Ask Professor Sumac

Accepting Pokemon Donations for Reasearch!

[askprofessorsumac]

lol I really wanna see Magikarp and Gyarados

What!  You didn’t even mention that they were both shiny???

[askprofessorsumac]

hey, what happens if you evolve my clefairy?

Hmm.  Did it change at all?

[askprofessorsumac]

Hi Professor Sumac, I’ve been trying desperately to evolve my Magikarp, but it’s so hard when it only knows splash. Think you might be able to help?

Let’s see what we can do!

Well, it appears to know Sing now, but I can’t convince it to open its mouth underwater

[askprofessorsumac]

omg that Pichu is soooo adorable, pleas do the rest of the Pikachu family they would be so cute too!

I guess I won’t be trying to evolve our little Pipuff any further, then!  Which, I’m not too disappointed about, because really, it’s just too cute to evolve. Thank you very much for this Pikachu and Raichu!  You must be a very diligent Electric-type Trainer!

Oh goodness, they seem very happy.  And they’ve also immediately started hugging Pipuff and chattering very loudly, which in Pokemon culture I think means they’ve adopted it. How exciting that we have a whole family of mystery evolutions!  Each evolved from the stone and not through leveling, which is highly unusual but very interesting!

[askprofessorsumac]

What about Rowlet, it's already so spherical?

I’m not really sure much changed, except that it’s called “Rufflet” now. Best not to rufflet’s feathers.

[askprofessorsumac]

What's your favorite Pokemon, Professor? Did you specialize in a type when you were a Trainer?

Well of course my favorite Pokemon is Venonat!  Say hello, Venonat!

5d4tcyeh v

That’s Venonat saying hello.  Or did you mean my favorite Pokemon species and not just my favorite individual Pokemon?  Well that’s a bit tougher, but of course I love all Venonats, which is why I punched that Pigeot in the first place.   But let’s see!  I also love Parasect and Joltik and Caterpie and Burmy and Beedrill!  And don’t get me started on how beautiful and majestic is any given Scolipede!   This might surprise you, but I was specialized in Bug types back when I was a Trainer!  I was very strongly considering a career in Bug type research, but ultimately I chose Evolution because it had more room for.... GROWTH

[askprofessorsumac]

Sup Sumac, I got a Grimer here that would be real funny to evolve so it ends up with feet

First rule of Pokemon evolutionary science:  never promise anything feet.

[askprofessorsumac]

Wow this is so crazy that you said you might mistake Bulbasaur for an Oddish bcuz I wanted to ask you about doing Oddish! Like, what would this stone do to Pokemon that are already super spherical? I nominate the following Pokemon for Puffification: Oddish, Voltorb, and Exeggcute! Honestly I could list so many more bcuz now that Im looking at all the Pokemon Im realizing how many are so spherical and I don't want to clog you up :D

Oh goodness, such wonderful round Pokemon!  It would appear that they’ve all gotten somehow rounder:

Oddish has evolved into Odd Puff and I couldn’t be prouder!

I always forget that Exeggcute is one Pokemon because it looks like five.  And now I have so many more roundies for the price of one!  A good investment, I would say.  Little Chip in the back there got very tired out by the evolution process so it’s taking a nap.

I’m not sure if this Rolltorb is happy with its new form.  But the Voltorb family has some very difficult body language to decipher, since it mainly consists of rolling around.  If it’s mad, well, I’ll see about getting it to forgive me.

[askprofessorsumac]

How about a bulbasaur? 'u'

Bulbasaur!  You might call it a Number One priority!  Insert wink emoji

Oh my, that’s a very top-heavy Pokemon.  Side-heavy?  Unbalanced, anyway, but it seems to be managing well.  With that kind of roundness, you might even mistake it as an Oddish from a distance.

[askprofessorsumac]

What would happen if you used the stone on a Pokemon like a Pichu for example? Would it be able to evolve into a Pikachu after that or is its evolution locked in now? Like, would there be a difference in a Pikachu that gets evolved with the stone vs one that evolves from a stone-evolved Pichu? Or something like Eevee? If you evolved an Eevee with this stone, could it still become any of its Eeveelutions after that?

