Crobat (Zubat, Golbat)
Dracul talamaur
Overview
Zubat have a reputation of being more of an annoyance than a potential boon to a traveling trainer. This is unfortunate as crobat are reasonably intelligent and affectionate companions that, unique diet aside, are rather low maintenance. Trainer who are squeamish around blood are generally advised to opt against training the species, as are trainers with several furry or carnivorous mammals as companions. Crobat are a natural fit on poison-type and flying-type specialist teams and do reasonably well in battle as a disruptor.
Physiology
All three stages are classified as dual poison- and flying-types.
Zubat are bats with dark-blue bodies and long, then lings. Instead of arms they have wings with a purple membrane. Zubat have small and rather weak eyes but are not entirely blind as many people believe. Their large fangs and ears balance this out.
Golbat are proportionally longer. While many people believe that their mouth makes up nearly 90% of their body, this is not the case. Golbat have a large black patch of fur on their chest with small bone growths resembling teeth growing out of their torso to scare prey and predators alike. Their actual mouth is relatively small and contains their real fangs. Golbat have much larger wings and much smaller outer ears than zubat.
Crobat look far more like zubat than golbat. The body is covered in a very thin layer of purple fur. They possess four wings, each with a unique muscular system that lets them extend or retract the wing membrane, only fully extending it when in flight. The wing structure makes crobat virtually silent fliers. One crobat was observed flying for nine consecutive days without rest by switching between the front and back set of wings. They have a similar brain adaptation to most marine mammals that allows one hemisphere of the brain to rest while the other ensures they stay aloft. This is necessary for multiday flights. Crobat have no external ears, but they do have internal ears. For reasons unknown, crobat’s mouth is white on the inside.
Outside of zubat, the evolutionary line has more powerful vision than the average human. This is useful for seeing in the dark. They also have an extraordinary sense of hearing. All evolutionary stages use echolocation to scout out the world around them. Similar clicks are used for communication. All three stages have long hooks at the end of their hind-legs; crobat also have claws on their front wings. The Alolan subspecies possess multiple safeguards for their ears that let them hear very faint sounds but also cover their ear canal before very powerful vibrations can damage their hearing. This is an adaptation for routinely sharing caves with noivern.
Crobat are hemophages. They exclusively feed on blood. An all-liquid diet is not good for their digestive track and they must limit their feedings or risk overloading their kidneys. Most zubat are not patient enough to drink too much blood and crobat know their limits; golbat often have problems with overfeeding in the wild. Additionally, the liquid diet means that crobat must eat at least once every two days. Bats that do not get enough to eat will receive regurgitated meals from other members of the colony.
This unique-among-mammals diet is facilitated by the bat’s specialized fangs. These are very thin and hollow on the inside. Unlike most fangs, these are used for both suction and injection. Crobat venom is an anticoagulant that makes blood flow more freely and prevents wounds from healing. Due to their frailty, their fangs often break. Crobat do not regrow fangs; upon injury, they must rely for the rest of their life on the generosity of other colony members. Defanged bats focus on protecting the colony’s roosting grounds and providing assistance with childrearing.
Crobat can live up to nine years in the wild or fourteen in captivity. They can reach wingspans of five feet and can weigh as much as ten pounds when hungry or sixteen pounds when very full.
Behavior
Zubat and golbat live in large colonies deep inside of caves. Any type of cave will do; in Alola colonies live in the dry caves of the Vast Poni Canyon system, along the banks of underground rivers in Seaward and Sandy Caves, in the frozen caverns of Mt. Lanakila, and in scalding hot tunnels beneath Akala Volcanoes National Park. Even large abandoned buildings will do. The largest colonies can contain upwards of 800 zubat and golbat at a time. The pokémon spend the day inside resting and engaging in social behaviors such as grooming. At night all but the youngest of zubat and one of the clutch’s parents will fly out to hunt.
Zubat and golbat prefer to feed off of large diurnal pokémon. The bats are quiet and gentle enough, and their fangs sharp enough, that most prey do not even wake up. Smaller creatures, like humans, do occasionally fall prey to zubat in other parts of the world. However, in Alola food is almost always abundant. Attack is only likely if a trainer enters into the colony itself and either stirs up trouble or gets too close to baby zubat. Golbat will occasionally attack and kill rattata in a single impact or wing attack. They will then bring the rattata back to the colony or drain it on the spot. Tauros, miltank, ampharos, and mudsdale are some of the most common targets of zubat and golbat. Other observed prey species include kangaskhan, gumshoos, braviary, drampa, stoutland, snorlax, blissey, wigglytuff, magmortar, bewear, lickilicky, and hariyama.
