The Pokédex - Extended Fanon Edition

I revised it a little bit. Muk are now legal.

Kangaskhan Time!

Kangaskhan

Morphs [Oak Catalog #]

• Kangaskhan [115]

physical description

Kangaskhan is a rather large, brown-and-cream-coloured, Kangaroo-like pokemon. Its tough hide has epaulette-shaped growths on the shoulders, as well as square-shaped patches on the knees, while a series of ridges and growths run down its back to its tail, where two spiked protrusions grow.

Notable Biology

Kangaskhan are commonly seen with babies inside their pouches.

A notable trainer breeder tactician named the Ace Of Scarabs has proposed that some of these babies are not in fact children of the Kangaskhan, but rather their underdeveloped twin sisters. This would explain much about why Kangaskhan often hatch with a baby already in their pouch.

Habitat

Kangaskhan are found on the wild, untamed plains, far from humans.

Diet

Most Kangaskhan are in fact partial omnivores, favouring leaves, fruit, and beans, although they are known to ocassionally resort to freshwater fish for the protein.

Hazards

Kangaskhan can be rather wary of humans, especially if they have young in their pouches. This wariness will turn into protective hostility if the young in their pouch is threatened.

They are also known to chase travelers and campers off their territory during birthing season, or merely because they want to steal the food supplies.

Courting

Male Kangaskhan have yet to be witnessed in the wild.

Much speculation has been made about how breeding takes place, although the current leading theory made by a Breeder is that they in fact merely mate with any Male from a compatible Egg Group.

Social Structure

Mostly solitary, during times when food is plentiful, Kangaskhan may congregate to take care of their young in bands sometimes referred to as sisterhoods. The most experienced and skillful Kangaskhan takes on the mantle of Matriach in such groupings. These sisterhoods dissolve when food becomes scarce during the dry season.

edited 2nd Apr '10 9:43:59 AM by AceOfScarabs

For the record, I'm keeping an index in the first post.

The Muk entry still feels a bit too Blob-y... Kangaskhan looks good. Though, it may be a bit more fun to leave some gaps in future entries to provoke more discussion.

So, on the cultural aspects of the world, is anybody else interested in fleshing out the Pokémon League or the Safari Zone?

Eh, never mind.

edited 2nd Apr '10 12:19:08 PM by Magus

I know it's total Adaptation Decay, but I, for one, like my Muk entry.

^ It was probably just a wee bit too Grimdark is what I'm gathering. It'd fit perfectly for this, but I get the feeling we're aiming for Reconstruction.

One thing about the pokemon League we should remember is that it has been implied that the Elite Four of Kanto do not always accept challengers.

The Email you can read in RBYFRLG states that the Elite Four are "now accepting challengers", as if they usually don't. Also, FRLG seems to close down Indigo Plateau for the duration of the postgame Rocket Warehouse plot.

Also as of the Gen 1 timeframe, the Elite Four didn't seem very involved in the outside world. During the rocket takeover of Saffron, a civilian wishes that the elite four would come in and clean up the town, but this is just that: Wishful thinking. The remakes added postgame content that had Loreli fighting Team Rocket in the Sevii islands, but also had her say how her position at Indigo Plateau would normally keep her away from doing this.

It wasn't until Second gen that we were introduced to the idea of the Champion taking a hand in regional conflicts. (Come to think of it, the Indigo League seems to have gone through some major restructuring in those three years. Hmm...)

I'll take a crack at the Safari Zone.

The Safari Zones were created by the Pokemon League to ease the concerns of conservationists that trainers could deplete wild Pokemon populations, as well as a place to protect rare Pokemon from poachers. The entrance fee was created for the upkeep of the different areas and the Pokemon within, and the time limit exists so that a trainer cannot catch Pokemon faster than they can be replenished. Another purpose of the Safari Zone is that they serve as a mass Pokemon breeding program, churning out far more eggs of rare Pokemon than a Day Care Center.

Anyone else want to take a crack at it?

edited 2nd Apr '10 5:13:20 PM by rmctagg09

^^ Perhaps the Elite Four were originally a peacekeeping posse, but as Kanto developed they began playing more of a ceremonial and tournament role. After the Saffron fiasco, they began to get involved in special agent operations again.

Though note that the League is an large-scale organization; the Elites are prominent members, but Gym Leaders are almost certainly part of the organization too.

So Yeah, how is the League organized? Are they a governmental body?

^ Since "real" trainers are not going to be bulk-catching Pokémon (unless they're an agent of a Professor), one can also assume that most catches in a Safari Game are released back.

On the Elite Four (and Gym Leaders): They are chosen from a long list of League Champions once every cycle of a few years by the League Council, the group that does all the administrative paperwork for the E4. The next 8 candidates are then posted to the towns and cities to take on the mantles of Gym Leaders, and are issued Badges.

On the Safari: It is a large-scale project that is funded mainly by its entrance fees. Rangers work off-the-scenes to ensure the pokemon that inhabit the Safari Zone do not threaten the ecology outside of said zone, although the Safaris in several countries also include pokemon native to the region.

edited 2nd Apr '10 5:40:08 PM by AceOfScarabs

I'll put up a Gastly entry later.

