Alakazam (Abra, Kadabra)

Medicus magicae

Overview

Pokémon are generally considered to be separate from other lifeforms based on their ability to manipulate elements. In essence, there is one set of physics and biology that binds humans and other animals and a whole separate set that governs pokémon.

As with everything in nature that clean binary gets messier the more it’s examined. Some pokémon are so similar to baseline plants or animals that only genetic testing has marked them as pokémon. And some humans can do things that violate simple biological explanation. The most notable subgroup of these elemental humans are the psychics. Human psychics are split into nearly a dozen subclasses. Scientific research as to how and why psychic powers work is still a new field. But the psychics themselves are not new. In ancient times, they were viewed as priests of the gods and played outsized roles in court politics. There is some evidence that psychics played a major role in the early domestication and taming of pokémon.

They also played a key role in the spread of alakazam.

Alakazam possess an incredible intellect. They are also some of the most powerful telepaths in the world. Yet alakazam’s greatest gifts hold them back in the wild. From their final evolution on, alakzam scan the minds of everyone around them. They reflexively store most of this information and almost never forget any of it. But the more information an alakazam has stored, the less quickly they can process all of it. Alakazam are also deeply afraid of making poor decisions and looking foolish so they check their entire memory for relevant information before acting. As such an elderly alakazam can stand motionless for hours or even days before making even a simple decision.

Humans can be very helpful in this regard. They can make most of the short-term decisions for an alakazam. If the decision leads to a bad result, the alakazam sees themselves as virtually blameless and they feel only mild shame from it. In exchange alakazam make for fearsome protectors, powerful telepaths and very wise advisers. Because alakazam are constantly sifting through the thoughts and memories of everyone around them only natural psychics can withstand their presence for long enough to gain their trust. All others will develop horrible migraines and, if exposed for months on end, cancer or dementia.

Because of their utility to psychics and psychics’ prominent role in early civilization, alakazam were traded between courts and brought by conquerors to their new lands. In time, captive alakazam spread throughout most of Asia and established small populations around court centers in Europe and Africa. In the wild they are still limited to areas with either large silver deposits or a long lineage of alakazam that have left their spoons behind.

Alola’s silver deposits are so small and diluted that commercial mining is infeasible. Alakazam were also introduced less than a century ago. These factors sharply limit the size and range of the population to a handful of small, uninhabited islands and the city of Hau’oli. The former site has several active mineshafts that let abra get below the surface and begin sifting for silver. The latter has an abundance of silver that can be stolen. As such abra are usually seen as a pest species in Alola.

There have been serious discussions of culling the wild population and imposing a mandatory genetic registry of existing alakazam. These efforts have never moved past the proposal stage. It is extremely difficult to capture an abra and even harder to kill one. In practice, only psychics and baseline humans with highly specialized (and expensive) equipment can do so. Alakazam have a history of destroying said equipment when they learn about it. Human psychics are often reluctant to help destroy a pool of potential partners.

Trainers who test beneath a 150 on a PSY test are strongly discouraged from training abra. But if you happen to have psychic gifts, alakazam should be seriously considered as a partner.

Physiology

All stages of the evolutionary line are classified as pure psychic-types. This ruling is not controversial.

Abra are bipedal. Their torso, groin and feet are covered in thick, tan, leathery skin. Their arms and legs do not have as much protection and are instead covered in fine tan hairs. The skin covering their torso is either brown or, more rarely, purple.

Abra’s head is disproportionately large for their size. Most of it is also covered in tan fur. They have large eyes and vaguely feline ears. While abra mostly experience the world through telepathy they require powerful hearing to listen for the dark types they cannot psychically detect. Abra also have a long, thin tail.

Kadabra for the most part look like larger and bulkier abra, but there are a few notable differences. Kadabra have a much longer and fluffier tail. The volume of this tail usually exceeds that of the rest of their body. Kadabra gain a small ridge under their groin that appears to help with moving the tail. They also gain a set of red markings on their groin and forehead. These markings are unique for each individual. Kadabra also have much longer and sharper claws than abra do. In addition, kadabra grow a long moustache that droops down past their chin.

The main external differences between kadabra and alakazam are that the latter loses their tail and red markings. Alakazam also tend to have much larger heads than kadabra. An alakazam’s head continues to grow throughout its life. While the muscles in their frame clearly cannot support this, no stage of the evolutionary line has any particular reliance on their muscles. Sometimes a cornered kadabra or alakazam might lash out with their claws, but even these movements are powered by auto-telekinesis rather than any sort of muscles. In fact, alakazam’s musculature is only powerful enough to keep them alive and slowly moving for roughly one hour.

