Pet Mod DLCmons: Ultra V2 (Fakemon slate)

hi hello i have been sent here for the purpose of making some submissions

Name: Feraloink
Stats:
HP: 100
Atk: 88
Def: 70
SpA: 112
SpD: 120
Spe: 50
Typing: Poison/Fairy
Abilities: Storm Drain/Aftermath
Notable Moves Gunk Shot, Earthquake, Superpower, Play Rough, Sludge Bomb, Earth Power, Surf, Dazzling Gleam, Toxic, Stealth Rock, Rest, Sleep Talk
Description:
Pigs are one of the invasive species introduced to Hawaii for domestication purposes; however, wild pigs have become an issue due to causing damage to the environment, and therefore the natural habitat of many birds, including the Hawaiian honeycreeper. The damage they cause also naturally creates storm drains, but in areas that often aren't desirable - these storm drains can result in undesired erosion in forests, and even breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitos. Its Poison typing is from feral pigs often carrying disease themselves (which can also be transmitted through water surfaces they come into contact with), while its Fairy typing is a nod to its invasive (and therefore "alien") nature.

With its high SpDef, it naturally has a solid matchup against Oricorio, but the fact that it doesn't necessarily hurt them directly is reflected in the Fairy typing's poor matchup against Fire (or its general lack of resistance to Oricorio's STABs). Outside of Oricorio, however, it also presents a great answer to Rain and more specifically, Komodond. Its movepool allows it to act either as a bulkier support Pokemon, with moves such as Toxic and Ground coverage for opposing Poison types, or as a strong special attacker to abuse Storm Drain's SpAtk boosts.
It will, however, always struggle against opposing Ground types, and still isn't the strongest or bulkiest Pokemon around, especially on the physically defensive side.

Name: Puoink
Stats:
HP: 75
Atk: 88
Def: 70
SpA: 62
SpD: 100
Spe: 40
Typing: Poison
Abilities: Aftermath

Name: Vectiger
Stats:
HP: 75
Atk: 130
Def: 63
SpA: 60
SpD: 97
Spe: 90
Typing: Bug/Dark
Abilities: Poison Touch/Dew Eater - if rain would be activated, it is negated and this Pokemon gains +1 Attack and +1 Speed. This Pokemon's Water moves aren't affected by Sun's damage reduction (DOESN'T apply to rain that is already up).
NOTE: I previously considered +1 Attack, but it felt like a bit small of a boost considering the ability is a bit difficult/conditional to activate, unless you spend a turn yourself to fizzle a Rain Dance. As such, I've matched it to Dragon Dance's boosts - if that seems like too much I'm definitely okay with going back to just +1 Attack or redesigning it a bit!
Notable Moves U-Turn, Liquidation, Knock Off, Sucker Punch, Fake Out, Rain Dance, Agility
Description:
Vectiger's flavor comes out of several biological aspects of mosquitos. First, one of the major species of mosquito on the island of Molokai is the asian tiger mosquito, hence the name (vector + tiger). Mosquitos (and many insects) in particular enjoy hot, tropical areas due to dried up areas resulting in localized pools of water (ie. creeks, small pools of rainwater, etc.). These pools have very few predators, making them perfect breeding grounds for mosquitos. Second, mosquitos in Hawaii enjoy a specific relationship with invasive pigs - as pigs destroy natural formations, such as trees or erode the ground, pools are formed which mosquitos can take advantage of. The Bug typing is self explanatory, while the Dark typing arises from the disease and death aspect of vector-carrying mosquitos (while there aren't any new Dark types introduced to DLCmons, too). Its new ability, Dew Eater, focuses on how mosquitoes can take advantage of the rain in hot regions but still don't appreciate the rain itself (due to raindrops and wind patterns making it difficult for mosquitos to travel), and also are commonly found in standing water (hence the boost).

Competitively, sun struggles heavily with two specific matchups: rain and opposing Fire types. Rain as a weather naturally dominates Sun due to the super effective matchup (aside from Grass-type Sun abusers, who still struggle against Hurricane abusers), and Fire types can eat up opposing Fire and Grass moves.
With its new ability, Vectiger can support Sun in preventing Rain from going up without the need to potentially risk doubling your Sun setter into the Rain setter and Rocks. Furthermore, it can threaten out opposing Fire types with its Water coverage; while it doesn't get STAB, it is still stronger than other Water Pokemon due to not being weakened by Sun.
However, design-wise, it also follows some of the common weaknesses of Sun abusers: weak to Rocks, still struggles with Hurricane, and most importantly, while it can hurt Heatran, it doesn't necessarily win the 1v1. Furthermore, while getting a free Dragon Dance is extremely powerful, it is more conditional than either of Chlorophyll or Solar Power (either requiring an opponent to use it or your own turn), and also requires some degree of prediction if you plan to double into a rain setter, as it only activates before rain begins and not after it is already put up.

Name: Larvector
Stats:
HP: 45
Atk: 100
Def: 43
SpA: 50
SpD: 57
Spe: 40
Typing: Bug
Abilities: Poison Touch/Water Absorb
 
:Durant:
Flavour
This Pokémon is based on honeypot ants, which are known for storing food so much that their abdomens swell enormously. Through the process of trophallaxis, ants can share their food and liquids with each other. I should note, though, not all honeypot ants turn into living storage orbs but it’s a useful method to share food and liquid during a potential food shortage. These ants are specialized in collecting and storing nectar. So, for the DLC, the ant Pokémon will naturally have to compete with Oricorio who also happen to love nectar.

Like Oricorio, this ant Pokémon will also have different forms depending on which nectar it eats. What this ant Pokémon stores (aside from nectar) will also depend on its form. For instance, the Water form stores Water to make sure no one will be thirsty during a hot, dry summer. The Fire form, on the other hand, stores heat to ensure its colony can survive winter. The Ground form is specialized in storing nutrients while the Poison one defends the colony by spreading Poison that it has collected in its body over the years. This ensures that, if enemies do manage to get access to their nectars, they will die from the inserted poison.

The different types I chose for this ant Pokémon follow the four element theory (Fire-Water-Earth-Air), which is a natural counterpart to the four liquid theory the Oricorio forms are somewhat inspired by as the latter display different temperaments. Now, you might be surprised why one of the ant forms has a Poison type rather than a Flying type to match the air element, and that’s because gases are also classified under air within the four element theory.

Ants are not native to Hawaii but over the two centuries, they’ve been unintentionally introduced by people, and ever since then, some of the 60 different species have become very pesky to deal with as they can affect your food and garden. So, the ant Pokémon could be considered a nuisance for Alolan habitants, which is why they guard their home with Flying and Rock Pokémon, like Oricorio and Lycanroc. But because of the strong rivalry between Oricorio and the ant Pokémon (due to their love for nectar, and they are not ready to share it with each other), people will encourage you to not send out Oricorio at all, unless you are absolutely confident it’s strong enough to defend itself against an army… and risk having your home destroyed. The destructive nature is one of the reasons why this ant Pokémon isn’t very popular among some Alolan people; however, others view it in a more positive light. This is not surprising because in some cultures, ants are often associated with religion, healing powers, and good luck. There’s also the fact that they represent hard work and dedication, both qualities deemed good in many cultures. What’s more, there are also ant totems which represent reliability and responsibility; I imagine in the DLC, this ant Pokémon has the potential to be a totem Pokémon, one that, due to its large HP, can be difficult to face once stats are boosted. This is important to point out as it means this Pokémon can fulfil its job as a guardian very well.


Nectorant (nectar + storage + ant)

Type:
  • Fire + Bug (Heat store form)
  • Water + Bug (Water store form)
  • Ground + Bug (Nutrient store form)
  • Poison + Bug (Gas store form)
Ability: Gluttony, Aftermath, HA: Magic Guard

Stats: 125 HP, 40 Atk, 85 Def, 108 SpA, 85 SpD, 33 Spe

Moves:
  • Bug: Rage Powder, Bug Buzz, Struggle Bug, Infestation, Hive Mind,
  • Grass: Giga Drain, Energy Ball
  • Fire: Sunny Day
  • Water: Rain Dance
  • Poison: Toxic, Acid Spray, Toxic Spikes, Belch
  • Psychic: Stored Power, Extrasensory, Trick Room, Rest, Amnesia, Barrier, Imprison, Healing Wish, Heal Pulse, Skill Swap, Safeguard, Reflect, Light Screen, Magic Coat, Trick
  • Ghost: Shadow Ball
  • Rock: Wide Guard
  • Fighting: Focus Blast, Indomitable Spirit
  • Normal: Yawn, Sleep Talk, Hidden Power, Hyper Beam, Protect, Helping Hand, Substitute, Baton Pass, Recycle, Focus Energy, Slack Off, Stockpile, Growth, Whirlwind, Wish, Nature Power, Weather Ball, Rapid Spin, Make It Drop
  • Fairy: Aromatic Mist
Make It Drop: Type depends on the user’s primary type. After using this move, the user will lose its primary type.
  • Default Type: Normal; special; targets all opposing Pokémon
  • BP: 150; PP: 5 (8 at maximum)
Competitive:

Like Oricorio, this ant Pokémon shines the best in a Doubles format, which further underlines the idea of the two being counterparts in the Alola region. Trick Room + Rage Powder gives Nectorant a unique niche in this region, and there are many other status moves that make it a solid and useful option on a team, such as Helping Hand, Heal Pulse or Wide Guard. Gluttony improves Nectorant’s longevity and support potential and synergizes very well with Rage Powder. Aftermath + Rage Powder also synergize very well with each other.

