Goodra (Goomy, Sliggoo)
Limaxcataracta titanus
Overview
Goodra are the second-largest terrestrial mollusk, only behind their close relative L. ferrea. They lack a shell, the traditional defense of mollusks, and instead rely on a mix of slime, caustics, and raw size and strength to deter predators. It works. Very few predators will risk a confrontation with a larger sliggoo or goodra.
Between their lack of predators, self-fertilization, and fecundity, goodra can quickly come to dominate environments they are introduced to, outcompeting other decomposers and decimating their preferred foods. This makes them a serious threat as an invasive that has never quite been eliminated from Alola. Thankfully, they are limited to very humid areas and mostly avoid live prey in favor of detritus. This turns their presence from a cataclysm for all of Alola to one for the rainforests and rain shadows of major mountains. This still constitutes about half of Alola’s territory.
Goodra are perhaps the easiest of the strongest dragons to acquire and tame. They are extremely sociable creatures with a generalist diet. Unlike their more cunning relatives, goodra are not overburdened by intelligence. This can become the biggest problem with caring for goodra — they are very friendly, rather stupid, easily startled, and can flood their skin with deadly nematodes or flesh-dissolving caustics. They are unlikely to actively harm their trainer but may do so accidentally. Still, the power they possess has made them much sought after. Trainers must simply be mindful at all times when interacting with them.
Physiology
All three stages are classified as pure dragon-types. Some scientists have advocated for a water- or poison-typing to be added.
Goodra can only thrive in very humid environments as up to 85% of their body weight is made up of water. They are not primarily aquatic or even amphibious creatures. While some goodra are powerful hydrokinetics, mastery of a range of elemental attacks is common for dragons.
As for the poison-typing, goodra can generate powerful caustics and have deadly larval nematodes living in their mucous. With all that said, goodra do not rely on or even possess conventional venom. They are also reluctant to use their caustics offensively in battle and must be trained and coaxed to do so. For now this is the most plausible secondary typing, but not one likely to be adopted within the next five years.
Goomy are slugs with white, pink, purple, yellow, black, or red mucous. The color morphs have few differences from each other and are not considered to be separate subspecies. It appears to be akin to eye color in humans. Most specimens will have at least three colors at different points on their body — one on the foot, one on the back, and one that appears in spots around the body. Their bright colors and spotted pattern are designed to draw attention to them and signal they are not good to eat. The moist mucous membrane also helps them with gas exchange. Respiration occurs through the skin and goomy and sliggoo lack either gills or lungs. Goodra have primitive lungs and a full mouth that can be used for respiration. They maintain their spicule as well and it is stored on the roof of the mouth when not in use.
While they have marks that are often mistaken for eye spots, goomy do not see through them. They sense movement, brightness, odors, and vibrations through the four sensory tentacles protruding from their head. These can be withdrawn to nubs at a moment’s notice. Sliggoo develop eye spots in the area that is only vestigial for goomy. Goodra have proper eyes, even if their vision is relatively weak.
Goomy move by contracting their foot in waves to slither along the ground. They are very slow, topping out at roughly eighty feet per day. They leave behind a trail of mucous that is used to reduce friction and contact with sharp edges. The mucous cannot be reabsorbed once shed but can be eaten to digest it for nutrients.
Goomy feed by sucking in food through their spicule. It is then deposited into their mouthparts where it is ground between a stationary jaw and a moving radula with tens of thousands of small teeth. Goomy can also eat larger meals by engulfing it with their mouthparts.
Unlike goomy, sliggoo and goodra entirely lack teeth. Or, rather, some sliggoo briefly have teeth before they are accidentally dissolved by the pokémon’s own caustics. They use their spicule to spit out a mix of hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinone to dissolve the flesh of their food before slurping it up with the same spicule. This allows them to have intestines but no stomach. Sliggoo can only spit about a pint of caustic at a time, compared to several gallons for goodra. This leaves them with few offensive options for hunting prey.
