Pokémon The Alola Pokedex

[Persephone]

Marowak (Cubone)
Neodinosauria iawekapuna

Overview

Marowak are a peculiar remnant of the non-avian dinosaurs that survived in Australia. Yet even the Australian dinosaurs are on their last legs, limited to only three species. Before Europeans landed on Australia they believed that tropius were the only remaining non-avian dinosaurs and the scientists of the time were fiercely divided as to whether they were the last remnant of a long-gone era or mere plants in the shape of a sauropod. Marowak are the only one of the non-avian dinosaurs not to be partially composed of plant cells. This made them an invaluable genetic resource when the first attempts to revive their Mesozoic ancestors were made. Most of the early specimens used marowak DNA to fill in gaps.

The first settlers of Australia bonded with the species and subsequently spread them across the Pacific isles. They were regarded as the embodiment of the ancestors, keepers of cultural knowledge, and judges of character. Some cultures used them as literal judges when guilt and innocence were in dispute. It was believed that a marowak’s flame would pass harmlessly through the innocent and burn away the soul of the guilty. The actual frequency of this practice is disputed by historians. It may have been exaggerated by European missionaries. It may also have been a means of execution instead of adjudication, with anyone the marowak spared deemed to have been innocent and the judgment overturned.

Marowak are reasonably intelligent and powerful creatures with complex emotional lives. They can carry trainers through the end of the island challenge and be endearing, if high-maintenance, pets after it ends. Marowak are recommended as an early fire- and ghost-type for trainers looking to specialize in them. They are even rising in popularity as a non-traditional starter.

Physiology

Cubone are classified as pure ground-types. Marowak are classified as dual ghost- and fire-types. Their fire-typing is disputed. Marowak are highly resistant to flames and show some ability to manipulate them. However, their own fire is spiritual in nature and behaves very differently from standard flames. It can pass harmlessly through wood without igniting it, cannot be extinguished by sand or water, and inflicts a painful localized curse that can last long after any physical damage is healed.

Cubone are small dinosaurs with armored skulls. They have no feathers or scales. Instead they have a tough leathery hide. Their stomach is a lighter shade of brown than the back. Cubone typically walk on all fours but can stand and walk bipedally when surveying the terrain, eating, or engaging in combat. Their short, stout tail is used to provide balance and support while standing. They have molars and other flat teeth to masticate food, as well as a gizzard where it is further masticated. This is necessary because of the tough, woody plants cubone feed on. Cubone have some of the strongest spines and neck muscles of any known reptile to allow them to move with such a heavy head.

Contrary to popular belief, cubone’s skull is not exposed. Instead, there is a thick layer of ivory above it that covers all the head except the eyes, nostrils and mouth. The ivory, but not the skull itself, has two horns, two small tusks, and an armored fringe beneath the ears. The ivory is not stolen from the corpses of fallen adults as some folktales state. This is the result of a mistranslation. The Polynesians believed that marowak are protected by the spirits of their ancestors and use the power to watch over the next generation of cubone. The European explorers mistranslated this as cubone’s armor, their skull, being literally taken from their ancestors. The story was quickly enshrined in European pop culture before a more accurate translation could be spread.

Marowak have a dark brown or black hide with a white stomach. A black patch forms on the ivory above the eyes. The shape is subtly different for each individual and is used for identification. Marowak are ghost-types but not true ghosts. They are still tangible creatures with ordinary biological functions. Marowak are classified as ghosts because they are excellent at spotting spirits, casting curses, and have some ability to linger on after death. Marowak may also be able to communicate with the dead and borrow knowledge from them. Beyond the coloration and increased affinity for ghost- and fire-energy, marowak are extremely similar to a fully mature cubone.

Marowak and mature cubone grow to a maximum size of forty inches from the tip of the muzzle to the end of the tail. They can weigh upwards of seventy pounds. Cubone can survive for forty years in the wild or fifty in captivity. Marowak’s wild lifespan is estimated to be around one hundred and thirty years. Captive lifespans are not well enough understood to determine an average, but are probably similar to those of their wild counterparts.

Behavior

Cubone have become ingrained in popular culture as lost children mourning their parents. There are elements of truth here, but the context is often missing. Marowak are solitary creatures outside of the semiannual festivals. Males and females mate and then go their separate ways. Mothers will actively guard their eggs and care for their offspring for the first year of their life. Then she will once again go off on her own, becoming increasingly ill-tempered towards her children until they get the message and leave. Cubone often experience some distress following this event. Some scholars theorize that this distress is intentionally inflicted to allow for evolution in the future. Mature cubone and marowak are also often killed for their ivory, leading to many cubone still in their mother’s care being orphaned.

Cubone also do not inherit the bones they use as clubs from their parent’s corpses. For one thing, the bones are simply too big. Cubone and marowak prefer the femurs of large mammals and reptiles, ideally smaller dragons. Human femurs are close to the right size. In some Polynesian cultures the femurs of priests were removed from the corpse after death and given to the local marowak. This was considered to be part of the price for the marowak’s continued goodwill and protection. Fossilized bones are especially popular with the species when they can find them. At least one major fossil site in Australia was discovered by noting the large, strange bones the local marowak were carrying.

Both stages will eat the meat of any abandoned carcasses they come across in addition to salvaging usable bones. However, they are primarily herbivorous. Marowak are adapted to life in harsh, arid environments. During the day they tend to hide in burrows they dig with their paws and terrakinesis. At night they emerge to feed on shrubs and brush. Marowak are capable of feeding on the toughest of plants given their combination of molars and a gizzard. They can also regurgitate their food to further chew it if necessary. This diet is not rich in nutrients and marowak will do their best to also feed on succulents, roots, and any other plant matter they come across.

Young cubone are often preyed on by larger raptors and mandibuzz. In Alola they can also fall victim to salazzle attacks. Marowak can punish failed attempts to kill them with curses and are usually avoided. Only desperate salazzle will take them on. Any mature cubone or marowak that are killed may also have the ability to linger on as a true phantom for a matter of days or weeks to protect the spot they were killed. The sentience of these remnants is hotly debated. It is also not understood at present why only some deceased individuals leave remnants.

Marowak and cubone are capable of manipulating the minerals in bones to make their weapons strike harder, return when thrown, or move at heightened speeds. Marowak are either incapable of manipulating bones inside of a living body or refuse to do so as a matter of principle. Captive-bred, hand-raised cubone seem unable to manipulate living bone, lending credence to the former theory. It is theorized that living cells may hinder rock and ground elemental energy.

Marowak and mature cubone can also use terrakinesis to amplify ‘drumbeats’ on rock and the ground, carrying messages for miles in all directions. Over fifty different signals have been identified. On Mauna Wela rumblings underfoot are more likely to be the work of marowak than activity within the volcano.

All the marowak and mature cubone in an area gather twice a year on the spring and autumnal equinoxes. They perform elaborate dancing rituals and exchange information. At the end they may pair off and mate. Not every individual mates every time they are able to. Young cubone are taken to the second equinox gathering in their life. Mothers stay home with their children for the first gathering after the eggs hatch.

Captive marowak are invited to these events. Trainers tend to be ostracized or attacked outright. It is perfectly safe for marowak to attend unsupervised and then return to their trainer afterwards. The area around the gathering site at the peak of Mauna Wela is restricted for a few days before and after the gathering. Capture is also prohibited during these times.

Marowak are known for their elaborate dances they perform during the ritual and occasional territory disputes. Some of these dances appear to be innately learned upon evolution, although others appear to be learned, transmitted, and modified like a standard piece of culture. The indigenous peoples of Australia and the Pacific have added cultural significance to many of these dances and learned to perform modified versions themselves, often with torches. The dances appear to have originated with the marowak, however, and some are practiced almost identically across the species entire range.

Husbandry

Both stages are herbivores. They are capable of grazing but enjoy being fed. Tougher shoots, rinds, and shrubs should be mixed in with a softer diet of grasses, hay, lettuce, and vegetables. Marowak will not gorge themselves and should be offered slightly more than they will eat. The line are used to living in arid climates and do not require access to water at all times. It should be offered at least twice a day.

Both stages are intelligent enough to be housebroken without issue. They can either use a litter box or be trained to relieve themselves on walks. The latter is usually more useful for traveling trainers, while the former is easier for stationary ones.

Cubone and marowak need bones to feel secure. In the wild high-quality bones are often passed down for generations. Recent advances have allowed high-quality artificial femurs to be manufactured in laboratories. The bones are designed to be even easier for marowak to manipulate than natural ones. Most cubone will gladly accept one if offered. This is the easiest way to coax one to join a team. Marowak are often attached to theirs but will accept an artificial bone as a replacement if their primary one is broken.

Marowak, and especially cubone, are burrowers that will need holes, hiding places, and cover to feel fully comfortable. Deep boxes of sand or dirt to dig in are very popular enrichment items for the species. Traveling trainers will need to be mindful of the pokémon so they don’t dig in a place where they aren’t supposed to, such as indoors or in a public garden. This is a common problem for ground-types in general.

Marowak are unusually safe fire-types as their flames cannot ignite something unless they want to. There will be no accidental bedding fires. This means that they could, theoretically, sleep cuddling their trainer. Most do not like this. Marowak are solitary creatures in the wild. They will accept petting, especially on the neck, and full body baths with a wet cloth or sponge. These feel good for them, improve hygiene, and help deepen the trainer-pokémon bond.

Cubone are not intelligent enough to need very advanced toys. Balls of varying sizes, simple puzzles, and pulley-based toys will keep them occupied. Marowak will need some advanced enrichment such as exposure to different types of dance and music, spaces to perform, and even trips to art museums. Marowak that have been in captivity for some time can learn enough spoken language to understand stories and movies. They seem to greatly enjoy visual media as a whole.

Young cubone will need a great deal of affection, including the ability to frequently hug or cuddle their trainer. They will also want protection. If their trainer does not take a stand against perceived threats the cubone will lose faith in them. Older cubone can battle and even younger ones can be coaxed into fights against creatures they are not scared of. Care should still be taken to make sure they are comfortable at all times.

Marowak dislike having birds of prey as teammates and may act aggressively. Cubone become extremely timid when kept on the same team as carnivores, especially avian carnivores. Good teammates for marowak appreciate dance. The ideal teammates for cubone are affectionate but not aggressive, able to comfort the pokémon when their trainer is otherwise occupied.

Illness

Cubone are so far removed from most other species that they are not prone to catching the common diseases that affect them. They also have sturdy bodies that can brush off most wounds. The most common illness for them in most of the world is hypothermia. They grow uncomfortable in temperatures below 60 degrees Fahrenheit and can be in danger of dying below 45 degrees Fahrenheit. This is rarely a problem in Alola so long as they are kept sheltered at night and not taken out of their ball on Mauna Lanakila.

Marowak are not aminovores. They are not prone to the usual ghost illnesses. They also lack open flames. Neither cubone nor marowak are strong swimmers but mere contact with water ordinary will not harm them. Marowak are not vulnerable to hypothermia, either. Prolonged starvation and untreated injuries can still hurt them. Both stages of the species also need calcium supplements in their diet. They are otherwise quite hardy.

Evolution

Most non-Pacific countries call mature cubone ‘marowak.’ This is common in Japan, China, and Europe. Polynesians historically did not differentiate between mature cubone and young cubone. Both were the same form. The awakened cubone, marowak, were a distinct stage. Not all cubone will evolve into marowak. Almost no cubone outside of the Pacific will evolve into marowak. There is something special about the land, or perhaps the spirits, of the area that lets them evolve. The details are poorly understood. Cubone seem to evolve into marowak after reaching some sort of spiritual revelation. This generally is preceded by resolving past anxieties and trauma and finding a purpose to strive towards. Although younger cubone have evolved, it is extremely rare. Usually only mature individuals will. Cubone undergo a modified flash evolution where spiritual energy courses through their body, changing the color of their scales in a matter of seconds. The process is abrupt and irreversible, like flash evolution, but lacks the distinctive blinding light and major changes to body shape. Following evolution the new marowak will begin to discover their pyrokinesis and other spiritual abilities.

Captive evolution is more common than wild evolution but difficult to force. The best way to manage it is to regularly comfort and care for the cubone without smothering. In other words, raising a cubone to evolution shares many similarities with raising a well-adjusted human child. It is often easier for older trainers than younger ones.

Battle

Marowak hit very hard. Their spiritual flames can burn through almost all forms of armor and inflict debilitating pain that does not fade until the battle ends, even if the marowak is knocked out. Even protective shields can be broken with feint. Marowak can shroud their club in ghost- or ground-type energy to power extremely strong melee attacks or throw the bone in an arc so it returns to their hands for another attack. This does leave them vulnerable to reprisal. It is also possible to catch the bone, although the ghostly flames around it mean that doing so will almost always inflict a burn. If the attack is dodged then the marowak will temporarily be exposed. Most of marowak’s strength comes from the energy channeled in their bone. When disarmed they can be easily overwhelmed. The species also has some utility in setting up stealth rocks.

Marowak hit very hard. They are also slow and have inconsistent durability. Marowak’s top speed is around six miles per hour. Their reflexes are sharp enough to react quickly, but they cannot easily catch up to foes. Even bulldoze can rarely make up the difference. Marowak’s skull is armored and their scales are thick. They still lack the full-body armor of many tanks such as tyranitar, rhyperior, and aggron. The strongest attacks can easily pierce their scales. The ghostly aura around them also leaves them vulnerable to hits from other ghost-types, who are often able to outspeed and outmanuever the marowak while striking from a distance. Water-types can sometimes drown them by filling the arena or knocking them into a water feature. They have no particular resistance against most elemental attacks.

Marowak have their uses. They are excellent wallbreakers, especially when allowed a chance to set up with swords dance. Slow walls can find themselves overwhelmed by marowak’s ghostly flame and the ground-type energy in their club. Trick room teams can let marowak sweep two or even three opponents in a row in the right circumstances. Trick room specialists and trainers in dire need of a wallbreaker can be well served by marowak. They just are not suitable for every trainer at the higher echelons.

Marowak will remain relatively durable through the end of the island challenge. This makes their overwhelming power a little easier to use. Spiritual flames can be imbued with a curse that keeps them burning until the end of the trial. This allows marowak to land a few hits at the start and then slowly wear down the enemy as their allies fight. The strategy may not work against extremely agile opponents. Theoretically marowak should struggle with three of the four kahunas. In practice their ghostly flames make them quite good at hurting Olivia and Hapu’s slow, bulky pokémon. Nanu can be a challenging matchup as most of his pokémon can resist spiritual attacks and attack the ghostly aura around the marowak.

Cubone are slow, relatively durable pokémon that pack a punch. This makes them very good in the early stages of the island challenge where most pokémon have only physical attacks. Cubone are also accurate enough with their bone throws that they can strike birds in midair, something few other ground-types can do.

Acquisition

Cubone can be found in the scrubland of Wela National Park. They avoid the summit and base but can be found on the rest of Mauna Wela. They are easiest to spot around dusk and dawn. Cubone will respect proving battles. Showing them a very good artificial bone is more likely to pique their interest. Most trainers need both to earn a cubone’s trust. Cubone can be captured, adopted, or purchased with a Class II license.

Marowak capture is currently prohibited by the National Park Service to keep the population stable. They can still be adopted or purchased with a Class III license. Adoption is most common when marowak outlive their previous trainer. A handful of breeders, performers, and battlers will also put marowak up for sale when they retire from the field.

Breeding

Marowak and mature cubone evaluate each other’s performances at the equinoxes. If two are satisfied with each other they will engage in one final ritualistic dance before mating. Both will then go their separate ways. The female will dig a burrow and lay three to five eggs. She will not leave the burrow until they hatch three weeks later. Very young cubone lack ivory armor. This helps them move and avoid notice. Their mother can provide the protection they need in a fight. The ivory begins to develop around three months of age. Cubone stay very close to their mother at all times until then. Between three months and one year they begin to show gradually more independence until they are kicked out entirely.

Marowak will need to evaluate each other before mating, ideally during the equinox. Do not approach the marowak while she is guarding her eggs, no matter how close you are to her. It is also best to give her room until the cubone are one month old. They can be taken from their mother and sold when she begins to kick them out.

Crossbreeding marowak is extremely difficult due to their ritualistic mating and unique phylogeny. The only viable crosses known at this time are with tropius, meganium, and fossils partially stabilized with marowak DNA. These crosses can only be done by artificial insemination, ideally crossing a male marowak with a female of another species. Female marowak can react very poorly to being inexplicably pregnant.

Relatives

Taxonomists debate whether each island population of marowak should be its own subspecies or species. They rarely crossbreed with each other. However, they have remarkably similar appearances and behaviors. The spiritual influence on marowak may keep the populations somehow linked together over long distances. For now there is only one recognized species with no subspecies. This may change in the future, with marowak being split into as many as eight different species.

Marowak’s only close living relatives are tropius and meganium.

 

[Persephone]

Commissioned as a raffle prize for @JFought. Heavily inspired by Haunted Blades by Little Miss Firebright.

Aegislash (Honedge, Doublade)
Caliburn dominus

Overview

Most phantom pokémon feed on emotions, willpower, or another byproduct of thought. Most feed passively. Others drain the strength of an emotion while feeding. There are phantoms that possess the ability to drain a target so thoroughly they experience death or a coma, although this is usually only done in self-defense or to avenge grave insults.

Only mimikyu and aegislash are believed to do it unintentionally. The former take great pains to prevent this from happening. Aegislash revel in the pain they inflict.

The species are aminovores that feed on a wide spectrum of emotions and mental attributes, including willpower and intellect. Their favorite emotion is pain. Aegislash cannot passively feed and must actively harm others to drain them. Their extremely high dietary needs mean they almost always go for the kill so they can drain everything their target has. A hungry aegislash will happily turn against their own trainer. The only reliable way to prevent this is to feed them often with lethal strikes or near-constantly with grievous but non-lethal wounds.

Aegislash are also known for their skills as manipulation and outright possession, often breaking the will of their wielder to dominate them or even render them a brain-dead husk for the aegislash’s will. Some have even stayed attached to the husk after it has been physically dead for weeks, only leaving when decay becomes too advanced to easily move it.

There are many good reasons not to care for honedge. Yet for millennia people have willingly picked them up. The reason is simple: power. Honedge are extremely formidable warriors that can keep up with most fully evolved pokémon. Doublade are nigh-unbeatable for most opponents without a tailor-made counter strategy. Aegislash can compete on even footing with some of the strongest pokémon in the world. Many an aspiring conqueror has nursed a honedge to evolution, and then to its final form, over the course of their rise. There are even tales of aegislash clashing with the gods themselves.

The authors of this guidebook cannot recommend training honedge for any reason. They are bloodthirsty, overly attached, and will probably kill their trainer if they ever choose to retire. Doublade are worse. Aegislash are known to turn their trainers into mere puppets of their will if they perceive any weakness whatsoever.

Yet, some will try despite all of the warnings we can give. The following is not meant to be a recommendation. It is written to persuade aspiring trainers not to raise the species. And, for those unfortunate enough to have already taken up the blade, this guide will explain how to make the best of a bad situation.

Physiology

All three stages are classified as dual ghost- and steel-types. The ruling is not disputed.

Honedge’s true body consists of a single eye. The eye matches common human eye colors about 70% of the time, with the remainder having eye colors found most commonly in elemental bloodlines. In the rare event that a honedge is killed (see Illness) the eye will disappear.

Honedge possess a uniquely crafted blade with elemental energy imbued into it. The blade and scabbard are made of a silver and steel alloy that modern metallurgy still cannot recreate. Each blade possesses a unique design and an ability chosen by the craftsman. Known abilities include commanding the winds, revealing illusions or lies, destroying the capacity for malice, breaking enchantments, granting the wielder limited invulnerability, cutting through almost any material, igniting in flames, preventing clotting in the cuts it leaves, and triggering a severe allergic reaction in dragons.

Whatever the sword style and ability, the blade has an eye at the hilt and a tassel extending from the base of the pommel. The tassel is usually a similar color to the eye and can be split into up to four strands . These strands can each physically and spiritually burrow into their host to drain blood, emotions, and vitality. Once a honedge has bonded with a host it can only be removed by the honedge’s choice or the host’s death.

Most honedge also have a scabbard with a hole in it that allows the eye to look out even when the blade is sheathed. The scabbard is often ornately decorated with the symbols of the swordsmith and previous wielders. Some even contain depictions of the battles they have participated in. The design of the scabbard changes over time even without being reforged. It is also the only part of themselves honedge have ever allowed to be modified by a human smith.

Doublade have nearly identical blades to honedge, just with an additional blade and an eye in it. They are still a singular organism with almost perfect telepathic communication between blades. Most scholars describe the twin blades as being more akin to the two hemispheres of the brain than as a true physically distinct organisms. The two share an elaborate scabbard, often one with a small shield incorporated in the design.

