Pokémon The Alola Pokedex

[Persephone]

Araquanid (Dewpider)
Pseudoaranea monstrum

Overview

Araquanid are not true spiders. Instead, they are arthropods more closely related to insects. They independently evolved webbing, although theirs is made of a protein-based hydrogel rather than silk.

The species spends most of their time living beneath the water’s surface in ponds, bogs, and slow-moving rivers. They will also hunt anything that comes near the water’s edge, including creatures taking shelter in the branches of large trees. Araquanid are perhaps best known for killing small prey by drowning them in a bubble, lending them a reputation as versatile and sadistic predators that can be waiting unseen beneath the water’s surface. The 1977 horror film The Many Ghosts of Silver Lake has only worsened public perception.

While araquanid are large predators, in truth they are ambush hunters and scavengers more than active stalkers. They prefer to kill sleeping, wounded, or bound prey. There are records of them killing humans, but these incidents are rare. In fact, araquanid make for surprisingly affectionate and curious pets. Trainers with experience handling insects or predators may find them to be a powerful and rewarding ally.

Physiology

Dewpider and araquanid are classified as dual water- and bug-types

Dewpider have two principal body segments. The abdomen is tipped in a stinger that can release venom. Stings are painful to humans but unlikely to result in serious complications.

The head is actually smaller than the thorax, even if it often appears bigger. In addition to eyes and a mouth the head contains several blue ridges and spikes. These are the ends of organs that manipulate water, hydrogel, and the refraction of light within nearby water. Dewpider can use this to appear larger or smaller than they really are. Experienced araquanid can even make themselves invisible underwater by refracting light around them still. Dewpider above the surface can make their head appear very large in order to intimidate predators.

Each of dewpider’s six legs ends in a sharp tip that can be used as an impromptu spear. The hair around the tips is hydrophobic and allows them to walk on the surface of the water for short periods of time.

Dewpider have seven hydrogel glands, one at the midpoint of each leg and one large gland on a green frill at the base of the head. Dewpider can use the mucous to create bubbles of water around their head that allow them to continue breathing in air. These mucous strands can also be used to create web structures for hunting prey and hiding from predators. Their mucus is sticky but not nearly as strong as spider silk. When creating an air bubble three legs must be used to maintain it. The other three are used for balancing on the water’s surface.

Contrary to popular belief, dewpider do not have gills. They actually breathe by gas exchange through the skin. Their very long legs are designed to increase their surface area to volume ratio and allow for more oxygen to be diffused.

Araquanid have a longer abdomen and much longer legs than dewpider. Their control over water, refraction, and mucus has also grown substantially. Araquanid are known to keep small bubbles around the joints of all six legs while on the surface, as well as a large one above the head. They can manipulate the bubbles to be as hard as stone, suck in anything that touches them, change the rate of gas exchange, and even launch them at opponents to capture and drown them. Araquanid rarely drown anything in their head bubble, preferring to drown prey by pulling them into the water with mucous or drowning them in a projectile bubble instead. Adult humans are too large to fit in a smaller bubble and too heavy to reliably drag into the water. Almost all recorded araquanid attacks were against children.

Araquanid are mildly venomous. Their bite is painful and can result in swelling, nausea, and fever. There are no documented deaths resulting from a purebred araquanid. Hybrids with ariados can have considerably more potent venom.

Normal araquanid can grow to be six feet tall when their legs are locked upright. Their body can be up to eight feet long. The average araquanid weighs around 160 to 180 pounds, with particularly large specimens weighing in at 200 to 220 pounds. Wild specimens typically live around eight years. Captive specimens can live for up to thirty years.

Behavior

Once a dewpider is old enough to leave their mother’s protection they will find a spot underwater with thick vegetation. Slow currents are preferred, but dewpider can also live in stagnant water or moderately fast rivers. Dewpider build a hydrogel web complex tethered to vegetation and rocks. When the web gets sufficiently filled with zooplankton, they will consume the web and the plankton with it. The hydrogel can easily be recycled in the digestive tract to form more hydrogel.

Dewpider will only leave their webbing when threatened or starving. When threatened by an aquatic predator they can retreat to the water’s surface and stand above it. Any predator attempting to attack them will be facing the sharp ends of their legs. In time they can eventually get to safety on land.

Araquanid prefer to live at the water’s edge. Their webbing is designed to trap larger prey instead of mere zooplankton. Some araquanid will share their webbing with older dewpider. Others will not tolerate this. Araquanid have more varied personalities than some insects owing to their surprisingly developed nervous system.

When something gets stuck to the webbing the araquanid will approach and either kill it on the spot, reel it into the water to drown, or sling webbing at it until it suffocates or drowns. Araquanid are cautious and will usually not approach to eat until they are certain their prey is dead. This has earned them a reputation as sadists who enjoy watching small pokémon drown in front of them.

Araquanid are actually quite kind to other species when they are not hunting. They have been known to aggressively ward off other predators trying to kill their own prey, even if they do not turn around and hunt the prey themselves. Araquanid are known to escort pokémon across rivers, either on their back or in their bubble for a short period of time. Being allowed into an araquanid’s head bubble is a sign of affection and not a murder attempt: they would never allow hostile prey to be so close to their own eyes and organs. Araquanid have even been known to wander into human settlements during the day and look around before returning back to their home.

In the 19th Century the reputation of araquanid was not child killers but child saviors after one saved a Galarian nobleman’s child from drowning in Brooklet Hill. For a time a number of Galarian lakes and ponds had them introduced to act as lifeguards. Children who lived by the lake were usually seen as pets of sorts and never eaten. Trespassing and visiting children were spared if the araquanid was full and eaten if the bug-type was hungry. Some old fashioned Galarian and Alolan estates still keep a well fed araquanid around as a guard pokémon, lifeguard, and companion. However, the practice has largely been abandoned in favor of safer replacements.

Husbandry

Dewpider are rather difficult to care for due to their unique diet and feeding method. The easiest way on the trail is to let them build a small net in a bathtub or very large bucket before pouring in brine shrimp. This must be done twice a day at minimum, making them difficult to care for unless the trainer has many other water-types that can fill up a bucket in dry areas. They can live on land so long as they can form a water bubble, but the bubbles are not preserved when withdrawn into a pokéball.

It is much easier to keep dewpider in an aquarium tank, or especially in a pond. Most ponds with existing flora and fauna have enough zooplankton for a dewpider to feed on. Aquariums will usually need to have brine shrimp supplemented. Dewpider are not terribly active and spend almost all of their time beneath the water’s surface. This makes them very difficult to see in a standard pond, leading most collectors to use a large (200 gallons or more) aquarium to hold them. In ponds they can be a compliment or replacement of surskit for insect control.

In spite of their size, araquanid are much easier to keep. They need to be fed about twenty pounds of meat every three days. Battling araquanid may need closer to thirty pounds every three days. Araquanid strongly prefer their food to be whole carcasses rather than butchered meat, but they can come to accept food served this way. Araquanid will try to drown or stab their food before eating it, even if it is already dead.

Trainers will need to carefully watch the araquanid around any small pokémon for the first few weeks on the team. After this araquanid will tend to view teammates and their trainer as pets and refrain from eating them. Araquanid will even shower their teammates with often unwanted affection such as bringing them into its bubble during warm weather or wrapping them in webbing when they appear to be cold.

Araquanid appreciate toys such as rudimentary puzzles or plastic balls with treats in them. When staying in one place they like having room to make a web, although they usually cannot in most Pokémon Centers. Trainers with a pack pokémon may be able to bring along a collapsible pool. As with dewpider, be careful withdrawing the pokémon into its pokéball as it will need to be near water upon release to build a new bubble. Most battling leagues now allow for a water-type to be used on-site for bubble formation if there is no water feature in the arena. Trial captains and kahunas have been instructed to allow this as well.

Illness

Invertebrate pathology is still a relatively new field. It is believed that araquanid can get sick with viral or bacterial infections as they will sometimes display erratic behavior, anorexia, and sluggishness before death. The causes and treatments remain unknown.

The most common ailment for captive dewpider and araquanid is asphyxiation through lack of oxygenated water. Araquanid, and especially dewpider, spend most of their time entirely underwater in the wild. This lets them breathe across their entire body. Even when they have a head bubble on the surface they are still getting less oxygen than usual. This is fine for a few hours but can cause serious health problems if they are never allowed to return to the water. Dive balls and other aquatic habitat balls can help with this problem but not entirely alleviate it. Always remember that araquanid are aquatic creatures, even if they happen to be on land at the moment.

Evolution

Dewpider grow through repeated molts. There are eight molts in the first three months to reach their full juvenile size and another ten around evolution. The evolution molts take place over a period of two months. During this time the dewpider stays nearly motionless, only moving to repair the web and consume food trapped on it.

Araquanid tend to visit evolving dewpider every few days to make sure that they’re in good health and have adequate food. If the pokémon does not have enough calories available for a molt the araquanid will hunt for it. This is done for all dewpider in the araquanid’s vicinity, regardless of parentage.

Evolution usually begins after eight months in the wild. Captive evolution occurs between six and twelve months of age, depending on how well the pokémon is fed. Dewpider will not begin evolution if they believe their food supply does not justify it. Gradually begin increasing the amount of food offered around eight months of age to see if it triggers an evolution. Consult a veterinarian if the pokémon has begun to evolve by the time it is ten months old.

Trainers are strongly encouraged to stay in one place while their dewpider evolves. This is not always practical, but care should be taken to only move between molts and not to withdraw the pokémon into its ball while it is molting.

Battle

Araquanid see some use in competitive battling. Their ability to harden the surface of their water bubble without changing the weight makes them surprisingly potent attackers. The venom of some hybrids can also be useful for wearing down opponents over time, although injecting it will require the pokémon to temporarily abandon its bubble. Anything that sneaks up from behind can be dealt with by a thrown bubble or a stab from a sharp leg tip. Araquanid are also capable of laying sticky webs to help control the field.

The size and power of araquanid makes them popular in the lower echelons of competitive battling, but their drawbacks keep them from climbing much higher. Araquanid are large and powerful predators. Ranked trainers will have access to even larger and stronger ones. Despite their size, araquanid are also rather frail. Anything that does burst their bubble will begin to slowly asphyxiate them. Their exoskeleton is also comparatively weak because adults rarely face predators in the wild and they prefer to kill from a distance. Araquanid’s elemental well is also narrow and shallow. Their ability to control their bubbles is exceptional, but they lack the ability to effectively use coverage options or even rely on large-scale hydrokinesis for attacks. This makes anything that can get around their main offensive options able to wall them completely. Finally, araquanid are ambush hunters. They are not very fast. Even if they can lay more webs at once than vikavolt, they cannot cover as much of the arena in the same amount of time. Trainers with access to gyarados or heracross will prefer to use them over araquanid.

Araquanid is capable of performing well on the island challenge, even into the Elite Four. Most trainers do not have access to large predators like araquanid. Dual water- and bug-types also match up well or neutrally against all kahunas and a good portion of Alola’s current trials. Araquanid will have to be trained to get in close against all instincts, but once this is done they will dominate a good chunk of their opponents, either by getting a sticky globe filled with water around their head, stabbing them with a leg, or bashing them with their main water bubble.

When playing against araquanid it helps to keep a distance and rely on intimidation. Araquanid do not naturally want to fight. Anything that scares them can keep them from getting close and being most effective. Electric-types that can strike from range are araquanid’s best counters as they can turn the water bubble into a liability without getting close. Flying-types that do not need to get close are also usually capable of dodging thrown bubbles, tanking relatively weak ice coverage moves, and striking back from a distance. Most pokémon can also outrun araquanid, although in the long run webbing on the ground can make this more and more difficult.

Dewpider are perfectly usable for the first one or two islands. By the end of the second island their lack of coverage, speed, and durability will become a liability. Trainers interested in using the line on their challenge should seriously consider starting with araquanid instead.

Acquisition

Araquanid were hunted to extinction on Melemele after a panic inspired by The Many Ghosts of Silver Lake. The line were never common on Poni due to its arid climate and competition from other alluvial and littoral predators such as dragonite. They still thrive in the protected areas of Brooklet Hill, such as the State Park, National Seashore, and the Baruch Conservancy. Capture is legal for trainers on the island challenge in all three areas, although trainers will need to report their intention to catch one as well as any successful capture to the Conservancy.

On Ula’Ula island araquanid can be found in several large ponds and rivers in the west, including Ula’Ula Meadow. A few have been seen in the former pools and retention ponds of Po Town and Tapu Village. In the east they can be found within the Malie Cultural Exchange Gardens and on portions of Routes 10 and 12. The Gardens has an annual quota on dewpider and araquanid captures. The laws vary for the capture in other areas. Consult with the local Pokémon Center before catching one.

The easiest way to capture an araquanid is simply to spend the day near a body of water one inhabits. If one leaves the water to go exploring the trainer can attempt a rudimentary dialogue with them, showing them their pokémon and Z-crystals and offering to let the araquanid come along. Most araquanid seem to understand what the island challenge is. Some will readily agree to go in order to see more of Alola, with the expectation that they will be released at the end. So long as this implicit bargain is honored, they will never attack their trainer. Some will even want to stay with their trainer at the end of the challenge. If the araquanid is not interested it is unwise to capture it. Keeping a large predator somewhere it does not wish to be is a recipe for disaster.

Dewpider capture usually requires a snorkel or scuba gear. Unlike araquanid, dewpider are often reluctant to go onto an island challenge. Sometimes they will respond to a proving battle with another water-type. More often than not they will resist. It is best to slowly gain a dewpider’s trust, either by first capturing it and moving it to a small pond with abundant food and no competition, or by returning to visit the dewpider in the wild several times over the course of a month. Only capture dewpider that are on their own. If an araquanid or its webbing are seen nearby do not capture the dewpider. Araquanid are surprisingly competent trackers known for avenging any losses they suffer under their web.

This was the case in the original inspiration for Silver Lake where an eleven-year-old setting off for the island challenge accidentally killed five dewpider while trying to catch one, only to be killed herself when the araquanid came back. The araquanid subsequently ambushed and killed three teenagers who came near the web until she was captured and killed later. The pokémon’s mate later tracked down and killed the victorious hunter before moving to a different pond. The incident actually occurred in a rural town in Ula’Ula in 1906. There were several similar incidents with other species during that time. The causes were three-fold: first, the American rulers of the islands disregarded the old traditions that kept an accord with the island’s predators. Second, the change in the land use laws brought humans closer to spaces that were long considered the domain of apex predators and large herbivores. Third, introduced predators led to more competition for native ones, sometimes driving starving predators to hunt humans for food. The issue was politicized along racial lines at the time. One priest of Tapu Bulu even held a memorial service for the araquanid instead of the dead children. This was later incorporated into Silver Lake as a Native Alolan cult trying to sacrifice white children to Tapu Fini by manipulating an araquanid into drowning them.

The environmental movement and better PSAs led to a sizable reduction in retaliatory attacks by predators. It is a testament to their effectiveness that the mere idea of a pokémon indiscriminately killing humans for revenge was unthinkable in 1977. Over the next two decades the araquanid populations in Alola and Galar plummeted by 54% and 85%, respectively. The species is finally beginning to recover due to conservation efforts around Brooklet Hill and better PSAs on the benefits of dewpider as pest control.

Araquanid can be captured or purchased with a Class II license. Dewpider can be captured or purchased with a Class IV license. No shelters take healthy specimens. The species acclimates well to release and there is societal benefit to having araquanid that see humans as friends rather than food. Injured specimens are rehomed on a case-by-case basis.

Breeding

Araquanid mate in July towards the end of the dry season. Females assess males based on the size of the facial water bubble they can form. Like birds, araquanid engage in simple mating dances where they circle each other on the water’s surface and ram their bubbles against each other. The evaluations and mating dances are a tourist draw for the Baruch Conservancy and Malie Cultural Exchange Gardens. The actual act of copulation takes place under the surface. Unlike true spiders the male is left alive at the end of the process and will occasionally return to check up on the female and their offspring. Both araquanid expand the female’s webbing to create an enclosed den for the dewpider to grow up in.

The female is fertilized internally but lays thirty to forty eggs after three days. The eggs hatch after another twelve to fourteen days. The female will keep a close eye on the dewpider until they are finished molting to their final juvenile size. When she leaves the nest she will form a string of webbing that the dewpider latch onto and drag them along with her. Trips to the surface will be done with her offspring resting inside of her main water bubble. Approaching a mother dewpider carrying her children is not advised as they can become aggressive. It is also not always easy to see hatchlings from a distance as they can be less than five centimeters long. In general females are 30% larger than males. It is a good idea to give large araquanid a wide berth between September and December.

Araquanid can be hybridized with other arthropods, including true spiders. Sometimes actual copulation is difficult due to araquanid mating underwater. The easiest true spider pairings are female araquanid with male ariados as the male expects to die, anyway. It can take some time for the araquanid to accept the ariados as a mate since it cannot form bubbles or perform the mating dances on the water’s surface. Masquerain and araquanid tend to have an innate dislike of the other making breeding difficult. Hybridized surskit cannot evolve and hybridized dewpider spend a great deal of time at the water’s surface, making them relatively easy for birds to pick off.

Captive mating of two araquanid requires only a large pond and a willingness to give the mother her space for the first few months after the dewpider are born. Sometimes a well bonded araquanid used to visiting Pokémon Centers will allow her trainer or a veterinarian to perform medical checks on the dewpider, but this cannot be taken for granted.

Relatives

Araquanid’s closest relative is a deepwater arthropod (P. bell) known as the marine araquanid, twilight araquanid, or winged spiders. Marine araquanid’s hindlegs end in broader tips used as paddles for moving through the water. They lack hydrophobic leg hairs as they almost never go to the surface and cannot form proper water bubbles to stand above it. Marine araquanid instead form elaborate hydrogel structures that capture food floating in the water column and funnel it in towards the mouth where it is consumed. Marine araquanid can also form wing-like flaps of their hydrogel and move them with two legs to ‘fly’ through the water when they need to. For the most part they simply drift.

Marine araquanid are still poorly understood. They were first discovered off the coast of the Solomon Islands in 1983 when a submersible crew decided on a whim to turn on the lights on the way down the water column instead of at the bottom. Their breeding habits, juvenile form, life expectancy, and full range are still unknown. Before the discovery of the marine araquanid it was assumed that they simply walked across the ocean’s surface to Alola. Now there is ongoing research into how a deepwater pelagic arthropod became a freshwater organism convergently evolved with spiders.

There has been only one remotely successful attempt to keep marine araquanid in captivity. Between 2003 and 2017 the Monterey Bay Aquarium successfully captured four small specimens and moved them to a custom-made pressurized tank. The araquanid struggled with bumping against the tank’s floor, ceiling, and walls and were difficult to feed. The oldest specimen, PA-4, lived for four years before he abruptly stopped producing hydrogel and died of starvation.

A freshwater araquanid taken to visit the aquarium spent approximately twenty seconds staring at the marine specimen before turning around and running out of the aquarium as quickly as possible. She refused to leave her pond for another four months.

 

[Persephone]

Lurantis (Fomantis)
Fauxmantis floregregie

Overview

Lurantis are best known for their vivid colors and pleasant fragrance. They are also known for the sheer difficulty of getting them to be in a constant state of bloom with their full color range. Collectors have long prided themselves on their ability to care for the species and use crossbreeding and mutations to create new color patterns. Their graceful movements also lend to the appeal. As lilligant fell out of favor as the preferred grass-type of the wealthy, lurantis rose to take its place.

Aside from being beautiful, Lurantis are tremendously strong. Their energy beams can cut through steel, their petals are surprisingly sharp, and a quirk of their biology lets them recapture energy from attacks that would leave most pokémon drained. Like serperior, a lurantis can repeatedly use leaf storm and only get stronger for it.

It is nearly impossible to keep a lurantis in constant bloom on the trail, but mottled coloration and dropping flowers are perfectly normal for the species. That is simply what lurantis look like most of the time in the wild.

Trainers who want a strong grass type with relatively easy care requirements should consider adding a lurantis to their team.

Physiology

Both stages are classified as pure grass types. Despite their appearance, they are not insects and have a limited affinity for bug-type energies. Lurantis are fully photosynthetic plants that evolved to look like giant insects for reasons that are still not fully understood.

Fomantis are small plants that resemble mantises such as scyther. Their main body is a mottled green color, although some mutated and captive born specimens have a pink, red, silver, or gold exterior. The green coloration both helps them camouflage and makes them better resemble baby scyther. Most of their leaves and bulb are a darker green shade and used for photosynthesis. Fomantis’s front petals are shaped like scythes and have a sharp, thin edge that can cut through a human’s finger. Their bottom legs are very short and stocky, giving them limited mobility but a large surface area from which to extend roots during the day. Because they do not eat food, fomantis lack a mouth.

Fomantis have what appear to be red compound eyes. In truth, neither fomantis nor lurantis has particularly well-developed vision. Laboratory tests have discovered that lurantis can see movement and blurry shapes, but not color. They are believed to primarily sense the world through scents, sounds, and wind currents.

Lurantis appear superficially similar to a bipedal mantis. Wild specimens are almost always a light green color that resembles a scyther’s exoskeleton. They have four unmovable ‘wings,’ which are actually stiff leaves that increase the pokémon’s surface area while basking. Their head also contains four leaves extending from it horizontally and three shoots extending from the forehead. The leaves also increase surface area. The purpose of the shoots is still debated. Like fomantis, lurantis do not have mouths. Unlike fomantis, their scythes are made up of multiple sharp leaves forming a serrated blade instead of a single cutting edge.

Lurantis do not have a bony skeleton. Instead, theirs is made of a particularly dense wood. The wood itself stores water during the dryer months of the year. Small cavities in it can also stockpile sugars for consumption while the pokémon blooms. Most of lurantis’s legs, back, and scythe are covered in a thick, leathery skin similar to that of a cacti. The skin guards against anything that does try to attack. The head does not actually contain any important organs beyond the eyes and is mostly a decoy to lure strikes towards it. The pokémon’s nervous system is dispersed throughout the body with its core located beneath the convergence point of the wings.

Lurantis bloom twice a year in the wild, right as the seasons change. During blooming the pokémon’s exterior becomes covered in white, pink, and red flowers. Even the wings and other non-flowering body parts turn red or pink. While blooming lurantis cannot photosynthesize and must rely on stored sugars. Within two weeks the flowers wilt away and normal coloration returns. In captivity blooming can theoretically be maintained indefinitely.

Lurantis grow to an average height of five feet and an average weight of ninety pounds. The largest recorded lurantis was seventy-five inches tall and weighed one hundred and thirty pounds. Wild lifespans are typically around five years. Captive specimens can live for up to eight years.

Behavior

Lurantis and fomantis are plants. Their main concerns are absorbing water, light, and nutrients. During the day lurantis go into a mostly inactive state to preserve energy. They find somewhere in the sun, lay down roots, and stand still.

At night the pokémon moves in search of water and a safe place to hide. Lurantis prefer hiding places in dense foliage or rock cover within fifty meters of a river. At least one has been known to seek shelter inside of caves, cut a furrow into the earth, and put their roots down near a subterranean river. Once they are done absorbing water they seek out a more secluded area to hide from potential predators.

Pokémon that are not fooled by the scyther disguise still have to contend with a pokémon with sharp scythes, devastating laser attacks, and escalating leaf storms. Their laser beams, known as solar blades, are admittedly near useless at night and take time to charge during the day. A lurantis’s scythes alone are enough to scare most herbivores into looking for an alternative food source that cannot move, much less decapitate them. Fomantis are eaten by the occasional herbivore looking for prey with more stored sugars than the average leaf. Lurantis’s main predator in their home range, crocust, does not live in Alola. Heracross will eat weaker lurantis they come across, but they have been successfully removed from Akala. At present the only predators lurantis have in their main habitat in Akala’s rainforests are larvesta, volcarona, and particularly desperate pinsir.

Husbandry

Caring for lurantis is often believed to be extremely difficult. It is not. Keeping a lurantis in a visually striking perpetual bloom is difficult and requires keeping the pokémon in a very low stress environment with constant access to sugar water and the pheromones of a potential mate they will never actually encounter.

Raising a lurantis without regard for its blooming is quite easy. They need at least four hours of sunlight during the day and access to water at night. Weekly supplements of organic fertilizer can keep them healthy. In general, lurantis prefer resting on wood chips or sawdust to ordinary soil, but they will make do when they must. Battling lurantis should get at least six hours of sunlight a day.

Lurantis are fine following a trainer who takes care of them so long as they rarely get seriously hurt. They will also willingly battle, but they prefer to do so no more than once a week. Training sessions are typically fine so long as there is no sparring.

Fomantis require more shelter and attention than lurantis do. They appreciate being kept in their ball for at least ten hours a night, away from potential threats. When out of their ball at night they should be given some sort of hiding place. The space between a tent and the rain fly can do the trick. Care should be taken to guard the pokémon when large, powerful herbivores live in the area. Bug-type herbivores are particularly dangerous.

Lurantis typically do not need anything in the way of enrichment. They bask in th esun, they soak up water, they hide. This is a perfectly good life for a lurantis. A few captive individuals have picked up ‘hobbies’ such as wood carving or watching over orchid gardens. Sometimes a lurantis will find a comfort object such as a rock, plastic ball or, in one case, a metal folding chair. If the lurantis does select a comfort object it is not a good idea to separate them from it. Plant psychology is poorly understood and it is unknown why lurantis would show more interest in a chair than their own children. Whatever the reason, they seem to be quite serious about it.

Lurantis are generally tolerant of teammates, except for large insects. Other grass-types are preferred. Non-insect carnivores are also good partners. There can be tensions with herbivores but things usually stay peaceful and eventually reach a point of mutual toleration.

Illness

The most common ailments for lurantis are parasites. A variety of insects capable of burrowing through lurantis’s skin will breed inside of it and eat them from the inside out. The most obvious symptoms of infestation is a hole in the flesh and attempted self-mutilation. Lurantis have surprisingly few defenses to small insects. They are slightly toxic, but several parasites have ways to bypass this.

Lurantis can be safely treated with insecticides. Some trainers do not realize this and refrain from using the most effective medication.

Fungal infections typically result in patches of abnormal coloration. This can also be a prelude to blooming in lurantis. Make sure the pokémon is seen by a botanist or veterinarian within forty-eight hours of abnormal colors appearing.

Scythe petals falling off without a replacement within two days is almost always a sign of distress and poor health. The exact cause of distress can vary. Dehydration, light deprivation, and temperature shock are all common causes. So long as lurantis is given moist soil every night and twenty-four of sunlight every week, illness is unlikely. Temperature shock is caused by prolonged exposure to temperatures below sixty degrees or above one hundred degrees. Keep the pokémon withdrawn or partially shaded on very hot days. Keep it in its ball when scaling Mt. Hokulani or Mr. Lanakila.

Evolution

Fomantis steadily grow into lurantis over the course of ten months. The formal demarcation line between the two is the development of a serrated scythe. Some biologists propose the time of first bloom as the real demarcation. The time of evolution is not substantially increased by frequent battle.

