Espeon
Mutatiovulpes octoplumiter – 4
Overview
Espeon have been prized for a long time. Chinese emperors and Indian nobles often received and gave espeon imported from Europe as gifts. The European traders were careful to only send male espeon so that the export market could remain strong indefinitely. This led to espeon being associated with wealth and nobility in most of Asia. Some of these views inevitably trickled back to Europe.
There are good reasons to value espeon. They are intelligent and loyal companions that prefer to be friends or partners with their trainer. Over time they can learn to telepathically communicate with humans. Espeon also possess a limited form of precognition. Emperors and kings often kept espeon with them while holding court to act as a silent advisor and sense imminent danger. Their care requirements are also much less extreme than some of the other eeveelutions.
The nobles of old did run into one problem, though – espeon are prone to disobeying or ignoring anyone they don't respect. As telepaths they can gain insights into who a person truly is. Vile individuals and corrupt rulers have to offer their espeon massive bribes to earn even a moment of obedience. In China espeon refusing to cooperate with an emperor was seen as a sign that the dynasty had lost their Mandate from Heaven. Some court members even tried to bribe an emperor's espeon into a public show of disobedience to sow doubts about the emperor's character. This usually backfired when the espeon took the bribe and then told the emperor what had transpired.
Physiology
Espeon are classified as pure psychic-types.
Espeon have two coats of short, fine lilac fur across their entire body. The shorter coat is made up of a dense layer of ground hairs. The guard hairs are longer, coarser, and sparser than the ground hairs. Espeon's lips are also a lilac color to make their mouth appear smaller and less threatening. Their build is slender with dainty front paws. The back paws are larger and the hindlegs and rump are heavily muscled. This leads to espeon's rump being higher than the shoulders while standing up. The hindlegs can be used to launch the pokémon into sprints or up to twelve feet into the air.
The ears also have tufts of lilac fur in them to keep warm on cooler nights. Espeon's ears are pointed and very large. They can also be bent at the midway point to muffle sounds or intensify sounds from a given angle. An even stranger facial feature is the 'gem.' This gem is not made of actual stone. Instead, it is a hairless, blood-filled bulge of thin skin on the head.
This gem, the ears, and maybe espeon's forked tail tips help with one of espeon's strangest abilities: precognition. Espeon can use wind currents and psychic abilities to predict the movements of opponents. They can know what angles of attack predators and prey will use and maneuver accordingly. Some espeon can even predict the weather.
Espeon's precognition is partially reliant on psychic abilities. These abilities are charged by sunlight. Espeon are not good at holding this charge. During the night or when held indoors for too long their psychic powers will begin to fade.
Espeon can reach heights of twenty inches at the rump. They can weigh up to eighteen pounds. Captive specimens can live for up to forty years. Wild specimens rarely live to see fifteen.
Behavior
Espeon are ambush predators in the wild. They prefer to prey upon small birds and flying insects. The espeon will hide in tall grass and wait until its precognition tells it that a bird will fly overhead soon. Then it will leap out of the grass to grab the bird in midair, using bites or short-ranged telepathic strikes to cripple the prey and send it back down to earth.
Espeon usually housebreak themselves after a time observing other pokémon or their trainer. Some espeon insist upon using toilets when available, while others prefer a litter box.
While technically diurnal, they spend most of their day resting under the sun. Espeon prefer warmer areas but have occasionally been sighted in colder regions such as Galar. Their fur, even with the ear tufts and guard hairs, is not enough to keep them warm. More temperate regions also have less sunlight in the winter, curtailing their offensive and defensive abilities for half the year. On particularly cold nights espeon have been known to bully something out of its burrow and use it themselves. Otherwise they tend to sleep in shrubs, bushes, or small crevasses.
There are a few pokémon that prey on espeon. In Alola raticate or rattata will sometimes bother them while they at night. This has led the feral population on Akala to hide in trees. This leaves them somewhat vulnerable to any feral persian in the area. While their partially-air-based precognition can help them sense the approach of dark-types, they still struggle to actually harm any that get close. Their best option is to flee, something made difficult by their general sluggishness at night.
Espeon are one of the only eeveelutions that are solitary in the wild. Immediately after mating the male and female will separate. The mother allows her eevee to stay with her for about a year after birth. Sometimes she will allow a daughter to stay for a little longer, but males and most females will be rejected at this point.
On rare occasion an espeon will be social with a creature of similar or higher intelligence such as oranguru and slowking. They count humans in this company as well. Other espeon are not tolerated, probably to reduce competition. Some espeon even become the 'pets' of a particularly wise oranguru. At least one has been captured in a pokéball the oranguru somehow found and learned to use. What either party gets out of this relationship is unclear.
Husbandry
As intelligent pokémon, espeon have much higher enrichment needs than the average canine or feline. Spending time with their trainer is usually their preferred means of enrichment, but this does mean that the espeon will try to monopolize as much of its trainer's time asp possible. They may resort to mischief when ignored, such as using telekinesis and precognition to subtly adjust objects in such a way that their trainer will cause them to fall over and break later in the day. Espeon's cry is high-pitched and wavering. Some trainers have compared it to an electric toothbrush or a malfunctioning digital alarm clock. They can also project this sound directly into their trainer's head, making earplugs useless. Intelligent teammates can help alleviate the espeon's boredom, making them a good fit on psychic-type specialist's teams.
The best enrichment item is an elevated perch in direct sunlight. Ideally there should be at least two in a home, one for the morning and one for the evening. A skylight or outdoor access can allow them to bask in the middle of the day as well. Some espeon will give themselves outdoor access by telekinetically picking locks. Mobiles are also excellent toys as they allow the espeon to practice jumping. Some particularly ambitious espeon will try to jump from the floor onto a ceiling fan.
