Slowpoke (Slowbro | Slowking)
Overview
Slowpoke is well known and loved among the people of Alola. Their tails are a part of many traditional recipes. Slowbro and slowking are taught as an example of symbiosis in almost all elementary science classes. Due to long traditions and the complexity of the subject matter, much of what the average resident of Alola knows about slowpoke, their partners, and their evolutions is wrong.
The biggest misconception is that slowpoke are symbiotic with shellder; slowpoke bond with a separate species called turbann. Unlike the rather flat shellder, turbann are conical and have a spiral ridge on their exterior. On the inside they are vastly different.
Beyond that, slowpoke are not stupid so much as borderline non-sentient and non-sapient. They do not think so much as follow a basic list of survival impulses. In spite of their official typing, psychics have been unable to have any sort of conversation with them or access any memories. There is even an argument to classify slowpoke not as their own species, but as a sort of external organ for turbann. There is some precedent for this, most notably with parasect. Slowbro and slowking are also not two separate entities coexisting; the slowpoke and turbann share a fused nervous system and function as one organism.
Fossils of a species closely resembling slowpoke have been found dating back to the late Devonian era. Given the similarity of turbann to orthocones and the bizarre biology of slowpoke, it is possible that they were an early offshoot of the jellies that convergently evolved to resemble amphibians. However, their dependence on an aquatic species limited them to the ocean's edge. It is also unclear why they left the sea in the first place.
Most captive slowpoke in Alola are held for agriculture or research. Slowpoke and slowbro are not the brightest of pets and slowking are too smart for the average trainer to adequately care for. The main appeal of slowpoke for young trainers is that they are a very forgiving choice for learning how to care for aquatic pokémon and species with bizarre biology.
Physiology
Slowpoke is officially classified as a water- and psychic- type. This designation is hotly disputed in academic journals. The debate centers on whether true intelligence is a requirement of the psychic typing. The ability of the species to thrive in cooler waters has also led to some calls for a secondary ice-typing. Slowbro and slowking are also designated as water- and psychic- types. Slowbro's designation is controversial for the same reason as slowpoke's. Slowking's typing is generally agreed upon.
Slowpoke are pink quadrupeds with cream-colored bellies and muzzles. Their internal physiology is a strange cross between jellies and amphibians. A handful of cartilaginous bones as well as some hair-like threads bind multiple mucus layers together into a coherent organism. There are complex mucus structures in their bodies that perform the basic functions of organs. Rather than proper muscles, they move through a system of hydraulic pumps. They also do not have anything resembling a brain; their nerves form several small clusters throughout their bodies, each of which appears to govern a single function. It is unclear if slowpoke are physiologically capable of higher thought.
When a turbann latches onto a slowpoke, a series of changes begin in both organisms. The most obvious external sign is that the slowpoke roughly doubles in size. In slowbro the turbann becomes filled with reproductive organs and neural clusters that function akin to a brain. Slowking experience neural growth in not just the turbann, but throughout the slowking's head. The turbann also does not develop reproductive organs. Both slowbro and slowking gain stronger hydraulic pumps to move their larger body around.
Slowpoke grow to lengths of 1.2 meters and masses of 35 kilograms. Turbann grow to lengths of 0.6 meters and masses of 25 kilograms. Slowbro and slowking both grow to heights of roughly 2 meters and masses of 80 kilograms. Slowbro and slowking can live up to twenty-five years in both the wild and captivity. Slowpoke may be functionally immortal unless it evolves.
Behavior
Slowpoke prefer living in moist, cool, coastal habitats. They are capable of living in warmer waters or drier climates, but they must spend more time in the water in these areas. Slowpoke will stand motionless on the waters edge for days on end, sometimes inserting their tail into the water. The same compounds that give slowpoke tails their distinct flavor also lure in fish and small pokémon, allowing the slowpoke to whip them onto land and devour them once they die. Slowpoke can go weeks between feedings. While they are somewhat capable swimmers, they only enter the water when they need to rehydrate.
Despite the boost in intelligence, slowbro are only slightly more active than slowpoke. They are benthic feeders who use their psychic abilities to locate prey beneath the substrate. Claws, water attacks and telepathy make the kill. Slowbro eat multiple times most days. When they are not hunting, slowbro typically beach themselves on land and sleep. Even when multiple slowbro live in the same area they will seldom acknowledge each other.
The average slowking is far more intelligent than the average human. This leads to slowking leading a radically different lifestyle than slowbro. To start, most slowking are vegetarian. They subsist on fruit and seaweeds. When these are scarce near the waterline they may resort to scavenging or hunting non-pokémon fish or jellies. They are extremely empathic and consistently express a reluctance to harm other sapient creatures. Like most psychics slowking also spend a considerable amount of time asleep. In the wild they sleep for roughly twelve hours a day. They spend much of their time remaining socializing or exploring.
