Vikavolt (Grubbin, Charjabug)

Ovisoccissio reginae

Overview

Most pokémon species in this guide were introduced to the islands by humans. Broadly speaking, they came in three waves: the initial Polynesian settlers, Japanese and Chinese expeditions between 800 C.E. and 1100 C.E., and European explorers and colonizers after 1750 C.E.

However, a handful of species, mostly migratory birds and aquatic Pokémon, were living on Alola before humans first arrived on its shores. Some of those species are found nowhere else in the world. Grubbin is one example. And out of all of the truly Alolan pokémon, it is by far the most famous and feared outside of the islands.

Flying pokémon hold a metagame defining and constraining role in competitive battling. Because of this, any team without a reliable bird counter or several bird checks is doomed to failure. And vikavolt might be the best bird counter there is. Vikavolt pack some of the strongest thunderbolts of any pokémon, they can keep up with most birds in both speed and agility in the air, and they are natural predators of birds in the wild. Some of the most prominent birds in the international metagame, such as skarmory and talonflame, live in Alola and vikavolt have learned how to defend themselves against and even hunt them.

Vikavolt are the reason that the most powerful bug specialists feel the need to take a pilgrimage to Alola. They are also the reason that Alola draws some of the world’s most prominent trainers to the Battle Tree Invitational Tournament year in and year out. Vikavolt may not be the single most metagame defining pokémon on the international scene right now but they are one of the fastest rising. And Alola is almost the only place to get one.

This hasn’t been entirely good for vikavolt. Their juvenile forms are easy pickings for scyther, volcarona, pinsir and heracross. While the latter isn’t even a carnivore, they have no desire to compete with the highly aggressive vikavolt for territory and resources. Vikavolt are somewhat physically frail and other powerful bugs can sometimes lure them into a trap and take them out. Even before their meteoric rise on the competitive scene, grubbin were essentially extinct on Poni and declining on Akala due to competition from other bugs. Concerns about overharvesting for competitive battling led to the Commonwealth establishing small grubbin formations overseas to take pressure off of the Alolan populations. The largest formation, the one in Galar, was obtained after a donation of $350,000,000 to the Alolan League, Commonwealth Park Service, and the Wild Alola Foundation. The second-largest in Kitikami was gifted to Japan by the President of the United States in 2015.

Thankfully, it is much easier to obtain a grubbin or charjabug as an island challenger than as a member of the general public. Please note that there are still restrictions in place on quickly trading or selling grubbin, and more than one trainer has run afoul of the law while trying to make a quick buck on the grubbin market.

Physiology

Grubbin are classified as pure bug types by the Department of Agriculture. Charjabug and vikavolt are classified as dual bug- and electric-types. There is some dispute as to whether or not grubbin should have an additional ground-typing, but as they are neither terrakinetic nor built to thrive in sandstorms or deserts, the current ruling is quite likely to stand.

Grubbin are small bug-types with four distinct body segments. The latter three are light grey in color with occasional yellow spots. These segments contain most of grubbin’s organs as well as their legs, two per each hind segment. The front segment is orange in color with a yellow ‘visor’ shielding their mouth and the base of their mandibles from aerial attack. While they appear to have large ringed eyes, these are simply ornamental. Grubbin are entirely blind, something they make up for with lateral lines that allow them to sense the electric signals in the living organisms around them. Their mandibles extend from the front of their head and usually contain yellow and orange stripes. The exact width and number of the stripes is unique to each grubbin. Right above their mouth grubbin have another orifice for the release and withdrawal of silk lines. While silk production isn’t uncommon among young bugs, grubbin use it in an interesting way. They release the silk at high speed to snare potential predators, rivals or prey and slowly pull them towards the grubbin’s powerful mandibles, where they can be killed or battered further.

Charjabug look quite different from grubbin at a glance, leading early European explorers to determine that the charjabug and vikavolt on Melemele and Poni were a different species altogether than the grubbin on Ula’Ula and Akala. To start with, charjabug are uncannily geometric. Their body is an almost perfect rectangular prism with only short, stubby legs and mandibles protruding from it. Most of their body is green, except for one side of their body which contains their face. The face is broken into a grid of nine perfect squares. The bottom two squares in the middle column are grey and contain jagged lines—the mouth. The remaining squares in the middle row are a reflective blue. The mandibles, tiny yellow pegs, stick out of the remaining green squares on the bottom. The blue tiles contain the charjabug’s eyes behind them. At least, they do for older charjabug. Newly evolved charjabug haven’t finished growing eyes yet and still rely heavily on their lateral lines for navigation.

