Crabominable (Crabrawler)

Cocoescancer mons

Overview

When measured from base to peak, Mt. Lanakila is the tallest mountain on Earth. It is also the only mountain in Oceania covered in snow year-round. This unique environment—a tall, frozen mountain in the middle of tropical lowland—provides a home for many species not found elsewhere in Alola as well as a few endemic species. Crabominable is uniquely adapted to the Lanakila ecosystem. They begin life as a small herbivorous crustacean that hugs the warm shores before some move up to hunt in the perpetual cold.

Crabrawler are not particularly intelligent or affectionate. Evolution makes them affectionate and violent without increasing their intelligence. This can be a dangerous combination. Crabrawler can be easily released at the end of the challenge or when they become outclassed. Crabominable are strong enough to keep up through the end of the challenge but are harder to care for and not easily disposed of. Trainers thinking of raising one are strongly encouraged to train a crabrawler for a few months before committing.

Physiology

Crabrawler are classified as pure fighting-types. Crabominable are dual ice- and fighting-types. Some scholars argue that crabrawler should have a secondary water- or bug-type, but they do not exhibit many of the classical traits of a water-type (primarily or exclusively aquatic, hydrokinetic, well-adapted for life in the water) and are poor manipulators of bug elemental energy.

The hardened carapace of crabrawler is purple. They have four long, spindly legs with hook-like hairs at the end. Shortly after molting (see Illness), crabrawler are light tan in color. Two of crabrawler’s legs are shorter and have very large pincers at the end. Unlike other crustacean pokémon, these pincers are not primarily used for crushing objects. Instead, crabrawler punches things. Actual gripping attacks are rare and their crushing strength is unimpressive. Crabrawler have a long, sharp spine on top of their head that makes them harder to attack from above.

The species has crude lungs instead of gills. They are unable to breathe in water after their planktonic stage (see Breeding).

Crabominable tend to be far bulkier than their pre-evolution. Their legs remain about the same total length but now support a much larger frame. This makes crabominable rather slow. Thick hair covers crabominable’s entire body. The hook-like hairs used for climbing disappear as there are few trees large enough to support their weight on Lanakila. The horn on top of their head is replaced by tufts of red or blond fur. When crabominable are buried, this fur resembles a lichen patch. Finally, crabominable have massive pincers that are no longer capable of gripping anything at all. They are instead spectacularly effective blunt instruments and crabominable can break even sandslash armor in a few solid hits. The pincers can be fired off in an explosive blast if needed but this leaves the crabominable down a pincer and is rarely done in the wild.

Crabominable can grow to be six feet across and weigh up to 120 pounds. They can live for over a century.

Behavior

Crabrawler are primarily herbivorous. They climb up berry and coconut trees, get a solid grip with their legs, and then punch the branches until the food they want falls down. If coconuts are not shattered on impact the crabrawler will continue to punch them until they burst. Once the fruit has been cracked or splattered crabrawler will lower their mouth to the ground and eat. Crabrawler don’t care about picking up grass or sand alongside the berry flesh and juice; any minerals that aren’t needed for shell growth will be harmlessly excreted.

Crabrawler will fiercely defend any food they knock down, even taking on far stronger birds in defense of what is rightfully theirs. They will fight humans who approach their food. Unless provoked or feeding, crabrawler are relatively calm and will seldom initiate hostilities. Cabrawler prefer to defend themselves with a barrage of quick, untrained punches. If this does not succeed, they will attempt trickery to make an escape (see Illness).

During low tides crabrawler burrow into the sand and sleep. When the tide comes in crabrawler leave their nests to feed. A single beach can house hundreds of crabrawler. Despite living in close quarters, crabrawler are not particularly social creatures and only interact to mate or fight over territory.

Crabominable are primarily carnivorous. While they can eat plants in captivity (see Husbandry), they have never been observed eating any in the wild. Crabominable’s ice-type attacks are the product of endothermic reactions inside of their gut. These attacks, along with their fur, keep crabominable warm in even the harshest of conditions. This allows them to hunt ice-type pokémon with relatively little risk of harm. Crabominable are primarily ambush predators that disguise themselves as a lichen before lashing out with one or two powerful hits. Alternatively, they will leave half a kill and bury themselves nearby to attract other carnivores. Sandslash, weavile, and snorunt are their primary prey. They may also attack vulpix. Video evidence suggests that crabominable have begun to hunt vanilluxe.

Outside of their feeding habits very little is known about wild crabominable. The Alolan monarchs and Ula’Ula kahunas have historically prevented scientific studies on the mountain. Wild pokémon have continued to make field studies difficult even after the construction of the Alolan Pokémon League Headquarters.

Husbandry

Crabrawler spend almost all of their day buried or searching for food. This makes them very tolerant of pokéballs. So long as they are adequately fed they are willing to spend almost all of their time in one. Net balls are preferable although nest balls or standard stasis balls are also fine. Dive balls and other aquatic habitat balls are not. The pokémon should be let out of their balls to eat, defecate, and explore for at least a half hour a day.

