When I was three or four years old, I wanted nothing more than to spend time with my older step-brothers. So I, being the annoying little sister that I am, did everything I could to get involved in every single one of their hobbies. When they went to the corner store to buy Pokemon trading cards, I was there. When they played Pokemon video games, I was there. And when the anime first aired in Canada, I was on that couch with my little eyes glued to the screen and I ended up falling in love with the show. I would even watch the show without them from that point on for Pokemon is an international treasure and I will duel anyone who disagrees. Pokemon has been taking the world by storm since its debut in 1996 and has fans across the entire globe. But with great fandom comes great responsibility. And though, it is never smart to bite the hand that feeds you, I have to admit that there things about the Pokemon universe that I just don’t get. So, without further ado, here are 15 questions that I still have about the Pokemon universe.

The Pokemon That Started it All

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Why start things off with a nice, simple, basic question to ease readers into this article when I could just question the very evolution of the Pokemon universe itself? The first question on my mind is: which Pokemon can truly be considered the first pokemon? This dilemma exists because there are four candidates for this coveted position and each candidate has equal claim to the title. Firstly, Mew is the ancestor of all pokemon. Then there is Arceus, who is the creator of the pokemon world. Next comes Bulbasaur, who is first Pokemon listed in the Pokedex. And Rhydon was the first Pokemon that was designed by Gamefreak. Follow up question: is Mew the ancestor of Arceus or does Mew exist as a result of Arceus’ creation?

Fast Talking Kitty

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Real talk: Why is it that Meowth is the only pokemon that can talk? To clarify, I am not talking about Meowth as a species but rather the one specifically belonging to Team Rocket. Why can he talk? Who gave him these powers? Are they a blessing… or a curse? Every other Pokemon in the entire universe communicates with the world by repeating their own name/nickname. However, the Team Rocket Meowth is fully fluent in every single language that the anime was produced in. Not to mention the fact that there is a Persian from which Meowth is evolved that belongs to Giovanni (the leader of Team Rocket) that, like the other members of its species, is unable to talk.This also leaves the us with the question of whether or not Meowth will still retain his speaking abilities if he were ever to evolve.

Cribs: Pokemon Edition

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Though many have tried, no one has ever successfully explained what is actually inside of all of those Pokeballs? In the anime, all that is shown is a flash of light. This light quickly gobbles up whichever pokemon the ball is being thrown at. And in the video game version of the series, the balls just quickly consume their intended target. We literally never see what is inside these objects that our beloved creatures spend so much time inside. There are currently two popular theories that attempt to explain this hammerspace. The first is often referred to as the digital theory and it explains that the pokemon are turned into code and stored digitally within the Pokeball. The second theory simply states that the pokemon are shrunk down and stored inside the ball until they are summoned. Personally, I want to believe that each Pokeball is a safe haven of sorts for the Pokemon that reside inside of it decked out with virtual environments that are tailor-made for each Pokemon’s needs.

12 Please Infect Me

Where exactly did the Pokerus come from? Why does it exist? It's honestly incredibly weird that there is a viral disease that only affects Pokemon. What’s even weirder is that this virus seems to only have two possible effects on the Pokemon that catch it. The first effect being that the disease is incredibly contagious and will spread to all of your other Pokemon. The other effect that the disease has is that it doubles the rate at which the infected Pokemon gains “Effort Values” ( a.k.a. EV's). EV's are one of the super complicated background mechanics of the Pokemon Games. But essentially, EV's are gained by defeating other pokemon and when your Pokemon is infected with the Pokerus, their EV gains literally double.

11 Friend or Meal?

Though it was never depicted in the anime, as that show was geared towards children, there are moments in the games which heavily hint towards certain species of Pokemon being harvested for food. But how exactly do they determine which pokemon you can eat? Which Pokemon are strictly viewed as friends and which are okay to eat? Who decides this? Is it a nutritional or moral decision? Is eating Pokemon creatures even legal. Though it has been confirmed that a large portion of the people in the Pokemon universe are vegetarian, some people have been known to sell Pokemon meat. In the second generation of the games, Team Rocket can be found selling Slowpoke tails (which are considered a delicacy.) Is this a rare occurrence or a cultural norm? Does anyone eat Pikachus?

10 Poke-Wars

Apparently, there was a huge war which occurred just before the time that we first arrive in the Pokemon universe in the first generation of games. And the only reason we even know about this war is because one guy openly references it. That’s it. Just that one dude. The only person to ever mention this great war is LT Surge, the Vermillion city gym leader and Electric type specialist. The game never addresses the war again and that is maddening because this allusion just sparks up so many questions that I am begging to have answered. Why was there a war? Why won’t anyone talk about it with us? Why did Kanto fight a war? Where was it? Against whom did they fight? Is Kanto part of a larger country or is it its own small nation? Did everyone else simply forget about the war? Or did they all agree to never discuss it and LT Surge just forgot about that pact?

9 Wibbly Wobbly Infrastructure

Regions, in both the real world and its fictional counterparts, are often defined by their infrastructure. The Johto region of the Pokemon universe is defined by its oddly large amount of towers. Seriously, it’s honestly weird how many towers there are in the small area. After spending a large amount of time inside of these towers, one might notice that there is always a big column in the centre of these structures. But that’s not even the weirdest thing about these towers. For some unknown reason, these centre columns are always wiggling. That just doesn't seem safe. Why do they do that? I mean, the monks in the Sprout Tower explain that that specific building wiggles because its centerpiece used to be a Bellsprout. But that doesn't explain why all of the other towers wiggle too.