Aegislash’s primary body is a two-handed sword. While it retains the style of the original blade, it is always much larger and has a pommel that is difficult to properly grip. Aegislash no longer have a scabbard. Instead they have an ornate shield connected to the blade by a tassel. The shield will usually be similar in design to those commonly used in the area they evolve in. Modern aegislash, which evolve in a time when shields are uncommon, often draw from their parent’s design or their trainer’s imagination. Aegislash have a second tassel they use to establish a bond with their host.

Aegislash’s height and weight varies by region. The largest are four feet long and weigh one-hundred and ten pounds. They are too big for most humans to practically wield and mostly pilot themselves without their host’s input. Aegislash do not die of natural causes and are extremely difficult to kill.

Behavior

The aegislash line are parasites that attach exclusively to humans. They alternate between three states: attached, wandering, and dormant.

Attached honedge have latched onto a human on a physical and spiritual level. They passively feed by absorbing the vitality and spirit of their host or prey. Honedge are relatively simple creatures that primarily use their spiritual link to express feelings of hunger. Bloodshed and the infliction of physical and spiritual pain can sate their hunger without drawing on their trainer.

Doublade are more complex creatures. They deepen their bond with their host and can even grant some abilities to them akin to a combat-focused ghost elemental. These draw directly from the caster’s soul. The damage can only be healed by killing enemies while the doublade is already full. Unlike honedge, doublade will propose targets to hurt or kill and offer reasons why this is acceptable. They can even overshadow their host and wield their body for up to two seconds, usually using this time to kill someone and set up situations where the host may have to kill again in defense.

Aegislash are the makers of kings. They will drive their host to a position of absolute dominance. The conflict required helps fuel their massive energy needs. More than one king has been pushed by their aegislash to conquer a realm only to be drained completely when they tried to be a peacetime ruler. In the modern era where royalty is less important aegislash will often settle for their host being at the top of some hierarchy, such as a corporate latter or a regional league. The latter is preferable as it will ensure a constant supply of enemies to defeat and partially drain. Military commanders do not pair well with aegislash despite the rigid hierarchy of the institutions. Most still answer to civilian leadership and cannot make the most important decisions on their own. This is intolerable for the ghosts. More than one general with an aegislash has attempted to topple the civilian government of their country and unilaterally rule. More subdued examples have gone into politics to try and claw their way to the top of the civilian hierarchy by more legitimate means. They are often ultimately unhappy when the diplomatic and administrative work of a politician does not provide enough blood to feed their aegislash.

Aegislash are much better at possessing their hosts than doublade and can completely control them for months on end if they see the need to do so. They can also possess multiple people around the host for short periods of time. Aegislash are exceedingly clever and their possession can avoid scrutiny for some time.

The line do not usually hate their hosts. They see their relationship as being symbiotic rather than parasitic. The ghost will gain the food it needs to survive while the human will obtain a powerful and wise companion that will push them to greater heights. Most even express feelings of love and affection for longtime hosts and are reluctant to possess them. They will only do so as a last resort if they are not getting anywhere near the amount of energy they need to survive.

As spiritual parasites, the line gain some of the skills, personality, and experience of everyone to either wield or be killed by them. This gives older aegislash a deep understanding of both combat and social intricacies. They can use the skills of mothers or priests they have attached to or slain to comfort their trainer in times of need and provide wise counsel. In times gone by kings treasured aegislash for their governing advice as much as their power.

Eventually an aegislash’s host will die. The lucky will perish from natural causes at an old age. Most will be killed by their pokémon drawing too much from their soul. The average lifespan of a honedge trainer is fifty-five years. Doublade trainers live an average of thirty-five years. Aegislash trainers are lucky to survive ten years after the final evolution.

The ideal scenario for the blade is bonding with their last host’s progeny. Hosts tend to pass a dormant compulsion to any children they create that will inexorably draw them to their parent’s pokémon when the time comes. This does not apply to children conceived or born before the parent’s possession took place. These children often want very little to do with the creature that just killed their parent.

If there is not a suitable child and no one else in the immediate area wants to bond with them, the pokémon will wander in an attempt to find someone who will. A quirk of the line is that they either cannot bond with the unwilling or refuse to do so. The host must make the choice to accept the blade. The line are often drawn to the powerless and those in immediate danger. Soldiers will be offered a shield to see them through the battle, abused spouses or children will be offered a way to escape or get even, trainers on a losing streak will be offered a powerful tool. The blade will almost always convince someone to accept them. If they cannot within a period ranging from a few days for an aegislash to a month for a honedge, the pokémon will have lost too much energy to continue and will enter dormancy. They will cease moving except to defend themselves and will simply stay in place. Some aegislash have done this for millennia. When a human approaches they will passively emit an aura drawing the potential host’s curiosity. If anyone lifts the blade with the intent to use it the pokémon will reawaken and bond their new host. Newly awakened blades are extremely bloodthirsty and can easily drive their host mad with the desire to kill.

Husbandry

Feeding is the most difficult part of raising a honedge. They must feed by lethal means at least once a week or non-lethal means daily. Non-lethal feedings must at least inflict pain on the target. They strongly prefer to feed on phantom or organic pokémon rather than mineral pokémon. The former are made of spirit and are easily drained. Organic pokémon at least have blood and minds similar to their host. Mineral pokémon are difficult for the blade to draw digestible material from. Of course, the species’ real favorite food are humans. This is neither a socially acceptable nor legal way to feed them in most of the world. Doublade are even more insatiable and must be fed lethally three times a week or non-lethally multiple times a day. Otherwise they will begin to drain their host.

Aegislash can passively feed on feelings of awe, reverence, and submission for their host. However, this cannot make up the core of their diet. Aegislash with the most venerated hosts in the world will still need to hunt as often as the average doublade. This is not sustainable for most trainers. Practice matches are also not good feeding methods as they need to inflict serious pain to eat. Almost every aegislash trainer on the planet is being drained at least some of the time due to an inability to properly feed their pokémon.

A superficially good way to feed an aegislash is by working part time in a slaughterhouse. This can still be tricky as aegislash prefer to kill in combat and revel in their victim’s fear. Most slaughterhouses would prefer, for ethical and practical reasons, that the pokémon they process not be aware of their impending demise. Livestock species are also usually too unintelligent to be staples of an aegislash’s diet.

The best way to feed an aegislash is to work as a ghost exterminator. Aegislash love consuming other ghosts and enjoy the hunt and fight doing so requires. Some clients will dislike methods that destroy the ghost being removed. Others will prefer it. Make sure to obtain the proper permits to hunt nuisance ghost-types before taking extermination jobs with the intent to kill.

Some high-level trainers are also called on to put down nuisance or rabid pokémon. Rabid specimens often lack the complex emotional and intellectual lives that aegislash love to end, but a lethal strike to a pokémon will still provide them with nourishment.

Aegislash owned by extremely high-level trainers can partially subsist off of occasional competitive matches. Displaying dominance in front of a large crowd while simultaneously draining a very powerful and often very clever enemy can provide more nourishment than killing a simpler foe would. However, ranked trainers only engage in public matches every three to six weeks on average. These matches can feed an aegislash for the duration of a tournament but cannot be relied upon to keep them fed.

Outside of their hunger, aegislash are friendly and clever pokémon that love to converse with their host and even help with common chores. They almost never attack allies and very few pokémon will pick a fight with an aegislash, or even a doublade. Honedge will need to be protected from some lithovores. Some ghosts will refuse to spend time around an aegislash or associate with any trainer bonded with the line. Even among ghost-types aegislash and spiritomb are regarded as abominations best avoided. As a result the type specialists with an aegislash are almost all steel-type trainers.

Do not keep any stage of the line in pokéballs except when absolutely necessary. This will only serve to anger them and they will insist on feeding more because they are unsure of when their next meal will be. Honedge and doublade are happy to rest in their scabbard at their host’s side when not in use. Aegislash generally prefer to float alongside their trainer.

All three stages appreciate being polished. It is not strictly necessary but is a good time to deepen bonds, which are particularly necessary in this case as the trainer will be bonded to the blade for life. Showing kindness and respect to the blade will decrease the likelihood it will drain its host.

Illness

Most aminovores suffer from a variety of esoteric illnesses when their spirit is corrupted. Aegislash rarely do. The reason for this is debated. They have a corporeal form while most aminovores do not. The line eat a great deal more than any other aminovore, potentially reducing the impact of any one bad feeding. Other scholars theorize that aegislash can simply transfer illnesses or spiritual corruption to their host. Whatever the reason, aegislash do not suffer from standard spectral illnesses beyond spiritual exhaustion.

Aegislash’s blade and scabbard are extremely durable and only prone to taking minor damage in particularly heated battles. Chips, dings, and dents do not actually harm the aegislash. They do reduce their efficiency, requiring more energy from prey or hosts. Fixing them within a matter of days is a top priority for any host interested in their own longevity. Humans have not yet figured out how to create new honedge or replicate their alloy. Thankfully, the line can do most of the work themselves. Bathing in blood, especially involuntarily shed blood, can help them heal dents and other wounds that did not result in lost material. More severe damage must be healed by a forge. A mixture of blood, molten steel, and precious metals such as silver or gold should be applied to the damaged area and hammered into shape. Doublade can guide this process through shared knowledge with the host. Aegislash are prone to possessing either their host or a blacksmith and fixing themselves. Unfortunately, individual blacksmiths are increasingly rare in modern society. There are still a few who specialize in fixing steel-types and may be willing to help. Acquiring the necessary blood and silver or gold can still be a logistical challenge.

Usually this section is dedicated to keeping a pokémon free from harm or saving them from death when ill. Instead, we must talk about how to actually kill an aegislash and the difficulties inherent in doing so.

Their bodies can be harmed to an extent but they are both physically strong and spiritually reinforced. Destroying the body requires enormous physical and spiritual strength applied at the same time. This can theoretically be done by two champion-level pokémon working in tandem. However, a severely broken honedge will begin to rapidly drain the spirit of anything nearby, often killing or crippling their attackers before they can finish the job. The honedge will then go dormant, exerting almost no power, until someone picks them up and is forced to fix the blade or lose their own life in a matter of weeks due to the sheer damage done to the blade.

The only recorded cases of any stage of the line being physically destroyed involved the intervention of god-like pokémon capable of dealing enough damage to break the blade and enduring the dying curse. The dying pokémon first drained their host completely before passing, meaning that this is not a viable way to escape the bond.

Exhaustion is the only practical way to destroy the line without divine intervention. A prolonged battle against a powerful ghost- or dark-type that they cannot hit and regenerate from will leave the pokémon exhausted. If the host is completely drained and there is nothing else around to drain the pokémon will eventually have to go dormant to save their own life. Continuous spiritual attacks on the dormant blade will further weaken the pokémon until the blade can finally be physically destroyed by overwhelming power. This still requires a carefully selected battlefield, an extremely fast and strong ghost- or dark-type, and the death of the host. There are very few pokémon that can battle an aegislash indefinitely, harm them, and avoid being hit themselves.

Most people trying to kill an aegislash are doing so to free the host. Is there a way, then, to kill or drive off the blade without killing the host?

There are a handful of alleged cases of this occurring. None are recent and all are suspect, falling more in the territory of folklore than history. Three of the six involved the intervention of an extremely powerful pokémon threatening the blade with death if they did not leave them. The most famous example of this is King Oumar of Unova who was tricked into bonding with an aegislash on his path to the throne and then was freed by The Original Dragon so he could rule peacefully. The historicity of King Oumar is suspect. The fourth case involved magic, a force as poorly understood as aegislash themselves. The remaining practitioners are highly secretive and much of the ancient knowledge has been lost. In any event, practitioners are often extremely reluctant to work with aegislash and their hosts. The final case comes from another story of dubious historicity where a warrior king on the Indian subcontinent fought his way throughout a series of legendary battles and eventually achieved enlightenment, helping his aegislash pass on. The final case comes from the legends of a reclusive sect of the Church of Life that could allegedly pass their doublade from one living host to another. This suggests that doublade could theoretically choose to leave their hosts but provides little guidance on how to convince them to do so.

Evolution

Honedge evolve after they become comfortable with a host and believe that they will continue to be fed enough to support evolution. This usually occurs when battles come frequently and their host has demonstrated a drive to keep going to higher levels. In other words, trainers on journeys are close to the ideal candidates for honedge to evolve under. Honedge undergo a modified flash evolution. The scabbard undergoes the glow of flash evolution while the blade simply becomes wreathed in shadows before splitting in two. The current host of the honedge will experience a greatly deepened spiritual bond with their pokémon following the evolution. Some have reported having difficulty separating their concept of self from that of the doublade, a problem not usually reported with trainers who later bonded with an already-evolved specimen.

Aegislash evolution is similar. Doublade will only evolve if they are receiving far more energy than they need and sense great potential in their host. Most will only evolve if they regard their host as a sort of royalty or at least possessing the ability to easily become royalty with an aegislash’s help. Exposure to a dusk stone may accelerate the process but does not always trigger evolution. Even when it does the new aegislash may burn through their host’s spirit out of either spite or a lack of control. Doublade sheath both blades in the scabbard before flash evolving into their final form.

Battle

Aegislash strongly prefer to battle alongside their host. Even honedge can transfer knowledge to their host midbattle to allow amateurs to instantly master sword fighting. The exact styles the pokémon prefers to use vary heavily based on their design, their past wielders, those they have slain, and their innate abilities. Every aegislash has some unique power they can wield that was forged into the first of their line (see Breeding). Sometimes this power is nearly useless in standard competitive battles, or even makes them too dangerous to use in sport. The aegislash that inflict wounds that never heal are banned from every legitimate circuit.

In competitive play aegislash are one of the top-tier threats that are balanced by the difficulty in caring for them. Relatively few trainers have an aegislash. Not every team needs a counter for them to be viable. But trainers that go against an aegislash unprepared are likely to be destroyed. Aegislash’s shield is nigh-unbreakable and can effortlessly shrug off even spiritual damage. Direct physical contact with the shield also inflicts an excruciating curse. Only the sword is particularly vulnerable. Even then aegislash can only really be worn down to the point where they do not wish to continue losing energy in the fight. Trainers will usually forfeit the round when it becomes clear that their aegislash will expend more energy winning than it is worth. The energy intensity of battles is only worth it for the prospect of draining power from others. Losing matches can be extremely costly for the aegislash’s host.

Offensively aegislash are extremely skilled and clever combatants that can set elaborate traps and draw on firsthand or secondhand experience fighting almost every pokémon they will encounter. Their sword strikes are also sharp, powerful, and cursed. A direct hit from an aegislash is one of the most brutal wounds a pokémon can sustain. Even their ranged attacks are debilitating and can knock out some opponents in a few strikes. Some analysts believe that aegislash might be better as ranged attackers than melee ones. However, aegislash will approach even foes that can punish them to land their final strikes. It is easiest for them to drain opponents with their blade and their main goal in every fight is maximal feeding, not quick victories.

If you must fight an aegislash, there are a few ways to exploit them. They dislike hot flames. Extremely hot fire-types such as volcarona can keep aegislash from getting close, reducing their desire to fight. Volcarona can also engulf the entire arena in flames and leave aegislash with nowhere to hide. If the entire stadium is alight shielding from one direction cannot save them. Other attacks that alter the entire arena can be good for this, but most area of effect attacks take the form of a single wave. These can be mostly blocked. Aegislash also have a low movement speed and can potentially be trapped. Dark-types can shrug off shadow balls and punish the aegislash at range, but they can be devastated by a sacred sword if their opponent gets close enough. Spiritomb, while exceedingly rare, do not have this weakness and seem to be immune to most of aegislash’s curses. Mineral pokémon are resistant to spiritual damage and are often durable enough to take physical strikes from an aegislash. Slow mineral pokémon can struggle to land hits on the blade rather than the shield. The difficulty in feeding off of them also means that aegislash will be content to hang back and fire off shadow balls and flash cannons until the switch clock runs out.

In short, there is no reliable way of countering an aegislash barring extremely powerful fire-types. Successful trainers will need to have an extremely powerful pokémon capable of exploiting one of aegislash’s few weaknesses as well as an excellent strategy to win.

Doublade and honedge are relentless attackers. Most of their arsenals are offensive and they rely on getting close and continuously attacking until they can finish off their opponent with a few cursed strikes. Doublade will sometimes have one blade play defensively while the other attacks. Some will even use their scabbard as a makeshift shield. The scabbard does not have the invulnerability and curses of an aegislash shield and is less useful as a result. Doublade and honedge also lack the ranged firepower of their evolved form. It is best to fight them at range, never letting them get close enough to land a sword strike.

Acquisition

There are very few truly wild honedge, doublade, and aegislash. Most will only be actively looking for trainers for a short time after their host’s death. They will also seek out their own trainers rather than waiting to be sought. As such there is no reliable place to find them. In any event we cannot recommend bonding with one. Doing so is a lifelong commitment that will probably kill the trainer prematurely. There are few pokémon as strong as aegislash, but there are many pokémon that can carry their trainer through the end of the island challenge without being a chronic health hazard.

Technically none of the evolutionary stages possess a licensing requirement. It would be impossible to safely take the pokémon away after bonding has occurred so traditional penalties would be pointless. Besides, being bonded to the line is punishment enough. Trainers are still strongly encouraged to pursue at least a Class IV license if they find themselves bonded with a cursed blade. They are often eager to help their host learn more about the potential enemies they could be facing.

Dormant honedge should not be handled, even with gloves. Anyone who suspects the old sword they have found is actually a honedge, doublade, or aegislash should immediately contact the Pokémon League so it can be safely assessed and contained.

Breeding

Aegislash linages begin their lives as non-sentient swords. In ages long gone by mystical swordsmiths would forge blades with extraordinary powers and gift them to kings or heroes. There is no apparent consequence for using unawakened blades. These blades were typically forged to match the usual style of the area they were made in or the preferences of their intended first wielder. After they have shed enough blood, the blade will awaken. The formerly empty hole in the hilt will be filled with the pokémon’s eye and the current wielder will become the newborn honedge’s first host.

New honedge are created by aegislash. The pokémon possesses a skilled blacksmith, acquires sufficient quantities of blood, steel, and silver, and begins to forge a new blade. In the past these blades were usually unawakened so the aegislash did not have to put the effort in themselves to awaken the honedge. Now, when even magic swords are rarely used, the aegislash must use possessed hosts to kill enough people to awaken the honedge. Aegislash tend to reproduce only when they are well-fed and either believe their current host would approve of making more blades or dislike their host enough to implicate them in multiple murders. New honedge typically have the same form and abilities as their progenitor, but both of these can be tweaked to match the current circumstances. Incredibly lethal abilities are slowly becoming more suitable for competitive matches to account for the best way to gain energy now. As warfare transitions towards projectile weapons, honedge are also growing smaller to be better concealed and used in assassinations and murders rather than on the battlefield.

No new lineage has been documented in four hundred years. The swordsmiths themselves are cloaked in mystery. Whether they were possessed by ghosts, powerful elementals, reclusive sages, visitors from other worlds, or simply very skilled craftsmen is still debated. Even the most outlandish theories must be seriously considered when investigating the origins of aegislash.

Relatives

According to legend, Alola’s aegislash lineage began approximately six hundred years ago when the kahuna of Ula’Ula summoned the other kahunas to the peak of Mauna Lanakila and had them killed. At the time a witch had arrived from across the sea and slain a monster, believed to be a guzzlord. The nephew of the slain Melemele kahuna came to the witch and asked for assistance in defeating the kahuna of Ula’Ula. She agreed and provided him with a sword that was able to fire blasts of lightning. He defeated the Ula’Ula kahuna and the witch bound her soul with those of her family, guards, and co-conspirators to form a spiritomb. The hero was made the ruler of Melemele. He married the witch and had a child with her. The boy was a powerful dark elemental. The witch went on to create Alola’s stonjourner megalith. The hero, for his part, would be driven mad by his aegislash’s bloodlust and started his own attempt to conquer the islands. He was slain during the war. The witch went into the Haina Valley shortly after and was never seen again.

The names of everyone involved in this legend were not recorded to weaken their spirits and prevent them from having the legacy they desired. Its historicity is dubious, but it does explain the aegislash, spiritomb, and stonjourner on the islands. The stonjourner refer to the witch as The Pale Woman but offer few details. The aegislash refuse to speak of her at all. No one has asked the spiritomb during the brief periods they have been active. At least, no one has asked, survived, and recorded the answer. For now the true origins of Alola’s aegislash remain shrouded in mystery.

The Alolan aegislash resemble the crude skarmory feather swords used at the time due to the lack of advanced metallurgy or large iron deposits on the islands. They are long, straight, single-edged swords that are surprisingly lightweight. Almost all of them possess the ability to use electrical attacks such as thunderbolt. There is some debate as to whether the different aegislash lineages should be separated into their own species or subspecies. The proposed Alolan species is C. kukokoko, or C. d. kukokoko.

Aegislash are probably related to spiritomb, stonjourner, golurk, and claydol. There are enough myths linking them across the world that there is probably some element of truth to them. For now they are tentatively grouped together in the family Automota.

