Number: # 018
Type: Grass
Species: Thorn Monkey
Gender: 87.5% Male – 12.5% Female
Japanese Name: Yanakkie
Description: Simisage takes a massive change in personality upon evolution, turning from a sweet and generous monkey into a bad tempered ruffian. Their new found strength gets to their head and they become arrogant; and shortly after evolving will start disobeying whatever authorative figure they obeyed as a Pansage. This is why you never see Simisage anywhere near Pansage colonies, because the Pansage use their combined strength to oust this newly developed troublemaker, and in a rage Simisage saunters off into the forest to live on its own.
The once medicinal leaves upon its head are now very bitter and serve no helpful purpose at all, besides providing Simisage with nourishment via photosynthesis. Its tail has become twice as thick, and it now contains very sharp thorns which it uses to injure opponents. If you teach Simisage the TM Toxic, these thorns can produce a potent toxin.
Personality: The cute Pansage you once knew is now gone, replaced by this unkind Pokémon. It keeps to itself and is totally uninterested in whatever you have to say, or offer. It's so aggressive that it will randomly attack wild Pokémon and cause many unwanted or desirable encounters, so this Pokémon needs to be kept on a tight rein during your initial weeks. As arrogant as it is, it won't forget how you treated it as a Pansage. If you were cruel to it, you are going to have your hands full with a resentful Pokémon. But if you were a nice and thoughtful trainer, its attitude will be considerably more tame, and it may even bother to listen to you.
They have an explosive temper, and even a seemingly passive one can suddenly burst into mindless rage at even the tiniest of inconveniences. However, these outbreaks aren't as bad as Simisear, who are truly fearsome when maddened. Simisage hates losing battles, and this can set off its temper. If you continuously lose battles, Simisage will come to resent you and will most likely abandon you.
Simisage aren't angry at heart, they are just naturally emotional and many things can easily trigger an emotional response; most of these are angry ones. They can just as easily become sad or depressed too, so you need to watch how you treat your Simisage and how it responds.
Lifespan: Simisage live to be around 50 – 70 years of age; although one that is poorly treated or is overly stressed will have its lifespan reduced due to exhaustion of the heart.
Diet: Its headbush is much larger than its pre-evolution, and as such it can gain a larger proportion of sustenance from photosynthesis alone. However it still likes to eat normal foods, and will often steal berries from weaker Pokémon.
How To Bond: Prepare yourself for a long and difficult journey. You'll need the patience of a Wobbuffet and the endurance of one too in order to make this Pokémon behave for you.
For your first week, let Simisage keep to itself. Let spend as much time as it can out of its pokeball, and let it gather its own food too; this way Simisage won't feel imprisoned or overwhelmed by all your other Pokémon. Simisage will eventually become curious and start investigating your daily routine. This is a vital moment, because if Simisage is angered at this point you will have to start all over again.
Offer it food, most particularly berries of the bitter kind. Even if it turns you down, smile and say that it's fine. Slowly introduce your other Pokémon one by one, and warn them beforehand not to be overly friendly or rude. Try introducing a diplomatic Pokémon such as Snivy or Herdier first, so they can set the foundations for a series of peaceful relationships. As Simisage becomes more interested try involving it in jobs and activities, so it feels welcome and included. Keep it occupied and make sure to continuously encourage it at whatever it does, even if it fails horribly. Simisage does not take kindly to criticism, no matter how good the intentions.
Over time, Simisage should eventually morph into your team and start cooperating in a good manner. One you've bonded with Simisage, it will start behaving, but you mustn't forget about its temper. No amount of bonding will suppress that.
Battling: After evolving, Simisage can no longer learn any move naturally. Because of this it is important that you let it learn as many moves as it possibly can as a Pansage. Since they evolve by being exposed to a Leaf Stone, you can take as much time as you want. However, it can learn a large variety of moves via TM, so you can plan a lot of different strategies.
Solar Beam is a powerful move enhanced by STAB, and can fend off any Water types in your way. Sunny Day can be used to increase Simisage's Grass type attacks, and allows Simisage to gain more energy through Photosynthesis. Focus Blast is another good move, and can be used to counter any Ice Types you encounter. The move most strongly suggested is Rock Slide, which can counter four out of five of Simisage's weaknesses.
Simisage's strategy remains largely unchanged from as a Pansage. It relies on its high speed and attack to outwit enemies and strike them down before they can land any hits in return. Because of this, you should focus most of your training on improving Simisage's speed, because once it gets hit, Simisage can be out for the count.
With Fellow Pokémon: It's already obvious that Simisage isn't a team player. They don't like interacting with other Pokémon, and they don't like being told what to do. Serperior and/or Samurott can easily put Simisage in its place, but if you have neither of those you will have to rely solely on tactics.
It will take a long time for Simisage to grow accustom to your other Pokémon, so patience is needed as you go through this process. It's a good idea to keep youth and playful Pokémon such as Lillipup far away from Simisage; otherwise it may attack out of frustration. Antagonistic Pokémon such as Purrloin, Liepard and Ghost and Dark types in general can really mess things up for you, so keep them away!
It may take a long time, and you may get into a few scuffles, but this Pokémon can eventually be tamed and start making friends.
Warnings: Simisage are incredibly difficult to control, and can quickly turn on their trainers if they feel weak, insecure or are in a particularly bad mood. These Pokémon may be irate, but they aren't evil. They won't hurt you on purpose, but there have been cases of Simisage lashing out and injuring their trainers by mistake. If they do hurt you, they will sorely regret it.
Summary: Overall, Simisage are a highly stressful and are very difficult to domesticate. I advise against catching one in the wild, it is much better to catch a friendly Pansage and evolve it when you feel it is closely attached to both you and your Pokémon. Battle-wise they have their strengths, and they can cover a lot of weaknesses. Don't expect them to hold out against particularly enduring Pokémon, especially Emboar.
Next Time… Number 019 Pansear!
A/N: Out of all the elemental monkeys, I like Simisage the most. Isn't his hairstyle awesome? Pansear is kinda cute, but it's evolved form… *shudder*
Fun Facts: Simisage is the only Pokémon evolved via Leaf Stone which does not have dual-typing. Simisage's hairstyle and badass personality is based on the 'bosozoku' subculture, which are groups of youths who drive around Japanese cities on motorcycles, causing trouble and being bad boys in general. They often style their hair up in outrageous ways too. They commonly appear in anime and manga.