The other main difference between goomy and sliggoo is the mantle. Goomy lack a hard mantle and are capable of fitting their entire body through gaps as small as a hole punch. Sliggoo and goodra possess a calcium mantle in their back that provides some protection from attacks. This guards the ganglia in sliggoo, a mass of nerve cells that serves as their central nervous system, and a primitive brain in goodra. Goomy are simple creatures with a few small ganglia clusters scattered throughout their body to handle specific processes with little coordination between them.
Sliggoo have a spiraled hump on their back that houses the ganglia. Goodra have a smooth back, although the brain is located in about the same place. Sliggoo are notably taller than goomy. Two of their sensory horns are much longer than the others, allowing them to interpret the differences in light levels and vibrations between them to obtain a better image of their environment. They even have some ability to predict future precipitation. This also leaves them somewhat more vulnerable. Goomy lack any prominent features, meaning that anything that wishes to eat them will often have to try and swallow them whole or cut through the entire body. Their small size also makes it easier to hide. Sliggoo and goodra’s necks present a weak point, requiring more defenses in the form of caustics and raw physical power. Sliggoo are small enough that they can still hide in tall foliage.
Goodra cannot and do not hide from threats. Not many species like to eat goomy and sliggoo. Goodra have no predators anywhere in their range. Beyond their large size, gallons of potent caustic, and potentially lethal mucous, goodra are also among the strongest of dragons. They rely upon a combination of elastic energy and hydraulics to power their attacks, such as devastating tail swipes, punches, and strikes from their extendable sensory horns. Their head houses no major organs, aside from the retractable sensory tentacles, and is a decoy target and a weapon. Goodra’s headbutts are their strongest attacks and have been known to hit with over 400,000 Newtons of force.
Sliggoo have small nubs for hands. Goodra have fully developed arms and crude hands that can grasp objects with two curling digits. Goodra also have sturdy legs they stand on rather than moving with their foot. This makes them substantially faster, capable of moving at sustained speeds of three miles per hour, or five miles per hour in short bursts. This may sound unimpressive, but a goodra can outpace a goomy’s entire daily movement in roughly eighteen seconds.
Goodra can grow to be over nine feet in height, although average specimens are six to seven feet. Their maximum recorded weight was over 2,100 pounds, but 600 to 800 is more typical. Wild lifespans are poorly understood and almost certainly lower now than they were in the preindustrial era. Captive lifespans of twenty years are common with long-lived individuals surviving for over fifty years.
Behavior
Goomy need to maintain moist skin to avoid dehydration and continue breathing. This drives most of their behaviors. Goomy prefer to stay in dense rainforest. They may leave the forest on cloudy or especially foggy days. Around the world goomy flock to places with abundant fog and typically adjust their activity around it. Fog keeps them hidden and well hydrated while avoiding the sun. If necessary goomy can submerge themselves in water for short periods, but they prefer to stay on land. The lower oxygen concentration in water can lead to deprivation after fifteen minutes.
During the heat of the day goomy need a place to retreat to where they can stay in the shade and retain moisture. Abandoned burrows, tree cavities, and bushes will serve their purposes. They emerge at night or in the rain to look for food. Goomy are primarily detritivores that find dead and decomposing material to eat. Almost anything dead is suitable. Upon finding a larger kill, goomy will leave mucous all over it to prevent other scavengers from wanting to eat it. This will not stop snorlax, but will deter almost all others.
Sliggoo are somewhat more carnivorous. They have been known to eat small mollusks that cannot outrun them, although they rarely make an effort to chase down prey. Size of meals is less of a problem for sliggoo than goomy as they can melt down food that is too large to engulf. Multiple sliggoo will share larger carcasses.