Alakzam grow up to five feet tall. Excluding their spoons they weigh only about fifty-five pounds. Alakazam live for about eight years in the wild or twelve in captivity.

Behavior

Wild alakazam are nocturnal and forage for fruit and root vegetables under the cover of darkness. This initially confused researchers because alakazam’s greatest threats are dark-types, which are generally nocturnal. However, this makes a degree of sense. During the day alakazam rely on their telepathy to detect threats and teleport away from them. They cannot easily read dark types, meaning that one can ambush and kill alakazam without much effort. So long as they are awake at night their vision and hearing can help them detect predators.

Abra do little but sleep and teleport away from danger, often at the same time. Sometimes they even forage while asleep by levitating or teleporting up to the canopy and telekinetically picking berries to eat. Trainers with any desire to interact with a wild abra will likely be unable to do so as any intention to approach the pokémon will be interpreted as hostility and trigger a teleport.

Kadabra are only a little less lethargic than abra. They begin actively exploring human minds shortly after evolution to pick up on information they should know. But they are still very anxious and will only approach human settlements in the dead of night. Should anyone begin to stir the kadabra will teleport away before they are detected

Unlike abra, kadabra and alakazam are fiercely territorial. Some common areas are recognized around silver deposits or human settlements. Outside of these areas every single tree is claimed by one kadabra or alakazam and one only. They will not enter the territory of another even to mate or challenge another alakazam. Instead, they will go to the border of the territory and send out telepathic waves inviting the territory’s owner to come closer. Then they will either mate or engage in a contest of minds and wills until one party backs down and cedes part of their territory. This has led to viral videos of two alakazam staring at each other for hours, or even days, with no outward signs of aggression. Do not be fooled; these alakazam are at their most dangerous. Getting near a territorial dispute will give all but the strongest of psychics powerful migraines and possible mental illness.

Kadabra and alakazam are well known for their massive silver spoons. These channel and amplify their powers. This makes alakazam the most powerful terrestrial telepaths, legendary pokémon aside. Some alakazam do forge their spoons from earth. They begin to telekinetically sift through large quantities of soil and take out the trace amounts of silver until they have enough to assemble their spoon. As their life comes to a natural end, many alakazam will bury or hide their spoons. They leave a subtle telepathic ringing in them that attracts abra in need of a spoon. About half of kadabra in Alola get their first spoon this way. Kadabra tend to create their own second spoon and leave the buried ones for abra to claim.

It is unclear exactly how alakazam turn tiny fragments of silver into a solid object. When asked the head of the Pokémon Studies department at the University of Hau’oli (an alakazam trainer himself) suggested magic. Alakazam silver is chemically different from normal silver. It is far harder to bend or break and does not corrode. There is also a popular rumor that food eaten from an alakazam’s spoon tastes better than normal. This is actually true. Sometimes an elderly alakazam will leave one or both spoons to their trainer. There is usually an understanding that they will be gifted to the alakazam’s children when it comes time for them to evolve. But the alakazam will also usually lace the spoon with telepathic waves that induce mild feelings of pleasure and satisfaction in anyone who comes into contact with them as a parting gift to their trainer.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Alakazam are rather short lived for an intelligent humanoid species; most true psychics have human-comparable life spans and several intelligent species can live for centuries. Alakazam owe their short lives to their greatest gift: their intellect. In the wild elderly alakazam become so burdened with stored information that even simple decisions about food become impossible to make before they must sleep again. Eventually wild alakazam begin to starve to death. When this time comes, they will usually set out to hide their spoons. Then they will retreat to their favorite place in their territory, sit down and stay motionless until death takes them.

Even captive alakazam tend not to live much longer. Because they usually die around eight years of age in the wild macroevolution has not selected against deformities and illnesses that kill an alakazam later on. As such, modern medicine can only rarely allow an alakzam to see their fifteenth birthday.

Husbandry

Abra can be competently raised by non-psychics, but it is a rather difficult endeavor. Non-psychic trainers are not encouraged to raise a wild-caught abra as they will probably escape at the earliest opportunity. Already tame abra are a different story as they generally recognize their trainer and stay within 30 yards at all times. They will seldom allow anyone to come closer and will simply teleport away when approached. Because of this habit they will need to be fed by placing berries in a tray and leaving them alone. Abra should be fed roughly one-tenth of their body weight each day.