Battle

Lurantis have a lot going for them. They hit hard up close with leaf blade or super power and from afar with leaf storm. Their coverage is limited but they have what they need. Lurantis are also surprisingly durable and can quickly recover from injuries with synthesis. Their wood is also more durable than the skeletons of most grass-types. Lurantis can also be taught defog, letting them push hazards to one side of the field.

There are four drawbacks lurantis face in the competitive circuits. First, serperior exists and is generally a stronger and more reliable user of repeated leaf storms. Second, even if they are graceful, they are still slow. Even their most powerful melee attack, solar blade, takes time to charge. This is not ideal in close quarters combat. Third, lurantis has relatively few ways to hurt flying pokémon without a great deal of time to set up leaf storm chains. During this time most offensive birds can usually take out lurantis.

The fourth problem isn’t a drawback in battle but in the public eye: most lurantis trainers are believed to be abusive by the general public. A battling lurantis simply does not look the same as the perpetually blooming prized pet of a wealthy collector. Their ordinary red or mottled green hide is seen as sickly. As a result, lurantis trainers can struggle with building a positive public image.

Only the difficulty dealing with birds really matters on the island challenge. Amateur trainers don’t need to worry about their reputation advertising deals. Serperior are still relatively uncommon in Alola and are harder to care for. Lurantis are still plenty strong enough to hold their own throughout the island challenge. Their speed doesn’t matter as much when neutral leaf storms deal lots of damage. Even an unboosted slash from their scythes can cut most pokémon. Using solar blade Is usually overkill.

Fomantis struggle a bit more, even at the start of the island challenge. They are more durable than they are strong. Ideally, they would be used as defensive tanks and utility pokémon. Fomantis’s bag of tricks is simply much shallower than other grass-types. Defog also isn’t very useful on the island challenge when few opponents will be using arena control strategies. Getting in close and cutting is also a decent strategy.

The best way to deal with opposing lurantis is to stay airborne. Ranged fire or ice attacks also work well. Do not give them unlimited time to set up. Do not get into melee range during the day. Finish the fight as quickly as possible from a distance.

Acquisition

Alola’s lurantis population was devastated in the 1940s and 50s as lurantis husbandry became an increasingly large industry. Today the relict populations in the interior of Melemele and northwestern Ula’Ula are protected from capture. They have been entirely eliminated from all of Poni Island. A small, protected population exists on Exeggutor Island.

The tropical forests of Akala are the only place a fomantis can be legally caught. Lurantis capture is illegal to ensure continued reproduction. Route 5 and adjoining public parks are the legal capture sites. They are most common in Alolan Rainforests National Preserve. They can also be found in Brooklet Hill State Park and the inland areas of the Baruch Conservancy. Vagrants can occasionally be found around Route 5 itself. It is easiest to find a fomantis during the day. Simply walk through the forest’s clearings with a discerning eye. The pokémon will be basking in the sunlight. Fomantis are solitary and capturing one will not risk the wrath of their parents. Fomantis are often skeptical of new trainers before coming around when they realize that food, water, and shelter are still readily available.

Lurantis and fomantis can be purchased from breeders for a hefty price. These lurantis often have crossbred traits that make them visually appealing but can limit their utility in battle. For example, one common breed has fanlike scythes instead of sharp ones. Most captive bred populations also have denser bones to start more sugar during perpetual blooms. This makes them more durable, but also much slower. Trainers intending to use their lurantis in battle are much better off capturing one on Akala.

Fomantis can be obtained with a Class I license. Lurantis can be purchased or adopted with a Class II license.

Breeding

Both Charles Darwin and Princess Lydia Aholo extensively studied the pollination and mating practices of Alola’s lurantis. Before the species became popular with botanists they were most well known for their contributions to the study of evolution. Lurantis have very distinct sweet scents when in bloom. The exact scent varies by subspecies, and even by habitat. The lurantis of the Brooklet Hill area have a different scent than those of Alolan Rainforests National Preserves. Their petals also subtly vary.

These petals and scents are designed to specifically target a pollinator species. It changes depending on what they must attract. Usually small, non-pokémon pollinators are preferred to ribombee and butterfree. Lurantis will even sometimes lash out at any butterfree that approach. The labellum of the flowers are intended to draw in pollinators by superficially resembling female insects. They can also violently expel a cloud of pollen when a pollinator lands on the labellum, instantly coating them in a layer of it. Lurantis have a number of small, subdermal pouches that can store pollen. As a result lurantis can immediately resupply a flower with any pollen it loses this way. Like most plants, all lurantis are intersex. If they have not encountered a mate in some time they can pollinate themselves.

Lurantis seeds can only germinate in the presence of specific fungi. The seeds are parasitic and begin to steal nutrients from the fungi as the roots extend and are hijacked into the new organism. The fomantis will slowly begin to sprout from the root network before eventually fully developing and walking away.

Recent research has found a new, more reliable way to grow fomantis. A pollinated seed can be inserted into a gel filled with carbohydrates. Over time the seed will begin to develop its own root system outside of the gel. This process takes longer than it does with fungi but is far easier to control in a captive breeding setting.

Lurantis ordinarily bloom for one week in the spring and another in the autumn. Captive breeders have found ways to keep up a perpetual bloom via aquaponics. Lurantis cannot photosynthesize effectively while they are blooming. This limits the amount of time they can bloom in the wild. Even if they have not yet attracted enough pollinators and can still smell another lurantis nearby, they will cut their losses by self-pollinating and shedding the flowers. In captivity lurantis can be given sugar water to absorb with their roots, letting them maintain their food reserves while continuing to bloom. So long as they can still detect the chemical signals of another lurantis and a pollinator species – while never actually encountering either – they will keep blooming in the hopes of reproducing. This perpetual bloom may gradually result in a loss of scythe petals, slower reaction times, and thicker, shorter roots. If done improperly it could result in the pokémon’s death.

Collectors enjoy crossbreeding different species to create new scent and color combinations. The most popular at present in the Monarch Lurantis, a breed known for its gold and silver ‘veins’ running along the pokémon’s bright green skin. When blooming their flowers are mostly pink except for silver and gold scythe petals. They smell like leppa berries.

Lurantis play no part in raising their offspring. They will usually ignore nearby conspecifics.

Relatives

Lurantis species can be found throughout Southeast Asia, Queensland, and the islands of the Pacific. How they crossed the sea to volcanic islands remains unclear. Alolan folklore that the trumbeak carried their seeds in their bills. It seems unlikely that the birds would keep the same seed in their beak for the entirety of a trans-oceanic flight, but there are few better theories at present.

The lurantis of Southeast Asia tend to be smaller and more vibrantly colored than their Alolan counterparts. Their lifespans are also shorter, typically only eighteen months, due to crocust predation. Many of these lurantis use their scythes to help them climb up trees to the canopy where they can bask in the sunlight. There is little to be found on the forest floor in the dense rainforests they call home.

 

[Persephone]

Shiinotic (Morelull)
Vulucem subturpis

Overview

Shiinotic are difficult pokémon to care for on the trail. Unlike most fungi, shiinotic are dedicated parasites that feed on grass-types, large trees, and any pokémon or animals they can put to sleep and drain blood from. Most pokémon and trainers are unwilling to be living blood banks for their teammates. Few parks or private landowners allow parasites to drain their trees.

Even if a trainer can feed their shiinotic, they may find it difficult to stay awake around them without inhaling their spores. Caring for them successfully requires caution, a high-quality respirator, time, and money.

Some trainers, usually fairy-type or fungi enthusiasts, may find the hassle to be worth it.

Physiology

Morelull and shiinotic are classified as dual grass- and fairy-types. Both typings are somewhat controversial.

Shiinotic are not plants. They do not photosynthesize. While they primarily feed off of plants, they can also feed off of sufficiently large animals or pokémon. Shiinotic are assigned the grass-typing because there is no fungi specific typing and they have similar relative elemental strengths and weaknesses to grass-types. They are highly flammable, dislike wind attacks, are cold intolerant, and can weather water and electric attacks easily enough. Herbicides also occasionally work as fungicides. Shiinotic also fight like most grass-types, relying more on spores and energy draining to wear opponents down rather than brute strength.

Shiinotic’s fairy typing is largely ceremonial, although they do have some affinity for fairy-type energy. Shiinotic rings were long held to be a gateway into a world of faeries. Their eerie lights have been known to lead travelers astray. Their uncanny faces and willingness to feed on blood has made humans dismiss them as otherworldly threats wholly unlike standard animalistic predators or unstoppable forces of nature. It is true that fairy-types often congregate around shiinotic rings, but they do so to meet conspecifics and obtain low-risk meals rather than for any mystical purpose.

Morelull closely resemble mushrooms, although they are not as related as they may appear. Morelull’s ‘face’ is a white or yellow basal bulb that is buried in the ground during the day. Aside from their face, the best way to identify a morelull is the faint smell of chlorine around them. A rim of scales extend from its top. There are two ovular pits on the bulb. These are actually eye spots that can sense light patterns, large moving objects, and heat. Small visual details are beyond morelull’s ability to perceive.

Two to five separate caps extend from the basal bulbs. These are usually tall and narrow with bright coloration. While most mushrooms have gills on the underside of their caps, morelull and shiinotic have small seed pods growing from the bottom.

Morelull have a few thick roots extending from the bottom of their basal bulb. These roots have sharp tips that can bore into tree roots or trunks and drain vascular fluids. They can also be filled with fluid and manipulated at joints to allow for limited movement, either through or above the soil.

Shiinotic have a single fruiting body. The mushroom cap alone is a majority of their mass. This cap stores nutrients and energy, allowing the pokémon to rapidly regenerate part of their body in a pinch or to go without food for several days. Their leg roots are also short, hampering their movement. Shiinotic gain a thin black ‘mouth’ upon evolution. The mouth curves upwards, giving the impression that shiinotic is always smiling. In reality the mouth is simply a shallow marking with no purpose beyond unnerving potential predators and prey.

Shiinotic’s second most useful adaptation are their long, root-like arms with needle-like tips. These arms can be used to drain fluids from plants and animals alike. Shiinotic are not picky about their prey so long as it will not run away from them. In a pinch the needles can also be plugged into the cap of a weakened morelull or shiinotic to infuse them with nutrients and elemental energy.

Their most useful adaptation by far are their spores. Shiinotic are known for producing far more spores than other fungal pokémon. A single individual can have five pounds of seed pods hanging from their cap with the ability to release another pound of loose spores from the folds the pods are hanging from. Shiinotic spores glow with hypnotic patterns that can disorient predator and prey alike. The loss of urgency and navigational ability draws them closer. Shiinotic’s spores contain chemical and hypnotic properties that lull their victims to sleep. While the victims are unconscious, they can be drained of their blood at the fungus’s leisure.

Shiinotic can grow to be three feet in height and weigh up to twenty-five pounds. They live for four years in the wild and captivity.

Behavior

Morelull almost exclusively feed on trees. They prefer to congregate in large rings of fifty to three thousand individuals in places deep in the forest where the trees are large enough to handle the loss of xylem. If anything unfamiliar or dangerous approaches all the morelull will unleash their spores at once. Particularly large rings can unleash enough spores to make the area dangerous for up to a kilometer around. One outburst even downed a low-flying plane.

Morelull, shiinotic, and parasect fight for control of particularly large trees. These fights are most intense at dawn and dusk as the diurnal parasect and nocturnal shiinotic meet each other. Ecologists generally prefer shiinotic as they rarely outright kill large trees, while parasect use up everything they can before moving on. If a morelull’s host becomes too weak they will abandon it and find another. In fact, shiinotic were purposefully introduced from Galar in the hopes that they would compete with the parasect and limit the damage they did to Alola’s old growth rainforests. So far the introduction has been successful and parasect populations have declined.

Shiinotic tend to prey more on animals, especially near rivers and other choke points. They congregate in a ring of ten to thirty individuals and begin releasing spores at night. The spores draw nearby pokémon closer and lead to them falling prey to the shiinotic. Some of these spores will also inevitably lead to new morelull being created (see Breeding). Predatory fairy-types that live near shiinotic rings will often protect the fungi in exchange for killing the occasional sleeping pokémon.

Despite the obvious dangers, nighttime tours of the dark and damp forests that shiinotic call home are incredibly popular. All visitors must wear a respirator and at least one guide pokémon must be alert and watching for any signs a tourist is falling too far under the shiinotic’s spell. Some people find the flickering lights of the spores to be beautiful. Others are there primarily for the other fairy-types that live around the rings. In the parts of Galar that both gardevoir and shiinotic call home, many ralts and kirlia visit the fairy rings in hopes of bonding with one of the tourists.

Husbandry

Feeding morelull can be exceptionally difficult. Ideally, they should feed off of live plants. If this is not possible they can be fed real or artificial xylem. They will only drink if there is a membrane or wooden barrier they must permeate first. Some facilities use wooden boxes with synthetic xylem inside to feed the morelull. The container must be refilled frequently as the morelull will stop drinking if there is not enough xylem for the ‘plant’ to survive.

Shiinotic must be fed blood in addition to xylem. Blood should make up no more than 40% of their diet, but can also be as little as 10%. The easiest way to feed shiinotic is by battling with them. Draining non-lethal amounts of blood is generally acceptable in the context of a pokémon battle. They are also similar enough to hunting for the shiinotic to readily grasp what they need to do. Shiinotic will be reluctant to drain fairy-types. Xylem can be fed through the same method as morelull.

Shiinotic will often attempt to drain teammates and their trainer when they are thirsty. This is perfectly normal for shiinotic as healthy individuals regularly gift fluids to weaker ones. The pokémon may be perplexed or even angry if their attempt is resisted. Having a telepathic translator can help, but shiinotic minds are very unusual due to their decentralized fungal nervous system and fey influences. They also do not understand spoken words very well and are best trained through positive reinforcement.

Both stages are gregarious and become uncomfortable if there is no one familiar around. Ideally they should be raised alongside other conspecifics. Trainers that only have one should make an effort to spend time around the shiinotic when they are active at night. Other nocturnal pokémon make good companions, although grass-types tend to dislike shiinotic as parasites and may make an effort to kill them. Parasect and shiinotic fight whenever they meet and it is nearly impossible to keep both on one team.

The second most challenging part of shiinotic husbandry is their spores. Every night shiinotic will release at least a quarter pound of spores into the air. If there are other shiinotic around they can release several pounds worth of spores at once. These are difficult to clean and can be mildly hazardous if inhaled, especially for those with breathing difficulties. It is recommended to take shiinotic somewhere remote at night and wear a respirator while they release their spores. With patience and steady reinforcement they can be trained to wait to release their spores until they are away from enclosed spaces.

Outside of their primary care challenges, shiinotic are fairly low maintenance. They enjoy the climate of most of Alola. A few days in Haina Valley or even on Lanakila will not be fatal for them. Shiinotic quickly heal from injuries. They also do not require any sunlight. In fact, they prefer to stay in dark areas as much as possible.

Illness

Shiinotic’s biology and frequent clashes with parasect have rendered them essentially immune to fungal infections. As long as the cap is mostly intact they can quickly heal from any injuries they suffer, often by draining the blood of the pokémon who inflicted the injury upon them in the first place. If shiinotic begin to dehydrate, a common problem for grass-types, they will become unusually aggressive in their attempts to drain blood from their trainer and teammates. This is annoying, but also a good sign that they need food.

Shiinotic’s main health problem are viral and bacterial infections. These often manifest as discoloration along the body, a sudden loss or surge in appetite, and eventually the slow rotting of the cap. So long as a veterinarian is consulted early in the process this is seldom fatal. It is also relatively uncommon, with only one in five shiinotic trainers ever reporting a viral outbreak.

Evolution

Morelull typically evolve around five to seven months of age. All of the caps wilt and fall off. A new one sprouts and grows increasingly large. The whole process takes approximately three weeks. The formal demarcation line is the ability to drain fluids from animals through their prehensile roots. In captivity morelull can be battled with safely throughout evolution.

Battle

Shiinotic do not have much ability to perceive sound. This leaves them almost unable to understand commands in the middle of battle. Thankfully, shiinotic have good combat instincts. They throw up spores, throw up more spores if the first wave fails, and then drain their target. Anything that can avoid their spores will be hit by moonblasts.

The downside to these instincts is that shiinotic are easy to plan and play around as their trainer cannot adjust strategies midbattle. Ranged wind attacks are the best ways to counter them as strong winds can blow spores out of the air and damage the shiinotic. Fire attacks are also good at causing the shiinotic to stop directly attacking and flee. Inorganic pokémon that are not at all affected by shiinotic’s spores can also hard counter them. This is especially true for steel-types that have little to fear from moonblasts or energy balls.

Shiinotic see some usage in the lower competitive circuits. Trainers not prepared for them can lose a pokémon to their simple but effective spore and draining combination. Trainers that are can usually stall out the switch timer and then send in a hard counter. This is a good risk for trainers just getting started, but not one veterans with years to train up their team are often willing to take.

Most island challengers don’t use shiinotic. This means that some totems can be blindsided by their spore and draining routine. Usually only one to three totems are entirely resistant to shiinotic spores. Trainers are usually more capable of working around shiinotic, but their type combination gives them an advantage over all of the current kahunas. Trainers should keep in mind that Olivia is actually a rougher matchup for shiinotic than the type chart would suggest as many of her pokémon are inorganic. Several also lack vascular systems.

Morelull are slower and slightly less durable than shiinotic. They also are not nearly as powerful and, most importantly, cannot directly drain the victim’s fluids. Morelull must instead use standard attacks like giga drain and leech seeed. Energy ball and dazzling gleam are often more reliable ways of doing damage.

It is possible to slightly influence a morelull or shiinotic’s in battle behavior through positive reinforcement of certain techniques during training. Be careful to limit the number of moves trained. It is very easy for shiinotic to fall afoul of the four move limit in matches that enforce it.

Acquisition

Shiinotic can be found in the dense rainforests of Akala and Ula’Ula. They are most common along Routes 5 and 11, but can be found in lesser numbers along Mt. Hokulani’s base, Route 17, Po Town, Route 8, Paniola Town, and Routes 4 and 6. They are easiest to spot at night but most docile during the day. Shiinotic’s large caps are readily identifiable. Morelull, especially when buried, can be far more difficult to spot. Look for the faint chlorine smell around them.

Morelull can be captured or purchased with a Class III license. Adoption is rare as specimens are almost always releasable. Shiinotic require a Class IV license to possess. Trainers with a Class III license are not grandfathered in when their morelull evolves. This is due to shiinotic’s tendency to drain the blood of even well-liked trainers.

Breeding

At night shiinotic emit huge clouds of spores, even if nothing is around to hunt. If two spores collide they will clump together and fertilize. Some of these spores will then fall on decaying wood. Morelull begin their life as a small fungus growing out of a rotting log. Eventually they will develop intelligence and mobility. At this point they will leave their log and set out to find live food. This usually takes about six weeks. If the log has not yet completely rotted away the fungus might grow another morelull. The second is usually smaller and will take several more weeks or months to reach its full juvenile size.

Captive breeding can be done by placing two shiinotic in a field with a thick layer of mulch and a few logs. Some breeding facilities have the mating occur indoors in a well-filtered, climate-controlled room. This prevents complaints from neighbors when spores blow into their yard and, inevitably, morelull start developing and walking around.

Shiinotic are generally protective of any morelull but show no particular affection for their own kin. Captive specimens will not expect to raise their offspring and will be perfectly fine if they are immediately sold to trainers, botanical gardens, or other interested buyers.

Relatives

Shiinotic’s closest living relative is breloom, a species native to the other side of Eurasia. They are distantly related to parasect. Alcremie is their closest relative that can be found in their native Galar and Ireland.

In Galar they can be found in old growth forests such as the Glimwood Tangle and Slumbering Weald. In Ireland they can be found in Fang’s Bog and the Great Ring. The forests of the islands are filled with fairy-types. Superstitions abound and the local populations remain deeply cautious when entering into the woods. One of the drivers of Galar’s industrial revolution was the need to produce more iron and steel for dealing with the fairies during and after The Rose War against the florges. Even following the removal of florges from the islands and the subsequent deforestation of many parts of Galar, the forests remain more the realm of superstition than science. Most of the research on wild shiinotic has actually occurred in Alola within the last twenty years.

Shiinotic’s ability to thrive in the warm rainforests of the archipelago suggests that shiinotic may have once lived in warmer climates. Their native forests are usually cold to cool year-round. Alolan shiinotic have also begun to develop tougher skin to ward off parasect slashes. Their spores have also slightly adjusted to be slightly toxic to other fungi, including the tochukaso mushrooms on parasect’s back.

 

[Persephone]

Parasect (Paras)
Vermiems herbaestas pyrite

Overview

Parasect is one of the best known examples of a parasitic pokémon. This is twofold: the tochukaso mushroom takes complete control over the organism by the time of evolution, and parasect survive by sucking out the xylem of trees until they die. Then they move on to another tree.

In Asia parasect are best known as a source of herbal medicine. In the mountainous areas where parasect can naturally be found there have been wars fought over their collection rights. Tochukaso can sell for over $1,400 a kilogram. Killing and harvesting a single parasect can be worth well over three month’s wages in the poorer regions of Tibet and Nepal. The dual threats of poaching and climate change have led to a precipitous decline in the Himalayan population.

Alola’s parasect are far less useful for medicinal purposes. The population on the islands are mostly remnants from abandoned attempts to farm them. Early Japanese colonists believed that the damp climate could facilitate mushroom growth. In reality the species struggles to grow properly in warm climates. Altering their spores to be toxic to morelull has further reduced their medicinal potency.

For all of the above reasons, the Alolan or tropical parasect is known in Asia as the pyrite parasect, visibly similar to gold but much less valuable. Local apothecaries will still use tropical parasect spores due to the difficulty of importing body parts of a critically endangered organism.

Trainers may find value in parasect as a relatively low-difficulty alternative to shiinotic. A clever trainer can even find a role for them to play in battle up to the fourth island. Some eclectic individuals also swear they make good pets. Trainers may ascertain the truth of these statements for themselves.

Physiology

Paras and parasect are classified as dual grass- and bug-types. There is some dispute over this typing as very young paras may not qualify for a secondary grass-typing. Fungi are also not a perfect fit for the grass-typing and may even warrant a typing of their own in the future. Consult the Shiinotic entry for more details.

Paras are yellow, red, or orange six-legged insects. The front legs are larger than the back ones and have pincers at the end. Their eyes appear to be complex with irises and retinas, but this is not the case. The outside of the ‘eye’ is simply a white marking. The interior is a complex eye. The eyespots are designed to make the pokémon appear larger at a glance.

Two tochukaso mushrooms grow from the back of a mature paras. Three to six smaller fruiting bodies appear above the eyes and mandibles. These mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of two separate fungal networks that heavily influence the nervous system of younger paras and outright control the actions of older specimens. While the fungi generally cooperate with each other, sometimes they will reach differing conclusions and cause the organism to freeze up.

Tochukaso mushrooms cannot photosynthesize or generate nutrients for themselves. They must rely on the host paras to obtain food for them. Paras are geared towards a nutrient poor diet of tree xylem. This is a very passive and uncontested food source, allowing for the fungus to take almost all the nutrients and leave the paras with just enough food to defend them in an emergency.

The pincers are a last line of defense in case anything gets too close. Spores are their main deterrent. Tochukaso manufacture a variety of spores for combat purposes, from paralytic neurotoxins to depressants that rapidly induce exhaustion. Even if the depressant does not instantly put the target to sleep it can interfere with complex thought and reduce the target’s drive to the point of sitting still while being harmed. Their most (in)famous but least frequently deployed is a neurotoxin that triggers intense, full-body pain for a few minutes. These spores are heavy and can only be deployed at short ranges. The pain inducing spores are most useful for medicinal purposes and can make a potent painkiller when processed correctly. The depressant and paralytic have their own applications. Eastern Medicine believes that an exact blend of boiled paralytic and depressant spores, as well as the treated flesh of the mushroom, can extend a person’s lifespan. When untreated the flesh of the tochukaso is highly poisonous due to its arsenic concentrations.

Parasect are much larger than paras. The fungus has taken complete control over the nervous system. The organism cannot survive without the fungus after evolution. Only one mushroom survives evolution. It grows ever larger until the parasect can barely move it. Some less useful parts of the insect are chemically mummified to reduce the nutrients needed to keep the organism alive. Parasect generally appear to be withered as few nutrients are ever sent to the insect portion of the body. The mushroom houses far more spores than paras’s mushrooms. A single parasect can coat the ground up to six feet away in a quarter inch layer of spores. Their pincers are also much larger and better for defensive and offensive actions until the spores can take effect.

Parasect can grow to be three feet tall, including the mushroom. They typically weigh thirty to forty pounds.

Behavior

Hatchling paras are the only life stage where the insect has full control of the nervous system. They still behave almost identically to older paras and parasect.

In old growth rainforests, paras dig into trees and drink up their xylem from the inside. Whole collectives of paras and even parasect can live in particularly large trees. These serve as protection and food sources alike. When the tree eventually dies the whole collective will leave and move on to find a new one. This is the most commonly observed feeding strategy in most of Akala and Ula’Ula.

In areas with only smaller trees, particularly mangroves, paras and parasect can take a different strategy. Paras’s pincers are used to either dig a burrow of their own or force another pokémon out and steal theirs. Parasect prefer to live in nearby caves, using their hooked legs and exceptional climbing abilities to rest on the ceiling, beyond the reach of most predators.

During the day, both stages emerge and find exposed mangrove roots to bite into. After draining the xylem for the day they will retreat to more protected areas to avoid wandering shiinotic at night.

As Alola’s parasect capture rules became better established the paras have become better at hiding during the day. They now prefer to dig their burrows near mangrove roots, giving them a faster retreat option at the expense of sometimes losing their burrow due to flooding. Parasect have begun to climb higher up larger mangrove trees and use their pincers to claw open the bark and drink directly from the trunk.

Parasect are not hierarchical. They also do not appear to be social, despite living in large collectives. Individuals will rarely acknowledge each other even when literally touching in a crowded tree cavity. Captive specimens do not seem to interact with each other more than absolutely necessary, although they will tolerate conspecifics.

Husbandry

Paras and parasect are generally much easier to care for than shiinotic. Unlike shiinotic, parasect do not discharge spores every night. Even in battle they usually release as few as they think they can get away with. A parasect trainer could theoretically go without owning a respirator, much less using it every night. Parasect also do not drink blood in the wild and almost never attack their trainer.

The line are usually reclusive, preferring to hide in dark areas and drink artificial xylem though a membrane. Descriptions for a feeding box can be found in the shiinotic entry. Unlike shiinotic, parasect can drink normally. They just prefer having to pierce a membrane or gnaw away wood to get to their food.

Parasect are not social with each other. Most are reclusive and prefer to stay in a cool, damp place whenever possible. Others can be curious and even affectionate towards other species, socializing with teammates and seeking out their trainer. They should still be given dark, damp places whenever possible, but will leave them willingly. These paras are also usually the most eager to battle. Particularly curious parasect will require occasional exposure to new environments or objects to keep them satisfied.

Parasect and shiinotic cannot be teammates. Parasect also tend to dislike other fungi and will try to gnaw on grass-types when hungry. Otherwise they tolerate most other species. There is no risk of parasect infecting insects other than their usual host.