While not actively social, they can often be found living in rafts of five to fifteen individuals in the shelters large enough to house them. Sliggoo are no longer concerned with hiding so much as retaining moisture, leading to them often sleeping in caves or shaded areas near or behind waterfalls. In times gone by they were often known as waterfall slugs and found themselves tied in myths to the rainbows near the falls. In areas near urban and suburban areas, they will often find shelter in abandoned buildings, basements, and other dark, moist places. They are not a direct threat to human health, although pets or children that eat the mucous can become ill. The mucous itself makes them a nuisance. Cities are torn between removing sliggoo in abandoned buildings to reduce risk of injuries and make eventual demolition easier or leaving them there to deter the homeless from living in them. Most have been persuaded to take action by gang activities. Leaving a body in an abandoned building can ensure that no one finds it in the short term and that the sliggoo living there will dissolve and digest even the bones in time.
Goodra are physically and behaviorally far more advanced than sliggoo. Sliggoo will investigate changes in their environment if they smell
food or perceive it to be a good source of moisture or shade. Goodra reflexively investigate any changes around them and will try manipulating objects. They are known to play with toys in the wild and captivity, although their toys are often simple objects such as garbage can lids or large sticks. Goodra also tend to fixate on a person, creature, or object and become distraught when this is removed. The fixation can be on another goodra but is just as often on another large pokémon, a human, a tree, or a boulder. Goodra become enraged when their object of fixation is harmed.
Goodra can spend a majority of their nights finding suitable food. They have a high biological load, requiring them to eat and excrete more than most creatures their size. This is challenging as they are large dragons that do not actively hunt. Goodra seldom find carcasses first given their slow speed. They are very effective at scaring off other scavengers and dominating the kill site themselves. Few scavengers want to pick a fight with a dragon. Even other dragons will usually hesitate to steal a goodra’s food, especially after it has been coated in caustics and mucous. Goodra will also eat decaying plant matter and dead trees, which can make up as much as 20% of their diet.
During the day goodra will typically retreat to a pond, slow moving river, or wetland to rest. This allows their skin to remain hydrated. Their lungs allow them to breathe even while most of their body is submerged. Goodra tend to spread out and rarely encounter other adults. They tend to get along well with conspecifics, but they need to maintain territories of at least ten square miles apiece to ensure enough food. They tend to socialize more with other species, typically those that cannot outrun them and escape hugs. Part of goodra’s fascination with human is that we are one of the only species that will, on occasion, actively walk into embraces and tolerate them for an extended period of time.
Husbandry
Goomy and sliggoo need a large amount of food relative to their body size to survive. Goomy in particular can eat up to twice their own body weight a day, although they only need about 80% of their weight on an average day. Goodra, thankfully, have a more efficient digestive system. They still need to eat roughly 30% of their weight each day.
The only saving grace for a goodra trainer is that they are not picky. They will eat almost any type of food, from raw meat to herbivore mixes. Their diet can be shifted to match their teammates so that food can be bought in bulk. Goodra must still be fed separately or taught to leave their teammates’ food dishes alone. In temperate climates goodra trainers can often feed their pokémon by offering them as a leaf disposal service. Goodra can potentially digest hundreds of pounds of leaves in a single day. Some property owners are still reluctant due to the mucous that will probably be left behind on the property. Goodra do not leave behind a trail like goomy and sliggoo and can eat their own shed mucous to recoup calories, but they are rarely 100% efficient at cleaning up after themselves. As a result, it has become more popular to take leaves, roadkill, and dead wood to goodra for decomposition. All stages can also digest essentially any dead organic matter, including spoiled food and parts inedible for humans. Just make sure that sliggoo and goodra have a place where they can safely spit caustics and eat.
Goodra are extremely affectionate creatures that will need lots of physical contact. This is usually safe. They know how to control their strength and their mucous, while sticky and sometimes unpleasant, is not dangerous unless eaten. Even then it is rarely fatal if meningitis vaccines are up-to-date. Goodra mucous can be difficult to remove from skin and clothing. Some products help with the latter but are usually too harsh for skin. Scraping it off during a hot shower is the most effective way to remove it from skin, although this can be time consuming and will clog drains. Alternatively, goodra can siphon the mucous off and eat it.
