Commissioned by langylee

Weavile (Sneasel)
Manusacuta kinney

Overview

Weavile are not native to Alola. The closest genetic relative to the Alolan weavile lives in Canada. Humans did not bring them to the islands. They did not swim or fly across the oceans. Instead, they came through wormholes from worlds unknown.

The Alolan weavile's genome reveals a genetic bottleneck that occurred between 900 and 1200 CE. Local legends say that after a great crack appeared in the sky above Mauna Lanakila the kahuna of Ula'Ula went to investigate. On that trip they found the first recorded weavile. Curiously, another population of weavile was documented appearing in Sinnoh c. 1890 during a time of frequent wormhole appearances in the region. The earliest preserved specimens of the original Sinnohan weavile have very similar genomes to the Alolan weavile. Interbreeding with Sinnoh's sneasler population has since led to speciation between the Alolan and Sinnohan weavile.

Outside of their strange origins, weavile have many traits that make them good companions. Weavile are naturally hierarchical and will quickly learn to obey their trainer. They are also intelligent and curious pokémon. This makes them easy to train and willing to travel to see new things. Weavile are also incredibly powerful pokémon with their high speed, clever tactics, and sharp claws. Finally, weavile have a higher heat tolerance than most ice-types in Alola.

There are two drawbacks to weavile ownership. They are obsessive scent markers like most mustelids. Unlike most mustelids, weavile also insist on leaving a unique pattern of scratch marks on trees, rocks, and furniture. This behavior can be discouraged, but more often than not it will just lead to the pokémon becoming more discrete when marking. The second barrier is that sneasel capture is effectively banned for anyone who has not yet cleared all four grand trials.

Trainers that can get their hands on their own sneasel are likely to find it to be an intriguing and powerful companion, albeit one that must be watched closely around wooden furniture.

Physiology

Weavile and sneasel are both classified as ice- and dark-types. The ruling is not disputed.

Sneasel are mustelids with unusually long legs that allow them to run quickly, even bipedally. The limbs also assist in climbing. Sneasel have a short but dense layer of black fur over almost their entire body. Ovular yellow markings are found on both the forehead and chest. The tail and left ear are red. Sneasel do not naturally grow feathers. Instead, they steal some from killed birds or pilfered nests and use their thick saliva to bind it to their ear or hindquarters. The saliva is then frozen in place by cryokinesis. The saliva can be partially unfrozen and refrozen to make the feathers move. As a result of this practice sneasel have remarkable control of the temperature within one to two inches of their body.

Sneasel's most remarkable feature is their claws. Two of the fingers on sneasel's front paws have very long and sharp claws at the end. The sharpest part of these claws is the middle, not the tip. Sneasel can partially retract these claws into keratin sheathes so that only the relatively dull tip extends out of the sheathe. The claw fingers can also be raised up when the other three fingers are being used to manipulate objects. The back paws have five toes. The shortest ends in a long, sharp claw that can be used for disemboweling opponents with kicks. The other four toes are longer and used for balance. The claws can be charged with elemental energy to make them even sharper. Ice energy can result in instant frostbite around a wound site. This causes more pain to the target while increasing the time it takes to bleed out. Lost blood is lost nutrition so it is in the pokémon's interest to kill with precise strikes to the neck rather than a myriad of strikes around the body.

Weavile retain many of the same characteristics as their preevolution. Their legs are comparatively shorter and they are a little stockier. The yellow oval on the chest fades with age. Weavile retain the same claw configuration as sneasel, but now the nails on the other toes have grown longer. Weavile grow a mane of red fur around their necks as they age. They also build more elaborate feather on forehead and tucked behind the ears and beside the tail. The crests of males are usually more elaborate than those of females.

Alolan weavile are about 3' tall when standing upright, excluding the crest. They can weigh up to fifty pounds but typically weigh around thirty. Weavile typically live for around ten years in the wild. Captive specimens typically live for twenty to twenty-five years.

Behavior

Weavile typically live in fesnyngs of four to five individuals. Typically, the fesnyg is composed of one set of sisters and one set of brothers. The strongest brother will typically become the de facto leader, although females can and will leave the group if they dislike his leadership. This usually results in the remaining brothers turning on the former leader and demoting him from his position.