Charjabug are also known for being a sort of natural battery. Although, contrary to popular belief, the manmade battery was not inspired by charjabug. They slowly absorb energy throughout their life and can release it for either self-defense or to assist a vikavolt. The main reason that charjabug can live on the surface undisturbed is that killing one will set off a discharge of all the remaining electricity in their body. This will often take out their killer. Curiously, charjabug make accordion-like sounds when disturbed.

Vikavolt are about as different from charjabug as charjabug are from grubbin. They resemble a large beetle. Unlike other beetle pokémon such as pinsir and heracross, vikavolt are not bipeds and are most comfortable in the air. The upper portion of vikavolt’s shell is dark blue. A portion of this shell covers the head. The rest is retractable and covers the wings. The rest of vikavolt’s shell is black. Unlike grubbin and charjabug, they have four long, spindly legs rather than six stubby ones.

Vikavolt are most easily recognizable by their head and mandibles. Their head contains two bright yellow triangles that cover up their eyes. Right beneath their eyes they have an orange mouth which, like charjabug, opens horizontally rather than vertically. Their mandibles begin with horizontal green- and yellow-striped spikes facing away from their head. Then the mandibles extend up to two feet away from the mouth. The interior of the mandibles are typically green and contain a number of small spikes. The exterior is bright yellow. The mandibles are not used for grappling or eating prey. In fact, they must be swerved aside to let vikavolt get their mouth to their food. The mandibles are used for amplifying and releasing powerful thunderbolts.

Vikavolt are capable of reaching flight speeds up to one hundred and fifty feet per second for very brief periods and pivoting a full 360 degrees in less than two seconds while moving at max speed. Their thunderbolts contain wattage and amperage approaching that of actual lightning and, at max charge, they can fire off up to a dozen before they absolutely need to rest. This is accomplished based on a few power saving or recharging tricks. First, vikavolt slightly charge themselves with every wingbeat, although this is not enough to recoup the energy loss of flight. They also reabsorb some of the ambient energy left in the air after firing off a bolt, which is the primary reason why wild vikavolt often wait up to a minute between attacks.

However, vikavolt do not passively generate their own electricity like some pokémon can. They need to eat. Grubbin are primarily herbivorous, although they will also scavenge kills or take out small bugs or birds from time to time. Charjabug don’t move or eat much, preferring to keep their metabolism low to minimize the time until evolution. When they do eat, they tend to eat the remains of vikavolt kills or slowly work through a tree, as trees are immobile and large enough to last several charjabug through evolution. Vikavolt are primarily carnivorous, although they have sometimes been observed seeking out flowers, fruit or nectar. Their preferred prey are birds.

There is a common belief in Alola that vikavolt are venting the impotent rage towards birds they had as a grubbin. This is mostly unsupported by evidence. Grubbin have relatively few predators as they spend almost their entire life underground (see Behavior), and the predators they do have tend to be dedicated insectivores or burrowers. Trumbeak occasionally prey upon grubbin, as do skarmory and fearow. But vikavolt only prey upon trumbeak when there are no larger birds to eat and, while they do hunt skarmory and fearow, they prefer larger migratory pokémon such as braviary, tropius, and mandibuzz. All three species do not actively hunt grubbin and only kill vikavolt in self-defense.

Given the prominence of both psy-sensitive trainers and vikavolt on the competitive battling scene, there have been multiple papers published on the psychic lives of vikavolt. Most, but not all, psychics have concluded that vikavolt see birds with the detached gaze of a predator rather than the rage of a warrior out for vengeance.

After humans began to capture grubbin in large numbers, vikavolt have begun to attack adult humans in some portions of their range without provocation. This lends some credence to the idea that vikavolt hunt out of revenge. They do not eat killed humans and do not hunt children.

Vikavolt grow up to five feet in length and can weigh up to thirty pounds. They live an average of nine years in the wild and twelve in captivity.

Behavior

Grubbin mostly live three to ten feet beneath the surface their entire life, or until they evolve. They move from root system to root system and leave tunnels behind them. Grubbin live mostly solitary lives. Their tunnels are not a home, just a relic of where they’ve been. They almost never backtrack. When grubbin are unable to obtain enough food or water underground they will sometimes come to the surface to eat and drink. Once it finds stagnant water or a root system, the grubbin will disappear back underground.