All three stages need to constantly stay moist. This can be done by providing environments with misters or humidifiers for goomy and sliggoo. This would ordinarily present a mold problem, but both stages will eat any that they come across. Goodra can also use humidifiers but prefer having access to pools they can almost entirely submerge themselves in. Water should be kept warm but not hot. It must not be chlorinated. Any water provided for drinking must be dechlorinated. Treated water can cause serious health problems for all three stages, but especially for goomy. In general trainers will need to watch what disinfectants and cleaning progress are used on surfaces goomy could climb. Most chemical products are toxic to mollusks.
Goomy and sliggoo will need shelters to retreat to. These can simply take the form of boxes. Ideally surfaces will be hard and smooth for ease of cleaning. Goomy seem to prefer these surfaces to soft ones so long as they can climb on it. Every goomy will need their own box. Sliggoo can share very large boxes. If goomy and sliggoo are held in an enclosure then special care will need to be taken to ensure that air can flow into it without letting the pokémon out. Fabric filters will usually achieve this goal, although a determined sliggoo can simply dissolve them. It is also hard to keep sliggoo from entering spaces like pantries and refrigerators. Goodra can usually be taught what areas and objects are off limits. Sliggoo will either fail to retain these instructions or deliberately ignore them.
In terms of enrichment, goomy appreciate having interesting surfaces to climb on. Slow-moving inorganic pokémon that will tolerate being used as an enrichment object are their best partners. Goomy also appreciate puzzles that require them to move through tubes and small spaces to reach food. It is harder to design puzzles for sliggoo due to their mantle. In general, their favored enrichments are new scents and textures. They can become familiar with humans and teammates and even learn what behaviors to expect from them and exhibit in turn. They will rarely engage in any form of play with conspecifics or other species.
Goodra’s preferred enrichment activities are spending time with their trainer and teammates and soaking in water. More complex toys will often confuse them and quickly lose their interest. Many teammates will not tolerate goodra’s physical affection. This is especially true for vain pokémon such as fairies or compulsive groomers like cats. Inorganic pokémon like gigalith are some of goodra’s best partners as they will not make any reaction to being cuddled by a large, slimy dragon for several hours a day.
Goodra have major attachment issues, usually towards their trainer. They grow distressed when held in their ball or if their trainer is out of sensory range for more than a few minutes at a time. Visual contact is unnecessary. Audio or olfactory sensing is usually fine. If the trainer must be separated, leave another bonded pokémon behind along with multiple soft toys and clothing items that carry their scent. Audio recordings can also help. Separation during the day is more tolerable than separation at night. Trainers should make some effort to get goodra attached to other pokémon and objects as well, such as exercise balls, scratching posts, or other large toys that withstand their affection.
Illness
Goodra are remarkably resistant to illnesses in nature. This is in large part due to the microbiology of their mucous. Multiple species of nematode and bacteria are symbiotic with goodra. In exchange for having a constant stream of material to feed off of, they dispatch any foreign bacteria or parasites. One of the most dangerous inhabitants of goodra mucous is a larval nematode. In its adult form it can cause meningitis in humans. Anyone who routinely interacts with a goodra should receive regular meningitis vaccines to avoid potential infection. This also applies to any pokémon who are frequently around goodra and can receive this vaccination.
In captivity and the modern, industrialized world goodra are far less resilient. Pesticides are usually designed to kill mollusks like goodra, making fields of crops unsafe. Sprays meant to reduce insect populations can also harm them. Even drinking chlorinated water can make goodra ill or kill goomy. This makes invasive populations somewhat easier to control, but risks harming local insects and mollusks at the same time.