Fortunately, all stages of the evolutionary line are very tolerant of pokéballs. Kadabra and alakazam will enjoy socialization time to pick up new knowledge, but abra only need to be released for feeding. Unlike oranguru, alakazam absorb information passively. They also grow more and more wary of acquiring new information as they age, leading to them becoming rather reclusive. Most appreciate talking to their trainer, but they will not need puzzles or books to learn from. Alakazam are also not particularly emotional or affectionate; most conversations with them tend to be about the business at hand or intellectual curiosities rather than either party’s feelings.

All stages eat a diet of fruit, nuts, and root vegetables. They can eat most human food that does not contain meat or dairy. Some alakazam will come to resent a trainer who only gives them raw, unseasoned food while the trainer eats prepared meals. Others do not care or learn to cook their own food, insisting that they can do so better than any human. Alakazam need to drink every few days. What little waste they produce is often discreetly teleported away to avoid embarrassment.

Illness

Outside of old age alakazam seldom get sick. They groom themselves by telekinetically lifting all particles and parasites off of themselves up to six times a day and they can generally detect rot with a quick telekinetic scan of an object. Poisoning and infection are rare. Alakazam also heal rather quickly on their own. When cut they can create barriers to hold blood inside of them, and they can set their own bones when needed.

Very strong physical hits can potentially kill an alakazam. Most high-level trainers know to pull their punches against alakazam; in return, alakazam trainers should know the limits of their pokémon and withdraw them whenever the potential for immediate lethal harm exists.

As they age alakazam begin to develop many health problems. Most illnesses affecting the body can be easily cured. Diseases of the brain are much more difficult. Strokes are the most common cause of death for alakazam. There are relatively few warning signs, beyond perhaps a telepathic warning from the alakazam themselves. Brain cancer and dementia are also rather common over the age of ten. Due to the risks of a sick and unrestrained psychic, most alakazam will request either euthanasia or the right to retreat to the wilderness to die alone when their time draws near. This is a decision the alakazam must be allowed to make for themselves, however long it takes them.

Evolution

As abra grow up, their tail begins to get bushier and their armor gets bulkier. At about the time they physically begin to resemble kadabra they will set out to acquire their first spoon. At some point in the future the kadabra will create their second spoon. Shortly after this their tail will fall off and their red markings will fade. The timing of these events is highly variable from pokémon to pokémon; the only real constant is that most alakazam will have reached their final stage by their fourth birthday.

The formal cutoffs between evolutionary stages are marked by the acquisition or creation of the first and second spoon.

Battle

Alakazam has often the single most used pokémon on the competitive pokémon scene over the last century. This is due to two main factors. To start with, alakazam are undeniably powerful. They think quickly, can teleport away from strikes, and their telepathic assaults can quickly faint almost anything that isn’t resistant to them. While most trainers have at least one pokémon that is, once those checks are removed alakzam can be terrifying sweepers.

Human psychics are also disproportionally represented in the upper echelons of competitive play. Humans with a PSY score of 150 or higher make up less than 0.4% of the population. Those with PSY scores of 200 or higher make up less than 0.1%. Yet, among the Top 100 trainers, 17 test above 150 and 5 test above 200. All but two of those trainers have used an alakazam over the course of their career.

Twelve of the Top 100 trainers have an alakzam on their core team. While this may not sound dominant, only four pokémon are used more. No pokémon has ever had more than 20 ranked trainers using it at a time.

In competitive play alakzam usually function as rather simple sweepers. If they must fight something resistant to telepathic attack they can use focus blast, signal beam or shadow ball. Alakazam have surprisingly small and narrow elemental reserves leaving them mostly confined to the above three coverage attacks and hidden power.

There is an adage that if an alakazam is not attacking it is losing. This is not entirely true. Alakazam have access to a few defensive and utility options. Teleport combined with telepathic scans for incoming attacks is a common defensive strategy. Some incredibly fast pokémon can form and unleash an attack so quickly that alakazam do not have the time to prepare a teleport. In these cases alakazam also have access to recover, barrier, reflect, and light screen. Even a protected alakazam is still frail. Sometimes trainers using a dual screens alakazam forget this to their detriment. Alakazam can also use trick, encore and disable to prevent opponents from attacking at all.

