## Happiness & Friendship

Every Pokémon carries a hidden **friendship** value from 0 to 255. It starts at a species base (commonly 70, lower for a few) and rises as the Pokémon travels with you: walking a few hundred steps, levelling up, drinking vitamins, or being caught in a **Luxury Ball** all nudge it up. Letting it faint, or using bitter medicine like Energy Powder, knocks it back down. The **Soothe Bell**, held, increases every gain.

Friendship powers more than evolution. The moves **Return** and **Frustration** scale their damage with it — Return grows stronger the friendlier the Pokémon (up to 102 power at maximum), while Frustration does the opposite. A few friendship evolutions (Golbat, Pichu, Chansey, Eevee) also read this value.

You can check a Pokémon's friendship in-game by talking to the friendship-rater NPC (in FireRed/LeafGreen she lives on the islands), who describes it in words rather than numbers.