These questions you’re asking, you should be a Pokemon scientist yourself!  I’m still waiting to hear back from the Trainer who is seeing if Togepuff can be evolved after using the lunar stone, but in the meantime I will try using the stone on this Pichu and taking it from there!

Well, it looks like I’m compelled to pick it up and hold it for a bit.  Not my decision, that’s Pipuff’s decision and I cannot argue.  It might be a while before I can get back to you on that evolution question.

[askprofessorsumac]

Hello Professor, my Charizard Bonfire would like to volunteer for your project, she's not scared of anything!

Bonfire!  And what a bonnie lass she is!!  I’m writing down both “Bonfire” and “Bonnie” as her nicknames on the file.

She was very well behaved for the test, and I daresay she seems to be enjoying the results.  Strange that this Evolution Stone would make every Pokemon so round.  But what fun is science if it doesn’t lead you to new questions you never had before?

[askprofessorsumac]

How about Togepi? And maybe the rest of its evolutionary line?

You’re a braver soul than I, parting with a Togepi of all things.  I’ll make sure this one gets the very best care, and cupcakes every other Tuesday.

Goodness, I didn’t think Togepi could get any rounder but it seems I was mistaken.   But Togepi evolutions!  That’s a brilliant idea!  Since I’ve only got this one Togepi (or “Togepuff,” as of now), I’m going to loan it out to a willing Trainer who might be able to level it up and evolve it outside the lab.  I don’t know yet if this will work, but as our experimental stone is difficult to come by, it seems prudent to study all possible avenues for Evolution before wasting any. It really is hard to give up this Togepuff, though.  I’m writing a prescription for cupcakes on Tuesdays as we speak.

[askprofessorsumac]

Hey prof! I have this Scyther I've been meaning to rehome for a while & she seems amenable to being a guinea pig for your new evolution stone. Would you like to give it a try?

Oh, a Bug type!  Just like you, Venonat, isn't that exciting? ...

I think Venonat likes our new friend better now that we’ve tried out the stone.  She’s closer to Venonat’s size now, which is odd since normally Evolution would make a Pokemon larger, not smaller.  And she’s also much rounder, just like the Bidoof we tested. I’ll be referring to this Pokemon species as #123.5 for now, though she seems to be referring to herself as “Scuffer.”

[askprofessorsumac]

Our first evolution test has been successful!

I think.

Professor Oak was able to provide me with a Bidoof from the lab to test our first chip of lunar stone.  It was in perfectly Normal condition before the test began, pun not intended, oh that’s a lie, pun intended.

Upon using the lunar stone on the Bidoof, it evolved into... something very round that is saying the word “Jidoof.”  Until this new Pokemon receives an official slot in the National Pokedex, I will mark it down as #399.5

I’m not sure what I was expecting from this experiment, but this wasn’t it.

[askprofessorsumac]

An open letter to all Pokemon trainers:

Hello!  Your one and only Professor "Pigeot Puncher" Sumac here, with some exciting news!

I know you all remember the lunar probe our lab sent up several months ago to search for new species of Pokemon on our moon.  I say "remember" because when no new species were discovered, our mission lost media coverage and public interest.

However, the rover DID make a discovery that brings me to you today!  From its video feed, our scientists noticed some strange areas in the lunar landscape, which prompted them to send up a second craft to study these deposits.  

Two days ago, our second probe came back with a sample of the strange mineral that our researchers noticed.  Professor Oak believes it may be an undiscovered type of Evolution Stone, and he sent it to me for further research.

Which is where you come in! Because Pokemon research is a worldwide endeavor, we're asking Trainers from all over to donate Pokemon to our study, so we can see what the effects of this potential Evolution Stone might be!

I'm looking forward to see which Pokemon you'll be donating, and what we will learn from this study!

Excitedly yours,

Professor Sumac