^^ Presumably there's some sort of targeted application process- it simply wouldn't do to assign Erika to the Cinnabar Island Gym, for instance.

So, why does a trainer want to collect eight Gym Badges? Do the Elite Four take challengers like in the games, or is there a tournament like the anime?

I guess we start by figuring out what the Gyms are for, first.

And what it means to be a "Trainer"; is there licensing?

edited 2nd Apr '10 5:57:03 PM by Tangent128

I always considered there to be a League licensing exam for fully-qualifed, professional trainers, who are all in fact Leage "Champions". Becoming League Champion is merely a drama-ified exam in this case.

Taking a leaf from the anime, there are more than 8 Gyms per region (Gary had 10 badges, remember) — we just only ever see those 8 on our particular plotlines.

This does make some sense on a mathematical level. Consider that some 250'ish trainers make it into the League every year with 8+ badges, and the Gym Leaders in all likelihood win the majority of their battles with Random Upstart #52461 and his Caterpie. If there were only 8 Gyms per region, they'd be going through an ungodly number of battles per day.

Also, it's possible Gym Leaders don't even battle with their best pokémon — if they are beaten on a regular basis by Lucky Random Upstarts, or Upstarts With A Degree Of Talent, they probably wouldn't be able to call themselves that particularly awesome, even accounting for their Poor, Predictable Rock lineups. I'd guess they use a largely B- or C-team lineup, throwing in a single A-lister if their opponent obviously knows what he's doing.

edited 2nd Apr '10 6:15:12 PM by Pykrete

Some Gym Leaders are so unstoppable that no-one would be able to even faint one of their team if they fielding their Champion team. It is pretty much a given that they do most Gym Challenge battles with teams specially chosen for the ocassion. More info-savvy Gym Leaders actually formulate special teams to show inexperienced trainers their weaknesses.

As for the purpose of the Gyms, mostly League fronts, talent scouts, coaching establishments, and of course obstacles to get into the tournament. Kind of a catch-all for local go-to experts.

I pictured the whole Elite Four thing in the anime like an exhibition match for the winner of the regional tournament. Sometimes the tourney winner proceeds to be more badass than people expect and drop one of them as well.

Fighting all four and the Champion is best restricted to the games, though there will periodically be a couple people who are powerful enough to challenge them. They're probably all on a first-name basis with those people, and finding a new one is a bit of a "holy crap!" moment for everyone involved or spectating.

Hmm, that could work. A native of say, Sootopolis wouldn't fight Wallace/Juan with the same team the Hoenn PC fought with, because they're from opposite ends of the region.

Makes sense.

Though I think at least basic licensing probably occurs at a much earlier stage.

The games have that whole Trainer Card thing, - even hoodlums like Silver go through the trouble of getting them, and Gold has one before even having a Pokémon. And shops limit certain equipment based on Badges.

Licensing takes no more than being age 10 or older, parent or guardian consent (if applicable), and passing a theory test akin to the kind of brain-breakingly obvious things you'd see on the written exam for a driving learner's permit.

You see a wild Ekans. Do you:

• A) give it some distance and keep an eye on it while you pass
• B) battle and attempt to capture it
• C) hug it because it's sooooo cute
• D) throw empty soup cans at it
• E) A or B is acceptable

Gym tutelage is available before this with parental consent as well, using family-owned or borrowed Gym pokémon.

edited 2nd Apr '10 6:41:33 PM by Pykrete

Hmm, so there's also the concept of elite families running Gyms.

We see confirmation with Falkner and Flannery.

Plus Koga's daughter.

^^ If we do start a wiki, we need to include an sample exam.

But are licences mandatory? Or just required for near-all competitive functions and store purchases? Is the League is governmentally-backed?

edited 2nd Apr '10 6:50:50 PM by Tangent128

The League is government-backed and funded. Consider it national defense spending, when you're facilitating the training of a good chunk of your population for basic survival, the cream of which can whip out things that can bench press tanks or Hyper Beam them to shreds from artillery range.

Licenses are required for the operation of standard pokéballs due to their registry features, as well as for official Gym challenges and League functions.

It's not uncommon to see unlicensed trainers with befriended or handed-down pokémon. It's not illegal and nobody makes a stink about it unless they do something nightmarishly stupid/cruel/facepalm-worthy, but they are locked out of the above until licensed — which isn't really a problem to go ahead and do.

Trainers' stores and Pokémon Centers are open to unlicensed trainers, though some merchandise is limited to licensed trainers (pokéballs, for instance).

edited 2nd Apr '10 7:17:52 PM by Pykrete

Also, I'd suspect that they'd ask you whether you want to be a trainer or not. Given that the protagonist is always a trainer, we never see this facet pop up.

Given the utter ease of becoming one, it's a safe bet that most of the teen+ population is registered anyway, even if they're not really trainers by profession — much the same way most people have driver's licenses even if they're not formula racers.

That could also explain why we see people younger than the PC (Youngsters and Bug Catchers come to mind) as NPC trainers.

Of course, since they aren't exactly Walking the Earth like the protagonists are, they don't have a wide variety of Pokemon.

A certain bit of Fridge Logic, though: Why are trainers near certain areas more powerful than those near the starting town?