Crobat tend to live in bonded pairs usually, but not always, consisting of a male and female. They either sleep or relocate during the day and then go on to hunt at night. Abandoned toucannon nests are some of crobat’s favorite places to roost as they are large enough to fit two bats and still relatively difficult to access. Crobat will sometimes actively kill small pokémon to drain even in times of abundance.
Due to the many bloodborne illnesses crobat are carriers for they have virtually no natural predators. The only exception are metagross, vanilluxe, and ninetales. There are few, if any, wild metagross in Alola and vanilluxe are restricted to Mauna Lanakila and the area around its base. Camera traps have observed ninetales have been observed hunting zubat. Ninetales have superb immune systems and rarely get sick in captivity. This may be what allows them to safely eat zubat. Research on the species in the field is borderline impossible and captive specimens tend not to consent to laboratory experiments. For now this particular predator-prey relationship and the adaptations that support it remain underexplored.
The zubat line’s mortality rate is still rather high given the risk that feeding on much larger creatures carries.
Husbandry
The main problem with caring for captive crobat is their diet and its health consequences. Crobat and golbat must be provided with a dish full of blood. Perforable membranes are recommended so that the pokémon will exercise natural feeding behaviors. The bat will fly over, land, and drink through the membrane. Zubat can be fed from ice cube containers filled with blood. Specimens without fangs will need to be fed from dishes without a membrane. All stages can lap up blood with their tongue, although they prefer to use their fangs for psychological reasons. Tauros blood is rather easily obtained from butcher shops. A mix of blood and an anticoagulant (12 grams dextrose, 4 grams citric acid, 11 grams sodium citrate per gallon) should be used rather than raw blood. Crobat naturally apply an anticoagulant when absorbing blood through their fangs, but blood they drink can clot and cause health problems. The coagulant mixture can be homemade or purchased from some specialty pokémon stores. Some specialists recommend a mix of different bloods. Other experts recommend putting multivitamins into the mix. The benefits of either dietary option have never been empirically proven and both can be rather expensive.
Crobat must be fed once every two days, although daily feedings are recommended. Recommended feedings are five to six milliliters a day for a zubat, ten to twelve for a golbat, and fifteen to twenty for a crobat. Any more and there is a risk of overwhelming the kidneys. Lower end feedings should be applied to relatively sedentary pokémon and higher end portions should be used for frequent battlers or delivery pokémon. Water is not needed on days where blood is provided. It must be provided on days where blood is not given as crobat dehydrate very quickly.
Golbat and crobat are intelligent enough to be housebroken or learn to urinate outside. Zubat can be “trained” by putting a litter mat underneath their preferred roost. This will solve most problems. Zubat and golbat need roosts when out of their pokéball. While they can be kept in pokéballs for a few hours a day (or in dusk balls for two six-hour shifts in a twenty-four-hour period), all stages want to spend a lot of time out of their pokéball. They are social creatures and want to play, explore, or interact with their trainer or other pokémon. While technically nocturnal, crobat only sleep about five hours a day split into many short naps. If no roost is available they can sleep with one hemisphere at a time, although they prefer to have chances to fully sleep. Ideal crobat roosts provide a relatively sheltered area and a place to hang from. Shower rods work well enough, and small zubat can use coat hangers. Crobat are perfectly capable of staying in near-perpetual flight, but they also appreciate a place to roost from time to time.
Crobat rely on other bats to groom them in the wild so their trainer will need to take over this role. This is a good way to earn the pokémon’s trust. Music and other strange vibration patterns can serve as toys or bonding experiences.
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Some trainers let themselves be food for their crobat. While this is a cheap way of obtaining blood, it messes with the bat’s bonding instincts. Furthermore, crobat are known to carry many bloodborne illnesses, including HIV, malaria, West Nile virus, and rabies. The risk of contagion and their innate hunting instincts make training a crobat on a team full of diurnal mammals somewhat inadvisable, although it can be done with firm boundaries and frequent blood tests on the crobat.
Illness
Crobat are immune to almost all bloodborne illnesses. They are one of the only mammals that are extremely resistant to rabies. The species’ unique immune system makes most vaccines ineffective on them. Battling trainers will need to give their pokémon periodic physicals to make sure they are not carriers of rabies or one of the other pathogens that make them unable to participate in League sanctioned battles.
