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Frillish Line
Morphs [Oak Catalog #]
- Frillish [#592]
- Jellicent [#593]
Physical Description
Both Frillish and Jellicent sport large round bells made of thick umbrate, which have markings on them similar to a human face. They have three long, downturned triangular fins that begin at a ‘collar’ just underneath the bell, known as the ‘robe’, with the hind fin longer than the two front-most fins. They also have maneuverable tentacles that have pads at the end, used to manipulate objects similar to arms and hands. The top of their bells sprouts a tuft, which contains the protobrain, known as the ‘crown’.
Jellicent have a much larger bell, and their collars have grown to an enormous size. Their robe has not changed in size, however, now appearing much smaller and less important. Their tentacles have grown, however, and are now sporting much larger pads at the ends to hold more things.
The most notable feature of both Frillish and Jellicent is their stark gender dimorphism. Male Frillish and Jellicent are blue, while the female of the species is pink. Outside of coloration, there are several other differences between the genders.
Female Frillish have wavier pads on their tentacles, and a taller crown on their heads that hold a larger ‘protobrain’. The female Frillish also sport a wavier, more frilled robe, whereas the male has little to no frills on their robe and instead sport a diamond-shaped marking. Males have a downturned marking around their jawline whereas females have an upturned marking. Males have red eyes with blue sclera, and eye markings positioned lower, while females have blue eyes with red sclera, their eye markings positioned higher.
Female Jellicent have two eye markings, a visible red marking on their jawline which resembles the ‘heart symbol’, and a taller crown. Their collar is much larger, and sports four distinct puffs. Males have one eye marking over each eye, a collar that has only two distinct puffs around their heads that also obscures the jaw marking, and a shorter crown on their heads.
Notable Biology
Frillish and Jellicent are not in possession of any actual organs outside of a specialized thick skin known as Umbrate, which absorbs water from either the air or the sea into the collar. Underneath the umbrate, Frillish and Jellicent sport a nerve net, which registers pain and controls movement. The eye-like markings on the bell are indicators of a cluster of nerves which register color to the protobrain. However, Frillish and Jellicent are unable to see the color green, and their vision of the world is a muted pallet.
The collar of a Frillish or Jellicent serves as water sacs, which can hold up to one ton of water absorbed from the umbrate in the bell. The collar also houses a thick hinge at the back of the bell, which allows Frillish and Jellicent to split their bells in half without coming apart entirely. Frillish and Jellicent move by squashing into their robes and then stretching back out.
While in the sea, this is very effective when coupled with their method of propulsion (letting out absorbed water in the collar from the robe) but in the air, this serves little to no purpose, and merely do it out of instinct. Frillish and Jellicent instead move on land by simply levitating, though because all members of the line are capable of doing this and thus is not a proper variable, they are not recorded as having the Ability in the Pokemon League.
The crown of a Frillish or Jellicent holds a ‘protobrain’ which controls the nerve net and the rest of the body. While the bell is situated with markings that resemble a human face, it merely houses the digestive tract. They are, however, situated with a jawline marked by an upturned or downturned heart-shape (the marking on a Male Jellicent is merely obscured by his collar).
This evolutionary line hears things via vibrations in the air/water, and is capable of hearing and understanding basic battle commands. Their protobrains are not capable of basic logic, however, merely communication, movement, and shallow comprehension.
Abilities
Frillish and Jellicent both have access to a strange ability to disable a move used on it, known as Cursed Body. Cursed Body is considered the secondary ability of a Frillish or Jellicent, as Water Absorb is more prominently used in tournament-sanctioned battles. Cursed Body is not limited to disabling physical or special attacking moves, and is capable of disabling anything that damages it. Battling a Frillish or Jellicent can prove difficult because of this, as it has a chance of disabling a move that is super effective against it.
Cursed Body has also been known to mysteriously stop many other threats outside of battle, such as stopping an avalanche of rocks before it hit. This was achieved by making the rocks float in the air for a period of time, enough for the Frillish in question to get away from it. This Frillish, known by the press as 'Tommy', had done several other things with his ability, such as disabling an electrical field within Chargestone Cave, and even being able to turn off a radio that was annoying him with only his ability. Further research has deemed that this is not common in Frillish or Jellicent, and that Tommy merely has an unrivaled mastery over the use of his ability.
Habitat
Frillish and Jellicent live in very deep Saline Water, usually about 8,000 meters (approximately 5 miles). Most males prefer to stay deep underwater, while the females are more common in shallower waters. Male Jellicent make giant castles out of coral and other means, usually to house him and his family. These castles are very haphazardly made and are surrounded in clashing colors, but it holds up much better than would be expected. Some Jellicent castles even have rooms, levels, and hallways, with rooms designated for housing, eating, and several random rooms which don’t seem to serve any purpose whatsoever.
Due to the dangers of entering Jellicent territory, Unovan Ships had enacted a precaution requiring all sailors and shipmen to have at least one electric type Pokemon or a Pokemon capable of learning electric type moves on hand to counter Jellicent. This course of action is frowned upon by many Pokemon activists, as Jellicent are not intelligent enough to merely leave the ship when attacked, and many Jellicent have been killed as a result of these countermeasures. Waterways where Jellicent were once plentiful are now bare, and the only habitat left for them is in Unovan Route 17 and 18.
Diet
When a Frillish or a Jellicent become hungry, they eat whatever is directly in front of them, and continue to eat what is in front of them until they are no longer hungry. They move forward by propelling themselves with water they have absorbed, continuously snapping their bells open and closed until they are full. There is a faint line around the ‘jaw,’ which can be opened up and effectively cuts the bell in half, and is then promptly snapped back together.
