Whimsicott (Cottonee)
Bombacio whitney
Overview
Whimsicott have been tied to many of the greatest triumphs and tragedies of the modern era. The first factories were made to process their fluff. The cottonee industry led to the mass produced pokéball, but also serious human and pokémon rights abuses. The fluff trade both stimulated global trade networks and led to coups, civil wars, and revolutions in Egypt, India, and the United States.
In recent years whimsicott have experienced a surge in popularity among casual and professional trainers. Their fluff and antics make them desirable for trainers interested in knitting and fine with harmless pranks. Whimsicott can also make for great pillows and are usually willing to play the part. On the professional circuits whimsicott have come to form the backbone of the quickstall teams.
Physiology
Cottonee and whimsicott are classified as dual grass- and fairy-type pokémon. Both have been disputed disputed. For most of European history scientists classified whimsicott as animals that resembled plants. As animals they could not have a grass-typing. Recent research and genetic sequencing has confirmed that whimsicott are, in fact, plants with several animal characteristics. The line's fairy-typing is justified by a weakness to iron and an affinity for pranks. There are purists who argue that fairy-typing, if it exists, requires some connection to the moon. The Department of Agriculture has not shown an interest in reopening its review of whimsicott's typing.
Cottonee are small plants with white outer membranes and a mass of white fibers growing out around the core body. A narrow fluffless band runs around their midsection and reveals their red eye spots. Two green flaps with photosynthetic capabilities extend from either side of their body. Cottonee get almost all of their food from photosynthesis and most of their water through their skin or by absorbing it from the ground or puddles through small prehensile roots beneath their fur. These roots can also be used to expel the fluff from their body and allow for movement. The leaves can also be moved to simulate flight. Even with these adaptations cottonee are still far slower than the average human.
Unlike cottonee, whimsicott have an apparently mammalian body. Instead of skin whimsicott have a thin layer of bark. They have functional mouths and a crude digestive system that lets them supplement photosynthesis with bugs, shrubs, and flowers. The nervous system of whimsicott is poorly understood. There are a few clusters of what appear to be nerves but nothing sophisticated enough to explain the species' intelligence. The subject is of much interest in the fields of biology and computer science.
Whimsicott have a lot more fluff than their preevolution. They also are significantly more mobile, with limbs outside of their fluff allowing them to move freely without discarding most of their mass. Whimsicott's roots are also much longer than cottonee's, allowing for more versatile movements of the fluff. These tendrils also make whimsicott fluff relatively hard to harvest without the pokémon's active participation. Machines struggle to keep up with the quickly moving tendrils and manual harvesters often struggle to remove one pokémon's fluff without getting a hand full of thorns for their trouble.
It isn't entirely clear why whimsicott evolved fluff in the first place. It makes them vulnerable to being blown away by wind or bogged down by rain on top of being a very noticeable target. The leading theory is that it lets cottonee (and, more rarely, whimsicott) band together to form a large fluffy mass that can weigh up to several tons. The sheer size of cottonee clouds scares off many would-be predators. These clouds have also been known to bury small towns they roll into. When whimsicott form clouds it appears to be for the sole purpose of burying towns or causing similar mischief. If one is caught alone during strong winds it can travel long distances, carrying its genetic material with it and allowing for genetic mixing between populations or the introduction of cottonee to new lands.
Whimsicott can grow up to 28 centimeters tall and weigh up to 1.5 kilograms, both measurements excluding fluff.
Behavior
Cottonee tend to live in factories of fifty to over one thousand individuals. On calm days the cottonee will disperse and spread their leaves in the sunlight. The species prefers to live at the edge of forests where the factory can anchor themselves near flat, sunny land. When the winds pick up or predators approach all members of the factory will bunch together, link roots, and form a giant cloud.
