Ribombee (Cutiefly)

  Chlamydeapis animavidens

  Overview

  Lucario are popular worldwide partially due to their associations with aura. Unfortunately, the species’ Alolan population is confined to Poni National Park, riolu are very selective about their trainers, and riolu eggs are expensive. Mienshao, often seen as a poor man’s lucario, suffer from many of the same problems.

  Most trainers don’t know that ribombee also use aura. While their aura is used mainly for utility and defense rather than offense, the beeflies are empaths and rather good at predicting and dodging attacks. Combined with their naturally high speed they can be good sweepers on the island challenge. The species also requires relatively little dedicated training and is easy to obtain. On balance, feeding ribombee can sometimes be difficult and, while they are very cute, they lack the “coolness” that makes lucario (and mienshao) popular.

  Physiology

  Ribombee and cutiefly are classified as dual bug- and fairy-type pokémon. Their secondary fairy-typing is heavily disputed as ribombee lack most of the classic fairy-type traits (tricksters, lunar affiliation) but can read auras and use elemental energy to bolster their bodies, traditionally fighting-type attributes. Ribombee’s natural affinity for moonblast has been used to justify the current typing. The matter is being reviewed by the Department of Agriculture and a type change to either pure bug or bug-fighting is considered likely.

  Cutiefly are very small insect pokémon. They are not considered to be true bees due to their lack of hives, swarming, honey production, or stingers. Cuteifly have fuzzy yellow hair on the front of their body, an exposed white exoskeleton at the back, and a short and firm proboscis. Their wings resemble those of vikavolt and rest over the pokémon’s back when at rest. The wings often have patterns on them that vary by region and family. These patterns include eyes, bright colors that blend in with their feathers, or dark green or blue shades that make the pokémon resemble a small vikavolt at a glance. Four long black legs rest beneath the cutiefly’s body.

  Ribombee have a build similar to butterfree’s. Two antennae, a short proboscis, and large compound eyes adorn their head. A brown “scarf” of hair rests on the neck and boosts ribombee’s aura reading powers. Two arms are attached just below the scarf and the other two are located at the end of the body. Special joints allow ribombee to use their wings to either flutter like a proper butterfly or fly like a vikavolt when they need to move quickly.

  The species subsists on a mix of honey and nectar. Ribombee use the honey to create waxy secretions that can bind together pollen and slightly change its inherent properties. This can cause the pollen to either be a disorienting toxic weapon or a very nutritious food source for cutiefly. Ribombee often leave a mix of toxic and nutritious puffs lying around. Only cutiefly seem to be able to tell the difference.

  Ribombee grow to lengths of nine inches and weigh up to ten ounces. They live for roughly one year in the wild and in captivity.

  Behavior

  Most pokémon can only exist because of other pokémon. Grass-types purifying the air and soil let forests grow fast enough to support large herbivores. Predators rely mostly on large pokémon for their food rather than killing dozens of relatively small and energy-light baseline animals. Ribombee are almost entirely separate from the pokémon-based ecology of Alola. Most of their interactions are with baseline insects.

  Ribombee steal their honey from ordinary bees by using light-based attacks to disorient swarms and smash hives open. Their main competitors in pollination are baseline insects and hummingbirds. Most pokémon in the area don’t interact with ribombee at all due to their toxic pollens, annoying binding fluids, skittishness, and high speed. Even the main pokémon pollinator in Alola—butterfree—is not a direct competitor. Rain washes away the pollen ribombee have accumulated and the species goes to great lengths to avoid it. Butterfree are most active during these storms and help keep large flowers pollinated during the rainy season.

  Cutiefly and ribombee do not use their aura to attack other pokémon. Instead, it is primarily used to identify the plants likely to have the best nectar and to sense the movements of predators and weather patterns. When faced with a potential threat both cutiefly and ribombee prefer to turn tail and use their high flight speeds and agility to run off into the forest and evade their pursuer. They can use aura to bolster their bodies enough to survive a single hit, but this energy shield dissipates after one impact and usually knocks the pokémon out from the strain.

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  Husbandry

  Honey is cheap as far as pokémon food goes. Nectar, especially from ribombee and cutiefly’s preferred plants, is a fair bit more expensive. It is most commonly sold in bird specialty stores that stock it for oricorio. Relatively cheap butterfree nectar mixes can work in a pinch. Thankfully, ribombee can forage for their own nectar most of the time and seem to prefer doing so as it also lets them accumulate pollen. In good weather ribombee can be trusted to eat on their own and use their abilities to find their trainer when finished. Cutiefly have weaker aura reading and a handful of predators so they should be supervised when foraging.