Since there are four different forms of Nectorant, it shouldn’t be much of a problem to find one that fits your team the best. To give some examples, Fire/Bug pairs extremely well with Kartana as the former pressures Bug (Scizor, Buzzwole), Grass (Lurantis, Tapu Bulu, Tsareena) and Steel (M Metagross, Aegislash, M Mawile) while the latter threatens Rock and Water Pokémon. Of course, you could also try looking for potential Trick Room partners. Pokémon like A-Marowak, Tikilohi, M Mawile, M Camerupt or Kommodont appreciate the resistance and offensive profile of one of the Nectorant’s forms.

Move wise, Nectorant also has a signature move like its counterpart. The name of this move is just to make a little bit fun of this very broken and uninspiring move from gen 9: Make It Rain. I should note, though, that Make It Drop is much more balanced since you can’t spam it mindlessly. As Z-Move is the generational gimmick of the Alola region, you have the option to spam Make It Drop up to twice before you have to switch out in order to use this move. While base 108 SpA may not look impressive on Nectorant, make no mistake; Make It Drop, especially when used as a Z-Move (base 200 power!), can take out tanky Pokémon like M Metagross, M Salamence or Tapu Lele, not counting weakness. But Nectorant does need to run max SpA if you were to go for a OHKO, which cuts into its bulk. So, you have to decide how you want to use Nectorant.

In Singles, I imagine Nectorant will most likely run Magic Guard to not die from hazards. With high HP, decent defensive stats, and a pivot move in Hive Mind, Nectorant will likely be able to pass Wish comfortably and reliably. The Fire/Bug form might be one of the best forms to use Wish as its dualtype comes with a good offensive and resistance profile. For instance, it checks some of the powerful Grass, Steel, Fairy, and Fighting Pokémon in this format.
 
Alola, everyone!
I am here with some subs C:



Prompt 3: Contrariety User

Paddlurch

Type: Poison
Base Stats
: 67 HP / 82 Attack / 45 Defense / 45 Special Attack / 60 Special Defense / 28 Speed || 327 BST

Surfurch (evolves from Paddlurch after getting a score of 35,000 or more in Mantine Surf)

Type: Poison / Fighting
Base Stats
: 87 HP / 112 Attack / 65 Defense / 65 Special Attack / 80 Special Defense / 78 Speed || 487 BST
Abilities:
Poison Point​
Water Veil​
(Hidden) Klutz​
Relevant Moves:
- (physical) Drain Punch, Hammer Arm?, Ice Punch?, Scourge of Surfers, Stone Edge, Superpower, Throat Chop, Zen Headbutt, Zing Zap​
- (special) it seems unlikely in my opinion​
- (status) Contrariety, Taunt, Toxic Spikes, Trick​

Scourge of Surfers (Poison) || Physical || 80 BP / 100% acc / 10 (16) PP
This move is super effective on Water-types.​
If the target is Water-type, it is afflicted with Taunt. (makes contact)

Careful where you step!

These grouchy and irritable Pokémon dwell just below the surface in Alola's waters, on the floors of shallow seas and on any rock and coral structures with comfortable places to sit.​
They don't mind being observed by attentive divers, but too often, oblivious swimmers and surfers try to find their footing and happen to step on a Paddlurch, which doesn't take kindly to the rude disturbance! It retaliates with a sharp stab of its bristly spines, which are easily lodged in the offender's feet.​
Even if a spine is removed, the venomous splinters it leaves behind will cause a painful sting for hours or even days until they dissolve.​
Local surfers say that stepping on a Paddlurch and facing the consequences is like a rite of passage - every one of them has gone through it at some point!​

Tube feet like suction cups

Hidden on the bottom of each of Paddlurch's limbs is an advanced structure that absorbs and releases water to expand and contract.​
They can use these like suction cups to cling to objects underwater, like food they want to pick up or rocky surfaces they're trying to climb. But these suction cups require water to work, so Paddlurch that spend their time on land will often struggle to hold dry objects!​

A rival in Mantine Surf?!

When Paddlurch evolves, it becomes Surfurch, a strong-bodied and agile Pokémon that rules the shallow waters of Oma'oma'o Island.​
Surfurch takes to the water's surface - not only is it a skilled swimmer, but the suction cups on its feet make it easy to cling to the backs of wild Mantine, which it spurs on with adrenaline-inducing venom from its feet while it hunts for prey.​
It may come from spite towards those who disturbed it as a Paddlurch, or it may come from a strong competitive spirit, but Surfurch seems to relish in performing daring tricks while taunting the human surfers it encounters in its territory. Hotheaded surfers may find themselves in need of rescue after being baited into dangerous situations!​

... okay, hi!!
so I've been meaning to submit something to DLCmons for the longest time, but I didn't really start to work on subs until early October, and then... at that point I actually did finish most of this (I was talking about it a ton with ink and Magma especially, so either of them can vouch P:), but I lost a lot of momentum because I had too much work to do for school and never actually posted them; I only picked these back up for the finishing touches (really just these Prompt Discussion sections and telling myself I would begin work on their designs) pretty recently.
These Prompt Discussions are all kinda supplementary and there's no obligation to read them (I know they're quite long P:), but mostly I thought it would be fun to talk about my process, highlight the design goals I was trying to meet for each of these prompts and what I feel makes my subs stand out, and go into depth on how the flavor and mechanics of each one fed into each other, which I think is especially valuable for a mod like DLCmons that has a very specific flavor concept.
Hopefully this is of interest to at least someone reading this!!
Let's get started with Surfurch now!



- To begin with: when I approached this prompt, my starting point was to make a snowball sweeper that relied on Superpower to set up both offensively and defensively, but I also wanted to think about what it meant to use Contrariety as opposed to having Contrary to begin with.

- Unlike a regular Contrary user, a Contrariety user requires multiple turns of setup and an extra moveslot to get to the point of snowballing, so I made choices early on that would make it feel as natural as possible to run the Contrariety + Superpower combination.
Making it a Fighting-type was obvious (compared to vanilla Contrary users like Lurantis, Spinda and Malamar, which are already "allowed" to snowball with Superpower without any extra effort, I thought making it STAB was the kind of extra push my sub would need to justify the extra step of Contrariety), but I also made it Poison-type because I wanted it to be immune to being poisoned, since that's the easiest way to shut down a slow-to-set-up snowball sweeper like this.

- At the same time, I really wanted to capitalize on the fact that Contrariety is an "extra step" compared to a Contrary sweeper - to give it some interesting tools that were only possible because it alternated between Contrary and another Ability, rather than feeling like "Contrary with extra steps."
While I was looking over my options, I quickly became attached to the idea of giving it Water Veil, an interesting starting Ability that would engage with this concept to keep it safe from being burned.
Here's something cool: if a Pokémon is already burned and then ends up with Water Veil, Water Veil will activate immediately to cure the burn that it already has! Contrariety is a temporary effect that wears off when the user switches out, so having Water Veil here is sort of like "Natural Cure for burns" - in addition to making it safe to switch in on Scalds with impunity, it also cures the user's burn on entry in case it's burned and its sweep is shut down prematurely.
This pairs nicely with its Poison type - between the two of them, it's completely immune to one of the worst statuses for its role and now highly resilient to the other.

- From here, I wanted to start getting a feel for the kind of flavor my sub could have and properly build the rest of it around that, so I started looking into venomous animals that could live in Alola.
It turns out there aren't many real-world venomous animals on land at all in Hawaii, but since I was excited about Water Veil anyway, I started exploring aquatic options and thinking about how I could justify the Fighting type on them. This got me looking at sea urchins - specifically wana (long-spined urchins), which have been nicknamed the "scourge of surfers" because... well... what I said in the flavor section is actually true: people do say it's a "rite of passage" for basically all surfers living in Hawaii to step on them at some point!
Since I needed a Fighting-type with Water flavor, I thought it would be a funny twist to make a long-spined urchin that was a surfer, so that's how Surfurch was born! Paddlurch is an urchin that gets stepped on by surfers and develops a grudge against them, and Surfurch is a surfin' urchin that has a rivalry with human surfers. (In Alola, of course, that has to manifest as some kind of relationship with Mantine, too!)



- Okay, so now I had a starting point for both flavor and mechanics! From here, I went through a couple of variations for stats, Abilities and additional moves before I was satisfied.

- Actually, my first draft was mistakenly based on vanilla Gen 7 OU and VGC, forgetting that DLCmons was a regional dex format.​
I was afraid people would just switch Landorus-T in to lower its Attack before it could even use Contrariety, then wall its Fighting/Poison STABs and force it out with Ground-type moves - it would have been a debilitating matchup all around that completely undermined Contrariety as an option, and I think what I had for Surfurch would have been basically unusable if it couldn't interact with it somehow.
In an attempt to deal with that, I was going to give it a custom Water-type move called Wipeout that switched the user out if its stats were lowered in the same turn (like Lash Out meets Flip Turn), but I'm not sure if I could have gotten to a point where I was completely happy with it if I stuck with that.
But uh... it turns out Landorus doesn't exist here!! so that was a non-issue actually, which is convenient P:​

- Since Landorus wasn't an issue, the other targets I thought were important to account for were Heatran and Toxapex, for different reasons.