Whimsicott tend to be far more active and independent than their preevolutions. They also harbor a particular animus towards humanity, possibly a grudge formed in the last few centuries of large-scale cottonee agriculture. Whimsicott are known to break into homes. While not literally capable of going "anywhere the wind may flow" as one poet put it, whimsicott can still fit into any space their emolga-sized body can and then drag their fluff behind through clever use of control tendrils. Once inside a dwelling the pokémon are prone to scattering fluff everywhere, breaking and hiding objects, harassing any weak pokémon or non-pokémon pets, clogging drains and turning the faucets on, and various other pranks. Tobacco products are almost always stolen.
Serious crimes have been reported but never confirmed. One alleged murder became sensationalized before a group of teenage sleuths and their talking boltund revealed that a cottonee magnate had faked his own death and scattered fluff around the scene in order to justify the recapture of wild cottonee and escape his debts. He maintains to this day that he would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for meddling kids.
In the wild whimsicott are known to pull pranks and steal food from other species. They are seldom retaliated against because they keep pranks relatively minor and are known to help out other species. When a young pokémon is sick or injured whimsicott often bring food to them and harass any predators that approach. Sometimes whimsicott donate fluff to be used as bedding. In fact whimsicott willingly donated fluff to humans to make clothing until just a few centuries ago. In some parts of the world they still do.
Husbandry
In the pre-industrial era cottonee farms tended to just be fields with good soil, irrigation trenches, and large poles erected in them at suitable distances. Cottonee would flock to the area on their own accord and rarely leave. Post-industrial facilities tended to keep cottonee chained to each other and the poles to prevent any escape. At harvest time the field was often flooded to limit the cottonee's ability or desire to resist fluff removal, a task itself made easier with damp fluff. Removal was often brutal for workers and pokémon alike as the plants would sometimes lash out with their thorny roots. Most farm owners authorized root removal before harvesting or even the wholesale slaughter of the crop. The corpses would then be used to fertilize the earth before another factory of cottonee was brought in.
The introduction of the pokéball led to the phasing out of chain-based farming in favor of pokéball-based containment methods. This was done more for practical reasons than ethical ones. Until the late 19th Century it was widely believed that plant-based pokémon were incapable of feeling pain.
Nowadays many operations harvest fluff with either machines or steel-type pokémon with relatively dexterous appendages. Some still persist in the developing world that rely on cheap labor and lax laws for harvesting. In addition to their thorns, cottonee are capable of secreting a substance into their fluff that causes hives to break out on any exposed skin. These reactions can continue for weeks after the substance is washed off and even leave permanent discoloration or scarring.
Trainers not operating at an industrial level can treat cottonee much like any grass-type. They requires several hours a day of photosynthesis time and frequent access to either standing bodies of water or moist soils. Placing a cottonee directly in deep water might kill and will certainly irritate the pokémon. At night cottonee prefer to either be inside their pokéball or allowed to cling to something. Many trainers have reported their cottonee cuddling with available stuffed animals or pillows.
Fluff harvesting and contact is generally safe so long as the pokémon is not momentarily irritated or chronically stressed. Dangerous secretions are only released during battle or when assessing a potential threat. Cottonee are usually tolerant of being petted or hugged and whimsicott often initiate such contact. Harvesting fluff is somewhat risky and should only be done after consulting a specialist guide. Ideally a professional botanist or veterinarian will supervise the trainer the first few times. While harvesting is not necessary it is a good source of knitting materials. The so-called "ethical fluff" industry is also willing to pay for fluff harvested by traveling trainers.
Whimsicott typically loathe pokéballs of all sorts. Even luxury and solar balls are often rejected. While they are willing to tolerate pokéballs for a short period of time if a clear purpose is given or while injured, it is recommended that trainers use the ball very sparingly. Unlike virtually all plant pokémon whimsicott require a lot of enrichment. Puzzles, mazes, strange objects, and similarly intelligent playmates are all good options. If a whimsicott gets bored it will create their own entertainment, often at its trainer's expense. Trainers looking for a cute and cuddly pet that does not require as much attention may want to look into emolga, dedenne, togedemaru, or komala instead.