Weavile do not build permanent homes. Instead, they typically take refuge in trees or on top of boulders at night. During particularly severe storms they may burrow under the snow to rest. Home ranges are typically about fifty square miles. Weavile are known for their elaborate markings on trees and boulders around their home range. Every individual has a unique personal marker. The other markings have crude meanings such as "danger," "water," and "good prey" to give notes about the area.

When hunting in groups weavile can bring down almost any other pokémon on Lanakila. Vulpix and drampa hunts are the most difficult hunts. When hunting vulpix one or two weavile distracts the mother. The rest use sharp ice shard attacks to wound or kill the vulpix hiding in the snow or rush in and grab one before running away. This is an extremely dangerous task for whichever weavile is trying to distract a powerful fairy-type. Fortunately for weavile, ninetales do not usually hunt down and avenge the killers of vulpix that have not yet grown a second tail. Drampa hunts also require one weavile to keep the pokémon distracted while others rush in to land a hit on drampa's long neck. Both hunts are best done during snowstorms at night when it is hardest for the defender to land a hit on the attacker.

Most of weavile's hunts are aimed at crabrawler, absol, sandshrew, or sandslash. These hunts are far less dangerous. Sandshrew and even sandslash can be flipped over and stabbed in their vulnerable stomachs.

Weavile will also often move to lower elevations for a day to hunt birds, especially oricorio. The red feathers of oricorio are prized as they do not need to regularly be coated in blood to keep their color. Weavile also prefer to hunt for eggs. One will keep the parents distracted while the others rush the nest and gather up the eggs. weavile enjoy using their claws to break a hole into the egg before drinking the yolk.

Sneasel typically live in groups of brothers or sisters. They strongly prefer to target babies or eggs to adult pokémon. Sandshrew, the easiest prey pokémon regularly found above the tree line, have armor strong enough that sneasel can break their claws on it. Sneasel regularly take nighttime trips to the base of the mountain where prey is more abundant. Their preferred prey on these trips are birds and yungoos. Once a yungoos is tracked down it can be killed while it sleeps. Birds can be scared away from their nests so their eggs can be stolen.

Sneasel's reputation as egg thieves has led to persecution from breeders and poultry farmers who despise the loss of their eggs. Governor Richard Morris, an avid birdwatcher, once called for the culling of any sneasel or weavile spotted within the meadows of Nohoalli National Monument and Preserve. The National Park Service rejected this proposal.

Husbandry

Sneasel and weavile are relatively social but do not require the presence of conspecifics to meet their social needs. This makes them well-suited for being a trainer's pokémon. Their diet is also fairly basic: about two-thirds of the diet can be made up of dry feline mix food with the rest coming from eggs and frozen or raw meat. Water should be made available whenever possible, especially if the pokémon must be active during the day.

Weavile have been known to cache food for future use. On Mauna Lanakila the cold temperatures preserve the food. At lower altitudes it will quickly rot. The pokémon should be watched while it eats in case it tries to cache. Some specimens can be taught to cache uneaten food in a refrigerator. This can be dangerous as the weavile may learn to cut through other refrigerators to retrieve 'cached' food within them.

Both stages are possible to housebreak or train to urinate and defecate outside. Doing so requires regular reinforcement but can be done in a matter of weeks. It is much more difficult to keep the pokémon from marking wooden and stone objects with their claws. Home furniture should ideally be sparse and made of metal or plastic. When in urban areas the pokémon should be closely monitored and withdrawn if it begins to mark something not owned by the trainer. Their markings are at least shallow so in most areas it is legal for them to mark trees and rocks. Dedicated scratching posts can help reduce this behavior. Some specimens will allow their trainer to help them sharpen the middle portion of their claws. This may reduce scratching. Even if it does not it increases the bond between trainer and pokémon.

Weavile are ice-types. Most of their excursions to sea level are done at night. They can only tolerate Alolan daytime temperatures for a few hours before becoming overwhelmed. Misters and fans can help with this problem. Still, trainers are best off letting their pokémon be active at night and sleep in their ball during the day. Habitat and stasis balls are equally tolerated by most specimens.

