Dealing with Pokemon that evolve when traded

[AetherX]

I know for a fact that this has been discussed before, but I'm too lazy to go look it up.

How do you deal with the evolution of Pokemon that are only supposed to evolve when traded?

Some people just stick with canon, and it makes sense in the story for the Pokemon to be traded, but I have no real intention of doing any trades in my fic. I've toyed with two ideas: having the two Pokemon in question swap trainers temporarily because the situation forces it and evolving during the action (which would be a little too coincidental for my taste), or just having them both evolve out of scene (which would be lame). I guess I could also just have them evolve through experience and ignore the whole trading thing, but I feel like there's a better solution.

 

[Cosmic Gerbil]

An idea (ignore it if you reckon it's crap, lol). How about instead of trading, a Pokemon can evolve if it is given a certain object by a different trainer than his/her own, or even by a Professor. For example, if Ash wanted to evolve a Kadabra, prof Oak could give the Kadabra a Twisted Spoon to hold and that would evolve him/her into an Alakazam.

I got the idea from some Pokemon needing to hold items to evolve/makes certain babies.

 

[Necrozma]

I like the idea of two trainers being forced to trade their Pokémon because the situations forces it even if it's temporarily. While at it, feel free to expand upon canon and give your own explanation on how trade evolution works, what it is exactly and what kind of energy causes certain species to evolve when traded? Does connection between the two Poké Balls upon a trade has something to do with it?

 

[Gama]

Cosmic Gerbil's explanation is pretty cool and Tsu's postulations are very interesting.

For me, I would usually have the trainers forced to temporarily swap. In Rival's Story, I had Blue lend Sailor Maxwell three of his Pokemon because Maxwell's were all knocked out and they needed to split up. The three included Blue's Kadabra and to Blue's surprise when Maxwell returned the Pokemon it was an Alakazam.

Tsu's idea makes me think: what is it about trading that makes a Pokemon evolve? For example, for a Fire Stone evolution (Eevee -> Flareon), I've substituted battling in an active volcano for exposure to the stone with the logic that it's just strong fire energy that causes the evolution. If you could isolate what it is about trades, then you could apply that by itself. For example, it could be the fact that during the trade, Pokemon swap small amounts of their genetic makeups. It could be that certain Pokemon have dormant genes that are activated by this process causing them to evolve. If this were the case, this could potentially happen by some similar experience, such as Bill's teleportation machine or even a malfunctioning PC transfer.

 

[Lugion]

I've always had it in my headcanon that the trade itself isn't what sparks the evolution, it's the experience of battling under the command of another trainer with a distinct battle style.

Therefore, if, say, Ash traded his Haunter to Gary, the Haunter would evolve in Gary's care; however, if Ash traded the Haunter to Iris, who has a similar style of battling, Haunter might take much longer to evolve, or might not even evolve at all.

 

[99unownoak]

I don't believe the trade should be necessary for the Pokemon to evolve. I think it should evolve in like manner to any other normal-evolution Pokemon. In the games and the anime fully evolved wild Pokemon can be found that are said to require trading to evolve. Did all of these Pokemon once belong to trainers who traded them and later released them? Of course not. What of a wild trading-evolution Pokemon that never comes in contact with a human to begin with? It just doesn't make sense to me that these Pokemon in question had never evolved until the coming of humans.

The games creators just built in these Pokemon to force people to trade (or something along similar lines).

 

[AetherX]

For me, I would usually have the trainers forced to temporarily swap. In Rival's Story, I had Blue lend Sailor Maxwell three of his Pokemon because Maxwell's were all knocked out and they needed to split up. The three included Blue's Kadabra and to Blue's surprise when Maxwell returned the Pokemon it was an Alakazam.

It's been ages since I read Rival's Story, but didn't it only evolve when Maxwell gave it back to Blue because at that point Blue actually gave him a Pokemon that he had picked up (from a Rocket I think) in return? Totally not correcting you on your own story or anything.

I've always had it in my headcanon that the trade itself isn't what sparks the evolution, it's the experience of battling under the command of another trainer with a distinct battle style.

Therefore, if, say, Ash traded his Haunter to Gary, the Haunter would evolve in Gary's care; however, if Ash traded the Haunter to Iris, who has a similar style of battling, Haunter might take much longer to evolve, or might not even evolve at all.

This has always been my reasoning as well. This could then be extrapolated to explaining how they evolve in the wild as well: when something happens that totally changes their lifestyle.

As much as I'd like to come up with a fancy scifi-ish reason as to why certain Pokemon only evolve when traded, I think I'm going to have to pass on that. I've decided to have the two trainers and their Pokemon get all split up, and have to use each others Pokemon to fight their way back to each other. They'll evolve on the way. To give a cool explanation would probably ruin the flow of the story since this will all be happening during an action sequence. It isn't strictly trading per se, but it's enough of a nod towards canon that I think it'll fit in the story as that's how a lot of Unpredictable is written (with both subtle and not so subtle references to the game canon).