The food that has been consumed, which ranges from rocks and sea plants to other Pokémon, is swallowed directly into the digestive tract within the bell. The thick layer of Umbrate on the bell uses mucus underneath it to prevent it from digesting itself, and also to prevent the prey (or whatever they just so happened to have eaten) from breaking out.
As Frillish and Jellicent are passive predators, and because they don’t use all that much energy in the wild, they can go up to three months without eating. However, as soon as the protobrain registers that it does not have ample energy, it fires up a survival instinct. The Frillish or Jellicent can then only think about getting something to eat, and they don’t usually care whether they eat something living or dead (or even animate).
[[Trainer’s Note: battling every day with a Frillish will require a heartier diet. Feed it at regular intervals at least every other week, otherwise a hungry Frillish will attempt to stubbornly eat something bigger than it is, thus starving to death. Jellicent are able to last longer without food than Frillish, but you should still feed it.]]
Hazards
While Frillish and Jellicent both sport a protobrain within their crowns, it is not specialized for rational thought. They are often very unaware of what direction they are heading to or facing, and that has led to several well-documented occasions of Jellicent bursting through from the bottom of a boat and floating around, thinking they’re still in the water. They habitually destroy everything in their path due to treating it all as just more water, causing every ship that enters Jellicent territory to be destroyed, and the people inside to go missing.
If you come across a Jellicent that is hungry, watch out. It will not stop eating until it is completely full, and it does not care what it eats. This means that you, your belongings, and even your Pokémon could be eaten by it, and it would not even realize that it did so. While Frillish also behave in such a manner, their primary attempts at eating are much smaller foods, and anything bigger than it is will not be eaten. However, if a Frillish is hungry enough, it will latch onto you in a futile attempt to eat you and/or your soul, and will not let go until it is forcibly torn off.
Breeding captive Jellicent without proper knowledge of how a Jellicent's mind functions can lead to horrendous consequences. One of the most tragic instances of this was between a female Jellicent and a Gallade in a Day Care. The Gallade and Jellicent did not belong to the same owner, and the Gallade was simply hacking away at a tree to sharpen his blades when the Jellicent noticed him, deemed it an interesting sight, and decided to set the tree on fire with a matchstick in order to court him. The Gallade was promptly set aflame as well, and his attempts to put himself out nearly burned the entire route down to ash. Sadly, the Gallade suffered terrible burns and died several weeks afterwards, while the Jellicent continued on her merry way, never fully comprehending what had happened.
Courting and Childrearing
Courting is done only by Jellicent in the wild. When it comes time to mate, the male must gather up his courage and swim, alone, up to the shallows where the females are. Then they engage in odd mating rituals that vary between each individual. There seems to be no pattern to what the male does to grab a female’s attention, and no mating ritual has been done twice. Thus far, males have displayed their ability to hold their breath above water (which is unnecessary, considering that they can ‘breathe’ as well in the water as in the air), their prowess in an odd dance, their battle capabilities, the highest singing notes they can reach, and various other methods.
When a female has decided she wishes to mate with the male, they shake fins, and then disappear into the deepest trenches of the ocean to breed. Attempts to follow the mating pair down to their ‘breeding den’ have turned up with the specimens mysteriously disappearing at some point, not to be seen until the next day. Jellicent almost always mate for life.
Both the male and the female Jellicent carry their eggs inside their collars until they are ready to hatch. The family then moves into the male’s Castle and lives there with their nuclear family, often extremely large with up to 30 eggs laid. The family seems to have no specific order or structure to it, with every member of the family doing whatever it is they feel like doing. The most structured family known thus far was a family of Jellicent that continuously changed seats at a sunken table, constantly breaking things and singing songs.
Breeding in captivity is not recommended for novice breeders. Jellicent in captivity are very ignorant about the mating customs of other Pokémon in the Indeterminate Egg Group, and often if they see one doing something they deem interesting, they will counter their actions in an attempt to get them interested as well. This hardly ever ends well (as noted in the example with the Gallade above).
Social Structure
Male and female Frillish usually segregate on a low level, with the female Frillish being slightly more adventurous and swimming more often into shallower waters than males. Strangely, the behaviors associated with males and females in Frillish are reversed from the stereotypical human behaviors; the females are rough and tumble while the males are demure and polite. Males with more courage or incentive to be up in the shallows with the females, outside of mating, can be found, often behaving as though they were also females. What the Frillish do in these shallow water varies by group, which are all very unpredictable.
Often a male Jellicent will refuse to leave his position unless he is either in danger or guarded. This leaves the female, often his mate, to go out with him into the sea, or to go out and generally be active. Usually when a female Jellicent that has mated leaves her castle, she will do whatever crosses her mind, only coming back to the castle when a Frillish daughter of hers decides to communicate with her.
Most male Frillish and Jellicent spend their lives creating the ‘Castle’ for his eventual family, with the inside of the coral foundation holding random objects found at the bottom of the ocean, such as sunken ships, water containers, dead Water Type Pokémon, and once even a somewhat functioning, old television (this has only happened once so far, and the television showed nothing but static, but the Frillish and Jellicent were mesmerized by it all the same).
In Popular Culture
Frillish and Jellicent have been imitated by foreign royalty during periods such as the Renaissance, most notable the color and style of their robes. Many King’s Robes of the time were blue, sharp, and diamond-shaped, while Queen’s Robes were pink, soft, and frilled. The crown atop their heads has been imitated by many a Royal Family as well, with their own special modifications to them over time.
The image of a male Jellicent’s face has also become iconic in modern-day Unova, after being adopted by a tubed potato chip company known as ‘Brungles’. This image soon became the most iconic feature of a Jellicent, and many modern trainers think of the mascot of Brungles whenever they think of a Jellicent. This has led to overcapture of many male Frillish and Jellicent, leading to males of the species becoming even more difficult to find and making females unusually common.
Written by Calamity Jane