As intelligent pokémon, weavile will need frequent enrichment. This can take the form of new rubber balls to tackle and slash, toys with new scents and tastes, rudimentary puzzles and games, or arts and crafts. Weavile can be taught to paint. They will most often use this to paint any feathers they find red. Paint usually lasts longer and has less of a scent than blood, making it a better alternative for coating feathers. Some weavile come to enjoy painting their other toys and even the walls or their trainer red.

Because the dominant weavile usually has the biggest and most red feathers, frequently wearing red clothing is a good way to earn a weavile's respect. Clothing with red feathers or hanging red straps or belts is even better. Providing weavile with their own feathers, especially long or red ones, will be met with gratitude.

Birds make poor teammates for weavile as the pokémon may decide to kill one for the feathers. Chansey and blissey are also bad teammates as the weavile will constantly try to steal and eat their egg. Exeggcute are biologically closer to seeds than eggs but weavile will still try to kill and eat them.

Illness

Weavile are susceptible to rabies and canine distemper. Vaccination against both diseases is required within the first month of capture.

Many illnesses manifest in the excrement. Consult a veterinarian if a specimen suddenly develops diarrhea, constipation, or a change in the color or texture of their feces without any corresponding change in diet.

General lethargy, even at night, can be a symptom of insulinoma. The illness is a sharp drop in blood sugar levels. If unchecked it can lead to seizures, strokes, comas, and death. Lethargy after a large meal or hard battle is normal and not a sign of concern. If it persists for more than one day consult a veterinarian.

Broken claws are the most common ailment for sneasel and one of the most common for battling weavile. Claws will occasionally break from strikes against hard materials or from outside attacks on the claws. As long as the sheathe is unharmed the claw will regenerate over the coarse of days to weeks, depending on the severity of the break. Do not battle with the pokémon during this time and increase the amount of eggs and meat in their diet.

Evolution

Sneasel gradually evolve into weavile over time. The formal demarcation is sexual maturity. Sneasel will begin to place feathers on their forehead and display to prospective mates. This usually occurs around two years of age in the wild or eighteen months in captivity.

Battle

Weavile are some of the premier physical glass cannons in competitive battling leagues. The Alolan weavile is the fastest and most agile, often utilizing jumps and flips to strike opponents with the claw on their foot. Weavile has a sprinting speed of eighty miles an hour and can easily cross battlefields and dodge attacks. Then they can use their sharp claws to inflict serious damage on most organic opponents. Even birds that can fly over weavile's melee attacks can be brought down to earth by ice shard barrages.

Weavile match up very well against most phantom pokémon given their dark typing. Weavile can charge their claws with dark energy to create devastating night slashes. The attack is one of their favorites in the wild and is extremely potent at dispatching ghosts and true psychics.

Mineral pokémon usually have less sensitive weak points and harder bodies. Weavile also have very little in the way of defenses against the area of effect attacks such as earthquake that mineral pokémon often know.

The best counter to weavile is magnezone. The pokémon can only be hurt by weavile's comparatively weak ice shards and has durable enough armor to withstand them. It can also use homing attacks such as magnet bomb and shock wave to ignore weavile's agility. Even if weavile did get airborne it would still struggle to bypass magnezone's metal armor. Other flying mineral pokémon can be similarly effective.

Machamp is another notable counter to weavile. However fast weavile move and punch, machamp can punch faster. A weavile that gets anywhere close to machamp will be struck down in one barrage of blows. Fighting-types in general match up well against weavile due to their expertise in melee battles. Lucario is another notable counter to weavile as their homing aura spheres, metallic armor, and good instincts can let them do more damage to weavile than they take in turn.

A general rule is that if weavile is not attacking it is losing. Pokémon that can outspeed it and attack from afar are good counters. Water-types that know surf can create near unavoidable area of effect attacks. Field control can decrease weavile's speed and make it harder for them to dodge attacks.