Illness

Parasect are in a state of continual death and decay. The body no longer receives enough nutrients from the fungus and begins to slowly mummify outside of the most important muscles, organs, and exoskeleton components. They do not rot, however. Any rot is a sign of immediate concern. Substantial damage to a parasect’s mushroom that does not heal is also concerning. Paras can safely lose a mushroom without consequence.

Even if a problem is diagnosed it is very difficult to treat parasect. Both fungicides and insecticides are off the table. More esoteric methods of healing such as blissey eggs, potions, and heal pulse can upset the delicate balance between insect and fungus. They are usually fine to use on paras, riskier for parasect. Thankfully parasect are quite good at healing damage to the fungus. Serious injuries to the insect body can be slow to repair, if they are repaired at all. It is best to keep parasect out of situations where serious injury is probable. If spores will not work, consider not using the parasect at all.

Evolution

Paras have two fungi competing for control of the organism. Eventually one will predominate and eat most of the other’s roots within the insect. The mushroom will eventually fall off. If only one mushroom is still intact when the pokémon approaches evolution the other will not regrow and the remaining fungus will almost always win control. Evolution begins once the insect has reached a certain size and one fungus has destroyed the other.

Upon reaching the evolution threshold the pokémon begins eating more and more to facilitate rapid growth of the insect body. The mushroom begins growing shortly thereafter. Once both have reached their maximum size the insect body will begin to mummify, a process that will slowly continue until the organism’s death.

Battle

Parasect are far too frail to be of use in competitive battling. Breloom are almost always a better choice due to their much greater speed, power, and healing rate.

On the island challenge paras and parasect make for decent disruptors. They can learn to copy powder techniques from other grass-types to supplement their own natural spores. Just the ability to daze totems or put them to sleep makes them invaluable during trials. In the rare doubles match parasect can also learn rage powder to further disrupt opponent’s strategies, although they may not actually be able to take the hits coming their way.

Parasect’s problems are numerous. They are slow, frail, and only have average power. Their typing is also one of the worst possible, leaving them extremely vulnerable to fire and wind attacks. Any poison effective against either fungi or insects can be devastating to them. They also have little tolerance for extreme cold. Their offensive coverage options are also limited. It is almost always best to incapacitate a single opponent and immediately withdraw parasect. That is the most useful they will be, anyway.

Parasect’s best counters are inorganic pokémon immune to spore attacks. Flying types that can manipulate the wind to push spores away and damage the parasect are also very useful. So long as the spores can somehow be played around almost any fully evolved pokémon can win a damage race against parasect. Just take care not to get close.

Acquisition

In 1970 the Alolan commonwealth instituted a bounty system for the removal of paras and parasect. An increasing number were turned in, but the wild population never declined. This was because a number of enterprising breeders had taken to breeding the parasect, releasing the paras, and then recapturing them for a profit. Bounties were discontinued but there are no capture limits on the line.

Parasect can be found in the dense, moist rainforests in northeastern Akala and northern Ula’Ula. They are far easier to find in the mangrove forests of Brooklet Hill. During the day paras can be spotted hanging around roots and parasect can be seen high up in trees. Their skittishness makes a scent tracker or bird with keen vision useful for spotting them. Once captured they can usually be won over with regular feedings and a safe dark place to retreat to. Training them can take time and patience, except for the rare specimens that are naturally curious and aggressive.

Adoption has been controversial. As a devastating invasive species it was initially the policy of the government and nonprofits to cull any parasect surrendered to their care. This led to trainers releasing their pets instead of putting them up for adoption, compounding the problem. At present the government ships unwanted parasect to Asia. They are not useful enough to be culled for spores in China and Japan, and their small size makes them comparatively good pets. Pyrite parasect have thankfully become trendy pets in Macau and Hong Kong, allowing for shelters to reliably find homes for exported specimens. There is some concern that this may once more encourage captive breeding of the species.

Paras and parasect can be captured or purchased with a Class II license.

Breeding

Parasect consist of both male and female insect bodies and a hermaphrodite fungus. Mating involves both. First the insect bodies of two parasect will mate, usually in the spring. The female parasect will lay a clutch of three to five hundred eggs into a shallow hole in the ground. The eggs will hatch three weeks later. Both parents will watch over the eggs and young offspring until they are one month old. Both parents will then carve an incision into their surviving offspring’s back and place a spore inside. These spores will eventually expand to hijack the paras’s nervous system and form two mushrooms on their back. After this point the parents will ignore their offspring as much as possible, even when they are touching in a crowded tree hollow.

Captive breeding of parasect is relatively easy for a single pair and very difficult at scale. Parasect are difficult to sex as their organs are impossible to reach without risking harm to the insect or fungus. Genetic testing or telepathy are the only reliable ways of determining a specimen’s sex. Once a male and female are placed together with adequate food they will eventually mate, raise their offspring, and implant spores in their back. A large number of paras can theoretically be bred if the eggs are zealously protected in a controlled environment.

The real problem is feeding a large enough number of paras and parasect to make the operation financially viable. Before the modern era this was only possible by raising a collective in an old growth forest. Because parasect kill trees relatively quickly the practice is a blight on the ecosystem and not sustainable without very large plots of land. Eventually parasect collectives had depleted so much of the highland forests of Honshu that the Japanese government was having trouble with the displaced forest pokémon wreaking havoc in the cities. There simply are not enough suitable forests in Japan suitable for parasect to meet the country’s demand for spores and mushrooms.

It was thought that the parasect might breed naturally in Alola with its massive old growth rainforests. These forests are damp and the forest floor can often be quite dark from light being blocked by the canopy. Unfortunately, parasect grow the most useful spores only in cooler environments. Alola’s tropical weather made the spores near worthless and the remaining specimens were all released to the wild when the farms went bankrupt.

Modern techniques can be used to feed parasect artificial xylem, but this appears to decrease their eagerness to reproduce. In some cases it has resulted in them killing offspring outright rather than planting spores in them. Again, better results are seen with a single pair than with a full collective.

Relatives

There are three living subspecies of parasect. V. h. shānbǎo, the true parasect, are native to the Tibetan plateau and portions of Nepal and Bhutan. They can only survive in cold temperatures and thin air. True parasect are slightly larger than pyrite parasect, reaching up to four feet in height. They are mostly solitary and spread out over wide ranges, using spores sent into strong winds to communicate when it is time to mate. They are territorial and will kill other conspecifics that get too close to their current home. This prevents them from destroying every tree in the highlands.

V. h. polo are known as the domesticated, lowland, or silver parasect. They are larger than the other subspecies and regularly grow to be five feet tall. The largest specimen recorded was over six feet tall. These were carefully bred over the course of centuries to live in lowland forests of China. While they produce far more spores and larger mushrooms than highland parasect, they are of a lesser quality. Over the centuries some were eventually smuggled into Russia, Japan, Korea, and India and captive and feral populations were established. Feral populations prefer to live in large caves systems and mountainous regions. These are the direct ancestors of pyrite parasect.

The extinct Hisuian parasect, V. h. laventon, was never raised in captivity aside from a few specimens in the late 19th Century. They were descended from an ill-fated trading mission to Hisui in the 1300s. Over time these parasect became unusually aggressive towards humans and lashed out on sight. They would even attack humans guarded by fire-types and would never stop until they died. The reason for their aggression is unknown. The native peoples of Hisui preferred to leave them be in much of their range, only entering when we’ll protected. Any that got too close to settlements were culled. This allowed for their mushrooms to be harvested as needed and kept people safe.

Colonists in the 19th Century were not fond of the hyper aggressive parasect and ultimately drove them to extinction for the sake of wealth and expansion. The Hisuian parasect’s spores and mushroom could be sold at an even higher price than those of highland parasect. By 1960 only five captive specimens remained, all housed on the campus of the Kotobuki Natural History Museum. Despite some initial captive breeding success, the species was wiped out in 1965 after a gang stole and killed the parasect for their mushrooms.

Parasect’s closest insect relative are nincada. It is theorized that further research into parasect’s mummified bodies may unravel some of shedinja’s many secrets.

The closest living relative of the tochukaso parasect is shiinotic, another fungus known for feeding on blood. The two species harbor a deep, instinctual resentment for each other.

 

[Persephone]

Commissioned by Crashmoth.

Venusaur (Bulbasaur, Ivysaur)
Ranafloris valeri

Overview

Bulbasaur have long been a popular starter pokémon in their native South and Southeast Asian range as well as China, Korea, and Japan. In recent years they have even become popular alternative starters in portions of Europe and South America.

The species possesses most of the traits of a desirable starter. They are hardy, quick to grow, fearless, strong, and social. The average beginner can handle raising a bulbasaur and it will keep up with the rising power levels of opponents along their journey.

Bulbasaur were first introduced to Alola to control the insects eating sugar cane and pinap berry crops on Alolan plantations. They had the opposite problem that came with gumshoos: bulbasaur are primarily nocturnal ambush predators, while the pest insects were diurnal. The two rarely crossed paths in practice. Most of the plantation bulbasaur were eventually released. The DNR and private hunters have culled most of the population, but a few specimens were preserved on Route 2 so that new trainers can catch bulbasaur.

Whether bulbasaur are obtained as an alternative starter or an early capture, trainers can hardly do wrong with them. They make an excellent introduction to grass-types, amphibians, and training as a whole.

Physiology

All three stages and the mega evolution are classified as dual grass- and poison-types. This ruling is not disputed.

Bulbasaur are frogs. Their skin is a deep jade color with occasional darker or lighter markings on the skin to help them blend in better with natural environments.

Bulbasaur have large heads with big, red eyes. Despite appearances, bulbasaur do not have teeth. Instead they have odontoid projections. These projections, like teeth, are hard and sharp. They serve many of the same purposes. Bulbasaur’s bite is unpleasant to experience, even if it is unlikely to deal permanent damage to anything larger than themselves. Two horns extend from the top of bulbasaur’s head. These are not ears — their actual ears are circular tympanum that usually appear as dark circles behind the eyes.

By far the most notable part of bulbasaur’s anatomy is the plant growing from their back. In bulbasaur it has not yet begun to bloom and takes the form of a broad bulb growing from the back. It contains many seeds and powders that can be scattered in a pinch. The bulb is also photosynthetic and can provide energy to the frog through the roots’ connection to the frog’s blood vessels and stomach. However, most bulbasaur eat more calories than they need and support the bulb with their excess energy instead of the other way around. As they grow older this relationship steadily reverses. The bulb also conceals two prehensile vines that can be used to strike at range or to pick up objects out of the pokémon’s reach.

Ivysaur’s skin typically changes from a shade of dark green to a shade of blue or blue-green. This helps them better blend into shadows at night. Ivysaur’s plant has bloomed into a red or pink flower, although some rare specimens have a white or yellow flower. Four fern leaves extend from the flower. Ivysaur’s prehensile vines have grown in length and strength and are usually capable of supporting the pokémon’s weight when it descends from a cliff face or branch. The blooming flower can generate more versatile pollens than a bulbasaur’s bud can. Because of the flower’s weight, Ivysaur can no longer stand on their hind legs unsupported.

Venusaur‘s flower has grown from the simple bud-like petals of an ivysaur to multiple petals extending horizontally from a woody core. The fern leaves have grown broader and longer. The five petals of the fern and five petals of the flower are arranged in such a way that the ferns extend between the gaps in the flower, giving them unobstructed access to the sun during the height of the day. Venusaur’s skin has settled into a blue-green color for most specimens. Despite their bulk, venusaur are still capable of leaping their entire body length in one bound due to their powerful hind legs. This catches many opponents off guard.

The line’s flowers emit a pleasant scent that has calming properties in humans and most animals. People who spend time around venusaur tend to have their most extreme emotional responses dampened. Venusaur oil is used in several antidepressants. Their pleasant scent can also draw potential prey closer, just into range to be attacked. The calming influence of their flower will also dull their prey’s reflexes or deter some predators from attacking.

Venusaur can grow to be seven feet long when measured from snout to vent. They can weigh upwards of two thousand pounds. Wild specimens typically live for fifteen years. Captive venusaur routinely live for twenty-five.

Behavior

Like most grass-types, the venusaur line are relatively sedentary. They are ambush hunters by night and photosynthesizers by day. While they occasionally will move to a better sunbathing or hunting spot or for socialization purposes, the average venusaur is motionless for twenty hours a day.

Bulbasaur use their hind legs to dig a small hole for them to sit in. They spend most of their time in their hole with only the horns, nostrils, and bud sticking out of the ground. This allows them to breathe and photosynthesize while staying hidden. Anything of a similar or smaller size will be hunted if it enters lunging distance. Bulbasaur prefer to end prey with a single bite. Prolonged fights may require the usage of pollen or their vines. They will then swallow it, sometimes using their front legs to get the meal fully inside their mouth. Bulbasaur often misjudge the size of their prey and find themselves unable to kill it or even fit it into their mouth. Unfortunately, bulbasaur lack the ability to cut it into smaller pieces. If they cannot eat something they kill they will take it to the nearest venusaur as an offering. Captive specimens have a similar practice and will routinely present their trainer with kills too big for them to eat. They will appreciate it if their trainer cuts the meal into a more manageable size.

Bulbasaur are fearless and will lunge straight for attackers rather than running away. This is usually confusing enough to would-be predators that they abort the attempt and seek out more easily intimidated prey. Those that try to approach from behind will get a nasty kick from bulbasaur’s powerful, clawed hind legs for their trouble.

Ivysaur and venusaur only dig holes when the air is dry and the soil is moist. If both are dry they will seek out swamps or shallow ponds. Neither are strong swimmers, but they can breathe through their skin and walk along the bottom. Venusaur hate submerging their flower and will only walk in shallow water as a result. Ivysaur can close up their flower to protect the spores, letting them traverse deeper waters. Some ivysaur have even been documented hunting fish while lurking on muddy river bottoms.

Venusaur are primarily photosynthesizers. They spend their days moving around in search of the best angle for sunlight. If there is no clearing that provides enough light they will make it themselves. Venusaur’s vines are powerful enough to cut through smaller trees. The force behind their lunges can bring down some larger trees as well. Venusaur are not territorial and will happily share a clearing with other members of the vineyard.

During prolonged periods of cloudy or rainy weather venusaur can amplify their flower’s scent, drawing in pokémon while the venusaur hides in bushes, a hole, or shallow water. Then the venusaur will lunge and eat their prey. In sunnier weather venusaur will almost never eat other pokémon, no matter how close they get.

Some larger herbivores such as tropius will use venusaur vineyards as a daycare of sorts for their children, leaving offspring too large for ivysaur to eat in a clearing with venusaur. The larger grass-types dislike predators that could threaten their own offspring and will sometimes eat them out of parental concern. So long as the weather has not been stormy there is little risk to mid-size pokémon around venusaur. The frogs are also quite nurturing and instinctively try to meet the needs of young pokémon nearby. However, if food has been scarce they will occasionally kill their charges, cut them up, and feed them to starving bulbasaur and ivysaur.

Husbandry

The venusaur line are relatively easy pokémon to care for, especially considering their size. Venusaur are mostly photosynthesizers and can support themselves so long as they are given at least six hours of direct sun a day. They are fast enough to keep up with a slow hiking pace and are generally content to walk alongside their trainer in sunny weather. During the wet season they will need meat in their diet.

Bulbasaur are greedy eaters and will eat as much as they are given. They should be given one mouthful of food every three to five days for optimal growth. Sunlight exposure should be maximized whenever possible. Lean diets are preferred. Many trainers use artificial poultry or small insect carcasses. The line are also very fond of fish. Bulbasaur prefer live prey but can be conditioned to accept dead food. Ideally their food should be dusted in vitamin supplements for amphibians.

Ivysaur are somewhere between the two extremes. They should be given one mouthful a week and regular access to sunlight. At the height of the summer they can be fed once every two weeks. During the wet season they must be fed every three to five days like a bulbasaur.

All stages should regularly be offered either a water dish or freshwater to wade in. They can drink water with their mouth or absorb moisture through their skin. During the wet season they may not need to drink at all as long as they are kept outside for at least ten hours a day.

Venusaur are reasonably intelligent and can make good use of enrichment objects. Their favorite are rubber carnivore play balls that are just too big to swallow. They will do their best to wrestle with the ball or fit it in their mouth. Any toy small enough to fit in their mouth should be safe to swallow as they will attempt to eat it.

All stages enjoy spending time socializing with their trainer and teammates. Venusaur are loyal and nurturing pokémon that will not eat their trainer or known teammates. Captive-born specimens will never attempt to bite humans, although wild-born specimens may need training beginning as a bulbasaur. Their hunger is one of the reasons that it is not recommended to capture a wild-born ivysaur or venusaur.

Once a venusaur realizes that another pokémon is a teammate they will generally become protective of them. They tend to dislike fire-type predators and very large birds of prey. All other pokémon are fine. Even the pokémon they instinctively distrust can slowly come to be trusted.

Bulbasaur will dig. They must have something to submerge themselves in, be it dirt, sand, or blankets. They are rarely comfortable when fully exposed. Ivysaur dig less frequently. Hiding places such as bushes, inflatable pools, or large boxes are still appreciated. Venusaur are fine being mostly exposed, especially during the day. Hiding places such as groves of small tree, partially drained pools, trailers, and extremely large boxes are still appreciated at night. When a venusaur spends more time hiding than usual it can be a sign that they are hungry.

The Alolan climate is ideal for venusaur. As long as they are kept outside they should be fine. Only in the driest and coldest areas in the Commonwealth will they have trouble. Keep them in their pokéball as much as possible on Mauna Lanakila and in the Haina Valley. During the dry season water troughs and shallow pools should be provided in the dry season.

All three stages can be housebroken with a good deal of patience and steady reinforcement. Pans with minimal litter are preferred to avoid drying out the pokémon’s skin.

Illness

In cold, dry weather the line can enter brumation. The pokémon will grow a thick, dry outer skin, partially bury themselves, and stay motionless to conserve energy. When the weather becomes warm and moist again they will shed and eat the outer skin and resume their previous lifestyle.

Many trainers mistakenly believe their pokémon to be dead when it is merely in brumation. If the skin appears to be thicker and of a different texture and shade than normal, try moving the Pokemon to a more suitable environment. Consult a veterinarian if brumation does not end within twelve hours of the move.

Osteoporosis and other metallic bone diseases can occur in bulbasaur that do not get enough calcium in their diet. As they grow older their weak bones can collapse under the pokémon’s own body weight. Be sure to give older bulbasaur food with bones in it as often as possible. Very young bulbasaur should have the insects fed to them dusted in a calcium supplement.

Red leg syndrome manifests as a series of red sores on the hind legs and abdomen. These are the result of a bacterial infection from sitting in unclean soil or water. So long as water sources are kept clean and a distinct litter area is used it is relatively easy to avoid. If it does manifest, immediately clean the pokémon’s environment and consult a veterinarian.

Evolution

Bulbasaur and ivysaur evolution are ritualized in the wild, complete with elaborate ceremonies initiating the newly evolved pokémon into their own rank. Whole age groups are recognized at once, making the cutoff in the wild less about development and more about age. Nine and eighteen months are the evolution thresholds into ivysaur and venusaur, respectively.

Scientists tend to classify the evolutionary cutoffs as being the development of fern leaves and an exposed woody stem. This is easier to track when birth dates are unknown, and is usually more relevant to their care and battling capabilities than age alone.

Venusaur can undergo mega evolution. The resulting transformation makes them slightly stockier and gives them thicker skin. The flower on their back grows taller and gains another layer of fern leaves. A second pink blossom sprouts from the forehead. Mega venusaur is stronger and more durable than normal venusaur at the cost of speed. Mega evolution leaves the pokémon drained and in need of a large meal but otherwise has no adverse effects.

In Galar venusaur can take a gigantamax form. The flower grows disproportionately large. Gigantamax venusaur can blanket arenas in sleep-inducing spores. Their vines become powerful enough to topple buildings at the cost of precision. The only good way to counter gigantamax venusaur is to have a pokémon immune to the spores and able to duck between strikes until the gigantamaxing ends.

Battle

Even outside of Galar, venusaur are quite popular in the competitive circuits. They do not excel at any one thing: there are far more durable walls, stronger wallbreakers and setup sweepers, and better sleep abusers. But they are bulkier than most offensive pokémon, stronger than defensive ones, and have a variety of power and seed tricks to disrupt and drain opponents. It can be hard for opponents to reliably plan around all of venusaur’s potential game plans and they can adjust on the fly. Venusaur rarely carry high level games, but they’re almost never useless in a battle.

Venusaur’s strength varies with the seasons. They are at their strongest in the summer in temperate climates or the dry season in tropical ones. The use of artificial sunlight can keep them near peak condition in the winter as well, but some venusaur dislike it and prefer low quality natural light to even the best artificial alternatives.

On sun teams venusaur gain a surge in physical strength that lets them move decently quickly, better set up with growth, and fire near instantaneous solar beams. This makes them a staple of the archetype. Boosted sunlight does leave them even more vulnerable to fire attacks that can damage their plant and skin alike.

Even outside of enhanced sunlight venusaur can muscle through some walls with a combination of growth and solar beams. Speedsters can be disrupted by sleep powder, stun spore, and strikes from their vines that can break the bones of frailer opponents. Some offensive pokémon can be walled by leech seed, synthesis, and poison powder. Venusaur’s gameplay outside of sun teams is usually reactive to the opponent’s strategy.

The best way to deal with venusaur is telepathic assault from a distance. Teleporters like alakazam are at an advantage as they can dodge spore clouds and solar beams, both of which are usually telegraphed to some extent. Outside of psychics, inorganic steel-types don’t care about venusaur’s spore attacks and can withstand solar beams and vine whips for a time. However, in enhanced sunlight steel-types must be wary of weather ball. Fire-types are the best counter for venusaur in sunlight and still a solid one outside of it. Some trainers teach their venusaur earthquake, but most fire-types can win the damage race. Airborne fire-types like charizard and volcarona have little to fear from venusaur.

Absent a dedicated counter, it is important to remember that venusaur have no overwhelming strengths of their own. They can still be worn down and taken out by strong opponents playing well. It will just be somewhat difficult due to their size and power. Try to minimize the impact of spores by avoiding clouds of them and not getting pinned by vines, setting up an opportunity for a sleep powder or solar beams to hit dead on. Venusaur attacks are usually somewhat telegraphed. Keep a distance when possible and avoid attacks until an opening presents itself.

Ivysaur can use a mix of powders and their vines to deal with opponents at mid-range. Anything that gets too close can overwhelm them and anything too far can be very difficult to hit. Try to keep opponents between five and ten feet away at all times.

Bulbasaur lack many of the special skills that make their evolutions so versatile. They are still bulky and reasonably strong for their size, letting them deal with opponents up close. Techniques like leech seed will require teaching the bulbasaur some measure of patience, which is sometimes only possible after they have learned the limits of attacking everything mouth-first. They are still young Pokémon and will need to be coached in a way that keeps this in mind. So long as their successes are rewarded and their setbacks handled with compassion and a helping hand, they will grow to be loyal partners for life.

Acquisition

Bulbasaur can be found in the wild on Route 2. They are most active at night but easiest to spot during the day. On balance it is usually best to look for them around dawn and dusk. Proving battles can help convince a bulbasaur to go with a trainer but are not always necessary. They are semi-domesticated and will often eagerly go with a human to get stronger. Venusaur do not necessarily need to give approval, but the vineyard’s leader should still be approached and made aware. This will improve the bulbasaur’s mental health and reduce the chances of an attack by an angry venusaur.

Ivysaur and venusaur are usually not appropriate for bonding with trainers. To ensure the continued availability of bulbasaur their capture is ordinarily prohibited.

Some shelters keep all three stages, although the bulbasaur are usually quickly adopted. Venusaur, like most large predators, usually have their adoptions handled by the League. Ivysaur are the only stage routinely available for adoption. Breeders also regularly sell bulbasaur of a suitable age for starting a journey, as well as the occasional ivysaur.

Bulbasaur can be obtained with a Class I license. Ivysaur require a Class II license to adopt or purchase. Venusaur require a Class IV license to adopt or purchase.

Breeding

Venusaur do not mate for life. Still, mating tends to occur between socially bonded individuals of similar temperament, social status, and power. For the most part the same pairs breed year after year and remain close outside the breeding season. But if a better mate presents themselves they will move on.

Venusaur are ovivaporous. Fertilization occurs internally during late July or early August. After approximately ten weeks the female will give birth to approximately twenty-five bulbasaur. Newborns are only six inches long and still have a short tail. The seed of their plant is deposited into the back shortly after birth. Very young bulbasaur primarily hunt larger non-pokémon insects. The mother carefully watches over her children until they are two months old, at which point they are granted more independence. Her offspring sleep huddled against her during the day until they are six months old. In captivity this is when they can be separated from their mother and given to trainers.

Captive breeding requires keeping two venusaur on hand through the dry season. The male can be kept around after mating or removed. The female will tolerate his presence but he will not actively assist in childrearing. Venusaur can be standoffish with anything else that gets too close to her offspring, even including her trainer. Sometimes the mother will be aggressive towards older bulbasaur and ivysaur. Cannibalism is not unheard of in the species, although it is rare for all but the smallest of bulbasaur to be eaten. Venusaur have never been documented practicing cannibalism at all. It’s best to give a mother her space for the first three months, at which time she can be reintroduced to her trainer and non-venusaur teammates.

Cross breeding has been attempted but has rarely been successful due to the strain of the seed on a hybrid. The only successful pairing has been with whyeye, a grass-type frog native to the rainforests around the Caribbean.

Relatives

The semi-domesticated venusaur (R. valeri) have no recognized subspecies. Wild venusaur (R. ranafloris) are native to Indonesia, the Philippines, most of Southeast Asia, portions of China, and the eastern edge of India. They are smaller and much more aggressive than semi-domesticated venusaur. They are also more aquatic and have wider webbed feet at the cost of lunging strength. Wild venusaur are mostly solitary and are extremely territorial outside of mating season. Even without the size of their semi-domesticated counterparts, wild venusaur are a major threat to humans living in their habitat. How they were brought into captivity in large enough numbers to selectively breed remains a mystery.

 

[Persephone]

Rotom
Exspiravit intesta

Overview

Over the course of the last century rotom have gone from rare, malevolent tricksters to a highly desired component of luxury consumer electronics.

Rotom are a solid introductory ghost-type due to the relative ease of appeasing them and their comparatively simple diet. Electricity and silicon aren’t always cheap, but they are much easier to conceptualize and routinely provide than endings, friendship, or fear. Rotom are also the rare electric-type that improves electronics rather than destroying them.

The main drawback of rotom is the difficulty of obtaining one. Specimens trained to work in a phone or pokédex often lack battle experience and are unwilling to fight. Having a phone put out of commission while its occupant is recovering is also undesirable. Wild rotom, the kinds that are willing to battle, are far more mischievous than tame specimens and can only be found around recent wormholes. This puts any trainer who wants to scout for rotom at risk of encountering an Ultra Beast instead.

Progress is being made on rotom breeding, but nearly 95% of rotom sold on the markets are wild caught. Their rarity, combined with the demand for rotom in luxury electronics, makes obtaining a battling specimen very expensive. For now, they are still limited to wealthy, connected, lucky, or risk-seeking trainers.