All three stages have an incredible ability to heal. Because they are constantly eating a great deal of food and excreting the biomass as mucous they can simply produce less mucous for a time and devote their caloric intake to regenerating lost tissue. Goomy can survive the loss of up to 70% of their mass. Sliggoo and goodra have vulnerabilities in their ganglia and brain. While these are protected by a mantle and, in goodra’s case, are located deep into the body, their destruction can kill the pokémon outright or result in memory loss, radical personality shifts, or other cognitive damage.
Because most common medicines are dangerous to goodra many veterinarians are unsure how to treat their illnesses. Ideally goomy trainers should find a specialist they can call for advice in an emergency. The best solution to most problems is to simply give the pokémon food and time to recover on their own. Natural healing products like sitrus berries and blissey eggs can also facilitate the process or help purge toxins.
Evolution
Goomy steadily grow until around their second birthday, at which point the surviving goomy begin to evolve. This takes the form of steady upwards growth, the development of the mantle, and the growth of one set of sensory tentacles. The process takes about six months. The formal demarcation line is one set of sensory tentacles growing to be three times the length of the others.
Sliggoo rarely evolve into goodra in the wild. Goodra simply require far too much food to make high populations sustainable. Evolution tends to occur when moisture and other conditions are adequate and food is abundant for a period of six months or more. Combat may slightly increase the rate of evolution but further increases caloric needs, in turn making evolution less likely in the wild. Sliggoo flash evolve into goodra, usually during a rain storm.
Goodra
Most large dragons specialize in offense. Even dragonite and garchomp, too relatively durable dragons, are incredibly fast and powerful. Goodra specialize in defense. Their organs are buried under layers of mucous and fat that serve to negate all but the most powerful of physical attacks and the longest of blades. Their mucous can also be caustic enough to make contact dangerous. Ranged attackers have to contend with goodra’s absurd ability to tank elemental damage, behind only blissey and some fairies. It is very difficult to hurt goodra in a way that matters.
Goodra are not the strongest of dragons, but they are still dragons. Their headbutts and horn attacks can deal serious damage to anything that gets in range. Even their arms can stretch surprisingly far during attacks. Goodra are somewhat weaker elementally but can still hit decently hard and learn a wide variety of moves. However, their low intelligence will keep them from knowing all of their options at once like dragonite or hydreigon can.
There are still noticeable drawbacks for goodra. They are very slow and will not outrun anything but immobile walls. Physical attacks depend on enemies coming to them. Even aiming at fast-moving enemies is a struggle. Goodra are also easily overwhelmed, distracted, or confused. Sometimes they seem to forget that they are battling and just stare into space. They may be reluctant to press the offense against foes that are not currently or effectively attacking them. Goodra also lack the rapid healing and support options that would allow them to act as full walls rather than tanks.
Still, goodra usually deal a lot more damage than they take. Fast ranged attackers that can take advantage of their slow reaction times usually can’t hurt them much at all. They are large dragons, even if they fight at a slower pace than most. Outside of powerful fairies and the strongest ice-types there are few reliable ways to deal with a goodra without losing at least one pokémon.
Armored goodra (L. ferrea) are larger and physically stronger than unarmored goodra, as well as being naturally proficient with steel-moves. They also have even more durability. They are also even slower and have less elemental resistance. The armor is mostly unnecessary: it only covers part of their body without fully withdrawing and goodra already have ways to take hits. The physical power is only useful if they can get in melee range. The main advantage is the steel-typing, which gives them a better way to deal with fairies. in exchange, armored goodra are even more timid than unarmored goodra and will retreat into their shell at the first sign of danger. The lower elemental resistance also gives them less staying power in a fight, despite their armor and larger size. The two species see about equal use on the competitive circuits.
On the island challenge goodra may struggle with the Poni Island trials. They can probably take on every other totem by themselves and win. Any trainer strong and skilled enough to have a goodra will likely find the island challenge to be fairly easy.
