Real pokemon guru

[The Scientist]

Well checking the traits of most Dark-type Pokemon and moves brings up some recurring themes, namely deception, intimidation, and brutality.

if what you meant is that a Pokémon's feeling of mercilessness (i.e. whatever you wanna call it) makes it a different type, then how come Pokémon known to be inherently gracious and pure aren't... (i.e. Chansey line, Togepi line, Shaymin, etc)

Because these qualities haven't manifested themselves into a fairly large movepool, and they are independent of the elemental types (one of the defining qualities of a Pokemon, as Redstar explained earlier); "nice" isn't super-effective/ineffective against anything that Normal isn't, whereas Dark is immune to Psychic and effective against Ghost.

And regarding Light-types, Steel Pokemon have a few light-based moves (Flash Cannon, Mirror Shot, Doom Desire), whereas Grass and Fire Pokemon have moves based on sunlight (Sunny Day, Synthesis, Solarbeam).







Ah, I have a question.

One of my supports for the Pokeball digitization theory that I never had much reason to include was the fact that data does not weight (lol, I finally get to use that in a sentence).

In all seriousness, if a Pokemon were to be converted into energy, that plasma would be the same weight as the original Pokemon since all the subatomic particles that made the Pokemon are still there, they're just hotter and more widely scattered. Therefore, it would be impossible to carry, say, a Snorlax's PokeBall.

Data, on the other hand, doesn't weigh anything... which brings me to my question: why does a PokeBall shake when you're trying to catch a Pokemon? If the Pokemon has no mass, and therefore no momentum, what's shaking the Ball?

 

[Redstar]

Ah, I have a question.

One of my supports for the Pokeball digitization theory that I never had much reason to include was the fact that data does not weight (lol, I finally get to use that in a sentence).

In all seriousness, if a Pokemon were to be converted into energy, that plasma would be the same weight as the original Pokemon since all the subatomic particles that made the Pokemon are still there, they're just hotter and more widely scattered. Therefore, it would be impossible to carry, say, a Snorlax's PokeBall.

Data, on the other hand, doesn't weigh anything... which brings me to my question: why does a PokeBall shake when you're trying to catch a Pokemon? If the Pokemon has no mass, and therefore no momentum, what's shaking the Ball?

The Pokemon's soul. While the matter of the Pokemon's physical form is converted into data which can readily be stored, the soul cannot be broken down into something so quaint as data and thus remains outside the ball. It acts on it, attempting to break it open to rejoin with its vessel, but eventually submits. At that point I guess it just "floats" around, waiting for you to release the body.

 

[Yams]

Ah, I have a question.

One of my supports for the Pokeball digitization theory that I never had much reason to include was the fact that data does not weight (lol, I finally get to use that in a sentence).

In all seriousness, if a Pokemon were to be converted into energy, that plasma would be the same weight as the original Pokemon since all the subatomic particles that made the Pokemon are still there, they're just hotter and more widely scattered. Therefore, it would be impossible to carry, say, a Snorlax's PokeBall.

Data, on the other hand, doesn't weigh anything... which brings me to my question: why does a PokeBall shake when you're trying to catch a Pokemon? If the Pokemon has no mass, and therefore no momentum, what's shaking the Ball?

Well we know that Pokemon can fight their way out of a Pokeball, otherwise I would be catching Rayquaza with a Nest Ball. Maybe there is some matter to energy conversion, though just a tiny bit of DNA, that lets the data know more what to do when the pokemon 's data is sent out of the Pokeball. The more complex a certain Pokemon's DNA is, the more complicated the things a pokeball has to do, where catch rate is the complexity of the DNA. Because it's so complicated, maybe the pokeball shakes when it's "loading" just as an aesthetic effect. Like how when we know a computer is loading it has the little spinning thing. This doesn't explain why it's easier to catch pokemon with less health though.

 

[The Scientist]

Well we know that Pokemon can fight their way out of a Pokeball, otherwise I would be catching Rayquaza with a Nest Ball. Maybe there is some matter to energy conversion, though just a tiny bit of DNA, that lets the data know more what to do when the pokemon 's data is sent out of the Pokeball. The more complex a certain Pokemon's DNA is, the more complicated the things a pokeball has to do, where catch rate is the complexity of the DNA. Because it's so complicated, maybe the pokeball shakes when it's "loading" just as an aesthetic effect. Like how when we know a computer is loading it has the little spinning thing. This doesn't explain why it's easier to catch pokemon with less health though.

