Lilligant (Petilil)
Overview
Most pokémon, and especially most popular pokémon, are essentially just animals with slightly odd biology and the ability to harness elemental powers. Many of the exceptions lack any carbon-based biology. Then there are pokémon that are essentially plants with odd biology and elemental energy wells. Lilligant is a fairly typical example with a very storied history. In the modern day they are mostly associated with celebrities, art collectors, and the top grass-type breeders. While maintaining the flower does require fairly expensive and time-consuming interventions, it is not necessary for the pokémon's health to do so. If the flower need not be blooming than lilligant are somewhat easier to care for, although their need for very good soil does make them more difficult than many other grass-types.
Biology
Both stages of the evolutionary line are classified as pure grass-types. The ruling is not controversial.
Petilil have shallow light green roots, a large bulb, and two to five dark green leaves on their head. One side of the bulb is white and contains eye spots that can detect light and movement. Petilil's leaves are very bitter but have traditionally been used as a form of medicine in Central Asia. Studies on their efficacy have had mixed results, but most show that boiling the leaves and drinking the liquid does slightly counteract or postpone old age health problems. Their skin is mildly toxic and can cause rashes if handled without gloves. Petilil can move by pulling themselves out of the ground and shuffling to a new location. This is energy intensive, slow, and seldom done.
Lilligant's roots remain about the same size as those of a petilil. Their lower bulb is larger and a white stalk with two arm-like leaves and a smaller white bulb with eye spots develop over it. A mixture of light and dark green leaves flow from the top bulb. Some captive lilligant have a vibrant red flower blooming year round. Most develop it seasonally. As a consequence of their larger size and small root structures lilligant are almost entirely incapable of moving.
Even among grass-types the line is notable for their need for high-quality soils. This is an accidentally cultivated trait as the wild lilligant of Central Asia thrive in rugged montane lands and semideserts. Instead selective breeding for larger bulbs and more vibrant colors (as well as smaller roots to keep the precious flowers from running away) made for ever more demanding nutritional requirements. Now the only places they can naturally live long-term in the wild have either very good soil or an abundance of grass-elemental energy. Additionally some cold weather (more than ninety days below 10 degrees C / 50 degrees F) is usually required for survival. This initially confined Alolan lilligant to the mountains, although in recent decades several have successfully migrated down to the lowlands.
Lilligant can grow up to 110 centimeters in height and weigh up to 8 kilograms. They can survive up to nine years in the wild or seven in captivity.
Behavior
Petilil and lilligant appear to do rather little. Once they have found a moist location with good soils and occasional sunlight they will dig themselves in and stay put. If their location is about to flood or burn down they will attempt to move. This disguises the constant battle for survival among plants where pheromones are transmitted, the environment is monitored, and defense mechanisms are prepared and deployed with no apparent external changes. Petilil are mildly venomous and generally foul-tasting and most large animals and pokémon leave them alone. Funguses and parasites are not so kind. Biologically expensive toxins can be prepared in advance to fend off invaders but are generally not maintained. But when one petilil or lilligant falls sick, it transmits information on the threat to all others in the gallery and within a week the entire group is resistant.
Lilligant can be somewhat more proactive about larger threats that decide that the plants are acceptable food. Despite being slow lilligant can still unleash dangerous spores or lash out with solar beam or magical leaf attacks. In Alola there is seldom a need for this as their forests and meadows are overseen by oranguru and florges, respectively.
Husbandry
Many trainers find it difficult to bond with plant pokémon, especially one as non-expressive as lilligant or petilil. It is possible to communicate. Over time the pokémon can learn to recognize their caretaker's voice. Basic word association needed for battle and commands can also be established by saying the word for whatever the pokémon is doing as it does it. Lilligant can communicate back through slight changes in posture or scent. On the bright side, the plants need relatively little emotional investment and are not physically affectionate. Very busy trainers often appreciate this.
The line are perfectly content to travel in pokéballs. When stationary they should be allowed to dig into soil. Petilil trainers and lilligant trainers unconcerned with flower quality can leave the plant outside or in a shallow pot of ordinary soil. In order to maintain flower quality very specific soil blends at ideal temperatures and moistures are required, as well as occasional exposure to very specific scents. Under no circumstances should the lilligant be allowed to mate (see Breeding). Trainers particularly concerned with flower maintenance should consult the specialist literature.
It is safe to harvest petilil leaves for consumption at a rate of one leaf per ten days.
