#2 Pokemon Breeding 101─Deirdre Brennan

[Cal Emerson]

Cal had totally missed most of what the teacher had said. His mind was too caught up in thinking about eggs and hatching them to even pay attention. He caught the tail end of the conversation, asking about what egg group Nidoqueen was. His eyes darted around the room as students gave their various answers. He was going to just keep quiet but shrugged and decided to say at least something before he could get distracted again. "Perhaps Nidoqueen can't breed and that's why she is put under the undiscovered group. Or maybe she's in such a rare group that hasn't been found yet."

He had just thought of that off the top of his head but now that he thought about it, it was a very interesting topic to think about. Soon the Wave dormer found himself drifting off into more thoughts. What if Nidoqueen was some super rare Pokemon that just seemed common? What if it was a huge conspiracy? His mind raced with all the possibilities as he became lost to the world once more.

[Aile Reese]

Egg groups, something that Aile had always found to be a little strange. He didn't really know how they worked, aside from same groups could interbreed or who really classified them. All he could really remember was that his dad had mentioned it to him once or twice whenever the young boy was bored and wanted something long and at least somewhat entertaining to listen to, and it was then that he had a question for the teacher. It wasn't really something he understood himself, but he recalled it from a time when his dad had taken to answering some of the boy's questions about his work.

"Yes, I agree with everyone else who said that Ms.Olive was in the undiscovered group, but I have a question, if you don't mind my asking. Do you know why[/s] Nidoking and Nidoqueen are in different egg groups if they are so similar?[/font]" He hoped the teacher had an answer to this question of his. It was one of his many dreams, to be a breeder, but if he didn't know why similar pokemon couldn't breed, then Aile feared that his effectiveness as an aspiring breeder would plummet. After all, it was something he probably figured was an easy question to those that knew the answer.

[Annie Prince]

Annie listened interestedly, taking notes, to the explanation of how egg groups worked. It hadn't occurred to her before to try breeding her Pokémon, as she had mostly been interested in expanding her team by catching new ones to account for different possible scenarios, but now she wondered whether she could. All her Pokémon were of the same Type, but if that was neither necessary nor sufficient for two to create an egg together, would that mean that some of them would be unable to breed with each other? For that matter--what if none of her Pokémon shared an egg group?

Then again, she suspected that some of them might. The broad category of "animal-like and terrestrial" seemed like it should apply to Swinub and Sneasel, at least. Snorunt maybe, though it didn't have a strong resemblance to a specific mundane animal. And what about Snover? That one looked like a tree--hmm, perhaps she ought to start figuring out what egg groups there were. Annie considered asking the teacher about how to identify a Pokémon's egg group, but before she could, Ms. Brennan asked the class what egg group they thought the Nidoqueen might belong to.

Annie had no particular knowledge of Nidoqueen with respect to anything, so she didn't quite dare venture a guess. Asking her question now seemed like it would be cheating, so instead she listened to the other students' answers, which quickly converged on a single one.

[Deirdre Brennan]

[/font]she paused, glancing at the name card, “Vivienne. When you don’t know an egg group already, your best bet will be to examine it’s features to see what makes the most sense for it. Considering I haven’t told you all of the groups yet, you made an educated guess based on what you do know, which is the first step.

“To those who said she wasn’t in one, you were correct! It was a bit of a poor trick question, but I couldn’t help myself. When a female Nidoran evolves into Nidorina, she loses her ability to breed. She’s the only Pokemon known to do that, and to answer your question, researchers have done extensive work to find out why but haven’t discovered very much. My personal favorite theory is that it has to do with them choosing to focus on protecting the young they have rather than create more, and is a mostly psychological attitude among the line. As I said though, it’s purely speculation. Although, oddly enough, the male Nidoran line does not have the same problem. Nidorino and Nidoking are both able to breed just fine, and they belong to both the Egg Groups Monster and Field. Because of their association with Nidorina and Nidoqueen, they have a chance to give either a male or female offspring, providing the opportunity to get both halves of the line themselves.

“Now, silliness over with, I’ll go over more of the egg groups in better detail.” Walking over to the board, she started writing out the egg groups as she explained it to give the class a better chance to copy the notes without her worrying about slowing down. “As I briefly mentioned, the Field group tend to be more terrestrial Pokemon. This is the largest egg group and the easiest to find Pokemon that are a part of it. They are usually mammalian in appearance, although there are some exceptions of Pokemon that are more reptilian, such as Ekans, or more avian, such as Delibird.