This is where Redstar's explanation comes in handy: by fighting and nearly defeating a Pokemon, you're "breaking its spirit", weakening its fighting willpower and reducing the chance it will be able to break open the PokeBall.

The idea that the Pokemon's spirit stays outside of the Ball though... that's just novel. Besides answering the previous question, it also answers if/how Pokemon are aware of what's going on outside of their PokeBall, settles the debate on whether Ghost Pokemon are actually ghosts, and also supports a few other things.

Damn, Redstar just completed multiple theories in one shot.

I knew there was a reason I voted for him in MotM.

 

[I Laugh at your Misfortune!]

however, it is clearly stated in canon that there is no such thing as an 'evil Pokémon' (by Meowth; don't remember the episode), and that Pokémon only act in evil ways when told to do so by their trainers, meaning that what you said must be false...

what you described in your post would more accurately describe 'shadow Pokémon' from XD or the TCG... and being evil isn't something that they are born with... it is something that they choose (definition of evil in Pokémon).

anyone else have a suggestion?

I believe the episode in question was "Island of the giant Pokemon". When TR's Pokemon and the twerps' pokemon were forced to team up to find their trainers, TR's Pokemon explained that they themselves were not evil, they simply carried out the orders of their masters, which happened to be evil.

And I always thought that "Dark" kinda just meant as in fighting dirty; using cunning and sneakery to win.

 

[Åzurε]

oooo, sneakery. But yeah, I thought Dark pokemon were just sort of darkness-powered, not as having villainous behavior as a defining trait. As much as I'd love to avoid the aura thing, PXD's animation for Bite makes it more likely. Dark energy manifests on command of the user and attacks as jaws biting down on the enemy. Less controlled examples would be actually using teeth laced with said power.

And I do like Redstar's Pokeball hypothesis. Very nice there.

 

[drunk ¬_¬]

I never used the word merciless, nor did I suggest it was a quality inherent in Dark types. Dark types are simply a force, like Sauron. They're a mentality that allows them a different way of interacting with life. They tap into powers similar to Psychic, but otherwise different. A Jedi/Sith kinda thing (though the comparison disgusts me).

For congruency reasons, Bite's changing of type over time is an example of progression in the Pokemon world. In the days of RBY, Pokemon would just bite something and call it a Bite attack. However, when the Dark-type was later identified and people saw how effective their Bite was, it started a movement to replace the standard Bite with the more vicious Dark Bite.

Because these qualities haven't manifested themselves into a fairly large movepool, and they are independent of the elemental types (one of the defining qualities of a Pokemon, as Redstar explained earlier); "nice" isn't super-effective/ineffective against anything that Normal isn't, whereas Dark is immune to Psychic and effective against Ghost.

alright, so we're talking about some sort of 'dark-force' that seems to be super-effective against psychic pokémon's heightened senses, and ghost pokémon's heightened spirituality, thus explaining some of the mystery behind dark-type ATTACKS.

i can understand that dark-type attacks aren't effective against fighters since they have harder, stronger bodies, and are able to overcome the dark-type's (mind control to some extent???), but...

1. how come dark-type attacks are ineffective vs. steel-types?
and more importantly...

2. what defines a POKéMON as a dark-type???

 

[The Scientist]

As much as I'd love to avoid the aura thing,

You liar, you've always been biased towards aura theories lol.

1. how come dark-type attacks are ineffective vs. steel-types?
and more importantly...

2. what defines a POKéMON as a dark-type???

Dark type attacks are basically standard attacks boosted by the Dark-type's malevolence/trickery. You can think of Dark type attacks as having two components: a physical and a psychological. The Steel types' physical defenses are so high that they only suffer the psychological damage and are practically immune to the physical. The result? Dark attacks only deal 1/2 the usual damage to them.

A Pokemon is a Dark type when it has an inherent tendency towards the aforementioned Dark-type traits (deception, intimidation, and brutality). These traits manifest themselves in a "dark" aura (no, mOOG, go away) that overwhelms and nullifies the psychologically-sensitive Psychic Pokemon.

