Relicanth - male, Calm, alert to sounds
Vivi doesn't specialize in fossils, but any water-type researcher is bound to come across them at some point. The first "fossil" her research team had to rehabilitate was a Relicanth, which only sort of counts. Her group found three of them on the northwestern coast of Sinnoh, far from where they should be. They determined the Relicanth were washed there by currents, and attempted to help them back to their home ocean.
It didn't go as planned, of course. The Relicanth were more than a little bit beat up, and as such the team was required to help them. For such an ancient species of Pokémon, they don't handle cold seas very well, much less the predators in them. Vivi's team opted to take them back to their research center in tanks on the boat.
The youngest Relicanth, a male, bonded surprisingly quickly with Seadra. While Relicanth are always mild-mannered and prone to peaceful interaction, this one seemed particularly fond of Vivi's assistant, going so far as to try sharing its food pellets with Seadra. (Seadra do not enjoy compressed seaweed, so this didn't end as well as the Relicanth probably hoped.)
Vivi found the experience of taking care of such ancient Pokémon very enjoyable. "They're really cool," she said, "you see these fish and it's mind-blowing to realize that they haven't changed for millennia. Their habits and appearance are all the same as the ones we find in fossils. It's amazing."
((Inspired by that time I got to see a real coelacanth. "Cool" really doesn't begin to cover it.))
Vivi doesn't specialize in fossils, but any water-type researcher is bound to come across them at some point. The first "fossil" her research team had to rehabilitate was a Relicanth, which only sort of counts. Her group found three of them on the northwestern coast of Sinnoh, far from where they should be. They determined the Relicanth were washed there by currents, and attempted to help them back to their home ocean.
It didn't go as planned, of course. The Relicanth were more than a little bit beat up, and as such the team was required to help them. For such an ancient species of Pokémon, they don't handle cold seas very well, much less the predators in them. Vivi's team opted to take them back to their research center in tanks on the boat.
The youngest Relicanth, a male, bonded surprisingly quickly with Seadra. While Relicanth are always mild-mannered and prone to peaceful interaction, this one seemed particularly fond of Vivi's assistant, going so far as to try sharing its food pellets with Seadra. (Seadra do not enjoy compressed seaweed, so this didn't end as well as the Relicanth probably hoped.)
Vivi found the experience of taking care of such ancient Pokémon very enjoyable. "They're really cool," she said, "you see these fish and it's mind-blowing to realize that they haven't changed for millennia. Their habits and appearance are all the same as the ones we find in fossils. It's amazing."
((Inspired by that time I got to see a real coelacanth. "Cool" really doesn't begin to cover it.))