i am cringe, but i am free

Infodumping About My Pokétypes

My feline pokétypes all live in a very notably AU edition of the canon world, with aspects of the anime, games, manga, headcanons I've seen in the fandom, and even the TCG mixed together, as well as entirely new details from my noemata/memories. Each species (each stage of every evolutionary line is its own species) of pokémon (that isn’t legendary or mythical) has four or five possible different domesticated bloodlines (some of these bloodlines have various subset breeds within them) which are selectively bred for by humans.

Any of the above can become feral if they are born from strays or are abandoned young, thus they grow up without proper human socialization. The former are called strayborn, the latter is referred to as feralized.

Then, of course, there are wildborn pokémon, which are the foundational origin of all 5 of those bloodlines; you can’t legally go out seeking to catch those to own them, you must genuinely befriend them first, if they’re willing, and then perform a slew of other tasks to complete the process (like taking them for a full medical checkup and behavioral analysis at a Pokémon Healing Center, doing paperwork documenting how this previously wild pokémon is voluntarily choosing to live with you, and finally, registering them their own ID number—and perhaps a pokéball for them, if they consent—in your name. You must be 18 or older).

You can take a wildborn pokémon out of that wild, but you cannot do the reverse. They are not domesticated, and any Center worth their salt will not allow someone to take in a pokémon if they do not believe it will mesh well with that life. This is obviously an extremely wild divergence from any version of canon.

The evolution stage of a pokémon does not necessarily indicate its age. Some simply don’t end up evolving, for whatever reason. A treecko can become elderly without ever even evolving into grovyle, to reference an anime episode. All “base” (first evo-stage) and “baby” (infantile-stage) pokémon are hatched from eggs. Infantile-stages cannot breed, they’re simply biologically incapable of it. First evo-stages can breed once they’re physically mature. All pokémon are oviparous regardless of mammal-like anatomy. Humans are the only species that are viviparous. (Pokémon world = pokémon + humans only. No mundane Earthly animals from our own world exist there.) All pokémon egg clutches are the base-stage or infantile-stage from the same evo-line as the mother; the father’s genetics influences them some (temperament, coloration variation, body proportions, etc.), but he must be a species from a compatible egg group as the mom…unless they’re a ditto.

Ditto can breed with any other adult-aged pokémon species except infantile-stages (ditto cannot breed with humans, no matter what conspiracy theorists will insist on). Unlike in the games, they can breed with legendary/mythical pokémon in my canon, but legendary/mythical species can still breed with one another. The “same evo-line as mom” rule is broken solely when the father’s evo-line is male-only. The clutch could then all be the base and-or infantile-stage of the father’s line, or a mixture of the mom and dad’s. Egg-group compatibility means genetic compatibility, not guaranteed mate choice. Some closely related stages/species can produce viable clutches but may be behaviorally disinclined except in rare circumstances or under human-managed breeding.

Minors cannot legally own pokémon and cannot legally become trainers. Adults may keep pokémon as household companions without being “trainers” (ownership ≠ trainer lifestyle).

Not all owned pokémon use pokéballs. Ball-less households exist. Domesticated bloodline pokémon (but not strayborn—sometimes feralized ‘mon can be traced back to the original owner via their registration number, if they ever had one) usually have a ball registered to them shortly after hatching. Balls can be transferred/re-registered for practical reasons. Owners can decorate balls (stickers, etc.); that’s socially normal. There are also negligent/abusive handlers who: shove pokémon into balls without warning, keep them balled for convenience, ignore their preferences and needs.

Now here's an infodump about Kantonian meowth/persian with dashes of Alolan and Galarian, because I can.

Wildborn K-meowth + K-persian in colder places look more European wildcat; in warmer places, more African wildcat. African-wildcat-ish (hotter/drier regions): light sandy-grey/pale yellowish or reddish tones, a darker dorsal stripe, faint side striping that can break into spots, and a tail with a couple dark rings near the end plus a black tip. European-wildcat-ish (cooler/forested regions): thicker/longer coat (especially in winter), grey-brown with a clear dorsal line, and that very distinctive bushy, blunt-ended tail with black rings and a black tip.