The species suffers from one big drawback in the wild: they aren’t built to last. Zubat and golbat rarely recover from serious wing or fang damage, and both areas are very fragile. In the wild this is counterbalanced by the many, many able-bodied members of the colony stepping up to provide for the disabled. In captivity a broken wing isn’t a death sentence and can even be healed with time and prompt medical care. Crobat’s bones are also more durable than those of golbat or zubat and they are better adapted for killing small prey with powerful wing strikes. Broken fangs do not regrow but are not a serious health problem unless the site becomes infected. Defanging is even a standard operation for families who just want a zubat as a pet rather than a battling companion, although there may be psychological consequences.
The vast majority of crobat health problems either are a result or cause of dehydration or overhydration. Mid-range portions should be given every day until a veterinarian can be consulted.
Evolution
Zubat usually evolve into golbat around sixteen months of age. The process is one of gradual growth, with the formal demarcation line marked by all four faux-fangs breaking the skin. Golbat flash evolve into crobat. Severe injury appears to prevent evolution but minor wounds are instantly healed in the process. Only the best of hunters evolve. Fewer than one in fifteen wild golbat evolve, but nearly one-third of captive golbat do. The leading theory is that consistent feedings and occasional combat fool the body into thinking that the bat is a very successful hunter. Crobat evolution can take place anywhere between the golbat’s third and seventh birthday.
Battle
Crobat are too fragile and not powerful enough to have had much impact on the competitive battling scene. Even trainers who want to use a bat have the stronger kelawapi, swoobat, and noivern to pick from. In the very limited use they have seen, they served as fast disruptors firing off taunts, toxics, hypnoses, defogs, tailwinds, and supersonics before the opponent can react. Their frailty makes them an awkward fit on quickstall, though.
On the island challenge crobat can be rather effective due to the sheer difficulty of hitting it. Crobat can fly up to 130 miles per hour in shorts burst and they average about 80. Their moderately powerful aerokinesis can be used to slowly whittle away at an opponent’s health. Trainers willing to shell out money on special TMs and tutoring can teach coverage moves such as heat wave and dark pulse. Nasty plot can be used for boosting, but requires a crobat to stand still for longer than is advisable.
Draining moves can be used but put crobat’s delicate fangs at risk. They should only be used to finish off sleeping opponents with a powerful bug bite or giga drain. The same goes for contact moves for zubat and golbat. Crobat can handle these impacts against soft targets: their preevolutions cannot.
Zubat and golbat are also frailer than crobat and more suited for ambush attacks on sleeping opponents. They also lack crobat’s blistering speed. Golbat are still large and intimidating enough to bully smaller opponents with unrelenting offenses, but zubat must be played very carefully. Both benefit from early opponents often struggling with airborne foes. Anything that can hit them should be considered a major threat.
Acquisition
Zubat and golbat can be found inside of almost every cave in the commonwealth. However, wading into a colony and attempting to stir up trouble will lead to a fight. Golbat are not polite enough to charge their opponents one at a time, which makes fighting difficult and potentially dangerous. The best way to catch a zubat or golbat is to wait outside of a cave entrance at dusk. When the bats come out, try and isolate one and start a battle. As soon as they’ve exited the cave, only crobat looking after their children will bother to stay back and defend fellow colony members. Zubat can be purchased, captured, or adopted with a Class III license; golbat and crobat require a Class IV to purchase, capture, or adopt.
Crobat are far more difficult to find than their preevolutions. The best way to bait them is to leave a large mammal asleep in a clearing at night and wait to see if anything shows up. Alternatively, looking around forests with very large trees in hopes of finding a toucannon nest can work. Sometimes there will be something more aggressive than a crobat inside of these nests, though, and partners will back each other up in combat. All things considered, it is recommended that trainers look for a zubat or golbat instead.
Breeding
In the wild, a mated crobat pair return to the male’s colony once a year to mate. Pregnancy lasts for six weeks. The female will then give birth to a clutch of eight to twelve zubat. Both parents, along with other colony members, assist in raising the children. Only one crobat will leave the cave each night, the other staying back to defend the children. As mammals, crobat nurse their young. Babies don’t begin to get some regurgitated blood until they are four weeks old. They still nurse until their parents leave the colony four months after birth.
