I'm reconsidering what I'm going to do for courting/childrearing/social structure with Zoroark. My original idea was too difficult to explain.

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Thanks Tangent and everyone else.

edited 25th Mar '11 2:19:24 PM by rmctagg09

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.

Three sex chromosomes does not appear to work. I ran simulations, and males with more than one Y chromosome went extinct quickly, after which the population settled into a roughly 50/50 ratio.

Do you highlight everything looking for secret messages?

I just realized I have no idea how to explain Illusion scientifically.

---

Zorua Line

Morphs [Oak Catalog #]

• Zorua [#570]
• Zoroark [#571]

Notable Biology

Zorua is the premature morph, a vulpine Pokémon mainly slate-gray in coloration with red and black accents on its head and feet. Zorua's ears are triangular with dark insides, and it has a large, whirled scruff of fur on its head, tipped with red coloration. This whirl of hair eventually grows out into an enormous mane, to be pulled back by a special ‘hair tie’ made by a female Zoroark, whether the mother of the Zorua or the Zorua herself, as a bit of a ‘coming of age’ task. Often the hair tie is made of some kind of orb, though there have been instances of it using a bone to tie its hair back similar to a Mandibuzz when there is no orb to be found.

Its eyes appear to possess no pupils and its eyelids and circular "eyebrow" markings are red. Most Zorua are born blind and for a majority of its pre-evolutionary life cannot open its eyes all the way. Zorua also possesses a scruff of black fur around its neck that eventually grows to cover the chest area as Zoroark, and limbs tipped with red. Its tail is bushy, and when it opens its mouth small fangs can be seen developing.

Zoroark is the mature form, and is a sign of reproductive maturity in the eyes of other Zoroark. It has developed stronger hind legs and their front limbs have developed elbow joints and sharp red claws. Zoroark is mainly grayish-brown in coloration, with red and black accents. It has a pointed snout and ears, the insides of which have red coloration. Zoroark also has some red markings rimming its eyes and mouth.

Abilities

<Describe Illusion Somehow Here>

Habitat

Zoroark live with their offspring in grasslands or forests. Many Zoroark and Zorua prefer to live near water for ease of access. In order to protect themselves from unwanted visitors, they will disguise their habitat as something very different. Oddly enough, most illusory landscapes resemble human households, the most common being either abandoned warehouses, or a trailer house.

The most astonishing instance of illusory human households was when an entire acre of flat grassland with a farm in the center, a fence surrounding the land, and a ‘Keep Out’ sign on top of a mailbox was revealed to be nothing more than an illusion conjured up by a talented pack of Zoroark. This was revealed by a group of rowdy young men, who had intended to ‘TP’ the enormous house on Halloween Night because they we never allowed beyond the fence. When they attempted to hold onto it or hop over it, they grasped thin air, and eventually cancelled out the illusion due to startling the Zoroark with a loud firecracker.

Diet

Zorua and Zoroark are an exclusively carnivorous species. They prefer to eat mammalian meat such as those from Bouffalant or the Minccino Line, for reasons only explained as ‘they taste better’. Starving Zoroark have been known to eat other types of meat, however, ranging from Water-Type meat to their own kind, if hungry enough. Many Zoroark that have to resort to cannibalism have become very ashamed of themselves afterwards.

Hazards

Do not mess with a mother Zoroark’s babies, or she will kill you. Many occasions where a mother Zoroark’s children have been threatened have led to the death of the attacker, and have even ended in the death of the mother. One of the most recent documentations of the mother Zoroark defending her children happened in the Crown City, Sinnoh, where former businessman Grings Kodai kidnapped a mother Zoroark and her child, a Telepathic Zorua, and forced her to do his bidding in exchange for Zorua’s safety.