Alakazam can be checked and countered. While they are terrifyingly powerful, they are also one of the frailest pokémon that sees regular competitive use. Anything fast enough to score a hit on an alakazam has a good chance of knocking it out or forcing the trainer to withdraw it. Area of effect attacks can also make it harder for an alakazam to simply teleport out of the way. Telepathically resistant pokémon also give alakazam no end of trouble. Vikavolt has a mindset just alien enough that alakazam usually struggle to crack it and bring them down before they take a thunderbolt. Some powerful dark-types such as hydreigon, ghareign, spiritomb and tyranitar also check alakazam. All but spirtomb will not appreciate taking a focus blast but it usually will not knock them out in less than three hits.

On the island challenge trainers with a kadabra or alakazam will likely need to put less thought into using them than they would on the competitive scene. Almost nothing can withstand the combination of shadow ball, focus blast, dazzling gleams and psychic. While some of those moves might be difficult to acquire TMs for, alakazam benefit from passive telepathic learning. If they spend enough time around or battling against pokémon that know those moves they will pick them up as well.

Abra will not be willing to fight until they are very near evolution. Otherwise, they will simply sense the intent to harm them the moment their opponent is on the field and then teleport out of bounds.

Acquisition

Kadabra and alakazam require a Class V license to possess for any trainer with a PSY score below 150. As such, trainers who do not qualify or expect to qualify are advised against obtaining an abra, even from another trainer. Non-psychic trainers can still capture, purchase or adopt an abra with a Class III license, but they will have to forfeit or release the pokémon upon evolution if they do not have a Class V license.

The rest of this section will assume the trainer has a PSY score above 150.

Abra and kadabra can be captured with a Class I license, or purchased or adopted with a Class III license. There is no compelling husbandry or safety reason for this disparity. It is simply designed to get trainers to capture wild specimens and remove a nuisance.

Alakazam cannot be captured from the wild as they are generally too stubborn and powerful to be captured and trained safely. They can be adopted or purchased with a Class IV license.

As mentioned above, abra and kadabra are most common in the area immediately around Hau’oli City. Zoroark predation has led to a decline in numbers near Route 1. In practice most kadabra are found in the woods immediately north of the city. Some abra also live in the largest urban parks.

Kadabra and abra are far more common in the minor islands west of Poni. Trainers will need to pay a fee to access these areas and another fee for each pokémon captured.

Breeding

Alakazam mate once in their life. They will head to the edge of their territory and send signals to another alakazam. The two will meet at the border and have a silent discussion. This conversation can be broken several times for sleep or foraging. Neither will leave their own territory throughout this process.

Alakazam and the true psychics form a strange family of pokémon that has neither sexual nor asexual reproduction. Instead there is a meeting of the minds that results in the spontaneous creation of four to six eggs. Both parents will alternate caring for the eggs until they hatch. This takes about ten weeks.

After the eggs hatch alakazam pay no attention to their children or mates whatsoever.

Gender appears to be vestigial in alakazam. Homosexual and heterosexual reproduction are both possible. Alakazam appear to select mates based on territory size and intelligence more than gender.

In the wild alakazam do not crossbreed with other species. In captivity they can reproduce with most true psychics. Alakazam prefer not to mate with other party members. Instead, trainers should partner with the trainer of a potential mate to arrange meetings. Both trainers should be present and the meeting should happen on neutral ground to best simulate the conditions of wild encounters. After reproduction occurs the eggs can be divided between the trainers. Alakazam need not look after their eggs directly so long as they believe that the eggs are safe. While they are comfortable living with their children until they evolve, they will not assist in caring for them.

Relatives

Some alakazam from different regions have slightly different colorations, personalities, and abilities. The alakazam of Greece (M. m. parthenos) are well known for their extremely high wisdom and intelligence but rather low lifespans and offensive power. Congolese alakazam (M. desilva) have green stripes and a much greater telepathic range than the other subspecies in exchange for a lack of power. Tibetan alakzam (M. m. montisage) have rather thick fur and exceptional teleportation abilities but weaker mundane senses than most other subspecies.

The alakazam in Alola come from a mix of several different species, subspecies and breeds. As such no single subspecies indication is used for the Alolan population. Most Alolan alakazam are descended from the East Asian population (M. m. consiliaregum). Ancestry from South Asian and North European subspecies is also common. Inter-breed pairings are very common in both the wild and captivity. Individual alakzam have different strengths and weaknesses depending on their lineage.