 

[Negrek]

This is a fun one! Always enjoy seeing interpretations of your not-traditionally-alive pokémon, and the honedge line is one of the stranger (and strangely dark) ones for sure. Big props for the ways that aegislash go out of their way to help their trainer, provide advice, and are generally on very good terms with them, while also generally draining them to death when they aren't able to get enough murders any other way. Really interesting combination of manipulation and self-interest combined with (usually) genuine fondness for their host.

The mystery around who forged the original honedge is super interesting to me as well, in addition to the fact that they all have their own unique magical properties. Very fun addition to their canon properties there... like they weren't cool enough already, heh. In general the mythical elements associated with the pokémon are a good time--we get a taste here, obviously, but you can imagine all the stories of hubris or revenge or corruption that involve somebody picking up an aegislash, and all the attempts to rescue the wielder or simply destroy the blade... good stuff. Definitely an iconic pokémon, and one that lends itself to loads of fun (and often tragic, lol) fanfic scenarios. A great choice for an Aloladex commission!

One aspect of this evolutionary line that I've always found odd that wasn't touched on here was the one blade -> two blade -> one blade again progression. It's really odd to me that the middle stage splits in half and then re-fuses to form the final stage. Wonder why that might happen.

 

[Persephone]

Kangaskhan
Macropod ruberupes

Overview

The giant kangaskhan of Australia fascinated the first Europeans to visit. Over time they became nearly synonymous with the continent itself in the public imagination. Kangaskhan are large herbivores with strong maternal instincts and the power to defeat almost any predator on the continent in a straight fight. Over time the giant kangaskhan has been introduced to safari parks the world over. They have often escaped to form feral populations.

There are no feral giant kangaskhan in Alola. There are, however, golden kangaskhan. This species is smaller than the giant kangaskhan but far more agile. In Australia they are commonly found in arid, rocky terrain. A mob escaped from a private collector on Akala in 1983. Since then they have begun to thrive in the area around Mauna Wela. The Department of Natural Resources has not taken action against them for a few reasons. The first is that as a large herbivore they are filling a niche otherwise unoccupied in the Mauna Wela area. They also prefer to browse from trees and shrubs than eat grasses, meaning they do not directly compete with marowak, either. The second major reason is that the golden kangaskhan are an endangered species in Australia due to poaching, capture for the pet trade, and habitat fragmentation. There is less interest in ex situ breeding efforts than the more charismatic giant kangaskhan. Akala’s feral population is therefore an important bulwark against the species extinction.

Golden kangaskhan may only be about as quarter as heavy as their giant counterparts, but their superior agility means they can be nearly as useful in battle. Kangaskhan adjust well to captivity and can even be quite protective of their trainers. They have the same logistical problems as other large herbivores but are otherwise relatively easy to care for. Kangaskhan are a good choice for trainers who are serious about seeing the island challenge to the end and want to add a relatively friendly normal-type to their team.

Physiology

Kangaskkhan are classified as pure normal-types. The designation is not disputed.

While giant kangaskhan are very stocky and usually walk upright, golden kangaskhan are smaller and only stand on their hindlegs and tail to fight or survey the area. They otherwise walk on all fours. Golden kangaskhan have relatively lean bodies. Their hindlegs are long and have an unusual toe pattern. The first digit is absent, the third and fourth digit are fused and much longer than the others, and the fifth digit is comparatively short. Kangaskhan’s hindlegs also contain an unusual Achilles’ tendon that can stretch to hold mechanical energy before releasing it in a powerful bounce. Landing stretches the tendon again, allowing for another bounce. Golden kangaskhan’s comparatively long hindlegs let them bounce faster and for longer distances than the giant kangaskhan who only bounce to get in close for a melee attack. Their tail is still stocky like their larger cousins but is longer and used more for balance while moving than balance while standing. Golden kangaskhan’s forelimbs are shorter and heavily muscled. Their digits are tipped in claws to increase the power of their punches.

Golden kangaskhan have yellow fur over most of their body with a white patch on the stomach around the pouch. Instead of thick fur they have thin red ruff on their limbs. Kangaskhan have a dark red patch on the top of their head. Leathery callouses cover important joints and arteries to provide a crude form of armor.

Kangaskhan are most famous for their pouches. Females have a pouch on their lower abdomen that contains two teats. Joeys live in the pouch until around eighteen months of age and continue to intermittently suckle until they are almost three years old. This is not the strangest part of kangaskhan’s reproductive anatomy. Aside from the day they give birth, sexually mature females are always pregnant. This is due to their two small wombs and their ability to hold embryos in a state of stasis called embryonic diapause. Upon mating the kangaskhan will keep two fertilized embryos in her wombs. After developing the embryos for a few weeks, kangaskhan can freeze their development while keeping them alive. They will continue to hold both embryo in diapause until their most recent joey leaves the pouch. Then they will resume the development of one embryo while keeping the other in stasis. The kangaskhan will mate shortly after to fertilize a second embryo to hold in diapause. Males also have pouches, but theirs lack an opening and the teats within are underdeveloped.

Like other related marsupials, kangaskhan lack lower canine teeth. Instead their two lower incisors are large enough to cover the gap. This is an adaptation to support their diet of grass and browse.

Kangaskhan can grow to be six feet tall when standing bipedally and weigh up to one hundred and fifty pounds. They live an average of fifteen years in the wild. Captive specimens can live for up to thirty years.

Behavior

Kangaskhan live in mobs of ten to two hundred individuals. The females and males have their own hierarchy with ideal basking spots and access to mates determined by rank. Captive mobs tend to have particularly strict hierarchies. In the wild where disfavored individuals can simply leave and space is not an issue social status is much less important. It can takes weeks of observations to determine social rankings if no mating is observed.

While giant kangaskhan prefer to stick to savannahs, forest edges, and tall grasslands, golden kangaskhan live in some of the harshest environments in Australia. Their longer limbs and lower weight make them ideal rock climbers that can traverse nearly vertical cliffs with ease. Golden kangaskhan can sweat, pant, and lick their forearms to help with thermoregulation in desert environments. They are primarily nocturnal so they can avoid activity at the hottest parts of the day.

Golden kangaskhan are primarily grazers that feed on grasses and shoots. They can also stand upright to eat low-hanging fruits and nuts. The entire mob will forage in the same area. If one detects danger they will thump their tail against the ground. The males will then band together to deal with the predator while the females and juveniles escape. Success in fights against predators is one of the key factors in determining social rank.

While kangaskhan live in large mobs and engage in collective defenses they are not actually social creatures. Males almost never interact with conspecifics outside of mating and battle. Adult females are doting mothers but otherwise keep to themselves. The mobs are arrangements of convenience more than elaborate social networks.

Females will almost always have two joeys. One will primarily live in the pouch. The other will primarily live outside of it. Pouched joeys almost never go more than a body length or two away from their mother. Free-roaming joeys become increasingly independent as they grow older. There is a formal ceremony of sorts for when a free-roaming joey leaves their mother. This occurs when the pouched joey becomes large enough to wander away from her mother. The ritual consists of a loud call from the mother that has been compared to a wailing lament. Translated conversations suggest that there is some anthropomorphizing in this view: the primary purpose of the call is actually to signal that the mother’s joey is now an independent member of the species and that she will be receptive to mating in the coming days once the new joey is born. The older joey would actually be kicked out if they continued to stay around too much longer after their younger sibling has left the pouch.

Kangaskhan retain a loose matrilineal network. Mothers will generally be willing to socialize with or provide some care for their adult children. They just will not watch over them constantly or provide continuous assistance like they previously did. Adult children can overstay their welcome with their mother. There are documented instances of aggression between a mother and her adult children.

In Alola kangaskhan are more prone to browsing on low tree branches than grazing on the dry grass. Marowak can already do the latter while there is little competition for the browsing niche around Mauna Wela. Kangaskhan can still feed on yellow or brown grasses, though, and often do so in Australia.

Husbandry

Kangaskhan are medium-sized herbivores. They will require one pound of vegetables and four pounds of leafy greens or hay per day. Vitamin E supplements should be given once a week to prevent deficiency. Leafy greens are more nutritious but hay is often cheaper and easier to acquire and transport. Some places will allow kangaskhan to freely graze or browse. Others will not. Check the restrictions on your travel path ahead of time. Peanuts and fruit should not be a core part of a kangaskhan’s diet but make for good rewards. Females often dislike bending over and prefer to eat out of elevated food bowls. Males prefer to eat off the ground.

Golden kangaskhan are well adapted to life in arid deserts. They can go several days without drinking water. They should still be offered a water bowl or a suction-based water dispenser at least once a day. Kangaskhan with a primarily hay-based diet should be offered water at dusk and dawn.

During the day kangaskhan mainly rest. Sometimes they will seek out shade. Most days they enjoy sunbathing. Kangaskhan prefer to be held in their ball when traveling during midday. During the night, dusk, and dawn they are more active and dislike being held in their ball. As a nocturnal species their activity spikes when their trainer is most likely to be attempting to sleep. While they are not a social species that will demand their trainer’s time, kangaskhan are large pokémon that need space to bounce around. Some pokémon centers will have fenced off yards the pokémon can use at night. Others will not. Kangaskhan are too large for most predators to bother dealing with them, making it generally safe to leave them out at night on the trail. An exception should be made in places with large carnivorous dragons or pack-hunting canines.

Kangaskhan’s favorite enrichment opportunity are chances to climb. Large piles of rocks, steep cliff faces, and some playground equipment are great places for them to explore and rest on. Kangaskhan are also generally tolerant of children and will tolerate being pet gently by strangers. This makes them popular visitors to larger city playgrounds. If they do not want to be pet they can always retreat to the roof of the structure or some other place out of reach. Kangaskhan can jump eight feet vertically or twenty feet horizontally in a single bound. Their exceptional balance lets them walk on narrow ledges. However, they do not enjoy most climbing walls. They are usually too steep and the footholds too small for them. Kangaskhan have been known to climb up the waterfalls or rapids for entertainment and bathing.

Male kangaskhan are usually wary of very large carnivores but otherwise fine with all teammates. They are unlikely to socialize but also will not cause problems. Female kangaskhan often lash out at any predatory teammates in preemptive defense of her children. Even ghosts and large herbivores can put females on edge.

Female kangaskhan will spend most of their time watching over their children and tend to see the trainer as a food source and occasional inconvenience more than anything. They can be bonded with and become strong and willing battlers, but this is difficult. Pokémon Centers will also count the free roaming joey as a separate team member, putting the effective team size limit at five pokémon. Males are easier to acquire, calmer, and somewhat larger and stronger than females.

The one advantage female kangaskhan have is that they are very nurturing. They will sometimes adopt young teammates and make sure they are well cared for and protected. Pre-teen trainers will often earn the same protectiveness.

Illness

Kangaskhan are one of the few pokémon whose most common and most serious illness in captivity is a dental problem. Lumpy jaw is a bacterial infection that begins as swelling inside of the bones of the jaw, distorting them and leading to internal honeycombing as pus builds up. The infection will eventually break through the skin and result in a great deal of discharge. Advanced cases will spread to other bones and distort the shape of the head. Infected kangaskhan have a 60% mortality rate. However, there are ways to prevent and treat the disease. Frequent dental checks can catch it early when treatment is more likely to succeed.

Curiously, lumpy jaw has never been seen in wild populations. It is believed to be a problem of captive diets, although nutritionists are still studying the exact causes. At present it is believed that kangaskhan diets should be firm rather than soft, but contain no sharp edges that could cut the mouth and be a vector for infection.

Other illnesses are usually hidden by the pokémon for as long as they can get away with. They are a prey species and are reluctant to show any sign of weakness. Females in particular will act as if nothing is wrong until they are on death’s door. Some illnesses will result in a discharge of bloody mucous. If observed the pokémon should immediately be taken to a veterinarian.

If the joeys are sick their mother will become very agitated and demand the trainer do something. They have been known to take out deaths on their trainer regardless of how responsible they actually were. Do not approach a female in mourning without ample protection and an air of caution.

Evolution

For the time being free-roaming joeys are not classified as a separate evolutionary stage. They are physiologically identical to adults save their smaller size, slightly brighter colors, and sexual immaturity. There is some debate as to whether in-pouch joeys should be their own stage. Very young joeys are developmentally similar to the fetuses of placental mammals, just moved from the womb to the pouch. Infant and planktonic forms are not usually classified as evolutionary stages in their own right. For now kangaskhan remain a single-stage evolutionary line.

Female giant kangaskhan are capable of mega evolution. Some golden kangaskhan are as well, although others do not take to the process. Males cannot mega evolve. All of the energy is directed to the in-pouch joey, accelerating their physical development and making them far stronger and tougher than they should be. The enhanced joey also appears to be mindless outside of attacking their mother’s enemies. Mega evolution does not appear to cause long-term harm to the joey. The mother will still be distressed during and after the battle. It should be used sparingly, if at all.

Battle

People still use mega evolved giant kangaskhan in battle because they are good melee fighters. The mother fights even harder with her joey on the field and the joey is unexpectedly formidable. Giant kangaskhan in general are quite durable and can punch harder than some fighting types. Anything that gets behind them can be hit by a tail swipe. They are not as formidable as machamp or hariyama but are far more durable. There are similarities between their playstyle and that of snorlax, another durable, strong, and slow normal-type. Kangaskhan are far easier to care for than the bears.

Without mega evolution giant kangaskhan can still hold their own on lower competitive circuits, even if they do not see much usage in the upper echelons. All three of the ranked trainers known to use kangaskhan consistently mega evolve theirs.

Golden kangaskhan are smaller and less durable than their cousins but are considerably more agile. They can run circles around smaller opponents, waiting for a chance to land a devastating punch or kick. This is not enough for them to see use at the top of competitive play and Australian trainers typically have access to giant kangaskhan. They are still occasionally seen and do rather well, just not well enough for them to have a consistent niche.

Kangaskhan are relatively straight forward in battle. They keep hopping around the field to find an opening and, when they find one, they leap in to land a flurry of melee strikes before leaping back out of range. Their vertical jumps give them some ability to hit fliers, especially in indoor arenas. Anything faster than them can be difficult to deal with. Particularly durable physical walls can also take their hits and land a devastating counterattack. In island trials they are best deployed towards the end of the battle when the totem is ideally tired and weakened. Kangaskhan excel at getting in and landing the final strikes.

Out-of-pouch joeys should only be battled with against very weak opponents and with their mother’s permission and presence. In-pouch joeys old enough to fully leave the pouch will be taken out and sent to the sidelines before a fight. Kangaskhan battling with an in-pouch joey will be extremely cautious about blows to the abdomen and strike with extra ferocity when they do get the chance. This is usually more of a drawback than an advantage. Mega evolution can somewhat mitigate this problem. Males are still recommended for casual trainers.

Acquisition

Kangaskhan can be found within Wela National Park. Vagrants sometimes wander into Routes 5, 6, and 7. As an introduced species capture is usually legal, even within park limits. Sometimes the National Park Service (NPS) will restrict capture of males or the entire population. The introduction program is still being studied. For now, the NPS wants a small but self-sustaining wild population.

Males can typically be captured after a proving battle and a few bribes of nuts and fruit. They settle onto teams easily enough and seldom cause problems. Be absolutely sure that the male you are attempting to have a proving battle with is an adult. Anything that appears to be shorter than five feet tall is suspect and poses too much of a risk of provoking an angry mother.

Females are unlikely to take capture attempts well. They have one to two joeys to look after and are not interested in making major life decisions with an uncertain outcome. Capture can still be done but the female is unlikely to be cooperative, even after bribes. Make sure that any out-of-pouch joeys are also captured. Most trainers who use female kangaskhan acquired theirs from a breeder rather than the wild. This is the best way of doing so. Akala has a kangaskhan specialist breeder who works with both giant and golden specimens. Ula’Ula has a generalist Australian mammals breeder that works with giant kangaskhan, marowak, blissey, lycanroc, and komala. Out-of-pouch joeys are also occasionally available for sale or adoption from private trainers.

Male kangaskhan can be captured, adopted, or purchased with a Class II license. Females can be adopted or purchased with a Class III license or captured with a Class IV license.

Breeding

Kangaskhan breeding is usually as simple as introducing a male to a female as soon as her out-of-pouch joey leaves. Mating should occur within a few days, at which point they can be separated again. To avoid conflicts the mating pair should have their own paddock away from other males or females. Males and females can use large mixed- or same-sex yards when breeding is not occurring.

At most times kangaskhan will be pregnant with two fetuses and have two children they are looking after. They are quite capable of looking after their children on their own outside of medical emergencies. Even trusted trainers should be hesitant to approach an out-of-pouch joey. Kangaskhan are anxious mothers and seldom give warnings before lashing out.

It can take several months to realize that a joey has been born. Some captive-born kangaskhan will accept pouch checks. Others will not. Around 130 days after birth the joey will begin to partially emerge from the pouch. They will not leave it entirely for another 100 days. For another 130 they will still spend a great deal of time sleeping in the pouch. At this point they will emerge from the pouch full time (except for nursing) and the old out-of-pouch joey will be kicked out. At this point it is safe to remove the joey from the enclosure and adopt or sell them to another trainer.

If a mother dies and leaves joeys behind, another kangaskhan will step up to watch over her offspring. Kangaskhan have also been observed adopting other marsupials, placental mammals, humans, and even young predators like rockruff. One was seen shepherding a geodude around the Australian desert. They are particularly likely to adopt after one of their own joeys has died. This is when almost all interspecies adoptions occur.

If no male kangaskhan is available for a month after the female becomes receptive she may become willing to crossbreed with other marsupials. Other kangaskhan species are still their preferred mates. Golden-giant hybrids are sometimes bred for their mix of durability and mobility. Males are less willing to mate outside their species than females.

Relatives

The giant kangaskhan (M. macropod) are relatively popular pokémon. Some trainers even pick them as alternative starters. Males can grow to be nine feet tall and weigh six hundred pounds. Females routinely grow to be seven feet tall and weigh four hundred pounds. They are much bulkier creatures than golden kangaskhan with femurs thicker than some golden kangaskhan’s necks. This leaves them unable to move quickly over long distances. Giant kangaskhan instead stand their ground against attackers and use their devastating strength to deal with anything that approaches. Most predators give them a wide berth. Giant kangaskhan are obligate browsers that fare poorly on a hay-based diet. Browse and leafy greens should make up over 80% of their diet while vegetables and the occasional treat cover the rest. This makes giant kangaskhan rather expensive for a casual trainer to raise. It also limits them geographically to savannahs and forest edges, while golden kangaskhan can survive much further into the desert. Giant kangaskhan are capable of moving on all fours and frequently do so. They just stand upright to survey their surroundings, browse, and jump.

There are five other living macropods, all smaller than the golden kangaskhan. Grant’s kangaskhan (M. sciurus) are only around three feet tall and are excellent climbers. They prefer to live in dense forests, using their leaping abilities to get into the branches and move from tree to tree. This ability lets them access fruits and avoid ground-based predators. The blue kangaskhan (M. wilsoni) use their tails and large hind feet to swim through the water and feed on the grasses at the bottom of shallow ponds and rivers. This does make them exceptionally vulnerable to the crocodilians that live in Australia’s waters. They were probably never common but are now critically endangered due to human development and pollution in their habitat. The other three species are smaller versions of the giant and golden kangaskhan that make up for their smaller size with numbers and the ability to hide in tall grasses. They also need less food, allowing them to survive in even harsher environments than the golden kangaskhan can.

The extinct praetorian kangaskhan (M. imprerius) was a relative of the giant kangaskhan that may have reached heights of fifteen feet or more. When the glaciers receded and the climate became increasingly hotter they were unable to support themselves in the increasingly arid interior or comfortable maneuver in the coastal rainforests, eventually leading to their extinction. There have been attempts to revive the species via cloning but they have not yet succeeded.

 

[Persephone]

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Cinderace (Scorbunny, Raboot)
Lepis vulcanorum medioagri

Overview

Wild cinderace are native to a handful of volcanoes around Tenochtitlan, the historic capitol of the Aztec Empire and the modern state of Anahuac. The wild specimens are smaller and far more timid than their captive descendants. They are notable for their skill at climbing cliffs and their very warm fur. Wild cinderace also have flame glands on their feet to make kicks particularly effective at deterring anything that would attack them from behind. The glands are used in a strange dominance ritual between males where a pebble is kicked back and forth between them until it explodes, grows too hot for one to handle safely, or one cannot catch the pebble and send it back.

Cinderace were first domesticated by the Nahua for their fur and potentially for delivering supplies up cliffs or into precarious construction sites. They quickly became far more popular for their skill at sports. Domestic cinderace are competitive and want to prove themselves in any game that even remotely resembles their pebble dominance displays. In pre-contact Mesoamerica, wars between states and tribes were fought on the battlefield. Contests between different nobles within a city were decided on the ballcourt, either in games between humans or in a contest of cinderace. The former could generate sacrifices in a time of scarcity. The latter could provide a more dramatic spectacle given the hares’ superior athletic abilities and usage of fire. Spectacle was useful for proving a noble’s power and keeping the masses distracted from the savageries of the Aztecs.