Slowking are incredibly curious creatures that seek to understand everything and everyone they encounter. Finding slowbro too dull to bother with, they mostly interact with either other slowking or highly intelligent creatures. This often drives them to seek out a human trainer to teach them about human society, philosophy, and technology.
Slowpoke will sometimes instinctively defend themselves with telepathic bursts. They have very few natural predators because most of their body is difficult to digest and not particularly nutritious. Slowbro and slowking have even fewer predators due to their increased power, intelligence and size.
Husbandry
Slowpoke do not form attachments to humans. Still, they are relatively easy to care for and keep track of. Slowpoke and slowbro show no aversion to pokéballs. A slowpoke should be let out of their pokéball near a large body of water every few days. If the slowpoke walks over to it and sticks their tail in, it is feeding time. Slowpoke eat most kinds of seafood and have also been known to eat insect mixes and raw poultry.
The main concern for slowpoke and slowbro (and a big concern for slowking) is hydration. Because their bodies are mostly liquid and their movement is powered by hydraulic pumps, they need to be given time to soak in water every three days at most. They prefer salt water between three and ten degrees Celsius. In a pinch, they can tolerate fresh water and water up to twenty degrees Celsius.
Slowbro require daily feedings. Their diet is about the same as a slowpoke's, although individual slowbro have different preferences. Slowbro eat until full and then stop eating. While they can and do become attached with their trainers slowbro are not at all cuddly and do not like being touched. Unlike true amphibians, slowpoke and its evolutions will not be injured by skin contact. They simply find it uncomfortable. Slowbro will also avoid engaging in any activity at all, including socialization to training. Getting a slowbro to obey even simple and costless commands is an exercise in patience.
Slowking should be provided with seaweed (or lettuce in a pinch) and fruit until they are no longer hungry. Most slowking have a particular fondness for watermelons. They will need to sleep roughly twelve hours a day and they are content to do so within their pokéball. Slowking generally prefer dive balls. Slowbro have not demonstrated a preference in pokéball type.
When they are not sleeping or eating slowking need to be outside of their pokéball exploring or conversing. They are as inquisitive as a toddler and have the intellect of a Ph.D. student. Even the smartest of trainers will struggle to keep a slowking entertained on their own. Successful slowking trainers generally teach their pokémon to read and telekinetically lift books. They will then rely upon a library, television, or computer to keep the slowking occupied. Some universities have experimented with having slowking oversee dormitory floors so they can learn from many different people and attend classes themselves as payment.
Most slowking quickly figure out telepathic and verbal human speech. It is not uncommon for a slowking to learn multiple languages. This gives even non-psychic trainers a pokémon they can speak with. Many trainers find that this elevates the pokémon from pet to family in their eyes. It can be quite difficult for trainers to adjust to having a new sapient being they are required to care for. If your slowpoke evolves into a slowking (see Evolution) and you are not prepared to make the transition it is best to give up the pokémon before it becomes attached.
All stages of the slowpoke line produce exclusively liquid waste. Upon being sent out of their pokéball slowpoke and slowbro should be placed over a small pool or tub, or at least an area that can be urinated on. Slowking are quite capable of housebreaking themselves.
Of course, the main reason people train the line in Alola is for slowpoke tails. Wild slowpoke require their tails to hunt and become distressed when they lose their tail unexpectedly. They shed and regrow their tails naturally on a roughly three-month cycle. Captive slowpoke can have their tails harvested as soon as they reach full size as they do not require their tails to find food. Tails regenerate in full over the course of a month. A tail-less slowpoke should regularly be offered food, as the normal means of gauging their hunger is inapplicable.
Illness
Slowpoke are remarkable regenerators. Given enough food, water, and time they can regenerate from anything except near-complete shredding or dissolution. The most common problems in captivity occur when they are not given what they need to heal.
If a slowpoke's skin ever stops being bright pink and slimy they should immediately be offered a pool and allowed to stay outside of their pokéball until they completely remove themselves from the water. This also applies for the evolutions of slowpoke. Wounded slowpoke should be given an increased supply of food and not be put into battle again until they have fully recovered.
In the event of a slowbro's devolution they should immediately be placed into professional veterinarian care.
Evolution
When a turbann bites a slowpoke, a variety of physiological changes occur. The union of a turbann and slowbro appears to be the only way for slowpoke to evolve. In the wild the vast majority of turbann choose to latch onto a slowpoke's tail rather than their head. How a turbann decides where to attach themselves is unclear. The leading theory at present is that turbann gauge the chemical markers slowpoke put into the water to evaluate the health of the slowpoke slumber and the number of slowbro and slowking. If the slumber is threatened or declining or there are only one or two slowking, the turbann is incentivized to evolve a slowpoke to slowking in order to solve the slumber's problems and increase its numbers (see Breeding).