“Next, we have the other Egg Group I mentioned today: Monster. Ones in this group tend to be very large in stature and quite powerful. While this group doesn’t have as many to it’s name that Field does, it still boasts an impressive number. It seems the majority are bipedal, while their are quadrupedal examples such as Slowpoke and the Chikorita line. They usually have reptilian features as well, which helps to set this group apart, and normally boast a tail used for balance.

“After that, we have the Flying egg group. The name itself pretty much sums it up. While this group is easy to identify, most of those in this group are only in this group, meaning it makes it harder to breed them outside of their grouping. However, we won’t be going over dual egg groups today in too much detail, so while I’d like you to keep that in mind, put it on the back burner for now.” She winked at the class, chuckling a bit. She looked at the board and the vast amounts of bullets she had written out and backed away, deciding to pause for a moment for questions. “Before I continue, have I lost anyone yet? Did anyone need anything explained so far?”
[/ul]

[Vivienne Montmarche]

Vivienne's ears were turning a brilliant shade of red as one after another every single person in the class seemed to provide the same answer, the right one. She ducked her head down, jotting down notes in a small notebook in crimped short hand. How could she have been so stupid to bother answering first? If she had just held her tongue for a short time, half the class would've given her the answer to echo along with the chorus. She sighed lightly, her pen ink flowing as she scrawled along with Brennan's words. She offered the teacher a small smile when she gave her some acknowledgement for her effort. At least there was that.

When the floor was opened for questions, as she finished detailing the Flying Egg group in her notes and the possibility of dual egg groups, she bit the tip of her pen before raising her hand. "So Pokemon in the undiscovered egg group can't breed, right? Would that mean Pokemon like Magnemite are in it too, since they're genderless? What about baby Pokemon like my Budew? I'm pretty certain Marmalade can't breed."

[James Wharton]

Rapid fire writing, rapid fire writing.  That was all James was doing, and it was probably hard for anyone that looked over his shoulder to read his notes.  Some of the letters ended up connecting in a weird way here and there, and some letters switched and and out of cursive here and there.  All in all it would be fairly difficult to read his fast written notes without some help, or some patience.  However when James looked at it it all made perfect sense, which would be a bad thing if he couldn't make sense of what he wrote.  Everything, in mainly an abbreviated form, that the teacher wrote on the board, along with some of the things she said, he had written down.  It was mainly tid bits of it sometimes since he was trying to get everything written down, which along with his somewhat unique fast handwriting made understanding his notes somewhat, difficult.  

"Would Pokemon without a gender be able to breed if they're still in an egg group like the field egg group?  Basically Pokemon like Rotom, who are genderless and are still in an egg group capable of breeding, in theory."  He said, after letting the other girl speak.  Honestly, he felt like the second bit of what he said was basically rephrasing what he said before that, but it couldn't be helped now.  At least he asked his question though, since he wasn't quite sure as to what the answer was.

[Benji Aldaine]

Benji listened carefully, jotting down notes here and there when major points were mentioned. Alot of this stuff was very interesting and he realized just how much research could go into the Breeding field of things. It still was odd that Nidoking could breed, and it was puzzling to researchers as well that Nidoqueen couldn't. He wondered if one day they would actually figure out the real reason. What if it was something super simple? It could have something to do with a certain strand of DNA or maybe something even more complex and confusing. Shrugging he decided to think on that later as he continued to write down a ton of things. This was definitely a hefty class when it came to note taking and he hadn't expected that. To be honest he thought they would just tend to eggs or read books or something, but it turned out to be more interesting than he originally thought.

When she asked if there were any questions, he looked around and spoke up when there was a moment of silence. "Why can't Pokemon of different egg groups breed? Aren't they technically all Pokemon? Well I know certain types like totally wouldn't be able to breed. But what if they are similar, yet in different egg groups, isn't it a little odd that they are unable to?" He finished and realized his question was kind of stupid but it was something he always wondered.

[Cal Emerson]

Cal was too distracted to fully listen. Everything the teacher was explaining and telling them was kind of going in one ear and out the other. Though this always happened with him. He could not pay attention at all, though all the information usually soaked into his brain and he would remember it later. It was kind of weird but it was just how he was. He was sure he'd remember the stuff to write down later, if there was a test or anything. His ears perked a bit when she explained about the Nidoqueen issue, but after that he lost her again. By the time Deirdre was done speaking Cal had actually begun to pay attention. He decided to focus on what the other students were saying and stay quiet this time. He'd have to try to focus more on whatever the teacher said next time. He was in school after all, but it was so hard for him to not drift off.