- Heatran was a Pokémon I thought had every right to be a winning matchup for Surfurch, because Surfurch is an offensive Fighting-type and Heatran is a Steel-type, but I am keenly aware that Heatran often carries Earth Power for other Heatran; I wanted to set up Surfurch's stats so that it wasn't afraid of Heatran, so its base 78 Speed was chosen to creep Heatran's base 77 by 1 without being too high in general, while its Attack is enough to give it options for how to deal with reasonably bulky Heatran offensively (if it's holding an item like Black Sludge, its Superpower can OHKO 252/0 Heatran with Stealth Rock support, while if it's holding an item like Black Belt or Life Orb, it doesn't need Stealth Rock support to accomplish that).​
- On the other side of things, I wanted its movepool to be able pose a threat to Toxapex. Up to this point, the combination of tools Surfurch already utilized had key interactions with multiple elements of Toxapex, but not enough to give it a winning matchup, which felt like it defeated the purpose of what could be some of its most unique tools.​
For instance, I really like that although Toxapex is invited to switch in on Fighting/Poison STAB, Contrariety suppresses Regenerator when it does (which would allow Surfurch to force chip onto it better than most Pokémon), while Water Veil gives Surfurch time to inflict that chip damage without fear of Scald.​
The problem is that Toxapex completely prevents Surfurch from setting up by easily stalling out Superpower with Haze and Recover alone, and without being able to use Superpower, its unboosted Attack just isn't extreme enough to threaten Toxapex with coverage moves. This means Surfurch is not only still forced out but still unable to force chip that Toxapex can't immediately heal off when it does.​

- Wanting to focus on the interactions with Toxapex gave some much-needed focus to the rest of Surfurch's design and brought a lot of other fun options into consideration!

- The first, smallest thing was the addition of coverage moves Zing Zap and Zen Headbutt to its movepool.​
I've already mentioned that Surfurch doesn't hit hard enough for these to be much of an issue for Toxapex on their own, but they felt like appropriate additions that would at least prove useful in tandem with its other moves. Zing Zap in particular is a fun choice of coverage because it's currently an Electric move specific to urchins - the two Pokémon that learn it in canon, Togedemaru and Pincurchin, are an urchin (spiny hedgehog) and another sea urchin, respectively. (The move's explicit flavor requires the user to be "shocking and prickly," which is another reason it's a rare move in general but belongs very well on its specific users.)​
It felt like a useful addition at this stage because it's obviously its most damaging move against Toxapex, but (flavorfully) it also does the most damage to Mantine, a Pokémon Surfurch takes advantage of in the wild, and (mechanically) it can be a reliable way to give Surfurch leeway against slower Flying-types that usually threaten it by type.​
Zen Headbutt is pretty much interchangeable with Zing Zap - they have the same power and added effect, although Zing Zap is more reliable, but Zen Headbutt is useful in general against Poison-types that wall Fighting/Poison STABs while Zing Zap is more specialized for matchups I thought were relevant. (It's also a tutor move that's generally widespread, so it seemed inappropriate to give Zing Zap but not Zen Headbutt.)
- The next mechanical choice was the addition of Trick at ink's suggestion, followed closely by the addition of Klutz.​
Trick is useful in general for a Pokémon like Surfurch: its STABs lure in a very specific, passive Pokémon and generally make the predictable play on the opponent's part way too easy to get away with, but that Pokémon hates to be Choice-locked. It's also neat because Surfurch is a Poison-type with a tank-adjacent role itself - I had initially been assuming Surfurch would run Black Sludge itself by choice, but with Trick in mind, it can also safely Trick a Poison-type opponent like Toxapex without being punished by Black Sludge like other Trick users!​
But how could a Contrariety user want to hold a Choice item? Isn't it just kind of useless and predictable if you have absolutely no choice but to Trick your item away immediately (and terrible to waste a moveslot on Contrariety until then)? It almost seems anti-concept and like a worse option than Taunt or something at a glance.​
Welllllllllllllllll... while we were talking about this, we both realized Klutz has some fun as heck interactions with Contrariety, too!​
So the thing is: if you have Klutz when you use Contrariety,​
- Assault Vest doesn't stop you from using Contrariety or Trick - it only limits your moveslots after your Ability is replaced, and then it takes on its positive effect of boosting your Special Defense while you begin to snowball with your other moves like Superpower. Whenever you don't value this benefit, you can use Trick on an incoming wall to saddle it with your Assault Vest instead.​
- At the same time, a Choice Band or Choice Scarf does not lock you into Contrariety! I tested this interaction to make sure of how it worked, and since you have Klutz until after using Contrariety, you also only get locked into the move you pick after using Contrariety (!!!).​
Between these options, you basically get to use Trick on whatever you want, get the actual value of a Choice item or Assault Vest, and run actual setup on the same Pokémon.​
Klutz enables a variety of items for Contrary sets that wouldn't be available to any other Contrariety user in the mod, while also enabling Trick AV sets that wouldn't be available to any vanilla Pokémon that just has Contrary to begin with. Contrariety is the only way for these interactions to be possible together!​
- I still wanted Water Veil to be a viable option, of course - it's been an integral part of the concept from the start and was even a factor in driving Surfurch's flavor to begin with, so I didn't want to throw it out at the last minute!​
How could more conventional, non-Choice-locked snowballing sets take advantage of their resilience to Scald burns if the most viable Water-type tanks can just keep it from setting up with Haze?​
The only way to prevent Haze is Taunt, but if you're for some reason running all of Superpower, Taunt and Contrariety, you are... probably kind of matchup-fishy and useless for most things.​
This last interaction with Toxapex is where the "anti-surfer" flavor finally pays off - I thought it made for a cute excuse to give Surfurch an "anti-Water-type" signature move, which would be most valued on Water Veil sets that could afford to stay in on Water-types for as long as they wanted, and Taunt was a very flavorfully appropriate effect on account of its relationship both to other surfers and to Mantine. I definitely did not want to make an "offensive Taunt" move that would work on just anything, but narrowing that interaction down to just Water-types was flavorfully sound, practically useful and mechanically focused on what Surfurch needed to be successful.​
Be aware that Toxapex is not weak to Scourge of Surfers (because Poison still resists Water, it ends up as a neutral hit), but ultimately, Toxapex is just not that effective of an answer any more: just having a neutral STAB with a secondary effect that specifically prevents Haze and Recover, while Contrariety can even deny Regenerator and Water Veil can remove the long-term risk of Scald, gives Surfurch everything it needs to dismantle the threat of Toxapex piece by piece.​



The result of all of these factors is a Pokémon that embraces what's unique about Contrariety to develop a diverse toolkit that promotes set variety and is equipped to handle staples of balance cores and defensive teams.
At the same time, it should remain balanced and answerable once its set is properly understood thanks to its middling Speed, limited room for offensive moves, and inability to run recovery other than Drain Punch (which provides redundant coverage with the near-mandatory Superpower).
Even though it generally thrives against passive structures, it also still has viable answers that are already popular in stall like Mega Sableye, and it takes enough time to begin to snowball that offensive teams should have many options to pressure it, so it should not singlehandedly be too good against any one archetype.
I believe it can be a unique presence that promotes interesting strategies without being unhealthy for the format C:

tl;dr I think Surfurch is cool as heck and you should vote for it
thanks okay moving on--
By leveling up:​

1 - Surf (only Surfurch, on evolving from Paddlurch)
1 - Hammer Arm (only Surfurch, Heart Scale)
1 - Stomp (only Surfurch, Heart Scale)

1 - Poison Sting
1 - Astonish
1 - Peck (only Surfurch)
1 - Rock Smash (only Surfurch)

4 - Peck
9 - Rock Smash
12 - Assurance
17 - Acid Spray
21 - Spike Cannon
26 - Cross Poison
29 - Dive
34 - Acupressure
37 - Scourge of Surfers
42 - Zing Zap
45 - Reversal
50 - Pin Missile
53 - Hammer Arm (only Surfurch)

By breeding:​
(Water 1 group)