Physiology

Rotom are classified as dual electric- and ghost-types when they are not possessing an electronic device, dubbed an appliance by rotom scholars. There is ongoing debate as to whether rotom occupying an appliance should have their ghost typing temporarily replaced with either steel or a typing thematically linked to the appliance. The Department of Agriculture has identified five broad categories of appliances as granting a secondary typing in place of the ghost typing. Whether this policy should be extended to other appliances or reversed altogether is a controversial topic.

Rotom’s core body takes the form of two orange or white spheres stacked on top of each other with a conical spike extending from the top sphere. The top sphere is much larger than the bottom and contains a pair of blue or white eyes. Some rotom have monocolor eyes while others have an apparent iris. Some wild rotom have been documented with what appear to be compound eyes. Some have been seen with no eyes at all. The eyes appear to be strictly cosmetic and will gradually change over time to match those of nearby species.

The core body is surrounded by a layer of ectoplasm. Rotom ectoplasm is unusual in that it does not display the typical properties of spectral fog, such as billowing in the wind or being disrupted by objects moving through it. Instead, it acts as a sort of plasma filled with electrical potential. Two to four thin arms extend from the core, again depending on the length and number of arms typical in the area. The ectoplasm smells faintly of sulfur.

Captive rotom are rarely seen in their vase form. They prefer to live inside of and integrate with nearby technologies. At the most basic level of integration, rotom can disrupt a device’s standard functions and take control of them. The process is faster and more effective for more advanced technologies.

At higher levels of integration rotom can levitate and move their appliances, but not phase them out of the physical plane or move them through solid objects. Rotom will typically extend arms from the appliance while moving it but this is not required. Rotom begin to display abilities conceptually linked to the appliance, such as launching heat waves from an oven or aerokinesis when occupying a fan.

At the final state of integration, the appliance itself changes. Its circuitry is altered and even the materials can change to something more advanced or alien. The more complex the device, the more it will change. The most advanced electronics can be transformed into materials and configurations that are not understood by modern engineering and cannot be operated without the rotom possessing it.

Fully integrated appliances begin to display abilities conceptually linked to the object. Microwaves can blast out radiation from across the electromagnetic spectrum. Modern washing machines can ‘clean’ things by purifying metals, killing bacteria, and even imposing temporary mental compulsions against swearing. Refrigerators can flash freeze nearby liquids or hold objects inside them in short-term temporal stasis. Bicycles made to incorporate rotom can be altered to run at the speeds of motorcycles, function as paddle-boats, or even fly under moonlight.

Computers and phones made to accommodate rotom can resist hacking from porygon. They can operate at speeds a decade ahead of their time and incorporate features only tangentially related to the software installed.

Rotom pokédexes can scan opposing pokémon and glean information specific to the individual rather than the species. They can gauge rough elemental energy levels, apparent health, and physical condition and ownership of observed pokémon. They can also quickly browse the web for any available information on opponents and form a crude simulation of what the trainer and pokémon are likely to do given past recorded battles. The species has managed to revive a technology that was considered defunct with the advent of smartphones.

The consensus in the fields of ghost and alien studies is that rotom alter devices to match the technologies of their home. Whether this home is another point in space, such as another planet, or another point in the timeline is still debated. Integration occurring faster in more advanced devices is due to the pokémon better integrating with technology closer to ones it is familiar with. The elemental and conceptual linkages are less well understood. They may be linking into the spirits of the inventor or past users. Whether appliances truly grant rotom new abilities or merely help them channel ones they already had is also disputed. Rotom are evasive when asked the question.

Rotom’s core spheres typically grow to nine inches in height with ectoplasm adding a more widely varied amount. They typically weigh eight to ten ounces. Wild and captive lifespans are both poorly understood. Rotom admit to having an ‘expiration date,’ but it appears to be more than four decades. Captive specimens were rare before this time and it is extremely difficult to do long-term studies on them in the wild.

Behavior

Wild rotom display very different personalities than captive specimens. In the wild rotom are mischievous tricksters that enjoy playing pranks on anyone who approaches. These pranks are seldom fatal, but they enjoy creating highly stressful situations. They have been known to burn irreplaceable paintings and documents, raze memorial gardens, and generally push people to their breaking point without causing physical injury. When there are no humans around, they instead turn their attention to the most intelligent species they can find. Rotom have never been observed playing pranks on other ghost-types in the wild. This is likely a survival instinct: dragons and true psychics cannot follow them into whatever realm they phase their ectoplasm into, but ghosts can and will.

It was previously believed that rotom fed on feelings of stress or irritation. This has subsequently been proven false. Wild rotom spend most of their time following storm fronts to feed on the static electricity in the thunder clouds. When they do descend it is often to areas with quartz deposits that can be melted and absorbed into the ectoplasm.

Rotom began to act differently in the 1940s and 1950s. They gradually began moving into cities full time to feed on the abundant electricity and silica. Some would come to help the humans they lived alongside rather than harm them, especially when it granted them access to ever more sophisticated electronics to inhabit. Even rotom that are not bonded with humans generally prefer to live in abandoned buildings with ready access to potential appliances. They can make these buildings abandoned by driving out the previous inhabitants with their pranks.

Captive rotom do not entirely lose their mischievous streak. Those occupying computers are known to insert ‘joke’ bugs into the code and regularly play games with the user. They try to never cause enough frustration to be abandoned outright but will still sometimes try to embarrass their owner by delaying transactions while a line forms behind them or turning on text-to-speech when their trainer is reading something lascivious while in public.

Rotom are more helpful than harmful, but they require patience to deal with. When allowed and inclined to battle they typically take out their mischievousness on opponents. Trainers with a good sense of humor can also work with the rotom to play pranks on other people rather than being the punchline themselves.

Rotom are not particularly social with conspecifics. When in close proximity they tend to ignore each other. On the surface they tend to spread out. Their behavior inside of thunderclouds is not well understood, but they are probably asocial there as well. When in captivity they will frequently converse with their trainer. When asked why humans make better conversational partners to them than conspecifics, rotom usually state that other rotom are annoying.

Husbandry

Rotom prefer to spend most of their time inside of an appliance. They can levitate one appliance at a time. If it is well-enough integrated, a single appliance can also be stored inside of a pokéball. Most rotom will want to own multiple appliances, especially if they frequently battle. All but the heaviest will need to be carried on the trail.

The best appliances are those with the most advanced circuitry. Computers, phones, and pokédexes are good as a home device of sorts. The appliances recognized by the USDA for their combat applications are microwaves and ovens, lawnmowers, refrigerators, washing machines, and fans. Of these, fans are often the smallest and lightest but typically have the crudest circuitry. The only really suitable ones are those custom-built for rotom. Washing machines and microwaves are usually recognized as the best for combat due to the advantageous typings they convey, but are also some of the bulkiest. All appliances custom built for rotom are expensive, typically costing four or more figures. They can also be difficult to repair if they are broken in battle. Less wealthy trainers usually purchase less sophisticated appliances for combat, typically a fan or miniature oven of some sort, and accept that their rotom’s integration will never be as thorough as it would be with a custom-made machine.

Rotom feed on electricity and silica. Electricity can be provided through the charger of the appliance they occupy. The best silica are circuit boards. The rotom will melt them down and absorb the silica into their electoplasm. Quartz, sand, and glass are also acceptable, but will not provide as much energy.

While they are not as skilled a translator as proper telepaths, rotom can still be used in that capacity. It will take them some time to understand the languages of pokémon other than ghost types. Rotom initially do not have a full understanding of human languages, either, but properly coded and integrated devices such as smartphones, pokédexes, and computers can let them learn quickly.

Some trainers with rotom in their consumer electronics use them as a digital assistant like a porygon. There are dangers to this as rotom are famously mischievous. However, most of the time they will do a solid job of combing emails, setting reminders for upcoming events, scanning for and removing malware, and quickly navigating software. Porygon and Porygon2 are generally considered to be more reliable as assistants, but they lack the personality and ability to upgrade hardware of rotom. The disabled and those who handle highly secure information generally prefer porygon for the reliability while casual consumers and the elderly prefer rotom for the novelty and company.

If a rotom is not going to be battled with, some trainers keep it as a seventh team member. Pokémon Centers usually have policies against checking in with more than six pokémon on hand or checking more than six at a time, but most make exceptions for non-battling rotom and porygon.

Illness

Injured rotom will need time to fully purify and restore their ectoplasm. This occurs naturally so long as they are allowed to feed. There is little that can be done to accelerate this process aside from specialized potions made for ghost-types. These tend to be expensive and have a short shelf life so not every Center will use them on a ghost that will recover naturally in time.

Minor damage to highly integrated appliances can be repaired by the rotom itself. Severe damage can render the appliance unusable as either a home or battling instrument. Some appliances can be repaired by a normal mechanic. Fully integrated appliances are often too advanced for anyone to properly put back together.

Rotom rarely suffer conventional illnesses. They lack an organic body to get sick. Because they do not feed on emotions they are highly resistant to most of the common phantom illnesses. Instead, they suffer from a gradual decrease in the potential energy in their ectoplasm as they age. The few captive rotom deaths from ‘old age’ that have been observed were between ten and sixty years after capture. It was difficult to tell how old the rotom were at the time of death. Particularly severe damage to the ectoplasm may also be fatal.

Evolution

Rotom are not known to evolve to or from another pokémon. Their appliance integration may be an ‘evolution’ of the appliance, but the rotom can still freely leave it at any time with no consequences. It is also endlessly repeatable. It is not viewed as an evolution.

Battle

There are five appliances recognized for use in battle. Some rotom also fight without an appliance. This strategy is dubbed ‘naked rotom’ and is used primarily for the speed boost and ability to phase out of the physical world for short periods of time. Battling with and against all six styles will be covered here in varying degrees of detail.

Rotom-Wash is the most widely used rotom form on the competitive circuits. The Ginga Corporation in Sinnoh makes a mid-sized washing machine designed for easy integration and use in combat. Imported machines are expensive, around $5,000, and too heavy to take on the trail without a dedicated pack pokémon or the rotom carrying it.

Electric- and water-typing is exceptional, especially with the ability to hover above most seismic attacks. Rotom are also more resistant to ghost and dark damage when in appliance, leaving it difficult to exploit elemental weaknesses. In turn the rotom can unleash powerful thunderbolts and hydro pumps at opponents when using an offensive strategy. The most common combination is to soak the opponent in cold water before unleashing thunderbolts that spread across their entire body. Defensive tactics rely on the appliance’s enhanced durability and the many tricks ghosts have up their sleeves, such as pain split and will-o-wisp, to more gradually wear down opponents. Some mix of the two strategies makes rotom-wash one of the most annoying pokémon to face.

This isn’t to say that rotom-wash is unbeatable. Their washing machine is enhanced, but particularly strong fighting-types can break it and force the rotom out. Damage to the machine while rotom is operating it will also damage the ectoplasm and potentially knock it out. Becoming elementally aligned with water means that grass-types with long-ranged offenses can shut rotom down quite easily. However, rotom can still ignore the spores that many grass-types use to weaken opponents. They are best fought like inorganic pokémon rather than organics or even ghosts.

Rotom-wash are also slow. They cannot dodge many laser style or electrical attacks and can be trapped by clever arena controllers. Most teams will naturally have some way of dealing with them so long as they can stall out the switch clock. Water-types that don’t care about electricity are particularly solid counters. Swampert and the increasingly popular quagsire in particular make for excellent checks.

Rotom-heat is the next most popular. Fire and electricity have good offensive coverage together. The sheer amount of heat the appliance gives off also makes most fighting-types wary of making direct contact. The pokémon’s will-o-wisp attacks are also supercharged, making it easier to cause intense psychosomatic pain and discomfort. Opponents that try to run out the switch clock can be countered by setting up with nasty plot alongside them, further increasing the pokémon’s offensive power. The worse defensive typing and lower durability of the appliance means that this strategy is usually used offensively rather than defensively.

Rock-types with stone armor are annoyed by ghost-type attacks rotom-heat unleashes but can otherwise tank electrical and fire attacks. Rotom in appliances are also often reluctant to attack with ghost energy as it temporarily diminishes their control over the appliance. Eventually the rotom can be taken out with a few lucky hits from a rock attack. Ground types with offensive options other than seismic moves are the next best counters. Gliscor in particular can duel the rotom in midair, weave around will-o-wisps, and eventually take them out. Ranged fighting-types like mienshao and lucario can break the appliance from a distance. Dragons can also usually close the distance and finish off rotom-heat quickly. Finally, steelix are used to enduring high temperatures and do not care at all about electrical shocks. They are perhaps the best counter to rotom-heat.

Rotom-mow is the distant third most popular appliance. Because they are elementally and conceptually linked to a lawnmower, this form is much faster than the two mentioned above. They also tend to hug the ground more and seem to struggle with fast flight. This is also the only rotom form that prefers to fight at melee range, closing the distance with opponents and then unleashing their whirring blades on them. From a distance they can still rely on leaf storm and thunderbolt, although they often prefer to use thunder wave instead to make it easier to get close. This appliance is almost always used offensively, with a few sets also taking advantage of defog or a status move to make them an offensive support option.

Because rotom-mow want to get in close, most fighting-types can get to work damaging the appliance once it comes to them. Even the best lawnmower appliances are not nearly as durable as the fully integrated appliances of the wash or mow forms. Mostly they rely on the surprise factor of whirring blades, loud noises, and occasional projectile attacks to intimidate opponents into retreating. Some pokémon simply do not care. Trying this tactic against a dragon is asking for failure. Some fighting-types simply welcome the strange challenge. A few poison-types suck as muk do not mind the blades and have little to fear from leaves or electricity.

Neither rotom-frost or rotom-fan are very common. Rotom-fan are good at removing hazards and blowing away the traps of arena controllers in general. They unfortunately lack the raw offensive power of many other appliances and aren’t particularly durable either. Their speed is useful, but they can be outlasted by most walls and eventually caught and knocked out by offensive pokémon. Rotom-Frost has a devastatingly good offensive combination and solid bulk, but they are not at all fast and are the most vulnerable to fighting-type attacks due to their elemental linkage with ice. Trainers that want a more durable appliance usually go for rotom-wash. Those who want more offensive power in a fight go with rotom-heat. Rotom-mow is sometimes used as a strange, speedy third option. The others are used only against specific opponents where they might be useful, such as hazard stacking stall or dragon specialists.

Naked rotom fight very differently from the appliance users. They can phase out of reality for short periods of time, zip around the battlefield unencumbered, and hit opponents with disruptive tricks such as pain split, will-o-wisp, and thunder wave. They can also use their speed and phasing to evade enemy attacks while setting up nasty plot.

Rotom in appliances are usually allowed to leave and reenter the appliance midbattle. It is considered unsportsmanlike to target an unoccupied appliance on the field. Doing so intentionally can incur penalties such as fines or suspension.

Acquisition

Rotom do not breed in the wild (see Breeding). The only rotom to be found in nature are relatively recent arrivals from wormholes, space-time distortions, and other points where the barriers between dimensions are thin or the timeline is distorted. Alola has one of the largest rotom populations as a result. There is a small wild population in Poni National Park. Capture is usually prohibited to allow for research. Rotom can also often be found around recent wormhole activity. Rotom are quite likely to either be ignored by first responders or slip past their quarantine area. The problem with wormhole chasing is that Ultra Beasts, especially smaller ones like kartana, are equally likely to escape initial containment efforts. Trying to find and capture rotom this way can be exceedingly dangerous.

For trainers willing to try it is nearly impossible to actively hunt down rotom. It’s best to camp nearby and wait for them to come and try to pull pranks. Then a ghost-type can be used to trap and capture them. Rotom should quickly be exposed to some sort of computer, including smart phones, pokédexes and tablets, to try and coax them into being relatively tame.

Rotom can be captured with a Class II license. They can be purchased with a Class I. Shelters usually do not take rotom due to their propensity for pranks and the demand for them on the open market.

Breeding

Rotom can reproduce. The Ginga Corporation has done so and independent scientists have verified the feat. The exact details are a trade secret. All that is known is that it requires an integrated supercomputer and a few other factors. While rotom breeding has helped meet the demand in recent years, it still cannot be done at scale. Individual trainers cannot do so either. Even attempting would require purchasing a supercomputer and the systems needed to run it and experimenting until the rotom reproduce. Even then the attempt would probably fail. None of Ginga’s competitors have succeeded in reverse-engineering the breeding process.

Relatives

As extradimensional aliens without DNA it is difficult to determine rotom’s lineage. Some scientists have linked them to spiritomb and golurk as spectral pokémon bound to minerals. They theorize that rotom may have been created by humans and sent out as scouts to explore space and time. Their interest in modern technology and advancement of it might be designed to advance our civilization to a level where the rotom’s creators would take interest in us or to make us dependent upon them in preparation for an invasion. This is all speculation: there is no concrete evidence that humans created rotom and their ectoplasm is very different from that of spiritomb.

Chandelure have the closest ectoplasm to rotom of any spectral pokémon. Even then it is not a particularly close relationship.

Some scholars have positied that xurkitree are rotom’s closest relative. Both have highly charged bodies, extradimensional origins, and similar diets. However, rotom can be found in incursions that xurkitree are not.

Finally, there are those who theorize that rotom is a missing link between machine and spectral pokémon. In some time and place, rotom may have evolved to be permanently linked to their appliances and add generators to support their continued life. Eating silica would keep their body going indefinitely. This would also explain the rather sudden appearance of terrestrial machine pokémon in the early 1900s. All older machine pokémon are extraterrestrial. Of course, steel-based machines are quite similar to the mineral pokémon that have existed for millions of years. Gigalith and klinklang sharing an ancestry is just as plausible, if not more so, than rotom and klinklang. The extraterrestrial machines such as metagross may have also assembled the first machine pokémon for their own purposes.

For now scientists have nothing but speculation on where rotom originated from. Perhaps in time the answer may come to us, either from the minds of this world or another.

 

[Persephone]

Politoed (Poliwag, Poliwhirl, Poliwrath)
Patetpellis mantella cisequitoria

Overview

Politoed are one of the most widespread pokémon on the planet. They can be found in rainforests, estuaries, wetlands, and lakes around the world. This is partially because of poliwrath’s exceptional swimming ability and wanderlust. It is also because of politoed’s ability to manipulate weather patterns. Semi- areas can become substantially wetter when enough politoed gather. This has helped stave off climate change-induced aridification in parts of Africa and Australia, such as the area around Lake Chad. Several governments have taken to breeding and shipping in politoed to semi-arid environments in an effort to make them more fertile.

Unfortunately, politoed do not create moisture. They simply call it down from the sky as rain. When all of the available moisture falls on one lake or river basin, the amount of rainfall downwind is dramatically reduced. In extremely arid environments there is very little politoed can do at all. This has set up conflicts over politoed and water in Southwest Asia, the Sahel, and the American Southwest and Anahuac where some nations and states use politoed bands to call the rain to the detriment of other nations. Niger, Nigeria, and Chad fought the four-month Lake War over poiltoed bands. The liberal use of politoed to bring back life to the Trinity Dead Zone may have also exacerbated the civil war in Anahuac. There are ongoing disputes between the states and tribal nations of the Southwest over the flow of the Colorado River, distribution of major aquifers, and the moisture in the air.

In Alola a lack of rainfall is not a problem. Politoed are actually seen as a nuisance for their harsh, bellowing cries near popular parks and tourist resorts. Some modern artists have made symphonies and other compositions based on politoed cries to challenge the idea of what is beautiful. Most people just find them annoying. Many of the politoed used in the Southwest have been exported from Alola.

Politoed and poliwrath are both solid choices on the island challenge. Poliwrath are strong, tough, and willing to train. Politoed can call down rain to enable weather-based strategies and they know their share of tricks to boot. While poliwag can be difficult to raise, trainers who do so often find the end result to be worth it.

Physiology

Poliwag, poliwhirl, and politoed are all classified as pure water-types. Poliwrath are classified as dual water- and fighting-types. The pure water designation is disputed. Some taxonomers would assign them a secondary psychic-typing to reflect their spiral organs effect. Beyond the specific purpose of putting foes to sleep, poliwhirl have very little psychic ability. Others would assign politoed a flying-typing to reflect their ability to call moisture from the air. Politoed display next to no other aerokinetic abilities. For now a type change seems unlikely.

Poliwag are tadpoles born with short, semi-functional hind legs. They have a long, broad tail they can use as a paddle. Their most notable feature is their translucent skin that allows their internal organs and bones to be seen. All stages have green bones. They bleach quickly after death, so the color can only be seen in live specimens. Poliwag are not photosynthetic. The bones are oddly colored due to a unique protein in their blood. Like birds, poliwag have hollow bones. This allows them to store a great deal of oxygen. The bones are still remarkably strong for reasons that are poorly understood.

Poliwag’s second most notable feature is the spiraling organ visible on their abdomen. Some of the spiral is the intestines. The rest is a specialized organ that generates psionic waves as the pokémon swims. Anything that stares directly at the spiral may have their brainwaves disrupted in such a way that they become drowsy or black out. The sleep spiral is poliwag and poliwhirl’s main defense against predators.

Finally, poliwag have pink lips that can function as suction cups. This helps them hold on to grasses in rough currents and storms without expending a great deal of energy.

Poliwhirl have more developed legs and feet than poliwag. They have fully lost their tail. In addition, they also grow a pair of white hands with two opposing digits, one much broader than the other. Their eyes are forward facing and protrude slightly from the rest of the body. The mouth can be difficult to identify but is located beneath the nostrils at the very edge of the visible sleep spiral. It usually appears to be a thin slit but can open up to a 270-degree angle when consuming very large prey. The stomach is located behind the sleep spiral. It is commonly and incorrectly believed that poliwhirl sweat on land. They cannot as they lack sweat glands. Instead, they draw moisture from the air to keep their skin hydrated. They are not yet adept enough to change the weather without expending a great deal of their elemental well.

Poliwag, politoed, and poliwrath have black skin coated in a layer of blue mucus. Their abdomen is translucent and primarily appears white because of the flesh behind it. Politoed have much thicker green skin that is no longer translucent. The jaw, the clingpads, and a spiral on the stomach above the sleep spiral are all cream, yellow, or orange depending on the individual. Politoed have pink markings at the end of the jaw. Finally, politoed have a horn extending from the base of their head. The horn is very thin and spirals at the end, making it look like a hair. The horn is used to channel elemental energy when changing the weather. Politoed have very large lungs that let them make loud, bellowing cries.

Even though the sleep spiral is no longer visible, the organ has developed to be intense enough to send psionic waves through the skin in all directions. This can put disrupt enemies that are not looking directly at them.

Poliwrath are in many ways simply a more developed poliwhirl. They have much stronger musculature and broader hands and feet. Poliwrath also gain a swim bladder and a few specialized organs for handling salt. When at sea they excrete hard pellets of salt and feces every two to three days. Poliwrath are known for their endurance, including the ability to swim across entire oceans with only minimal periods of pure rest. They can swim even as most of their brain rests. Poliwrath have a secondary vascular system designed to quickly drain and process lactic acid formed by the muscles to prevent buildup.

Politoed grow to be forty-three inches tall and weigh forty pounds. Poliwrath grow to be fifty-two inches tall and weigh eighty pounds. Both typically live for around five years in the wild. Politoed routinely live to fifteen years of age in captivity; poliwrath rarely live for more than seven.

Behavior

Poliwag live mostly solitary lives at the bottom of densely planted bodies of water. They spend most of their time hiding in the grasses. When there are no predators around they will forage on the grasses around them. Their primary tactic when threatened is to expose their abdomen and attempt to put the predator to sleep. Poliwag use as little energy as possible to facilitate growth and limit the amount of time they must expose themselves to forage.

Poliwhirl begin to live in bands under the control of the local politoed. There can be up to fifteen poliwhirl serving a single politoed. On rainy days poliwhirl will emerge from the ponds and hunt small bug pokémon like caterpie and spinarak. They can hunt the latter by knocking them off of their webs with water gun. On dryer days poliwhirl hunt in their home pond for small fish. Once they have eaten their fill, they will grab one more bug or fish as an offering to the band leader.

Every night the politoed around a pond will compete for dominance by croaking as loudly as they can. This intimidates rivals and might woo mates. If a politoed is clearly losing these contests some of their followers may leave. Both males and females lead bands. Politoed very rarely socialize outside of mating, coordinated rain calling, and the nightly contests.

During times of drought, all of the politoed in an area will come together and sing together in order to summon rain. They may also coordinate collective defenses whenever predation gets out of hand. Individual politoed are expected to either scare off or kill any predators that get too close to the band’s usual resting place. They also watch over the sleeping poliwhirl at night.

Politoed spend most of their life within a mile of where they hatched. Poliwrath are wanderers constantly on the hunt for new territory. They enjoy following rivers or the open ocean to see what is on the other side. Poliwrath are mostly solitary outside of raising poliwag (see Breeding). After very long journeys, such as moving across oceans, poliwrath will stop in an area with clean water and abundant prey to rest. When there are conspecifics around they will become a guest of the area’s strongest politoed.

Politoed are generally ambivalent or hostile towards humans. Poliwrath tend to be fond of them and will even help small children learn how to swim. They frequently follow oceanliners to see where they are going.

Husbandry

All stages have rather different needs.

Poliwag are herbivores that prefer to eat freshwater plants. Saltwater plants like kelp can contain too much sodium for them and should be avoided. Most specialty stores in Alola sell freshwater plant mixes, although they can be a bit expensive. Poliwag prefer to be fed in a water-filled bowl large enough to at least partially submerge themselves in.

Poliwhirl and politoed are carnivores that need to be fed some blend of insect mixes and fresh fish. Different trainers use different ratios, but a rate of two parts fish per one part insect is generally agreed to be the best. Trainers that cannot afford this can use an even split.

Poliwrath need a very high protein diet consisting of fish. They will also eat poultry and red meat. If protein supplements are added to the fish the pokémon will need less food. Their digestive system is not able to efficiently process carbohydrates or fats and the pokémon primarily needs protein to live.

Poliwag and poliwhirl will need access to water to soak in every few hours. Politoed will need to be misted frequently in dryer weather but can otherwise keep themselves hydrated. Poliwrath, despite having thin skin, are able to retain water well and will only need moisturized once every six hours. In very humid weather they will not need to be misted.

Poliwag are ungainly on land and will need help practicing how to walk, including encouragement like access to favored toys, environments, and food. Outside of walking practice they are not particularly social and prefer to spend most of their time withdrawn or well hidden.

The older stages are social in their own ways. Poliwhirl like to sleep near their trainer. Unfortunately, they will sometimes grow upset when their trainer falls asleep ‘on watch.’ Having a trusted nocturnal pokémon stand vigil at night can help alleviate their concerns. Poliwrath enjoy having a partner to train with. They prefer trainers who will frequently swim alongside them. Politoed like to be doted on. They are entitled pokémon that can loudly rebuke trainers who are not providing them adequate food, water, enrichment, and companionship.

Politoed can be civil with most pokémon, except for other politoed. Other adult amphibians can be treated like visiting poliwrath. This means that they will become upset unless the other amphibian is also doted on. Poliwrath will be distant but polite towards most species. Poliwag are anxious and unlikely to socialize with teammates.