I get the feeling you're soon going to ask why Bug and Fighting are super-effective against Dark-types, so I'll just answer that one now. Dark types use their mild intimidation factor to weaken opponents. Would you want to mess with something like a Sharpedo or Tyranitar? I didn't think so.

Fighting Pokemon also have inherent tendencies, but theirs lean towards bravery: they aren't intimidated by the Dark types' wiles, and in fact will probably see that intimidation as a challenge. Therefore, they strike at stronger-than-normal power.

Bug Pokemon have unusual [hive]minds. Their thought processes are so simple and scattered, they just don't pick up on the Dark Pokemon's aura and strike with unhindered power.

 

[Yams]

I think everyone understands why Flying-type is super effective against bug, but why is that so against Grass. I feel like there is something obvious to this question, but at risk of being foolish, i'll ask anyway.

Also, why do you think Steel-type isn't weak to Electric-type?

 

[thegeneticway]

I think everyone understands why Flying-type is super effective against bug, but why is that so against Grass. I feel like there is something obvious to this question, but at risk of being foolish, i'll ask anyway.

Also, why do you think Steel-type isn't weak to Electric-type?

Well, I guess if you're a bird trying to swoop down at a worm, you might break some grass. And when trying to pluck a worm, you also might break a grass piece.

I'm not sure about the steel type though.

 

[Redstar]

The reason why Flying types are strong against Grass is a bit vague, but I believe it can be explained. Flying types were at first mostly based on birds, and even now generally have some bird-like origin. It can be believed that birds have some dominance over Grass, since they typically tear up grass and branches to makes nests and use trees as shelter. (This is more of a symbiotic relationship, but I feel birds get the better side of the bargain)

Another reason is that Bugs eat Grass, and since Flying types target Bugs, they're one step higher on the food-chain. It makes little sense, but I can suppose that it's a "We're your masters; we can save you by eating Bugs, or destroy you by letting them have at you."

I think the Steel question is much easier: metal conducts electricity, letting it flow through it easily. Metal doesn't fight against electricity, it allows it a passage to get from one point to another. Living beings, on the other hand, work against it and in doing so are damaged. Metal works with it.

 

[Yams]

But doesn't water also conduct electricity? So it wouldn't make sense why Electric is super-effecive against Water but not Steel.

 

[Redstar]

True enough, but Water Pokemon typically aren't water... They just have it inside them. The electricity runs through the water and fries their organic parts.

Steel types are unaffected because they're generally entirely steel, so nothing to fry, or because the steel forms a layer of skin or the skin itself is composed similarly to steel so that the electricity runs with it.

 

[Yams]

Are there actual fruit and vegetables in the Pokemon world, or are they all replaced by berries? Try to ignore the first generation, they didnt have berries, so of course there were fruit and vegetables in that time period of the anime.

 

[Destiny Bond]

Okay, you know how do pokemon, like Quilfish and Lanturn battle out of water? DO they have some kind of special feature that makes them breathe?

 

[Dr Gregory House]

Well, this post is related to the Dark/Ghost/Psychic theory.
If we consider it as Dark Matter, then we are able to say that the emissions and radiations emitted from the 'Bite' attack are not physically visible, but, quote wikipedia, "who's existence can be inferred from its gravitational effect on visible matter".
The idea that dark matter literally exists of nothing, that is, that it is not made up of atoms, we can assume that these 'Dark Matters' are made of supersymetric particles and thus can annihilate other 'Dark Matters', thus creating the presence of Photons and Neutrinos. If we consider the Photon as the basic form of electromagnitism, then when a Dark pokemon uses Bite, and creates this Photon Reaction around a Ghost/Psychic pokemon, it is literally creating and destroying matter around it, thus causing a HUGE, or considered otherworldy distortion of electromagnetism.
We should also remember that the Photons of electromagnetism can be considered in the form of Plasma, thus the mythical 4th Dimension state.
This means that not only physical, but spiritual effects (as, if spirits are not visible, but yet are present, then they must be considered a form of Dark Matter, or, as one would call it, electromagnetic energy, or plasmatic [i made that word up] matter).
I.E., Dark attacks literally break apart the Ghost/Psychic pokemon's soul/spirit (electromagnetic state of being). At least, that's the best deifinition I can give.

