Florges (Flabébé, Floette)
Deserti eliot
Overview
Around 1000 BCE, the florges say, a superweapon was fired in Kalos. A long, bloody war came to an end with the annihilation of both sides. In the end no party won, save perhaps the desperate king who resurrected his beloved companion only to be rejected and abandoned. In time almost everyone in Kalos, human and pokémon, lost their cultural memory of the war.
The florges never did. The species is still attempting to process it three millennia later. They keep vast gardens to honor the dead, revive the scorched earth, and try to bring some meaning to the world after warfare. When they choose to fight they are very powerful Pokémon, yet most hesitate to fight lest they repeat the sins of the past.
While florges has human-comparable intelligence, the lower stages have maturity more comparable to toddlers and grade schoolers than adult humans. Raising a flabébé to adulthood is very much like raising a child. Florges do not need as much of a watchful eye. On balance they are haunted, fickle creatures who need heavy emotional support and a very understanding trainer. When they do find a solid partnership, florges are likely to form a deep bond with their trainer. Even centuries later they can be heard murmuring maternal lamentations for their human companions as they wander the wastelands human wars have wrought.
Physiology
The florges line are currently classified as pure fairy-type pokémon. This is heavily disputed, most prominently by scholars arguing that as plant pokémon at least the first two stages should have a grass-typing. The general melancholy and possible channeling abilities of florges also support a potential ghost-typing. However, there is no definitive proof that florges can speak with the dead and, unlike most plant-based pokémon, florges are not primarily photosynthetic. Also unlike most grass-types florges aren't seriously bothered by fire and fear death by water more than anything.
Flabébé are small fey creatures with a short stem-like tail, a round torso, and a head that dwarfs the rest of their body. Ear-like petals sprout from the sides of their head and a crown of yellow flowers rests on top. The bottom portion of flabébé is green and the top is white. Flabébé instinctively attach themselves to a flower they like. The color appears to dictate the powers they control later on in life (see Behavior). Any flower flabébé bonds with tends to grow even after being plucked and never wilts. It was long thought that flabébé somehow absorbed the energy of their flower to feed. Recent research shows that this is not the case and the entire line feed almost exclusively on ambient elemental energy and moonlight, with blood and sunlight being serviceable replacements in times of desperation.
Floette have much larger bodies than flabébé and retain their flower. Now they themselves are almost as large, with their green tail growing and developing fins at the end that let them swim through the air like a marine mammal. The crown is replaced with small buds around the ears and large green antennae. What the ears, crown, or antennae are used for is still not well understood.
Florges have been described as a girl in a hyacinth. Their tail splits into two long petals that can be used to entirely cover the main body. The tail itself grows tall enough to allow very large florges to look their trainer in the eye. The flower is fused with and becomes an elaborate wreath around the florges' head. Despite being distantly related to other flower pokémon, florges have organ systems similar to some animals. They have a heart (that glows when exposed to air) but no lungs. A small brain rests behind their pearlescent eyes with nerve clusters throughout the body assisting it. It is possible that florges offload some of their mental functions to their garden itself.
The largest florges can reach heights of sixty-seven inches and weights of forty pounds. Their lifespan is unknown; there may still be florges alive who witnessed the Kalosian wars three millennia ago. Florges can roughly be 'dated' by the style of their garden. Cultural influences from the time of evolution are usually present, although these become less pronounced over time. The oldest florges tend to have gardens over major archaeological sites. Some early archaeologists would try to kill the florges to allow for a proper excavation. Modern researchers prefer to ask the florges questions about the site. Protecting the garden preserves both an important historical site and a very old organism that will occasionally indulge the curiosity of academics.
Behavior
Flabébé are carefree spirits that spend their days wandering their mother's garden in pursuit of the best possible flower. They sometimes observe or even prank the pokémon or people in the garden but never do any serious harm. In turn no one dares harm a baby under her mother's watchful eye. Strong gusts of wind can blow flabébé away as they are not yet skilled fliers and are almost always carrying a comparatively large sail with them. They must take shelter by clinging to their mother during storms.
Floette leave their mothers and set off onto their own. In Kalos they often retreat uphill to live free in the mountains for a few years, tending to small meadows and flowerbeds in groups as they practice their budding powers. Some end up in cities or the suburbs where they tend to parks, backyard gardens, and flower beds. Disrupting a flower bed can earn the pokémon's wrath, either immediately or after they evolve. While not yet as somber as florges, floette have complex emotional lives and are prone to fits of anger when dealing with feelings they don't understand.
Florges often stay in one place and care for an increasingly large garden. The florges' presence strengthens the plants within and even heals pokémon and humans, physically and perhaps emotionally. In turn they gain more and more influence over their gardens. The exact powers gained depend on their personality and flower color. Manipulations of light and darkness are common. One florges was fond of communicating with humans through heaps of broken images scattered amongst the flowers. Others raise shadows in the twilight and apparently talk to them. Florges that have learned the human language have claimed these shadows are the spirits of the dead. One particularly powerful florges in Iberia has been known to cast a violet glow over their garden for about an hour every night. Many visitors report seeing or hearing long-dead loved ones. Whether this is a psychic illusion or a channeling of actual spirits is not yet clear.