Illness

Fungal infections are one of the most common health problems for the line. These manifest as white patches on the skin. If treated immediately there may be no lasting health effects. If allowed to linger they will likely kill the pokémon.

Dehydration is another serious health concern. Poliwag, poliwhirl, and politoed must be allowed to soak themselves frequently, or at least be misted regularly if this is not possible. Starvation can also be an issue for poliwhirl and especially politoed. They are gluttonous and need to eat every few hours during the day and night, respectively, just to survive. Poliwrath prefer to eat bigger meals once or twice a day. Poliwag should be allowed to eat frequently but are far less likely to suffer from starvation-related illnesses.

Internal illnesses are unusually easy to diagnose in poliwag, poliwhirl, and politoed due to their translucent abdomen. Any discoloration of the sleep spiral or other organs should be considered extremely serious. A veterinarian should be consulted as soon as possible.

Evolution

Poliwag slowly evolve into poliwhirl over the course of ten months. The formal demarcation line between the two is the complete loss of the tail.

Poliwhirl evolve based on their habitat and social dynamics. Poliwhirl will evolve into politoed if the water they swim in is slightly brackish. This tells the pokémon that they are near the sea and should evolve. This effect can also be replicated by being around water stones. Poliwhirl do not need to consume the stone to begin evolving.

Poliwhirl evolve into politoed when they are fully grown and there are not many politoed in the area. The exact trigger is not fully understood for wild specimens. Captive specimens usually begin to evolve into politoed shortly after they finish growing unless they are exposed to brackish water or a water stone, in which case they will begin evolving into poliwrath instead.

Battle

Politoed see some use as a support on competitive circuits as a support pokémon for rain teams. They can summon some of the strongest storms of any pokémon for the time and energy exerted. Politoed can also buy themselves time to strengthen the storm with tricks such as protect, substitute, hypnosis, scald, and encore. Unfortunately, they are not very powerful or naturally durable pokémon and must rely on status moves to stay in the fight. They are also somewhat redundant with other water-pokémon.

Poliwrath are theoretically quite good with their ability to put pokémon to sleep and then punch them very hard. This is complicated in practice because the strategy can be thwarted by simply looking away. Poliwrath are not fast enough on land to chase down prey and aside from powerful punches and a decent disruptive option in hypnosis they have little going for them.

Both are perfectly usable pokémon on the island challenge. Neither is weak, they are just not well suited for facing down metagames filled with alakazam, machamp, and dragons. In a league with much lower power levels politoed can outlast their enemies while tripping them up. If well trained they can even be offensive threats in the rain.

Poliwrath can use belly drum to unlock the full power of their muscles, even if this causes them to damage their own skeletal system if they are not careful. Without resorting to belly drum they are still versatile, wearing down opponents from afar with ranged water attacks or knocking them out up close with a solid punch. Opposing trainers are also less likely to be prepared to handle a hypnosis.

Poliwhirl are in an awkward middle ground. They are not yet as strong as poliwrath or able to summon the rain like politoed. They are best used as slow ranged attackers that can disrupt opponents with hypnosis.

Poliwag are not built for combat, especially on land where they have trouble moving. Put enemies to sleep, hit them with water guns or bubbles if necessary, and ideally switch out to something better able to take advantage of the opening.

Acquisition

The line can be found in most ponds, lakes, and streams on the archipelago. Poni is a little too arid for them, making it the one exception. Several municipalities will pay trainers to catch politoed. Others just remove legal barriers around pokémon capture in city limits. Poliwag can be caught by fishing with a piece of grass. Poliwhirl need fish as bait.

Politoed are best caught by approaching them at night when they are bellowing. Send out a pokémon of a similar size to challenge their authority without scaring them away. If defeated they may agree to go with the trainer to avoid the shame of facing the other politoed after a defeat in front of their entire band.

Poliwrath can occasionally be seen around politoed territories. If approached and given a proving battle they may decide the trainer is a worthy one and agree to come along for a time.

Poliwag and poliwhirl can be purchased, adopted, or captured with a Class I license. Politoed and poliwrath can be purchased, adopted, or captured with a Class II license.

Breeding

Politoed breed in early spring. In the wild females evaluate males based on the pitch and volume of their voice and length of their horn. Males with deeper and louder voices as well as longer horns are more likely to attract females. Females lay thirty eggs on foliage above moving water. The tadpoles stay in their eggs until they have begun to develop legs, at which point they leave the egg, fall into the water below, and swim to the nearest plant life. The female will defend the eggs until they hatch, at which point she shows no further care for the offspring beyond eliminating predators.

Poliwrath are all female, regardless of their sex before evolution. They also have delayed implantation. A poliwrath can mate with a male politoed and wait years before implanting the eggs. This is done when the poliwrath finds a new location suitable for politoed that does not yet have a population. Poliwrath zealously safeguard their eggs, poliwag, and poliwhirl until the first evolutions into politoed happen.

Poliwrath do not readily breed in captivity. Politoed can be bred once every spring by introducing them to a suitable mate. Males may be willing to mate with females from other species. Females are often reluctant to do so, but it has been documented. This usually occurs on teams where the politoed was frequently around a male amphibian of another species for several years.

Politoed are often willing to entrust their eggs to their trainer. They can be safely moved to an incubator where they must be kept moist and warm. If discoloration is spotted on an egg it should be removed immediately before the potential infection spreads. Once the developing poliwag get large enough the eggs should be placed on a thin mesh above a pan of water and plant matter.

Relatives

Politoed can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Poliwrath are well traveled enough that populations on different continents experience relatively little genetic drift. The one exception lies south of the equator. For reasons unknown, poliwrath refuse to cross the equator. They get extremely anxious going near it. As a result the southern hemisphere has a genetically distinct politoed population, P. m. transquitoria. They are visually quite similar except that their sleep spiral rotates counter-clockwise instead of clockwise.

 

[Persephone]

Seaking (Goldeen)
Hortus princeps

Overview

Seaking have been semi-domesticated for over two centuries. For most of that time they were kept in large garden ponds as a regular food source. This changed in the 15th Century when the emperor declared them noble fish that could not be eaten or owned by peasants. They were kept primarily in the garden ponds of the nobility behind walls, although they could be used as an emergency food source during a siege.

The Japanese perfected the art of Seaking breeding. During the 19th Century a series of selective breeding programs created seaking with ever more elaborate patterns, colors, and body shapes.

In the 1920s the practice of seaking breeding spread worldwide. Enthusiasts continued to crossbreed and manage their populations for ever more fantastic results. Casual hobbyists and landscapers put them into large ponds because they looked nice. During floods some of these seaking would escape and found a wild population. Seaking can now be found on every continent but Antarctica.

Seaking are excellent pets for trainers with a large ponds. They are beautiful fish that are also reasonably friendly and intelligent. On the island challenge seaking face the same drawback as most other fish: they can’t breathe or move well on land. Trainers must be committed to staying near freshwater or brackish sources at almost all times to successfully use them. This can be very difficult in the rain shadow of Alola’s mountains. Traveling trainers looking for a water-type are advised to pick an amphibious pokémon, or at least one with a slightly higher salinity tolerance.

Physiology

Goldeen and seaking are classified as pure water-types. The ruling is not controversial.

Wild goldeen are pale fish with a deep body shape. They have muted white scales on most of their body with patterns of orange, red, and brown scales to help them blend in with the substrate. They have particularly broad caudal and pectoral fins and comparatively small dorsal fins. The caudal fins split in to two trains extending from a single fin. The most notable feature of wild goldeen are their horns. The horns are made of keratin and can extend several inches from the forehead. They are surprisingly sharp and durable, making them goldeen’s greatest natural weapon.

Captive goldeen can have a wide variety of body shapes, colors, patterns, fin shapes, and textures. The easiest way to determine a fish is a goldeen is their horn. Otherwise goldeen can more closely resemble other species than other breeds.

Wild seaking are primarily white in their ventral region and brown or red in the dorsal region. They also have thin black patterns in the dorsal region to help camouflage them against the substrate. The male’s colors grow more vibrant in the autumn. Seaking have even longer pectoral and caudal fins than goldeen. The dorsal fin is longer than it was as a goldeen but is still shorter than the pectoral and caudal fins. The horn is longer in real terms than a goldeen’s but proportionally smaller.

As with goldeen the horn is the easiest way to determine the species of a captive goldeen.

Seaking can live for fifty years in the wild or two hundred years in captivity. Wild specimens typically grow to lengths of three feet from the snout to the end of the caudal fin and weigh around forty pounds. Captive breeds vary widely in length and weight.

Behavior

Seaking spend most of their lives in lowland lakes, rivers, and, occasionally, estuaries. They primarily live and feed along the benthos. Most of their diet is made up of vegetation such as grasses and any tree roots that find themselves submerged. On occasion they will hunt small benthic dwellers by sucking up the substrate into their mouth and filtering out edible invertebrates with their gill rakers. This tends to increase the turbidity of their ponds, making some of the rivers they have been introduced to considerably murkier.

Goldeen and seaking tend to live in loose-knit schools of up to five hundred individuals. Social hierarchy is determined in part by horn length and hardness. Goldeen in particular are known to compare horn length and strength in ‘jousting’ contests with each other. Seaking only do so during mating season and when resources are scarce.

Seaking are commonly preyed upon by larger aquatic organisms and raptors. Young goldeen are preyed upon by almost every piscivore they encounter, especially if they were born to other goldeen (see Breeding). Their mortality rate in the wild is high. Even in captivity their ponds can be raided by hungry predators.

Husbandry

Seaking are best left in large ponds. They will attempt to shatter any glass they are held in. On the trail they will need to be held in a specialty pokéball whenever away from freshwater, which can take a mental toll on them. The only alternative to ponds are concrete pools. These are sometimes preferable for industrial-scale breeding operations but are usually more expensive and less visually appealing than a simple pond.

Both stages are primarily herbivorous. They will eat any leafy greens or peas given to them and these should constitute the majority of their diet. Any food not immediately consumed should be removed so it does not decay and lower the water quality. Seaking prefer to be fed at night and dawn but will happily eat at any time of day. Some of seaking’s diet can be made up of invertebrates or specially made pellets. Floating pellets will drive the fish to the surface where they can be inspected for wounds, discoloration, or odd behavior.

Seaking’s metabolism dramatically slows in winter and they will barely eat anything at all. This is unlikely to occur in much of Alola but is important to know when relocating.

Seaking can quickly come to recognize their trainer as a source of food and protection. They are unlikely to be particularly affectionate or social outside of feeding.

Some aquarists have added water slides to their pond complexes in an effort to replicate seaking’s natural behavior of swimming upstream. These tend to be a little too successful as all of the seaking will swim upstream from every available route, crowding each other out at the top and preventing any of the fish from going back down the slide. Modified slides have since been built with an elevated pool and one entrance too high out of the water to jump into but not too high to cause serious injury upon reentry. These seem to be very popular enrichment items with seaking and increase the likelihood of successful breeding.

Illness

The two most common diseases in seaking are seaking herpes virus (SHV) and spring viraemia virus (SVV). Vaccines are available for SHV. While not required, they are highly recommended. There is presently no vaccination or reliable cure for SVV. It is a disease of the liver and kidney. Sometimes it will manifest as discoloration or profuse bleeding for no apparent reason. Sometimes it has no symptoms at all.

In the hands of inexperienced caregivers, seaking can also suffer from ammonia poisoning. Too much waste building up in the water can poison the pokémon in it. This can be mitigated by water changes or reducing the stocking concentration. It is especially likely to occur in new ponds that have not had time to build up the necessary microbes to break ammonia down. Ponds should either be allowed time to sit before stocking or, at the very least, have substrate from other ponds. The latter can be dangerous as it could introduce viruses or other biological contamination alongside the desired bacteria. Plant life can also reduce the risk of ammonia poisoning, but seaking will graze down the plants to nothing unless the concentration is so low ammonia poisoning is unlikely I have been an issue in the first place.

Aside from the above problems seaking are remarkably hardy creatures with long lifespans.

Evolution

Goldeen are the rare pokémon that reach sexual maturity before evolution and almost always evolve if they live long enough. Goldeen evolution is gradual and consists of the growth of fins and darkening of the scales, as well as a deeper elemental well.

In the wild evolution usually occurs around five years of age. The exact trigger is closely tied to combat experience. Wild goldeen can evolve one to ten years after hatching, depending on how often they are battled with. Older goldeen often seek out conspecifics to spar with in the wild and will be willing to battle other water-types in captivity.

Battle

Seaking can only survive for two minutes on land. They can move water to open up new paths, but struggle to create water outright. Their ranged arsenal is not impressive enough to let them be competitive in arenas that only have a small water feature.

In the open water seaking are decent battlers. They are relatively fast and can create small whirlpools centered around their horns that are intense enough to tear through some armors. Seaking’s support options and movepool can make them decent on offense or defense. Still, seaking will never be more than decent. They have never seen serious competitive use and probably never will.

Goldeen are less durable than seaking. In exchange they have good speed and power for unevolved pokémon. They can be used however the trainer wishes. Some use goldeen as rushdown attackers, others as tanks using aqua ring and rest to stall out opponents. There are better options for either, but they are not bad at their roles.

Acquisition

Wild seaking can be found in the coastal waterways around Brooklet Hill and the northern portion of Ula’Ula. They can be baited with insects or brussels sprouts. Seaking do not adjust well to traveling when caught in the wild, but are usually content to relocate to a suitable pond.

Goldeen can be purchased for as little as $50 from aquarium and garden supply stores. Special breeds can be considerably more expensive. A seaking once sold $2,000,000.

Breeding

Goldeen and seaking are both reproductively viable. They have similar breeding habits six months apart. Goldeen breeding season begins in early spring with males gaining brighter colors and performing mating dances for females. After pair bonding the goldeen will begin swimming upstream towards springs. They can swim at speeds of up to five knots even when going against the current. Goldeen are also fantastic jumpers and can climb up waterfalls when needed.

Any goldeen that have lost their mate in the journey upriver will pair off again at the spring. Then a mass spawning event will occur in which the female goldeen lay several thousand eggs each. Then the goldeen will swim back to the downstream waters they call home.

Seaking mate in the autumn. The other major difference is that seaking defend their offspring. Males will use concentrated whirlpools to carve a hole in to a boulder. They will then fill it with plant matter. After the female lays her eggs in to the hole, the parents will take turns guarding it until the goldeen hatch. At this point the seaking stay in the spring for another two months before going back downstream with their offspring.

Most migratory breeders cannot reproduce in aquaria. Seaking can even without specially-designed facilities, although water slides and connected ponds increase the likelihood of breeding. Seaking will need boulders to lay eggs in and will not appreciate attempts by humans to collect either the eggs or the offspring until the winter solstice. Goldeen do not need boulders and do not object to eggs being harvested and moved to a separate tank.

Relatives

Seaking have been subject to more selective breeding and cross-breeding than any other fish pokémon. They cross well with other fish and usually inherit patterns or other morphological features from them. Seaking have been bred in almost every color. Some breeds have almost no scales and others have thick armor.

There are two main areas of emphasis for breeders: horns and fins. The longest seaking horn ever recorded was nearly 90 centimeters long. At least one breeder has managed to produce seaking with two horns. Fin enthusiasts select for long, flowing fins and interesting color and scale patterns. The two groups do not get along well and have made repeated attempts to categorize fin-selected and horn-selected seaking as different species.

They are not. However extreme the breeding, the population quickly returns to the mean in feral populations. Centuries of hard work are undone in just a decade or two outside of deliberate efforts to maintain it. Were all human records lost there would soon be no evidence at all of the breeder’s work save the species’ introduction across the world. Some poets have proposed seaking as a metaphor for humanity’s place in the world: apparently dominant and able to shape the biosphere as we wish, but unable to fully conquer or separate ourselves from it.

 

[Persephone]

Basculegion (Basculin)
Metuslacus titanus

Overview

Some aquatic pokémon are surprisingly weak. They are easy prey for the average angler and find themselves towards the bottom of the oceanic food web. Yet, they thrive all the same. One survival strategy many water-types share is referred to as The Guardian of the School. Extraordinarily weak water-types are often accompanied by a much more formidable adult that can handle anything that threatens the juveniles. Wishiwashi school, magikarp have gyarados, feebas have milotic, and wimpod have golisopod.

Basculegion take this a step further: the weakness of the basculin only serves to make the protector even stronger. Basculin are common in the waters of Alola. They are also relatively common on Alola’s dinner plates. All basculin consumed are imported or invasive littoral basculin. Commercial fishing of Pacific basculin is strictly prohibited to avoid the wrath of a ten-foot-long fish with the strength to rival gyarados and milotic.

The sheer power of basculegion, as well as their ability to float in the air, make them a sought-after water-type. Trainers should still be cautioned that basculegion are both apex predators and ghost-types, neither of which are known for their ease of care. Ideally trainers should have experience with ghosts, large carnivores, and fish before attempting to raise the species. Those that can handle them often find basculegion to be powerful, intelligent, and surprisingly affectionate companions.

Physiology

Basculin are classified as pure water-types. Basculegion are classified as dual water- and ghost-types. Neither ruling is disputed.

Basculin are compressiform fish with green scales and white fins. There are white strips along the later lines with black scales in between them on the dorsal side. This is the root of the other common name for the Pacific basculin, the white-striped basculin. There are several rings of white scales around the eye to make them appear larger. Basculin have sharp canine teeth with very small molars at the back of the mouth. They can dislocate their jaws like some snakes in order to fit their mouth around particularly large meals. Females are 30% larger than males on average.

Basculegion have much longer and more streamlined bodies than basculin. Their white stripes have been replaced with red ones (males) or blue ones (females). A second stripe extends from the upper jaw to just behind the gills. Additional red or blue stripes line the gills. Females also have blue markings around the edge of the jaws. Red or blue horns also grow above the eyes for additional protection.

The most notable feature of basculegion is their spectral armor. An ever-shifting red or blue spectral fog surrounds the back half of their body, often completely obscuring the anal and caudal fins. The spectral fog clings tightly to the body. It does not react to water or air but it hardens up into a thin but nigh-unbreakable armor when anything solid presses against it. Basculegion cannot fully dissolve into spectral fog or phase through objects as they are still mostly organic creatures. Their fog is simply something they can manipulate in battle to strike the opponent with ghost energy attacks or shield the back half of their body. Males tend to have more developed muscles, especially around the jaws, while females have larger fat deposits and a greater affinity for manipulating their spectral fog or moving the water around them. Their caudal fin is also smaller than the male’s.

Male basculin are typically two to three feet long while females grow to three to four feet in length. Male and female basculegion grow to similar sizes. Most grow to about ten feet in length, but some exceptional specimens can be nearly twelve feet long. Adult female basculin typically weigh around 30 pounds. Basculegion can weigh 500 pounds. Basculin live for about twenty years in the wild and captivity. Basculegion can survive for over two centuries.

Behavior

Pacific basculin live in schools of between twenty and one hundred individuals. These are only loosely hierarchical. The largest fish is given a wide berth during feeding frenzies but has no other social power. Basculin are timid around larger pokémon and humans and will often flee at the first sign of potential danger. Anything smaller than them is potential prey. If it can fit in the mouth of a single basculin, the fish will try to kill and eat it. Larger prey are torn into alive by multiple basculin at once. The resulting carcass is distributed and eaten in a quick and brutal feeding frenzy.

Basculegion tend to live alone in areas inhabited by Pacific basculin. Basculegion sometimes prey upon smaller fish, reptiles, birds, or anything else they cross. The species can launch themselves up to thirty feet into the air in a single jump and nab a bird mid-flight. Most of basculin’s diet is made up of other ghost-types. Jellicent, dhelmise, and palossand are their most common victims. Absent ghost-types basculegion can ‘feed’ by absorbing spectral energy from the carcasses of recently dead basculin. This means that the more vulnerable the basculin are in an area, the stronger the basculegion can become. Attacking the school only makes their guardian stronger and angrier. This is still cold comfort to the basculin who are killed and the school does everything they can to avoid predators.

Basculegion can survive outside of the water by ‘swimming’ through the air. They are much slower like this and prefer to stay underwater as often as possible. When there are not enough ghosts to consume in the sea basculegion will come ashore and hunt. Specimens observed outside of the water are still potentially dangerous and should be avoided.

Basculegion can be surprisingly friendly towards humans. They have been known to save drowning children, bring stalled boats to shore, and wander cities at night to people watch. This can be a terrifying experience for those who find themselves stalked by a powerful ghost in the dark. Usually the local rangers will intervene and attempt to guide the pokémon back to the sea.

Littoral basculin have been introduced to several of the ponds and lakes of Alola. Pacific basculin are euryhaline and thrive in everything from the open ocean to the estuaries of Akala to larger inland lakes. Littoral basculegion can only live in lakes with minimal foliage and broad, slow-moving rivers. They tend to separate into two schools in an area, one primarily composed of red individuals and one of blue. Some individuals will cross over to the opposite school. Littoral basculin are far more aggressive than Pacific basculin. While the Pacific species will attack anything that happens to come close, basculin will scour their environment for hidden creatures to devour. They hunt in schools and can distract and overwhelm even some of the largest freshwater pokémon. It is common for species that can move away to do so when littoral basculin arrives. Pacific basculin have retreated to the estuaries and oceans to avoid their aggressive cousins.

The devastation littoral basculin can cause to freshwater ecosystems has made them despised by conservationists. Anglers, however, adore littoral basculin for their size, taste, and the fight they put up on the line. Littoral basculin have been deliberately introduced to many areas by anglers looking for a better fish to catch. Fisherman are often unwilling to deliberately hunt basculin populations to the point of collapse.

Husbandry

Basculin do not fare well on the trail. They are best left in ponds or very large tanks with a full school. Ponds with prey species can support the basculin as long as the prey to predator mass ratio is at least 6:1. In ponds unable to fully support the basculin the species can be fed with specialized pellets. As obligate carnivores basculin need more protein in their diet than many fish. Ideal pellets are around 40% protein and 10% fat. They should also float so the basculin can be checked for injuries when they are fed. Food should be provided twice a day until the basculin stop feeding. Pacific basculin like having grasses to hide in. Littoral basculin prefer open, featureless ponds.

Basculegion are better suited to being a trainer’s pokémon. They should frequently have access to at least a 50,000-gallon pond or pool to rest in. ideally it will be considerably larger. Basculegion prefer temperatures between sixty and seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit but can tolerate temperatures up to eighty-five degrees or as low as thirty-two degrees. Basculegion prefer salt water but can tolerate almost any naturally occurring salinity. They are one of the few organisms that can survive for brief periods of time in hypersaline bodies of water.

It is trickier to feed a basculegion than a basculin. They prefer to eat about one tenth of their body mass in live or frozen fish each day. Pellets are an acceptable alternative for short periods of time. The harder part of their diet is spectral energy. Basculegion seek out other ghost-types to kill or seriously injure. They can meet this need in controlled battles against other ghosts, although some consider it unsporting. Dead fish provide a small amount of spectral energy in addition to ordinary calories. Dead basculin provide a considerable boost. Some trainers have made arrangements with the DNR to have their basculegion eat littoral basculin. Most basculegion have no problem with this as it expands the territory of Pacific basculin. It also provides them with both food and basculin souls to consume. Littoral basculin-fed basculegion are some of the strongest known specimens.

Basculegion are usually solitary in the wild. In captivity they can and do bond with their trainer. Usually this takes the form of swimming slow circles in the air around them. They enjoy simple toys they can manipulate with their mouth or fins. Some larger basculegion will allow their trainer to ride them. This can be enjoyable for both parties.

For understandable reasons basculegion make terrible teammates for other ghosts. The mix can be pulled off as long as the basculegion is constantly well fed but is generally far more trouble than it is worth. An improperly trained basculegion can also cause problems for smaller organic teammates. They are large carnivores and the usual best practices for mixing carnivores apply. The strongest carnivore on the team should be the most loyal and best trained. They can keep the others in line. Basculegion, despite being reasonably social and intelligent, are not as easy to train and understand as large mammalian predators. They are best added after another, larger carnivore is established. Basculegion can also be mixed successfully with similar-sized predators, larger herbivores, or inorganic pokémon. Alternatively, milotic are usually able to keep basculegion in line as masterful peacekeepers and negotiators.

Illness

Fungal infections are one of the main illnesses affecting captive basculin. These are most common at cooler temperatures. In Alola these ailments are much less problematic than they are in other parts of the world. Fungal infections usually manifest as a difference in color or texture on a certain part of the body. For this reason, it is important to regularly be able to visually examine the basculin in a pond. Most can be treated if spotted quickly.

In high temperature, high-density ponds dissolved oxygen can become a problem. Basculin prefer environments with limited plants. Warm waters can hold only a limited amount of oxygen. With high stocking density, limited plants adding oxygen, and a low capacity to hold oxygen in the water, catastrophe can strike quickly and with little advanced warning. Stocking densities should be limited and the pond’s oxygen levels should constantly be monitored. Bubblers and other devices designed to disturb the surface can also alleviate the problem.

Basculegion illnesses tend to be spectral in origin. While the fish do not themselves feed on emotions, many of the ghosts they consume do. If they eat a sick ghost, they can absorb its ailments. Spectral illnesses can be devastating for fully incorporeal beings. They can easily be fatal for biological organisms. Keep a close eye on any ghosts that basculegion consumes.

Evolution

Pacific basculin evolve in waters with high concentration of schrekstoff, a chemical they emit when stressed. Captive evolution used to require unethical means. Now it can be done by artificially dousing a pond in high quantities of an admittedly expensive chemical. Basculegion that evolve without actually experiencing mass death are noticeably weaker than those that can absorb the souls of their schoolmates. On balance, they they tend to be better adjusted. In the wild one or two surviving basculin will evolve after a mass death event. They evolve via flash evolution which doubles their size and grants them spectral armor. The basculegion will slowly grow to full size over the next decade.

Battle

Basculegion are large, aggressive fish with the ability to shroud themselves in spectral armor to dissipate elemental energy or channel the pain and negative energy lingering on a battlefield into spectacular attacks. This makes them one of the most popular fish in competitive battling. Unfortunately, basculegion are held back by two major weaknesses. Basculegion are fast in the water but can only float at about five miles per hour on land. They also lack a deep utility movepool to help them out when something does have them at a disadvantage.

Male basculegion are more vicious in general and hit harder up close. Very few enemies can come out of a fight with a basculegion without being rent or drowned under the force of powerful bites, short-ranged spectral attacks, and cascades of summoned water streaming off of them. This makes them effective at breaking rock- and ghost-type walls that can struggle to outpace them on land. However, they are a rock-breaker that cannot reliably beat tyranitar one-on-one. As a result they are usually passed over for females in circuits with land-based arenas.

Female basculegion are much better at manipulating spectral energy than males. They can form shields that negate all but the strongest of elemental attacks and unleash punishing curses that can ravage and knock out some opponents in one hit, especially at the end of a protracted and painful fight in a storied arena. Their low-speed matters less because they attack with elemental bursts and ranged curses. Anything that does get close will discover that they still have a nasty bite. Basculegion can shut down some attackers that rely purely on elemental attacks and punish anything vulnerable to their hexes.