8 The Origins of Eevees

Let’s be real here, Eevee has a lot of evolutions. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. The average pokemon has two or three evolutions that they can undergo throughout their lifespan. Eevee, on the other hand, has eight. That’s right. There are eight evolutions, or “eeveelutions” as the fandom has affectionately called this adorable and laborious process. Though it is different for each individual pokemon, the average pokemon will only evolve when it reaches a certain level. Eeveelutions are much more complicated than that. Their evolutions require love, neat rocks, and exposure to neurotically specific conditions in order to come to fruition. My question is, why are there so many possibilities for my little Eevee? And why don’t any of the other pokemon evolve like this?

7 Greedy Little Villains

This question has plagued me since I was a small child and after nearly twenty years of deliberation, I still do not have an answer. Why doesn't team rocket just get their own pikachu? Seriously. The Pikachu Pokemon isn't exactly what one would consider rare. And they are not hard to catch by any means. I mean, come on. Any reasonable person would have given up on stealing Ash's Pikachu by now. It’s been years and for what? A pokemon that they could easily pick up in literally any Safari zone throughout the world? What is so special about that specific Pikachu? I mean, I know they are blundering buffoons but surely, even the most dense criminal would have realized that this mission is fruitless and moved on by now.

6 Where Did You Come From, Pokemon Joe?

At the start of every game, the character which we are playing has has just moved to the tiniest little town in the region. But where are we moving from? In the third generation of the games, it is revealed that we moved to this specific tiny town in order to be closer to our father. But this reason is not used in any of the other games as our character does not appear to have a father.

Are we moving to this town from one of the other regions? And does our move have anything to do with that war that absolutely no one will even acknowledge? Not to mention the fact that it is also incredibly weird that the region's only professor lives in this tiny town too. I mean, talk about luck.

5 Lapras In Town: One Day Only

Lapras is a pretty cool pokemon, right? I mean, look at them just splashing around in the water. Wouldn't you just love to have this lovable sea creature on your team? Well, to do so you would have know where to find it. Luckily, I know just where that place is. If you want a Lapras to call your own, you have to go to the bottom of Union Cave in Johto. But you can't just go down there any old day of the week is you want and find a horde of Lapras ripe for the catching. It turns out that you can only catch these mystical creatures on Fridays. If you travel down to the Union Cave on a Friday afternoon then there will be exactly one Lapras just waiting for you to whisk them away. But if you show up any other day of the week you will leave empty-handed. My question is why? Why Friday?

4 Get A Job, Mom

Just before you leave on your first “pokeventure” your mom will sit you down for a little chat. She will force you to take a pair of running shoes because that’s what moms are for. But she will also ask if you would like to start a mombank savings account. This account works by you sending her a bit of money every time you win a battle. This money is supposed to build up over time under her watchful eye and it honestly sounds like a great system. Well, it it would be if it weren’t for the fact that she absolutely sucks at saving money. At some point in the game, she will start calling you on a near daily basis in order to inform you that she has spent your money on some useless trinket that she just had to buy for you. The question is, why does she spend our money so freely? Shouldn’t she have to ask permission before she can spend someone else’s money?

3 The Mystery of Mirage Island

I would like to take this chance to rant about the nonsensical math equation that is the appearance of mirage island. Why exactly is the appearance of mirage island such a complex piece of math? In the third generation of games, there theoretically exists an island which can only appear when incredibly specific conditions are met. Those incredibly finicky and specific conditions are as follows: The game will generate a sequence of data bytes when initially booted up. If those bytes match the personality value of any given pokemon in your party, the island will spawn. However, the chance of that happening is only a 1 in roughly 65,000 chance. And this likelihood will go down to 1 in roughly 10,000 with a full party of six Pokemon. Some players may never see these mystical islands first hand.

2 Take Me Down to the Underground City

Why, exactly, is there a huge underground tunnel system underneath the entire region of Sinnoh? “The Underground” (as it is referred to within the series) is utterly and absolutely massive. It fully spans underneath the entirety of the Sinnoh region. Literally. The entire thing. But the weirdest thing about this underground tunnel system is the fact that some areas of the system can only be accessed from the surface. Wouldn’t it make more sense for a series of underground tunnels to be connected, at the very least? And to make matters even stranger, there is this one dude who constantly gives any and all visitors these extensive explorer packs so that they can traverse through the tunnels with ease. Why does he do this? Is there a reason for anything in the Pokemon universe?

1 Rebels Without A Cause

It’s time for another classic Zooey Rant. Well, here we go. Brace yourselves for it. What exactly is Team Aqua expecting to gain by their plan flood the entire world? Seriously! What is the point of this plan? What are they trying to accomplish with this goal? At least their counterpart, Team Magma, has set a more sensical goal for themselves. You see, Team Magma wants to shrink down the seas in order to make more land. They wish to do this in order to make more land available for the humans and the pokemons to populate. Also, Team Magma live in the Hoenn region and could understandably want less water around just to make their daily lives a little bit easier. Team Aqua, on the other hand, are fighting for the complete opposite goal and no real reason is given as to why this is. What do they hope to gain from this harebrained scheme?