Over time cinderace were traded across the new world and came to be used in a variety of settings across the continents, from the Algonquin ball courts by the great lakes to the racetracks of the Inca high in the Andes. One Paldean priest commented that while the standard ball games of the Aztecs were seen as practice for war, the cinderace games were framed as a form of sun worship. This was the duality of Huitzilopochtli, god of war and sun.

Cinderace’s fire made them less convenient than lopunny for creating fur. They never caught on with European peasants the same way that lopunny did. The European nobility, and later the commoners, would still delight in the cinderace’s increasingly elaborate imitations of human games.

Cinderace’s competitive spirit, relative ease of care, and general friendliness has made them the standard fire starter in Galar and a popular alternative starter in much of their range. Trainers able to get their hands on one may find them to be an excellent alternative, or addition, to the more common litten.

Physiology

All three stages are classified as pure fire-types. There are common arguments made that they should have a dual normal- or fighting-typing added on. Cinderace are remarkably adept at using other forms of elemental energy. Some of the strongest specimens have even learned to use it defensively, cloaking themselves in a shield of darkness to block psychic attacks or a layer of poison to deter physical attackers from coming closer. A normal typing is common for both pokémon that excel at using a wide spectrum of elemental energies and domesticated pokémon. Fighting would fit with cinderace’s strength and competitive spirit.

Scorbunny are hares with thick white fur that is resistant to both cold and flame. The tips of their feet and ears are colored red. Scorbunny’s most interesting features are their internal flame sac and their three flame glands. The flame sac is usually only smoldering and must be fed by increased oxygen. Thee line need some time to build up their flames through increased physical activity and deeper breaths. One gland is located on the nose with the other two on the hind legs. The gland on the nose cannot be used for long without burning all of the oxygen the pokémon tries to inhale. Scorbunny’s hind legs are also structured in such a way that they can make impressive horizontal and vertical jumps or walk bipedally for a short time. In the wild this primarily helps them survey the environment by looking above the grass and make abrupt leaps for cover or higher elevations when in danger. Domesticated scorbunny have proportionally less jumping range and an increased ability to stand bipedally.

Raboot have a more varied color scheme than scorbunny. Their lower half is coated in black fur, aside from the toes which are red. The fur from the middle of the abdomen to the lower jaw is red. The toes on the forelegs and the fur above the lower jaw are coated in grey fur. Raboot’s first flame sac has moved from the nose to the forehead. They cannot see while this is active but can continue to breathe for approximately thirty seconds. Domesticated raboot are much more capable of standing on two legs than their wild counterparts or domesticated scorbunny. Both wild and domesticated forms have an elongated and elastic Achilles tendon to allow for energy to be conserved between jumps. Wild raboot typically use this to make a few increasingly powerful leaps in quick succession. Raboot can stand bipedally and hop around the area in a series of fluid leaps.

Domesticated cinderace are primarily bipedal, only going down to all fours to rest. The fur on their upper body has lightened back to white with black patches on the shoulders and a red tuft on the forehead. The thighs on the hind legs are coated in red or yellow fur. Cinderace’s ears are much longer than their predecessors and are partially used for venting body heat. Finally, the first flame gland has expanded to cover most of the forehead with three narrow prongs.

Cinderace have a wild lifespan of four years and a captive lifespan of ten. They can grow to be fifty-five inches tall, excluding the ears, and weigh up to eighty pounds.

Behavior

Wild and feral cinderace tend to live in teams of five adults and any scorbunny they are caring for. Each team consists of two males and three females. One male and two females are dominant and are allowed to breed. The others are non-dominant and do not breed. They only grow to about three-quarters the size of their breeding counterparts. Dominant males and females often bully the subordinate members of the team, sometimes with deadly results. When one of the dominant pokémon dies or otherwise leaves the team the non-dominant member of the same sex will experience a shift in hormones that allows them to grow to full size and compels them to begin mating.

Cinderace use their powerful hindlegs to dig dens in loose soils. In rocky areas with high cliffs they may instead elect to simply rest in a small enclave that is difficult to reach from the ground. One female will stay behind to guard for the nest and nurse any young living there while the others go out during the day to forage. During the night all team members typically huddle together in the nest. In Alola the feral cinderace are less physically affectionate with each other than they are on the high-elevation volcanoes they inhabit in Anahuac.

Territorial disputes between teams are decided by contests between the dominant males. They will kick a pebble back and forth until it explodes or one party backs down. The exact ruleset of the wild game is poorly understood. Feral populations play different games, often involving the entire team, inspired by the games they witnessed in human civilizations.

Raboot tend to live in their own teams apart from the cinderace and scorbunny. When they evolve they will either attempt to form their own team with other newly evolved cinderace or replace a departed adult in an existing team. Raboot spend a great deal of their time practicing the games that are popular among the local cinderace.

Cinderace are grazers that feed on tall grasses. They prefer to live in open forests that break the line of sight for large raptors. Foraging typically occurs at the edge of the forest. In the dry season cinderace will eat shrubs and small trees to ensure they are getting enough nutrients and water in their diet. Wild cinderace almost never drink water.

Husbandry

Cinderace are relatively low maintenance, especially when compared to other fire-types. They do not have constant open flames. In fact, cinderace almost never cause accidental fires either. Their physically affectionate and social nature means they are likely to spend a great deal of time around their trainer. The hares’ competitive spirit makes them eager battlers.

Commercial rabbit pellets can make up the core of a cinderace’s diet. Carrots and alfalfa can round out the diet and constitute at least 20% of it by weight. Theoretically up to 90% of a cinderace’s diet could be alfalfa so long as Vitamin D and Calcium supplements were added. Captive cinderace should be offered a water bowl to drink from at least twice a day. Commercial pellets are drier than the foods they eat in the wild and battling is more energy-intensive than their territorial games. Like all lagomorphs, cinderace will also need to have something available to gnaw on.

One of the few problems with cinderace care is that they are natural bullies. They will seldom cause problems for teammates of the opposite sex but can relentlessly bully mammals of the same sex. This either ends up greatly straining team dynamics or with the tables being turned on the hare, putting them into a position where they may not be able to grow to their full size. The easiest way to handle this is to have cinderace be the only male mammal on a team or to have no more than one other female mammal with a female specimen. This prevents bullying. Cinderace can actually be caring teammates so long as their bullying instincts are not triggered.

Raboot will go stir crazy if they go a few days without a competition. They may drag teammates into a battle whether or not they are willing. Organized sparring matches with teammates can alleviate this problem. However, the best way to handle the matter is simply to give them real battles whenever possible.

Illness

The most common health problem in older specimens is pneumonia. The symptoms generally manifest as wheezing and a sudden lack of energy. If an older cinderace is inexplicably inactive they should be checked by a veterinarian as soon as possible. Early cases can often be treated by antibiotics.

Coccidia is another major health problem, especially for scorbunny and raboot, and one that can be difficult to deal with. Coccidia is an intestinal disease caused by eating the feces of an infected pokémon. Cinderace, like most lagomorphs, coprophagic. That is, they eat their own feces as a matter of course. Once a specimen is infected they will need to be carefully monitored to ensure that they do not eat their feces and reinfect themselves. Common symptoms include diarrhea and loss of appetite. Stool should regularly be checked to ensure that there are no signs of infection. Pharmaceutical treatments are rarely used for coccidia cases. The pokémon should be kept comfortable and well-fed while being closely monitored to ensure they do not eat their own feces. They may need to be hydrated via syringe if they refuse to eat or drink. If the illness progresses to this state the pokémon will probably require inpatient medical care.

Evolution

Scorbunny evolve into raboot around five months of age in both the wild and captivity. The process is gradual. In the wild it is marked by the pokémon being kicked out of their mother’s team. In captivity it is usually determined by the growth of darker fur and an increased amount of time walking bipedally. Evolution into cinderace typically occurs around ten months of age in the wild or eight months of age in captivity. It is marked by a shift back towards lighter colored fur.

Battle

Cinderace are relatively popular pokémon due to their competitive spirit, strategic thinking, and versatility. Their offensive stats are only okay the higher echelons of competitive play – they can move at speeds up to thirty miles per hour and hit with approximately 300 PSI in their kicks. Cinderace are less frail than other lagomorphs but can still have their bones broken or shattered by stronger attacks.

Even at the highest levels cinderace still have a niche. They are melee attackers that can use pyro ball to turn small pebbles or clumps of dirt into devastating projectiles that can inflict second degree burns on impact. Cinderace also have great situational awareness and try to keep themselves in the optimal position before, during, and after attacks. They are known for using strategic taunts and kicks to knock enemies onto their own hazards. Cinderace’s versatility can also let them infuse attacks with additional elemental energy or temporarily use it as a cloak to shield themselves. Opponents relying exclusively on one type of elemental attack can find themselves outmaneuvered by cinderace. Versatile attackers, especially those with overwhelming power, can still hit cinderace hard enough that this does not matter.

At high levels cinderace should always be on the offense. Different situations can call for different types of offense, like pyro ball shots at a range or powerful kicks up close, but if cinderace is not attacking the opponent can find an opening and demolish them.

Galarian trainers can infuse their cinderace with dynamax energy to unlock a special gigantamax form. This state allows the cinderace to create fireballs over ninety feet tall but does not substantially alter the cinderace. This makes them extremely frail for a dynamaxed pokémon but monstrously powerful, capable of burning up even dynamaxed opponents in one or two hits.

In amateur battles cinderace’s frailty is less pronounced. They can afford to play defensively for a time, gauging an opponent while occasionally landing a strategic blow. An amateur’s cinderace is also less likely to be able to use other forms of elemental energy defensively. They are still solid choices for the island challenge that can carry their weight until the end. Just be wary of Grand Trials – some cinderace become distracted by audiences and spend more time showboating than fighting.

Raboot are relatively fast attackers that do not yet have the ability to use pyro balls to their fullest. This makes them best as rushdown melee attackers that use their speed and leaping abilities to get in close and land a flurry of kicks. They can then jump away when the opponent gets their bearings. This may not work on particularly well armored foes and their frailty catches up to them by the end of the island challenge.

Scorbunny are still relatively inexperienced. They like to fight, but only against opponents of equivalent size and strength. Their blazing kicks give them an edge on other melee attackers but can only be used to their fullest when the pokémon is facing away from their opponent. This is not always an optimal position. Thankfully scorbunny are quick to evolve into raboot.

Acquisition

Feral cinderace have established themselves in Mauna Wela National Park. Historically, lagomorphs have not been good for the environment following their introduction. Cinderace have been fine. They help fill the niche of a relatively vulnerable grazer that the many predators of the area can prey upon. It is legal to capture cinderace with a Class II license, even within park boundaries. There is a temporary moratorium on scorbunny and raboot capture to ensure the threatened or endangered predators within the park have a reliable food source. All three stages can be purchased from specialty breeders or adopted from shelters with a Class I license. Many trainers go to a breeder to obtain a scorbunny starter. The best breeders are generally clustered in northern Akala, especially in the area between Paniola Town and the various rainforest preserves in the north.

Breeding

Cinderace readily mate in the wild and captivity. If placed on the same team or in the same enclosure mating can occur in as little as ten days. After a thirty-nine to forty-one day pregnancy the female will give birth to one to three scorbunny. The scorbunny will stay in the den for the first two months of their life and then begin to venture outside under a cinderace’s supervision.

Cinderace are known to cannibalize their offspring in the wild and captivity. This can occur when there is not enough protein in their diet, there are environmental stressors such as predators, or when the scorbunny have birth defects. Make sure to provide the mother plenty of alfalfa during pregnancy and while the scorbunny are in the den. Premature offspring should be immediately removed to be hand raised. All efforts should be taken to reduce stressors during this critical period.

After three months captive-born cinderace will typically allow their offspring to be given to a trainer.

Cinderace have been crossbred with most other lagomorphs and a handful of rodents. If there are no available cinderace of the opposite sex they will readily agree to mate with anything resembling one. Homosexual mating has also been observed in the wild and captivity if no suitable mate has been provided for several months.

Relatives

The domesticated cinderace are a subspecies of the wild cinderace of Anahuac. They are larger, more aggressive, and stronger than their wild counterparts. Wild cinderace are critically endangered due to climate change limiting the amount of the mountains they can use, habitat loss from the expanding Tenochtitlan metropolitan area, and interbreeding with feral domesticated cinderace.

There is a second domesticated subspecies, the northern cinderace. L. v. americana were popular with the various Algonquin tribes of the Great Lakes region. Due to the nature of the games played in the region these cinderace have comparatively underdeveloped hindlegs and particularly strong limbs and thick skulls. They can leap into each other at high speeds while suffering only light brain damage. These cinderace have a variant of pyro ball, however theirs involves juggling and throwing a pebble rather than kicking it. Northern cinderace are regarded as aberrations by other domesticated cinderace. However, the subspecies consider themselves to be the only real cinderace. The others are mere pretenders. Despite their willingness to mate with almost every lagomorph the two subspecies will not crossbreed unless they are truly desperate.

 

[Persephone]

Magmortar (Magby, Magmar)
Perignem flammasque

Overview

Magmortar are akin to amphibians that live on land in the day but must sleep in the water at night to rehydrate. The key difference is that magmortar do not come from water, but lava. Magmortar are mineral pokémon with partially molten bodies. During the day they come to the surface to hunt and explore only to retreat to the safety of lava or eternal flame at night. This limits their surface appearances to erupting volcanoes and a handful of areas with supernatural fire. On Alola there are volcanoes that can erupt for months at a time. The magma chamber on Mauna Wela is also never far from the surface. This makes Alola one of the best places on the planet for seeing magmortar in the wild.

As creatures of flame, magmortar have esoteric care requirements that can leave even experienced fire-type and mineral pokémon specialists unprepared. They are primarily lithovorous but get very cranky if denied the ability to hunt. Magmortar will need to rest for several hours a day in actual lava or an expensive habitat ball sufficiently replicating the experience. Their body temperature means they will damage many things they come near, teammates and trainer included.

Magmortar still have their fans. They are very unique pokémon that can invoke a sense of awe in those witnessing them. They are also used to draw conclusions about the mineral pokémon of the mantle that are ordinarily impossible to observe. All three stages can be a threat in combat due to their heat and unwavering determination. Trainers should just be aware of the difficulties inherent in raising a creature that has evolved for life in the mantle onto the surface.

Physiology

All three stages are currently classified as pure fire-types. There is some argument that as mineral pokémon magmortar should be classified as rock-types as well. Their cannon projectiles lend some credence to this theory. However, aside from magmortar’s projectiles the line have little affinity for rock elemental energy. Even the minerals in their body are largely molten. The pokémon will die if their entire body hardens. For now a rock-typing remains unlikely for magmortar and extremely unlikely for magby and magmar.

Magby are bipedal mineral pokémon that superficially resemble humanoids or avians. Most of their body is usually glowing red with the area on the chest directly above the chest glowing yellow. Their body at room temperature is golden in color; their apparent coloration is a result of the heat acting on the outer layers of the body. The top of magby’s head is coated in thin metallic strands that superficially resemble fur. Magby have a mouth and appear to possess both eyes and vision. The mechanics of magby’s sight are poorly understood as the eyes tend to shatter as the carcass cools.

Magby’s body is made of partially molten rock. The innards consist of a cardiovascular system equivalent consisting of a chamber of superheated molten rock powered by a continuous mixture of inhaled oxygen, fire elemental energy, and very small-scale nuclear fission. The fission is used primarily to kickstart a reaction that amplifies fire energy and not for direct heat generation. Magby are no more radioactive than other mineral pokémon such as nosepass and metang. Even magmortar are safe to be around without radiation shielding for up to six hours a day. The heat gradient in the molten ‘blood’ is used to move the superheated blood throughout the body and keep the pokémon from cooling down to the point of hardening. The outer layers of the body are mostly solid plates of a strange alloy of iron, gold, and tungsten inside of layers of granite. The inner skin is more metallic than the outer skin, which is primarily granite. Granite is a better insulator than the metals and keeps heat inside the body. The outer skin is typically kept around 1100 degrees Fahrenheit. The joints are composed of materials with a lower melting point and have enough plasticity to allow for movement. The muscles themselves seem to be powered by the pokémon’s ability to control magma. In other words, magby use their elemental abilities to puppet their own body. This makes them particularly vulnerable to manipulation by other magma-controlling pokémon.

All three stages possess a crude digestive tract that absorbs food from the mouth, melts it down in a pouch adjacent to the main blood chamber, and then absorbs needed chemicals into the blood. Impurities are excreted by incineration and exhalation. Impurities with a particularly high boiling point are either retained in the body until the pokémon returns to lava or excreted from a joint at the base of the tail.

Magmar have a resting outer body temperature of roughly 2200 degrees Fahrenheit. At this point a purely granite outer shell would become slightly plastic, especially when in combat. A tungsten alloy becomes mixed in with the granite to help the pokémon retain its form. The joints around the legs and neck are a modified variant of obsidian that is only partially molten at this temperature. The inner skin alloy is naturally liquid at this temperature and is only solid because of occasional venting of heat through skin vents. Even then it is still molten enough that its movements alter the pokémon’s flow of fire energy. This can manifest as a spontaneous, ever-shifting corona just above the pokémon’s skin. Magmar always appear to glow and the patterns and colors of their body are ever-shifting. Two open spouts of flame above the head resemble horns but are not at all solid. Reliable description of magmar is difficult with the naked eye due to their corona and the distortion of the air around them due to heat.

Magmortar have a surface temperature of 3600 degrees Fahrenheit. The exterior of nearly all of their body is no longer solid. Their shape is maintained entirely through control of their lava and is highly variable across time and individuals. The internal organs have either melted or have tungsten membranes. The only remaining organs of magby and magmar are the digestive tract and chamber, the cardiovascular chamber, and a mass of highly pressurized silica and mercury that appears to be the center of their nervous system. Some scientists have theorized that most actual cognition occurs inside the cardiovascular chamber through the movements of a supercharged sea of fire energy and subatomic particles. This is a niche theory but cannot be discounted given the pokémon’s strange biology.

Magmortar’s cannons are contraptions made of thick tungsten plates. Heat is used to form pressure differentials between different chambers. Stones, including living mineral pokémon, can be inserted into the cannons while the magmortar temporarily cools their body. Each shot is then sequestered into its own chamber where it can later be propelled forward by the decompression of superheated air leaving the cannon. Magmortar can fire off up to five shots in a second, but they can only hold ten total in each cannon. Once all shots are expended the cannons can be opened up and used as flamethrowers.

Magmortar’s wild lifespan is unknown. Captive specimens typically live for around eighteen months, although some have lived for up to five years. An adult magmortar typically weighs around two thousand pounds and is between six and eight feet tall, depending on the individual’s weight and preferences.

Behavior

Magmar are believed to spend almost their entire lifespan in the magma underneath the earth’s surface. They are probably lithovores and might prey upon other magma-based pokémon. There is a theory that magmortar do not naturally exist beneath the surface and only occur as an adaptation to prolonged exposure to surface conditions. Their cannon, among other things, would be of little use when constantly immersed in molten rocks with no air to use for firing. While magby and magmar are often documented retreating back into the earth after an eruption brings them to the surface, magmortar seem to stay on the surface until they find a location that can permanently support them or die of hypothermia.

The only permanent surface populations are in areas of perpetual volcanic activity, mystical flames, or other long-lived fires. Examples include the Ailell Caldera in Iceland, the Burning Tower in Japan, and the abandoned town of Empire, West Virginia, where a coal seam has been burning continuously since 1931. Mauna Wela has not been erupting for literal years like Ailell has. It can still erupt for up to four months at a time. Even when it is not erupting there are lava tunnels beneath Akala that can lead to the magma chamber. Magmar only rarely leave the tunnels outside of eruptions but they can be seen from time to time. The island’s three magmortar are documented on the surface every few weeks. During eruptions magmar are frequently sighted in and around the lava flow.

Magmortar are predators. There is no apparent reason for this. They can subsist off of minerals alone. Killing and eating mineral pokémon can help them obtain the rarer minerals they need to survive, but magmortar are equally prone to hunting organic and even spectral pokémon. Bone marrow, intestines, and livers appear to be their favorite food. Their provision in captivity leads to a statistically significant increase in activity and behaviors associated with happiness. Magmortar rarely hunt humans. There are many stories of them doing so across the world, and even documented instances in the 18th and 19th Centuries, but the advent of pokéballs has made them wary of people. Most will leave the area if they see one.

Magmar not have many of the traditional tools of a predator. They are very noticeable because of their heat and emitted light. They are not particularly fast, capping out at movement speeds of four miles per hour. Magmortar have cannons to hunt with but magmar and magby are limited to plumes of fire. Instead, magby and magmar hunt in packs. They use their natural heat to ignite the dry plants on Mauna Wela. A few walk into a patch of foliage, each from different sides. They seek to kill their prey in the confusion by blunt force trauma, stampeding, or immolating the head so that the torso’s organs are uncooked. They dislike eating food that has been burnt up before they begin eating, even though it will almost certainly be thoroughly charred by the time they finish their meal. Sometimes a group of magmar will try to ambush more formidable prey, such as dragons, by approaching their nest and forcing the prey to fight at melee range in defense of their eggs or flightless offspring. Reptiles and dragons are some of magmar’s preferred, and most dangerous, prey.