Fighting Pokemon also have inherent tendencies, but theirs lean towards bravery: they aren't intimidated by the Dark types' wiles, and in fact will probably see that intimidation as a challenge. Therefore, they strike at stronger-than-normal power.

Bug Pokemon have unusual [hive]minds. Their thought processes are so simple and scattered, they just don't pick up on the Dark Pokemon's aura and strike with unhindered power.

I would like to dispute this. I would say that with Bug Pokemon, they have exoskeletons, and if the human bone can be stronger than steel then we can assume that the annihilation reaction (aka the creation of photons and neutrinos) would have no affect to them... or at least, VERY LITTLE.
The same goes for the fighting type, they are very strong and are likely to have overdeveloped muscles, I.E. they have a heightened physical strength to the annihilitic creation of Photons and Neutrinos, which means that they are also less affected by Dark type attacks (their matter is less distortable by the physical creation of matter around them).
Now, it's a little bit different for Steel... because it is such a strong alloy (that is the ionic bonds are strong) and many other chemicals are within it to enhance it's tensile strength etc. Because so much bonding is occuring within the steel, the annihilitic creation reaction would have a much harder time breaking the ionic bonds, than, say, the intermolecular bonds of human flesh, or the carbon chains of an ether. Thus, it takes FAR MORE energy to break steel, therefore the Dark attack type is weak against it. (Not to mention the high boiling point :3)

We can also relate this to the Pokeball theory (which I have pondered quite a bit). If we base Dark attacks on this technicality of dark matter annihilation reactions, then we can typically assume that Dark attacks would affect Pokemon INSIDE their Pokeballs, such to say that the electromagnetic energy of the converted 'Pokeballed'-mon would become physical, thus creating defects in the Pokemon... and possibly exploding the Pokeball (on the basis of an annihilation reaction) by creating Photons and Neutrinos, thus forcing a huge amount of physical atomic force from WITHIN the Pokeball.
And if such is to say that Pokeballs can be affected by this, then there must be some assumption that they have a superconductor of electromagnetic energy that protects it from Dark attacks, and also possibly to provide energy to contain the temperature of the heat energy within the pokeball (in the sense that they literally become attached to their trainer by feeding of their trainer's electromagnetic energy).

And as for you question, Destiny Bond, the Pokemon Designers decided to break the laws of physics, as in the Matrix, and decided that water Pokemon should be able to breathe outside of water.

And as for Yams, I think it's quite palpable that it is safe to assume that fruit and vegetables have been replaced by berries.

Also, I was having a bit of a ponder about the electric type. Because, if they have superimmense amounts of electromagnetic thermal energy (to be able to create electric attacks) then, technically, shouldn't the surface and core temperature of the pokemon be extremely high? And in which case, how would steel/electric types cope with that? Would they not melt?
And then, on that basis, shouldn't they, by default, also be able to emit fire attacks? Although this would be like overheat, because their physical body wouldn't be able to cope with the huge power of the heat energy that is released from their inner thermal energy. Right?
And what about the Rock type? I mean, how do they physically BE, and yet they are made of an inanimate object. Would they have some sort of core plasma? Are they operated by a remote soul or being? Are they simply inhabited by this soul/being?

And on the porygon theory, I think it's possible that it's made from a base code, that is similar to Ditto, in a way. Although Ditto is not a code, it acts like a code. Because when it transforms it morphs into another Pokemon, now that doesn't just 'happen'. It has to undergo Biological mutation, not just that, it has to be reversible. So then, it must be made up of programmable stem cells, so to speak, that can perform any action as necessary. Porygon must be similar to this, except that Porygon only immitates the behaviour (it can assume the same type etc). But, it cannot transform. So that must mean that there is some sort of mechanical mechanism within a Porygon, where as Ditto is naturally a mutating Pokemon. So that begs the question, how exactly is Ditto able to fully mutate, and yet Porygon is only able to imitate? Is there some mechanical or biological difference between the two?
But what's even more interesting is how a 'software upgrade' can evolve a Porygon. That seems to give it the representation of a computer. If so, then it's more like a machine that is merely projecting an outer shell of a Pokemon, otherwise why would it be able to upgrade it's software and thus its appearance and states?

I love this whole science thread, I think it's great.

:3

 

[The Scientist]

Okay, you know how do pokemon, like Quilfish and Lanturn battle out of water? DO they have some kind of special feature that makes them breathe?