Trainers who wish to use a slowbro or slowking are recommended to acquire one that has already evolved. Evolving a slowpoke without external aid requires letting a slowpoke rehydrate and catch its fish naturally while under constant supervision (they will not return to their trainers on their own) until they are eventually bitten by a turbann. Alternatively, trainers can pay the Hau'oli Aquarium for the chance to put their slowpoke in the same tank as turbann. In both cases it is impossible to determine what a slowpoke evolves into.
Slowbro has a mega evolution. It takes the form of a temporary flash evolution. Excess energy is channeled into the turbann, allowing it to grow until it covers almost the entire slowpoke. It is believed that this might cause the slowpoke some distress, if not actual pain. This runs against the theory that turbann and slowpoke become one cohesive organism rather than a partnership of two separate creatures. Or, perhaps, the slowpoke's face is expressing the discomfort of the collective being itself. In any case, mega evolution of slowbro is currently banned in most competitive matches in Alola. Mega evolving slowbro requires a mega evolution permit and keystone.
Slowbro are notable for being one of the few pokémon to experience devolution. When a turbann detaches itself from slowbro, either because of external trauma or the normal reproductive cycle (see Breeding), the slowpoke has a chance to survive. Upon detachment the slowpoke loses access to much of its central nervous system. They are also usually far out to sea and experiencing massive blood loss. Sometimes the slowpoke will manage to guide itself to shore. At this point they will usually haul themselves into the shallows and rest. Over the next few weeks wounds will close and the nervous system will return to that of a slowpoke. Large chunks of flesh are expelled as the slowpoke returns to the size it was before evolution. When everything is completed the rejuvenated slowpoke will awaken and resume hunting as if nothing had happened at all.
Battle
The only known method of training a slowpoke to respond to commands involved extensive cognitive rewiring from a high-level psychic. Ignoring the ethical and legal implications this is simply impossible for the vast majority of trainers to do. The only real way to use a slowpoke in battle is to send it out and hope that the right reflexes kick in when the slowpoke is attacked. Typically a slowpoke will defend itself with low-powered water bursts and telepathic attacks. These usually only manage to annoy adult pokémon but some juvenile or frail pokémon can be knocked out.
Slowking is gifted with a reasonably deep and versatile energy well and a naturally high intelligence. A captive slowking can learn to use many elemental attacks. Slowking can also learn a variety of utility moves such as light screen, scald, future sight, yawn and trick room. The combination of their movepool and the line's naturally fast healing makes slowking a special wall that can still pack a punch if needed. One of the Top 100 Trainers use one on their main team. Another uses a Galarian slowking (see Subspecies).
Slowbro has a slightly different role in competitive battling. They cannot be taught the sheer number of moves that a slowking can learn. Slowbro trainers instead abuse a quirk of their physiology: they seem unable to feel any pain at all. Their mucus-like flesh also practically knits itself back together in the water or while stored in a dive ball. These attributes allow slowbro to take a lot of damage and stay in the match. They can also be taught a utility move or two, reasonably powerful water and psychic attacks, and perhaps one elemental move for coverage. This is all they really need to check some of the premier water, rock and fighting type pokémon in the metagame.
Still, slowbro faces competition from other bulky water-types that are a bit easier to train and can learn a wider variety of moves. Milotic is also a durable, fast healer. It also learns more utility moves, hits harder and can last longer against a single opponent. They are also better companions. The advantages slowbro has over milotic on professional circuits are the ease of acquisition, telepathic resistance, endurance throughout a battle, and their ability to take stronger single hits without fainting from pain.
On circuits where mega evolution is allowed slowbro is viewed as one of the metagame's top pokémon. In addition to the advantages listed above, almost nothing can pierce a mega slowbro's shell. They can also be trained to move quickly enough that it's hard to line up a reliable strike on the head.
Slowking is played much the same on the island challenge as on the competitive scene. They should be taught new attacks regularly and given new puzzles and games to encourage them to master old attacks or use different combinations of them. This allows them to play a more versatile, technical game than any opponent a trainer is likely to face on the island challenge, with the possible exceptions of the fourth kahuna, the elite four, and the champion. Slowking still faces competition from primarina for a slot as the intelligent, reasonably durable water-type and translator on a team.
Slowbro generally fares better on island challenges than it does on the U.S. competitive scene. Even relatively untrained slowbro are still durable enough to tank any neutral attacks they are likely to encounter before the elite four. Milotic and toxapex are better at filling the bulky water role, but the rarity of feebas and diet of toxapex mean that most trainers are better off just getting a slowbro.