At the end of the day all of the magmar will return to the nearest source of lava to bask in it. Doing so allows them to repair all damage to their body within a few hours. Intense flames have a similar effect, albeit at a much slower rate and without providing minerals to replace lost tissue with. In emergencies magmar will sometimes breathe flame into injured specimens to keep their body from cooling to the point of hardening.

Husbandry

The primary problem with magmortar care is keeping them from dying of hypothermia. Every night they must have a sufficiently warm place to retreat to. In practice this requires industrial ovens that can reach temperatures of at least twice the pokémon’s surface temperature. Elementally charged flames, such as those from other pokeemon, lower this requirement to only the pokémon’s surface temperature. Even for magby this can be challenging. Modified pottery kilns work for magby. Magmar and magmortar will require more specialized setups, usually custom made for the purpose. Fire-type trainers with extremely hot pokémon such as volcarona may be able to get around these requirements. It is no accident that every prominent magmortar trainer is a fire-type specialist.

The secondary problem with magmortar care is keeping them from burning down things they shouldn’t at night. Magby naturally breathe out incredibly hot embers. Sometimes their nose leaks a substance similar to burning napalm when they get cold. They can be taken into the outside world with a great deal of caution. Magmar and magmortar can cause vegetation to ignite by mere proximity. Any facility built to house them must be built from specialized materials or at least designed so that the surfaces can melt and resolidify without serious damage being done. Taking them out in public is inadvisable if not illegal.

Magmortar’s diet is primarily made up of minerals. Granite and quartz should make up the core of their diet. Gold, iron, and tungsten should make up at least 25%. More food should be provided after injuries or if the heating is inadequate for a short period of time.

It is only safe to interact with magmortar while wearing highly specialized equipment. Even magmar and magby require industrial caliber heatproofing equipment for safe contact. Magby can be handled without full body gear but will still need heatproofing equipment on any limb that touches them. A full suit of personal protective equipment is still highly recommended as magby are excitable and may not stand perfectly still when touched.

In practice magmortar are only owned by researchers studying the mantle, professional fire-type specialists who can afford the expensive equipment they require, and metalworking facilities. Magmortar flames can be up to ten thousand degrees Fahrenheit, allowing them to melt even the most heatproof of metals. Keeping up these flames will also begin to deform the pokémon’s body, limiting the time they can be used. For this reason some metalworking facilities keep teams of magmortar on hand. This is not substantially more expensive than caring for one magmortar, especially for operations that end up with a great deal of scrap metal to feed to their pokémon.

Some potters and casual fire-type specialists keep magby. They are still dangerous pokémon that are quite difficult to care for, but they can still be raised outside of heavily controlled environments. Taking one onto the trail is still unlikely to succeed. Trainers who insist on using a magby on their island challenge should spend most of their time at a central base, only going into the field when absolutely necessary. This is not the island challenge experience most trainers want.

Illness

By far the biggest health problem for the line is hypothermia. When internal temperatures get too low the pokémon will begin to solidify. Once the circulatory system is frozen death will follow in a matter of minutes. The pokémon’s organs also tend to explode or crack during this process. Magmortar are capable of keeping themselves warm during daytime trips to very cold locations. There is not much difference between zero degrees and one hundred for a creature with a surface temperature of over 1100 degrees. The real risk of hypothermia comes when the pokémon does not have access to an adequately warm place to sleep and heal at night. Even standard flames may not be hot enough for them. Very large campfires can be adequate resting places for a few nights, but even these fires must be continuously maintained for several hours. Even hotter temperatures will be required for healing.

The first sign of hypothermia is a highly flammable fluid leaking from the nose or mouth. The next sign is usually the exhalation of black smoke. Magmortar’s breath is usually clear. Black smoke only settles in when they have recently eaten something with a great deal of impurities or they are tired, heavily damaged, or cooling down. All three mean that the pokémon will need to retreat someplace warm.

Most physical damage is actually not a serious, long-term problem. So long as the pokémon can find some place sufficiently warm they can melt down their body and recast it without the damage. This may require external material if part of their mass was lost in the injury. They also appreciate having granite provided as it often resolidifies in a way they dislike. The pokémon should be allowed to stay in their basking place until they decide to reemerge. Premature removal can cause far more damage than the initial wound.

Evolution

Magby evolve into magmar when they have consistently been exposed to temperatures hot enough to support their evolved form. On average this requires a month of nightly access to a sufficiently hot resting place. This makes it quite easy to prevent a magby from evolving, which is generally preferable. Magmar are substantially more difficult to care for than their preevolved form. The evolution occurs when the magby finds the hottest place they can and a helpful magmortar. Their form is melted down and entirely reforged into that of a magmar.

Magmar evolve into magmortar if their resting place is hot enough to support it, or if they believe they could find a sufficiently hot area and are facing frequent combat situations. Evolution requires incredibly hot temperatures of at least 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It also requires the pokémon to amass a great deal of gold and titanium and bring it to the forge where they will remake themselves. Magmortar evolution in captivity can be very expensive due to the metal requirements and logistically difficult due to the need to find a forge.

Battle

Magmortar are restricted in popularity by the difficulty of caring for them. They would otherwise be would be far more dominant on competitive circuits. Simply put, magmortar are dangerous for most pokémon to even approach. Melee attackers will usually hurt themselves far more than the magmortar in the process of attacking it. Common anti-fire strategies are also often ineffective. Magmortar’s outer shell will keep most rock attacks from reaching the core and their body heat will evaporate any water that gets close. Very powerful seismic attacks can disrupt their physical composure or internal circulation. This is their only serious defensive weakness.

Offensively magmortar can launch powerful cannon shots and extremely hot bursts of fire. Their cannon shots are limited and their flamethrowers are functionally limited, too, by the damage that will occur to the arm. Most trainers do not use magmortar offensively, preferring instead to have them slowly light more and more of the arena aflame until even their slow speed is enough to corner and scorch an enemy. Cannon shots or flamethrowers can be used as part of this plan or to ground pokémon that would otherwise simply fly above the inferno on the field. Magmortar can also purposefully weaken their shell to unleash flames directly from their core all over their body, creating a massive pulse of heat at the cost of greatly reduced staying power. Magmortar must be withdrawn once they have sufficiently damaged themselves or are beginning to suffer from hypothermia.

The only good way for most pokémon to play against them is to keep their distance, place obstacles between themselves and the fire-type, and wait for them to exhaust themselves. Ranged offensive attacks strong enough to dent their armor can accelerate this process. Telepaths and ghost-types can strike the pokémon’s elemental core, although magmortar’s mind and spirit are so odd that they are still resistant to both kinds of attacks. Physical engagement should be avoided at all costs, except for those few pokémon that can temporarily withstand magmortar’s flames. Rhyperior, steelix, and volcarona are the most prominent hard counters to magmortar. None of these three are particularly common on the competitive circuits.

In practice, magmortar are uncommon enough that most trainers do not need to have a dedicated check or counter on their team. Ranked trainers should still have a strategy, though, if only because the current top ranked trainer has been known to use one.

Magby may struggle in some of the later stages of the island challenge. Very little will be able to fight a magmar. There are a few pokémon that can trivialize even the final stages of the island challenge but are so difficult to care for that very few people, if any, will ever use them. Magmar and magmortar solidly fit into this category.

Acquisition

Magby can be found on Mauna Wela or any other volcano during eruptions. Trainers can catch one by getting within three hundred yards of the lava flow and waiting. Retrieving the ball after the capture can be dangerous or impossible depending on where it falls. It is best to wait for the pokémon to get more than two hundred yards away from the lava flow and in a position where the ball will not roll back into the lava after capture. Magnetic retrieval gloves can be helpful for solving the latter problem.

Magmar and magmortar can be found around Mauna Wela on a more regular basis, even if they are only seen once every few days. Consult with a park ranger to find the best place to find them. Please be aware that magmortar capture is currently prohibited to allow for research on the population.

The Ember Breeding Company on Akala occasionally sell magby of various ages, including eggs. This is safer and more reliable than trying to capture a wild specimen but will cost several thousand dollars.

Magby can be captured, purchased, or adopted with a Class IV license. Magmar and magmortar require a Class V license to possess, even if a trainer with a Class IV license legally obtained a magby and evolved them. This is because of the increased danger and care requirements involved in magmar and magmortar care.

Breeding

The mechanics of breeding inside of the mantle are poorly understood. Presumably magmar are capable of reproducing. The magmortar breeding populations on the surface are highly unlikely to be the origin of all magby that live in the mantle. However, magmar have never been documented breeding on the surface. Only magmortar have.

Magmortar reproduce in pairs. In the past it was believed that there were distinct sexes and one of each was required. Recent research has failed to uncover sex organs and has suggested that magmortar can breed with any other magmortar. Like most mineral pokémon, this takes the form of assembling their offspring. Unusually the assembled product is a spherical egg with a metallic exterior and a very hot interior where the magby finishes developing. Magmortar create two eggs but are only invested in one. The other is donated to other magmortar or simply abandoned. Abandoned eggs are unlikely to hatch absent human intervention or a chance adoption by another fire-type.

Magmortar take turns watching over their offspring. When one parent leaves to feed and explore the other will stay behind to look after their magby. Parents gather food for the magby until they are about six months old, at which point they are given increasing independence. Parental oversight never fully ends, even once the magby has evolved into a magmortar, but grows far laxer with time.

Captive breeding of magmortar is inevitable if two are kept together in adequate conditions. The magmortar will usually present their trainer with one of the eggs to raise on their own. This should be done in an incubation chamber kept at similar temperatures to the magmortar’s primary habitat. Ideally another magmar or magmortar will agree to become the egg’s guardian. This decreases the likelihood the magby will readily agree to leave to another facility but substantially reduces the work involved in raising ones. If a surrogate is not found the trainer must take it upon themselves to raise a small child that could inflict second to third degree burns with an unprotected hug.

The egg-forging magmortar will not care what happens to their second egg. It can be sold, raised separately, or given to a surrogate without issue. Attempting to remove the primary egg will result in aggression. Even removing the magby is risky until they evolve into a magmar.

Relatives

Magmortar and all other mantle-dwelling mineral pokémon are in the Class Igneminfra. Macargo and magmortar are the best known examples of this class as both are occasionally seen on the surface. Exactly how closely related the two are, or how relation would even be determined for mineral pokémon with no genetic code or consistently solid organs, is unsettled.

 

[Persephone]

Commissioned by crashmoth.


Blastoise (Squirtle, Wartortle)
Vulcanaquae japonicus

Overview

Blastoise are one of the most popular water starters in Eastern Asia, particularly in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and southeast China. This is because the final stage is powerful but docile and the younger stages are energetic and relatively easy to care for. They are also readily available as wartortle are often farmed for their meat and tails.

Even outside of Asia, blastoise are a popular alternative starter. Between the temperate and tropical species, blastoise can thrive in most parts of the world. Feral clans have established themselves on six continents. Alola’s population is the domesticated, temperate, or Japanese species, V. japonicus. These blastoise prefer cooler breeding grounds and can live in saline environments. This makes the area of Route 3 around Seaward Cave their preferred habitat in Alola. A smaller clan lives around Route 15 with non-breeding populations found around Malie City and Brooklet Hill.

Blastoise are popular for a reason. Trainers interested in raising reptiles can find squirtle to be an excellent starter.

Physiology

All stages of the line are currently classified as pure water-types. The ruling is not disputed.

Squirtle are turtles with cerulean skin and a domed circular shell. They are notable for their long prehensile tail and relatively large head. Both can still be fully withdrawn into the shell, which is unusual for big-headed turtles like Matatrap. Squirtle have large red, purple, or blue eyes that allow them to see in minimal lighting. Portions of the shell are hollow to allow for the head to be fully withdrawn and to help the pokémon float. Unusually for a turtle, squirtle have small external ears.

Wartortle’s tail and ears are far more prominent than those of squirtle. The tail is coated in blue bristly hairs that can trap air during dives. Wartortle can breathe through their cloaca, allowing them to inhale this air and breathe for up to thirty minutes while staying submerged. They can hold their breath for an additional ten minutes before they must surface to breathe. The tail can also be used to help propel the pokémon forward at high speeds while swimming. Wartortle are one of the fastest turtles and can reach swimming speeds eight miles per hour for up to two minutes. The ears can also serve as rudders when swimming.

Blastoise are substantially larger and stockier than wartortle and squirtle. Their shell is less deep. Instead the shell contains a series of chambers and valves for water and air. Blastoise can compress the air by constricting the chamber it is within. The air can then be released into a chamber of water to shoot it out through a set of two bone tunnels. This creates a powerful, pressurized blast of water that can pierce steel at short ranges and pulverize concrete at range. Blastoise are also accurate at ranges of up to two hundred feet. The ears and tail are smaller as blastoise have less need to move quickly or nimbly than their preevolutions.

Blastoise can reach lengths of six feet and weigh up to twenty-six hundred pounds. Blastoise can live up to forty years post-evolution in the wild or eighty years post-evolution in captivity. Wartortle have a lifespan measured in centuries, often predating reliable records. Japanese breeders allege they can live for up to one thousand years, but this is widely believed to be mere legend. Most scholars estimate a lifespan of four to six centuries.

Behavior

Squirtle live in clans of ten to fifty members. Their preferred habitats are cool bodies of water with small to medium-sized islands and abundant bird and insect life. These are often estuaries and they have built up a tolerance for brackish and saline water as a result.

Squirtle are energetic pokémon capable of using their sturdy hind legs, prehensile tail, and strong claws and beak to climb. They are prone to exploring every aspect of their environment. This behavior persists even when full.

Squirtle are more adept at creating bubbles than jets of water. When hunting one squirtle will rush into a thicket of vegetation to flush out the insects. Others will create bubbles to trap them and kill them when they try to escape. Squirtle can also use small jets of water to shoot down mid-size bugs flying over water, including small insect pokémon such as yanma and ledyba. When threatened Squirtle can withdraw into their shell and spit out blasts of water until the threat leaves or help arrives. During the day and the darkest hours of the night they prefer to sleep on islands, safe from purely aquatic and terrestrial predators. They will then resume activity around dusk and dawn.

Wartortle are more aquatic than squirtle and can spend up to 80% of their waking hours in the water, even sleeping in it when there is grass to anchor their tail to. Wartortle use their swimming speed to chase down slower fish and kill them with repeated slashes or a single bite to the throat. They then take their kill to the surface to eat it. Wartortle can also function as ambush predators, hiding in foliage and using their tail and hind legs to leap out at anything that gets too close. In either case, wartortle prefer to hunt alone.

Blastoise prefer to hunt with their cannons, using a single shot to break a bird’s wing and send them careening into the water. The blastoise will wait for the prey to drown and then bring them onto land to eat. Anything leftover after two days goes to the wartortle and squirtle of the clan. Blastoise can hunt prey as large as pidgeot and even noivern. On occasion they will hunt down mollusc pokémon, hauling them onto land before keeping a long watch. Shellder and clamperl can be killed with cannon shots through their shells. Cloyster must be hauled onto land by multiple blastoise and left to dehydrate or open up, at which point it can be killed.

Very few things will dare attack a blastoise given their thick shells and overwhelming power. Larger water-types such as sharpedo and feraligatr may still try to steal their kills underwater. Sharpedo and feraligatr can also use their powerful bites and piercing teeth to kill any squirtle or wartortle they manage to catch. These stages are usually careful to avoid deep, oceanic waters to avoid sharpedo. Unfortunately, feraligatr share their favored habitats and can end any squirtle that stumbles too close. Swampert can also threaten squirtle in their native range and areas where both have been introduced. Most predators without a massively powerful bite will eventually give up on attacking a squirtle before a blastoise arrives and kills them.

Husbandry

The blastoise line are carnivorous reptiles with fairly standard care requirements. Squirtle prefer an insect-based diet and will happily eat commercial insect mixes. Wartortle prefer fish, shellfish, and other kinds of seafood. Blastoise prefer a poultry- and shellfish-based diet. However, any stage will eat almost any kind of meat. There is even some evidence that diets varying from their natural food sources don’t impact overall health or development. Meat should still make up the vast majority of their diet, with grasses and fruit comprising five to fifteen percent. Food should be provided daily to squirtle and wartortle and two to three times a week to blastoise. Squirtle and wartortle will need to eat about five to ten percent of their body weight a day. Blastoise will eat up to fifteen percent of their body weight per meal, but should be limited to at most five hundred pounds of food per weak. Fully grown blastoise that do not regularly battle can get by on one to two hundred pounds of food per week.

All three stages should regularly have access to drinking water. Blastoise are particularly thirsty after prolonged battles and can drink up to one quarter of their body weight at once. This is needed to replace the water lost from cannon fire.

Blastoise are temperate reptiles. In their home environments they need to bask and brumate to survive the cold. Most of Alola is warm enough that they can get by with minimal basking. Some blastoise will still become inactive in the winter or even seek to dig in place for several weeks. Pokémon Centers will usually be understanding of brumation and will allow trainers to stay near their pokémon until they emerge.

Each stage has their own behavioral concerns. Squirtle and energetic pokémon that enjoy climbing and exploring, particularly in the late evening and early morning. Toys and inclined climbing structures can distract them. They should still be allowed to explore several times a week while supervised by their trainer or a teammate. Toys should be durable enough to withstand bites. Squirtle are also far more social than the other stages and will expect their trainer to spend time each day playing with them.

Wartortle are far more aquatic than squirtle and blastoise. They grow distressed if they cannot swim for more than two or three days. Thankfully, Alolan trainers are rarely far from large bodies of water. Many Pokémon Centers do not allow wartortle in their general pools. They are even banned from many carnivore or isolation pools because of their ability to leave the water and climb into nearby pools. Wartortle prefer to play with toys underwater. Long ropes they can latch onto are some of their favorite toys. They also enjoy being fed via long tongs, allowing them to lash out and ‘catch’ their food. Wartortle have been known to wrestle with floating balls, bringing themselves in and out of the water as it spins.

Blastoise are relatively inactive pokémon. They enjoy being around their trainer but do not require a great deal of play or socialization. The occasional cleaning or training session will do. Blastoise can also be quite protective of their trainer and can become standoffish with anyone who gets too close while their trainer is near. Blastoise are still predators that weigh a literal ton. They may not be dragons or large crocodilians, but they have many of the same drawbacks. Stationary trainers will need land and food to house their blastoise and they can become aggressive in unfamiliar situations.

In the wild all three stages, but particularly wartortle and blastoise, are prone to growing algae on their shells. This does not harm the pokémon. In fact, it helps them blend in. Wild-caught wartortle will become upset if the algae is removed. Captive-born specimens will generally tolerate cleanings and can even enjoy the touch and feelings of pressure on their shell. There is no medical reason to clean the pokémon, but many trainers dislike seeing their pokémon being dirty.

Wartortle and blastoise are long-lived pokémon. Wartortle that are not evolved are almost certain to outlive their trainer. Blastoise still might. It is important to have at least one other human willing and able to assume caregiving duties that the pokémon is already familiar with. The death of a trainer can be a stressful event, and the pokémon may not tolerate strangers during this time. This can make blastoise particularly difficult to rehome.

Squirtle are generally tolerant of all pokémon but large predators and very small insects. Even totodile or mudkip can be bonded with if they are introduced while young. This is the best time to handle any potentially fraught introductions as squirtle are social and outgoing.

Blastoise will almost never kill a pokémon they have known for over six weeks. If they must be kept on the same team as a bird, it is best to handle the introduction before they evolve. This will keep both parties calm around the other. Introductions can still happen after evolution, but they should be closely monitored and only occur after the blastoise has just eaten a large meal. Blastoise do not have an aversion to other large predators and do not claim literal and metaphorical territory in the same way dragons do. This leaves them outside of many predator social dynamics, for better and for worse. It can sometimes cause problems when they intrude on things a large dragon considers to be theirs. On the upside, blastoise will not test hierarchies or threaten to disrupt existing social dynamics. This makes them easier to introduce to an existing team of predators than other large reptiles, but their interactions with the dominant predator should still be closely monitored. This is especially true during and around brumation and mating season.

Illness

Blastoise are hardy creatures with natural lifespans sometimes measured in centuries. As a result they are incredibly hardy. There have been no documented cases of cancer in the line and other illnesses are rare. They can even regrow most body parts over the course of a year.

The main health problems to be aware of are those that aren’t serious concerns for blastoise but could be for their trainer and teammates. Salmonella is the main problem, a fairly harmless disease in blastoise that can be fatal for young children as well as the elderly and immunocompromised. The best way to avoid infections is to keep the pokémon’s environment clean and to wash any body part that came into contact with the line, their bedding, or other items they frequently interact with. People at risk should avoid direct contact with blastoise.