This Zoroark, dubbed Meema by International News Reporters Karl and Rowena, was especially notable in that she had been blackmailed with her son’s safety to take on the forms of Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, to terrorize Crown City and leave it empty so that Grings Kodai could access Celebi’s Time Ripple. Her son was not actually in Kodai’s possession, however, and the Zorua had been doing his level best to try and find his mother once more.

The methods taken by both mother and child to reunite were great; the telepathic Zorua had befriended the Legendary Pokemon Celebi and gained its assistance in finding his mother, while Meema had shown a great amount of strength and power by breaking through an electrocuted prison, a fully-armed airplane, several buildings, and even managed to battle the actual Legendary Pokémon Entei, Raikou and Suicune to a standstill.

Afterwards, several more amazing feats of defense for her child were performed by Meema while on the ship to her and her child’s homeland. Most notably, when the boat’s chef had accidentally dropped a butcher knife that was blasted in Zorua’s direction, Meema jumped in front of the knife and took the blow from behind. Luckily, her voluptuous mane was thick enough to cusion the knife and no contact was made, though it did take a very long time to fish the knife out of her mane. When the telepathic Zorua was confronted about the incident afterwards, he had said that he was “Very proud of [his] Meema for doing that” and vowed to become as strong and as brave as her one day. Meema and her child’s current whereabouts are unknown.

Courting and Childrearing

Only Zoroark breed in the wild, though Zorua can be bred in captivity. As this line does not approve of inbreeding, packs of Zoroark will often live their entire lives searching for other packs in order to mate. Once found, they will examine the gender ratio of the pack, and if there are enough females and males, arrangements will be made and the pairs of Zoroark will leave their respective packs to live together. This ‘trial period’ can take up to five months, in order to decide if the Zoroark are willing to settle down with each other to raise a family. If a male and female Zoroark both agree, they battle each other to see who is the strongest, and thus who will be the patriarch or matriarch.

The new mating pair often lay one egg at a time; though on rare occasions have laid up to six eggs at once. The eggs are protected violently by the mother while the male goes out and gathers food for the family. Once the first egg hatches, many more are eventually hatched, often leading to a family where there are more children than parents. The group stays together until the next mating season after evolving into Zoroark, where they are eventually separated to begin new families.

Social Structure

The Zorua Line lives exclusively in packs of families. Many of the line believe that a ‘family’ consists of at least one parent and one child. Loner Zoroark do exist, but as they are often a sign of failure to find a suitable mate, they are pitied and once discovered by another member of their evolutionary line, they will immediately be approached and either adopted or euthanized.

In Popular Culture

The image of a Zoroark has been imitated by several human throughout the years, especially in Unova. A prevalent legend in Unova is of the Trickster Zoroark, who could reshape itself so thoroughly that it could switch gender at will. While Zoroark’s ability to create illusions is true, the gender switching is only true for the sexual dimorphism of a living creature it disguises itself as. The markings of a fully grown Zoroark were often mimicked in Unovan stage plays back in the 1800’s, usually worn by the villain of the story.

There has been an animated cartoon featuring a male Zoroark fruitlessly chasing an unusually speedy Unfezant with the intent to eat it. His whacky adventures have entertained three generations so far and shows no sign of stopping in the immediate future. The Zoroark, named Wile E. Zoroark, has once even been adopted as the mascot of the studio that created him, eventually replaced with Ernie the Elgyem, Unovan Drillbur, and finally Mint Mincinno.

edited 25th Mar '11 4:39:11 PM by CalamityJane

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Well, when all else fails...to the chatroom!

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.

Well, either way, I posted the current draft of the Article. Any suggestions?

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I'll probably be in chat in about 1.5 or 2 hours.

Do you highlight everything looking for secret messages?

Illusion might be a pheremone emitted that causes a controlled hallucination....somehow?

Dunsparce didn't stop being a thing or anything.

Maybe Illusion works by the Pokemon projecting an image in your mind that it wants you to see.

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.

Or maybe it's all just smoke and mirrors. SO DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN.

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Or maybe Zoroark ate a Ditto to gain its powers.