Brine
Toxic Spikes

By TM and tutor:​

TM01 Work Up
TM06 Toxic
TM09 Venoshock
TM10 Hidden Power
TM12 Taunt (only Surfurch)
TM15 Hyper Beam (only Surfurch)
TM17 Protect
TM18 Rain Dance
TM21 Frustration
TM27 Return
TM30 Shadow Ball
TM31 Brick Break (only Surfurch)
TM32 Double Team
TM34 Sludge Wave
TM36 Sludge Bomb
TM39 Rock Tomb
TM40 Aerial Ace (only Surfurch)
TM41 Torment
TM42 Facade
TM44 Rest
TM45 Attract
TM46 Thief
TM48 Round
TM52 Focus Blast (only Surfurch)
TM55 Scald
TM59 Brutal Swing (only Surfurch)
TM62 Acrobatics (only Surfurch)
TM65 Shadow Claw (only Surfurch)
TM66 Payback
TM67 Smart Strike
TM68 Giga Impact (only Surfurch)
TM71 Stone Edge (only Surfurch)
TM80 Rock Slide (only Surfurch)
TM83 Infestation
TM84 Poison Jab
TM87 Swagger
TM88 Sleep Talk
TM90 Substitute
TM94 Surf (only Surfurch)
TM97 Dark Pulse (only Surfurch)
TM98 Waterfall (only Surfurch)
TM100 Confide
Snatch by tutoring at Big Wave Beach
Snore by tutoring at Big Wave Beach
Spite by tutoring in Heahea City
Water Pulse by tutoring in Heahea City
Ice Punch by tutoring at Ula'ula Beach (only Surfurch)
Trick by tutoring at Ula'ula Beach
Zen Headbutt by tutoring at Ula'ula Beach (only Surfurch)
Drain Punch by tutoring at the Battle Tree (only Surfurch)
Foul Play by tutoring at the Battle Tree
Liquidation by tutoring at the Battle Tree
Superpower by tutoring at the Battle Tree (only Surfurch)
Throat Chop by tutoring at the Battle Tree (only Surfurch)
Contrariety by tutoring in the DLC



Prompt 4: Sun Abuser

Kilnole

Type: Ground
Base Stats
: 90 HP / 115 Attack / 60 Defense / 90 Special Attack / 75 Special Defense / 70 Speed || 500 BST
Abilities:
Rattled​
Water Compaction​
(Hidden) Chlorophyll​
Relevant Moves:
- (physical) Earthquake, Explosion, Poison Jab, Stone Edge, Sun-Bake, U-turn​
- (special) Earth Power, Fire coverage (Fire Blast/Flamethrower/Heat Wave/Overheat/Weather Ball), Sludge Bomb/Sludge Wave, Solar Beam​
- (status) Coil, Growth, Pain Split, Spiky Shield, Stealth Rock​

Sun-Bake (Ground) || Physical || 110 BP / 100% acc / 10 (16) PP
In this two-turn attack, the user spins into shape - which can also eliminate such moves as Bind, Wrap, Leech Seed, and Spikes - then tackles with its hardened body on the next turn.​
In harsh sunlight, its body hardens more quickly, so both parts of the move can be executed in a single turn! (charge, makes contact)

A sly stowaway

An invasive Pokémon from another region, Kilnole was introduced to Alola by mistake along with foreign plants!​
Kilnole lay their Eggs in loamy soil that's ideal for growing plants, so they sometimes get mixed up with potting soil and brought to isolated environments like Alola.​
Apparently, that's the reason it tries to make itself blend in with potted plants! Is it fooling anyone...?​

It coats itself in hardened mud

Kilnole's mud-covered body is incredibly slick! The composition of the earth on its body is similar to wet clay, which helps it slip through the fingers of predators.​
When it wants to relax on a warm day, it swiftly coils up with its long tail and turns its brightly-colored throat to the sun, gathering energy from the heat. Doing this also dries the mud on its body, covering it in a durable protective layer until it's ready to move again. Any air that's trapped inside can also become superheated over time, so it makes itself quite cozy!​
Kilnole can most often be found basking on stone walls on the edges of gardens.​

- For this prompt, my starting point was that I wanted to make a Pokémon that would capably benefit from sun without being Fire-type or Grass-type, because I wanted it to be able to fit on the same team as other sun setters and abusers without creating awkward defensive overlap.

- That also meant focusing on what kind of support I think other sun staples need, rather than on the most direct way to capitalize on sun as an individual.
In general, I think sun teams badly need hazard control, because both Torkoal and Ninetales are weak to Stealth Rock (and Torkoal is, like, way better than Ninetales but also doesn't really have much in the way of recovery).
Sun has no shortage of options for breaking power or cleaning potential as it is, but I thought it would be really valuable to make an effective support Pokémon that could work as glue for the archetype than just try to recreate and power-creep what already exists.

- Having decided on a hazard control user up front, I decided I would take inspiration from some other specific weather abusers, like Alolan Sandslash, Excadrill and Hisuian Lilligant (... okay, this was before SV came out and we didn't know exactly how it would function, but my expectations were close enough).
There's a lot to like about the way these three are set up, so it was easy to start out by using them as something of a template:
- They all have weatherspeed Abilities and strong setup, which makes them easy to justify running on weather cores that are all about offense and exerting constant pressure on a timer.
- They also all have Rapid Spin or Defog, and this is supported by having a type that's more resistant to Stealth Rock than the rest of their teams (okay, Sandslash is Rock-neutral, but every other Pokémon that has ever been designed for hail is Rock-weak! it's doing the best it can P:) - that's definitely something to emulate if I want to make a hazard control user for sun!
- Lastly, it seems like they all try to synergize defensively with their teammates to varying degrees, like how Alolan Sandslash's Steel type goes with Alolan Ninetales's Fairy type. Hisuian Lilligant is actually incredibly "perfect" in this sense, because it's the only type combination that resists all three of Fire's weaknesses! but I thought it would be boring to make an exact copy of Hisuian Lilligant for Gen VII, so I didn't use Grass/Fighting anyway, sorry P:

- With those three in mind, the very basics of my Fakemon started to come together pretty quickly: I knew I wanted it to be a type that can be used to pivot between Grass- and Fire-type teammates as easily as possible, and it should definitely have Chlorophyll, hazard control and strong setup to meet my goals... while still hopefully having some kind of twist to help it stand out from its inspirations!
I ended up soft-committing to a pure Ground-type with Chlorophyll, Growth, Rapid Spin and U-turn at this stage, because I liked how Ground fit defensively with Fire- and Grass-types (it can come in on Rock and Poison for its teammates, but its teammates also resist Grass, Ice and Water to support it) while also benefiting from sun-boosted Fire coverage itself.

- Like with Surfurch, by the time I had decided this much, I found that my mechanical goals were getting pretty specific and I had a solid enough foundation to start looking for flavor.
One inspiration I had had in my notes since April was the brown anole, an invasive species that was accidentally brought to Hawaii (including Molokai, the basis for Oma'oma'o Island!) because their eggs were imported with potted plants, and I found that this clicked really well with my need for a Ground-type with plant flavor like Chlorophyll and Growth!

(photo by Jill Bazeley, accessed from the link above)
Its throat looks a lot like a succulent to me, and those are really common house plants and gift plants, so I thought it would be funny if my anole Fakemon kept trying to disguise itself as a potted plant so it didn't get caught after it was brought over by mistake.
Then I started thinking, "if just the throat is (pretending to be) a succulent, what's the rest of the lizard doing?" so I thought it would be fun if the rest of the lizard was making itself look like a pot, giving an easy way to justify the Ground type - it became a clay lizard + coil pot (I mean, what other kind of pot can you make out of a lizard?? it has to coil up!) with a succulent in it, and its sun association plays off of the combined ideas of a lizard sunbathing, a clay pot being baked in the sun, and a plant needing light to grow.
- The name Kilnole was suggested by ink!
- A couple more of Kilnole's more unusual movepool choices also came from this flavor side of the concept, like Coil (it's a coil pot, so I had to! Ground-types in general get Stone Edge all the time, so it makes that coverage more reliable even if it's still built primarily around Growth + special Fire coverage), Explosion (this is always a fun option to grab momentum - especially on a weather team, when you have a fixed amount of time to sweep and get out, and Kilnole combines that with physical setup options so it's really rewarded for it! - but the only reason it even crossed my mind is because clay pots can explode when being baked in a kiln), and Spiky Shield (it's trying to pass as a potted cactus)!​



- There's not a ton to say about Kilnole's stat spread (I'm sure it goes without saying that it's one of the tamest subs here on that front anyway), buuut on a minor note, base 70 Speed is just enough that it can reliably outspeed Scarf Kartana given the same investment and a Chlorophyll boost, which is pretty sweet since that matchup does come down to Speed (Kilnole has strong Fire coverage but a Grass weakness, so it basically wins if it goes first and loses if it doesn't), but you can also dedicate that investment some other way if you have other benchmarks in mind - it's not like Kartana is going to like locking into a Grass move against a sun team either way. P:
Otherwise, it has a reasonable physical bias offensively (but enough Special Attack to reward going mixed with Fire coverage when running Growth) and a special bias defensively (with the intention to reward running Coil to shore up your Defense), but it's much more reliant on its setup options and type coverage than on immediate power when it's trying to exert offensive pressure.

- The last thing I want to go over is its signature move, Sun-Bake! I mentioned earlier that I planned up front to give it Rapid Spin, but you'll notice that was replaced with Sun-Bake in the final draft.
While I was brainstorming ideas, knowing I was making a utility Pokémon, I had considered early on that it might be fitting to give it some kind of valuable compression that it could only use at all in sun - something in the spirit of Aurora Veil, you know?
Especially since I'm so used to running Rapid Spin on Alolan Sandslash in Gen VIII, where it also raises the user's Speed and has direct synergy with Swords Dance and Slush Rush, I thought Kilnole could use some kind of twist if I wanted it to thrive in what I've taken to be one of the more Defog-oriented Generations instead.