[Akihito Kamakura]

Akihito listen to the teacher speak about the Nidoqueen. He knew a lot of she was speaking about because he helped his mom a lot with her breeding. If he wasn't so into Dragon types he would be a breeder, but he wanted to show people how powerful a Dragon Type can be. Also that one day his Dratini will be a Dragonite and show the naysayers that it is a great Pokémon. Miss Brennan went into the different types of eggs. Akihito listened but didn't at the same time. He didn't want the teacher to get the impression that he didn't care what she was talking about. Because he did but he also knew all this already. He was taking the class to see if he could learn something that he didn't from his mother. Also maybe he could learn something about nonnative Pokémon of Kalos. She asked if anyone had question about what was said. He thought for a few moments but he couldn't think of any at the time. Plus the other students were asking good questions.

[Alice Geissler]

Ms. Brennan had lectured on egg groups and she had given examples such as the Flying egg group. While the Flying egg group had a bunch of Pokemon that could breed with one another, only one stood out. Alice had read that Noibat and its evolution had belonged to the group despite being a Dragon type, but some things had to fit. And Trapinch and its evolutions seem to belong to the Bug egg group which could be the reason why Vibrava and Flygon look like bug dragons. Then again, all Pokemon had egg groups that made no sense, but had an appearance akin to those groups that they were grouped in. The teacher asked if there were any questions regarding those egg groups. She did not have any questions that she could ask, so she remained silent for now. The Larvesta in her arms had been dozing off and Missy kept watch over the baby Larvesta to make sure that nothing bad happened to him. And it seemed like everyone was actually bored of this class, not that she'd blame them. Of course, she had to listen to the lecture in order to see how egg groups were determined.

[Annie Prince]

A list of all the egg groups took up half a page in Annie's notes. Some of them seemed straightforward enough, though others... Annie could only suppose that the Amorphous egg group must be poorly defined in some way, for one thing.

Finally, Ms. Brennan paused for questions, and Annie waited for the others' questions to end before asking her own. No one else asked anything like what Annie wanted to know.

When there was a long enough pause, the silver-haired girl asked, her manner somewhat formal, "What would we do, if presented with a Pokémon whose egg group was not immediately obvious? What other means of discovery would there be?"

It occurred to Annie that she could not remember speaking up in class at any time before.

[Tanya Christianson]

Once that was over with, Tanya went back to writing, her mind hearing the words and jotting down the words but not really making any meaning of them. She probably was going to be able to understand what she was writing when she went through it back at her dorm. Then again, if she didn't, she could always ask Seria, Astrid or another one of her friends if they had an idea about what's going on.

Looking down at what she was writing, she vaguely made out something to do with egg groups. Not really thinking too hard, she looked back up towards the front to find Ms. Brennan wondering if anyone had questions. Noticing the sheer number of hands that went up, she felt comfortable not putting hers up as well. It wasn't like it was really needed or anything. If she had a question, someone else probably already asked it.

[Crispin Yates]

In a matter of moments Crispin's notebook had begun to fill with his terrible handwriting as he jotted down everything that was on the board.  While a lot of what she said seemed to be common sense, at the same time other things were fascinating.  The fact that some Pokemon were in Dual groups, though she said they would cover that more in depth later on, seemed fascinating.  What possibilities would it open for breeding?  It was a lot to take in, but as he copied everything he was told he decided he'd read back over it later to try and soak in all of the information a bit better.

[Deirdre Brennan]

[/font]

Nodding towards James, she continued her first answer, “Yes, although the vast majority of Genderless Pokemon belong to the Mineral Egg group, with the exception of the Staryu line and Rotom, who belong to the third water group and amorphous group respectively. Although like I said, they can only breed with the help of a Ditto.”

Turning towards Benji who asked the next question she tilted her head momentarily to think. “Well, it for the most part comes right down to if they are biologically compatible. With very few exceptions, you won’t find any that are as similar as you are thinking that will be in separate egg groups. When it comes right down to it, Egg groups are there to help pinpoint who are biologically the same to save breeders time from trial and error. While it’s true they’re all technically Pokemon, their body types and makeups vary, making it illogical for some to create eggs together.”

As one of the students who were here during the last class but hadn’t spoke until now asked her question, Deirdre smiled. “That’s a good question as well! I can guarantee that should you decide to spend a lot of time breeding, that problem will arise quite often. While there isn’t any sort of failproof method to determine a Pokemon’s group right off the bat, there are some ways to try to figure it out. The easiest is, if you’re still here at school and you want to know, feel free to ask me! I have no qualms about helping any of you breed your Pokemon if you need it, and if you get stumped feel free to ask. If you’re not, the best thing I can suggest is trial and error. If you feel mostly confident that a certain Pokemon is in the same egg group as another, try to pair them together. It’s fairly easy to see if they show interest in one another and have any chance of laying eggs together. I know they have books that list the majority of egg groups as well, but with as ever changing our world is they become outdated quite easily, and I chose not to waste my money on them. If you feel it would help you learn though, by all means do whatever feels the most comfortable for you!”