Charjabug, like metapod, have very little behavior to speak of. Sometimes they will move to avoid a slow-moving natural disaster such as rising waters or lava flows. Occasionally they will crawl over to and up a tree for shelter or food. Otherwise, they stay still and absorb the ambient electricity that caused them to evolve in the first place.

Vikavolt behavior is more interesting. They stay in the air virtually all of the time, pausing only for a quick rest each night for three to five hours. This is usually done in brush or dense canopies. This is a difficult weakness to exploit because vikavolt are light sleepers and their color scheme is difficult to see at night.

Perhaps the most interesting of vikavolt’s behaviors is their relationship with charjabug. While they seldom interact with other vikavolt, they are prone to picking up a charjabug with their legs. The adolescent form appears to function as a battery, giving vikavolt the power to cast more thunderbolts and a shorter recharge time between attacks. However, the charjabug weighs them down and they sometimes leave them behind when chasing very fast prey or fleeing from predators. They almost always come back for their dropped charjabug. When their claimed charjabug evolves, the vikavolt keeps close watch over them and protects them from predators as they grow. If the vikavolt are of opposite sexes, they will form a lifelong mated pair. Otherwise, they will split when the younger vikavolt is fully grown and both will find a new charjabug. Mated pairs seldom use charjabug as batteries and discard them immediately after battle when they do use one.

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Outside of hunting and resting, vikavolt tend to aimlessly fly around their territory. Proposed theories for these flights include warning off other vikavolt, searching for new bird nests, or just killing time.

Husbandry

The insect pokémon covered thus far in the guide are wonderful starting bugs. They aren’t aggressive towards humans, they grow and die rather quickly, and they are each quite social. Vikavolt are almost none of these things. Trainers with no prior experience raising bug-types may find their grubbin, charjabug or vikavolt difficult to understand, and thus difficult to tame and care for. They are still far from the most difficult bugs in the Alola region and they give fair warning before attacking their trainer. The most common complaint from trainers is actually that they are quite boring.

Grubbin primarily eat roots in the wild. This is easy enough to replicate in captivity by providing them with root vegetables. They should be fed three to five times a day. Grubbin will not eat if they are full or drink if they are not thirsty. Their vegetables should always be relatively fresh. If this is not feasible, other fruits and vegetables can be provided to them. Grubbin should be given a water cup at every meal.

Charjabug, for the most part, do not eat. They should be ‘fed’ through frequent access to a thunder stone, generator or electronic devices. Once every two to three days they should be offered tree bark, sticks, grass, or leaves and a cup of water. If they eat the food, get them a lettuce-based plant mix to eat until they no longer show an interest in food. If they drink the water, they should be provided with a cup of water once or twice a day until they stop drinking.

Vikavolt are almost entirely carnivorous. They aren’t particularly picky on what they eat, but they usually prefer poultry. If their food is not cooked in advance they will zap it themselves. They should be fed frequently and in relatively large quantities. Like their juvenile forms, they will simply stop eating when they are full. Once the vikavolt has been in captivity and fully grown for a few weeks, their trainer should be able to work out how much and how frequently they need fed. Vikavolt require water far more consistently than their juvenile stages and should be provided cups of water more often than they are given food.

Grubbin will want to burrow. This makes them happy, but also makes them difficult to keep track of or retrieve. Breeders and trainers raising grubbin in permanent homes might wish to invest in a concrete or metal bin or pool filled with sand or soil. Sticks or vegetables should be frequently mixed in for enrichment and the sand should be sifted through or replaced roughly once a week to remove droppings. A water bin should be placed on top of the sediment. In general, grubbin are entirely fine with their pokéballs so long as they are regularly fed.

Charjabug also do not mind their pokéballs. Or much of anything. They should not be left in overly hot or dry environments for too long and should be left out of their pokéball for at least two hours a day. Of course, there’s still a compelling reason to spend more time with grubbin and charjabug than is strictly required. And that reason has a predatory drive, wicked lightning bolts and flight faster than highway speed limits.