- Like with Surfurch, I went through a couple of options for this (one of them was a move that worked like Misfire - it cleared hazards if it hit but pivoted the user out if it didn't, which would come up more often since Ground is a type that can be blocked easily - and I also gave serious consideration to straight-up copying Gen VIII Rapid Spin, but neither of those clicked for me), but after thinking about other moves that interact with sun, I thought it would be the most fitting to make its signature move require a charging turn, but execute fully in one turn during sun - just like Solar Beam and the new Solar Blade.
In this case, it's also sort of Skull Bash- or Meteor Beam-inspired, since it has a positive effect on the first turn but only does damage on the second.

- I think the effect I went with for Sun-Bake has a lot of neat facets all around!
For instance, since the Rapid Spin effect takes place on the charging turn instead of the attacking turn, that part can't be prevented the way Rapid Spin could be blocked, even if your opponent switches in a Flying-type! It also isn't blocked by Taunt, since it's not a status move. These are big selling points for Sun-Bake, and I like the flexibility of being able to run it either just with sun support or by using an item like a Power Herb for insurance depending on your team's needs.
At the same time, when you can't guarantee sun will be up, its drawback is pretty significant and exploitable in some key matchups - if your opponent happens to have a Pokémon like Pelipper, they can't stop Kilnole from clearing hazards, but they can force it to stay in another turn and use a move that has no effect on Pelipper, which pretty much means sacrificing Kilnole. This is something that can be mitigated using tools like Stone Edge and U-turn or backup plans like a Power Herb so Kilnole doesn't get stuck on the field by the rain, but you'll definitely always need to be conscious of it, which I think is a fair tradeoff for a hazard-clearing move that's theoretically so much better for sun than the other options.

- Since Sun-Bake doubles as your strongest Ground STAB, it's probably safe to say Kilnole will pretty much always be running it no matter what (unless it's being run outside of sun for... some reason?), but that compression means it has three moveslots free for whatever kind of set it wants - there are a lot of sets you can make by combining Coil + Stone Edge, Growth + Fire coverage, Poison Jab, U-turn, Explosion, Stealth Rock and Pain Split in pretty much any way you want for its last three slots!​



Overall, I'm pretty sure Kilnole would be a really cool and versatile addition to sun cores that can both exert pressure as a sun sweeper and help them fit the kinds of support they badly need right now, and I would be excited to see how people chose to run it.
I really like Kilnole, so I hope people think it's interesting and that we can see how it pans out : D
By leveling up:​

1 - Pound
1 - Tail Whip
1 - Mud Sport

5 - Rollout
8 - Growth
12 - Mud-Slap
15 - Magnitude
19 - Mimic
22 - Acid Spray
26 - Mud Bomb
29 - Camouflage
33 - Tail Slap
36 - Body Slam
40 - Sun-Bake
43 - Coil
47 - Spiky Shield
50 - Wring Out

By breeding:​
(Monster and Mineral groups)

Fake Tears
Incinerate
Muddy Water
Rototiller
Weather Ball

By TM and tutor:​

TM06 Toxic
TM10 Hidden Power
TM15 Hyper Beam
TM17 Protect
TM21 Frustration
TM22 Solar Beam
TM23 Smack Down
TM26 Earthquake
TM27 Return
TM32 Double Team
TM34 Sludge Wave
TM35 Flamethrower
TM36 Sludge Bomb
TM37 Sandstorm
TM38 Fire Blast
TM39 Rock Tomb
TM42 Facade
TM44 Rest
TM45 Attract
TM48 Round
TM50 Overheat
TM59 Brutal Swing
TM63 Embargo
TM64 Explosion
TM68 Giga Impact
TM69 Rock Polish
TM71 Stone Edge
TM78 Bulldoze
TM80 Rock Slide
TM82 Dragon Tail
TM83 Infestation
TM84 Poison Jab
TM87 Swagger
TM88 Sleep Talk
TM89 U-turn
TM90 Substitute
TM100 Confide
Snore by tutoring at Big Wave Beach
Iron Defense by tutoring in Heahea City
Iron Tail by tutoring in Heahea City
Stealth Rock by tutoring in Heahea City
Aqua Tail by tutoring at Ula'ula Beach
Pain Split by tutoring at Ula'ula Beach
Dragon Pulse by tutoring at the Battle Tree
Earth Power by tutoring at the Battle Tree
Heat Wave by tutoring at the Battle Tree
Stomping Tantrum by tutoring at the Battle Tree



Prompt 5: Poison Drain User

Araccato

Type: Bug / Dark
Base Stats
: 60 HP / 85 Attack / 60 Defense / 40 Special Attack / 40 Special Defense / 86 Speed || 371 BST

Arapeggio (evolves from Araccato at level 40)

Type: Bug / Dark
Base Stats
: 80 HP / 115 Attack / 80 Defense / 50 Special Attack / 50 Special Defense / 121 Speed || 496 BST
Abilities:
Unnerve​
Poison Touch​
(Hidden) Merciless​
Relevant Moves:
- (physical) choice of Dark STABs (Assurance/Crunch/Throat Chop), Danse Macabre, Leech Life, Lunge, Poison Drain, Superpower​
- (special) this one is also not really meant to use special moves​
- (status) Sticky Web, Swords Dance, Taunt, Toxic Spikes?, I would find an excuse to use Grudge

Danse Macabre (Bug) || Physical || 110 BP / 100% acc / 5 (8) PP
This also lowers the Attack and Defense stats of both the user and the target. (dance, makes contact)

A wary Pokémon that lurks in abandoned places

Araccato are generally timid and quick to flee from potential conflict when caught alone, so they form clusters that hide in sheltered places, like old buildings that are no longer frequented by people.​
Elaborate webs made of their strings can often be found in dark, dry places, where they listen and feel for vibrations along these strings to detect prey and potential threats alike.​
The best nests are made in hollowed-out pieces of wood: these vibrations are amplified by the acoustics of the wood, which is ideal for picking up on slight movements to catch prey off guard. Families are picky about where to build their nests as a matter of safety, so they excel at identifying high-quality wood with the best acoustics.​

They pluck their strings to observe their surroundings

Araccato don't only listen for vibrations caused by other Pokémon ensnared in their webs - they also create their own vibrations with a distinctive twang, then pick up the resulting echoes in all directions with their legs.​
This sensory feedback helps Araccato to get a clearer picture of their surroundings, making up for their mediocre eyesight. A curious Araccato may attach many strings to an unfamiliar object to try and feel what it is, which can sometimes create a mess if a Trainer is introducing one to a new home.​

A venomous sting that causes rapid decay

Araccato evolves into Arapeggio, a small Pokémon with a powerful bite!​
The venom it injects can incapacitate prey and cause the area around the bite to decay, which not only prevents it from fighting back or fleeing but also softens it and makes it easier to eat.​
It won't have as extreme an effect on a human, but it's still dangerous! It's best to wear protective gloves and move carefully when disturbing piles of wood or stones that have been left alone for a long time; a bite from a startled Arapeggio that happens to be living there could prevent use of a hand for several days.​

A haunting family orchestra

Like Araccato, Arapeggio has advanced techniques to observe its surroundings using the vibrations created by its strings.​
It generates complex patterns of vibrations by drawing the ribbonlike hairs of its forelegs along the strings on its back, creating a hauntingly melodic sound without needing to create an entire web.​
It has been observed playing what sounds like music on its webs late at night, while its Araccato children pluck their strings along with it and dance around with short hops.​
This performance seems to have a strange and hypnotic effect on other Pokémon, sometimes causing them to lower their guards and join the celebration only to become the family's prey. The effect is strangely difficult for even wary prey to resist.​

... admittedly this is a little awkward now, but who's ready for a THIRD Bug/Dark-type?!?!
Ahem. Uh, really sorry if this comes off as redundant now or if anyone who posted before me thinks it steps on their toes :'D I swear I came to it independently even if I only talked about it in private
but I hope the execution is still different enough to have people's interest!! Really funny how all of these are for different prompts anyway XP

- So uh!! When I started working on this prompt, I thought it would be interesting to use the move on a non-STAB user, especially since other subs (some of which had already been posted and one of which I knew was being worked on by a friend) were already fully exploring the breadth of what Poison Drain would be like as a main STAB.
In DLCmons right now, every Poison Drain user is Poison-type already, not that there are that many of them in the pool of legal Pokémon - but when I think about Poison Jab, a Poison move of similar power, the first Pokémon that comes to mind is actually Kommo-o of all things, which runs it because it needs help dealing with Fairy-types. (Notably, Poison beats the Island Guardians better than Steel does, so Kommo-o even runs it over Iron Head despite having both - a Poison move is actually the best option if you want coverage for Fairy specifically!)

- Having considered that, I decided pretty quickly that I would want to make my sub some combination of Bug, Dark, Dragon or Fighting (exclusively types that are resisted by Fairy, giving it as much reason as I could to run Poison Drain for coverage) and to give it Abilities that interacted with poison as a status.