Dunsparce didn't stop being a thing or anything.

Exactly what I was thinking, it doesn't cloak itself rather than produce a gestalt psychic field that messes with the perception of anything nearby. However, the psychic wave is different from what actual Psychic types produce.

edited 25th Mar '11 4:57:54 PM by Neo_Crimson

Sorry, I can't hear you from my FLYING METAL BOX!

That doesn't make any sense.

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You might want to take out that line since people can feel the illusions.

I think what he's saying is that people can feel the illusions. I dunno though. -shrugs-

edited 25th Mar '11 5:11:43 PM by Marioguy128

You got some dirt on you. Here's some more!

Mine or memyselfandI's?

I just realized how confusing that sounds.

Sorry, I can't hear you from my FLYING METAL BOX!

A few comments:

• Vulpine creatures, like canids aren't really obligate carnivores. Also, do Zorua / Zoroark stash extra food by any chance?
• @ Illusion: If all else fails, say that it's a poorly understood phenomena and focus more on what it does as opposed to how it works.
• Would "Meemaw" really have been that prominent in media in-universe?
• Not sure if it makes sense for a creature that lives in small social groups to kill off adult loners. I mean, if your social unit consists entirely of two (or fewer) adults and any offspring, having some stage of your life where you're on your own is to be expected. (Oh wait, I missed that "pack" bit... That makes a little bit more sense now.)
• Do Zoroark actually lay eggs within a wild setting? Or is it akin to what a lot of other mammalian 'mon entries have where young are "born" in the wild and hatched in captivity?
• Some of the style seems a little off for a professional journal.

That said, I think that you have a really solid start for an article here, and I'm looking forward to reading your finished(-ish) version.

edited 25th Mar '11 5:38:05 PM by TracerBullet

Hard Boiled Detective Since 1985

Thank you Tracer, I'll modify the article accordingly. Though I think that focusing on a Zoroark that can fight three Legendary Pokemon at the same time and be equally matched is enough grounds for a 'Holy @&%* this Zoroark is Badass' hype.

edited 25th Mar '11 5:27:40 PM by CalamityJane

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Wouldn't it be a Beeheeyem that would be the Marvin The Martian stand in? 'Cause that's what I said in that article.

Otherwise, pretty good; loving all the cartoon character Shout Outs.

Duly noted, Locoman. Also, Tracer Bullet, I need you to be a bit more specific regarding my tone, since I have trouble with tone sometimes.

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Zorua probably employs a combination of pheromones and subconcious cues to psych the opponent into perceiving it as something else. Physical appearnace is also altered by subconcious manipulation.

The three finest things in life are to splat your enemies, drive them from their turf, and hear their lamentations as their rank falls!

Then how does pulling its tail cancel the illusion?

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@ Jane:

Mostly stuff like that. It sounds like the kind of explanation that you'd expect from a normal Troper, as opposed to a researcher.

Oh, I also noticed a dearth of hazards that weren't related to "Meemaw." Also, are there any other potential trips to the hospital waiting to happen beyond harassing a Zoroark's young? And what exactly should one expect if attacked by a Zorua/Zoroark (e.g. bites, clawings, psychic assaults) and what are they capable of?

edited 25th Mar '11 5:42:26 PM by TracerBullet

Hard Boiled Detective Since 1985

Actualy, the Icelandic Pokemon fasnsite Dragonfree has quite the interesting exanation for gender ratios. (Yes, I surf Scandanavian websites, I'm weird mmkay?)

I could give a link.

Let's make a TCG!

^ Me wantee (assuming that it's in English).

Hard Boiled Detective Since 1985

@Calamity Jane: It would possibly disrupt the part that Zoroark is consciously contributing to the illusion (psychic pushes in the desired direction, or something like that), and with only the pheremone, the affected party would promptly (or not so promptly) snap out of it.

Dunsparce didn't stop being a thing or anything.