4th Gen Hoot-Hoot's insomnia

I know this question would be useful for any game from Generation II onwards, but once I'm playing SoulSilver, I'll set this category.

It's the first time in around 15 years I decided to keep a Hoot-Hoot in my party. And I always thought the Insomnia ability would prevent Hoot-Hoot from falling asleep. But last night I was battling and he was put to sleep several times... what's the deal? Insomnia doesn't work?

I should prevent it from being put to sleep by any ability. However, self induced sleep such as Rest will not trigger Insomnia.

Actually, Insomnia (and Vital Spirit) just flat out make Rest fail.

There are a few possibilities for how you could've been put to sleep. First off, Hoothoot can have two abilities: Insomnia, and Keen Eye. Are you sure yours has Insomnia?

Now that the idiotic question's out of the way...

If the opposing Pokemon has the ability Mold Breaker, then it'll be able to put something that has Insomnia to sleep, I believe.

If either you or the opponent used Skill Swap, or if the opponent used Gastro Acid, or any other move that messes with abilities (Except for Worry Seed), then you'll no longer have Insomnia, and thus, be able to fall asleep.

Those are the only scenarios I can think of, but I might be forgetting something.

Ammy175 said:

There are a few possibilities for how you could've been put to sleep. First off, Hoothoot can have two abilities: Insomnia, and Keen Eye. Are you sure yours has Insomnia?

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Mine has Keen Eye. So he can only have one ability? If it's yes, so, it's explained.

Corey Demario said:

Mine has Keen Eye. So he can only have one ability? If it's yes, so, it's explained.

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Yes, it can only have one ability.

Yeah, if a Pokemon has multiple possible abilities, they can only have one, which is the one that's seen on the status screen.

Until X/Y, the 6th generation of games, came around, there was no way to change the ability a Pokemon had; you'd have to obtain another one and hope it has the right ability. Unfortunately, the item that lets you change abilities is only available in the post game in X/Y and OR/AS, so it wouldn't be helpful here, anyway.