Acquisition
Slowpoke require a Class I license to capture, adopt or purchase. They are typically found congregated along Kala'e Bay or the runoff streams of Mt. Lanakila where the waters are cooler than in the rest of Alola.
Slowbro and slowking require a Class II and III license to possess, respectively. Trainers who captured their pre-evolution with a lower license are not automatically allowed to keep the pokémon when it evolves. This is because newly evolved slowbro and slowking almost never show any loyalty to the trainer who cared for them as a slowpoke. Both evolutions are found in the same locations as slowpoke. Trainers taking the island challenge are limited to capturing one slowbro or slowking total. They are only allowed to do so if they have defeated a kahuna within the past year. All other trainers are prohibited from capturing a slowbro or slowking.
Breeding
Slowbro produce turbann and slowking produce slowpoke. After an apparently random period of time a female slowbro will begin to produce more egg cells inside of her shell. She will then seek out a male to mate with. After the eggs are fertilized the slowbro will swim up to fifty kilometers off the continental shelf, often over the course of several days. Then the turbann will detach from the slowpoke and release roughly three million eggs into the water. These eggs will drift in the current for six weeks before hatching into zooplankton. They will then develop into an adult turbann over the next year. The turbann mother will perish, and usually the slowpoke will also die due to being stranded far from shore with low food reserves and a profusely bleeding wound.
Slowking have much more conventional reproduction. When food is abundant and threats are scarce, slowking will seek each other out and mate. Unlike true amphibians, slowking are internally fertilized and give birth to two to three live young after a four-month pregnancy. Both parents help in protecting the slowpoke until they are roughly three months old, at which point the parents pay no more attention to them than they do to the rest of the slumber. Slowking do not die after reproducing and can do so many times over the course of their lifespan.
Slowbro should not be bred in captivity due to the high risk of death and abundance of wild turbann and slowpoke. Slowking are not shy about reproduction and will express their needs and desires freely to a trainer they trust. Due to their desire to coparent one trainer will need to either own two slowking or borrow one for a few months in order to facilitate breeding. Pregnant slowking will require slightly elevated amounts of food and a damp, cool and quiet place to retreat to. They should not be used in battle. Male slowking grow more aggressive and territorial after mating and have even been known to lash out at their trainers if they perceive them as a threat to the female. Caution is advised around the males during pregnancy and child-rearing.
Subspecies
It was long thought that the only living subspecies was the Pacific slowpoke, which lives around the North Pacific and down much of the South American coast. The Alolan population is an anamoly that lives far away from shore in a tropical area. It is currently believed that humans brought the first slowpoke to Alola as a food source.
In 1931 the Atlantic slowpoke was rediscovered on a remote Arctic island. Intensive breeding programs since then, including regular introduction of turbann and galarica to the places slowpoke live, has led to a steady increase in the population. Atlantic slowpoke are still limited to a handful of island reserves in Galar and the Nordic countries, but reintroduction to mainland Europe and Galar is being actively considered.
Atlantic slowpoke are primarily terrestrial. They live in freshwater streams and estuaries near galarica, a relative of the cattail. Galarica comprises the bulk of slowpoke's diet. The plant's natural poisons steadily accumulate in the slowpoke, although not quite to the extent that a poison-typing is warranted. The tail contains small doses of neurotoxins. The unique flavor and small amount of poison makes the tails popular as a substitute for alcohol in Arctic regions without regular plant husbandry. Atlantic slowpoke have more developed nervous systems than their Pacific counterparts, although they are still much less intelligent than the average pokémon.
Atlantic slowbro and slowking have reversed roles to the Pacific subspecies. The slowbro have a turbann latched onto their forearm. The attachment triggers a variety of physical changes, including the development of much more sophisticated neural clusters. The transformation also allows for more poison to be held in the body within specialized storage sacs. The turbann is developed into a strange weapon that allows for a stream of concentrated neurotoxin to be sent at an enemy up to ten meters away. Atlantic slowbro mate to produce more slowpoke.
Atlantic slowking are bitten on the head by turbann. Instead of symbiosis, the turbann takes complete control over their host, cannibalizing and expanding upon the slowpoke's nervous system. The turbann's own poisons, the galarica in the slowpoke's diet, and strange new organs combine to create a wide variety of poisons. Most are neurotoxins, but some have other effects. Slowking spend most of their time communing with spirits and testing the effects of different blends of poison on other organisms. Almost all other pokémon actively avoid slowking. They are unpleasant companions that frequently try to poison their trainer for research purposes. Eventually the poisons build up to such a degree that the slowpoke's body starts to fail. Then the turbann will haul it out to see, swim as far as it can, and eject itself, ripping the slowking apart and releasing millions of turbann eggs.