- I was also pretty sure up front that, whatever type I settled on, I didn't want to give this sub moves like U-turn or Pursuit. It would be one thing if Poison Drain were its STAB of choice, but if I'm trying to get this to run it as coverage, it really needs to actually care what switches in on it - I felt like these moves would make it easy to ignore Fairy-type switch-ins, because you wouldn't strictly "need" to be able to hit them in the first place.
To push away from that, I decided it would be a good idea to make the sub rely on strong physical setup and give it tools to function as either a wallbreaker or a sweeper, adding more value to choosing to run Poison coverage.​

- I wasn't sure right away if I would use one or both (I ultimately went with both!), but I liked the idea of designing around Poison Touch and Merciless!
Poison Touch directly feeds into Poison Drain's power and even allows Poison Drain to activate its own effect (I checked, and it turns out it does make contact!), and a lot of notable Dark- and Bug-type moves make contact, which can make it easy to set up Fairy-type switch-ins for a Poison Drain KO.
On the other hand, Merciless assumes you already have the poison support you need, but it emphasizes Poison Drain's significant power boost on a poisoned target and would also allow me to build the Fakemon around other tools that appreciated the crits, like Superpower and Draco Meteor if I went with either of those types. I didn't, but it gets this interaction anyway! we'll get to that later--
As obviously-related Abilities go, it was pretty much bound to be between these two, Corrosion and Triage, and I knew of other subs that were working with each of those, so that made it easy to prioritize these two either way. C:

- At this point, with a handful of types, moves and Abilities in mind, I thought I should start looking for appropriate flavor for the Alola region.
Like with prompt 3, the first concepts I looked for were venomous animals that could be found in Alola, so... these Pokémon are brown violin spiders, a relative of the better-known brown recluse! Uh... depending whom you ask, either "brown recluses are not found in Hawaii, but violin spiders are" or "brown recluses and violin spiders are different names for the same thing." I will confess I have no idea which of these is true, but I'm pretty sure all of my research should be applicable to violin spiders either way :'D

- These little guys are known for their necrotic venom - they're not deadly to humans, but they're still some of the only spiders in the US with "medically significant" venom as humans are concerned and you should definitely not startle or disturb them if you can help it, so I thought they were just what I needed to make a Bug/Dark-type with poison attributes.
More importantly, I was also... just incredibly charmed by the idea of associating violins with spiders!!! Violin spiders in real life are only named that way because of a marking they have, but like... strings!! vibrations!! living in dry wood piles!! These concepts fit together all by themselves and I feel like they ended up as such a fun line : D

- I was already vaguely aware that violins were associated with Death to some extent, but I didn't really know the context for it; having a violin spider line that relied on necrosis made me want to look into it more!
There are historically ideas of people making deals with Death to play the violin better, but also of Death playing a violin to lure people to their death; the latter association inspired some of the rest of the flavor, which now leans a lot on the danse macabre allegory and especially the song Danse macabre - the idea of Death playing music on a violin, calling the dead from their graves to dance along until the living are tempted to join them. As a motif, danse macabre is supposed to represent the concept of death as an equalizer of sorts - everyone is lured in and succumbs to it eventually, and as far as death is concerned, no one is above anyone else.
While working on this line, I listened to Danse macabre a lot, so please picture a family of Araccato and Arapeggio playing this song together, think about baby Araccato adorably hopping along and know that this was my motivation for everything here and also life itself



- Back to competitive mechanics!!
So uh, I had come very close to doing a Fighting-type for STAB Superpower like I had mentioned, since I really liked how it interacted with both Poison Touch and Merciless. Having been led astray by the musical spiders, I decided I would both have my cake and eat it, by using Superpower as the inspiration for a new signature move for the line... with some twists!!
Thinking about moves like Lunge, Skitter Smack and Struggle Bug (and Pounce! but I didn't know about that one at the time P:), I thought that instead of cloning Superpower, it would be "a very Bug-type thing to do" for this move to lower not only the user's stats but also the target's.
And... of course I had to call it Danse Macabre! "Death as an equalizer" and all - applying identical debuffs to both the user and the target seemed super on-theme all around, and I think an unnerving and disorienting display like this implies flavorfully is just the kind of move that would have this effect.
This theoretically gives a net neutral if the user and the target are necessarily in a 1v1, but there are some really cool ways to push it in your favor!
- Most notably, of course, Merciless lets the user ignore its Attack debuff just like Superpower - that turns the debuffs from this move into an awesome wallbreaking tool, adjacent to Fire Lash with much more power, under the right circumstances.
- It can also be exploited with Poison Touch sets that want to fish for status and get out, or any hazard-setting sets that might want to be KOed on purpose at just the right time and leave their replacement in an ideal position to exert pressure of its own; as long as your opponent is on the field longer than you, this debuff becomes a major advantage for your next Pokémon!
- If you hold a White Herb, you can even get an immediate advantage from the first use!
- In doubles, there's also the fact that while the user and its target are left at neutral in relation to each other, there are often still two other Pokémon to interact with the debuffs on both of them - Arapeggio is more than fast enough to use this to boost the damage of its ally in the same turn!​
There are definitely some sets where you wouldn't necessarily want to run Danse Macabre, but I thought it added a lot to the other mechanics at play here and kind of tied a lot about the concept together : D

- Another thing worth noting!! I did still give it regular Superpower access even without STAB, which might occasionally be handy if you're worried about Steel-types - you can't specifically abuse Merciless crits against them, but being walled by Steels is pretty anti-concept for a Pokémon that wants to run Poison Drain, no?
In the same vein, I think probably the best way this has to get around Toxapex specifically is a set with Swords Dance and Darkinium-Z; Toxapex is another thing that you reeeally don't want to wall you completely if you're running setup and Poison coverage (that it resists) and poison as a status (that doesn't work on it at all). It actually works really well on specially defensive Toxapex:
+2 252 Atk Arapeggio Black Hole Eclipse (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Toxapex: 331-391 (108.8 - 128.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO​

- In general, I also kinda like the idea of combinations like Poison Touch Lunge -> Poison Drain, since it has decent physical bulk and that compresses Attack debuffs, status and (sort of) recovery!
Lunge goes pretty well with its need to come in, force something out, fish for status and probably get back out pretty quickly, since it doesn't have any actual pivoting; although it has Leech Life as well, I feel like both of its debuff-oriented Bug STABs have a lot of potential, since they'll often be hitting into resists where you won't get that much mileage out of draining anyway (and you have Poison Drain for that) while the debuffs are really appreciated whenever you're forced out.

- Uh, small heads-up: it was a pretty easy decision to give the line Toxic Spikes, because of the way that feeds into Merciless and Poison Drain, but I was admittedly hesitant to give it Sticky Web and I didn't at first.
I would totally get it if this had to be removed later on, because setting webs is probably a role it could fill well while completely ignoring Poison Drain and that's definitely anti-concept, while all of its other options try to synergize with Poison Drain and the spread of poison as well as they can.
On the other hand, spider ::w::
I think Sticky Web should definitely be balanced on this - I feel like it invites comparisons to Ribombee and doesn't completely overshadow it (Ribombee has even higher Speed; like Arapeggio's Taunt, Ribombee has Trick to punish opposing leads and hazard control; and it also gets U-turn and Stun Spore over Arapeggio) - but the main question is just if it overshadows Poison Drain or if it's okay for these to coexist.
In any case, even in this same Generation, Araquanid debuted without Sticky Web and got it a game late, so it's not unprecedented for a spider to be missing that if needed P:



Buuut yeah! I think this is a pretty fun one that can be used in a lot of ways, so I'm hoping for the best! I'm not sure if I overdid the power level on it at all, but looking at somewhat-similar Pokémon like Weavile makes me hope this is pretty okay.
By leveling up:​

1 - Danse Macabre (only Arapeggio, on evolving from Araccato)
1 - Spider Web (only Arapeggio, Heart Scale)

1 - Poison Sting
1 - Astonish
1 - String Shot
1 - Struggle Bug (only Arapeggio)

4 - Struggle Bug
8 - Fury Cutter
12 - Bite
16 - Fury Attack
20 - Shadow Sneak
24 - Sing
28 - Assurance
32 - Autotomize
36 - Bug Buzz
40 - Crunch
45 - Lunge (44 for Araccato)
51 - Grudge (48 for Araccato)
57 - Fell Stinger (52 for Araccato)
63 - Perish Song (56 for Araccato)

By breeding:​
(Bug group)

Captivate
Night Shade
Night Slash
Sticky Web
Toxic Spikes
Toxic Thread

By TM and tutor:​

TM06 Toxic
TM09 Venoshock
TM10 Hidden Power
TM12 Taunt
TM15 Hyper Beam (only Arapeggio)
TM17 Protect
TM21 Frustration
TM27 Return
TM28 Leech Life
TM29 Psychic
TM30 Shadow Ball
TM32 Double Team
TM36 Sludge Bomb
TM40 Aerial Ace
TM41 Torment
TM42 Facade
TM44 Rest
TM45 Attract
TM46 Thief
TM48 Round
TM49 Echoed Voice
TM59 Brutal Swing
TM63 Embargo
TM65 Shadow Claw
TM66 Payback
TM68 Giga Impact (only Arapeggio)
TM75 Swords Dance
TM77 Psych Up
TM81 X-Scissor
TM83 Infestation
TM85 Dream Eater (only Arapeggio)
TM87 Swagger
TM88 Sleep Talk
TM90 Substitute
TM95 Snarl
TM97 Dark Pulse
TM100 Confide
Bug Bite by tutoring at Big Wave Beach
Electroweb by tutoring at Big Wave Beach
Snatch by tutoring at Big Wave Beach
Snore by tutoring at Big Wave Beach
Uproar by tutoring at Big Wave Beach
Giga Drain by tutoring in Heahea City
Signal Beam by tutoring in Heahea City
Spite by tutoring in Heahea City
Laser Focus by tutoring at Ula'ula Beach (only Arapeggio)
Pain Split by tutoring at Ula'ula Beach
Foul Play by tutoring at the Battle Tree
Hyper Voice by tutoring at the Battle Tree
Superpower by tutoring at the Battle Tree (only Arapeggio)
Throat Chop by tutoring at the Battle Tree
Haunting Dance by tutoring in the DLC
Poison Drain by tutoring in the DLC