While exploring crabrawler will often try to climb things. They may punch things they believe to be coconuts or fruits. Crabrawler almost universally believe that vases look like coconuts. Most believe the same about lamps and light bulbs.

Crabrawler cannot technically be housebroken but they generally prefer to defecate on wood shavings, grass, mulch, or damp sand. If there is only one area around that fits the description, they will conduct their business there.

Crabrawler, but not crabominable, get stand-offish around birds. Type I fighting-types like hariyama, machamp, and lucario will often grow frustrated with crabrawler’s refusal to discipline themselves or train in a martial art. Sometimes crabrawler will start fights with other arthropods. Crabominable may view ice-type teammates as food and try to eat them. Conversely, crabominable are very wary around dogs and foxes.

Crabrawler should be fed a fruit-rich diet with mice or small fish occasionally thrown in as treats. They will need water bowls to drink from. Crabrawler cannot breathe underwater so all water features in their environment should be shallow.

Crabominable are primarily carnivorous in the wild, but they can be fed a fruit-heavy diet in captivity with few apparent side effects. They can drink water from dishes, but they prefer getting it from ice crystals or snow. Evolution makes them more curious and they will appreciate a chance to hide in a box or bury under dirt or blankets while watching others go by. The trainer should always be at the ready to withdraw the crabominable if anything gets too close. Even the best trained crabominable will seldom pass up a tasty meal that walks right by them. Some trainers have found success placing large, high-resolution televisions several yards away from the crabominable’s hiding place. This way the pokemon can watch moving images without any getting close enough to attack. Crabominable are very fond of back rubs; crabrawler are not. The same goes for cuddling with a known and trusted human.

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Crabominable should either have an ice-specific habitat ball or a cold place they can retreat to at least once a day. A crabominable kept in a glacier ball will only need two to three hours a day outside of it.

Illness

Most crabs foam at the mouth as a means of regulating their internal salinity. Crabrawler don’t have to worry about that but they still foam. This is their means of producing relatively weak bubble attacks that can serve as a distraction for an escape. It can also intimidate predatory mammals away out of fear that their would-be prey has rabies. Crabrawler are incapable of developing rabies. Foaming is a normal behavior and nothing that a veterinarian needs to be consulted about.

The overwhelming majority of health problems occur during molting. Very young crabrawler can shed their shell in favor of a new one once a week. For the first year of their life on land crabrawler don’t even bother to grow a hard shell between molts and instead move between gastropod shells and other found objects. During molting wild crabrawler burrow to a point just above the water table and stay there for several days until their new shell hardens. In captivity crabrawler should be kept in one place and not withdrawn into their pokéball during the process. Ideally, they should be given a dark and cramped place to hide. Until the process is complete crabrawler are soft and very vulnerable to injury. Wounds that ordinarily wouldn’t be felt can be fatal in this state.

As they grow older crabrawler molt less frequently, but each molt gets more dangerous. Getting out of their shell and growing a new one is increasingly energy expensive. Eventually crabrawler can have a three-week softshell period during which they will have to go out and hunt for food. In captivity this danger is somewhat alleviated.

Crabrawler never really stop growing, although their molting becomes less frequent as they age. They will eat everything they can and well-fed crabrawler will grow (and die) faster. Trainers who don’t intend to evolve their crabrawler should limit their pokémon to the equivalent of one coconut’s worth of food a day.

Crabominable don’t usually molt unless their carapace is badly damaged. Their molts can take a month, during which they will almost certainly have to hunt to get enough nutrients to build the new carapace. Captive crabominable usually survive but the process is best handled under inpatient veterinary care.

Evolution

There is a healthy amount of debate as to whether crabrawler should be classified as a second stage pokémon. Their larval form is planktonic and even after emerging from the water young crabrawler have very different behaviors than adult crabrawler (see Breeding). The official stance of the USDA is that crabrawler is the first stage of a two-stage line as tiny planktonic forms are not counted as proper evolutionary stages and juvenile crabrawler are morphologically similar to adult crabrawler.

Crabrawler on Melemele, Akala, and Poni Island will almost never evolve. On Ula’Ula crabrawler approaching adulthood will begin to migrate towards Mt. Lanakila. They will spend a few weeks foraging near the base, usually in Ula’Ula Meadow, before they begin their ascent. Evolution is triggered by a combination of cold and elevation. Simulating it in a lab requires thinning the air as well as cooling it.

On top of the mountain crabrawler will retreat into one of Lanakila’s slightly warmer caves, tuck themselves into a dark, isolated corner, and begin to molt. They typically molt four times in rapid succession, growing larger with each stage. At the end of the final molt the newly evolved crabominable will exit the caves and begin hunting.

