Zonnia Pokedex: Kinant, Xuberant, and Quinvicta
Kinant
Oilpot Ant Pokemon
Bug
Sewaddle + Litten
Appearance
Kinant are small insect Pokemon, measuring one foot in length each. The Pokemon have a tri-sectioned body made up of head, thorax, and abdomen, with the abdomen being significantly larger than the rest of the body. The primary colours of the Pokemon are green and orange, with black extremities.
The head of Kinant has a small mouth, with a short pincer on either side of the mouth. On either side of the head is a round eye that partly bulges out of the head, orange with a black iris. A pair of antenna emerge from the Pokemon's head, pointing up and then forwards. While the head of Kinant is primarily green, the underjaw and eyes are orange, while the pincers and antenna are black.
The thorax of Kinant is similarly green on top and orange underneath, with four darker green horizontal stripes occurring in regular intervals along it. Kinant have six black legs, each emerging out from the thorax before pointing downwards and ending in a small hook shape.
The abdomen of Kinant, large and bulbous, is almost entirely transparent, aside from two round orange plates on its top side. The abdomen can increase in size based on the amount of liquid it contains, with that liquid being a dark blue-green oil synthesised from the plant-stuff Kinant eats.
Ecology
While this Pokemon species first originated in the Cendio Tepui, located in Zonnia's north-east, it has since spread across the region, and is ubiquitous almost completely throughout, barring extreme cold climes.
Kinant consume plant matter, and synthesise from it a flammable oil that they store within their transparent abdomens. While transparent, the abdomen flesh is resilient, pliable, and rubbery, resisting blunt and piercing impacts with ease. The oil Kinant produce serves two purposes: firstly as a secondary foodstuff - it is nutrient-rich and easily able to be shared with fellow Kinant for sustenance, allowing those who eat well to assist those who do not - and secondly as an offensive tool, sprayed upon non-Kinant targets to drive them off.
When sprayed upon a target, this plant-based oil proves sticky and unpleasant in smell, warding off predators from Kinant. Furthermore once a suitable ignition is provided, the oil burns freely, and so is notably threatening to anything not resistant or immune to flame. Kinant and its evolutions are immune to fire, universally, and even should they be covered in their own burning oil will go on as usual. In the Cendio Tepui this is a common sight - although a burning Kinant does not deter a hungry Anoil or evolution - but in the wider Zonnia Region the Pokemon do not ignite that often. Kinant have no means to set their spat oil on fire, and so must rely on their evolved forms to do so.
A colonial insect species, Kinant are at their most relaxed when surrounded by large numbers of their fellows. In their day-to-day, the Pokemon will find and consume plant-matter, prioritising what is at ground level but willingly climbing trees if need be. In a relaxed state Kinant will aim to maintain a roughly eighty-percent capacity of their synthesised oil, but will continue eating and producing oil as necessary to supplement any nearby fellows who are low on their own reserves.
Field Report
The distribution of Kinant across the Zonnia Region - driven by the flying capabilities of their evolution Quinvicta - rapidly replaced the Pokemon species that Kinant derived from, causing a near-total swap in primary species of burrowing insect over a period lasting no more than two centuries.
This event took place a short hundred thousand years ago, with an insect species similar to Kinant previously ranging across Zonnia. In the Cendio Tepui Kinant and its evolutions arose, that original species mutating due to the presence of pyrophitic plant life, and then once evolved into Quinvicta, the Pokemon flew out across Zonnia, founded new colonies, and usurped the environmental place of their original species.
Species mutation and replacement is no rare event - it is the basis of macro evolution after all - but the rapidity of Kinant's ascension and replacement of their previous species remains a notable event. The previous species was subsumed entirely, and the new species took over its every ecological niche. Given the inherent randomness of mutation within living beings, this was akin to a jackpot won on incredibly low odds. And underlines just how effective a species Kinant and its two evolutions, Xuberant and Quinvicta, are.
Due to the colonial structure that Kinant live within in the wild, the Pokemon takes time to adapt to the more individual focused lifestyle they will have alongside a Pokemon Trainer. Capturing a Kinant is hardly a difficult feat, due to the Pokemon's common presence throughout Zonnia, however working with the Pokemon is more difficult than most expect. Without the complex range of biological and pheromonal signals that the Pokemon species constantly shares amongst itself, Kinant must develop an ability to parse signals sent by both its human partner and any Pokemon it may be living alongside with their partner.
This isn't an easy task for a Kinant - achievable but slow to do so. Supporting a Kinant's learning involves having a reliable schedule, which Kinant will begin to adapt to and learn by seeing constant and consistent actions and signals from their partner. An unstable lifestyle, with little regularity, will significantly slow down a Kinant's ability to adjust to life outside the colony. As such while the Pokemon is easy to catch, it's not recommended to do so without having a degree of confidence that stability and care can be provided to the Pokemon as it adjusts to you.
With time, energy, experience and growth, Kinant will evolve into Xuberant. An extremely complex and unreproducible set of biological triggers causes Kinant to evolve into Quinvicta in a colony situation, however the introduction of a Fire Stone is able to activate this same process. No Kinant with a Pokemon Trainer has ever evolved into Quinvicta without the use of a Fire Stone, and it is expected that none ever will.