Unlike cottonee, whimsicott require food beyond sunlight, water, and the occasional dip in good soils. Insect mixes, shoots, leaves, and flowers are all acceptable food sources. At first all four should be provided in abundance. Over time the whimsicott will settle on a steady diet and only their typical daily needs can be provided. Nuts and fruit can be sparingly used as treats.
Illness
Cottonee that live in areas with highly metallic soils often struggle to thrive and produce very thin fluff with clumps missing. This is easily rectified by moving them to an area with less metal in the soil. Iron content is usually inversely proportional to pH. Soil acidity is highly variable across Alola. Garden supply stores often sell soils with a high pH. Counterintuitively, cottonee can benefit from sharing a team with a steel-type so long as the partner actively consumes minerals in the soil. Alolan dugtrio is a great teammate because it tills the soil and removes excess iron.
Cottonee and whimsicott are very illness prone for plant pokémon. Many of these illnesses take the form of either a thin layer of mold or fungus spreading across the pokémon's surface or discoloration, foul odors, and eventually rot in the core body. Both are usually carried by small parasites. Unfortunately centuries of selective breeding have greatly reduced the potency of cottonee's repellant chemicals against parasites. The introduction of Aztec cottonee to most of the world and breeding for tamer and less colorful cottonee has also led to a dearth of genetic diversity that can leave populations highly vulnerable to viruses. At the first sign of trouble the pokémon should be taken to a veterinarian. Potentially sick individuals should be separated from conspecifics immediately.
Evolution
Modern cottonee seldom evolve. In the past enough sunlight, nutrients, and time would almost inevitably trigger an evolution. Industrial era owners did not appreciate whimsicott's pranks and propensity for fleeing the farm. As such newly evolved whimsicott were almost always put down, often in brutal ways to "set an example." The psychological effect was largely futile as evolution was far more akin to human puberty's onset than a conscious choice. Now evolution requires luck and supplemental leaf and sun stones, as well as plenty of battle experience and sunlight. Trainers are recommended to keep their cottonee in photosynthesis rooms at night while staying in Pokémon Centers.
Whimsicott are flash evolvers. Due to cottonee's ordinarily low activity levels and the uncertainties induced by selective breeding it is difficult to predict how close one is to evolving.
Battle
Hard stall is defined by the use of incredibly bulky pokémon that can repeatedly take hits, heal themselves or shrug off the damage, and then do a little damage back. Over long brutal battles of attrition the hard stall team may eventually prevail. At the opposite end of the strategy spectrum is hyper offense. These teams revolve around creating opportunities for fast sweepers to set up and either badly weaken their best check on the opposing team or take out multiple opponents. At some point one sweeper will finally set up with no good checks remaining and claim victory. Hyper offense pokémon are typically unable to take many hits and rely upon solid matchups, baton pass, or defensive screens to set up.
Quickstall is a strange fusion of the two. Battles are won by attrition but the pokémon cannot take many hits. Whimsicott is a great example of this playstyle. On the competitive circuits whimsicott do best when they come in on something that cannot seriously hurt them. Leech seed is used to put the opponent on a timer and start restoring the whimsicott's health. Then the whimsicott relies on its natural speed to dodge attacks and throw up obstacles to keep their own health pristine. When possible attacks such as toxic, magical leaf, or moonblast can be used to accelerate the process. A well-trained whimsicott can nonetheless stay untouched and unharmed for over an hour in the right circumstances.
The strategy has a handful of hard counters. Most grass-types or plant-based pokémon can ignore leech seed entirely and aren't seriously harmed by whimsicott's grass attacks and plant-derived poisons. Whimsicott struggle to do damage to these opponents and without leech seed recovery will exhaust themselves sooner rather than later. Magic guard users and other pokémon capable of negating passive damage also hurt whimsicott and are quite capable of countering a quickstall team on their own. Finally pokémon that are faster than whimsicott can prevent successful setup. Particularly powerful heat wave and hurricane users are dangerous opponents capable of burning through or blowing away enough fluff to strike at the pokémon underneath it.