Vikavolt are mostly apathetic towards humans they do not know. They will accept offerings of cooked food, but food alone will not make them warm up very quickly to a human. Usually, they’ll just take an early chance to zip away if their trainer has done the bare minimum to care for them in the past. Spending frequent time around grubbin and charjabug, helping the former battle and providing enriching environments for them, keeping them in luxury or friend balls and generally making a show of being protective of them will all help earn a measure of trust. Vikavolt will usually stay around a familiar human until they finish growing. This period is absolutely critical for earning a vikavolt’s full trust, and even friendship.

Growing vikavolt should be protected from harm at all costs. They enjoy chasing toys such as paper airplanes, laser pointers or RC helicopters around to practice their lightning bolts and flight. Providing a pokémon that can teach a vikavolt new moves is also useful. Some young vikavolt have shown a fondness for batteries that they can hold in their mandibles like a charjabug. If all of these factors and others (food quality, environment, sleeping places, access to trainer) are met, a vikavolt will usually choose to stay with their trainer for life.

Fully grown vikavolt require far less sustained attention. They should be allowed to explore during the day whenever possible and trained to recognize a whistle so they know where to come back to at night. So long as high-quality food is provided to them, they will seldom make a nuisance of themselves by hunting local wildlife. Vikavolt also require frequent battle or they will start acting up or terrorizing the local birds, even if they don’t actually eat them. Vikavolt will demand either a place indoors or inside of a tent to sleep near their trainer at night. Outside of healing and (short) discipline, a vikavolt’s pokéball should be used sparingly.

Beyond proximity while they sleep, vikavolt will demonstrate few conventional displays of affection. They are not social pokémon in the wild and even mated pairs only nest and occasionally hunt together.

Illness

Sometimes vikavolt or grubbin get parasites. These are usually not curable, but also usually not life threatening. Infections can be prevented by making sure their food is as fresh as possible. Parasite infections are usually marked by somewhat abrupt shifts in their dietary habits, either towards eating far more food than usual or eating less. Sometimes this leads to vikavolt becoming sluggish and putting on weight. Consult a veterinarian if these symptoms are observed as they can be managed with changes in diet and training.

Most other symptoms are a sign of hunger and can be easily solved by giving the pokémon food.

Evolution

Most grubbin, especially on Akala, do not evolve in the wild.

Grubbin only evolve when they have been exposed to a persistent and powerful electromagnetic field. At that point they go to the surface, find some place hidden and secure, and slowly begin to grow and change into a charjabug. The process usually takes one to three days to complete. The main body of a charjabug is essentially a cocoon that the body of a vikavolt slowly forms within. Once enough energy has been absorbed, the nervous system’s center switches from a network lining the shell’s walls to a nerve cluster inside of the developing body. Then the vikavolt wakes up, breaks out of the charjabug and takes to the sky.

At this point, the new vikavolt is usually less than eighteen inches long. They grow to their full size over the course of ten to twenty weeks, depending upon the availability of food. These new vikavolt primarily hunt insects at first before moving up to small mammals, small birds and, once they approach full size, larger birds. They spend almost all of their time seeking out new prey, with only an hour or two a night spent sleeping.

In captivity, it is best to spend some time with a grubbin before trying to evolve them. This helps gain their trust once they evolve into vikavolt. The exact time needed depends upon your experience with insects, but for a novice trainer two months is recommended. At this point, the easiest way to quickly evolve grubbin and charjabug is acquiring either another electric-type such as pikachu or magnemite or obtaining a thunder stone. Thunder stones can be a little expensive, but vikavolt don’t need to deplete the stone to evolve (they just absorb the energy it would be radiating anyway). Because of this, the stone can be resold after evolution is completed.

Battle

Despite all of the attention paid to them in recent years, vikavolt usage is still confined to one basic strategy with some slight variations: release a powerful thunderbolt, stall for a little while, release another thunderbolt, continue until defeated. This applies at both professional and amateur levels. Vikavolt have a few offensive options to compliment their electric attacks (bug buzz, hyper beam, hidden power, energy ball, signal beam, air slash) as well as a few options for stalling (dig, volt switch and u-turn, toxic, roost, protect, light screen, substitute).

This does not mean vikavolt are weak: the one thing they do is very important and they do it extremely well.

Some trainers have attempted to use them in a primarily defensive role using their powerful attacks, high speed and decent utility movepool to function as a cleaner and defensive flier on a quick stall team. They have some potential in this role, especially for quick-stall teams that need a dedicated bird killer, but it should be noted that vikavolt are not particularly durable and their recharge period leaves them vulnerable to counter-attacks. This makes them an awkward fit in stall teams of any flavor. In general, vikavolt function best in a mostly offensive role as a bird killer and ranged cannon on balance or offensive teams that need something to pave the way for a melee sweeper.