Captive breeding and even hand-raising zubat is possible. Newborn zubat require a cramped, dark place with adequate roosting space and a place to put food. For the first three weeks, hand-raised zubat will need to be fed with a syringe filled with milk. The bats will lap milk off the end of the syringe rather than suck on it. They instinctively understand to do this. After this bowls and ice cube containers can be used to facilitate the gradual introduction of blood. If a female crobat is watching after the babies, she can be trusted to nurse and regurgitate enough blood to allow for proper development. Otherwise, a mixture of blood and milk should be used until the babies are four months old, at which point they can be fed blood alone. A good list of appropriate blood-milk ratios at varying ages can be found online on the European Association of Poison-Type Trainers’ (EAPPT’s) website.
Relatives
Crobat occupy a wide geographic range because of their long-ranged flight. Their ability to traverse large distances has also minimized genetic drift, leading to relatively few species covering most of the globe.
The Pacific crobat found in Alola are by far the best fliers of the species. They are also versatile and capable of surviving in almost any environment they come across, from deserts to frozen mountains. They are most abundant in Alola and New Zealand, although they can be found on any Pacific Island with large mammals to feed upon.
The Asian crobat (D. mandurugo), also known as the iridescent crobat, have smaller bodies and wings than the Pacific crobat due to the shorter distances they must travel. Iridescent crobat are not, in fact, iridescent. They simply have developed an enhanced telepathic ability to disorient nearby foes, leading to distorted vision and feelings of awe. This creates an opening for the crobat to drink blood from even a waking foe. Golbat and crobat tend to return to the same victim night after night with their telepathic assault growing more and more potent every time. Some iridescent crobat will form deep bonds with their trainer and never feed off of them. Others will just see their trainer as the closest available target.
The red-footed crobat, (D. lilitu) is native to Central and Southwest Asia and most of the Sahara. The relative lack of large mammals in these areas led to the species developing more teeth and much larger claws on their feet than other species. They hunt more like owls than crobat, using their silent flight to pick up small mammals, lift them into the air, and drop them to their death before lapping up the blood and eating some of the flesh. Human infants are the right size for a red-footed crobat to prey upon. This has brough them into conflict with humans for millennia. At present they have been exterminated in Asia and persist only in small pockets of North Africa. Crobat tend to live in the desert, never landing except to eat due to the lack of roots. In traditional folklore it was often believed that the local god had exiled them from the earth for their sins. Zubat and golbat are more traditional hunters and prefer to live in forests and caves, feeding on the large mammals of the area. Historically zubat were born and grew up in Mesopotamia or Persia before spending their adulthood in the Araiabian peninsula or the Saharan desert. Their extirpation from the species’ traditional breeding grounds has placed them at risk of extinction, even if all of their current habitat were to be permanently protected.
European crobat (D. stokeri) are also known as mountain crobat. They are rarely seen at low elevations outside of Scandanavia, Russia, and the Crown Tundra. In the summer the species acts like most crobat do, draining large mammals for their blood while resting in caves and trees during the day. In the winter even the crobat move in to caves and almost never leave them. They feed on other hibernators who have gone in to the caves with them. Snorlax are their favorite prey.
Irongfang crobat (D. asanbosam) are native to the Sahel and Congo regions of Africa. These crobat are steel-types with metallic fangs and higher levels of iron than is usual in their bones, including metal-coated nails. These crobat are also frequent carriers of a disease similar to tetanus and can inflict it with a bite or scratch. These are the most durable of crobat, but also the weakest fliers. The crobat kill their prey by striking them at top speed with their full body weight before drinking the blood. Golbat and zubat prefer to infect their prey by swarming them and getting in as many scratches and bites as possible before returning to drink the prey’s blood when they finally succumb to the infection. Deforestation and better defense of livestock with pokéballs and imported pokémon has led to a decline in the species.
Brisson’s crobat (D. izulu) are native to the savannahs of Africa. They are one of the largest species of crobat due to the availability of many large mammal species. The zubat and golbat primarily act as stealth-based hunters that ambush sleeping hoofstock and feed on their blood before flitting away. The crobat, due to their size, are less capable of relying on stealth. Instead, they use electrokinesis to stun prey, drink their blood, and flee. This works much better on solitary species than social ones.
The withering (D. merci) and aloe (D. peuchen) crobat are native to North and South America, respectively. They are the closest relative of the Pacific crobat, but are smaller and have less developed wings. This makes them stealthier at the expense of power and flight range. The withering crobat is currently still recovering from an 18th and 19th Century panic over crobat-induced tuberculosis infections in Unova. There are still health populations in Anahuac and the Navajo lands but they are now rare in most of the United States.