Seeing that it seemed the questions calmed, she nodded and turned back to the board. “Alrighty then, lets continue. As I had just mentioned, there is also the Mineral group. Pokemon in this one are inorganic, and are quite easy to spot. They are usually made from stone, metal, or ice. A lot of those in this egg group are Genderless, but not all of them. Take Geodude, for instance.

“Next, we have the Bug egg group. This is quite self explanatory, I feel. The majority of the group are of the Bug types as well, with the exceptions of the Trapinch line and Gligar line who only appear to be of bug type origin. However, with as easy as they are to place, they don’t have very many that are in two egg groups, making the majority of them in the Bug group and only the bug group.

“Then, we have the Fairy egg group. Now, I’ve always considered the official description of those in this silly, and in comparison to the Bug group are harder to discern. They are usually much more petite Pokemon that one would normally consider to be ‘cute’. Many who belong to this group are Fairy type themselves, although there are quite a few exceptions as well, such as the Hoppip line, Chansey line, Plusle and Minun, and a few others. However, they are still easily distinguished by their small stature and endearing appearance.

“After that, is the Grass group. Just as with the Bug group, Grass egg group Pokemon are easily noticed as being of the grass type. In fact, every Pokemon in this group are of the Grass type as well. Unlike the Bug group, however, a great amount of them are in another group as well as grass. They are easily placed as being similar to plants or fungi.

“Next is the Dragon group. The types in this group vary, and the vast majority in this group belong to a second group as well; in fact, the only three lines that are dragon and dragon alone are Bagon, Deino, and Goomy. Ones in the Dragon egg group tend to be reptilian, and look like serpents, lizards, or, of course, dragons.

“Then there is the Human-like group. As the name suggests, those in this group have a very human appearance. They are completely bipedal, and the majority of this group are either Psychic or Fighting. Contrary to the Dragon group, most in this group are only human-like, and those that are dual-grouped are either Field, or the Cacnea line which is grass, or the Volbeat and Illumise duo which are Bug.

“Now we have the very vast Water Groups. The water group is so broad it was actually broken down into three to help organize just what can breed with what. While a few of them are in two different water groups, most of them are in just one set. The First water group is made up of mostly terrestrial water-type Pokemon, or ones that can travel both in and out of water, such as the Poliwag line. It goes well with the Field group as it is the largest of water groups, and the majority in it are in a second group as well. Nearly all of those in this group are at least part water type with one of their evolutions, with the exceptions of Stunfisk, Dratini, Delibird, and Inkay.

“The second water group is significantly smaller, and are significantly more fish-like and cephalopodic in appearance. All those in this group are water type, with the exception of Inkay.

“The last and third water group is close in size to the second, and characterized by their similarity to invertebrates. More than half of this group are Pokemon that were revived by Fossils, and the majority of this groups only other egg group belong to the first water group.

“Last, is the Amorphous group. This group is difficult to understand, and it’s members are based off of a great variety of things. The best way I can explain this is the “Miscellaneous” group. Pokemon here are usually based off of blobs, gasses and soft-bodied organisms. While most of them tend to be ghost types, there are strange members as well, such as the Ralts line and Tynamo line.”

Finishing listing the very vast number of groups, she stepped away from the board that was now filled with a number of bullets and organized notes that would be easy for the class to copy. She had tried to talk slowly and clearly to make it easier for the class to understand, and just hoped it worked. Giving them time to copy down what they needed, she tilted her head again and raised an eyebrow. “Now, I know that was a whole lot of note taking, and I’m sorry about that. I tried to keep all the groups described as briefly with as direct to the point information as I could manage. If there were any more questions, please, don’t hesitate to ask!” Glad to have gotten all of the egg groups covered today, Deirdre had a feeling the class would be wrapping up shortly. Glancing over to the back of the room, she noticed that Quince had woken up and was watching the eggs at his side intently, they were sure to hatch at any moment.[/ul]

[Benji Aldaine]

After Deirdre answered his question it made much more sense. Now he learned something he had always been curious about. After that the other questions kind of went along in a blur. When she started talking about all the other egg types he made sure to write everything down that she was saying and listing on the board. He didn't want to miss even one word since it could be on a test or come in handy for later down the road. He wasn't planning on being a breeder, but he would probably breed here and there during his time here. His wrist was tired but he wrote down everything before giving in to the pain. With a scowl he put down his pencil and began rubbing and rotating his wrist to loosen it up. Maybe he should bring his laptop next time to take notes, that would be much easier. He didn't have anymore questions so he just waited for the other students to ask.