See 1:32 - 2:01.

Non-fish Water Pokemon have no problems on land, with exceptions like Gyarados which has a mystical dragon aspect to it.

In the games, to prevent Trainers from being limited, no feature was implemented to reference fish Pokemon survival on land... although the Stadium/Colosseum games will have them floating in midair.

If we consider it as Dark Matter, then we are able to say that the emissions and radiations emitted from the 'Bite' attack are not physically visible, but, quote wikipedia, "who's existence can be inferred from its gravitational effect on visible matter".

Occam's Razor: the most likely theory is the one that requires the least amount of assumptions. The common "malevolent/trickster" element in all Dark Pokemon is alluded to in each one's Pokedex entry and through observation, and the fact that their aura can be damaging is referenced to by the attack description for Dark Pulse.

To call upon dark matter (possibly arbitrarily because of the word "dark") is a bit of a stretch. Also, the Japanese term for Dark Pokemon isn't Dark at all, it's [roughly] "Evil".

The idea that dark matter literally exists of nothing, that is, that it is not made up of atoms, we can assume that these 'Dark Matters' are made of supersymetric particles and thus can annihilate other 'Dark Matters', thus creating the presence of Photons and Neutrinos. If we consider the Photon as the basic form of electromagnitism, then when a Dark pokemon uses Bite, and creates this Photon Reaction around a Ghost/Psychic pokemon, it is literally creating and destroying matter around it, thus causing a HUGE, or considered otherworldy distortion of electromagnetism.
We should also remember that the Photons of electromagnetism can be considered in the form of Plasma, thus the mythical 4th Dimension state.
This means that not only physical, but spiritual effects (as, if spirits are not visible, but yet are present, then they must be considered a form of Dark Matter, or, as one would call it, electromagnetic energy, or plasmatic [i made that word up] matter).
I.E., Dark attacks literally break apart the Ghost/Psychic pokemon's soul/spirit (electromagnetic state of being). At least, that's the best deifinition I can give.

Dark matter is an antigravitory force, not antimatter. It is used as a "placeholder" in our universe, an explanation as to why all the solid, gravitational matter doesn't just attract each other and pull everything inward in a Big Crunch. If it were antimatter, we would be experiencing violent annihilation reactions in 30%+ of our universe because antimatter doesn't discriminate: it annihilates with ALL matter regardless of form. Also, dark matter does not react with light/photons at all: it has the unique property of neither absorbing nor reflecting light, the reason it was called "dark" in the first place. The EM spectrum is composed of varying frequencies and intensities of energy waves, not particles. Plasma is a state similar to that of a gas, but the individual particles have absorbed so much energy that the atoms split into subatomic charged particles. You can't have plasma without intense heat.

I would like to dispute this. I would say that with Bug Pokemon, they have exoskeletons, and if the human bone can be stronger than steel then we can assume that the annihilation reaction (aka the creation of photons and neutrinos) would have no affect to them... or at least, VERY LITTLE.
The same goes for the fighting type, they are very strong and are likely to have overdeveloped muscles, I.E. they have a heightened physical strength to the annihilitic creation of Photons and Neutrinos, which means that they are also less affected by Dark type attacks (their matter is less distortable by the physical creation of matter around them).

Bug types aren't resistant to Dark. Regardless, if their exoskeletons provided that much protection we should also see a resistance to the primarily-physical types, like Steel, Rock, and Normal.

Now for Fighting types, assuming that an annihilation reaction was occurring, the fact that they have more muscle tissue does not change that the matter that makes it up are the same as what make up everything: as long as it's made of matter, it will undergo an annihilation.

Also, I was having a bit of a ponder about the electric type. Because, if they have superimmense amounts of electromagnetic thermal energy (to be able to create electric attacks) then, technically, shouldn't the surface and core temperature of the pokemon be extremely high? And in which case, how would steel/electric types cope with that? Would they not melt?
And then, on that basis, shouldn't they, by default, also be able to emit fire attacks? Although this would be like overheat, because their physical body wouldn't be able to cope with the huge power of the heat energy that is released from their inner thermal energy. Right?

