Pokémon (creature)

A **Pokémon** (Japanese: **ポケモン** *Pokemon*), shortened from **Pocket Monster** (Japanese: **ポケットモンスター** *Poketto Monsutaa*), is any of the 802 documented types of creatures inhabiting the (fictional) Pokémon World with an innate connection to element-based supernatural powers. In that world, Pokémon are commonly captured and trained by humans, primarily for companionship and/or to be used in popular fighting competitions. Nearly all Pokémon are able to manipulate energy or matter through paranormal means, with the specifics of these abilities determined for each Pokémon largely by their elemental "type".

Most Pokémon physically resemble animals, though some resemble mythical monsters, machines, ghosts, fungi, or plants with animal-like facial and other features. It is not clear whether most Pokémon constitute natural living things, though they are often treated as living organisms; however, some are clearly artificial creations (such as Porygon) or even mystical spirits (such as Arceus), with much apparent overlap and uncertainty between these categories (such as the ambiguous Magnemite). In the Pokémon World, ordinary (i.e., real-world) animals are fairly rare.

## Appearance

Pokémon come in an enormous variety of shapes and sizes, with some nearly identical to normal animals, such as Rattata's very similar appearance to an everyday rat, while most others take more unusual forms, such as Exeggutor, which resembles a coconut tree with animal facial features and feet. Other Pokémon share no resemblance to any known animals, plants, or fungi, and a few even have machine-like forms, such as Registeel. Others, such as Mr. Mime and Jynx, very closely resemble humans in their appearance.

## Life Process

Normally, Pokémon will start their life from Pokémon Eggs through breeding process, but there are a few cases in which a Pokémon is not born through hatching methods, for example with the Legendary Pokémon.

### Evolution

After Pokémon hatch from an egg, they become known as Baby Pokémon, which are the "pre-evolved" forms of a Pokémon. By having proper training from their trainer, the Pokémon will receive experience points and level up. Upon reaching a certain level or happiness rating, or when given an Evolution Stone, or certain Held Items, most base-level Pokémon will metamorphose into an advanced new form, giving them a changed appearance and new abilities their previous form may not have possessed. In the Pokémon World, this transition is called Evolution (which is not related to the biological concept of evolution by natural selection). Sometimes after evolution it could change into pure type into dual type like Charmeleon evolved into Charizard.

## Gender

Most Pokémon, though not all, have one of two genders, determining whether the Pokémon is male or female (in the Pokémon video games). Some Pokémon have a greater chance of being one gender than another, such as Blastoise which has a 87.5% chance of being male, but only a 12.5% chance of being female. Some Pokémon can only be one gender, such as Froslass and Hitmontop. There are also moves that will only work when Pokémon are certain genders.

In certain cases, some Pokémon are classified as genderless, such as machine-like Pokémon and most Legendary Pokémon.

## Relationships with Human Beings

In the world of Pokémon, human beings have strong relationships with Pokémon, particularly as Pokémon Trainers, who capture and train the creatures in their spare time or as their main career. Successful Pokémon Training is considered a highly prestigious and labor-intensive calling in the Pokémon World, and some enter into Training with dreams of achieving the title of "Pokémon Master."

### Relationships with Warriors

In *Pokémon Conquest*, Warriors (the Trainers in the side-game) would **link** with Pokémon to catch them and would be restricted from linking with some due to types of the Pokémon itself or its evolved forms. They would also only be able to reach a specific link with the Pokémon. In a case where the link can reach 100%, that Pokémon is the Warrior's perfect link. Warriors and Pokémon would be in sync with each other during this time.

## Types and Attributes

There are multiple types of Pokémon, which determine the strengths and weaknesses of different Pokémon species. They lay the foundation of a complex yet mostly logical "rock-paper-scissors" or "balance of powers" system that applies to every Pokémon and their respective moves. Some advantages and disadvantages are based on common sense (e.g. Fire-type Pokémon being weak to Water-type attacks), while others are not as obvious (e.g. Fire-type attacks being strong against Steel-type Pokémon, possibly because fire melts metal when at high temperatures).