Shell injuries, while rare, are a major concern for blastoise. Squirtle and wartortle can heal damage to their shell in time. So can blastoise. However, the complexity of their shell means that serious damage to it can heal incorrectly, potentially to disastrous ends. Some veterinarians have proposed surgeries to install vents from the pressurized air chambers in injured blastoise to avoid the worst consequences. This does leave them unable to use their cannons, however, and may not be safely reversible.

Evolution

Squirtle evolve into wartortle after about one year. The formal demarcation line is the growth of hair on the ears and tail.

The exact trigger for wartortle evolution is still debated. The leading theory at present is that wartortle evolve if the aquatic environment they inhabit becomes volatile. This can mean a decline in fish and shellfish, sudden changes in salinity, depth, or temperature, or the appearance of large aquatic predators in a previously safe environment. Whatever the trigger is, wartortle begin to steadily grow into blastoise over the course of six months. The formal demarcation is the emergence of the cannons. Almost all battling wartortle begin the process within six months after their tail and ear fur fully develops.

Blastoise have known mega evolution and gigantamax forms. Mega blastoise’s shell anatomy shifts so that one large cannon protrudes above the head and the previously existing cannons are rerouted to exit near the wrists. Serious damage while mega evolved is the leading cause of fatal shell injuries. It is still authorized on most circuits as it is safer for the pokémon than most other mega evolutions.

Gigantamax blastoise gains many, many more cannons and trades overwhelming power for accuracy. A direct hit can seriously injure almost any pokémon, but the blastoise cannot aim. This makes it possible for particularly daring opponents to try and scout out a safe place to stand and use the blastoise’s lack of precision or mobility to stall out the transformation. Generally, however, it is far safer to just dynamax alongside the blastoise in order to survive any blasts that do hit.

Battle

Blastoise are top-tier pokémon that can go toe-to-toe with some of the strongest species. To start with, blastoise’s she’ll is durable enough to take everything short of a tyrantrum bite. Even their head and limbs are covered in thick scales. In a true bind they can fully retreat into their shell and spit out attacks, although these lack the force of cannon fire.

Speaking of their cannons, blastoise can take down most walls at range. The physical power behind the water also means they can punch through purely elemental walls such as clefable and blissey. Only a select few pokémon such as muk and castform can tank a blastoise shot unscathed. Even pokémon that can power through the injury can be worn down by repeated shots or coverage options like aura sphere, dark pulse, and ice beam.

Blastoise still have a few drawbacks. To start with, their cannon shots are limited. Blastoise have six shots. Even training cannot increase this number as their pressurized air chambers are biological and take up to an hour to fully reload. Mega blastoise have ten shots and a somewhat faster recharge time, but even they can easily run out. This is a problem as blastoise are built for wearing their opponents down over time. Instead, they must play aggressively and pursue quick knockouts. Clever opponents can stall out the shots with strategic sacrifices, double team, substitute, teleport, and protect. Blastoise are not helpless once their shots are exhausted, but they are far less powerful.

Blastoise’s shots are also powerful enough that the recoil can be a problem. If the pokémon is unexpectedly thrown off balance during a shot they can fall on their back. It takes blastoise a few seconds to get back up from that position. In the water blastoise’s shots inevitably propel them backwards, which means they cannot fire two accurate shots in a row. After the first one they will need a moment to get their bearings and fire again. Mega blastoise’s most powerful cannon shots require the pokémon to brace themselves in place by digging into the ground or freezing themselves in place with ice beams from the side cannons.

Blastoise can learn shell smash, but the risk of permanent shell damage means that almost no one will risk using it in battle.

On the island challenge blastoise can finish most totems in one or two shots. However, they can be thrown off balance, intercepted, or overwhelmed by the supporting pokémon. It is a good idea to have the rest of the team take care of them before allowing blastoise to go one on one with the totem. Blastoise currently has an excellent matchup against Hapu, the kahuna most trainers fight fourth, although her gastrodon and flygon have both defeated blastoise in the past.

Wartortle and squirtle are still durable but lack the overwhelming power of blastoise. They are best used defensively, waiting for the opponents to give them an opening to punish. It is safer for them to use shell smash as injuries cannot result in an unwanted explosion of compressed air.

Acquisition

Squirtle can be found in Route 3, Route 15, Malie Gardens, and Brooklet Hill. Capture of squirtle is allowed with a Class I license. Blastoise and wartortle capture is temporarily suspended to see what impact they have on the ecosystem.

Squirtle can be obtained from a variety of breeders on three of the four islands. They are a popular alternative starter and any specialty store for reptiles or water-types is likely to either stock them or have a breeder contact if a customer requests one. They can be adopted or purchased with a Class I license.

Wartortle and blastoise are more difficult to rehome. Wartortle can be purchased or adopted with a Class III license. They will require patience and a good deal of space as they acclimate to their new home and trainer. Blastoise rehoming is handled on a case-by-case basis. They can be purchased with a Class IV license, but this requirement is often waived during adoptions of individuals whose trainer has passed on.

Breeding

Blastoise and wartortle mate shortly after leaving brumation. In Alola the mating season is late February to early April. Prospective partners first engage in a wrestling match. If the male is able to overpower the female he mates with her. These pairings are actually consensual: a female can and will decline a challenge from a male she does not want to mate with and will often simply allow herself to lose once the male has proved his power. Females may mate with multiple males over the course of the breeding season, resulting in a clutch with multiple fathers. Towards the end of the breeding season she will dig a hole on an island, lay a clutch of two dozen eggs, and bury them. The squirtle will be born about one hundred days later.

Newborn squirtle have a soft shell that hardens over the next three weeks. Mortality is extremely high during this period. Most years none of the clutch will survive. Populations only grow or remain stable due to the longevity of the adults and the number of chances they have to reproduce.

The mother will defend her nest if she happens to see it distributed right in front of her but will otherwise pay it no heed. This approach extends to squirtle as well. Blastoise will defend any attacks on them they personally witness and will come if they hear a cry for help. They do not hover over squirtle or even try particularly hard to avenge their deaths. In captivity they can be taken from their parents as soon as they hatch without any complications.

Head start conservation programs for squirtle have had a great deal of success. A clutch taken into captivity and allowed to grow into wartortle can result in nearly 100% survival, at which point they can be reintroduced.

Blastoise will crossbreed with most turtles and tortoises. They may even choose to crossbreed with conspecifics available. Drednaw is the most common cross as the offspring usually have functional cannons. Any other cross is unlikely to have them, and improperly developed cannons can lead to fatal complications.

Because females are not monogamous, mixed sex clans can be kept together year round and even during the breeding season without issue. This makes them relatively easy to breed in captivity.

Relatives

The original, wild blastoise species, V. megacephalus, was found over a range spanning from Sumatra to southeastern China and west to Bangladesh. The adult’s head is larger and cannot fully be withdrawn. Squirtle and wartortle flesh is considered a delicacy in the region and wartortle tails are an important ingredient in folk medicine. As a result their wild numbers have been decimated by poaching and only a few remnant populations remain in Southeast Asia. However, there are still several farms of dubious legality that raise them.

Squirtle were originally domesticated for their meat. The shogun of Japan sought to bypass Chinese merchants and had his spies capture a few dozen squirtle and smuggle them into Japan. Over the period of isolation this population drifted apart from the wild species, forming a temperate species with larger cannons, greater salinity tolerance, and even fewer parental instincts. Blastoise could pierce through the armor of samurai and were often available to peasant farmers and commoners due to their popularity as livestock. This made the government wary. At various times the intentional evolution of blastoise was a crime. Only trainers of noble birth were allowed to use one as a starter. This was discontinued in the Meiji Era so that more of the population could be armed with a powerful pokémon. The temperate blastoise has since become invasive in several parts of the world due to their popularity as a starter and long lifespan. Many families release blastoise or wartortle into the local waterways after the original trainer dies, quickly creating an invasive species.

 

[Persephone]

Volcarona (Larvesta)
Rextinea prometheum

Overview

There are pokémon so powerful that they are commonly considered to be gods. Most of these are unique, or at least highly rare. Then there are entire species whose strongest members can go toe to toe with so-called gods and emerge victorious. These species are commonly large dragons, or at least pseudo dragons like milotic and gyarados. Volcarona is an insect distantly related to butterfree and wurmple. They are among the strongest pokémon on the planet.

Cultures across the world regarded volcarona as servants of the gods, or even their nemeses. Other societies worshipped the volcarona outright. There are no tales of brave heroes or pokémon going to fight one: fighting a hydreigon is one thing, but no one dared to offend a creature that could kill everyone in a city in a matter of seconds.

Volcarona are mostly content to stay out of humanity’s way. They eat plants and minerals and have no reason to actively hunt. Sometimes they incidentally help humanity by warming the winter air to help their own offspring or providing light in volcanic winters to protect their food supply. Childless volcarona will happily accept offerings and bribes as well. Volcarona with children should be given an enormously wide berth. A mother worried for her child can burn forests and towns to cinders.

There are inevitably trainers who wish to harness this power. Actually finding a volcarona to train is the hardest part, as mothers react extremely poorly to their larvesta being taken and adults are usually too proud to submit to a human.

Once in captivity volcarona are surprisingly easy to care for compared to creatures of similar power. Their diet is much simpler than that of dragons and they can cool their body enough that it is safe to touch. Volcarona also rarely lose control of their powers — they are herbivores that would lose out on food if they constantly killed the plants around them.

The few trainers that have found a way to tame a volcarona have become some of the strongest battlers in the world. There are always those who believe themselves capable of being the next volcarona trainer. Most die trying.

Physiology

Both stages are classified as dual bug- and fire-types. The ruling is not disputed.

Larvesta are large caterpillars. They have a brown segmented abdomen. Their thorax and part of the head are hidden beneath a thick layer of white fur. Five red antennae extend from the thorax at equidistant intervals. Larvesta have a patch of black scales around their eyes that make them appear to be a single large eye. Their actual eyes are blue. Larvesta’s legs are short and coated in velcro-like hairs that allow them to stick to almost any surface. Larvesta possess a set of flame sacs filled with chemical reagents that can rapidly increase the surface temperature of the larvesta’s body or be used to spit out a line of fire with temperatures over 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Volcarona are large moths with six red wings and an unusually large body for a flying insect. They retain two antennae, one on either side of the head. These are used to sense air currents and help the pokémon direct the movement of heat and scales. Most of the body is coated in white hair. Volcarona have four small legs. They are not very mobile on land. Even their wings could not ordinarily support their weight for long periods of time. Volcarona fly by manipulating the air temperatures around them so that they are always held aloft by thermals.

Volcarona are notable for being one of the only organic pokémon with a fission reactor organ in their body. This allows them to produce extraordinary amounts of fire energy, survive for long periods without food, and bathe an area in deadly radiation. They are still perfectly safe to handle and train. Their fur and scales are extremely good at keeping deadly radiation from getting out: it would not do for the plants around their lair to constantly die of radiation poisoning. It is impossible to get a meaningful sample size, but volcarona trainers have not historically died at young ages from cancer. However, the kind of trainer who seeks to train a volcarona is likely to take other risks. Relatively few live long enough for gradual radiation poisoning to be a problem. Portable Geiger counters are still recommended for any volcarona trainers.

The red scales on volcarona’s wings are gradually imbued by the reactor with an enormous amount of fire elemental energy. They are harmless while attached to the volcarona’s wings. When scattered they create a burst of intense heat, flame, light, and radiation called a flare. Volcarona can regrow scales in a matter of minutes.

Volcarona’s final adaptation of note is their ability to survive for prolonged periods without oxygen. When a volcarona is flaring they will quickly burn through all the oxygen around them. This can be more dangerous than the heat of their flames. Volcarona’s cells can respirate using sulfur as a base instead of oxygen. This is not as efficient and is only used when flaring.

Volcarona can grow to lengths of eight feet and weights of three hundred pounds. Their captive lifespan is poorly documented. Wild individuals are estimated to have a maximum lifespan around two hundred years.

Behavior

Volcarona are primarily solitary creatures. They hold vast ranges and will engage in threat displays towards intruders. These displays often involve minor flaring in an attempt to intimidate their rival. The intruder will usually leave without incident. Volcarona are found throughout the tropical regions of the world, as well as a few temperate ones. They can always find a territory of their own somewhere else.

All of Alola is part of a single volcarona’s territory. She tolerated a mate’s intrusion in 2017 but drove him away a few months later. He briefly established his own territory on Ula’Ula before departing for the Marshall Islands.

Volcarona are primarily herbivorous. They feed on the leaves and fruit of cinnamon, tree of life, evergreen, and citrus trees. Volcarona can spend up to nine hours a day foraging for leaves. A mother with children will either bring her larvesta with her or never stray far from her nest.

Most of volcarona’s preferred diet is only available in tropical regions. In temperate areas they can flare on the coldest days of the winter to ensure their food supply does not die off. They will also flare when any larvesta living with them become too cold. This is actually more common in subtropical areas than temperate ones as temperate volcarona tend to find better insulated burrows. Volcarona’s flaring makes them a keystone species in their habitats. It also helped humans avoid crop failure in the aftermath of Krakatoa’s eruption.

In order to power their reactor and anaerobic respiration, volcarona need to eat minerals with high sulfur and fire energy content. Radioactive materials are highly valued, but a volcarona can theoretically go years between large radioactive meals if needed. Frequent or intense flaring greatly shortens this interval. Most volcarona live around volcanoes where sulfurous compounds and volcanic ash are readily available. The former help them breathe without oxygen. The latter are good stores of fire energy that can be used to hold power when the reactor is dormant. Reactors usually only turn on during prolonged flaring. They otherwise store their power in scales and a sooty particulate held in a flame sac organ.

Volcarona have accepted offerings of waste from nuclear power plants. A few live in close proximity in the Chernobyl exclusion zone and the area around the Bikini Atoll. It is common for volcarona to occasionally migrate there for a summer to feed. These sites appear to be communal territory and neutral ground. The oral tradition of Unova holds that volcarona held similar migrations to the Unovan desert after The War of Kings, although these migrations have slowed considerably as the ambient radiation levels have declined. At least one volcarona still lives in the desert. Some of the strongest known specimens came from the area.

Volcarona spend their nights in their den. In tropical areas these can be any shelter that offers some protection from wind and rain. Abandoned homes and cave entrances are the most common dens. Males in subtropical and temperate regions will live in the same kinds of dens as they do not have to worry about hypothermia. Females will need to find a sufficiently warm den, such as an abandoned annex of a building or a bibarel lodge. Gravid volcarona have been known to evaporate a pond and fly into a lodge and claim it as their own. Many bibarel will start building a second, terrestrial lodge when they see a volcarona. Some cultures have offered the bibarel resources to construct the dam with or even built a home for the volcarona themselves. Many sun temples around the world began as volcarona dens that were later expanded upon for human use when the volcarona died or migrated elsewhere.

When volcarona are not eating during the day they will typically patrol their territory or bask in sunlight. Do not approach the volcarona. If she approaches, stay calm and make no sudden movements. Give her whatever she wants. Feeding wildlife is generally frowned upon, but an exception can be made in this case.

Husbandry

In most parts of the world, it is difficult to care for larvesta and volcarona on the trail. Alola has enough of their favored foods that they can simply graze for themselves in most of the region. In the particularly cold and arid areas a supply of leaves will need to be brought along. They will almost exclusively eat the species listed above, although some volcarona will tolerate or even crave leaves from other species. Some larvesta will enjoy herbs as much as leaves and will retain this love after they evolve. Volcarona can eat up to thirty pounds of leaves a day. They get most of their water from their diet. Water bowls should be provided once or twice a day but the pokémon will rarely drink.

Sulfur supplements should be made available at least once a week. Volcarona can usually be trusted to pour an opened container onto their food and get as much as they feel they need. Radioactive material is more difficult to obtain. Tritium water can replace standard water bowls once or twice a month. Acting champions have sometimes made arrangements with power plants or industrial facilities in their regions. Other trainers simply take annual vacation to Ukraine or the Marshall Islands to let their pokémon feed.

Volcarona are smart enough to be housebroken within a few days. Larvesta may need a few weeks if they do not have a volcarona’s help. Even if they know what to do they may not be mobile enough to get to a litter mat in the time between knowing they have to defecate and being unable to hold it off any longer. A den with larvesta in it should ideally have a soil that can absorb the waste.

Volcarona, and particularly female volcarona with larvesta, need dens. On the trail they can go without a permanent one so long as an enclosed area such as a tent, closet, or large box is provided at night. Some volcarona will even agree to sleep in a ball. Most will not enter a ball for longer than an hour barring extraordinary circumstances. Doing so without their consent outside of a clear emergency will almost certainly provoke a flaring when they are finally released.

Volcarona prefer warm, dry environments. They can tolerate ambient moisture so long as they are not physically wet. This makes flying difficult and can lead them to flare. If the volcarona’s surroundings drop below fifty degrees Fahrenheit for a prolonged period they may feel the need to start venting energy, which can result in harmful radiation levels in the surrounding area.

Larvesta have stricter environmental requirements. Any exposure to temperatures beneath fifty degrees can cause stunted growth or illness. They grow extremely uncomfortable if they are not either being protected by their mother or in an enclosed space with no apparent threats.

There are two schools of thought on raising a larvesta. The first, and most common approach, is to let their mother handle almost everything. Volcarona are capable of raising their own children if provided sufficient resources. This keeps mother and child happy and healthy with minimal human intervention. The drawbacks are that the mother will be extremely cagey during this time and can lash out with minimal provocation. She will need a very large fenced off radius around her den to prevent incidents. Sufficiently large islands are the best childrearing spaces as it is highly unlikely anyone approaches and gets themselves killed. Unfortunately, the larvesta will grow up relatively unaccustomed to humans and may not agree to stay as a trained pokémon upon evolution.

The second approach is to try and be an active parent, or even a sole parent, to the larvesta. This requires a great deal of respect from the volcarona and frequent insertion into the process early on, calling potential bluffs and showing that the trainer can be trusted with the larvesta. Personally delivering food to the den entrance is a good way to start the process. Over time the volcarona will become more relaxed and even allow their trainer unsupervised time with the larvesta. The primary drawback of this approach is that sometimes the trainer misjudges the situation and dies of immolation or radiation poisoning. But, if everything goes well, the larvesta will probably agree to be transferred to another trainer upon evolution.

Larvesta have been successfully hand-raised without a volcarona. This is usually done in cases involving abandoned or orphaned specimens. Volcarona will also occasionally allow an older larvesta to be caught. This stage is relatively reclusive and prefer to spend all of their time in a den in captivity. The space should be climate controlled and food and water always made available. Non-flammable bedding at least eighteen inches deep should line the bottom of the enclosure. Larvesta are prone to burrowing in soft soils. Hiding toys in the substrate can make for good enrichment. There should also be a small climbing structure capable of supporting the pokémon’s weight.

Male and childless female volcarona are relatively docile pokémon that get along well with most teammates. No predator will make serious attempts to challenge them and the volcarona, in turn, is unlikely to lash out without extreme provocation. They are unlikely to be particularly social and will often stick to themselves. Bug and fire specialists usually have the behavioral and husbandry knowledge, respectively, to help them best care for the pokémon. Volcarona have much the same body language as other moths and butterflies. The need to have heat shielding equipment is similar to many other fire-types.

Larvesta are timid pokémon. They pair best with small bug-types that they will not see as a threat. Sometimes they will even socialize with caterpie, scatterbug, or venonat.

Illness

Volcarona are hardy creatures. Despite the intense radiation in their bodies there is no record of one ever developing cancer. This has made them of great interest to researchers, although actually observing a live specimen can be difficult. They are proud pokémon unlikely to comply with laboratory tests. Even standard medical examination training can be difficult. Intrusive procedures will require psychic sedation. This may still cause the pokémon to become upset when they wake up. Volcarona are relatively reasonable pokémon aware of how fragile humans and their teammates are. They will not flare at any provocation, but the possibility makes it too dangerous to antagonize them without a very good reason.

Trainers should keep a portable Geiger counter on hand to make sure that the volcarona is keeping their radiation within safe levels. Spending an hour around a calm volcarona results in no more radiation exposure than ingesting a banana. Being around a mildly distressed volcarona is equivalent to flying on an airplane. Blissey eggs have shown some ability to reduce or reverse the damage of chronic radiation poisoning. Any trainer battling with a volcarona should take all necessary precautions to ensure that the stadium is properly shielded from radiation. This often involves paying for specialized barrier pokémon at personal expense.

In the event that a trainer is inadequately protected from a volcarona flare they should immediately withdraw the volcarona, ingest potassium iodide, and seek specialized medical care. Some pokémon can reverse the effects of recent acute radiation poisoning. Without proper care organ failure or death can occur in a matter of hours.

Larvesta are frailer than volcarona. They are prone to suffering from a number of illnesses, most notably hypothermia. Larvesta can become entirely inactive when their body temperature dips too low. They may refuse to eat or start lighting everything they can on fire. Both should be treated as cause for concern and the pokémon should be taken to a qualified veterinarian as soon as possible.