Trainers who wish to evolve their crabrawler are best off going up Lanakila with their crabrawler out of its pokéball. The Pokémon League Center has an area devoted to evolving crabrawler. Trainers who completed their island challenge within the last year may use the facilities once free of charge.

Mt. Lanakila is the most dangerous location in Alola due to dangerous weather, terrain, and wild pokémon. The mountain is currently infested with vanilluxe who go out of their way to kill vulnerable humans. Weavile won’t hesitate to finish off a badly injured human or pokémon. Froslass will sometimes lure male humans to their deaths. Crabominable themselves can and will kill anything that gets too close to them. Ninetales will seldom kill a human outright, but they will stir up the weather to make further progress impossible and then escort the trainer down when they finally give in and decide to leave. The snowstorms can obscure chasms and crabominable, making further progress inadvisable.

Even with marked paths, summitting Mt. Lanakila on foot is an incredibly dangerous endeavor. Only trainers who have completed an island challenge or otherwise earned the permission of all four kahunas are permitted to attempt it.

Crabrawler taken up the lift or flown up to the summit will not begin to evolve. Lab studies suggest that temperature, air pressure, and thinness must be gradually reduced to trigger evolution.

Battle

Crabominable does not see any use in professional battling. They are undeniably strong, but also slow and undisciplined. It is hard to justify their use when pokémon like machamp and hariyama exist. Theoretically the ice crab has a niche as a hail-team counter, but hail teams have never been common enough to dedicate an entire team slot to dealing with them.

Ice-types in general are rare in Alola as most are restricted to the inhospitable Mt. Lanakila. Crabominable’s main advantage over hariyama, machamp, and other Type I fighting-types is simply that they require almost nothing in the way of training. Put them in front of a target and they know what to do. They are stronger in battle than an untrained machoke or hariyama but weaker than well-trained specimens.

When playing against crabominable it is important to keep a distance between the crustacean and your pokémon. Their ranged attacking options are limited and their speed and endurance are unimpressive. Eventually the crabominable will get frustrated and open themselves up for a finishing blow. Hits strong enough to crack the exoskeleton can also put crabominable out of commission but are generally frowned upon due to the risks of molting. Psychics that can teleport or move faster than crabominable can bypass their armor and knock them out with ease.

Most trainers on an island challenge will be using crabrawler, and not crabominable, until at least the Elite Four. Crabrawler start running into serious problems on the second island. By the end of the third they will be near deadweight. They can be taught some useful moves, such as thunder punch, power-up-punch, and rock-type attacks, but they will never hone their technique in the same way that Type I fighting types can. The species’ supporting movepool and willingness to use it are both limited. When playing against crabrawler early on it is wise to follow the same advice pertaining to crabominable. Later on in the island challenge they can be rushed and overpowered by most physical attackers.

Acquisition

Crabrawler can be found on almost all of Alola’s shores. As the tide starts coming in camp out near a berry or coconut tree near the coast. A crabrawler will probably come. They can be captured or purchased with a Class I license. Alolan shelters usually release crabrawler unless they are seriously injured; adoptions are handled on a case-by-case basis.

A quick proving battle and a few days with a steady provision of food, water, and shelter crabrawler is usually enough to get a crabrawler to listen to orders. It can take them an additional few days to make a connection between an attack and its name and a few more to actually use the attack their trainer tells them to.

Crabominable capture is illegal due to a lack of information on how many exist in the wild and what impact recent disturbances on Mt. Lanakila have had on the species. They can be purchased with a Class III license.

Breeding

Crabrawler mate in late September. After the eggs are fertilized females wade into the water and release their clutch before moving back onto land. After one to two weeks the eggs hatch and microscopic zooplankton emerge. If the plankton approach a shore after a ninety-day period they will begin to grow and develop into crabrawler about the size of a grain of sand. The new crabrawler will swim towards the land. Once beached, it will begin to rapidly grow and develop lungs. They are typically ten inches across within four months. Crabrawler do not reach their maximum size or reproductive maturity until they are at least thirty years old.

Crabominable clearly reproduce. Occasionally a female can be seen coming down to the surface, dozens of juveniles about eight inches across clinging to her body. She deposits them and heads back up the mountain. Deposited juveniles have a phenotype and genotype identical to their crabrawler-born peers. It is not known how crabominable mate or raise young.

Crabmominable have never been successfully bred in captivity.

Relatives

There is one species of crabrawler that ranges from the southeastern coast of Africa to coastal India to northern Australia to Alola. They live anywhere in the Indo-Pacific with large fruit-bearing trees near the coast. There are no subspecies documented.

All crabrawler have the potential to evolve into crabominable. This has been shown with crabrawler from Madagascar and Australia transplanted to Ula’Ula. The crabs quickly understood what they needed to do and began to climb the mountain after a few weeks of gorging themselves. Mt. Lanakila is the only place in the Western or Central Pacific with the right conditions (a permanently snow-capped mountain visible from a tropical coast) to trigger evolution.