Espeon will also assist their trainer in small chores from time to time. Once they have experience with humans they can even act as a translator between a trainer and their team. Espeon that have grown attached will also look after their trainer, making sure physical needs are met and helping work through psychological problems when they can.
Illness
Espeon require vaccinations for parovirus, rabies, and distemper. Unlike most eeveelutions, espeon are catlike enough that they require vaccinations for feline parovirus and feline distemper instead of the canine counterparts. Some veterinarians will also vaccinate for the canine variants of these diseases as well.
Espeon will happily eat most hard cat or canine food without problems. They prefer soft diets, but these have their own problems. A soft diet will eventually cause the espeon's jaw to weaken. Supplements will be required. The best is a weekly provision of bones with meat attached to them, presenting an enrichment item, food, and exercise at the same time.
Exhaustion is the most common ailment in captive espeon. Battling too hard without a chance to recharge in the sunlight will wear them out and lead to a total cessation of psychic abilities and deteriorating mental and physical health. Allowing the pokémon to rest in direct sunlight is the best way to prevent exhaustion. During the wet season some professional trainers also employ specialized lamps that mimic sunlight. Habitat balls with artificial sunlight are also preferable to stasis balls for this reason, although espeon tend to resent being held in any type of pokéball for long. Most prefer to accompany their trainer almost everywhere and will become vindicative when trapped anywhere for long.
Evolution
Eevee evolve into espeon when they receive plenty of sunlight or elemental energy connected to the sun, such as so-called sun stones. Frequent exposure to psychic-types may also contribute to the evolution, although this is currently disputed in the literature. While the trigger for evolution is common, the threshold for evolution is very high. It is most common in areas with low rainfall and high temperatures, such as deserts. Tropical environments also seem to have more espeon than umbreon, the other eeveelution with a common trigger.
Espeon seem to have developed thin coats and broad ears to better deal with desert environments. Aside from micro deserts formed by pokémon activity or the erosion of agricultural land there are no deserts in eevee's native range. Their telepathy and jumping serve them well in a number of habitats and they are less specialized than most eeveelutions. Along with umbreon they may be considered one of the default evolutions of eevee, built to handle areas where no one typing has a strong advantage over the others.
Evolving a captive eevee into an espeon is a somewhat unpredictable process. An eevee that spends most of its life outside in areas away from volcanoes, forests, tundras, power plants, and major bodies of water has a slightly higher chance of evolving into espeon than umbreon in Alola. This advantage is entirely undercut in areas that have historically seen frequent meteorite impacts, such as the Haina Valley and Mauna Hokulani. Trainers interested in having their eevee evolve into espeon should invest in a sun stone for their eevee.
Battle
Espeon are fast, reasonably powerful, and capable of learning a variety of tricks. They see some use among professional trainers but are still a relative rarity. They compete with alakazam and reuniclus for offensive roles and more durable psychic-types like slowbro, mr. mime, and xatu for defensive and utility slots.
The one niche they have for themselves relies on their precognition. Ordinarily espeon precognition can be played around with homing attacks, high speeds, and area of effect moves that are not easily dodged. But espeon's telepathy and telekinesis let them set traps like no other. When there are spikes or stealth rocks on the field espeon can subtly push them around into places where they will do the most damage to the opponent in the future. An espeon played early might do more damage to the enemy after it has fainted than when it is on the field. Once they are done setting traps they can try to set up screens or clam mind boosts to baton pass to an ally. Alternatively, they can go on the attack with psychic. Espeon are relatively frail, though, so they rarely get a chance to do much more than set up traps in the highest level of play. Field control techniques like defog are also common, potentially negating all of espeon's work in a minute. Some trainers have tried consulting with espeon before the battle, but espeon often struggle to use their precognition without an imminent threat.
On the island challenge entry hazards are far less common. Players will need to bring their own, having another pokémon set them before espeon moves them into the ideal positions. Relatively few trainers and totems have field clearing techniques, making it hard to instantly undo the pokémon's work. Many spread moves like earthquake are also banned in most casual arenas, reducing the options available to work around precognition.
Finally, the power level is generally lower in casual matches than in professional ones. This means that espeon might be able to take a hit or two, especially behind screens. Between screens, morning sun, and calm mind espeon can actually find chances to set up and try to sweep opponents. Alternatively, the clam mind boosts can be baton passed to a faster or bulkier team member.
Acquisition
Espeon can occasionally be found in the interior of Akala. Capture is permitted with a Class I license. Espeon populations have been reasonably well-studied elsewhere. The Alolan population is not particularly useful for scientists so capture has been authorized to clear up habitat for the species of interest. Espeon can also be adopted or purchased with a Class I license.
Breeding
A female espeon, if receptive, will flop onto her side when she sees a male. The male may then initiate mating. The act is finished within minutes, at which point the female will drive the male away. Espeon are not at all picky about their mates and have been known to breed in the wild with other espeon, other eeveelutions, canine, vulpine, and feline pokémon, rodent pokémon, and several other species of mammal. They are the easiest to cross-breed in captivity because their aversion to other espeon makes it easier to keep them in close proximity to another species rather than espeon. Sometimes a female espeon will randomly mate with one of her teammates and the trainer will only find out when signs of pregnancy emerge.
Male espeon will not mate unless a female initiates some sort of mating ritual. This makes them difficult to crossbreed with species where the male displays for the female as both specimens, even if interested in mating, will believe the other is unwilling.
After a two-month pregnancy the female will give birth to a litter of one to six eevee. The mother dotes on her children for the first year, at which point most of her children will be promptly abandoned and she will seek a new partner to mate with.
Relatives
Consult the Eevee entry for more information.