Thankfully the island challenge is short on extremely fast or powerful pokémon. Even totems without a type advantage can struggle to outpace a well-trained whimsicott. Leech seed is the most essential move to master. Then barriers such as substitute, cotton guard, and protect should be worked on. The rest of a whimsicott's training at the casual level should be devoted to agility and evasion drills where the pokémon must dodge weak attacks from teammates. Some guides recommend teaching hurricane to whimsicott to bypass grass-types. However if a whimsicott is fighting other grass-types it will probably lose regardless of what weak attacks it knows.
Cottonee are not suited to quickstall. With leech seed and a grass- or fairy-type attack they can make passable walls or bulky pivots in low level competitions. Attempting to dodge anything is an exercise in futility. Like gyarados, golisopod, and milotic a prospective whimsicott trainer must suffer through a great deal of losing battles before finally getting a powerful ally.
Acquisition
Permanent whimsicott capture is prohibited to help bolster the wild population of naturally evolving cottonee. These whimsicott are not expected to stay on the archipelago where they are invasive. Instead wild-caught whimsicott can be handed over to the DNR for export to their native range in the mainland. The DNR is willing to pay bounties of $500 for naturally occurring whimsicott.
Cottonee are most common in the areas around the tapu meadows. The edges of forests are also good places to find them. Through drifting clouds cottonee have established themselves on all four tapu islands and several of the minor ones. While not as overabundant as raticate or gumshoos, it is not particularly hard to find cottonee. While some may be initially resistant to capture most quickly adjust to captivity so long as adequate sunbathing opportunities are provided.
Cottonee can be captured, adopted, or purchased with a Class II license. Whimsicott can be adopted or purchased with a Class III license.
Breeding
Unlike almost all pokémon, the final stage of the cottonee line is incapable of reproduction. Instead cottonee reproduce and then become sterile upon evolution. In the early Spring cottonee release huge clouds of spores. Some of these spores collide and bond with another. The pair then summons latent grass energy to form a seed. Once the cottonee drift on all local whimsicott come together to bury and look after the seeds. The new cottonee stay in place for roughly two months before becoming large and fluffy enough to venture out on their own. Some of the whimsicott will watch after them for another month before the new factory is finally left alone.
Captive breeding of cottonee is virtually impossible outside of large factories. Even with the sheer number of spores produced bonding can still be relatively unlikely. In any case the need to stay put for long periods of time is not helpful for many traveling trainers.
Relatives
The whimsicott found in Alola are the domesticated species, B. whitney. They have been introduced to plantations around the world. As in Alola, many of these places have since become home to feral populations.
The Indian cottonee(B. arboribus) are rather arboreal. In fact they are symbiotic with a tree species that lives on the subcontinent. The tree produces no leaves but makes many branches that grow out horizontally. Cottonee burrow into these branches and use them for protection from windstorms. In return the cottonee give some of their extra glucose to the tree so that it may survive. This species was rendered nearly extinct in the 18th and 19th centuries. The new large-scale farmers began clearing the trees and exterminating the cottonee to make room for new farms of Mesoamerican (and later domesticated) cottonee. While the population has begun to recover in recent decades less than 50,000 individuals remain.
Wild Mesoamerican cottonee (B. primitava) are also nearly extinct. The species is very similar to their domesticated counterpart, albeit with a smaller size, thicker and thornier tendrils, and more toxic fluff. The whimsicott of Mesoamerica had an established relationship with the local peoples, giving fluff in exchange for shelter. The Aztec Triple Alliance was the hub of a continent-wide trade in fluff and local artisans had become skilled at making it safe to touch. Many of these methods and customs were lost in the race to replace conventional harvesting with large-scale agriculture to keep up with production in other parts of the world. As in India wild populations were eliminated wholesale. Today the species is limited to national parks and other protected areas in Anahuac, Texas, and Orre.