of swabbles recently over routines. I keep telling them it doesn’t Matter who goes where but they keep arguing over it and we can’t get any work on our routine done. What should I do?

It may be prudent to draft a new routine if you can, one that takes into consideration both of your pokémon’s concerns or avoids putting them in such situations altogether. This may be the best option, as it seems that your pokémon get along except for this, meaning a compromise and creating a routine they both can agree on may be easier to accomplish than you might think.

Alternatively, if the squabbling is actually grave and affecting their relationship—or if it’s too late to draft a new routine—consider working on your pokémon’s cooperation via team building exercises. Require them to perform tasks together off the contest stage, and try using them in non-contest double battles. The more you can drive them to work together outside of the contest hall, the more they’ll be forced to put aside their differences or otherwise reconcile enough to complete each task.

Also, work with them off the battlefield as a mediator. Guide them into learning how to reach compromises and settle their arguments without spending considerable amounts of time squabbling.

It will most definitely take a lot of patience on your end, anonymous, but with a gentle but firm hand guiding them, you should be able to help them work something out.

Best of luck!

my friends nidorina doesnt seem to like my mimikyu at all… whenever he comes over his nidorino guards him like the small mimikyu on my shoulder would jump off and attack. im not sure why my friends nidorino does this considering mimikyu has never hurt anyone, in fact she’s been nothing but a loving faithful companion who is very friendly with people who are interested in her. what can i do to calm my friends companion?

As with all team issues (even though your friend’s pokémon is technically not on your team), it’s important to communicate in order to determine the actual cause of negative behavior. In this case, your friend should be the one to take his nidorino (I believe? I apologize if it actually is a nidorina, as mentioned in the first line.) aside and determine the root cause of his behavior, then work with you in order to find a workable solution. There’s not much you can do on your own, as it sounds like your mimikyu is well-behaved as it is, which means the issue lies with your friend’s nidorino alone.

However, I can offer a bit of insight as to what may be causing the rift between your mimikyu and your friend’s nidorino. You see, as a ghost/fairy-type, mimikyu sit at a rather unique crossroads. Both types are notorious for their mischievousness, and as such, even other pokémon tend to be wary about them. It doesn’t help that mimikyu are often either shy or the vindictive sort of envious, so it’s honestly no wonder that your friend’s nidorino is especially cautious when he sees your mimikyu.

For this reason, it may be prudent for your friend to teach his nidorino that not all mimikyu aim to trick humans or attack them out of envy. Consider proposing exposure therapy, wherein you introduce both pokémon in a comfortable setting for short periods at a time and work your way up to a point where your friend’s nidorino can safely exist in a room with your mimikyu without attacking her. Either way, the process would be gradual, but it’s up to your friend to work with his pokémon.

Best of luck to the both of you!

I’ve adopted a Flechinder off another trainer that didn’t know how to raise a bird Pokémon and its since reinforced a lot of bad habits. He’s now a Talonflame, and I have a lot of problems with his habit of picking fights with my other Pokémon. Do ypu have any tips?

First and foremost, establish trust with your new talonflame. I realize that might be stating the obvious (especially given the fact that you’ve had him long enough for him to evolve), but the stronger a traded pokémon gets, the more likely their trainer will find them difficult to control. This is because even after a considerable amount of time, some pokémon are unwilling to “replace” one trainer with another—or, in other words, they grow less and less accepting of their new trainer, as they feel said new trainer has yet to establish that they’re as trustworthy and strong as their old one. That and some pokémon interpret being traded as being abandoned, and those feelings can fester if not immediately corrected.

I say this because trust is vital for undoing quite a lot of negative behavior. Once your talonflame fully trusts you, he will be more willing to listen to you, which in turn will help you reinforce good behaviors.

After that, a lot of what you’ll need to do will require much patience. Begin by introducing the concept of rewards to him by rewarding him for any good behavior he displays automatically. For an aggressive pokémon, rewards are of the utmost importance, as those have a wonderful tendency to appease tempers. Once he understands what a reward is, move on to teaching him, both verbally and through the use of positive reinforcement, good behaviors. Fail to reward him for the behaviors you wish to phase out. Rather, respond with a firm “no” whenever you see such behavior happening, and reward your talonflame only if he restrains himself. Keep your talonflame close by to effectively manage his behavior, and above all else, be consistent about what you do.

Finally, also try to mediate between your talonflame and the rest of your team. Try to introduce him to your other pokémon in a calm environment, and ensure that both sides are not engaging in provoking behavior. (Naturally, try to train your pokémon not to engage in any provoking behavior you see—and that goes for both your talonflame and the rest of your team.)

As I’ve said, it will take a lot of patience, but it’s surmountable if you’re consistent and vigilant, anonymous. Best of luck!