literature

Slugma Report

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Slugma (the Lava Pokémon) is an uncommon Fire-type Pokémon found among volcanic terrain within the Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Kalos and Kitakami regions as well as Mt. Ember of the Sevii Islands. Though slower than almost any other Fire-types around, Slugma are loyal creatures that can at the very least give Fire-type specialists the opportunity to experiment with otherwise disparate powers and abilities in battle. Just do yourself a favor and never try to touch these creatures without some serious protection, as there's a very good reason why this species is known as the Lava Pokémon!

Slugma are extremely bizarre organisms whose very identity and existence has been the source of scientific inquiry for decades…and, as it turns out, the real Slugma is nothing that the human eye could ever normally detect. 99.99% of the bodies of Slugma are comprised of rhyolitic lava that is kept constantly warm by moving around and staying out of relatively cool areas; the creatures responsible for providing locomotion to this lava, the true Slugma, are thermophilic bacteria that have the amazing capacity to possess and retain sentience as a single organism despite the fact that millions if not billions of them might exist within a single Slugma unit. Even if separated great distances, these bacteria are able to retain memories by storing data as electrical impulse within their cell membranes; when they approach another one of their kind, these bacteria release these electrical impulses and establish a connection between themselves, creating a linked consciousness in the process. The fact that these organisms choose to live within lava only makes this feat even more impressive, as no other known organism is known to be able to exist within such extreme temperatures. This can, however, pose its own unique problems, as Slugma are unable to easily register pain and are unable to utilize their natural Fire-type abilities very well, so their overall performance in battle (particularly in regards to their movement speeds) is fairly low and difficult for most trainers to work with.

What truly makes Slugma a challenge to work with, however, is the simple fact that their bodies are highly susceptible to cold temperatures. Under normal circumstances, Slugma have to continue moving at times in order to prevent their bodies from freezing solid at even room temperature; otherwise, the lava that circulates through their bodies like blood will quickly cool and solidify, eventually turning their entire bodies into a dry husk that is so brittle to the touch that the slightest knock can break large pieces of their body off. This also means that Slugma almost never sleep or rest their bodies, and anytime they do, they make sure to do so right next to lava so they can maintain reasonable body temperatures. Oddly enough, though, the fact that Slugma sleep at all makes no sense, as they are little more than a massive colony of mobile bacteria; it is possible, however, that the sudden presence of sentience within such a colony might be responsible for them acting in ways that are otherwise impossible for anything without a developed brain to act, likely explaining why these otherwise mindless creatures actually exhibit personalities and even emotions (a similar scenario happened with Porygon2). Regardless of this curiosity, Slugma are generally very hard to care for and take a bit longer than most other Fire-types to reach maturity, and even then their overall combat skills are moderate at best. Still, these creatures have access to an astonishingly wide variety of attacks that few other Fire-types can match, so their capacity for damage in battle is still impressive by any standard.

Though it might take a specialized trainer to appreciate them, Slugma are still interesting beasts that can give any and all trainers a good lesson about the strangeness of life on Earth. They may not gain access to many powerful attacks until after evolution, but if you're interested to see where these creatures will go in life, sticking around with them might not be such a bad idea. After all, it's not every day you see a creature change form and species completely just because part of its body decided to harden a bit!

Professor Wormwood
A report on the Lava Pokemon, Slugma. Enjoy.
© 2010 - 2024 Mutitus
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Franksuit's avatar
Personally, I think Slugma can control its body temperature to allow its trainer to pet them and not have to move around constantly.