As a general rule purple and pink florges have spectral or psionic gifts, red and orange florges are low-grade biokinetics that actively change the beings in their garden, blue florges have minor weather altering abilities, yellow florges specialize in powders and debilitating effects, and green florges are particularly competent healers. Slight variations in shades and temperament can produce different effects.
White florges are the rarest by far. Rather than tending to gardens they tend to wander the world wrapped in long brown cloaks and veils. While this does deprive them of a garden to channel their powers, white florges have extremely powerful lunar energy that let them release some of the strongest known moonblasts, heal themselves almost completely in an instant with moonlight, and even restore others or gradually warp an environment. They are also extremely intelligent; one Kalosian king declared a white florges that spent time in his court to be the wisest woman in all of Europe.
All florges are wracked by their knowledge of devastation. Some of this is firsthand and comes from being empathetic beings with long, long lifespans. The rest is either from passed-down stories or potentially a communal memory. They are naturally wary of conflict and distrustful of humans, although they often are sought out by the broken for their calming gardens and relation to the dead. Florges will often allow corpses to be buried in their garden so that the deceased can at least create something beautiful in death, whatever they accomplished in life. Newly evolved florges are fond of settling down in the aftermath of bloody battles, natural disasters, nuclear fallout, or legendary attacks and making lilacs grow from the dead earth. The flower pokémon are obsessed with meaning and try to bring some significance from even the most pointless of tragedies.
White florges are somewhat more active healers and peacemakers. They tend to move between monasteries, courts, universities, and other centers of human influence and learn and teach what they can. White florges are particularly fearsome advocates for peace. This does not make them inherently peaceful. All florges become violent when their garden is threatened. White florges consider the world to be their garden. Warmongers or profiteers often wind up being killed by a moonblast. One florges in Galar became particularly fond of murdering every noble involved in a war regardless of guilt to dissuade their successors from violence. Eventually the nobility banded together and killed the florges before burning down all florges gardens on the island and banning their importation. While another white florges did avenge her sister, no new gardens have formed there since.
Husbandry
All evolutionary stages feed primarily on moonlight and ambient elemental energy. Current and recent trial sites have an abundance of Z-Energy to feed on. Z-Crystals can also serve as a battery of sort. Florges and strong floette can safely bask at night. Flabébé will need a guardian on the trail; Pokémon Centers often have some sort of netting over their pool decks to protect weaker fish, making these great basking spots in cities.
Like most intelligent pokémon, members of the florges line require extensive enrichment and bonding activities. The exact nature of care required depends on the evolutionary stage.
Flabébé are young and relatively carefree. They require near constant protection to make sure they don't blow away in the wind, fall victim to predators, or accidentally hurt themselves. Visits to parks and flower beds make good enrichment. While they might come to understand a few words flabébé are unlikely to speak or develop a true understanding of the human language. Frequently talking to flabébé can teach them more words and help them understand the subtext of tone, inflection, and body language. Very lightweight toys such as origami birds can make for good enrichment but are not necessary. Without them, flabébé will typically find ways to entertain themselves.
Floette are fairly comparable to human children. If raised from a young age they will start to fully understand the human language and even be able to form rudimentary sentences of their own. Unlike flabébé's rather physical curiosity, floette enjoy trips to museums and interesting landmarks and appreciate explanations as to how things work. "Why" is often their favorite word and trainers should be prepared to patiently explain mundane aspects of the world many times. On balance, floette trainers often wind up learning a great deal about many subjects in the process. Teaching floette to read can help abate their curiosity. Strangely enough, floette get along far more with carnivorous pokémon than herbivores. The flowers instinctively defend other plants and beautiful scenery and can come into conflict with grazers. Careful explanation of the other pokémon's diet may be needed to ease tensions. While they may form attachments to other pokémon they are likely to see them as competitors for their trainer's time and affections.
Florges are more than capable of taking care of themselves. The biggest hurdle for florges trainers is convincing them they should stay. Owning a large plot of land to form a garden on helps but this still doesn't benefit traveling trainers and, given the Alolan real estate market, is unobtainable for many island challengers. It is usually easiest to convince the florges that their trainer and teammates are their garden and they should care for the emotional needs of those they love. This requires forming a genuinely familial relationship. Extensive time spent together, genuine consideration of the florges' advice, and shared interests help. Compatible political ideology and attendance at anti-war or pro-environment rallies also encourage the florges to stay, although the laws about pokémon at protest events should be reviewed in advance. Finally, traumatized trainers – especially refugees and veterans – instinctively trigger maternal feelings. Florges get along well with blissey who are also attracted to similar humans.
White florges tend not to care about forming gardens. They are also easier to bond with and often already know the human language. Unlike most pokémon, white florges have memories and duties. As long-lived creatures, florges are often unwilling to attach themselves to a trainer who will die in mere decades. Conversely, sometimes they may agree to travel with a trainer who reminds them of an old companion. In the end white florges often see themselves as bound by duties to their species, humanity, and the world. Their plans may prove incompatible with their trainers (and often involve breaking a fair few laws).