Edit: bumped up both of Kilnole's offenses a little as recommended on Discord!
I still want to keep these subs at 500 BST or less because they're just regular lines and Alola didn't tend to put those very high, so any further changes to that one will probably be redistribution rather than straight increases, but I will definitely make further changes if needed. C:
 
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and last but not least...
Prompt 1: Defensive Grass-type

Souvenut

Type: Grass / Flying
Base Stats
: 96 HP / 72 Attack / 90 Defense / 50 Special Attack / 105 Special Defense / 70 Speed || 483 BST
Abilities:
Harvest​
Package Protection
(Hidden) Overcoat​
Relevant Moves:
- (physical) Acrobatics, Body Slam, Heat Crash (weighs like 0.7kg but it will make sense I swear), Rapid Spin, Seed Bomb​
- (special) Hidden Power Fire​
- (status) Z-Celebrate??, Curse, Defog, Encore, Leech Seed, Milk Drink, Sleep Powder, Stealth Rock, Stun Spore, Swords Dance????, Toxic, Trick​

Package Protection (Ability)
The Pokémon's Defense rises if it takes damage from entry hazards.​

A surprisingly skilled flier with a well-adapted form

Souvenut nests in extremely high places like the tops of palm trees, but its thick and hairy shell helps keep it warm at any altitude - and totally safe if it falls out of a tree in its sleep!​
Thanks to this shell, it is uniquely resilient during tropical storms while other Pokémon need to take shelter, and its durable body is mostly hollow and surprisingly light, making it easy for it to sustain itself in midair and safe for it to float on the ocean's surface if it gets lost. It can even store water in its husk for a long journey, which apparently becomes sweeter over time.​
Despite its dopey appearance and relaxed demeanor, it is an incredibly steadfast and reliable partner - and these characteristics have helped it grow popular as a delivery Pokémon in recent years, flying packages across islands to and from the post office on Oma'oma'o Island.​

A new tradition: decorating Souvenut

Souvenut are an incredibly common sight on Oma'oma'o Island, easy to care for and well equipped for traveling to almost any environment, so they're frequently caught by tourists who come to Alola hoping to find a new partner.​
Capitalizing on this, some creative postal workers have started a facility in the post office itself dedicated just to Souvenut. The facility offers engaging lessons on how to care for Souvenut and what kinds of commitment one might need to make to raise them, but it also culminates in a fun opportunity to decorate Souvenut, a creative process enjoyed by the Pokémon as much as its new Trainer.​
It's not uncommon to see Souvenut with distinctive, colorful shells, often covered with stamps representing different sights from all over Alola. Some Souvenut have collected postage stamps from every one of Alola's islands!​

Ahem okay-- so I saved this one for last because it's a liiittle bit more of a joke than the other subs here and I didn't think it was right for it to be the first impression of the post, but this is still an idea I think is really fun!
Souvenut is actually the oldest Fakemon in this post by far, and I've been hoping to have the chance to sub it for a very long time!
See, in the very early days of DLCmons, I was trying to do some research on the islands I knew we were going to be covering in the hopes of maybe actually involving myself one day the submission phase being open for this long was REALLY good for me you guys I am terrible at working up the courage to participate in mods like this lately--; when I was starting to make subs for this slate, I dug up a note describing this concept that apparently dates all the way back to January 7th... 2021!
This dumb coconut child is two freaking years old now can you believe that
That felt crazy to me, but... well, it goes without saying that if I had a coconut Fakemon I wanted to use anyway, a "defensive Grass-type" was the easiest prompt I could have asked for, so I wanted to give reviving it a shot and see what I could do with it!

- For context, I didn't want to make a coconut Fakemon just because Alola is an island region, but there's more to it than that - Souvenut's relationship to postal services is actually based on a very specific tourist attraction in real-world Molokai (the island corresponding to our Oma'oma'o Island) called POSTANUT!
POSTANUT has been around since 1991, and it's apparently still a thing today!! It's a tourist attraction based in the Ho'olehua post office that's... uh, basically exactly what it sounds like. P:
- Coconuts are durable enough to be mailed without issue and harder to damage than most regular packages, so they give you free coconuts and access to pens and markers to decorate them however you like (there are also people who are willing to decorate them for you, but they say doing it yourself is most of the fun!); the only part that isn't free is the shipping, and it accounts for a ton of the post office's revenue!
- Apparently, the postal workers themselves have a lot of fun going nuts with the stamps when the time comes to cover shipping costs, so that's where the idea of collecting stamps on Souvenut came from. : D
- The coconuts are apparently just... everywhere on the island; the post office can afford to give them out for free because no one has to buy them in the first place. People just donate them to the post office from their yards - they're really not in short supply!​
I think POSTANUT is just fantastic and adorable as a concept, and it's considered one of the most iconic places on Molokai, so there was no way I could sub to this slate without paying homage to it.
Minor thing: there's something of an Easter egg dedicated to POSTANUT in Souvenut's stats - can you find it? : D

- Other parts of the flavor are just true of coconuts in general!
They may not be able to fly, and it's sort of a stretch to say they "nest" in high trees, but the reason coconuts have their husks is indeed because they grow in the highest parts of palm trees - they need the extra insulation to resist the cold temperatures of high altitudes, stay protected from bad weather and avoid being damaged when they fall, and their husks are buoyant in case they end up in the water. These are pretty handy traits for a postal Pokémon to have, too, right?!



Of course, the most important thing to justify is Souvenut's competitive value! Like I said, my approach to this prompt was different from the others in that I was being guided by all of that flavor before I even started, so... here's roughly how it went:

- I'm not super familiar with the DLCmons meta, but the prompt gave the examples of Kartana and Garchomp as Pokémon a defensive Grass-type should be able to answer, so I tried to focus on them in particular when designing Souvenut!
- Early on, I was torn between Grass/Flying and Grass/Ground, and my first draft was going to be Grass/Ground with Levitate to be more resilient to hazards in general (it's... almost definitely the stronger type combination of these in a vacuum), but I thought that felt on some level like an "easy way out" and on another level like it missed the point of the prompt (it actually doesn't resist Grass, which is super necessary for dealing with Kartana!), so I ultimately decided on trying to make Grass/Flying work instead. Seemed like it would make for a more fun creative process!

- I liked working with Grass/Flying for this prompt because it resists Ground, double-resists Grass and also resists Fighting (one of the most common coverage types on Kartana); as the Garchomp and Kartana matchups go, it's pretty solid!
- The obvious shortcoming is that it's weak to Rock, which is potentially a big problem - especially since one of the Pokémon it's meant to check (Garchomp) runs Stealth Rock itself. This is a weakness its Ability, Package Protection, is here to soften!
- I did not want to make a hazard control Pokémon that was outright immune to hazards this isn't Gen VIII and I kinda want to keep it that way, so I gave it an effect that would directly engage with its Rock weakness, without making it into a nonfactor or an objective advantage. That's what Package Protection is for!
- To put this Ability in perspective: if Souvenut switches in with at least 3/4 of its HP remaining and then takes damage from Stealth Rock, Package Protection effectively cancels out the damage it has taken so it can still function as well as it would have done at that HP and surely at least survive long enough to start healing off chip with Milk Drink.
- If it has more than 3/4 of its HP to begin with, Package Protection effectively makes it bulkier after switching in on rocks than if it doesn't take hazard chip, but only just (it ends up with the equivalent of about 9/8 of its original max HP); in turn, the benefits of Package Protection get smaller the lower its HP is when it switches in, and of course it keeps the damage but loses the Defense boost if it switches out. It's basically just a bit of insurance - it's not meant to punish setting hazards, but it helps Souvenut function in spite of them just as well as if they weren't there, as long as you find opportunities to heal up once in a while!​

- Mostly by combination of its type and stats, Souvenut can handle most moves from Garchomp and Kartana really consistently!
- I was thinking it would be better to give it specially biased bulk, since Garchomp is often a mixed attacker and since it has resistances it needs to handle the main physical moves it needs to deal with. It's broadly preferable for Souvenut to invest in physical Defense anyway, but it's meant to be flexible in the case that you want to tech for other specific moves (like Fire Blast Mega Garchomp as opposed to anything base Garchomp can run), as well as if you want specially-biased bulk up front to complement a potential Curse set that can more easily shore up its physical bulk.
- With these stats, Kartana is pretty easy to handle in general! Kartana's single strongest move, Smart Strike, can't even 2HKO physdef Souvenut even with a Choice Band boost (!), but if you end up running specially biased bulk to prepare for mixed Mega Garchomp, you can still realistically handle sets like Choice Scarf or Swords Dance; committing to physical investment is only really necessary for the strongest Life Orb or Choice Band sets.
- In general, you can live any of Garchomp's moves no matter how you invest, except tha some Garchomp sets have physical coverage that can hit you super effectively (Stone Edge) and others have special coverage that can hit you super effectively (Fire Blast). You can invest to handle either one of these reliably, but not both on the same set, like this:
252 Atk Garchomp Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Souvenut: 170-200 (42.9 - 50.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Garchomp-Mega Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Souvenut: 174-206 (43.9 - 52%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery​