Charjabug should be battled with sparingly, as using up their electricity supply delays their evolution. Like galvantula, charjabug silk conducts electricity. The default charjabug strategy is to bind opponents and then shock them until they faint or are withdrawn.

Grubbin combat was briefly alluded to above. Their best tactic is to use their silk to set up a melee fight and then use their powerful mandibles to finish the battle quickly. Grubbin have very limited electrical reserves so, even if they can learn some electric attacks, it’s better to use non-elemental styles in practice. Avoiding the use of electricity also hastens their evolution.

Acquisition

Grubbin are found in the wild within Blush Mountain Commonwealth Park and on Route 1. In these areas, they may only be captured by trainers on the island challenge who have either registered to participate in the challenge or completed a trial or grand trial within the last three months. There is a limit of one grubbin (or charjabug or vikavolt) per trainer between both sites. Trainers may only sell their grubbin, charjabug or vikavolt from these areas if they complete all four grand trials. Otherwise, they must be donated to the Alolan government or released. Grubbin are far less threatened on Akala and found throughout almost all of the island’s forests and grasslands. There are substantially fewer restrictions on the capture and use of grubbin captured on Akala. On all islands, they require a Class I license to purchase, adopt or capture.

Charjabug and vikavolt are almost exclusively found in the wild within the Blush Mountain Commonwealth Park on Ula’Ula, although a few vikavolt can be found along the coastline of Melemele and charjabug can occasionally be found near Iki Town. Charjabug and vikavolt are subject to the same restrictions on sale and capture as grubbin. Charjabug require a Class I license to purchase, adopt or capture. Vikavolt require a Class III license to purchase and adopt or a Class IV license to capture.

Grubbin are generally only found on the surface during particularly dry periods. Digging into the ground to remove one is illegal within the boundaries of both the Blush Mountain Commonwealth Park and Route 1. On Akala it is usually legal, although the owner of the property should be consulted first.

Charjabug can be found on the ground or attached to trees on Blush Mountain. Vikavolt are generally found in the skies of the area. While it may seem like an obvious choice to capture a vikavolt rather than a charjabug, it is definitely not. Charjabug are far easier to find, capture and tame than vikavolt. In fact, it is recommended that only experienced bug specialists attempt to tame a wild vikavolt as they are very powerful, somewhat prone to violence and slow to trust humans. However, their capture is not currently prohibited.

Breeding

Female grubbin reproduce asexually in the early spring. They lay a batch of roughly one hundred eggs in their tunnel and promptly abandon them. The eggs hatch roughly two weeks later. Newly hatched grubbin are only about a tenth of an inch long when born. Their survival rates are very, very low as they are eaten by some common insects and animals and most burrowing pokémon. There are currently commonwealth-run programs to breed and raise grubbin in captivity and reintroduce them to the wild when they are large enough to have fewer predators.

Mated pairs of vikavolt also reproduce in the early spring. Vikavolt do not have a proper courtship ritual as their mated pairs are determined upon one party’s evolution, rather than when both are already grown vikavolt. Their mating, however, does have a set ritual. The vikavolt both climb up to roughly 3,000 feet above the ocean (the highest they ever fly), latch on to each other, and stop beating their wings. They break away from each other right before impact with the water’s surface and, if necessary, climb back up to repeat the process. The male vikavolt digs a hole in the earth and the female lays two to three thousand eggs in it. Then the male covers the eggs and stirs up the air over the hole to blend the topsoil together and cover up the nest’s existence. Then both parents leave. They never return to check on their young.

Relatives

There are no known subspecies of vikavolt.

Vikavolt’s closest living relatives are pinsir and heracross. Both were later introduced to Alola. Pinsir and heracross are far physically stronger than vikavolt but struggle to fly. They are limited to foraging or hunting on the ground. Vikavolt evolved to handle the birds that lived on the islands.

It isn’t currently known how vikavolt’s ancestors arrived in Alola. The dominant theory is that pinsir and vikavolt share an ancestor that was capable of long-distance flight. There are crude cave drawings of what appears to be a pinsir with large wings in Indonesia. This creature, tentatively named the Pindul beetle, is the most likely candidate for the missing link between vikavolt and pinsir.