Illness
Elemental withdrawal is the cause of most florges illnesses. Even serious physical wounds can be mended in time through hibernation and absorption of moonlight and energy. Withdrawal symptoms include wilting, wandering away from beloved places and people, extreme mood swings, and a refusal to use their powers. Florges that can speak will often lay out their problems. Thankfully almost all damage can be fixed with exposure to enough energy from evolutionary stones, Z- and mega-crystals, wishing stars, and elementally charged areas.
Drowning is the main cause of death in fully grown florges. They do require oxygen to breathe and are not particularly adept swimmers. While florges, while usually smart enough to avoid this fate, can still be caught off-guard by shipwrecks, flash floods, and assassins.
Evolution
Flabébé gradually evolve to floette. In the wild the demarcation line is the new floette leaving the garden they were born in. In captivity a floette is a flabébé that has grown heavier than its flower. Size is the main physical difference between the two.
Florges evolve via flash evolution. Once a floette acquires enough wisdom, power, and courage it will seek out a place to grow a garden. The flowers will gradually gain elemental charges great enough to cause the floette's evolution. Alternatively, white floette evolve upon absorbing enough moonlight in their lifetime. In captivity white floette evolution can be triggered by frequent battle and a moon, dawn, leaf, or shiny stone.
Battle
Florges, even outside of their gardens, are very powerful combatants. Moonblasts are their strongest offensive attacks, but some are also capable of using psionic moves or grass-elemental attacks. More importantly they are very durable and can quickly recover from most hits while continuing to bombard the opponent. They also have a variety of tricks, including fear spores that can cause severe panic attacks.
The difficulty of training florges and their general aversion to violence makes them niche picks on the European and global circuits. When used they make for effective dragon checks and they can shut down many special attackers by shrugging off damage and retaliating in kind. Their odd hybrid plant-animal minds also make them difficult for telepaths to target.
White florges are the strongest in almost every way. They are extremely uncommon as they tend to be averse to fighting for the sake of fighting. A handful of European collectors have started to deliberately raise white flabébé in controlled environments to produce relatively compliant white florges. Results have been mixed and more than one such project was destroyed after a free florges found out about it.
On the island challenge florges function mostly as special tanks. Moonblasts and other attacks can wound opponents while the florges heals herself. anything that gets too close can be shown fear in a handful of dust and promptly hit with a point-blank attack for their trouble.
Floette and flabébé are much harder to battle with as neither are particularly fast, durable, or strong. They mostly rely upon powder attacks to stun an opponent before slowly whittling down the opponent. Ideally flabébé should not be battled with at all and floette should only be used against relatively weak opponents. Anything with wind manipulation can literally blow the pokémon away.
Acquisition
Florges were deliberately released into Alola in the 1970s to help preserve the island's meadows. Their descendants still live on the archipelago. However, the government has bounties on white flabébé and floette and the importation of both is prohibited to prevent terrorism.
Flabébé can be found in the areas around large flower meadows. Their capture is prohibited on Akala but allowed on the other three tapu islands. Be forewarned that florges can grow defensive over flabébé capture in their garden and will seek out a battle against the trainer themselves followed by a long appraisal. Floette are easier to obtain as they are more widely distributed and not actively monitored by florges. In any case, flabébé can be purchased from some plant specialist breeders. Florges capture is prohibited to help preserve the meadows.
Flabébé can be obtained with a Class III license; floette and florges require a Class IV license to possess.
Breeding
Florges are capable of asexual reproduction. Alternatively, they can cross-pollinate with another florges. All florges are hermaphrodites. Virtually all accept a female or female-adjacent gender identity. Very few male-identifying florges have been recorded. One prominent example, a white florges named Tiresias, has surfaced repeatedly throughout history. There is some debate as to whether 'Tiresias' is a single florges or a title used by several specimens throughout history.
After self- or cross- pollination the florges lowers herself into her tail leaves and seals herself in. After seven to ten days she will emerge with several crystalline seeds lining her body. She will carefully place these just beneath the surface. Two to four weeks later the new flabébé will emerge. The mother florges will watch her children closely for the first year of their life before slowly granting them more autonomy.
Breeding florges in captivity can be difficult. To start with, taking seeds or flabébé away from a mother florges without her consent is almost guaranteed to lead to the death of the florges and anyone she can take with her along the way. Gaining consent requires convincing the mother that her children can be cared for by humans and giving them up would be good for the new flabébé or the world as a whole. There are a surprising number of breeders who have managed this with the prospects of new gardens or potentially influential human children being introduced to the florges' ideology.
Relatives
While most flabébé end up taking a flower of the same color as their parents, if only because an abundance of such flowers typically live in the garden, they can adopt another one. As such florges do not have subspecies, even though there are multiple categories of individuals with combat and personality differences.
Florges' closest living relative may be sudowoodo. Florges DNA is particularly strange and difficult to analyze so studies have reached different conclusions. In any case their last common ancestor would have died out tens of millions of years ago.