Disclaimer: What? Pokemon belongs to Nintendo? Oh darn.

A/N: After long and careful thought, I have decided how I am going to approach ghost and 'artificial' pokemon. Since this is a natural history text, I will write the majority of these pokemon as though they are real, organic, living beings. So expect a lot of weirdness: parasites, deep sea inspired organisms, and bizarre invertebrates.

For those of you who long ago voted in my poll, thank you, but I attempted to write the ghosts as more 'supernatural,' and decided that it was more interesting and creatively challenging to write them as animal-like.

This chapter has been changed from its original version. The original may be found on my tumblr (shadow-wasser).

Common Name: Rotom

Scientific Name: Plasmare plasmare

Description: Rotom are highly unusual entomon pokemon, barely resembling the other members of their family, due to their adaptations to moving psychically instead of under muscle power. In its independent life phase, a Rotom's body is composed of a large head/thorax and a small abdomen, usually kept curled up under the bodies, and often appearing as little more than a small bulge on the underside. The head has a large spine on the top, longer than the entire rest of the Rotom's body. They have two large compound eyes, facing forward, and a set of very small, weak mandibles below them. Rotom have only two very long, almost invisibly thin limbs, which trail below the Rotom's body. They are jointed into three segments, and end in sticky, velcro-like hairs.

Rotom have bright orange-red exoskeletons, speckled all over with photophores and thin, near-invisible hairs. The photophores and hairs can cause the Rotom's exoskeleton to appear to glow with a pale blue aura in dim light and darkness. Rotom's compound eyes are deep blue and rimmed with white. Their limbs are devoid of pigment, appearing a glassy, clear white.

Range: Rotom are found throughout Sinnoh.

Habitat: In a natural setting, Rotom inhabit cave systems. However, today, Rotom are found almost entirely in landscapes that are heavily inhabited by humans, especially industrial zones and low-income residential areas. Abandoned buildings are often full of them.

Call: Rotom can let out a long squeak when alarmed, ending in a sound not unlike air escaping from a balloon.

Diet: Adult Rotom are specialist parasitoids, feeding on the electrical impulses and tissues of Magnezone. In a natural setting, they hunt by stealth, hiding beneath leaf litter, under sand and gravel, or in burrows, with only the tips of their limbs emerging from the hiding place. Their many tiny hairs are capable of sensing electrical impulses, and when they sense those of a Magnezone, they reach up and adhere their limbs to the shell of their prey. They will then haul their bodies up and wedge their spine into a joint in the Magnezone's shell, affixing themselves to the larger pokemon's body. They then go through a bizarre metamorphosis, changing both shape and life phase.

The Rotom splits its shell at the tip of its spine and powerfully contracts the muscles of its body, 'injecting' its brain and vital organs into the Magnezone's tissues. There, it becomes gelatinous, insinuating itself into every internal space of the Magnezone, and linking its nerves and digestive tissues with those of its victim. The rest of the Rotom's body soon withers and drops off. The Rotom grows within the Magnezone, sapping electricity and nutrients from its host. Although they attempt to keep the Magnezone alive for as long as possible, they eventually take over the Magnezone entirely, directing its every movement and surrounding its shell with their tissues.

Magnezone that are infected by Rotom are easily distinguished in the field by their red-orange color, due to the thin layer of Rotom tissue and exoskeleton that surrounds the shell. Sometimes, other parts of the Rotom, such as limbs and eyes, are also visible, poking out from between cracks in the Magezone. It can even look as if the Rotom were trying to re-create its free-living shape from within the other pokemon!

Although Rotom are fairly specialized in the wild, they have proven themselves remarkably adaptable to living in urban areas, and do so by shifting their electricity draining habits from Magnezone to household electronics. Rotom home in on the electrical impulses given off by most anything with an electric motor, and insinuate themselves into the mechanism just as they would a Magnezone. As time goes on, the Rotom surrounds the appliance with their tissues, turning it red-orange, and often expose their eyes. Rotom often learn to 'plug themselves in' to absorb more energy, and can levitate and move about the machines they inhabit, always on the lookout for more electricity. These pokemon are more than capable of sustaining themselves on pure electricity for a long time, though they do need occasional bits of solid food, and so are often particularly attracted to machines that contain some form of trace organic material for the Rotom to consume, such as lawn mowers (grass clippings), ovens (food residue), washing machines (clothes, lint, and soap), and refrigerators (leftover food). Even household dust is enough, and Rotom often learn to scavenge for it.

In all settings, immature Rotom act as predators of small insects, and eat whatever tiny prey they can capture until they are fully-grown.

Life Cycle: Rotom are hermaphrodites, and can mate whenever they find each other, no matter the time of year. When one Rotom inhabiting a Magnezone (or machine!) finds another, they will often each extend and touch their limbs, exchanging weak pulses of electricity. This is likely in order to trade information about their respective health and age, and to determine which one will lay the eggs (usually the older Rotom). Mating is accomplished by traumatic insemination, with the Rotom acting as male injecting sperm almost anywhere into its mate's body. Days after going their separate ways, the Rotom that acted as female will lay a mass of hundreds of soft, fragile eggs on the inside of the Magezone or machine's shell, place the shell somewhere safe, often buried, and abandon feeding and self-repair. All of the mother Rotom's energy goes into incubating the eggs. The Rotom, lacking a birth canal of any sort, will rupture when its young hatch and pry their way out. With a compromised outer shell, the mother usually quickly perishes.

Rotom live only a few years, though breeding often kills them even earlier.

Relationship with Humans: Due to a combination of the widespread decline of Magnezone, and the tendency of humans to provide and concentrate electricity in remarkable quantities, Rotom have become something of a pest in Sinnoh's urban areas, while becoming vanishingly rare in the wild. Insinuating themselves into household electronics, Rotom render the equipment unusable, and can cause thousands of dollars' worth of damage. Safeguarding electrical appliances from Rotom can be accomplished by always unplugging them when not in use, so as not to attract the pokemon. Rotom-proofing, by using materials and paints that deter the pokemon, can also help. A Rotom that does find its way into one's home can be dangerous, and approaching it without a well-trained pokemon of one's own is not advised. Extermination services are available in most cities and major towns, and most sell the captured pokemon at auction to pokemon trainers, who hold Rotom in high regard.

Although Rotom are capable of taking nearly any machine as a host, Pokemon League officials currently only allow five hosts in tournaments, and in some cases only hosts they themselves provide specifically for that purpose: fans, refrigerators, ovens, lawn mowers, and washing machines.

Naturalist's Notes: Rotom are electrogenic and mildly psychic, able to confound the senses and affect perception. Despite these defenses, Bronzong will prey on Rotom in their free-living phase.