The Solar Wind Pokémon
Amazingly, exposure to a special mineral caused the Aerodactyl native to the Orre region to evolve into the mighty Aerocoatlus. Its fossils, once prized by natives as the bones of a sun god, suggest that it could chase down prey as effectively on the ground as in the sky.
Its wings burn as hot as the sun, allowing it to soar from one hunting ground to the next by generating its own thermals. It creates tremendously destructive wildfires while flying, but ironically, the ash left behind is a rich fertilizer that invigorates the landscape in its wake.
Name origin: Aerodactyl + Quetzalcoatlus
Type: Fire/Flying
Abilities: Flame Body/Pressure (Hidden Ability:
Thermal Boost [Chlorophyll rename])
Stats: 90/90/75/110/80/70 - 515
Height: 7'
Weight: 195.6 lbs
New Moves: Morning Sun,
Fire Bomb (Fire-type Misty Explosion clone created by
sharpen42),
Sirocco (Flying-type Hurricane clone that burns instead of confusing the target; accuracy is 100% in harsh sunlight)
Evolution: Give Orrean Aerodactyl a Sun Stone
Flavor/Design: When given a Sun Stone, Orrean Aerodactyl evolves into a colossal, majestic king of the skies that hasn't been seen since the Cretaceous period - though perhaps certain Orrean temple carvings resembling it might not be so fanciful after all. It basically looks like Aerodactyl went through Willy Wonka's taffy stretcher, as its neck, legs, and head are now longer and thinner than its pre-evolution. The shape of the wing membrane is reminiscent of
arvalis' Pokémon-ified Monsterverse Rodan, but the membrane attaches to the legs as well as the arms, running from the underarm to the ankle like an actual pterosaur. The legs themselves are likewise longer than Kantonian Aerodactyl's, with the rear talon being a vestigial stub since its limbs are used for running rather than grabbing prey; the length of the wings does not change, though, making them look a bit shorter relative to the rest of the body. The overall body shape, especially when on all fours while grounded, is reminiscent of the
Azhdarchidae, the pterosaur group
Quetzalcoatlus is part of which have recently been found to be terrestrial ground-stalking predators that look for all the world like reptilian carnivorous giraffes. That can
fly. Yeah. Anyway, the obsidian spikes atop its snoot have grown into a covering on the upper jaw and the ridges over its eyes that forms a helmet-like shape and a long, viciously serrated beak with a serrated topside and mouth edges, while its lower jaw is now toothless but also sports a shorter beak of its own formed from the rock spike of its pre-evo; the angular shapes of the armor are reminiscent of a Mesoamerican Feathered Serpent statue. The spikes on its back and the rear of its head are further reduced into smooth blue-black nubs, and amazingly, growing from these are clusters of feathers which are a vivid blood-red fading to blazing orange then yellow, the plumage on the back of its head invoking a Mesoamerican feather headdress. A similar feather plume replaces the arrowhead on the end of its tail, which is now even shorter and almost stubby. All of these feathers, along with the trailing edges of the wings as before, trail flames behind them like a meteor as it flies. The bottom wing membrane itself seems to be made entirely of fire, with flickering red and orange patterns along its edges and the underside being luminescent yellow fading to orange along the edge. The body is otherwise a dark blue-green with a series of ruby-red armor plates on the underside of the torso, with three small rock spikes on the base of the neck like a ceremonial arrowhead necklace.
The shiny colors for this line reverse the color change between the two stages, with Orrean Aerodactyl being blue-green with a red chestplate and Aerocoatlus getting the Rodan-like red body and amber belly armor. The flames that are red, orange, and yellow normally are also white, purple, and blue in the shiny.
Stat Changes: For this regional evolution, I wanted to take on the challenge of coming up with a transition similar to the one from Scyther to Scizor: a different typing, a different stat distribution, a different competitive role, and different movesets to go with it, but the BST remains
exactly the same. I rearranged the stat spread accordingly so that Aerocoatlus sacrifices some of its Speed for Special Attack instead. This is a 'mon built for Sun teams, its Hidden Ability allowing it to essentially recoup its Speed loss as long as sunny weather is at hand, along with boosting its Special Attack to god-tier levels. Not only would it be able to utterly devastate whatever its manage to hit with a single Fire Blast, but it gets a powerful custom Flying-type STAB attack as well which synergizes well with harsh sunlight,
and Solar Beam to wipe out Water- and Rock-types that would otherwise threaten it. Unfortunately, despite now preferring to hunt on the ground, it can't actually learn any Ground-type moves. This omission was completely intentional, because given how terrifying it otherwise is in harsh sunlight, I wanted it to buckle in the face of
something and given its access to Solar Beam, this left the Electric type as the only type it is both weak to and has no answers for. One final note is that Aerocoatlus does in fact get a recovery move - Roost is there, but ditching the Flying type for even a single turn might not be the smartest idea for something weak to Earthquake - and the fact that it's especially effective in harsh sunlight would make it a godsend, at least on paper. Ideally, though, it would be most useful on something with high defenses and HP that can afford to bring a stalling strategy into play, but Aerocoatlus is better off devoting its efforts to a strategy that can better take advantage of its absurd Sp. Atk., especially given that its pitiful defenses have only nominally improved compared to its predecessor.