Thanks for everyone's input!

 

[Gama]

For me, I would usually have the trainers forced to temporarily swap. In Rival's Story, I had Blue lend Sailor Maxwell three of his Pokemon because Maxwell's were all knocked out and they needed to split up. The three included Blue's Kadabra and to Blue's surprise when Maxwell returned the Pokemon it was an Alakazam.

It's been ages since I read Rival's Story, but didn't it only evolve when Maxwell gave it back to Blue because at that point Blue actually gave him a Pokemon that he had picked up (from a Rocket I think) in return? Totally not correcting you on your own story or anything.

Did I just get knowledge bombed on my own story? I think I did. D=

 

[Lugion]

For me, I would usually have the trainers forced to temporarily swap. In Rival's Story, I had Blue lend Sailor Maxwell three of his Pokemon because Maxwell's were all knocked out and they needed to split up. The three included Blue's Kadabra and to Blue's surprise when Maxwell returned the Pokemon it was an Alakazam.

It's been ages since I read Rival's Story, but didn't it only evolve when Maxwell gave it back to Blue because at that point Blue actually gave him a Pokemon that he had picked up (from a Rocket I think) in return? Totally not correcting you on your own story or anything.

Did I just get knowledge bombed on my own story? I think I did. D=

The writer of Dragon Ball once said in an interview, "Hahaha, that's great. Wait... did I write that?"

 

[Kyuuketsuki]

Personally, I've always carried the idea that when a Pokémon is traded to someone else, they feel that they need to prove themselves, and not disappoint someone else as they have, in their head, disappointed their previous trainer, so they evolve. Held items can an incentive, or a muse of sorts. When a Rhydon holding a Protector is traded, they might think: 'Well, my old trainer didn't like me, I better do my best for this new trainer. Oh! This thing's orange colour is similar to Rhyperior's... I can probably evolve into Rhyperior!'

 

[Phoenix502]

I do have to admit... that from what I've seen in the anime and games, Pokeballs tend to go through a machine or something to signify whether or not they traded. meanwhile, in the Special manga, Green's (Rival's) Machoke evolves after an accidental party swap, with no machine involved.

the case with trade evolution might wind up depending on who you ask. If it were me, I'd consider the "temporary trade" idea that someone had to "borrow" your partner and let you hold on to their more important partner as a result. in my story, the main character was asked by a friend if he could borrow his Kadabra, and traded his best partner for him. when he returned and traded back, Alakazam appeared instead and was then informed about Trade evolutions.

 

[Faye Scarlet]

Trade evolution works like this for me in my future fan-stories. This will probably sound very weird and make little/no sense at all, but here I go:

All types of Pokeballs are always giving off a sort of 'energy', and it increases a little if it's near another Pokeball. Every Pokeballs energy is unique to the trainer who threw/caught the Pokemon inside it, and when trainers exchange Pokeballs (via machine or in-person), they can sense the change in trainers, and it creates very intense emotions, ranging from surprise to fear. If it's a normal Pokemon like Bidoof, he'll be fine, but for a Pokemon like Gurdurr, who has potential to evolve but doesn't quite know how, is forced to change forms because of the over-exposure of all that energy. Levels and power alone aren't enough, they need that sort of certain electricity and emotion.

As for those who require items AND trading, it's the added stress of carrying an item they have no idea what to do with. Magmar and Electabuzz were microwaved and electrified respectively, though.

 

[Glitchipedia]

I think there's a reason the trading machine exists. The machine itself is probably required to legally verify that the trade took place, registering the information in the League database. This ensures that traded Pokémon are not mistaken for stolen Pokémon.

The machine also has a side effect, giving off an energy signature that can induce mutations in certain Pokémon species. In some cases, the mutation may only occur if the machine's energy interacts with a held item, like the King's Rock or Magmarizer. The Everstone cancels out this energy's effects, allowing Pokémon to pass through unaltered.

Once in a while, a genetic defect may cause this mutation to occur naturally in the wild, but I for one would treat this as a very rare occurrence.

 

[Zekurom]

Of course, then I chime in with the lazy, contrarian route - why do you need to? Why not make a Pokémon evolve when it hasn't been traded? You should only adhere to a game mechanic if it adds to the story in some way. If it makes you take a meaningless detour (for example, making them switch involuntarily), then by all means violate the rule for the sake of the story. But if the detour is interesting and meaningful, then you might want to consider it, with "conformity with canon" being merely a bonus.

All in all, the principle I'd impart on you is the "ignore all rules" mentality by Wikipedia - do something if and only if it is good for the story.

 

[Teapot Salty]

well the whole trading to evolve thing is based around the pokemon in question getting experiance it would not get with its trainer. You could have it run off for a little while and get a cool experiance.

 

[reynard]

I am with Zekurom. The game mechanics need to be translated to the story, and ask yourself if evolving when traded is really the best option to go. What's important is what makes the better story.