Follow the source link to AO3 to learn about the evolutions of Kinant: Xuberant and Quinvicta!
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Henry’s Day Out
***
The driver tapped despairingly at the murky pressure gauge.
“Come on, old boy!” he coaxed, “Try harder!”
The tapping reverberated through the smokey gloom of the shed, even overcoming the din of the other engines slowly sizzling to life themselves. The fireman bitterly wiped a ticklish bead of sweat off the tip of his nose, and dug noisily down into the tender for yet another shovelful of coal.
“Ohh, it’s no use, I’m shattered,” moaned Henry, “I’m not fit to boil a pot of tea...”
“Not talking rot like that, you won’t!” his driver scolded, but the encouragement behind his words was clear, “You’re my engine, and no one can put’cha down, least of all yourself!”
The skinny brown needle twitched behind the greasy glass, almost shyly.
“That’s right, more of that!” he ordered, and feverishly wiped the face of the gauge with a yellowing rag, “Y’know why they call it ‘The Early Bird,’ dont’cha boy?”
Henry rolled his eyes. So did the exhausted fireman, raking the coal fastidiously with his shovel tip for a lump of coal just the right size.
“Because the Early Bird gets the worm, and it’s the first train of the day, and we are out for a worm of our own,” Henry replied mechanically, like all the other times.
“There’s a good lad, I knew you hadn’t given up on me, yet!” The driver’s teeth were pearly against the soot and smut on his face.
A corner of Henry’s mouth quivered hesitantly, but he quickly let the smile flourish.
“No, Theodore,” he hummed tepidly, “I haven’t, and I won’t.”
“Let’s ease you out into the sun, there’s still a bit’ta time before we need to be coupled, yet,” Ted patted his side of the cab, and peered his grease top cap out down the yard, “I want the whole railway to admire my engine! He’s gotta be SEEN to be believed!”
With conservative little whooshes of steam from his cylinder drain cocks, Henry tiptoed gently out of the shed, and drew to a stop.
The waxing light of dawn caught his blue paintwork and red boiler bands, and he seemed to radiate light of his own where he sat. His princely copper chimney cap still sparkled even after all the coal they had burned. He wasn’t an ugly engine by any means. With sweeping frames, tall driving wheels, and a tender of The Fat Director’s own design, any run of the mill passenger or porter would even call him handsome. Several had. Henry didn’t look too far removed from the engines on posters advertising nonstop expresses to Scotland, or boat trains in and out of Southampton.
But that was just the trouble.
“Try not to lose too much steam sitting,” groused the fireman, chucking his second cigarette into the firebox and shutting the door snappily behind it, “At some point, all the coal against the tubeplate’s more trouble than its worth!”
Theodore glared.
“You know and I know the boy can’t help it,” he practically murmured, “If he needs coal, he needs coal.”
“I need arms like an Olympian, feeding him,” the fireman pressed on, “They ought to give me two-and-six for each pound of coal I put on, then maybe it’d be worth it!”
Henry stayed silent. It was better to pretend not to have heard.
“Just leave us a minute and get two pots from Oil Issues, and come back with a smile,” Theodore ordered darkly.
The fireman hopped down, and dusted off his overalls.
“Sure and I will, for two-and-six,” Henry clearly heard him, before feeling him disappear.
Henry gulped.
“I’m... I’m sorry, Mr. Robbins, sir,” he quavered.
“You call me ‘Theodore,’” harrumphed the driver, absentmindedly wiping between the various gauges and handles on the backplate, “It’s that shifty little sod that just went for our oilpots that oughtta call me ‘Mr. Robbins.’”
Henry didn’t laugh, or even try to.
“You know I can’t help the way I am?...”
“Of course I know, boy.”
“And you’re not upset?”
“Bless you, no, boy.”
Henry sniffed. The sun was rising fast and strong now. The rails felt warmer. Vicarstown Station’s all-over glass roof twinkled and glistened in the distance, like a mountain of diamonds. Horses trotted, and their carts squeaked and banged. Somewhere, a policeman blew his whistle. The streets behind the retaining wall were coming alive with throngs of people chattering. The church bells gonged, meaning it was six o’clock. Not long now till coupling.
“...I can pull that train, can’t I, Theodore?”
Theodore firmly held his hand onto the regulator, twisting himself back for a sign of the fireman approaching.
“You what, lad? O-Oh, yes, sure ya can, and I’ll be right here to see to it. It’d be swell if that blasted fireman could get back, though. If I find out he’s knocking about the canteen again, I’ll make him eat your shovel for supper.”
Henry choked. He could feel the time slipping away. The crowds of people, really quite far away from where he stood, seemed to become louder and louder by the second. He needed to go, he needed to go, he wanted to cry. If only he could be allowed to go. Even if he were to need a pilot halfway down the line, even if he needed to be taken off the train altogether, he could bear more than to keep sitting here. He felt so helpless, so trapped by a million forces pushing down on him in that moment from every angle.
It was so unfair.
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