Medicham
Self-Name: Charem
I have mentioned pokémon typings before and briefly touched on how pokémon can either have one type or be dual-typed. While sometimes arbitrary, typing does affect how pokémon process Infinity Energy--or, more accurately, how pokémon process Infinity Energy affects typing. So there are certain trends across individual types; Fire types have organs that generate flammable substances and resistance to great heat, Steel types either have metallic structures in their anatomy or are apparently completely made of metal, and so on. Dual-type pokémon are called such because they possess two types--that is, they process Infinity Energy in two notable ways. Some types can combine easily and are thus relatively common; plantlike pokémon can better handle generating toxins and spores, so Grass/Poison type Pokemon are quite common. Other type combinations, obviously enough, are difficult to find in nature--I know of only one Fire/Ice-type, and that is a genetic offshoot of a primary species that only gains the Fire typing while in a defensive combat state.
I bring this up because Medichams, the subjects of this entry, have one of the rarest and most interesting (for my purposes) dual typings: Fighting/Psychic. It is so rare, in fact, that Pokérin assumed the Medichams to be the only ones with that type combination until recently when it was proven certain Gardevoirs (the males that develop into the "Gallade" form) were capable of processing Infinity Energy as a Fighting-type pokémon would.
As a side note, I asked Miranda if she was also a Fighting-type upon discovering this. She explained that she knew Fighting-type moves, which is different from being a Fighting-type for reasons I won’t go into here, and that some Gardevoirs would be offended at ‘being mistaken for a Gallade’. See the Gardevoir entry for more about the distinction. Miranda, however, seemed to find my question amusing.
Physically, Medicham are grey humanoids with a pinkish-red headcrest and baggy leg flesh, with golden markings on both. Under other circumstances, they would be an interesting footnote in this list; they practice a culture of habitual meditation and fasting, eating only once a month as they focus on honing their connection to the world around them. A tendency that resembles many monastic traditions across the galaxy, religious or otherwise, and the Medicham have expressed interest in meeting with these other meditators at some point.
However, the dual-typing is of unique importance when it comes to the Intelligence Factor. Psychic types have a greater-than-average tendency toward sapience, which may be in no small part due to their psychic abilities enhancing their brains. Fighting-types, similarly, are one of the types that have a tendency toward sapience; almost every Fighting type pokemon is humanoid, to some degree, and learn their moves from observation and training. Pokemon of either type that failed the intelligence factor tests generally still scored high enough to be considered intelligent animals, akin to the great apes of Earth. In essence, Fighting-types approach intelligence through competition, being able to easily learn how to become better physical fighters and adepts, while Psychic types approach intelligence through contemplation, tracking and refining their own thought processes and that of their offspring.
And the Medicham, uniquely, hone both body and mind to an extreme degree. Their duels are as much mental as they are physical, often posing questions and debating matters psychically while they are engaged in martial arts. Fosic and Miranda were able to gain their respect by engaging in such a debate, and a few have joined us during our investigations; it’s not uncommon for particularly thorny questions about pokmon sapience to be accompanied by these philosophical battles.