Evolution

Larvesta spin a cocoon when they are almost six years old. This is the only time in their life that larvesta are likely to to produce silk. Their silk is not flammable but the oils secreted onto it are capable of burning for some time. As soon as the cocoon is formed around the larvesta, the oils are set on fire. The larvesta may stay in the cocoon for up to three months before emerging as a small volcarona. The moth will put on weight over the next decade until it grows to full size. Researchers are still unsure exactly what occurs inside of the cocoon as most cameras are rendered useless by the silk, fire, or shifting elemental energies inside the cocoon. For the first ten weeks the cocoon will not need to be shielded. Lead shields should be set up around it after this point. A sensor should be installed within the shielding to detect the volcarona’s emergence. Even without shielding the radiation is still not powerful enough to cause acute poisoning, although prolonged exposure could result in problems over the long term.

Battle

There is a reason trainers go through all of the risks involved in keeping a volcarona. They are indisputably one of the ten strongest species that are not unique. Over a fifth of professional trainers ranked them as the strongest non-unique species currently in use in the most recent Battler survey. Volcarona can instantly flood an arena in light, fire, and radiation. Every cubic foot of a standard size battleground will be at least 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit within thirty seconds of the flare beginning. All oxygen will be burned up within two minutes, at which point the flames will extinguish. The heat will remain. Around volcarona temperatures can rise to 5,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Even dragons struggle to survive these conditions for long. Volcarona are also surprisingly fast and can avoid telegraphed attacks. Anything that survives the flare can be brought down by bug, psychic, or grass coverage attacks.

Most trainers agree that volcarona are not the strongest pokémon available. This is because, flaring aside, they would only be as strong as a mid-tier dragon. Their max speed is only around forty miles per hour and most of their non-flare attacks are of middling power by the standards of the highest professional leagues. Volcarona are fairly durable and can patch any injuries up with roost, but they lack proper armor. Anything that can survive the flare has a decent chance of taking a volcarona down.

What, then, can survive the flare? The answer is powerful inorganic pokémon. Many top-tier mineral pokémon such as rhyperior, tyranitar, and steelix can survive the flare and retaliate with strong rock-type attacks. Phantom pokémon often do not care about the heat or radiation, although the light can present a problem. Chandelure in particular can take everything volcarona can dish out and become stronger for it. Dragapult are not particularly averse to light and can outpace and finish off a volcarona quite easily. Other ghosts can at least use tricks like disable, perish song, and destiny bond to stop the flare or take the volcarona out with them, respectively. In terms of organic pokémon, Asian ninetales can tolerate the flames and radiation and use their vast arsenal of tricks to try and shut down their opponent. They simply must do so before the oxygen runs out. Other strong fire-types such as arcanine and charizard can hope to blitz the volcarona. Extremely powerful dragons can keep their distance from their opponent and rain down draco meteors or other ranged attacks. A handful of pokémon such as castform and altaria can cancel out the flaring entirely by negating the elemental energy on the field. The former are not competitively viable, but a handful of dragon trainers keep an altaria on standby for when they must fight a volcarona trainer. Abnormally powerful true psychics can also withstand the flare long enough to strike the volcarona with a powerful mental attack. They will, in turn, probably be taken out by bug buzz or the flare.

The problem with all of these strategies is that they require keeping the counter out of the fight until the volcarona is sent out. Unless the volcarona is sent out against them they will probably only be able to revenge kill it, meaning that they will still lose a pokémon of the volcarona trainer’s choice. Volcarona also entirely negate the vast majority of pokémon. Other top threats such as metagross, tyranitar, and hydreigon can at least be fought by most pokémon and gradually worn down.

Any trainer using a volcarona on the island challenge does not need this guidebook’s advice. Most opponents will simply surrender before the flaring even begins, or even before the battle occurs at all.

Larvesta are far more competent than the average larva stage insect pokémon. They are larger than fully evolved bug-types like vikavolt and ledian. Larvesta, while not as physically powerful as pokémon like armaldo, heracross, and scyther, can still hold their own against most young pokémon or weaker fully evolved pokémon. They fight through a combination of full body tackles, blasts of fire from the horns, and utility moves such as will-o-wisp and roost. This can carry them through the second or even the third island, but their strength will plateau unless they can evolve. The other problem with larvesta is that they are extremely reluctant battlers. Most specimens will become resentful if forced to fight on a regular basis, regardless of if they are good at it. Their mother, if present, may intervene to prevent her child from having to battle. Of course, any trainer with a volcarona will hardly need to use the larvesta in battle. The difference in fighting styles between larvesta and volcarona also means there is relatively little reason to frequently use a larvesta in battle.

Acquisition

Alola’s sole volcarona lives in the old lava tunnels of Mauna Wela located beneath Alolan Rainforests National Preserve. There are entrances to the tunnels at several points in the preserve. Do not enter the tunnels. None of the other pokémon living there are only found in them. In addition to being dark, rugged, and largely unmarked, the tunnels also house a mother who is extremely protective of her child. If you must go out of your way to view the volcarona, it is best to do so through binoculars while she feeds during the day. Stay at least 1000 feet away from the moth at all times. She is no less dangerous than a salamence or garchomp and easier to provoke if her child is with her. If, for whatever reason, the larvesta is not present it may be safe to approach. Immediately retreat if any aggression is shown, no matter how much distance is already between you.

At least two trainers have attempted to coax the volcarona onto their team. One survived. She was respectful the entire time, had a psychic-type to translate, and offered a pile of cinnamon tree leaves. She made her pitch while the volcarona ate the leaves and retreated once the moth rejected her offer. The known casualty attempted an ambush with a master ball. He successfully captured her, only to be killed the moment she was released. The ball was later recovered. It is currently in the possession of the Alolan Pokémon League. As such capture is impossible without the express permission of both the volcarona and the League. Owning her would require a Class V license and a hefty insurance policy.

Sometimes volcarona are willing to part with an older larvesta if an experienced, gentle, and competent trainer comes around. Her current larvesta is three years old as of 2018, which makes it possible she would want to part with them. The larvesta’s sex is unknown. Capture is permitted with a Class V license. It is highly discouraged. If it must be attempted, show respect at all times and keep an abra on hand.

Breeding

Volcarona are solitary pokémon. Females will usually wait a few years after their last larvesta evolved to seek out a mate. In practice mating usually occurs at the end of a stay in Chernobyl or the Bikini Atoll, the species’ neutral ground. The female will fly home, chase out any intruders that have moved in during that time, and lay a single egg in her den. She will not leave the den for any reason over the next forty days. The larvesta weighs less than one pound when it hatches. They will live inside of their mother’s fur for the next three months, at which point they will become too big. The larvesta will still almost always be on their mother’s back when outside the den.

After three years the mother will gradually give the larvesta more independence. They will forage for themselves while their mother watches from nearby. Some larvesta will pick fights with weak pokémon that live nearby. Their mother will usually not intervene unless they fear their child could be killed. Most opponents have the grace to take a few blows and retreat without fighting back. Seriously injuring the larvesta would spell their own doom.

Captive breeding is difficult to impossible to force. Volcarona that meet each other at a communal site or after a battle may mate. They probably will not. There is no real way to predict the outcome of the encounter. Repeatedly exposing a female to many males may lead her to believe her territory is disputed and discourage her from mating until she feels more secure. Volcarona have been crossbred once with aurumoth, their closest living relative. Wild specimens have not been known to crossbreed with any other species.

The basics of larvesta husbandry were discussed in a previous section.

Relatives

Volcarona are capable of migrating over three thousand miles at a time. This gives them a global range with a sparse distribution. They interbreed freely across vast geographical distances and subspeciation is not necessary.

Volcarona’s last common ancestor with ordinary moths went extinct over forty million years ago. They share a family, Claratinea, with the endangered aurumoth. Volcarona are the only living members of the genus Rextinea. Another species, R. labebantur, is known only from a single mummified specimen. R. labebantur were far larger than modern volcarona and had smaller wings. They may have been entirely incapable of flight. The mummified specimen lacked a reactor organ. Insects are not often well preserved in the fossil record due to their lack of hard bones. For now there are far more questions than answers surrounding R. labebantur.

 

[Persephone]

Bewear (Stufful)
Amplexator cingitur

Overview

In theory, bears are not particularly difficult pokémon to care for. Their biology and behaviors are close enough to standard cats and dogs that most trainers can understand the basics of their husbandry. The problems with all three of Alola’s bears lie in the details. Snorlax require an immense amount of food. Pangoro need a specialized diet and are often aggressive. Bewear kill more humans worldwide than every other bear species combined.

This is an odd fact on the surface. Bewear are insectivores that supplement their diet with fruit and vegetables. The largest prey they hunt in the wild are caterpie.

The problem is a combination of three factors: agility, anxiety, and cuteness. Bewear are not fast or nimble pokémon. They can run at twelve miles per hour for up to one minute, at which point they must pause and cool down. They can swim and climb but are not particularly fast in trees or the water. This prevents them from running from predators. As a result bewear stand their ground against perceived threats and will attack after only minimal posturing. They are anxious creatures and often view humans as predators.

Bewear’s posturing consists of standing on their hind legs, puffing up their fur, flailing their arms, and squeaking. Humans often find this cute and seldom realize they should be running as fast as possible in the opposite direction. This provokes the bewear into attacking, at which point their sickle-like claws and enormous strength can maim or kill a human in a single hit. Bewear’s fluffy white or pink coat and innocuous diet makes them popular with collectors. Snorlax and pangoro at least tend to end up with trainers who know how to handle apex predators. Bewear trainers are often unused to large, aggressive pokémon.

Bewear are not actually exceptionally difficult to care for. They can subsist off of standard cat or dog chow with fruit and vegetables supplementing the core diet. They have no unusual health or environmental requirements. The only real problem with their care is their tendency to lash out in frightening situations. Trainers who are well attuned to carnivore behavior and willing to pay attention to their pokémon’s emotional and psychological needs may find them a rewarding companion and the easiest by far of Alola’s bear species. Trainers unwilling to understand and accept their pokémon’s boundaries are likely to end up as another cautionary tale.

Physiology

Both stages are classified as dual normal- and fighting-types. The ruling is not disputed.

Stufful are small bear pokémon well known for their long, fluffy pink and white coats on their head, back, and tail. Only the legs are a different color, usually black or brown. Due to their tropical climate stufful and bewear lack an undercoat. On occasion the pink will be replaced by tan, black, or red fur. A few specimens have even had an entirely white coat. Stufful’s bodies are covered in ring-like patterns of alternating colors. These are designed to create the illusion of eyes at a glance and to signal their presence to conspecifics and other species. Stufful do not have many natural predators and do not need to ambush their prey. The distinctive coat lets other species know to stay away or risk their wrath. Even a stufful is capable of shattering bones with an errant swing.

Stufful and bewear both lack upper incisors. They have prominent canines but small molars compared to other bears. Their lips are large and flexible. This configuration allows them to form their snout into a sealed tube that they can inhale insects out of a tree or termite mound with. The molars are for self defense. Bewear chew less in the wild than other bears so large molars are unnecessary. Both stages get into trees or termite mounds with their large, sickle-like claws and strong arms. They sense insects with their noses. A bewear can smell termites that are five feet beneath the ground. Bewear’s large, floppy ears are useful for heat regulation and give them very sensitive hearing.

Bewear are larger than stufful. Their stripes fade into a pink head, tail, and back and a darker colored abdomen and legs. Bewear possess enormous strength and are easily capable of leveling large trees. It is theorized that bewear may have been brought to Alola by the Polynesians for their ability to easily knock down ideal canoe trees and ward off pests.

Bewear and stufful have flexible knees on their hind legs, giving them a great deal of maneuverability when climbing trees. In exchange they have a slow, shambling walk. Their hind limbs are also shorter and less powerful than the forelimbs.

Male are usually around seventy inches tall when standing upright. Females rarely exceed sixty-three inches. Males typically weigh between 240 and 320 pounds. Female typically weigh between 160 and 220 pounds. Wild lifespans are around twenty-five years. Captive specimens routinely live thirty-five years. One specimen lived to be forty-eight years old.

Behavior

Bewear typically live in pairs. These can be siblings, parent and child, mates, or just two friendly specimens. During the day adults in the pair will separate out to forage. Bewear’s main prey are termites and ants. They will track termite mounds by scent, tear them open with their claws, and suck out the termites they find. Bewear can also use their noses to find trees overrun by insects, break in with their claw, and feed on the insects like a grafaiai. Bewear can do this while climbing in a tree. While in trees bewear may also forage for fruits and vegetables. Their diet can vary seasonally based on available vegetation. Bewear will eat carrion they stumble upon but it is not a staple of their diet. Large carcasses can make bewear nervous as they signal the presence of large carnivores.

Bewear carry stufful on their back while foraging. If there are twins they will compete among themselves to determine who gets to sit closer to the neck, which is considered to be the more desirable position. As they grow older the stufful will become more independent and begin to forage beside and eventually just within barking distance of their mother. Stufful are more arboreal than bewear but otherwise forage in similar ways.

Bewear with stufful will usually try to retreat rather than fight. This makes them less dangerous than bewear without children, who will almost always stand their ground for a few seconds before charging. Aggressive noises include growls, hisses, whistles, whines, barks, and squeaks. Friendly noises include hums and chuffs.

Bewear typically sleep in crude dens. These can be caves, hollow logs, abandoned buildings, or anything that provides shelter from wind and rain.

Husbandry

Bewear need not have an insectivorous diet in captivity. Some trainers use insect mixes, but this is expensive and unnecessary. Standard carnivore biscuits or cat or dog chow work as the core of a diet with fruit and vegetables making up the final quarter. Meat, live insects, honey, and candy are desirable treats. These should be used as training rewards and factored into the diet rather than being provided in addition to it.

Bewear are prone to obesity in captivity, which can contribute to arthritis later in life. Monitor the bewear’s body over time. Ideally the ribs should be felt with low or moderate pressure but should not be felt just by running a hand along the skin. Pregnant or nursing bewear will put on weight. This is normal. Adjust the amount of food provided to keep the bewear at a healthy weight. The same principles apply to stufful as well, except they should be getting at minimum 5% of their body weight in food each day to facilitate growth.

Bewear should have frequent access to clean drinking water. The containers should ideally not be open top and require suction to drink from. Bewear are used to creating these forces as that is how they feed in the wild. Open containers will be played with. Bewear love swimming in and playing with water, especially on hot days. They prefer shallow water they can walk in to deep water they must swim in. Bewear can swim but they far prefer wading.

Bewear and stufful also love to climb. They should be given access to trees, playground equipment, or other climbing structures on a regular basis. Stufful should have a thick layer of bedding beneath the climbing area in case they fall.

In general bewear are intelligent pokémon that love all kinds of enrichments. Soap bubble kits are a particular favorite. Lights that change colors or patterns are also well loved. Bewear enrichment items must be sturdy as they will be subjected to the pokémon’s claws and strength. Even the most durable pieces of equipment will still need to be regularly replaced.

Bewear can grow to be fond of their trainers and teammates. In the wild they often bond socially through hugs. While these can be uncomfortably tight they are rarely actually lethal to humans. Bewear never hug in the wild with the intent to kill and a max strength hug could easily break a spine. They know how to hold back, although it can still be painful as the pokémon works out how much force they can exert without causing discomfort. Bewear also express affection through licking. They enjoy being brushed and petted.

Bewear are still anxious and dangerous pokémon. They do not like crowds or strangers and can become aggressive in novel situations. Always keep an eye on the bewear when around unfamiliar people. If they start making distressed sounds or rearing onto their hind legs withdraw them immediately and send them out later in a safe, calming environment. Do not push their limits. So-called exposure therapy is likely to end in tragedy. Stufful raised around humans from birth are far more likely to tolerate them, but noisy crowds can still be upsetting and trigger a panicked reaction.

Bewear are fine with almost all teammates save very large predators, deer, and elephants. Bewear are preyed upon by Incineroar, pyroar, and dragons in the wild and will lash out at them with lethal force. Donphan and copperajah have an instinctual dislike of bewear. It is unclear why as bewear would not threaten them or their offspring. Bewear are also scared of deer as incineroar will sometimes mimic their noises while hunting to draw in prey. There are no deer in Alola. This instinct is an evolutionary holdover from their native range in South and Southeast Asia.

Prey species may dislike sharing a team with bewear as they smell like and visually resemble large carnivores. Being introduced to the species as a stufful is likely to ease tensions.

Illness

Roundworm and ringworm are some of the most common problems for otherwise healthy specimens in captivity. Ringworm can be difficult to detect beneath the fur. Hair loss, apparent itchiness, and discomfort with no clear cause are potential signs of an illness. If the bewear allows it a full body check for ringworm or abrasions should be administered. If it is not allowed the help of a veterinarian may be required. Anorexia, odd stool texture, bloody stool, and nausea may be signs of roundworm. Bewear can be treated with medications intended for canine or feline pokémon.

Alolan stufful and bewear are required to have a rabies vaccination. No other vaccinations are required or recommended at this time.

Hypothermia and hyperthermia are common ailments in captivity. Hypothermia is more common in temperate climates. Despite their thick fur, bewear do not have an undercoat and are vulnerable to hypothermia when temperatures dip below fifty degrees Fahrenheit. In Alola bewear can easily overheat without frequent exposure to shade, water, or air conditioning. Both conditions are easily avoidable with a little forethought and care.

Geriatric specimens are prone to blindness and arthritis. Blindness is usually not a major concern. Even curable cataracts are rarely removed as the discomfort of removal would outweigh the benefits of sight. Bewear navigate their world by sound and smell. They need their children to have prominent, brightly colored stripes just to recognize them by appearance alone. Arthritis is more concerning. It can lead to a significant decrease in mobility over time, contributing to obesity. Arthritic specimens are likely to have already been obese. Thankfully bewear will agree to take pills that help ease their pain and can restore some movement.

Evolution

Stufful gradually evolve into bewear around their second birthday. The formal demarcation is the subsidence of the stripes into a solid coat. In the wild stufful will usually stay with their mother until she finds a new mate, at which point they will disperse with their siblings or to find their own mate. Combat may slightly accelerate the timeline for evolution but this is disputed. In the wild stufful and bewear have little reason to fight. If there is a combat premium for evolution times it is only two to three months at most.

Battle

Bewear are strong enough to hold their own in most competitive matches. They still see relatively little use. Their fur is a decent enough defense in short, casual battles but they lack the armor required to be a proper tank. They are naturally strong and can even be taught proper fighting technique by a martial artist or another fighting-type, but machamp will always be stronger and have better form. They really only see use among trainers who raised one on their journey and on the supporting roster of a fighting-type specialist.

Bewear are an effective wallbreaker that can tank the hits of defensive pokémon and break their armor with overwhelming strength. Drain punch can be used to heal off damage sustained from stronger tanks such as rock- and steel-types. As slow melee combatants they can struggle against faster ranged threats. Fire-types can also ignite their fur and end the fight quickly. Bewear are reluctant to back down and it is difficult to break their fighting spirit, but even they have their limits.

On the island challenge they can be used to land strong hits against a slower totem before they can set up. Against faster totems they can either take down slower supporting pokémon or finish the fight after a teammate inflicts paralysis or alters the terrain.

Stufful are often reluctant to seriously train. Their preferred battle style is simply flailing their arms around and hoping they break the limbs of their attacker. Unlike bewear they can easily be scared into backing down, running away, or incessantly crying for help. They can accidentally defeat many physical attackers in the early stages of the island challenge but will struggle to keep up as more and more opponents gain ranged options or setup moves.

Acquisition

Bewear can be found in the forest and savannah areas of Akala and Poni. They were formerly found on Melemele and Ula’Ula. They were culled on both islands as a threat to the burgeoning populations there, although the abandonment of Po Town has led to a campaign to reintroduce them in northwest Ula’Ula.

Bewear territories are usually marked by signage along the trails. They are incredibly dangerous pokémon to encounter that tend to give no more warning than tearing up on their hind legs, waving their arms, and squealing. If this occurs, run as fast as possible in the opposite direction. Drop burdensome packs if needed. Extremely powerful trainers can attempt to fight. No one else should take the risk.

Bewear capture is possible but dangerous. It usually involves standing your ground and wearing them down in a proper fight. After the capture they should be taken to a secluded area and offered a great deal of desirable food such as fruit, honey, and vegetables. Over time the trainer can make themselves known through scented objects, approach through a barrier, and eventually direct contact. Carnivorous teammates should be introduced in a similar way. Bewear are relatively intelligent and social pokémon and are usually willing to exchange freedom for luxury and security. Females separated from their young by capture will kill their captor as soon as possible, but females with stufful will rarely fight a trainer in the first place.

Stufful capture is legal. In practice it requires the mother’s permission. This can be accomplished with a translator and a proving battle against the bewear, as well as a bribe of fruit and honey to show the trainer can care for the stufful. Capture of stufful and bewear requires a Class IV license.

Both stages are routinely available for purchase from breeders, or for adoption from shelters once an initial purchaser realizes they are ill-suited to keep a bear. Many breeders specialize in bewear and stufful. Their pokémon are often well adjusted to humans and less dangerous than a wild specimen. Breeders usually sell older stufful or newly evolved bewear. Both stages can be purchased or adopted with a Class III license.