As far as trading goes, I am of the mind to say that if a Pokemon evolves after just been traded, it would be pure coincidence. The idea that the act of trading makes a Pokemon evolve just feels a little too mechanical to me, though many of the people here have offered interesting theories on how it comes about. But still, even if the machine affected the Pokemon, it would be a coincidence, and not needed for them to evolve like in the game. The idea of the act of trading being REQUIRED for a Pokemon to evolve always seemed rather silly to me.

Also, the idea that a traded Pokemon grows under a different kind of trainer could work too I guess.

And like Glitchipedia, I feel that the trading machine is only there to legally signify the trade. I mean if people want to trade Pokemon, why did they need to bother making a machine to switch them? Why not just hand each other the Poke balls instead? Wouldn't that be simpler, since the machine just takes the balls of the platforms and just deposits them back? It might look cool and all, but isn't it just a drain on power, time, and resources, things you wouldn't really need to spend if you just used your arms.

I think Poke balls have data stored in them to signify who they belong to. It would make sense. After all, the seventh Pokemon of a traveling trainer auto-transports without the machine. How does it know where to go? The Pokedex is programmed with ID, so the Pokedex can be used to program the balls with ID and where to send extra Poke balls. That would be how Ash's extra Poke balls could go straight to Professor Oak, and how Professor Oak knows who the incoming Poke ball belongs to.

So the machine just alters registration so that the Pokemon are legally traded, as opposed to stolen. Otherwise, why did they invent the machine, other than boredom?

 

[Warrior of Fire]

As for Porygon and its evolutions, with them being man-made and the Up-Grade and Dubious Disk being needed in-game while traded to evolve them, it does make sense for the trade causing the evolution. The items have an evolution code written in them that cause the evolution when held by Porygon (Up-Grade)/Porygon2 (Dubious Disk) and traded via the machines. Aside from that line, I'd listen to the other suggestions.

 

[Sadrina]

Personally, because I had the exact same dilemma because I plan on the main character in a future fic owning a Kadabra which would become an Alakazam, I agree with the people who say disregard it. To me, considering the simple existence of OCs, or the using of canon characters, already betrays canon, why bother making an awkward and most likely pointless detour from the main plot in your story for the 'sanctity' of the already betrayed canon? Also, it was brought up before about their being Pokemon such as wild Golems and Alakazams, and unless every single one of them was released by a trainer who traded to evolve them, then the trading isn't absolutely necessary for the evolution to take place. I mean, why waste a few hundred words describing a trade when they will likely be traded right back? If you want, I suppose having them exposed to a certain energy, like the location evolutions in the games, causes them to evolve, or something like Kadabra only evolving on the new moon. To me though it's a pointless distraction that takes away from the story which most readers don't care about as they'd rather see canon disregarded than read through text which is basically just a loop.

 

[Glitchipedia]

As for Porygon and its evolutions, with them being man-made and the Up-Grade and Dubious Disk being needed in-game while traded to evolve them, it does make sense for the trade causing the evolution. The items have an evolution code written in them that cause the evolution when held by Porygon (Up-Grade)/Porygon2 (Dubious Disk) and traded via the machines. Aside from that line, I'd listen to the other suggestions.

The Porygon line might actually be the one exception I'd make—I portray Porygon as being able to freely travel between the real world and cyberspace, existing as pure program code while within the latter, with the Up-Grade and the Dubious Disk as "service packs" that can be installed like ordinary software.

On another note, with Porygon-Z being legally recognized as a Pokémon and usable in League-sanctioned events, I portray the Dubious Disk as not really being "dubious" so much as just coming from a different developer than Silph, with Silph's authorization but not necessarily any instructions. With the new developer being unaccustomed to Porygon's programming, the second service pack came out a bit glitchy but still largely functional.

 

[AetherX]

Given that this thread was revived, I figure it might be useful to give specifics on how I got around this issue (since I'm rather proud of how I did it).

The three main characters and their Pokemon are fighting Team Rocket in Silph Co. Coincidentally, two of the Pokemon who are out are a Haunter and a Kadabra. They have to run away from a large group of Rockets and end up hiding in a strange room that turns out to be a teleportation machine. The door shuts and they all get teleported, much to their shock. However, since no one chose a destination, they all got scattered throughout the building and ended up with each others' Pokemon. As the characters fight their ways back to each other, the Pokemon evolve.

So there are not one, but two nods to semi-disruptive canon without hurting the story at all, and in fact making it more exciting.

I'm not saying that everyone needs to do something as convoluted as this, but it turned out well in my case. Keeping things realistic while still making subtle references to canon is what makes fanfiction so fun to read. One of the ideas I had earlier in the thread is to have the Pokemon undergo evolution not from trading, but from some life-shattering change that upends their lifestyle (not necessarily in a bad way), which could be considered the natural equivalent of a trade. Just evolving through experience is totally acceptable, but why give up the opportunity to do something cool?