There are a variety of ways to counter basculegion. The first is by cleansing the arena’s ambient energy with another ghost or through heal bell, heal pulse, or similar restorative moves. This limits the power of basculegion’s last respects attack. Other ghosts are usually fast enough to easily outpace basculegion while tearing into the basculegion’s spectral armor until it is too dissipated to protect them. Physical normal-types strong enough to take the female basculegion’s water attacks can get close and cleave straight through the spectral armor without much fear of last respects. Bulky grass-types, especially ones that can take an ice beam or two, are usually somewhat resistant to spectral attacks due to their unique biology and psychology, can stomach water elemental moves, and are capable of holding basculegion down with vine traps or powder clouds.

Basculin are simple attackers. They should hit hard and fast and never let up lest they find themselves reliant on their scant armor and utility movepool. Outside of the water they pose very little threat. Inside the water they can deal with foes slightly bigger than them.

Acquisition

Capture of wild basculegion is illegal. Attempting to do so can enrage the remaining basculegion.

The capture of littoral basculin is legal with a Class III license or a culinary or sport fishing license. Many chefs will pay well for fresh basculin. They can be found in a variety of lakes, ponds, and large rivers on Akala and Ula’Ula.

Pacific basculin capture is legal with a Class II license, but there are strict annual quotas. They are most common in the Brooklet Hill area, the cool estuaries on Melemele and Ula’Ula, and coastal waters away from human activity. Basculegion will take note of any trainer catching Pacific basculin in their territory and assess their intentions. If the trainer proves that they are an island challenger and reasonably competent at pokémon care through a team inspection and proving battle, the basculegion may allow a capture. Trainers need not actually win the proving battle to earn a fish.

Basculegion rehoming is handled on a case-by-case basis by the DNR. Shelters are often reluctant to keep them. Fish stores are very reluctant to keep and sell Pacific basculin due to the extensive regulations and the risk of a newly evolved basculegion disrupting their operation.

Breeding

Basculin usually breed around late March or early April. Entire schools will swim upstream to the waters around springs. Males will dig shallow nests in the lakebed that consist of a small pit and a few objects to partially cover it. They will then swim around their nest until a female swims by and expresses interest. The pair will share a short ritualistic ‘dance’ of swimming in spirals around each other and the nest before the female deposits her eggs in the nest and the male fertilizes them.

Females can lay about 5,000 to 10,000 eggs for every pound of body weight. The eggs hatch two to five days after they are laid. The male will continue to guard them in the nest as they feed on their egg yolk. Then he will abandon them. Basculin adults are not cannibalistic towards their offspring. Unfortunately, just about everything else will eat them as they grow. Mortality rates are well over 99% in the wild.

Basculegion rarely mate. They will only do so if the basculin population around them has crashed. When they do mate they use larger, better covered nests than basculin. They will also aggressively target anything they observe hunting their offspring. This deterrence, combined with the sheer number of eggs they can lay, can quickly restore the basculin population.

Basculin can crossbreed with a handful of similar sized fish, especially those with red, blue, or green scales. It is easiest to cross with a male basculin as they are not as selective as females. Most of the offspring will be of the dam’s species since she laid the eggs. Crosses with female basculin often require artificial fertilization and lab supervision of the eggs.

Basculin do not mind the fry being removed shortly after they stop being guarded. Clearer breeding ponds or pools with a thick layer of sediment are recommended for this process to ensure ease of harvest for the eggs. Alternatively, eggs and sperm can be surgically removed and combined in a lab to cut out the basculin entirely. Once the egg yolk is gone an abundance of copepods will need to be made available. The fry will cannibalize each other if there is insufficient food. As they grow they can be switched to a diet of real or lab grown fish meat. Fingerlings can be slowly transitioned away from fish meat and towards protein-rich pellets.

Basculegion breed more frequently in captivity than in the wild. If a male seems to be obsessed with digging it may be time to make breeding arrangements. Many trainers are unwilling to care for the sheer number of offspring basculegion can produce. It is best to either let the basculegion go to sea for a time to breed or to arrange for breeding in a controlled DNR or aquarium hatchery. Movement around migration time is perfectly normal for a basculegion and will be readily accepted.

Relatives

The littoral basculin is native to the eastern United States and Canada but has since been introduced to most of Europe and portions of Africa and the western United States. In the west they have hybridized with the local sinfish, a dark-type relative that primarily feeds on bug-types and insect larvae.

The Pacific basculin is endangered or extirpated throughout much of its former range. Dams without fish ladders both provide hydroelectricity and reduce the population of an apex predator that can often be hostile towards humans. Basculegion also usually lack the power to destroy large concrete dams. Unable to migrate, many basculin instead either return to the ocean without breeding or ram into the dam repeatedly until they die. Some nations have taken things a step further and created traps in reservoirs to isolate and kill the basculin while they migrate. This inevitably produces basculegion, but a few professional trainers can keep them in check.

Alola’s basculegion do not have far to travel upstream and most of their routes are undammed or even subterranean. Even if basculin were removed the gyarados, milotic, and wishiwashi would remain as formidable guardians of the water. As such it harbors one of the most robust Pacific basculin populations remaining.

 

[Persephone]

Milotic (Feebas)
Propedraconis pulchraesunt

Overview

For millennia sailors have regarded gyarados and milotic as either the ultimate monsters of the sea or mercurial gods of the ocean. Modern popular culture tends to frame them in opposition with milotic acting as protectors of mankind and gyarados attacking ships for no reason. This is both ahistoric and misunderstands the behaviors of actual milotic. It is true that milotic would sometimes heal sick sailors or guide lost ships back to shore. They were more likely to doom ships for no apparent reason. Milotic’s mercurial nature, intelligence, and occasional sadism can make them more akin to metagross than blissey.

Captive milotic raised from before their evolution tend to be more benevolent. They also tend to have more knowledge of the behavior of fictional or captive milotic than of their wild counterparts. This can lead to them valuing different things and actively trying to grow into the pop culture depiction of the species.

Milotic are beautiful, intelligent, and powerful. So are many of the true dragons. Milotic are no less difficult or dangerous to care for than their cousins. Trainers who would hesitate before raising a gyarados or salamence should be equally hesitant when deciding if they want to take on the challenge of caring for a milotic.

Physiology

Feebas are classified as pure water-types. Milotic were traditionally classified as pure water-types as well. The species was poorly understood by scientists for a very long time due to the difficulty in obtaining cooperative specimens. They have recently been reclassified as water- and psychic-types. There are scientists who advocate for a dragon or fairy typing replacing either of the current types. Milotic are primarily aquatic hydrokinetics that rely heavily on telepathy and telekinesis. They are also closely related to true dragons and have similar anatomy and behaviors. The Galarians have traditionally regarded miloic as one of the fey, they have been known to bargain, possess literally supernatural beauty, and can be fickle creatures with incomprehensible but deeply valued rules. The rationale for the current typing is practical as much as anything: they are unable to use moonblast or draco meteor in battle and are vulnerable to typical anti-water and anti-dragon strategies.

Feebas appear to be compressiform fish. They are actually marine reptiles. Feebas possess both lungs and gills. They can survive outside of water for several hours and use their ventral fins as legs to slowly crawl back to the water’s edge. Feebas are incredibly hardy organisms capable of surviving polluted and cloudy waters, fresh water and salinities rivaling the Dead Sea, temperatures between 35 and 125 degrees Fahrenheit, and even zero gravity conditions. Milotic can even survive the pressures of the bathypelagic zone.

Feebas are known for their shabby, sickly appearance with brown blotches, faintly visible skeletal system, and often half-shed scales. This is a defense mechanism: feebas rely on tasting bad and looking sick to avoid predation. Gyarados will violently protect magikarp populations that have experienced too much predation. Milotic will lash out at anything that attacks a feebas in front of them but will not avenge acts of predation like their close relatives would.

Milotic are serpentine pokémon with four long antennae and a fan-like set of four caudal fins. Their upper body is usually white or cream colored. Their tail consists of an interlocking pattern of white and red rectangles with black lines separating them. Milotic, like snakes, do have separate torso and tail segments despite not possessing legs. Milotic’s head contains a horn and four antennae. The two upper antennae are thin and red. The lower antennae are long, blood-red ribbons. The lower antennae are used to sense water currents and blood. They are also used to fine-tune the pokémon’s manipulation of both. The upper antennae are designed to amplify psionic signals. Both sets of antennae can be shed and regrown if damaged.

Like feebas, milotic possess both lungs and gills. They can swim through the water with their caudal fins and hydrokinesis, float through the air with telekinesis, or slither on land. The pokémon’s skeletal system is designed to support their body at depths of up to 5,000 feet. The muscular system is designed to let them move on land under their own power. They mostly rely on hydrokinesis to swim, although the caudal fins can be used to steer. Feebas possess a small gas bladder to help them stay in place while sleeping in deep waters. Milotic do not and depend on their hydrokinesis to stay afloat. They are capable of mild telepathy and hydrokinesis even while asleep.

Both milotic and feebas have gill-rakers and four rows of teeth. They can either suspension feed off of plankton by swimming with their mouth wide open or actively hunt their prey. Crustaceans are feebas’s preferred prey. Milotic have a specialized stomach and strong resistance to most venoms and enjoy preying on jellies. They have also been observed hunting wishiwashi, lumineon, spheal, alomomola, humans, birds, gorebyss, inkay, and even very young wailmer.

Milotic possess vocal chords that let them sing and below audible pitches. Their songs can carry for several miles in the water and are often accompanied by a full-body feeling of unease due to the latent telepathic and hemokinetic signals mixed in. Other milotic can perfectly understand the messages in all three mediums. Humans can only decipher the telepathic signals specifically aimed at them.

Both feebas and milotic are homeothermic. It would otherwise be nearly impossible for them to survive in deep, cold waters without sunning themselves.

Milotic can grow up to forty feet in length and weigh seven hundred pounds. Their lifespans in both captivity and the wild are poorly understood but likely to exceed three centuries.

Behavior

Feebas tend to live in schools of fifty to four hundred individuals. They prefer estuarine or coastal environments with seagrasses, but can also thrive in well-planted freshwater or brackish ponds if needed. At least three populations have adjusted to subterranean rivers and lakes. Feebas schools tend to be very compact with members swimming very close together. The compactness and tendency to hug the seabed can make them difficult to find even in areas where they are numerically abundant. Feebas are opportunists that hunt whatever food is available. In times of stress they may retreat to less desirable habitats that are inhospitable to their main predators.

It is difficult to ascribe any single norm to milotic. Their behaviors are highly variable by region and individual. In general, milotic are solitary creatures that prefer to live in the open oceans. They are capable of deep dives and spend most of their time well beneath the surface. Autonomous submersible footage has revealed that they may be more social in the deep sea. One found a group of nearly eighty milotic sleeping vertically in close proximity to each other. One eventually woke up and began to toy with the submersible, prompting others to join in. The machine was rendered inoperable within minutes. One milotic surfaced days later and delivered what remained of it to the research vessel piloting it. He became upset when the researchers were unable to immediately repair his toy or provide another one. The voyage ended early after the crew began suffering strange health problems.

This is a good example of the difficulty in dealing with milotic at sea. They are in many ways best dealt with as bargaining fairies. They may float above the surface to heal a single sick sailor, only to cast a plague on the remainder of the ship. This is because they expected something in return and were not provided it. Some milotic have learned to telepathically speak with humans. Others have not. Speaking milotic are usually far less dangerous as they can make their desires clear. If their desires are entirely unclear it is best to offer them something most milotic like. Large quantities of meat work. So do particularly complex or well-made toys that can survive underwater. Old ships often had detachable figureheads as a potential peace offering to milotic. At least one milotic has been found sitting on a hoard of figureheads, including some from long-sunken ships. It is unclear if the milotic sunk these ships herself or merely salvaged the figurehead from the wreck. Another milotic took a great deal of interest in the forks on a cruise ship and offered to protect the vessel in exchange for exactly eighty-seven forks.

As with all bargaining fairies, it is best to stay away from milotic whenever possible. If they offer something for free then something should always be offered in return. Offerings made of iron can be seen as a threat, while silver is generally desired by the fairies. Milotic do not appreciate it, however, as it quickly corrodes underwater.

Milotic have three different hunting strategies. They can feed off of plankton or jellies in the water column by swimming through it and using their hydrokinesis to draw currents towards them. Milotic can hunt more advanced prey with telepathic waves that induce awe and lower aggression, leaving prey entirely helpless to defend themselves while milotic slowly finishes them off by constriction, drowning, or hemokinesis. Finally, milotic can use their hemokinesis to gradually sicken prey or cause they to bleed out from minor cuts. The last two strategies work on humans. Milotic used to be infamous for floating above atolls and using their telepathically enhanced beauty to lure sailors close. The sailors could then be safely picked off one by one once the vessel had run aground.

Only sharpedo prey upon milotic. Anything else that tried could be dealt with through telepathic calming. Even sleeping milotic are always emitting a calming aura to dissuade attackers. Even sharpedo can struggle to hunt milotic due to their tough scales, intelligence, and hemokinesis. Milotic that survive sharpedo attacks have been known to gather allies and systematically eliminate every sharpedo in the area.

Some milotic, particularly those that live in rivers, regard themselves as the lords of their environment. A few have even been willing to negotiate treaties between humans and different pokémon species provided they are adequately rewarded for their services. In parts of East and Southeast Asia it was common to view the river milotic as intermediaries between humans and the gods. When offered tribute they could end plagues, summon rain, or portend disasters.

Milotic’s ability to predict disaster is the subject of a great deal of scientific debate. Some believe milotic are genuinely precognitive. This is not beyond belief as precognition is a known ability of both human and pokémon psychics. Others maintain that the milotic were simply ‘predicting’ disasters that they would then ‘avert’ or cause themselves if tribute was not given. This is also possible and in line with the behavior of wild milotic. Finally, milotic’s bizarre senses may be able to pick up on some impending disasters, like earthquakes, without the use of precognition.

Husbandry

Feebas are hardy creatures that need little more than a non-chlorinated pool to swim in. Ideally their enclosure should contain sufficient plant cover and other hiding places to make them feel safe. This is especially important if only a single specimen is being raised. While feebas can handle contaminants better than most fish, water changes should still be performed regularly to keep ammonia from building up. Feebas can eat most commercial fish mixes, small crustaceans, or any meat. If kept in ponds they can get much of their diet from suspended plankton. Whatever is fed, it is critically important that the trainer be seen providing the food. This will help build bonds that will become necessary for ensuring compliance after evolution.

Unlike milotic, feebas are unintelligent creatures that need little in the way of enrichment. They still appreciate companionship. If only one feebas is being kept then similarly-sized fish or reptiles should be made available to school with. Feebas will happily associate with whiswashi, magikarp, finneon, and luvdisc if their own kind are not available. They will also attempt to socialize with skrelp and dratini, although the dragons might find feebas to be too dull to bother with. Carvanha and basculin are too aggressive for feebas.

Feebas are difficult to care for on the trail and there is little purpose in doing so. They are highly unlikely to contribute in battle until they evolve and feebas that are constantly moved around may not be appreciative of their trainer when evolution comes. Milotic are beyond the capacity of most island challengers to care for. Trainers who insist on having one on the island challenge should obtain a Class V license before setting out on the trail and raise their feebas to evolution at home.

Milotic have much more demanding requirements. To start with, milotic will need either a very large pool or a pond. Grasses are not strictly required. Sandy beach areas where they can interact with their trainer are appreciated. If a pond is not provided, milotic will find and claim one for themselves. Milotic tend to care little for property ownership or the prior inhabitants of their desired pond.

Food preferences vary by individual. Milotic are also intelligent enough to understand the concept of lab-grown meat. They have varying opinions on it, ranging from a refusal to eat either natural or lab-grown meat to indifference. Young milotic should be provided with a wide range of foods so they can figure out what they enjoy. Crustaceans or plankton should make up a about 30% of their diet with other meat making up the remainder. Lean meats are better than fattier ones for the pokémon’s health.

Milotic are highly intelligent pokémon that will require a great deal of enrichment. Some can learn to read. Others will not bother. Ready access to a television with internet access or many channels as well as a remote they can operate with their teeth, tail, hydrokinesis, or antennae are the best way to satisfy them in the long term. Milotic are usually more invested in storytelling and fiction than documentaries and learning about the wider world. As always, preferences vary.

Milotic, like most large carnivores, are poor teammates for particularly skittish pokémon. Ordinarily it is a bad idea to partner a large carnivore with a typical prey pokémon. This is particularly difficult for milotic as there is very little that they will not eat when given the chance. Teammates should ideally either be too large for the milotic to comfortably eat, inorganic or incorporeal, or intelligent enough for the milotic to properly befriend them. Milotic usually give dragons a respectful distance. Despite having no paternal instincts in the wild, milotic will seldom attack pokémon introduced to the trainer’s team at a young age. Milotic that are particularly well bonded to their trainer are unlikely to eat teammates in general. This will not stop teammates from being concerned about the milotic.

Milotic are behaviorally difficult as they possess some of the most problematic traits of both dragons and fairies. Milotic are fiercely protective of their territories and prone to hoarding items like most dragons. The exact objects milotic likes to hoard vary by individual. Most place little value in precious metals, although gemstones can interest them. They also do not appreciate challenges to their strength or honor and will hold long grudges if slighted. Most dragons can work their grudges out in the course of a battle, either satisfying their honor or deciding that it is not worth upholding against their opponent. Milotic tend to hold grudges regardless of the outcome of battles they participate in.

This is where their behaviors begin to resemble those of fairies. Captive milotic tend not to have the esoteric rules of their wild counterparts. They can still have rules of their own that should not be broken. The following are the most common: Anything they regard as theirs should never be stolen away, only bargained for. Services rendered should be compensated for. Healing or battling should be rewarded with food, toys, one-on-one time, or something else of value. Likewise, they should be allowed to satisfy their perceived debts to others. Do not make major decisions for them. Do nothing to undermine them in public. Pet names that may be appreciated in private can be embarrassing to them in front of strangers.

Some of these rules may be relaxed for trainers or teammates they are close to. In general, it is best to assume these rules are in effect unless the milotic says otherwise. Do not assume a rule has been abandoned simply because a transgression goes unpunished. Milotic possess human-comparable intelligence and are capable of holding telepathic conversations. Take advantage of this. Talk to them whenever possible. The pokémon will appreciate the socialization and it can prevent disastrous miscommunications.

Illness

Feebas usually appear to be sick as a defense mechanism. They often swim at a slight angle, their fins are somewhat ragged, and their gills are often slightly inflamed. These are normal. If any of these behaviors is far more prominent than it typically is, consult a veterinarian immediately. White slime or open sores are also of immediate concern. Be careful not to use cleaning products containing ammonia around their enclosure as this can result in fatal ammonium buildup. If the pokémon has crawled out of the water, assume something is very wrong. Move the pokémon to another tank or withdraw them into their pokéball before performing testing the water. If the chemical tests reveal a problem, perform an 80% water change and conduct another round of testing. If no problems reveal themselves after routine chemical tests, take a water sample and send it to a veterinarian specializing in ichthyology for pathogen analysis.

Milotic are almost never sick. They can even heal themselves of almost any injury in time. Some hydrokinetic pokémon specialize in manipulating fresh water and struggle with water with a great deal of solvents. Others use the salt in water to amplify their control. Milotic can do either, but they have the unusual ability to sense and manipulate red blood cells. Their control is nowhere near as powerful or refined as it is over pure water or saltwater, but it is enough to sense, sicken, or heal nearby organisms. Their ability to purify water can also be applied to blood at close range, allowing them to purge toxins and viruses from the bloodstream. As mentioned above, do not treat this as a free service unless explicitly stated. Particularly strong milotic at close range can inflict fatal blood clots. At longer ranges they can prevent blood from clotting around injuries or inflict a gradually intensifying malaise. In battle they can keep their own blood inside their body, limiting the usefulness of inflicting superficial damage against them.

Evolution

Feebas evolve into milotic after some unknown threshold is met. Combat appears to be counterproductive in accelerating evolution. Friendship and an energy-rich diet are the two leading hypotheses for triggering feebas evolution. Once the threshold is reached, feebas flash evolve into a seven-foot-long milotic.

In the wild, the new milotic will seek out older conspecifics to provide mentorship. Over the next two to three years the milotic will continue to grow in strength and size while learning from their mentor. The milotic will only set off on their own after reaching full size.

Milotic are highly intelligent pokémon with little instinctual knowledge. They require education to learn most of their specie’s talents and traditions. This education does not occur at birth, but after evolution. Milotic that evolve in captivity thus have very different behaviors than wild specimens and will depend on their trainer and teammates for guidance. Raising a newly evolved milotic can be very similar to parenting a primarily school aged child. They are insatiably curious and will need guidance in forming their worldview and values, as well as mastering their abilities. Trainers without other dragons or pseudodragons on their team may want to enlist the help of a milotic trainer or dragon master when teaching their newly evolved pokémon how to battle.

Battle

Milotic are durable pseudo-dragons with a great deal of tricks. Many of the top water-, dragon-, fairy-, and psychic-type specialists use them on their teams. They are more common still in the world of coordination for their beauty, intelligence, and varied arsenal that lets them put on stunning performances. Almost every professional coordinator at least investigates the possibility of adding a milotic to their team. Some circuits have even considered banning them.

Unlike most large predators, milotic prefer to win gradual victories using their natural defense mechanisms and healing factor rather than overwhelming power. The first trick opponents will need to get around is their disarming aura. Milotic can send out pulses that erode the will of opposing pokémon and trainers to fight. These work through a combination of telepathic assault and manipulating hormone levels in the blood. The pulses are more potent up close. They are nearly impossible to dodge as they flood the entire arena.

Dark-types hard counter these pulses. So do other milotic, inorganic pokémon, some ghosts, and pokémon with emotions so different from normal animals that the pulses are nearly useless. The pulses also primarily work by dulling emotional responses. Trainers and pokémon alike should try to approach the battle as logically as possible, keeping emotion to the bare minimum, when dealing with milotic. Feelings, or a lack thereof, should be dismissed.

Milotic’s second trick to deal with is their hemokinesis. Injuries of opposing pokémon will not clot and may not even heal through moves like recover or wish. The milotic’s own injuries will not bleed. The longer the battle goes on, the worse organic pokémon will feel when fighting milotic. Hemokinesis can be partially mitigated by fighting at range. Melee pokémon, if they must get close, should take care to avoid the milotic’s antennae. Getting wrapped in one will dramatically worsen the symptoms. Lacerations are nearly useless. Poisons are also unlikely to register as the milotic can simply purify their blood with a thought. The more esoteric the damage inflicted, the more likely it is to register to the milotic. Fairy, ghost, dark, dragon, and electric attacks are the most useful.

Time is on the milotic’s side. The longer the fight goes on, the more difficult it will be for trainer or pokémon to care. Injuries will compound and eventually organic opponents will simply fall asleep or stand still, apathetic towards their own fate.

If both tricks are overcome by an inorganic pokémon or ghost, the battle is not yet won. Milotic are surprisingly fast in the air, capable of reaching speeds of fifteen miles an hour and performing elaborate maneuvers to avoid attacks. They are faster in the water. Milotic can use recover to quickly restore their health, mirror coat and light screen to reduce the impact of projectiles, trip opponents up with bulldoze, or further disorient them with attract, hypnosis, or confuse ray. Milotic are not as formidable offensively as gyarados, but their hydro pumps and ice beams are still more than enough to take out frail opponents and those weak to water energy. Outside of their best counters, such as magnezone, there is no truly safe way to handle a fight with a milotic. Trainers unprepared for them will be dispatched on the milotic’s own time.

Milotic are not as useful on the island challenge as they are in competitive battling. Any milotic used on the challenge is likely to be young and still learning how to fight. It is best to stick with telepathic pulses and water attacks early on. Offensive hemokinesis has too much risk of inflicting more damage than intended and trickier options like mirror coat take some time to master.

Acquisition

Feebas can be found in seagrass estuaries throughout Alola. The best place to find them is in Brooklet Hill. Patience is a virtue when fishing for feebas as it can be rare to get a bite, even in ponds where they are abundant. Feebas can also be purchased from some aquarium specialty stores.

Milotic are most common in deep waters. A few sometimes venture into Brooklet Hill to rest and interact with humans. Give them a wide berth. Capture of wild milotic is illegal. Milotic require a Class V license to possess and can be purchased from some specialty stores. There are also occasionally young milotic available to adopt after a trainer without a Class V license has a feebas evolve.

If a feebas does evolve and the trainer does not have a Class V license or does not believe themselves to be up to the task of parenting a young pseudodragon, they can be rehomed easily enough shortly after evolution. The new milotic will not yet have any firm attachments to their trainer at this time.

Breeding

Milotic come to shore to lay their eggs. They lay approximately 800,000 eggs scattered throughout an estuary and then depart back to the ocean. Feebas eggs are bright orange and sometimes glow faintly in the moonlight. They hatch after four days. The young feebas are less than half an inch long and mortality is very high. Fully grown feebas have been known to cannibalize juveniles. Juveniles will sometimes cannibalize each other if there is not enough food to eat. Feebas steadily grow to their full size over the course of ten weeks.

It is unclear how milotic select mates in the wild. Wild specimens have never been observed mating and the eggs have already been internally fertilized by the time the female arrives on shore.

Captive milotic lack any sort of formal mating ritual. They may decide they like another pseudodragon, snake, or dragon enough to mate. This is most likely to occur with other milotic or highly intelligent species. New parents may stay with their mate or watch over their offspring. They may not. Behavior varies widely. Milotic that are not attached to their eggs will leave them in their trainer’s care. It is usually best to enlist a professional breeder or public aquarium due to the sheer number of feebas eggs laid. Hatchlings should be provided with blends of small zooplankton or very finely shredded fishmeal.

Relatives

Milotic’s closest relatives are gyarados and, more distantly, dunsparce.

East Asian cave feebas may qualify as a separate subspecies. They have much paler coloration, thicker scales, and smaller eyes than standard feebas. They can be found in a few aquifers and subterranean rivers ranging from Malaysia to Kamatchka. It is unclear where these populations come from. Their habitats are often difficult for researchers to access and they are unusually skittish. A proper subspeciation has not yet been made as a wild cave milotic have only been captured on camera once. The specimen was observed in an aquifer near the ocean and appeared quite similar to oceanic milotic. Interbreeding may regularly occur. The handful of captive cave milotic that have been observed were physically and behaviorally quite similar to oceanic milotic. Research is ongoing as to whether oceanic feebas develop differently in cool, dark waters than they do in estuaries. If so milotic may be split into a three-stage line with very young juveniles classified as a baby form and feebas split into a branched evolution that reconverges into milotic.

 

[Persephone]

Alomomola
Piscesrotam traxere

Overview

Alomomola is a large and relatively peaceful fish. The mucus they excrete accelerates tissue regeneration and provides material akin to stem cells to facilitate regrowth. This has earned alomomola a reputation as the blissey of the seas and a keystone of marine communities.

Alomomola are still a pain to care for on the island challenge. They have extremely limited mobility on land and cannot survive outside of the water for more than a half hour. Alomomola are also massive creatures that require a great deal of food. The core of an adult’s diet, jellies, can be tricky for even public aquariums to replicate.