The electricity isn't always "turned on", but powered by electrocytes (or in the case of Magnemite et al., an internal capacitor). Electric eels don't boil the water around them even though they're capable of generating massive electrical potential. When the electricity is fired (in burst form, no less), the heat and electrical energy ionize the air, creating a luminescent aura.

And what about the Rock type? I mean, how do they physically BE, and yet they are made of an inanimate object. Would they have some sort of core plasma? Are they operated by a remote soul or being? Are they simply inhabited by this soul/being?

Although Rock Pokemon have rocky exteriors, most appear to be somewhat organic in that they have a need to eat and sleep. I doubt that a Pokemon like Sudowoodo is in the same class as Claydol, Bronzong, and Probopass- Pokemon that are specifically stated to have been inanimate objects that mysteriously came to life. In the case of the latter, they are most likely inhabited by spirits- not the type that can exist on their own, but the ones like what compose Spiritomb.

I love this whole science thread, I think it's great.

Join the Laboratory.

 

[Dr Gregory House]

Occam's Razor: the most likely theory is the one that requires the least amount of assumptions. The common "malevolent/trickster" element in all Dark Pokemon is alluded to in each one's Pokedex entry and through observation, and the fact that their aura can be damaging is referenced to by the attack description for Dark Pulse.

But that doesn't mean to say that they have some sort of 'aura', they could simply just be predispositioned to a 'malevolant' behaviour. So, whilst not being spiritually evil, they are biologically programmed to be evil, thus tending to explain the psychological tendencies of the 'good dark pokemon' we see in the anime etc which have been raised as 'good'.

To call upon dark matter (possibly arbitrarily because of the word "dark") is a bit of a stretch. Also, the Japanese term for Dark Pokemon isn't Dark at all, it's [roughly] "Evil".

If it is classified as 'evil', then what do they really have to compare it against? I mean, there's no 'light' or 'angel' type, is there?

Dark matter is an antigravitory force, not antimatter. It is used as a "placeholder" in our universe, an explanation as to why all the solid, gravitational matter doesn't just attract each other and pull everything inward in a Big Crunch. If it were antimatter, we would be experiencing violent annihilation reactions in 30%+ of our universe because antimatter doesn't discriminate: it annihilates with ALL matter regardless of form.

Not quite, see, what I was talking about was dark matter actually annihilating with dark matter (through some sort of weird containment function or whatever) so that it actually imposes gravitational matter onto the foe that it is attacking, thus the intense damage that we see against ghost and psychic types.

Also, dark matter does not react with light/photons at all: it has the unique property of neither absorbing nor reflecting light, the reason it was called "dark" in the first place. The EM spectrum is composed of varying frequencies and intensities of energy waves, not particles. Plasma is a state similar to that of a gas, but the individual particles have absorbed so much energy that the atoms split into subatomic charged particles. You can't have plasma without intense heat.

Again, the dark matter does not 'react' with it, as such... but I can agree with the Plasma part... that's just a bigger part of the Pokeball problem...

Bug types aren't resistant to Dark. Regardless, if their exoskeletons provided that much protection we should also see a resistance to the primarily-physical types, like Steel, Rock, and Normal.

I guess that's true, but how else is there to explain it?

Now for Fighting types, assuming that an annihilation reaction was occurring, the fact that they have more muscle tissue does not change that the matter that makes it up are the same as what make up everything: as long as it's made of matter, it will undergo an annihilation.

Then yet again, how do you suppose to explain it?

The electricity isn't always "turned on", but powered by electrocytes (or in the case of Magnemite et al., an internal capacitor). Electric eels don't boil the water around them even though they're capable of generating massive electrical potential. When the electricity is fired (in burst form, no less), the heat and electrical energy ionize the air, creating a luminescent aura.