- Admittedly, I am pretty inexperienced with making walls and was trying to avoid going overboard, but it would be fine with me if this turns out to need its stats reworked later on (like if this feels too precarious to be the defensive Grass the meta actually needs)!
- In this case, I was just trying to have in mind the matchups Garchomp and Kartana have with their other defensive answers, and I didn't think it was appropriate to overdo it by making a single Souvenut set hard-counter every Kartana and every Garchomp all by itself. Like, I felt like "the opponent is running very strong super effective coverage that also targets the defense you chose not to prioritize in the builder" is the point where you're just supposed to have a losing matchup, right? :'D
- For comparison, Mega Garchomp can straight-up one-hit KO physically defensive Tangrowth and Ferrothorn, and... obviously you also have to beware of Z-Moves, but I think basically any wall is going to have that issue, and something like Swords Dance Normalium-Z Kartana can straight-up one-hit KO specially defensive Tangrowth! I didn't think it made sense for Souvenut to be insurmountable when the defensive Grass-types whose shoes it's trying to fill leave these kinds of openings in canon, so this felt like a fairer power level.​
- That said, there's another big difference with Tangrowth and Ferrothorn: although Souvenut's type and Ability might be weaker overall and it's not as resilient to hazards as either of them (those two may be more effective and splashable as defensive pivots), Souvenut has very reliable instant recovery in Milk Drink, while many other Grass-types are constrained by the limited PP and weather dependence of moves like Synthesis, and Ferrothorn doesn't have even that. Souvenut also has the option of Leech Seed like both of them!

- The other main question when you're making a defensive Pokémon, obviously, is what can it do back? There is no value in making a Pokémon that can switch in on (or stay in on) an attacker as many times as it wants if it never makes progress on its own.
- In terms of field state, Souvenut can both set Stealth Rock and clear hazards in two different ways. (Rapid Spin can be blocked by Ghost-types and punished by Garchomp, while Defog can't be blocked but can be punished by Pokémon like Bisharp instead; Rapid Spin might be easier to use if you're also running hazard stack on your own team or especially if you happen to have Stealth Rock on your own set.) A Flying-type would not normally be desirable for hazard control, but Package Protection makes it possible to pull this off about as reliably as a Pokémon of any other type or a Boots holder in Gen VIII as long as you focus on staying healthy in general!
- Souvenut has Sleep Powder and to a lesser extent Stun Spore and Toxic to inflict strong status conditions, like other defensive Grass-types. Most of these don't work on Kartana, and Sleep Powder can only shut down one thing at a time, but it's a really strong status to be able to use reliably and I think Souvenut has the bulk to pull it off! It also has Body Slam, which feels notable as relatively spammable move that adds risk to trying to set up because you're immune to its other forms of status.
- Souvenut can potentially run Encore or Trick to discourage setup from offensive Pokémon it's trying to wall (I'm thinking Encore is useful here because Kartana and Garchomp sometimes run Z-Crystals, which makes them immune to Trick), as well as Leech Seed and Toxic to put setup users on something of a timer, but be aware the latter two still don't work on Kartana.
- Offensively... ... this is going to sound silly but is honestly pretty awesome:
- So uh, Souvenut has Heat Crash (this is also called Heat Stamp in Japanese - it started as basically a joke about stamps the same way as Heart Stamp, but it also works on the level of coconuts falling from the sky), which is... generally a spectacularly useless move, in the context that it is not STAB and Souvenut is not very heavy. Actually I would kind of like it to be like 0.7kg or so
However, it is... surprisingly reasonable to get this really funny calc:​
168 Atk Souvenut Heat Crash (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kartana: 260-308 (100.3 - 118.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO​
or even:​
108 Atk Souvenut Heat Crash (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Kartana: 244-288 (94.2 - 111.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock​
This is because, even if Souvenut is pretty light, Kartana only weighs 0.1kg, which means anything that weighs at least 0.5kg gets max power Heat Crash on it.
- In the same way, if you're not running any other physical moves and would prefer to invest as little as possible offensively, you could also use Hidden Power Fire like Ferrothorn has been known to run on occasion! Souvenut's Attack is slightly higher than its Special Attack and Heat Crash is more than twice as strong, but Hidden Power is targeting Kartana's much weaker Special Defense, so it actually requires less commitment overall if it's the only attacking move you care about:​
48 SpA Souvenut Hidden Power Fire vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Kartana: 260-308 (100.3 - 118.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO​
Both of these Fire coverage options could actually be useful sometimes!! Most sets of Souvenut can safely switch in on Kartana, but you don't want it to be able to sit there and set up until you can't wall it any more. Being able to pressure it offensively pairs especially well with wanting to run utility like Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, Leech Seed and Toxic that you can't use to cripple Kartana itself.​
- One of the other biggest things Souvenut can do is use Curse, which can definitely make a physical attacker regret trying to stay in and wear it down. With its well-above-average special bulk, Souvenut can get a ton of mileage out of boosting Attack and Defense at the same time.
- Acrobatics is a cool move to slot into any set in my opinion, because you're very likely to be taking Knock Offs anyway as a Kartana check. It's up to you if you'd rather start with an item that you're okay losing or start with no item to begin with and minimize Knock Off damage, but either way, using a STAB 110 BP Acrobatics might be a nice way to add an offensive slant to any specific Souvenut set that struggles to use its supportive options against Grass-types. This also pairs really well with SubHarvest sets if you're feeling brave enough!

Lastly, ~ the meme option: ~
- SO DID YOU KNOW Kartana's Knock Off never gets the damage boost to begin with if you're holding Normalium-Z for Celebrate :blobthinking:
- 70 Speed can get to be pretty solid at +1 actually and then you have fast Sleep Powder and recovery and even better bulk and​
- +1 252 SpA Souvenut Icy Wind vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 228-272 (63.8 - 76.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery​
:blobthinking: :blobthinking: :blobthinking:
this is going to be the least usable Z-Celebrate user ever and it is definitely not what it is actually good at, but someone is going to make it happen
I will run it myself if no one else is brave enough
By leveling up:​

1 - Pound
1 - Harden

4 - Leafage
9 - Gust
13 - Razor Leaf
18 - Leech Seed
22 - Heart Stamp
27 - Encore
31 - Natural Gift
36 - Heat Crash
40 - Bullet Seed
45 - Body Slam
49 - Milk Drink
54 - Head Smash
59 - Hurricane

By breeding:​
(Grass group)

Barrage
Curse
Rapid Spin
Sleep Powder
Stun Spore

By event:​
(to go with its cosmetic forms, I think there should be an event like Vivillon)

Celebrate
Present

By TM and tutor:​

TM06 Toxic
TM10 Hidden Power
TM11 Sunny Day
TM15 Hyper Beam
TM17 Protect
TM20 Safeguard
TM21 Frustration
TM22 Solar Beam
TM23 Smack Down
TM27 Return
TM32 Double Team
TM36 Sludge Bomb
TM39 Rock Tomb
TM40 Aerial Ace
TM42 Facade
TM44 Rest
TM45 Attract
TM48 Round
TM53 Energy Ball
TM56 Fling
TM58 Sky Drop
TM62 Acrobatics
TM63 Embargo
TM68 Giga Impact
TM69 Rock Polish
TM75 Swords Dance
TM76 Fly
TM78 Bulldoze
TM80 Rock Slide
TM86 Grass Knot
TM87 Swagger
TM88 Sleep Talk
TM90 Substitute
TM96 Nature Power
TM100 Confide
Covet by tutoring at Big Wave Beach
Defog by tutoring at Big Wave Beach
Helping Hand by tutoring at Big Wave Beach
Recycle by tutoring at Big Wave Beach
Snore by tutoring at Big Wave Beach
Worry Seed by tutoring at Big Wave Beach
Bounce by tutoring in Heahea City
Giga Drain by tutoring in Heahea City
Iron Defense by tutoring in Heahea City
Stealth Rock by tutoring in Heahea City
Synthesis by tutoring in Heahea City
Icy Wind by tutoring at Ula'ula Beach
Seed Bomb by tutoring at Ula'ula Beach
Tailwind by tutoring at Ula'ula Beach
Trick by tutoring at Ula'ula Beach



Realistically, I will probably not have the energy to do something like this again, but this was really fun!!! sorry for spending like two weeks on this in October and then dropping it again until now @.@
I've been meaning to do something along these lines for the longest time, so I'm incredibly grateful the slate didn't close sooner :'D
It was a super fun time talking over ideas with ink and Magma to prepare for this!!
There is still something I kinda want to finish, so maybe I'll come back to this and edit it in later, but I really need to stop telling myself that as an excuse to put it off :v I will get to it if I can, but this is really enough for me for now :'D

will there ever be a Smogon Nitro that lets me disregard the character limit
 

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