While they are a fascinating species and well worth learning about, we cannot recommend alomomola for trainers on the island challenge. Their care is best left to professionals.

Physiology

Alomomola are classified as pure water-types. This designation is not controversial.

Alomomola are very large fish with a laterally compressed body. They lack a caudal fin. Instead, they have a fused clavus that acts as a rudder. The two protrusions around the clavus make alomomola look a great deal like a massive luvdisc, even though the two are not closely related (see Relatives). Alomomola have large pectoral and dorsal fins they can move laterally, letting them move through the water at a surprising clip. Alomomola can swim up to sixteen miles in a day while cruising.

Alomomola are classified as bony fish. Their closest relatives have hard bones, unlike the cartilaginous structure of the most primitive fish. Alomomola’s skeleton is actually mostly cartilaginous to allow for their large size.

Their skin can be over three inches thick, letting them comfortably ignore most bite wounds. Above the skin is a layer of mucus one to two inches thick. Alomomola’s mucus facilitates rapid tissue regeneration in anything that comes into contact with or consumes it. This serves a few purposes. The pokémon itself can quickly heal any shallow wounds it does sustain. It also encourages smaller pokémon to congregate nearby, which provides another form of defense, parasite removal, and a quick meal if the alomomola lacks the energy to dive. Large predators are also deterred from attacking alomomola by the possibility they will need healing in the future.

Alomomola’s digestive tract has several special adaptations to facilitate their strange diet. The first is that they have a beak-like pair of bony plates in their mouth instead of rows of conventional teeth. These let them shred jellies by sucking them in through the plates, spitting them out, and repeating the process until their prey has disintegrated into a sludge-like substance that can be slurped down. They do have pharyngeal teeth in the throat to keep other prey from escaping. The digestive tract is lined with a thin layer of mucus to prevent the pokémon from being stung.

Adult alomomola are typically around five feet long and eight feet tall. They usually weigh between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds. Very large specimens can be 10 feet tall and weigh 5,000 pounds. Captive specimens have a documented lifespan of over thirty years, although with modern husbandry practices it is possible they could live for far longer. Wild lifespans are poorly understood.

Behavior

Alomomola are commonly seen basking near the surface. While there they can attract a collection, referred to as a ward, of marine species that want to heal, feed on alomomola’s parasites, or find protection in a group. Alomomola are tolerant of their wards and rarely eat members of them. The exceptions occur when they are either very hungry or critically wounded. Sometimes alomomola have even helped distressed sailors return to shore, seemingly without an expectation of reward. Alomomola are usually fine with scuba divers and snorkelers approaching them. All of this has earned them a reputation as a passive, peaceful pokémon.

Alomomola are actually predators. They only come to the surface to warm themselves up after deep dives. Alomomola spend most of their time in the Mesopelagic Zone several hundred feet below the surface. They are generalist predators that will eat fish, squid, and crustaceans. These make up the core of a juvenile alomomola’s diet. Adults transition to primarily feeding on jellies such as tentacool, frillish, non-pokémon jellyfish, siphonophores, and salps. The middle of the water column is dominated by jellies and alomomola are one of the few large species that preys upon them. Alomomola can eat upwards of thirty pounds during a single dive.

One of alomomola’s strangest behaviors is breaching. They will swim towards the surface at full speed and leap up to ten feet out of the water before crashing back down. Alomomola do not seem particularly concerned with where they land. This has resulted in the confirmed deaths of two boaters, six snorkelers, and a scuba diver in the last fifty years. These fatalities appear to be accidental as the alomomola will offer mucus to any injured survivors.

Husbandry

Alomomola are large marine carnivores. While they lack the temperament of the average apex predator, the nature of their diet and their sheer size makes them a formidable challenge for aquarists.

Alomomola have difficulty turning quickly. This can result in frequent collisions with tank edges. The surface wounds may heal, but the pokémon will still be unhappy. Some aquariums have found success with rounded curtains around the tank edges so alomomola cannot crash into a hard surface and will be gently pushed back to the center of the tanks. Others have used bubble curtains to provide a visually distinct indicator of where the tank edges are. Alomomola also enjoy playing in the bubbles. The best solution is to have an enclosure with several million gallons of water so the alomomola rarely encounters the edges and can swim in large circles in the center of the tank.

Alomomola require water temperatures above 55 degrees Fahrenheit. They prefer temperatures be far warmer, ideally above seventy degrees. They cannot survive for long in fresh water but can tolerate brackish water if they are slowly acclimated to it.

Growing alomomola will eat anything that fits in their mouth. They should be fed 3% of their body weight in a high protein diet every day. Adult alomomola prefer jellies, although squid and fish can make for good treats. Some aquariums still hunt or breed tentacool for their alomomola. This was standard practice around thirty years ago but has since fallen out of favor. It is now more common to create a protein rich gelatinous mixture. This allows for careful monitoring of dietary intake and the addition of supplemental vitamins and minerals. It is also far cheaper than keeping a vast quantity of jellies on hand.

Alomomola will need to either be fed in their own tank or fed by hand. Otherwise, they will be consistently outcompeted by their more nimble tankmates. This is especially true for juveniles being fed more desirable foods. Isolation or hand feeding allow for increased bonding time and a chance to monitor the pokémon for parasites.

Most saltwater marine pokémon are good tankmates for alomomola. In turn, alomomola recognize the concept of a ward and will not attack any of their tankmates as long as they are well fed themselves. Jellies such as tentacruel and jellicent are not suitable teammates.

Alomomola are not particularly social pokémon. They live alone, ward aside, in the wild. They are unlikely to have extensive interactions with either their tankmates or trainer in captivity.

Enrichment items usually go unused. Artificial crabs on the bottom of the tank may gain the pokémon’s interest, especially if they contain food. One captive specimen has been known to drag around a rope placed in the tank. Sometimes alomomola will surface to listen to music. All forms of bubblers aerate the water and are well-loved by most specimens.

Illness

Alomomola’s mucus is useful for curing the pokémon itself and any allies. It can also cure humans of their wounds. The substance has its limits. It only works well for wounds and has a limited effect on illnesses. The rapid acceleration of cell growth also makes it dangerous for cancer patients. Research is mixed as to whether repeated exposure increases the likelihood of cancer. Alomomola themselves have evolved to be almost entirely immune to cancer, suggesting that repeated exposure could be dangerous. An alternative hypothesis is that a past version of the mucus was a carcinogen and the cancer immunity is simply a vestigial adaptation. The immunity could also have evolved to allow for a longer lifespan.

Alomomola themselves struggle with parasites. Over forty different species of parasite have been observed on a single specimen in the wild. Most dig into the mucus or skin. A few live internally, usually in the mucus of the digestive tract. The smaller members of a wild specimen’s ward will pick off most of these parasites for a meal and the alomomola’s goodwill. Sometimes the species will bask on the surface in hope of birds picking off some of the parasites.

Remoraid make excellent partners for alomomola. Specimens raised without small fish will need to be regularly assessed by their trainer and have parasites removed from the mucus by hand or surgically excised from the skin. The wound will quickly heal over and alomomola have few nerve endings in the skin, meaning that no specialized training is needed to remove these parasites. Any equipment used still needs to be disinfected before the procedure.

Aquariums differ on which insecticide is used to handle internal parasites, or whether this is necessary at all. Artificial seawater, thorough cleaning of objects introduced to the tanks and very strict quarantine practices can minimize the risk of parasites entering the tank’s ecosystem in the first place.

Some sailors have taken to taming alomomola by bribing them with food until they agree to enter a pokéball or follow a ship. So long as they are regularly fed, alomomola are usually content to swim alongside the vessel and heal any injuries the sailors or their pokémon sustain. This is only viable on slower ships in warm waters with enough freezer space for a voyage’s worth of crustaceans, squid, fish, of gelatin mix.

Evolution

There is a common misconception that alomomola evolve from luvdisc. They do not. Hatchlings resemble qwilfish. Over the course of their life these hatchlings will grow to fifty million times their initial weight, the largest growth ratio of any known pokémon. The fry begin to resemble their adult form when they are about one inch long. From there they grow in size but barely change in shape.

Battle

Alomomola suffer from the same problem as most fish in that they are essentially useless in stadiums without a deep saltwater feature. Even where they can be used, alomomola struggle to pull their weight between their limited offensive abilities and the unreliability of their healing methods in practice. They can leave mucus behind or try to pass a wish, but both can be intercepted and used by the opponent instead.

The species fairs better in doubles where they can control the recipients of their mucus or heal at a distance through heal pulses. Alomomola can also learn helping hand to assist their allies. Still, being a pokémon whose only reliable use is in doubles matches in arenas with saltwater has led to even the professional water-type specialists passing over them.

Alomomola’s offenses are theoretically better on the island challenge, but even the totem arenas with ponds tend not to be deep enough for an adult alomomola to swim in.

Acquisition

Adult alomomola can be found off the coast of Alola. Trainers looking for one should fly around and look for a basking specimen. Hand feeding the pokémon consistently for several days can earn enough trust to go into a pokéball. The quotas on adult capture are strict. In some years there are no captures allowed.

Most aquariums capture juveniles living in estuaries such as Brooklet Hill. Fry often have too little elemental energy to be captured in a pokéball but they can be captured through conventional nets. The specimen is then raised in a set of increasingly larger tanks until they reach adulthood.

There is almost never an opportunity to obtain a specimen through adoption or purchase.

Alomomola can be obtained with a Class IV license.

Breeding

Alomomola reproduction is poorly understood. They have never bred in captivity or been observed mating in the wild. It is believed that copulation occurs at depth.

The dam also appears to spawn at depth, releasing up to 300,000,000 eggs. When they grow to a centimeter in size, the fry will seek out nearby estuaries to grow in. They will return to the open ocean when they are about two feet long. Mortality is exceedingly high before adulthood, at which point alomomola have virtually no predators.

Programs that raise fry in captivity before releasing them as adults have helped the population rebound in areas where they have been devastated by bycatch in gamefish nets.

Relatives

Alomomola’s closest living relative is qwilfish. The two diverged over sixty million years ago, shortly after the mass extinction event that wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs. The fossil record suggests that alomomola developed their current shape around ten million years ago. Soft tissues such as mucus are not often preserved, especially in marine environments, so little is known about when, how, or why this adaptation developed.

 

[K_S]

Murkrow entry review.

Lovely malicous dead thingie...
Chamed im sure.

I kinda wish there were some examples of thier mind game activites to see in action.

Also i could see a troupe of them playing tricks as crows usually are smart birds and it'd make an interesting mental image. I wonder how they'd do in contest or thier viability as such?

I have to admit i was imagining a galar variant 'crow with a top hat come sword and shield. I love how biologically the scientist are like... Yeah we arent even going to try to explain the hat. We just roll with it.

Can you imagine if "attractiveness" was deduced by fluffiness of said hat say during breeding? A few generations later and they'd look rediculous...

So crows are the sopranos of the bird world. Fun.

And funny that they live longer free rather than tamed...

Interesting flock dynamics.

And i can only imagine how hard a snorlax would be on any enviroment much less a crows dinner set up...

Yeah so thier reputation is part earned part stereotyoe. Fun times. Wonder how the ghosts feel about them getting playmates per the crows schenanigans.

Granted getting a crow and pick of a ghost would thrill any gothic nerd as an easy two for one.

Tips head. So the easiest way to tick a crow flock off would be to glue something shiny to the ground... And wait?

Though back at the nest with the tv.

"I swear it was shiny when i picked it up!"

Rest of flock rolls thier eyes and starts shunning for the sheer stupidity of bringing in a black clunky box...

I can only imagine the schenanigans training a honchcrow would ensue. And i can see that trainer only able to juggle a small team because mr bird is going to require so much attention. Its a good argument for solo mon trainers or just having one mon period.

Hm physical trainer honch crow? Meh sorry just trying to imagine jobs for the birds that are both problem solvey but might need a mildly sadistic slant... And many a trainer i know fit that bill...

Hm i wonder how close this cleaves to smogen assessments. And i can imagine murk being the bane of every hoa ever. They basically force thier trainer to live alone away feom everyone like a stereotypical bad guy lair just to have a home...

Love the depth in all of this and the geological scope of the entry.

 

[K_S]

Review for another flyer. Part 2 of this run.

Dracul... Really? I guess we are doing fun with psuedo latin this week.

I think its the hyper exposure to the bats when you poke into any cave that triggers aversion in the trainer population. Them and goedude family... Ive seen players twitch at seeing them as a random encounter.

Logistically i can see why being blood adverse would make these guys a bad match up.

Youll have to expand on affectionate tho.

Love the shout out to the half brain on/off discovery they made for marrine wildlife.

And can I confess I cringed during the feeding section? Being a hemo phobe myself...

It is cute that they will feed eachnother if one cant get out and about. Even if the meal is nightmare fuel... And it makes sense that they would have a pro take care of each other stance if such a game breaking injury happens so often in the wild...

So basically they nom on any mamal big enough to take it... Shudder... Welp at least they ususally dont hunt smaller prey to death as a norm...

So how would it go down if a trainers bat was released and it flew off and nipped on another trainers mon by accident? I cab see why paying the bill would be a good idea all things considered. Do tame mon have access to vet/mon dentests? Fang rebuilding?

Just a thought I had.

Huh with thier interest in music i could see them hanging about out ldoor concert venues... That would make a rather intimidating experience.

And can i say that i am glad these guys dont have to deal with the white fungas disease that sweeps through real life bat colonies.

Aquistion.. Have a pulse... Walk into any cave or forest... Take two steps...

Sorry venting but still...

Loving all the vamp references in the latin name btw... Clearly drac was stage one pun...

Well thanks for sharing... Until next time...

 

[K_S]

So part three of the winged terror review!

Lovely history lesson. And a good warning to any eyeing a dragon anything...

Love how not man-eater is a mark towards lower in the risk/difficulty training there of... and not a flat-out warning against raising. I get the understatement but really? I wonder how high-rated a man eating dragon would run at.

... I can only imagine how heated the retyping debates get... the flying subtype would really muck with the "well it's weak to ice like most dragons are" defense.

I know it's unlikely but I'm imaging young noi's hugging a zubat like a plushie.

Takes a new spin on "can you hear me now?, I imagine noi that have adapted to people's speech probably sound like they're screaming all the time among their own...

I wonder if part of noi training is sound sensitivity adjustment so they don't freak out during competitive battles... And I am imagining muffs like those at shooting galleries. I'm also flabbergasted that none of the health issues were with hearing. And how to keep them from preserving said hearing since that's so important to them.

Their hunting sounds interesting. Wonder which would be more eco-friendly. Noi trained to share their fly-by catches or modern fishing techniques?

The history of the reserves. The hysteria of the outbreak changes to environ and the effects of such, those details ect add levels of realism to the reading and make it fun to read. And i can only imagine the shock of being in England during a migration and can easily see a photographer geeking out over it on air...

Thanks for sharing your notes they were a fun exercise.

 

[K_S]

Laughs. Love how pragmatic this guild is. Nah this bird isnt super powerfil. Or smart. But man is he available!

Sounds a bit car salesmany.. Granted high brow version but still...

Ah but what type of whistle? I read an article on birds learning to mimic vell phone sounds per (over)exposure inclusing twitter flags.. Could you imagine a near to town fear' warbling a ringtone as a threat display?

About feeding and such i can imagine trainers picking mon with simular diets to ease food managment issues. And its another good argiment for mono teams.

And i am now seeing a spearow divebombing a theater goer's snack... Wonder if they could taste the differences in flavirs?

I suppose mosying around with a towel thrown over the shoulders would be a fair warning of bird type/spearow trainer. Laundry bill must be astronomical...

Ah the dreaded dtt poisoning i was hoping the mon world had evaded such. Ah well. Good to see theres been some controls set up.

So per the breeding segments im guessing even the most tame of egg moves and pairings are a no go?

Makes sense with how logic heavy these segments are and avoid mental gymnastics that'd break anyones brain..

I am imagining how training a grounded fearow wolud go. Since they naturally divebomb fish.. Maybe wing weights? Hopping exercises with a dssh of endurance and agility training.

And my mind is going to a bird themed jump rope set up with sushi as a prize for doing well...

Well thanks for sharing!..

 

[K_S]

Out of couriosity what makes you go with what latin name youdo wind up going with? I'm curious to the process.

Well they are the heavy weights of the avian brawlers since what? gen 4? Makes sense that they are also super big literally too.

I can only imagine the insanity of the jousting matches back in those days. Also it makes the old 8 bit game a bit more true to life in the mon verse.

Ddt strikes again i see. Understandable though not so much that they let whole spieces of mon nearly get pernamently wiped before they put some controls down. So much for them being wilderness centric and friendly as a 'verse. Guess its the minority that feel that way rather than the majority if things got to near mass extinction.

How long do island trials run for? How long are seasons/cycles and in fairness do gym leaders/kahunas have to cycle through thier mon they are raising up to pit against trainers since trainers usually are catching\training things in the fly. A gym with something with a slow growth/life cycle but powerful thats been established for years would be insanely unfair to be pitted against... Well common mon for one...

What are the checks and balances?

That is a long commitment and i can see brav' being an inherited family buisness as a result.

Of course this thing eats sharks... I suppose kygores appearence in hoenn was a "free sushi if you can wing it" sorta event for them?

Thats a weird mistake..i mean i get the vulture mon are a different hue.. Duller and in close proximity but you figure the bones and typing would work against that argument...

So if the recs are such i am shocked the rocker gal gym leader in sword/sheild isnt swarmed by brav'. Wonder if they're chivilarous towards feminine travelers who look like they are in need on the fringes of thier territory?

It makes an interesting mental image.

Really we could rename the brave line the don quiote line and it would fit so well.

Love how thier territory merges with the legendary harpy eagle... Nice bio shout out there. And a thunder bird reference there.. Nice.

Well thanks for sharing as always.

 

[K_S]

Latin blurb saturn julias... Aka ultimate giver (well reversed mr bounties first.. Ultimate is second) sounds like a good fit if he has his pass out/gift move on hand.

(Yes it was a bad pun i couldnt resist)

So instead of secret santa they pull a secret delibird. Fun.

Ah but if it drops its satchel mid battle on a foe's head thats gotta be at least one good hit of a body slam.. Shock for paralysis subsitute... Right?

I know that further reading is going to be a lookng messege about how dangerous/concolted the upkeep of them is/ ect but after reading the description i want to hug one... Well i'll sub with my kitty and skip the complimentry pecking icing a deli' would give me...

Though with a name like a carol i might risk a pecking... Sorry delis are my third fav ice type so i have opinions over here.

Im imagining them in that saint bernard rescue dog get up and the image isnt going away. Gah! You are very lucky i cant draw or i would be making a submission or probably several about now...

I suppose i am morbid but i dont find it sinister. At least dead so and sos compass/shiny thing is getting some use... And the fact that theynwill trade back makes it less macabre imho.

Sounds like you need a refular zoo for these guys to be safe in much less happy.

So no canon and deli teams for the sake of the carpet. Gotcha

Alright so now we have confirmation theres an ash special verion of "how the delibird saved xmas" i shudder imagining the specifics.

Oh my gods... No wonder mon cathlicism bailed so fast they must of set themselves on fire they booked it so fast... I can only imagine the scandle.

Excuse me.

Goes off to laugh like a loon.

Alright, i am back. Sniggering but back...

well that was a fun read. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Persephone]

Talonflame (Fletchling, Fletchinder)
Peregrinator perigrinator seward

Overview

Talonflame have long been revered as fearsome aerial warriors capable of standing up to aggressors many times their size. They have been associated with heroism, royalty, and even the gods.

Their reputation comes for good reason. Talonflame have been known to attack salamence that come too close to their nest and even successfully hunt bluewing noivern in midair. Just their shape in a window is enough to deter many birds from coming near.

Talonflame have been problematic for Alolan ecology since their introduction by bird specialists in 1831. They are very good at preying on birds in midair while raticate would finish them off on the ground. When DDT and poaching decimated their population many conservationists advocated against bringing them back from the brink. In the end they did not receive nearly as robust of protections as Alola’s other raptors. Today their population is confined to Wela National Park.

Talonflame are the rare pokémon that are reasonably easy to care for, capable of holding their own to the end of the island challenge and beyond, and have a reasonable temperament. They are an excellent introductory raptor and fire-type.

Physiology

Fletchling are classified as dual normal and flying types. They are not yet capable of controlled flame generation and normal is the usual placeholder secondary type for birds that do not qualify for an additional secondary typing. Fletchinder and talonflame are classified as dual fire- and flying-types.

Fletchling are small raptors. Most of their feathers are slate grey. The wingtips and a horizontal band midway down the tail are white. The feathers on their head are a rusty brown color. Their chirps are very loud for their size and usually consist of one note repeated at progressively lower volumes.

Fletchling’s most interesting adaptation is their highly variable body temperature. Their resting body temperature is incredibly low for a bird at around eighty degrees Fahrenheit. They can increase this temperature by a further eighty degrees within one minute of their body being flooded with adrenaline. This surge can make them painful to touch. Adrenaline surges also change their disposition from relatively sedentary, calm birds into incredibly aggressive predators. Fletchling can only sustain these internal temperatures for three minutes at a time before their adrenaline surge ends and their internal temperatures plummet. The proto-flame sac is not yet developed enough to maintain high temperatures indefinitely. In fletchinder, talonflame, and many fire-types with superheated blood, most organs have their own internal circulatory systems that obtain oxygen from the main bloodstream and diffuse it to cooler blood to distribute within the organ. The barrier is lifted when temperatures settle to safer levels. The insulating membranes and secondary circulatory systems are not yet fully developed in fletchling, meaning sustained high temperatures would be dangerous if they were possible.

Fletchinder have rusty feathers covering their entire back. Grey feathers still cover the stomach and yellow feathers cover the underwings. The tailfeathers now have multiple white bands. Fletchinder gain more of these bands as they molt and regrow their feathers.

Fletchinder’s flame sac operates as both a boiler that heats the blood and releases stores of adrenaline and a means of generating flames. The flame sac rests beneath the stomach. It is connected by vent tisssues to flame glands on the wings, beak and above the talons. Their feathers are fire-resistant and have long been used in firefighting gear or in the ceremonial clothing of fire specialists or the priests of fire and sun gods.

Talonflame have grey feathers on their stomach and underwings mixed in with small patches of rusty feathers. They are more countershaded than fletchinder as they soar before hunting. Their plumage is designed to resemble sunlight breaking through a cloudy sky when seen from below. The stripes on the tailfeathers are now yellow on top.

Talonflame are built for their stoops, during which they can reach speeds of nearly three hundred miles per hour before abruptly evening out to strike their prey. Their eyes have nictitating membranes on the eyes to keep them from being blinded when flying into particulate matter at high speeds. Their beak contains a pattern of tubercules and nares designed to allow them to breathe at high velocities.

Talonflame can use their combination of aerokinesis and pyrokinesis to create thermals of hot air to ride on. This lets them gain elevation faster than almost any other bird with minimal effort. It also lets them manipulate the air to allow them to lift things in their talons far heavier than they are. A captive specimen once picked up and carried their trainer who weighed approximately two hundred and twenty pounds.

Females are almost always larger and possess duller feathers than males.

Fletchling can live ten years in the wild and captivity without evolving. Talonflame can weigh up to twenty pounds. Their captive and wild lifespans are approximately thirty years.

Behavior

Fletchling live in loose-knit conflagrations of five to five hundred. They do not coordinate hunts, only group defenses against any birds that compete with them for food. They have been known to stage city-wide ‘wars’ with other bird species in times of scarcity. The birds primarily use their chirp as a warning for the rest of the conflagration. Other messages are communicated through subtle shifts of the tailfeathers and wings.

Fletchling are primarily insectivores. They will also happily eat anything small enough to fit in their beak. They sit motionless on their perch for hours, abruptly swoop down and snag a bug or very small mammal or reptile, and then return to their perch to begin the cycle anew.

Most stages of the line have adapted well to human environments. Farms are excellent hunting grounds fletchling. Talonflame often nest on cathedrals or skyscrapers and use the narrow corridors of urban centers to limit their prey’s movements. Only fletchinder fare poorly near humans who tend to dislike their destructive hunting techniques.

Fletchinder are solitary and have home ranges of approximately one hundred and sixty acres. Any raptor that enters their range will be fought off, even if the raptor is much larger than they are. Fletchling are tolerated as they tend to go after much smaller prey. Fletchinder will occasionally make a show of trying to scare off a talonflame. The older bird will often feign submission but not actually leave the territory. Talonflame and fletchinder ranges can and often do overlap without any serious aggression.

Fletchinder hunt larger bug-types such as caterpie and spinarak. Their preferred hunting method is to fly over a push and scatter embers on it. When the bugs come out in a panic they will be snatched up and eaten. The fires they set can spread in dryer weather, earning the ire of firefighters and nearby property owners. Fletchinder fires were actually critically important for their native European forests as they would usually burn away brush without seriously harming the trees. This allowed for trees to have incredibly long lifespans without the risk of major forest fires, creating the kinds of dark, damp temperate forests that fairy-types thrive in.

Talonflame primarily prey on other birds. They use thermals to climb up to a soaring height well above most other birds. Their keen eyes will then pick out a target. Talonflame will then tuck their wings against their sides and enter into a stoop, a dive at speeds of nearly three hundred miles per hour. They will level out above their prey and then kick their wing, breaking it with the momentum of the dive and force of the kick. The talonflame will then pick the bird up once it is killed by the force of impact with the ground. Anything still living will be killed with a fiery kick to the neck. This hunting method can kill anything less armored than a skarmory or salamence. Their preferred prey species are wingull, pikipek, and murkrow. They have been documented hunting prey far larger than them, including subadult bluewing noivern. They seem unsure what to do with prey too large for them to carry. They will usually eat their fill and then abandon the prey for scavengers. Most prey is taken back to their perch, plucked, and cooked before being eaten. Mandibuzz will often congregate near talonflame perches to take the unwanted feathers. This does not stop particularly ambitious talonflame from hunting mandibuzz.

Talonflame are fiercely territorial. When another talonflame enters into their range the two will grapple in midair while plunging to the ground. Whichever frees themselves first is the loser and will cede territory. Alternatively, one will be killed when it hits the ground after refusing to cede the match. Whichever talonflame ends up alive is the presumptive winner. If neither escapes then their territory will be taken over by other talonflame.

Talonflame perch on very tall trees, cliff faces, skyscrapers, or other elevated areas that are hard to reach from the ground. Their nests tend to be very minimal outside of the breeding season, often consisting of a few leaves or some brush to make them more comfortable while sleeping. They accidentally ignite their bedding quite often and will need to replace it.

Despite their impressive hunting displays, talonflame have several predators. Very large raptors such as braviary can kill them when they are carrying prey or nesting. Dragons will also sometimes attack talonflame in their nest. Smaller raptors such as noctowl will pick off fletchinder and fletchling. Rattata have also been known to kill sleeping fletchinder. Very little dares attack a talonflame nest as at least one parent will be present and they will fight any intruder to the death. Talonflame have been observed fighting ninetales, houndoom, ursaluna, and even hydreigon that get too close. They have never been seen abandoning their chicks, no matter what comes for them. A guaranteed fight is enough to deter most opportunistic predators from trying their luck.