Breeding

Bewear age in late spring and early summer, usually between June and August. The fetus has delayed implantation and true pregnancy does not begin until October or November. Birth occurs in December or January. Females will seek out a cubbing den more secluded than their usual one, ideally a cave or a large burrow that either has been abandoned or the bewear can make abandoned. Females are known to procrastinate and can pick a den only hours before giving birth. Bewear usually give birth to one or two offspring, but litters of three have been documented.

It is difficult to determine whether a bewear is truly pregnant in the wild or captivity. Like most bears, bewear experience pseudopregnancies where they put on weight, experience hormonal fluctuations, and even begin to seek out a cubbing den without actually carrying a viable fetus. Pseudopregnancies usually end a few weeks before birth would occur. Until then it is very difficult to tell whether the observed pregnancy is real or not. The only reliable way to tell the difference is an ultrasound, and pregnant bewear can be feisty and may not agree to one. Sedating them to perform an ultrasound risks accidentally terminating the pregnancy.

Bewear will not leave the cubbing den at all for two weeks. During this time there should be cameras to monitor the den and ensure the stufful are being nursed. The male should be separated, even if he usually gets along with his mate, to prevent confrontations that could endanger the newborns. The den’s bedding should be deep enough that the bewear does not need to make contact with the floor. Temperatures should be maintained around seventy degrees Fahrenheit. Humidity should be kept low to prevent the growth of mold in the bedding. When the pokémon begin to leave the main chamber the bedding should be swapped out.

A secondary chamber in the den should contain a play area for the stufful with very shallow water bins and a climbing structure with plenty of bedding underneath it. There should also be more conventional toys such as rubber balls that are too big to pose a choking hazard. Stufful are curious and energetic.

Around the two week mark the mother will begin to leave the den to obtain food. Food should be left either in the secondary chamber or just outside the dens. Bewear are competent mothers and there is no need to separate them from their children unless they are refusing to nurse or illness is readily apparent. In these cases she will usually put the stufful outside the den for a human to take care of. Neonatal illness is rare and bewear are usually dutiful mothers. Any intervention with the cubs in the first month raises the risk of the mother abandoning them. Hand-rearing stufful is possible but best avoided as it impairs socialization.

Bewear have been crossed with every bear species in captivity. Crossbreeding in the wild is extremely rare.

Relatives

How bewear ended up on so many Pacific islands is unclear. Human intervention is the leading theory, but why would the wayfarers have brought large bears with them? Bewear fur is useful but there are other sources of rope in the Pacific. There were also other ways of toppling trees than having a group of bears squeeze them to death. One theory holds that bewear were either pets or status symbols. Stufful could have been a popular pet in ancient times for the same reasons people are drawn to them now. Stufful are not so large that they would be impossible to transport. Perhaps they were left behind on an island once they evolved, explaining how bewear ended up on so many islands.

Bewear claws were also a coveted weapon for the wayfarers as they were useful for crafts and combat alike. Female bewear have also been known to eat honey and jackfruit and regurgitate a mixture known as bear’s cake, a fluffy golden brown material that is a delicacy in parts of Asia and the Pacific. Being able to take a female bewear and her cubs on a voyage would have been both a form of conspicuous consumption and a way for a chief to maintain their authority if challenged in combat.

Bewear can survive on smaller islands by acting as generalists capable of finding small prey and killing them in their sleep, scaring off birds to eat their eggs, and breaking open coconuts to expose the flesh and milk. They are forty to thirty percent smaller than mainland bewear, depending on the island they live on.

The mainland bewear, A. amplexator, are found in the forested regions of south and Southeast Asia, including Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and parts of the Philippines. Aside from being larger than island bewear there are few substantial differences between the species. Their closest living relatives, island bewear aside, are snorlax and ursaring.

Bewear have been introduced to portions of Europe and South America. This usually occurs after a collector or pet trader imports bewear and specimens are released after their trainer proves incapable of handling them. These introduced populations are usually rounded up and brought back into captivity within a decade due to the danger bewear can pose. Their new owners are likely to make the same mistakes as the previous ones and the cycle will repeat. Outright culling is rare due to the species photogenic nature prompting public outcry while collectors work behind the scenes to secure the rights to some of the wild bewear.

 

[Persephone]

Commissioned by Crashmoth.


Greninja
Longalingua yīnyǐng

Overview

Greninja have long been known not only for their grace and power, but for their association with the legendary Chinese secret police. The yīnyǐng qīngwā were a paramilitary group that in various dynasties served as palace guards, imperial spies, mercenaries, customs agents, and assassins in and around China. At their height in the Song Dynasty the yīnyǐng qīngwā were said to have agents in every port and major city from the Red Sea to Japan and control the local and national politics of most of Asia. Even after their formal dissolution in the early 20th Century, the yīnyǐng qīngwā has lived on in the popular imagination, appearing in many movies set in Asia and rumored by conspiracy theorists to be behind every major event on the continent.

Actual greninja are known for their stealth and precision, which is why they were the pokémon of choice in the early years of the yīnyǐng qīngwā. They eventually fell out of favor with the more secretive sides of the organization as the species had become too closely linked to them, making them a liability on secretive missions. Greninja retained some popularity as a partner for members in less secretive positions such as customs inspectors and bankers.

Greninja are shy and somewhat more difficult to care for than the average starter pokémon. They will never be terribly social, but this should not be mistaken for a lack of loyalty. Greninja are devoted partners that will keep their trainer safe at great personal cost if the need arises. They are a good alternative starter for trainers looking to train amphibians or dark-types who don’t mind having teammates that won’t cuddle with them.

Physiology

Froakie and frogadier are classified as pure water-types. Greninja is classified as a dual water- and dark-type. Changes in typing upon evolution are disfavored, especially if there is not a clear physiological change to justify it such as the development of wings or venom sacs. The current typing is still well supported in the scientific community. Greninja hunt approach combat very differently from their pre-evolutions. They are masters at blending into shadows and often use dark-type attacks and underhanded tricks in combat. Froakie and frogadier are more straightforward hunters with more vulnerability to telepathy and difficulty melting into shadow.

Froakie are tree frogs with light blue skin. This gives them a superficial resemblance to croagunk and mudkip, species that predators are much less likely to attack due to their venom and overprotective parents, respectively. A pair of large brow-ridge horns adorn the head. These contain froakie’s extremely large eyes. The large eyes help them see in dim light, intimidate p. Froakie are known to coat their back and neck in a layer of bubbles with very high surface tension. These make blunt force attacks on the pokémon ineffective, although they are still vulnerable to piercing blows from teeth and claws.

Frogadier are counter-shaded with a dark blue back and a light blue stomach. Their eyes appear proportionally smaller than froakie’s but this is not the case. The horns still have some yellow coloring to make the eyes appear larger than they actually are, but frogadier’s eyes have grown to adapt to nocturnal life. The horns now slant backwards to protect the neck. Frogadier have developed long, webbed feet. These can be extended so that the digits are splayed 220 degrees apart to form fans. Frogadier and greninja can glide between trees using these fans.

Greninja have almost entirely dark blue or black skin save a small patch of yellow on the abdomen for counter-shading. Greninja’s horns are composed of four interlocking bone plates to make it difficult for predators to fit their jaws around greninja and to provide some defense against slashes towards the head or neck. The tongue has grown to be nearly half their body length. It is sticky and prehensile, allowing greninja to catch insects out of the air with a single tongue swipe or to grab onto or trip opponents. It can also be used to strike eyes and induce temporary or permanent blindness. The tongue can also be used as an addition limb when climbing or gliding. When not in use greninja often wrap the tongue around their neck as the mouth and throat are only barely large enough to enclose it. The tongue prevents greninja from having anything resembling incisors, forcing them to swallow food whole.

Greninja live for an average of six years in the wild. Captive specimens can live for up to twenty-eight years. Female greninja typically grow to be five to six feet long. Males are usually between four and five feet long. Females can weigh up to 140 pounds.

Behavior

Wild greninja are solitary pokémon that prefer to live high in the treetops of moist tropical forests. They are carnivores known to hunt small bird, insect, and mammal pokémon. This is accomplished primarily through throwing water shurikens at pokémon above them on a tree, then catching the prey as they fall. Greninja prefer not to go near the forest floor where larger predators live. If they fail to catch their prey they will leave it for the scavengers below. Greninja’s aversion to the forest floor is also why they glide between trees whenever possible.

Frogadier practice similar tactics by coating a hard object, such as a nut or rock, with a bubble. Their control of the bubble lets them throw the object at speeds of up to sixty miles per hour and accurately strike foes 100 feet away. As with greninja they prefer to hunt things higher on the tree than them to avoid trips to the forest floor.

Froakie are far less arboreal than greninja and frogadier. They primarily live in and around shallow ponds on the forest floor. Their preferred hunting method is creating a stream of bubbles to trap insects, at which point their hydrokinesis can be used to recall the bubbles and eat anything captured. Froakie also use bubble armor for defense. When threatened they depend upon their armor to protect them long enough to get to the water. Froakie have few defenses against aquatic carnivores and prefer to stay on land whenever possible. Unlike their evolutions, froakie are diurnal and prefer to hunt during the warmest parts of the day when predators are often resting. Outside of these hours they hide in thickets of dense foliage.

All three stages are solitary pokémon. They have little need to coordinate hunting. Large groups simply make it harder to find good hiding spots. Loyalty arose through extensive captive breeding in China. Truly wild greninja in Southeast Asia are not particularly easy to bond with. Feral populations around the globe are usually descended from the domesticated greninja and adapt well to being around humans. Wild froakie may even seek them out for protection.

Husbandry

No stage of the evolutionary line is particularly fond of water. They are still amphibians with relatively thin skin that need to stay moist to survive. In their native range this is a non-issue because of the humid air and frequent rain. Greninja only go to the surface to swim and rehydrate during the driest times of the year. Thankfully, Alola has a similar climate. Greninja and froagdier do not require pools, although they should still be given access to twice-daily misting through a machine or a simple spray bottle. Froakie should be given regular access to a shallow dechlorinated swimming pool with places to hide. They are extremely reluctant to use community pools at Pokémon Centers. Center staff will usually be willing to fill a small children’s pool with dechlorinated water for them.

Froakie are quite capable of hunting for themselves when insects are abundant. This is a form of enrichment, lowers food costs, and makes property owners and other travelers happy. Froakie are even used as a form of pest control in some parts of the world. Wild froagadier and greninja hunt bug-types, birds, and small arboreal mammals and reptiles. In captivity greninja are happy to accept insect mixes. They enjoy puzzles and novel containers that require manipulation with their tongue to obtain food. Frogadier will accept insect mixes but prefer larger chunks of food, such as whole or partial carterpie carcasses or artificial or real meat dishes. Frogadier’s tongue is not as useful as greninja’s for scooping up large quantities of insects at once.

All three stages are reclusive. Froakie are usually fine being stored in habitat or stasis balls for hours at a time as they provide protection. As long as dietary, exercise, and enrichment needs are met the pokémon will not object to being stored in their ball. They even see them as desirable during periods of travel. Frogadier and greninja are often more skeptical of their balls but will still accept habitat balls during the day.

Greninja are unlikely to be social with teammates. This can pose a challenge as they are reasonably intelligent nocturnal pokémon unlikely to socialize. As a result they may require additional enrichment such as frequent rotation of toys or changes in environment. At night they prefer to have a sheltered area to use as a base for exploration. Climbing structures and food puzzles are their preferred enrichment and can keep them busy for most of the night. Television or computer programs playing footage of prey are often a good way to distract predators while their trainer sleeps. Frogadier and greninja are likely to damage them with rocks or water shurikens, respectively. Devices playing ambient rainforest sounds are less likely to be destroyed. If screen-based enrichment must be used it should be placed on the floor. Frogadier and greninja will pay attention to prey beneath them but are unlikely to strike it.

All three stages can grow to tolerate most pokémon. After initial introductions they are unlikely to attack teammates either. Make sure to closely monitor them for the first few hours after meeting a teammate, especially a potential prey species, to make sure nothing occurs. After this they can be left unsupervised.

Greninja do not require much in the way of direct socialization. However, they will bond with their trainer much faster with regular time outside the pokéball. Like cats they will often linger on the periphery of a space. They do not want to be touched. Sometimes they might appreciate coordinated training and play through target practice games where a frisbee or other object is launched and the pokémon must try to destroy it with a shuriken or rock. Froakie can try to capture gently tossed objects in a bubble. Frogadier and greninja will likely destroy whatever they hit so less valuable projectiles like rocks are preferable to expensive toys. The line are often much more fond of their trainer than they appear to be. A lack of conventional affection should not be mistaken for a lack of loyalty.

Illness

In temperate and subtropical areas hypothermia and dehydration are the line’s main health problems. as long as the skin remains warm and moist this should not be an issue in Alola. Greninja, like many amphibians, breathe through their skin. The oils on human skin can interfere with their breathing or cause irritation. Greninja should only be touched with amphibian safe gloves. Ideally, they should not be touched at all. The line do not need or want physical affection.

With proper environments and care funguses are their most common ailment. These can usually be readily seen as a patch of discoloration on the skin. The pokémon should be taken to a veterinarian immediately to ensure the proper regimen of medication is taken before it spreads. Greninja are not particularly common in Alola but most Pokémon Center veterinarians know the basics of amphibian skin care.

Greninja sometimes downplay injuries. After any battle in which they sustain damage they should be taken to a Pokémon Center or given a thorough health exam to look for injuries. Greninja are relatively fragile and care should be taken to insure that injuries sustained heal properly. They should not be battled with until all wounds are fully healed and a qualified veterinarian has given the go-ahead.

Evolution

Froakie gradually evolve into frogadier over the course of four to seven months. The formal demarcation line is the first gliding flight. Frogadier flash evolve into greninja after a certain number and caliber of hunts have been achieved. In the wild this occurs around the second birthday. In captivity it can occur less than four months after their first evolution.

Rumors have long swirled around Asia about a permanent or mega evolution for greninja. These stem from The Tales of Hui Nícháng, a Fourteenth Century novel about the ambiguously historical founder of the yīnyǐng qīngwā. Hui Nícháng, according to the story, was raised by greninja in the forests of Vietnam. At one point she takes in an injured froakie and raises it as her partner. Their bond grew to the point where yīnyǐng qīngwā became her brother in all things. Towards the end of the story she merges her soul with her partner, causing him to become engulfed in a flash of light and emerge with an uncanny resemblance to his trainer’s usual attire. Attempts to replicate this over the centuries have failed. There are anecdotes of legendary warriors, shadowy assassins, or isolated monks gaining this power, but none of these records can be reliably verified. Often these rumors only began to circulate decades or even centuries after the subject’s death. The general secrecy of the yīnyǐng qīngwā means that it is not impossible they knew how to mega evolve a greninja. If the information ever existed it has not resurfaced in the century since the organization’s collapse.

Battle

Greninja are agile pokémon with powerful water shurikens. The attack’s power derives from the sharpness of the water’s edge and the speed of rotation rather than the power of the throw. These shurikens are sharp enough to split and tear through muscles and tendons until they hit bone. Greninja can accurately throw them at targets moving up to eighty miles per hour at a distance of fifty feet or hit a stationary target five hundred feet away. A well-placed water shuriken can take down many frailer pokémon in a single strike.

Greninja see usage at even the highest echelons of competitive play, but there are real drawbacks that keep them from being more common. Water shurikens are sharp and can cut most materials, but they tend to collapse shortly after making contact with their target. This means they tend to produce cuts no more than three or four inches deep. This can be devastating to bipeds and smaller pokémon. A steelix might not notice, if the shuriken can pierce the hide at all. The attack’s dependence on sharpness means that a well-timed protect can block it without wasting much energy. It is also unlikely to seriously disrupt ghosts. As a water- and dark-type greninja can compensate for bad matchups against ghost and mineral pokémon with normal attacks, but without their shurikens greninja have middling power for a competitive pokémon. The sheer versatility of attacks they can learn is useful but can only go so far against the average tank or wall. Type coverage primarily helps with pokémon of moderate bulk. These pokémon can usually be knocked out of a fight by a water shuriken, anyways.

Greninja have no armor save for their tongue. Their bones are frailer by competitive standards and, like most amphibians, even surface damage can result in serious injuries. Substitute, double team, protect, shadow sneak, and spikes can keep greninja from getting hit. While their climbing and gliding speeds are impressive on flat terrain greninja can barely exceed twenty miles per hour. This leaves them unable to avoid many counter attacks without the use of a move. Any attack that lands will probably knock them out of commission. Even weaker homing attacks like shock wave or swift can sometimes do the trick. If the round goes on for longer than a minute, greninja will probably lose the war of attrition. In the wild they are nocturnal ambush predators that strike prey from a distance without being seen. This translates poorly to flat, open arenas where both sides know they are in a fight. The power of the shuriken gives them a niche for teams that need a way to deal with other speedsters but they are not powerful enough overall to be a competitive mainstay.

On the island challenge, where most foes are frailer and less experienced, greninja can thrive. They can inflict critical damage to many totems by striking their wings or joints, putting them on the backfoot for the rest of the fight. Many totem arenas also feature uneven elevation and ways for them to maneuver other than running on a flat surface. They may even be able to power through a hit or two. Trainers who want to start with greninja may consider going through the islands in an unorthodox order. Froakie and frogadier do well against Olivia and Hapu. Most of Hala’s final team members are unable to reliably hit greninja and are bipeds vulnerable to a shuriken to the achilles tendon. If Hapu or Olivia are fought last their bulky final teams will be able to handle shurikens. The sandstorms both kahunas are prone to setting up can irritate greninja’s skin.

Froakie and frogadier have crude armor in their bubbles. This will not save them from piercing attacks or any really powerful hits, but in the early and middle stages of the island challenge it sets them apart from their almost entirely unarmored foes. The bubbles are excellent at blunting the weaker tackles or punches that many young pokémon rely upon to deal damage. They will gradually become less useful until they evolve and gain access to water shurikens. Both stages are relatively speedy and are best used by keeping a distance and landing projectiles when possible.

Acquisition

As arboreal amphibians greninja thrive in spaces that are warm and humid with available insects and plenty of vertical space. They have become common in Exeggutor Island, Akala Rainforests National Preserve, and portions of Poni Meadow and Poni Wilds. The latter has cliff walls, tropical foliage, and an abundance of insects, allowing greninja to live on the cliff surfaces or in the tall grass. Froakie and frogadier can be captured with a Class I license. Greninja can be captured with a Class II. All three stages can be purchased or adopted with a Class I license as captive specimens are ordinarily docile. There is currently a near-total ban on imports in an effort to slow or stop population growth, but there are many breeders on Akala and Ula’Ula who breed froakie as alternative starters. A tame froakie can sell for as much as $1,200. Trainers who want to capture a froakie can find them in dense foliage around waterways, especially in tropical forest environments. Frogadier and greninja are difficult to capture due to their arboreal lifestyle.

Breeding

Greninja mate at the start of the wet season. Males croak and bellow to attract the attention of females. When one approaches they will begin a ritual of gliding between trees while performing acrobatic feats or sniping prey while in midair. The female may join in. If she stays long enough she will signal interest and land on a tree for mating to begin. After a twenty-day gestation period the female will lay a clutch of eggs on the underside of a leaf. Neither parent will have any further involvement with their offspring.

Captive breeding outside of the tropics requires cycling seasons from dry to wet with a gradual increase in humidity and temperature. The enclosure should have sufficient room to glide in. While greninja are perfectly comfortable living alone they will tolerate small mixed-sex groups year-round. Greninja are not defensive of their eggs. They can and should be removed to an incubation chamber to ensure they are not accidentally harmed. Captive greninja have shown some willingness to train froakie and frogadier, even if these behaviors are never seen in the wild. They do not care if their mentee is their own offspring or not.

Greninja can reliably crossbreed with toxicroak. More distant relatives can be mated with but the greninja are often reluctant due to the perceived lax of athleticism in their mate. The few documented cases have generally occurred when both frogs (or toads) are members of a competitive battling team and have a healthy respect for each other.

Relatives

Wild greninja (L. longalingua) live in Southeast Asia. Feral greninja have been introduced to Southern Europe, Brazil, the Everglades, Alola, the Congo, and, briefly, Madagascar. An eradication campaign on the island managed to wipe out the population in 1977 after they had caused the local prosimian population to decline. A similar campaign has been attempted twice on Akala to protect the endangered passimian. Both attempts succeeded at temporarily curtailing the population before it eventually rebounded. The DNR is currently focusing their efforts on eradicating the Poni populations as they are less well established and the lessons learned during the campaign can hopefully be applied on Akala and Ula’Ula.

Compared to their captive and feral relatives, truly wild greninja have much weaker shurikens and less control over the shadows. They do not bond well with humans and will typically hide as soon as they become aware of one nearby. Wild greninja are slightly smaller than their domesticated counterparts. They also need to retreat to water to rest and rehydrate during the day due to their thinner skin.