The Canadian weavile is stronger and more durable but sees less use than the lighter European, Alolan, and Japanese species. Even the Canadian weavile struggles to take hits from the sort of pokémon used on the competitive battling circuits. Alolan weavile are unique among the species for having two claws on each hand and one on each foot. A third front claw is usually redundant since the pokémon has two more. A hind claw allows for attacks against pokémon who knock the weavile into the air or sneak up behind it. The European and Japanese weavile are more common and easier to obtain, but fans of the species maintain that the Alolan species is the most effective.

On the island challenge weavile have relatively few counters. Few pokémon will outspeed it or be able to take more than a handful of strikes from their claws. Alola has many water types but few amateur pokémon will know surf. Mineral pokémon are comparatively rare. Weavile might struggle against Hala and Olivia if they are fought last, but they are traditionally the first two kahunas fought.

Sneasel is significantly less impressive. Their claws are shorter, duller, and less easily infused with elemental energy. They prefer to use ambush strategies or theft to get their food in favor of high-speed brawls with their prey. Swords dance can be a useful move for boosting a sneasel's ability to do damage. It requires time to use, however, and sneasel are quite frail. Sneasel might struggle at the tail end of the island challenge and against the usual early kahunas, but most juvenile pokémon are slower than them and can still be taken out in a few strikes. They may fall off towards the end of the challenge if they do not grow and evolve.

Acquisition

Sneasel capture is currently banned at altitudes less than one mile above sea level. This prevents capture of specimens venturing down the mountain to hunt for feathers, eggs, or easy prey. Weavile capture is banned outright due to the small number of total individuals that live on Mauna Lanakila. Given their fairly large ranges and small social groups, there are at most one hundred and fifty weavile on Lanakila, with another fifty to one hundred sneasel living on the mountain at any given time. Captive breeding keeps the species from being critically endangered, but it is unlikely that weavile will ever have a large wild population given the limited size of Mauna Lanakila and the relative warmth of Mauna Hokulani.

Only trainers who have cleared all four grand trials are allowed to explore the upper altitudes of Mauna Lanakila. All others must take one of the marked roads to the peak while inside of a vehicle. Leaving the car for non-emergency reasons is prohibited. By the time a trainer can catch their own sneasel only the League will remain. Even advanced trainers may find Lanakila to be unforgiving. Most Alolans are not familiar with survival in icy, mountainous terrain. Snow can conceal hazards such as crabmoinable or pitfalls. Icy crevasses requiring specialized gear crisscross the mountain.

Trainers that survive the terrain may be finished off by the pokémon that inhabit the mountain. The apex predator, ninetales, do not prey on humans. Vanilluxe and crabominable do. Weavile will happily finish off any weakened humans they encounter. Trainers that find a sneasel may be able to bribe it into the party with eggs and red feathers.

There are breeders that specialize in sneasel, but a well-bred sneasel can cost upwards of $2,500 given the demand for the species from competitive battlers. Runts and temperamentally undesirable sneasel can often be purchased for less. Shelters occasionally have a sneasel or weavile abandoned after it scratched up something important.

Sneasel can be captured, purchased, or adopted with a Class II license. Weavile can be purchased or adopted with a Class III license.

Breeding

After six months of age sneasel are kicked out of their mother's fesnyng. The sneasel will split off into two groups – one of the brothers and one of the sisters. They will stay in these groups until evolution. At this point unrelated female and male groups may cross paths and decide to form a fesnyng together. The group is polyamorous with all males (hobs) typically mating indiscriminately with all females (jills), and vis-versa.

Pregnancy lasts three months. Females will continue to hunt until the two-month mark. At the end of the pregnancy the female will give birth to six to twelve sneasel. Upon birth the sneasel are only four inches long and weigh about three ounces. They are born with white fur. Their teeth have not yet erupted. Over the first three weeks of life the sneasel will grow quickly. Sneasel open their eyes after about two weeks. Between three and six weeks the sneasel will begin teething. Claws begin to develop after twelve weeks. Fur also begins to darken around this time. All members of the fesnyng help raise the sneasel. After six months the sneasel are sent out into the world. The mother will begin mating again about two months after her last litter has left.