Illness
Lilligant flowers are prone to wither away or even rot. While visually unpleasant this is a natural part of their life cycle and is not a cause for concern. If any other area of a lilligant's body starts to rot that is a sign of a late-stage parasitic or bacterial infection that must be treated as soon as possible. The same goes for white molds coating any part of the body or abrupt changes in color. Wilting of non-flower parts is usually a sign of dehydration. The lilligant should be moved to a wetter area or have their soil dampened, but not waterlogged.
Lilligant Fracturing Disease once defined the species in culture. The viral infection caused changes in pigmentation that led to beautiful patterns of red, blue, green, and yellow to appear on a lilligant or petilil's body. The disease inspired a great deal of artwork and was deliberately spread. Unfortunately the infection dramatically reduced fertility and lifespan and led to the demise of nearly all European and Middle Eastern lilligant within a few generations. Of the domesticated lilligant subspecies, only the Unovan population survived. Reintroduction efforts have subsequently introduced the species back to much of its former range, although parts of Europe have become too polluted to successfully support a wild population.
Evolution
Petilil begin to evolve in their second autumn of life. After a brief scouting period to find the best place to begin the process, as well as a lilligant or florges to watch over them, the pokémon partially buries itself and grows dormant. First the bulb begins to expand and the eyespots are subsumed under the new layers. Then a stalk and second bulb begin to bloom. Finally the leaves on the lilligant's head begin to develop. The entire process takes three to four weeks. At the end the new lilligant awakens and resumes its normal pattern of inactivity.
Botanists in Iberia have successfully evolved petilil at seven months of age through the use of a greenhouse that simulated an accelerated seasonal cycle. This is impractical for most trainer's to replicate and no facility for doing so currently exists in Alola.
Battling
Lilligant suffer heavily from their lack of mobility. They also are not bulky enough to serve as immobile special tanks, although their solar beams and magical leaves are rather powerful. Pokémon such as venusaur, tropius, and tangrowth largely fill lilligant's potential niche. Quiver dance is an effective setup move but when lilligant starts with terrible mobility it functionally only boosts the plant's attack power and special bulk. Finally, lilligant has very little ability to manipulate non-grass elements and can be shut down by any bulky resists.
Island challengers wishing to use lilligant should prioritize power training at first. Once solar beam and magical leaf are mastered defensive tactics can be learned. Ideally lilligant should be sent in against a special attacker it can overpower at range. Anything that tries to get close can be put to sleep. Unfortunately sleep powder does tend to set in after lilligant has taken critical amounts of damage. Lilligant can overpower many early opponents, and petill are durable enough to hold up on the first island, but eventually they will stop being able to pull their weight.
Acquisition
Petilil tend to live in places with large amounts of grass-type energy or great soil. On Alola this amounts to the interior and northern forests of Akala and the oricorio meadows. Petilil can be identified through their leaves with the help of a guidebook. Proving battles are unnecessary to gain compliance but useful for whittling down the pokémon's health to allow for capture. Newly captured petilil tend to be apathetic towards their trainer and are unlikely to run away unless neglected.
Lilligant capture is currently prohibited. Florges are quite fond of lilligant and react poorly to attempts to remove them. They are far less defensive of petilil.
Petilil can be adopted, purchased, or captured with a Class II license. Lilligant may be purchased or adopted with a Class III license.
Breeding
Lilligant begin to bloom in the late winter. When two lilligant find each other they will press their flowers together to exchange gametes before going back to their own ranges. All lilligant are hermaphrodites and have both male and female reproductive organs. Two to five days later they will bury seeds into the ground. Petilil will emerge shortly after the Vernal Equinox.
Maintaining a lilligant's flower requires keeping the pokémon constantly in anticipation of mating. The scent of other lilligant flowers must be a constant presence but no actual exposure to another lilligant can occur. Sometimes the process requires keeping the lilligant in a cool, damp greenhouse for most of the year.
Trainers who intend to actually let their lilligant breed generally have an easy time doing so. Lilligant pairs do not raise their children together. For the most part the new parents take a very hands-off approach to child-rearing in general. Once the seeds are buried in a greenhouse or garden the parent will be quite willing to let its trainer take responsibility for the petilil.
Subspecies
Alolan lilligant with their relatively high tolerance for hot temperatures may be a subspecies of their own. If so then they are a branch from the domestic lilligant.
Wild lilligant are native to high-altitude meadows in Central Asia. Compared to their domestic counterparts they are smaller, less colorful, and have much thicker and rougher epidermis. Their roots are comparatively larger, allowing wild lilligant to live in fairly poor soils and move with far more ease than any domestic variant.