  Ribombee and, to a lesser extent, cutiefly are clever and easily taught new tricks. Both are also affectionate and enjoy contact with their trainer and teammates. Most ribombee enjoy perching on their trainer’s head or shoulder when outside of their ball. Both stages prefer to be outside of their ball whenever it is not raining. They despise rain and will ask to enter their ball when other shelter is not available. Net and nest balls are the best choices for them.

  All Pokémon Centers and some individual shops ban ribombee from being out of their ball due to the sheer amount of pollen they carry on them.

  Both stages are neither strictly diurnal nor nocturnal. Sleep schedules tend to be based around the rain and winds rather than the sun. Ribombee get upset if their preferred sleep schedule is disrupted. Thankfully, they will sleep in their pokéball with minimal fuss.

  Illness

  Ribombee, like most insects, are not built to last. Their aura shield can let them survive individual hits, but anything that wishes to follow up on the attack can kill them. It is best off letting them take a glancing blow before falling down into dense foliage to recover. They did not evolve resistance to cancers and other defects as they rarely survive a full year in the wild. This means that compounding health issues usually kill them within fifteen months in captivity.

  Insect medicine is still very primitive. The healing of ribombee relies more on abstract methods such as blissey eggs and comfey bargains than any real science.

  Evolution

  Between six and eight weeks of age, cutiefly will form small cocoons for their evolution. Evolution itself only takes three to seven days. The cocoon should not be moved during this time period.

  Battle

  Despite their frailty ribombee have carved out a niche in professional battling. They are extremely fast and hit decently hard. More importantly, they naturally form a sticky pollen binding substance. While the quantity is normally limited by their small size, a very well trained ribombee can learn to use elemental energy to coat the battlefield in webs. Their high speed and small size make them tricky to hit as they set up field control. Alternatively, they can spread status or boost midflight with quiver dance. Ribombee still cannot take more than a single hit on the battlefield and are near deadweight outside of field control and the occasional revenge kill. Very strong attacks can shatter their energy shield and kill them outright. Many trainers aren’t willing to give a team slot to a pokémon that will probably only fight in a few matches before dying of injury or old age.

  Ribombee benefit from the relative frailty and inexperience of pokémon on the island challenge vis a vis the professional circuit. Many pokémon have no options at all for dealing with an aerial attacker. In the time it takes for the switch clock to run ribombee can either boost themselves up to terrifying speeds and fairly impressive power or coat the battlefield in webs and benefit future levitators or birds. Ribombee are still extremely frail pokémon and should be switched out as soon as their role is fulfilled.

  Cutiefly function best as weak but somewhat fast flying artillery. They really should not fight at all as within a fairy short period of time they will evolve on their own.

  Acquisition

  Ribombee and cutiefly are most common in Alola’s meadows but can also be found in many savannahs on the islands. Proving battles are both unnecessary and dangerous, but some sort of a trapper may be necessary to keep ribombee from fleeing or at least constantly evading thrown pokéballs. Many trainers have reported success at luring in ribombee by placing a cup of a very rare or foreign flower’s nectar out and sitting still nearby for as long as it takes for a pokémon to take the bait. If the nectar is good enough a teammate can often be obtained without a battle. Be advised that the beeflies will expect similar nectar to be provided fairly often.

  Cutiefly can be obtained with a Class I license. Ribombee can be obtained with a Class II. No shelters take them in and there are no dedicated breeders so purchase and adoption are nearly impossible.

  Breeding

  Ribombee mating occurs towards the end of the rainy season when a male ambushes a female in midair and overpowers her in an acrobatic contest. Mating is done while flying at full speed in seemingly random directions until both partners abruptly separate and dash away from each other. The female ribombee will then search for burrowing bug-type pokémon or non-pokémon insect nests. She uses her antennae and sensors on the tips of her feet to glean information about the nest. If it is satisfactory she will extend a thin tube from her rear and deposit her eggs into the nest. The offspring will hatch after a few days and begin to feed upon the adults, juveniles, and eggs of the host species.

  The species has never been bred in captivity due to the somewhat odd nature of their mating and parasitism. In any case they are not in danger of extinction in Alola.

  Relatives

  Ribombee are not true bees. They are actually descended from vikavolt. They can be found on most of Alola’s major and minor islands and had been introduced to a few other archipelagos by the wayfarers before European arrival. A handful of botanical gardens around the world have attempted to introduce them to the premises. Most have been unsuccessful.