Inside the organ are many muscle-like cells, called electrocytes. Each cell can only produce 0.15V, though working together the organ transmits a signal of about 10V in amplitude at around 25 Hz. These signals are what is emitted by the Main organ and Hunter's organ that can be emitted at rates of several hundred Hz. These high voltage EODs may reach up to 650 volts.
There are reports of animals producing larger voltages, but the typical output is sufficient to stun or deter virtually any other animal.
Luminescence is lighthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light that usually occurs at low temperatures, and is thus a form of cold body radiation. It can be caused by chemical reactionshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_reaction, electrical energy, subatomic motions, or stresshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_(physics) on a crystal. This distinguishes luminescence from incandescencehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incandescence, which is light generated by high temperatures.
In terms of Pokemon, and the Electric Eel, I would suggest we are talking about Electroluminescence. This is different from Bioluminescence as the animal is not reacting Adenosine Triphosphate within its inner body structure.
Electroluminescence is the result of radiative recombination of electrons and holes in a material (usually a semiconductor). The excited electrons release their energy as photons - light. Prior to recombination, electrons and holes are separated either as a result of doping of the material to form a p-n junction, or through excitation by impact of high-energy electrons accelerated by a strong electric field.
If we relate this to a Pokemon, say, Magnemite, then it's likely suggestible that within the centre of it it has a superconductor... Or at least a semi conductor. This, combine with nano-electronic plates aligned in supersymetrical circle form would have the capacity to creat large electric burtsts of energy (thus explaining thunder, zap cannon, etc).
If we were talking about, say, Rayquaza or a Pikachu, then it is more likely related to the structure of the Electric Eel. These Pokemon are likely to have thousands of electrocytes, alligned, yet again, in a form of supersymetrical structure, thus allowing for the combined strength of a Thunder Attack.
What this tends not to explain is Registeel, or Regice, as they are completely hollow. Thus, their inner body does not contain electrocytes, and yet they are able to use Zap Cannon.

Although Rock Pokemon have rocky exteriors, most appear to be somewhat organic in that they have a need to eat and sleep. I doubt that a Pokemon like Sudowoodo is in the same class as Claydol, Bronzong, and Probopass- Pokemon that are specifically stated to have been inanimate objects that mysteriously came to life. In the case of the latter, they are most likely inhabited by spirits- not the type that can exist on their own, but the ones like what compose Spiritomb.

In saying that, though, Spiritomb is not relying on its physical being to survive, as such, it merely relies on the rock to give it physical appearance.
These other Pokemon, however, seem to be physically part of the rock that they are living in, i.e. they were 'brought to life'... which is different from Spiritomb, that merely attaches to the rock or whatever.

Join the Laboratory.

Where do I join?
:3

 

[The Scientist]

If it is classified as 'evil', then what do they really have to compare it against? I mean, there's no 'light' or 'angel' type, is there?

The first part of my statement was asking why you picked dark matter as an explanation for Dark-types' abilities when a perfectly reasonable explanation was already given, one that actually has some sort of canonical support; I get the feeling that it was completely arbitrary, based solely on the presence of the word "dark", which is why I brought up the Japanese name for that type. As far as why there isn't a Light type, that was already discussed.

I guess that's true, but how else is there to explain it?

Well, Bug types aren't resistant to Dark, but their effectiveness can be explained here. Fighting-types' resistance to Dark are similar to Steel's in that they don't take much psychological damage from the attack, mainly physical (and thus they only take half the damage).

that's just a bigger part of the Pokeball problem...

The PokeBall problem has also been dealt with. Since plasma has too many flaws, we've settled on digitization.

Ref. 1
Ref. 2

What this tends not to explain is Registeel, or Regice, as they are completely hollow. Thus, their inner body does not contain electrocytes, and yet they are able to use Zap Cannon.

Technically, humans are "hollow" also- you can think of our bodies as the lumen of a long tube, the GI tract, which is basically empty. Humans are also extremely good capacitors, capable of holding ridiculous amounts of charge. Registeel and Regice most likely operate on this principle, that instead of generating electricity, they charge somewhere else and release the electricity afterwards. The fact that they're composed of water and metal probably helps.

In saying that, though, Spiritomb is not relying on its physical being to survive, as such, it merely relies on the rock to give it physical appearance.

Pokemon like Banette, Regirock, and Claydol start off as inanimate objects, when they are possessed by some sort of spirit. If that type of spirit was an already-existing Ghost Pokemon, it wouldn't need a host body- it is capable of existing independently. The only other type of spirit mentioned ingame that can't live on its own are the type that compose Spiritomb.

Where do I join?

The entrance to the Laboratory is in my signature. Once there, there should be a button on your left that says "Join This Group".

 

[Dr Gregory House]

hi everybody im new here whats it like here?

Hi, and welcome, I guess.
This place is the very quintessence of speculation and conjuration of ideas.
If you have anything 'scientifical' to ask about Pokemon, feel free.