Husbandry

Talonflame were first tamed over three thousand years ago by Eastern European nomads. It is believed that the humans benefited from a strong hunting partner while the talonflame, in turn, had their nest defended while the birds slept. Talonflame husbandry would persist throughout the millennia. In the Kalosian Empire they were deemed royal birds and only the nobility could legally own them. They were used in wartime to attack messenger birds. Less chivalrous warriors sometimes used them to break the wings of flying mounts and send their rider plummeting to the ground. Galarian forces once used them ignite the sails of an invading Paldean armada, leaving the ships stranded in the water while they were picked by cannon fire off or burned down.

Northern European tribes often kept their birds close on chilly nights, usually in bedding made of fireproof feathers. Talonflame trainers also traditionally kept their heads shaved to avoid accidental ignition at night.

Talonflame are relatively easy to care for on the island challenge. All stages are usually idle outside of combat, at which point they become extremely aggressive. They may need to be withdrawn at the end of a battle if they do not recognize it is over. Most specimens will happily rest in their pokéballs in the middle of the day and night. They prefer to soar around dusk and dawn.

All three stages should be provided with water to drink and bathe in at least twice a day. No stage of the line has no open flames and they are not harmed by bathing.

Fletchling and fletchinder should be given nutrient-fortified insect mixes. They should be given just enough that they do not cache any. Feedings should occur three to four times a day. Hungry fletchinder may attempt to burn nearby shrubbery. They should be closely monitored as mealtimes approach.

Talonflame will only eat plucked poultry, ideally precooked. If the meal is raw or not cooked to the talonflame’s standards they will cook it themselves. Talonflame react poorly if they are not the first pokémon to be fed, especially if there are other carnivores on the team. They may attempt to steal their teammate’s meals or even snatch food off of their trainer’s plate. They should ideally be fed around one pound of food around dusk. The feeding can be delayed until dawn if they are needed in battle at night.

Feeding should be slightly increased for fletchinder and talonflame leading up to molting. If the pokemon’s molting cycle is unknown, the pokémon should be given more food when it appears anxious. After the first molting they will usually realize that there will be food available throughout the process and they will not seek to put on as much weight. During the week-long period of molting the bird should be kept in an enclosed, fireproof area where they will feel safe. Small windows to the outside world are good enrichment during this time, especially if there is a place in the enclosure where they will not themselves be visible from the window.

Fletchling will happily bond with conspecifics. Fletchinder and talonflame will not tolerate them, with the exception of mated pairs (see Breeding). No stage will initially tolerate other raptors. They can learn to bond over time, but they should always be fed separately and monitored when together. Consult a specialist text on managing team dynamics between large carnivores if a multi raptor team is to be attempted. They are better fits for fire-type specialists than bird keepers. Talonflame will tolerate most non-raptor birds on their team. The birds may be terrified of the talonflame, especially if they were not raised alongside the pokémon before it evolved.

Standard falconry gear can be used for some fletchinder. Talonflame are too large. They also have an unfortunate habit of kicking things they encounter in midair, which can result in a broken arm. Fireproofing or other insulating clothing should be used when making direct contact with any stage of the evolutionary line following flight or combat. It is inadvisable to sleep alongside your bird, no matter cold it is outside.

Talonflame are intelligent birds that appreciate enrichment. They enjoy having their food thrown to them so they have to catch it out of midair. Fletchling and fletchinder appreciate puzzles with food as a reward. All three stages love moving lures, especially airborne ones like kites and bird-safe drones. Talonflame have an unfortunate habit of destroying these lures, making them a good treat for special occasions rather than a normal part of their enrichment.

The best enrichment for the line is the chance to fly and explore their environment. They can even be leash trained and accompany their trainer on walks. These walls should still be accompanied by at least two flights a day. Fletchinder and talonflame must be monitored to make sure they don’t burn anything down or kill endangered or captive birds, respectively.

Illness

Talonflame’s high body temperature makes them highly resistant to most infections and parasites. One notable illness they do suffer from is bumblefoot, an infection of the talons that can occur when the bird spends too much time on unclean or unnatural surfaces. This is most common for stationary trainers. A variety of perches should be provided and they should be cleaned at least once a week.

Talonflame are also known carriers of malaria and must be vaccinated. They usually do not develop symptoms when infected with the disease.

Evolution

Fletchling can go their entire lives without evolving. They can even reach sexual maturity and reproduce (see Breeding). Fletchling begin to evolve into fletchinder after they reach their adult size and experience an unusual amount of combat with other birds. This is most common during wars pitting multiple conflagrations against another species. An over abundance of competing birds signals to the fletchling that they need to thin out their rivals and that there will be adequate food for more talonflame. The evolution process is accompanied by hormonal shifts and rapid development in the flame sacs, fire glands, and most internal organs.

Fletchinder evolve into talonflame over the course of roughly nine months. The formal demarcation line is the development of yellow stripes on the tail. Exceptional amounts of combat can reduce the evolution time to six months.

Most fully-grown fletchling used on the island challenge evolve rather quickly. Battling many other bird specialists or wild birds can jumpstart the process if it does not occur on its own.

Battle

Talonflame should theoretically suffer in competitive play. They cannot soar to their preferred heights and ambush tactics will not work. They succeed anyway. Talonflame are still fast and nimble fliers that can weave around attacks before kicking their opponent’s weak point at maximum speed. They can also surround themselves in flames to deter other pokémon from getting close. Tricks like taunt, tailwind, defog, will-o-wisp, and roost give them a niche on quickstall. The combination of swords dance and fast flight let them set up on many grounded opponents.

This is not to say that talonflame is without counters. Rock-types can usually tank anything talonflame throw at them and eventually land a finishing blow. Talonflame have to get close to land their most devastating attacks which negates the full effectiveness of their flight. Many electric-types have area of effect options to strike them out of the skies. Finally, without the advantage of a stoop talonflame can easily find themselves outmuscled or even outflown by larger raptors and dragons. The latter also seldom mind fire. In the wild talonflame usually win these matchups by ambush tactics or scaring off predators by showing no fear. Neither of these tactics works well on the battlefield. Few pokémon used in competitive battling will be scared off by the prospect of a fight.

On the island challenge talonflame are still good enough to pull their weight all the way to the Elite Four. Even fletchinder will stay competitive until the final island. Few totems are well-equipped for dealing with fast birds. Fewer still can handle birds that are on fire. Keep the talonflame out of range, land a few devastating strikes, and spread burns when possible. Taunt may also be worth investing in a TM for as it can shut down setup strategies.

Even fletchling are far from helpless. The hormones coursing through them in battle make them fearless, which is a big advantage over many young pokémon. Few low-level trainers will have the tools they need to deal with a bird that burns on contact. They will become increasingly outclassed as totems and kahunas have more robust ranged arsenals, but in the early game they can still easily justify a team slot.

Acquisition

Fletchling and fletchinder can be found in Northeast Akala, most frequently within the boundaries of Wela National Park. They are especially common around park buildings and in the coastal forests. Capture of one fletchling or fletchinder per trainer is allowed inside the park. Talonflame capture is currently prohibited. The best way to catch one of the birds is to provide an offering of food and a pokémon defending it. If the bird defeats your pokémon, let them have the food. A defeated bird may be interested in growing stronger, especially for fletchinder. They will expect frequent battle until they evolve into a talonflame.

Generalist avian breeders rarely keep talonflame due to their aggression towards other raptors and the distress their proximity causes smaller birds. There are still talonflame specialists who usually have fletchling and fletchinder for sale that have grown up accustomed to humans. Some trainers even pick a fletchling as their starter. A trained talonflame can be very expensive, often running in the high five figures. Adoption opportunities are rare, although rehabilitation facilities will occasionally have an injured wild specimen that needs long term captive care.

Fletchling can be obtained with a Class I license. Fletchinder can be obtained with a Class III license. Talonflame can be adopted or purchased with a Class III license.

Breeding

Mature fletchinder will form pairs once every spring. The male will build a nest in a tree and the female will lay three to five pale green eggs. Both parents will take turns guarding and incubating the eggs, although they may abandon the nest if approached by a sufficiently intimidating predator. The chicks will hatch after two weeks and leave the nest after an additional month.

Talonflame breeding is similar. It starts with a far more acrobatic mating dance involving grappling, dives, and quick maneuvers. At one point the male drops food to the female while she flies on her back beneath him. Once the two accept each other they will build a nest on a secure perch. The female will begin a partial molt and line the nest with her feathers to avoid burning the nest or eggs. The male will obtain food for the mother and chicks during this time while the female guards the nest. Once the fletchling have departed the pair will separate. Pairs occasionally reunite the following season but are more likely to pick other mates.

Captive breeding of fletchling is almost inevitable if males and females are kept in the same aviary longterm. Talonflame breeding is difficult in captivity because of the aggression the birds show towards conspecifics. They must be introduced in spring. The fletchling must be allowed to leave the nest and then promptly be captured by the trainer. If they are taken directly from the nest the talonflame may become aggressive. If the nest is in an aviary and the fletchling cannot escape the parents may become agitated after a month.

Do not approach the nest under any circumstances. Provide the male with food to bring back from another room or the far corner of the breeding site. Ideally food can be provided with no contact whatsoever. The chicks can be monitored by closed circuit cameras when the parents allow it.

It is possible to hand raise fletchling if talonflame or a surrogate parent are unavailable. These imprinted chicks are the most tolerant of humans and often display behaviors not typical of the species. Imprinted females may lay unfertilized eggs every year and sit on them until they grow bored and abandon the nest. Removing the eggs will agitate the mother and likely just lead to her laying more. Some imprinted talonflame can be persuaded to incubate eggs from another mother or even another species. In general talonflame are quite willing to foster motherless fletchling. Wild males have even been known to bring abandon eggs or chicks back to their nest to care for.

Crossbreeding talonflame is incredibly difficult due to their disdain for other raptors. The few documented crosses have been born to two parents kept on the same team for several years.

Relatives

There are two subspecies of talonflame in Europe. P. p. peregrinator is the nominate subspecies and can be found in Northern and Eastern Europe. They stay in their home range for most of the summer and migrate south during the winter to breed and hunt in more forgiving climes.

P. p. imperius is native to the Mediterranean region. They are slightly smaller than the domesticated and northern subspecies and do not migrate in the winter.

The Alolan talonflame population are feral specimens from the domesticated talonflame, which is about 15% larger than its wild counterparts and less aggressive towards humans. They have been bred for their keen eyesight and obedience but are otherwise very similar to their wild counterparts.

 

[Persephone]

Salazzle (Salandit)
Aeaea aeaea

Overview

Salazzle do not possess the power of Alola’s native dragons or the speed of vikavolt. Yet of all the pokémon in Alola, it was the salazzle that left the biggest impression on the initial Western explorers to land on Alola’s shores. The fascination continues to this day in art, philosophy, gender studies, medicine, and chemistry.

Salazzle are known for their reverse harems. All salazzle are female. Each rules over a reverse harem of three to fifteen salandit. The males are enthralled by the females through a compound of pheromones known as imorin and are bound to almost total obedience. They will sacrifice their lives to keep the salazzle and female salandit comfortable. Imorin also works on most mammals and reptiles, as well as some insects.

Most humans who experience sexual attraction towards women are vulnerable to imorin and will experience decreased reaction times and complex reasoning abilities and increased obedience when exposed. Victims often report feelings of awe and inferiority towards the source of the imorin. This has made diluted imorin-based perfumes extremely desirable. More concentrated doses are sometimes used for less than legitimate ends. Imorin is banned or heavily restricted in 149 nations. The United States is one of the remaining few with relatively lax laws. Only using it in furtherance of a crime or fraud is illegal. Salazzle trainers have a free source of imorin.

The combination of imorin, salazzle’s reverse harems, and salazzle’s undulating movements made them extremely unpopular with missionaries from the Church of Life. Salazzle were exterminated from Alolan waters during the early 20th Century. Some specimens remained in European collections and the volcanic regions of Paldea. A reintroduction effort in 1966 restored them to Wela Volcano Park and a variety of hot springs in protected lands of Northern Akala. The population has rebounded enough that capture is allowed for trainers on the island challenge. The population is not stable enough for them to be removed from the Endangered Species List, despite lobbying from religious conservatives.

Imorin aside, salazzle are crafty battlers that can hold their own through the end of the island challenge. They are intelligent and surprisingly affectionate creatures that can make for great companions. There are still three major problems in caring for them. The first is their need for warm waters, which can be difficult to fulfill on the trail. Expensive spring balls may prove necessary for the traveling trainer. Salandit and salazzle can release carbon disulfide to disorient and poison foes. This is the preferred hunting method of male salandit. Prolonged exposure to carbon disulfide may increase the risk of stroke and cancer. Stay away from the battlefield when salandit are battling and wear a respirator if exposure to the fumes is unavoidable. Trainers are also not immune to their own pokémon’s imorin and salazzle are not above using it to get what they want.

Physiology

Salandit and salazzle are classified as dual fire- and poison-types. Neither ruling is disputed.

Salandit are predominately black salamanders. Both sexes have red markings on the back. Males may have far more red coloring than females. Some specimens are entirely red. Salandit have prominent fangs. In addition to the fangs and a row of sharp teeth, salandit and salazzle have two more rows of vomeropalatine teeth in the upper back of their mouth. Salazzle’s fangs can inject a dose of tetrodotoxin that can be fatal to humans within thirty minutes. Seek medical attention immediately following a salandit bite that breaks the skin.

Their second variety of venom is created by using their flame sacs to heat a venomous compound stored in the tip of their tail. High temperatures cause an enzyme to break the venom down into its components, including carbon disulfide. Carbon disulfide has similar effects to carbon monoxide. Exposure can result in disorientation, suffocation, and death. Salandit tend to emit it in doses meant to disorient targets rather than kill them outright. Alternatively, the base substance can be secreted from glands in the mouth, mixed with water at high temperatures, and spit out as sulfuric acid.

Female salandit can secret imorin from glands behind their nostrils. Males cannot.

Salandit’s flame sacs vent to their mouth, soles, and the tip of their tails. They are not adept at spitting their flames out for long distances and prefer to use fire to finish off disoriented prey or scare away predators.

Salazzle are slender salamanders with a humanoid build. Their forelimbs are slim and their hindlimbs are bulky and powerful. Each paw contains five digits. Salazzle appear to have three tails. Two are much smaller and contain keratin spikes to support them rather than a skeleton. This makes them very inflexible. The faux-tails are primarily used to defend themselves from attacks from the rear. The actual tail is long and used to balance the pokémon when it stands upright. They are still not particularly stable when walking on two legs and must constantly correct themselves with undulating, full-body movements. In the wild they only walk on two ways for intimidating or to spit sulfuric acid or fire directly into the eyes of taller foes. Their build and upright walking were not evolved to distract humans as they had already been living in Alola for hundreds of thousands of years before the first explorers arrived.

Salazzle have more varied markings than salandit. They are usually counter-shaded with a grey ventral area and darker skin on the back. Red markings are common on the chest, head, and underside of the tail. Some salazzle, particularly those descending from a population on Ula’Ula, are much lighter in color.

Salandit and salazzle have both gills and lungs. Their skin is moist and slimy. The mucus they secrete is a fire-resistant insulator that keeps them safe from their own flames. Both stages can leave the water for hours at a time, but will eventually need to return to rehydrate and rest. Like many salamanders, the line also possess astonishing regeneration abilities. Mild wounds, especially in the mouth, can be quickly healed. Larger wounds, including full loss of a limb or the lower jaw, can be healed in a matter of days. Medical research into salazzle’s regeneration is far less visible than the trade in imorin but no less important.

Tetrodotoxin and sulfuric compounds come from the pokémon’s diet. If they are not fed sulfur supplements and insects containing trace amounts of tetrodotoxin, they will lose the ability to make their venoms.

Salazzle can reach lengths of six feet, including the tail, and can weigh up to fifty pounds. They can live in the wild or captivity for thirty years. Male salandit rarely grow larger than two feet long and typically weigh around ten pounds. Females are about 30% larger on average.

Behavior

Salazzle and salandit live primarily in volcanically-heated hot springs and other warm waters throughout northern Akala. There are few terrestrial predators in the Wela Volcano area willing to follow them into water and most large aquatic predators cannot survive in the warm and chemically distinct waters on the mountain. The salamanders can comfortably hunt the aquatic invertebrates and fish that do live in the ponds without much in the way of competition. Fish are usually killed via tetrodotoxin while aquatic invertebrates are usually small enough to kill and eat without the assistance of venom.

Both stages can also hunt on land. They prefer to target invertebrates but have also been documented hunting mammals and reptiles. Males are lured in to their death by the salazzle’s imorin before being finished off by salandit. Female victims can still be outwitted and killed. Salandit in particular are fond of luring would-be predators into an enclosed cave other salandit have filled with carbon disulfide. They will wait until the predator is disoriented before killing and eating it themselves. The salazzle can also provide a distraction while a salandit sneaks up behind them and delivers a venomous bite or slow death through carbon disulfide. Whatever their tactics, both salazzle and salandit are exceptionally clever hunters that can use their many natural weapons to bring down even large foes with minimal risk.

Salazzle are best known for their reverse-harems. Only females are capable of evolution and producing imorin. The males are almost always chemically enraptured by the salazzle and will go to great lengths to do their bidding. Early Western scientists reported that male salandit would starve themselves so the females could eat. The resulting malnourishment was why they could not evolve. This is not true. Even well-fed captive males will not evolve. The males eat less than females because they have a smaller maximum body size and do not need to fuel a larger frame or the production of imorin.

There are usually a few females in a salazzle’s reverse-harem. They are not chemically enthralled and are instead receiving direct training from the salazzle. In times of extreme scarcity, salazzle have been observed cannibalizing female salandit to prevent future competition. Upon evolution the new salazzle leaves the area, usually after stealing away one or two salandit to begin her reverse-harem. Salazzle fighting over territory will rear up on their hind legs and wrestle while releasing as much imorin as possible. Salandit may be swayed to leave their reverse-harem by the other female’s imorin. Territories are adjusted based on the winner of the physical contest and the movements of the salandit.

In the wild salazzle and salandit feed on Wela black snails, a small mollusk that contains tetrodotoxin. This is how they obtain it for their diet. Sulfur is passively ingested from the volcanic environment around them.

Husbandry

Male salandit are easier to care for than females due to their lack of imorin. Trainers who do not care about their battling capabilities can feed them about 8% of their body weight in a mix of fish and invertebrates every three days. Trainers who want their salandit to have tetrodotoxin will need to seek out invertebrates that contain trace amounts and add them to their pokémon’s diet. Sulfur can be added through the addition of trace amounts of sulfur crystals, eggs, or exposure to very small amounts of natural gas. The latter method can be dangerous as salandit are also pryrokinetic and should only be attempted outside and far away from the pokémon. Sulfur-fed specimens should have very well-ventilated living quarters to prevent a buildup of carbon disulfide.

Salandit prefer to live in freshwater pools between eighty and one hundred degrees Farenheit. They should have daily access to a pool of this temperature for at least five hours. Spring Balls are an acceptable substitute on the trail, although warm water should still be provided as often as possible. Salandit also enjoy heat lamps, heated rocks, and small crags to hide in.

Both stages are highly intelligent and appreciate puzzles of all sorts, so long as they are capable of manipulating it with their feet or tongue. They cannot use some puzzles made for humans that require force to be exerted in an area the size of a finger. Some salazzle appreciate music and can even develop preferences for certain genres. One salazzle learned to play simple video games with a modified controller. There are scientists who claim salazzle possess human-comparable intelligence, although this is still a minority view in the field.

Female salandit are similar to males for trainers who are not sexually attracted to women. For those who are they pose an additional challenge. Salandit are not afraid to manipulate their trainer to get what they want. There is no way to alter their diet to prevent the formation of imorin. Anti-psychic tactics such as frequent diary entries, therapy visits, and meditation can reduce the influence of imorin. A healthy bond built upon respect and caring for all of the pokémon’s needs can reduce their desire to use it. Finally, a high-quality respirator can limit the chance it can act altogether. Constant use of an industrial respirator is often undesirable. The other methods are often better in practice, especially for experienced trainers and reasonably compliant pokémon.

Salazzle are far more domineering than salandit. They should have at least one other pokémon in their thrall to keep them happy. These can be male salandit or other male pokémon. Trainers should be aware that imorin manipulation can cause tensions on a team if the target is unwilling. Lacking thralls, salazzle can become extremely unpleasant and double down on their efforts to manipulate anyone they come across. Frequent battle can reduce these impulses as salazzle have opportunities to manipulate their opponents. Salazzle that were reasonably compliant on the island challenge can still become unruly once the fighting ends.

Illness

Salazzle are capable of regenerating their tail, limbs, lower jaw, and some organs. In fact, spitting sulfuric acid actively harms the pokémon’s mouth tissues. The damage will be healed within minutes. Injured pokémon should be kept inactive, given a safe place to retreat to, and well fed. Full regeneration should occur within three days.

Salazzle are also more resistant to disease than many amphibians. Their naturally high body temperatures kill many viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites that would be a serious problem for non-fire-type salamanders. One exception are some thermophile fungi, which can grow along the skin or in cysts. Any discoloration or unusual lumps should be investigated by a veterinarian as soon as possible.

The bigger problem with salazzle is their ability to injure or sicken their trainer. Touching them can cause irritation to the skin of both human and pokémon. Carbon disulfide inhalation can result in disorientation, forgetfulness and, ultimately, death. Thankfully, it has a distinct sulfurous odor unlike the odorless carbon monoxide. If the smell is distinct indoors the pokémon should be withdrawn and the area immediately evacuated and vented.

Do not sleep near salazzle in an enclosed space.

Evolution

Female salandit evolve into salazzle around ten months of age. The process is gradual and the formal demarcation line in the wild is the new salazzle being forced out of their old reverse-harem. In captivity the demarcation line is the first instance of walking upright for more than two seconds. Trainers should be ready for potential challenges to their authority from newly evolved salazzle, even if they were previously docile and obedient.

Battle

Salazzle are pack hunters that prefer to use tricks and poisons to bring down foes rather than brute force. This should make them subpar on the competitive circuits.

Doubles formats are where salazzle truly shines as their natural instincts combine well with the format. They can set imorin or carbon disulfide traps for opponents or disrupt opposing strategies with tricks like fake out, encore, and taunt. Salazzle are also fast enough on their feet to fire off quick protects when needed, compensating for their low natural durability.

Salazzle are also excellent wallbreakers as most slow, bulky opponents can be worn down or subdued with imorin, carbon disulfide, or tetrodotoxin. Even inorganic steel- and rock-types dislike the corrosive properties of sulfuric acid. Steel-types also tend to be vulnerable to fire-type attacks softening their armor.

Against opponents immobilized by imorin-induced infatuation, salazzle can take the opportunity to boost their elemental strength with nasty plot, greatly increasing their short-term firepower. Salazzle must be taught to rely on ranged fire as they naturally prefer to employ fiery palm strikes, which are not good for their low in-battle durability.

Salazzle can heal off almost every wound, but they cannot do so within the timeframe of a standard match. It is best to withdraw them as soon as they are seriously hurt.

The best counters to salazzle are inorganic flying pokémon that can hover out of sulfuric acid range and are immune to imorin. Pokémon immune to imorin should attempt to knock out the salazzle as soon as possible so that it doesn’t land a bite or have time to fill the arena with carbon disulfide. Imorin-affected pokémon should constantly keep moving, ideally via teleportation, and manipulate the winds if possible. Quick, ranged knockouts are preferred as they reduce the power of the imorin and keep the salazzle constantly on the backfoot. Area of effect moves such as earthquake can defeat the pokémon’s attempts to dodge.

Salazzle are very good on the island challenge. They can infatuate and defeat a few totems on their own. The others can still be severely hampered by a bite at the start of the match that will take its toll as the battle wears on. Salazzle may have a poor matchup against two of the kahunas, but if proper research is done they should be able to come in on an imorin-vulnerable pokémon and take them out. Even Olivia’s rock-types do not appreciate sulfuric acid.

Female salandit play similarly to salazzle. Males can still be useful through their debilitating bite, although they may not be able to contribute beyond that as the island challenge progresses.

Acquisition

Salandit and salazzle can be found in warm ponds and rivers on Mauna Wela and in a handful of subterranean rivers in northern Akala. It is easiest to find them by fishing in the hot springs on the mountain at night. Trainers on the island challenge are limited to one salandit or salazzle apiece. Members of the general public are not allowed to catch either. Staff at Wela National Park are willing to help trainers’ pokémon learn to differentiate between the scents of male and female salandit. Salazzle will usually need a proving battle. Salandit will not.

Salandit can be purchased, captured, or adopted with a Class III license. Salazzle can be purchased, captured, or adopted with a Class IV license. Salazzle must also be registered with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). It may not be legal to take them into some countries. Trainers wishing to sell imorin, especially across international boundaries, should familiarize themselves with the existing laws around it. Simple use of imorin is legal for non-criminal purposes. Its sale is subject to excise taxes and sales above a certain quantity must be reported to the DEA.

Breeding

Salazzle breed around January. They will lay forty eggs at a time on a plant or partially buried in the substrate. One male will fertilize them. She will repeat this process for every male in the reverse-harem. The eggs will hatch about three weeks later. Salazzle, unlike many salamanders, show a level of maternal care and will protect the hatchlings until they are big enough to properly join in on hunts.

Salazzle without any male salandit in their reverse-harems, most typically newly evolved specimens, will seek out another salazzle and mate with her. This will initiate parthenogenesis, allowing the pokémon to lay forty self-fertilized eggs that will hatch into male clones of herself. Parthenogenesis is relatively rare in the wild but quite common in captivity. Most females will attempt it every year and then insist on caring for their offspring. This can grind journeys to a halt for up to a month, at which point she may reluctantly agree to give the salandit away. Ideally some would be kept to reduce the pokémon’s desire to assert their dominance over others. Salazzle that cannot find another salazzle to mate with have been observed seeking out other salamanders. If even this is not possible, they may run away to find a suitable partner.

Salazzle are particularly easy to crossbreed as they will mate with male amphibians in the absence of a male salandit. Offspring may not be able to produce venoms, flames, or imorin. Phenotypes will vary widely depending on the partner chosen. Crosses with other salamanders are usually capable of growing to adulthood, evolution, and sometimes viable reproduction. Crosses with frogs and other amphibians are almost never reproductively viable and may not be able to survive to adulthood.

Breeding salazzle will appreciate having a well-planted pool about six feet deep and ten feet across. Temperatures should be kept between 80 and 100 degrees Farenheit and food should regularly be provided. There should be a thick layer of substrate, ideally composed of a mix of sand and smooth pebbles. Salazzle tend not to allow non-salandit mates to enter their pool due to the risk of cannibalism. Trainers may be allowed to approach but should not attempt to enter for at least three weeks following the salandit hatching.

Relatives

Salazzle are not closely related to any living salamander. It is believed that they diverged from a now-extinct marine species, A. sirenia, around five million years ago. The only evidence of A. sirenia is a partial fossilized skeleton found in New Caledonia.

 

[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.