Gift Pokémon

Besides your starters, a few NPCs give you a Pokémon for nothing. Some only ask for a free party slot; others want badges or a finished quest first. This page lists every one of them.

At a glance

• NPCs who give Pokémon: 7, spread over all four regions
• Make room first: most gifts need a free slot in your party
• Once only: each gift can be collected once per account
• Yours: you are the gift’s original trainer, so it counts as caught by you
• Starters: each region’s starter choice is on starters

Every gift

Pokémon	Who	Where	You need
Rockruff	Cynthia	Eterna Pass (Sinnoh)	2 Sinnoh badges and a free party slot
Castform	Weather Institute staff	Weather Institute 1F (Hoenn)	Team Magma driven out of the Weather Institute, and a free party slot
Maschiff	Uncle Giles	Route 101 (Hoenn)	4 Hoenn badges and a free party slot
Pikachu-Original and two Kanto starters	Ash	Viridian Forest, Mt. Moon and the S.S. Anne (Kanto)	Beating Ash each time; see Ash and Lucarionite
Duraludon	Steel Collector Rex	Celadon City House#4 2F (Kanto)	Room in your party or PC
Basculegion	Dr. Marina	Silph Co. 7F (Kanto)	Room in your party or PC
A shiny Delibird	Guitar Boy Sitara	Goldburn City Shores (Jvaloh)	The Old Man Rajeev quest, and a free party slot

What you get

• Level 1. Every gift starts at level 1, so train it up before it battles at the front.
• Fixed natures. Rockruff, Duraludon and Basculegion have the Hardy nature, which changes no stat. Maschiff comes with Adamant, Naughty, Jolly or Naive, all of which raise Attack or Speed.
• Fixed IVs. Duraludon and Basculegion have 20 IVs in every stat, like a starter.
• Region. A gift belongs to the region where you receive it. See Pokémon are tied to their region.

Uncle Giles gives you a Maschiff once you have 4 Hoenn badges.

Where to find them

• Cynthia shows up in Eterna Pass once you have 2 Sinnoh badges. See Eterna Forest and Eterna City.
• The Weather Institute staff give the Castform once you have beaten Team Magma there, off Route 119. See the Weather Institute.
• Uncle Giles stands on Route 101, between Littleroot Town and Oldale Town, and waits until you have 4 Hoenn badges.
• Steel Collector Rex is upstairs in a house in Celadon City, and Dr. Marina is on the seventh floor of Silph Co. in Saffron City.

Eterna PassCynthia waits in Eterna Pass with a Rockruff.

Route 101Uncle Giles gives away a Maschiff on Route 101.Wild Pokémon here

Silph Co. 7FDr. Marina works on Silph Co. 7F.

Not quite gifts

• Pokémon swaps. Some NPCs give you a Pokémon in exchange for one of yours, such as the Sea Sage’s Phione for three sea Pokémon. See NPC Pokémon trades.
• Pokémon chests. Opening one starts a wild battle that you still have to win and catch. See Pokémon chests.
• Fusions. The Fusion Masters combine two legendaries you already own. See Legendary Pokémon.

Related pages

NPC Pokémon tradesEvery NPC who swaps a Pokémon for one of yours.

Building a teamStarters, early catches and natures.

Catching PokémonPoké Balls, catching tips and where to find Pokémon.

Pokémon locationsEvery wild Pokémon, area by area.