Sliggoo have access to mucous and caustics that make them difficult to hit with physical attacks and a pretty good resistance to elemental attacks. They just have few ways to reliably deal damage outside of their caustics, which are telegraphed and easily dodged. Some trainers attempt to make the best of the situation and use curse to try and fix the problem, but sliggoo will rarely get the chance to land a physical attack. TMs are necessary to get sliggoo fighting decently, but even with a few ranged attacks they will struggle to keep up by the third island.
Goomy are among the weakest dragon-types. Aside from their mucous they have few ways of deterring attackers. Outside of a dragon pulse TM they have almost no way of dealing meaningful damage. They can stall out foes that have already been injured but have few other uses.
Acquisition
Goomy have been almost entirely eliminated from Melemele Island. They are still abundant in the rainy areas of the other three Tapu Islands and Exeggutor Island. It is easiest to find them during rainstorms, especially at night. They adjust well to captivity after a few weeks of reliable feedings and safe places to retreat to. Both stages can be captured with a Class III license. Newly evolved goodra are captured as soon as possible by the DNR. Trainers can enter a waitlist to capture new goodra. Any that are not claimed by a trainer will be put into a shelter. They used to be culled before public backlash led to a reversal. Now goodra take up a disproportionate amount of shelter resources. Many are simply shipped off the islands when the shelters run out of space. Goomy and sliggoo are still regularly culled and are rarely available in shelters. Goodra can be adopted or captured with a Class IV license.
Trainers caring for the line often accidentally produce offspring. This leads to many trainers having goomy for sale. Goomy and sliggoo can be purchased with a Class III license. Goodra can be purchased with a Class IV.
Breeding
Goodra and sliggoo are hermaphrodites capable of both sexual and asexual reproduction. At the start of the rainy season they will seek out acceptable partners and mate with them. Depending on suitability, one or both will fertilize the other. The fertilized partner will then eat the fertilizing partner’s penis off to provide more nutrition for their eggs. Goodra regenerate their penis during evolution but can only lose it one more time. After this they can only be fertilized and cannot self-fertilize. This is the only reliable way to sterilize a goodra. As a result, goodra often keep a single self-fertilizing goodra rather than a pair or group.
In captivity it is harder to stop goodra from breeding than to get them to do it. If a mated pair are held together, they should each have plenty of space and their own pools to retreat to if they want to avoid interactions. Ideally, they should only be held together a few days a week with periods of solitude between them.
Goodra have cross-bred with other gastropods in the wild and captivity. This is most commonly seen with sliggoo. Goodra typically see smaller creatures as unsuitable for mating.
After a gestation period of a week sliggoo will lay 20-30 eggs and goodra will lay 70-100. The eggs are translucent and highly elastic. Sliggoo will lay them on the bottom of a leaf or in a bush and then abandon them. Goodra prefer to lay theirs in a shallow depression in the ground and then guard it until the eggs hatch. Goodra will slow down all biological processes and only react if something approaches. Once the eggs hatch they will leave. Neither stage has any sort of parental relationship with their offspring. Unlike other gastropods, goodra rarely cannibalize their own offspring or other young goomy. The few cases observed were likely accidental.
Relatives
All slug pokémon are believed to have evolved independently from snails. Goodra are therefore more closely related to the average snail pokémon than to other slugs. The unarmored or slug goodra evolved from the armored or snail goodra. Armored goodra are native to areas with high iron loads in the soil and water. They evolved to incorporate metals into their shell rather than being harmed by them like many mollusks. In areas with low iron loads they evolved to have smaller shells and then, eventually, no external shell at all. Armored goodra are native to portions of Russia, China, Japan, and Korea. They were extirpated from Japan after Sinnoh’s harvest of failed in 1961 due in part to goodra overpopulation.
Unarmored goodra have been more successful, spreading through moist temperate and tropical forests from China to Paldea and along the Pacific Coast of North America. Goodra deal with temperate environments by entering a stage of dormancy, usually inside of a cave or a stolen burrow.