In captivity weavile breeding is relatively easy. Weavile are happy to mate with any male that meets their standards and will do most of the childrearing on their own. During this time the temperature in their environment should be kept as low as possible, except for a warm nest box with bedding. Assistance is usually not necessary during childrearing. Attempts to get near the sneasel may be met with threatening displays. Some jills will allow their trainer to assist, or even grow upset if their trainer does not offer to help. Attitudes vary by individual. As the sneasel leave the nest a bin of snow should be provided to dig in and interact with. Alolan breeders will often get this snow from Lanakila. Others will use snow created by a ninetales or other ice-type.

The offspring can be given away at six months with few consequences. It is not advised to separate a jill from her offspring before this point.

Crossbreeding is possible with most mustelids. There are some reports of interbreeding with bears and canines, but these pairings seldom produce reproductively viable offspring. This must be done with a hob, as jills will not

Relatives

The alpine weavile (M. gabriela) is native to mainland Europe. A Galarian king subsequently introduced them to the island sport hunting. The alpine weavile is the smallest species. They have three claws, but one is much longer than the other two. The smaller claws are usually only four inches long, compared to the seven-inch middle claw. Even the weavile mostly try to kill sleeping prey rather than actively hunt. During the winter they retreat to mountain ranges and the northern reaches of Galar. In the winter their range expands to cover most of Western and Central Europe. Alpine weavile are known for being docile around humans and having longer, thinner fur than the Alolan and Japanese weavile. The combination has made plush weavile popular children's toys in Europe, although the long claw is usually switched to the second finger rather than the third.

The largest species of weavile is the Canadian weavile (M. howlett). The Canadian weavile is substantially stockier and larger than their Alolan counterparts. Some individuals can stand fifty-four inches tall without the crest and weigh over ninety pounds. Part of this weight comes from their habit of eating small amounts of metal. The metal gradually builds up in parts of the claws and skeleton to make them even more durable than their frame would suggest. Canadian weavile are classified as dual ice and steel types. Their permanent range covers most of Canada and parts of the northwestern United States. Some individuals will migrate as far south as Unvoa during the winter.

The modern Japanese weavile (M. akhiro) are descended from the original sneasel species of Sinnoh and an and an alien population that came through wormholes. The original Japanese sneasel (M. hudson) were venomous and diurnal. Early reports from Sinnoh indicated that the sneasel, while mischievous, would help humans on occasion. There are photographs and reports of one adult helping carry its trainer up the cliffs of a mountain. The evolution of this sneasel had the claws of weavile but was substantially lankier and taller and did not make a headcrest. At the time this evolution was dubbed 'sneasler.' The venom of the species was a neurotoxin. When diluted it could be used as a painkiller. One application of the poison may have been to get prey to run away without realizing they had been hurt. The high blood circulation from running would accelerate the time it took to bleed out. The sneasler would then follow the blood trail at its own pace and use its claws to finish off the injured creature if necessary.

Sneasler went extinct due to the difference in mating standards between male and female weavile. Females carefully evaluate and often reject males that try to join them. It is the males who must make the most elaborate headcrests. It is the males who must show the females an impressive kill to convince them to mate. Females simply evaluate. Female sneasler were solitary and did not evaluate mates for caretaking or companionship. They would often mate with any male they crossed paths with in their very large home range. Male weavile would often mate with female sneasler, producing offspring that were behaviorally and physically distinct from both species. Sneasler would mate with these offspring, female weavile would not. Female weavile would only mother sneasel if both parents were weavile. Sneasler's genepool became more and more diluted as the remaining sneasler mated with hybrids or weavile instead of other sneasler. The resulting hybrids were often less capable of acting as venomous diurnal predators than sneasler and also not well suited for being pack-based nocturnal hunters like weavile. Over time they went extinct due to their declining fitness.

Female weavile would mate with some hybrids that were behaviorally and physically close to weavile. This process resulted in the Japanese weavile inheriting some traits from the now-extinct sneasler. They have mild venom they can release through their claws. Japanese weavile are also fond of leaving their prey with a grievous wound and then letting them run away, avoiding a prolonged fight and still eventually getting to eat their kill when it dies of blood loss. Japanese weavile also have two long claws and a somewhat shorter third claw between the two.