Kanto wildborn meowth + persian (no strayborn/feralized/domesticated bloodline introgression) tend to read like compact IRL wildcats: grey-brown agouti tabbies with a clean dorsal line, muted striping, and a thick seasonal coat that gets noticeably denser in colder months. Their most reliable tell is the tail—bushy, blunt-ended even with the signature evo-line’s oft-curled tip, ringed, black-tipped—plus an overall “matte” fur texture that looks built for weather rather than couches. Coastal/warmer pockets of Kanto skew a little lighter and finer-coated. The Kanto Region is temperate and largely forests/plains, but it still sits near sea and has mountain ranges too, so small variation occurs.

There's a baby evo of Kantonian/Alolan meowth similar to a scrapped noncanon 'mon of the same concept. Here it is named "mewzy," and it has specific requirements needing to be met for it to be born. I don’t recall ever being a mewzy as my current most prominent K-persian self, in fact, I’m pretty sure I’d never even seen one up-close. I think I just hatched as a normie young meowth, like most feralized and wildborn members of my evo-line. It is much harder for a mom-meowth to gather up a sufficient hoard of shiny and-or round objects she adores (which is necessary for producing mewzy eggs) when she doesn’t have a caring human to help her do so. Some females are exceedingly crafty about it, turning to thievery, or they’re simply stunningly fortunate.

Mewzy also exists for Alolan meowth, but not for Galarian. Mewzy is from standard Unovan and Galarian. In Kantonian, the colloquial moniker for mewzy is "konya." By the way, the Unovan/Galarian word “meowth” stemmed from Kantonian’s "nyarth," and its word "perjahn" became “persian.” Not quite different sounding for the most part, are they? Linguistics are so fun.

Mewzy cannot be lain as an egg by persian, only by an adult meowth mother, due to the necessary circumstances for it to be born: the mom must have a huge collection of shiny round objects she is very pleased and content with, and sleep with it every night while pregnant with her clutch. (In classical canon, this would translate to giving her the biggest fanciest coin possible and having her hold it while in a Daycare.)

Alolan meowth are slightly different, they need to feel like they discovered the items for their hoard themselves (canonically, this would be in-line with their impulsively arrogant personalities, so they can “claim the credit as their own”) so the breeders trick them by hiding the things in random places and pretend to be shocked when their meowth “chances” upon them. Luckily, Alolan meowth have a less intense drive for this than the original Kantonian kind, so it’s far easier for their breeders. Due to neither Kantonian nor Alolan persian possessing this collecting instinct, neither of them can make the desired offspring.

Alolan mewzy (purely Dark Type) don’t have the ability to invariably levitate small objects above their heads like Kantonian ones (Normal type) do. This suggests a bit of now-weak psychic ancestry in the evo-line and that the Alolan variant is even further removed from it than its progenitor already is. They both have small, flat, circular-shaped “forehead coins” that grow naturally, but the Alolan mewzy’s is silver instead of the Kantonian’s pale-golden hue.

Their undeveloped eyes are always fused shut, they’re incapable of opening them until they evolve into meowth. Mewzy is very helpless, needing constant supervision by their mom, other trusted pokémon/humans, and-or a breeder. They cannot stand up on their own, but for short moments they can sit up on their hindquarters, before needing to lie back down on their bellies again. They only have one whisker protruding from each side of their face. It’s easy to mistake their short, tightly curled tails as being bobtailed, and some people do erroneously refer to them as such. Forcing these tails to uncurl with your fingers causes great discomfort in the mewzy and is strongly advised against. This stage is very physically fragile and should be handled with great, gentle mindfulness.

Meowth mothers are protectively paranoid of their mewzy babies, rightfully so. Mewzy can hardly defend themselves, barely learning any moves that are on the damage-dealing side.