CH174 (788), Proto Evolution/Species (1)

Not that I thought that this little guy was just some common dragon. A new dragon species this far back into the Paldean index likely meant that this little guy was the initial stage of the Paldean Pseudo-Legendary/apex species. I only had to confirm that Frigibax had 2 evolutions and its position as the apex line would practically be assured. Somehow, the fact or idea that the Paldean apex line had the dragon typing was not surprising since 7 out of the 10 known common apex lines had the dragon typing. Well, 8 out of 11 if we added Firigibax's line.

Anyway, I took a look at the following entry and it was interesting to see that Arctibax actually looked like a proper dino. I felt it was a bit funny that Arctibax looked like it had an ice beard, but more interesting than that was the three-pronged spike that grew on its dorsal fin since it actually reminded me of the spikes that lined Godzilla's back. That thought excited me somewhat fiercely and I directly moved to the next entry, only to freeze out of excitement after seeing the picture of a literal ice Godzilla. The idea of a literal ice Godzilla was unbelievably exciting to me, and I could not help but wonder if it had a sub-zero breath as its signature move.

If not, Ice Beam would have to do, just like Dragonbreath or Charge Beam could substitute the Atomic Breath. Either way, I did not doubt that Baxcalibur was the Paldean apex species since one did not get more apex than Godzilla, though after scrutinizing its picture some more I had to admit that I would have liked it more if Baxcalibur had some spikes along its neck as well and maybe its tail since that part looked a bit naked to my eyes with only the one admittedly enormous (dorsal) blade.

Regardless, after geeking out due to the ice Godzilla that appeared I suppressed the jealousy that tried to rear its ugly head and moved on to the next entry. Interestingly enough it happened to be another entry with multiple pictures. Paldea seemed to be packed with Pokemon that had different forms, both old and new. 

Anyway, Gimmighoul had two pictures; One showed a small gold chest with a little grey metallic humanoid half submerged in the gold coins inside the chest. The second picture showed only the little grey humanoid without the chest. Honestly, when I saw the first picture I thought I was seeing a Pokemon mimic, but after noticing the little guy inside the chest and seeing the second picture, I was pretty sure that the humanoid was Gimmighoul and that the treasure chest was a ghostly item bound to Gimmighoul. The fact that it was a ghost type was what led me to that belief.

Gimmighoul probably stored it inside its body or some personal space that most ghosts seemed to possess while it was roaming around outside its little gold chest. Nonetheless, I could understand why the professors made sure to note Gimmighoul's usual and homebody state as two distinct forms. Ghost item or not, I could see how being "hidden" inside a gold chest would raise Gimmighoul's defenses at the cost of being stationary or at least close to stationary since it could probably move its ghostly chest. Meanwhile, it would lose that defensive boost/advantage when it left its gold chest, though it would be much faster that way for obvious reasons.

I opened the next entry to see if little Gimmighoul had an evolution, and as it turned out, it did; The little one turned into what looked like a large golden humanoid with 4 dreadlock-like tufts of "hair". Gholdengo was listed as a steel/ghost type and combining that with its looks I guessed that Gimmighoul somehow ended up fusing all the gold coins inside its chest into its body, leading to its evolution. Probably once the number of infused gold had reached a certain level/amount. It seemed to have kept the chest as well, having it strapped at its side/hip using a belt, though it looked like it kept the chest small to make it easier to carry around.

That raised the likelihood of the chest being a ghostly item instead of a material one since those usually did not shrink. Unless of course, Gholdengo was actually gigantic enough to keep a chest strapped to its hip and make it look small, though I seriously doubted that was the case. Anyway, I moved on to the next entry, and I could not help but feel a bit surprised when I ended up looking at a picture of a picture, or rather a drawing, instead of an actual Pokemon. I glanced at the title of the entry and saw that the Pokemon depicted in the drawing was called Wo-Chien and that it was listed as a dark/grass type.

The weird/curious name aside, the fact that Wo-Chien had been added to the Paldean Pokemon Index despite there apparently being only a drawing to illustrate its looks, told me that it was likely a Pokemon that had proof of its existence and was likely some Paldean legendary/mythical Pokemon since the whole situation gave me that kind of vibe, though Wo-Chien's mossy/grassy snail-like look in the drawing did not make much of a legendary impression on me. Then again, neither did Manaphy or Jirachi, so there was that.

Still, I could be wrong with my assumption of its legendary/mythical status and Wo-Chien was some kind of documented ancient/proto species that had been mentioned in the foreword. I guess I would find out which one was true once I began to actually look into the entry texts. Entry 382 had me raise the likelihood of the first theory since it showed another drawing, this time of some kind of white ferret-leopard mix with saber or sword theet.

The Pokemon in question was listed as Chien-Pao and was recorded as a dark/ice type. Seeing how its title was just as curious/weird as Wo-Chien and how both Pokemon shared the dark typing, I was starting to see a pattern. It was likely that the two belonged to a group making up the Paldean minor legendaries, like the "Kantonian birds" and the "Johtonian doggos", though I would have to see if the next entry followed the same pattern before I became more convinced of that idea.

As luck would have it, the next entry did indeed have another drawing, this time depicting some kind of rocky moose or deer that had a large cracked bowl on its head instead of antlers. The Pokemon seemed to be called Ting-Lu and was listed as a dark/ground type, which made it the third Pokemon with such a weird two-part name and a dark typing. This made the idea that there was a Paldean trio much more likely, or at least that was what I thought before I moved on to the next entry and ended up taken aback at seeing yet another drawing.

The drawing depicted some kind of orange-red ornament fish, or goldfish, looking Pokemon with some kind of jade hoops around its bulging eyes. The fish was documented as Chi-Yu and was noted as a dark/fire type making it the fourth Pokemon with that kinda name and a dark typing, turning the suspected trio into a quartet. There being 4 instead of 3 did not necessarily mean that the group was not made up of minor legendaries, though if the next entry turned out to be another weirdly named Pokemon with only a drawing that followed the dark typing pattern then I would have to give up that particular idea after all.

Entry number 385 denied that spectacularly by introducing a shocking Pokemon that did not fit the quartet's pattern at all. In fact, I was pretty sure that this Pokemon was in fact one of the proto species/evolutions that the Professors mentioned in their foreword. The picture showed a Pokemon that had to be an evolution of Donphan because of how much it resembled said Pokemon. Phantusk in essence looked like a much bigger Donphan whose black hide had turned dark purple while gaining three rows of red spikes that grew along the top. Phantusk's mouth had become jagged, while its tusk had not only grown much bigger but also curled inward. Oh, and it also had tufts of pinkish-red fur around its legs.

Overall, Phantusk had a pretty primal feel/look to it, and I liked it a lot. That it was listed as a ground/fighting type was interesting, but considering how it looked I could say that it was not too shocking since Phantusk certainly looked ready to go down at any moment. Either way, I felt like Phantusk was a definite upgrade and I was very interested in how one would go about helping a Donphan evolve into a Phantusk. Hopefully, it was a proto/ancient evolution that was possible with all Donphan like how all Piloswine could evolve into Mamoswine.

I was really hoping that it wouldn't be tied to a proto variant line that began from Phanpy or Donphan since that would mean that I would need a Donphan from the  Area Zero mentioned by the Professors to get my hands on a Phantusk; Maybe even a certain variant of Donphan new to Paldea considering how Phantusk seemed to be a relatively recent discovery. Putting that aside for now, I decided to continue since I was curious about what else I would find. I was pretty sure that starting with Phantusk the rest of the entries would be on the Pokemon that had caused the Professors to release this new edition of the Paldean Pokemon Index.

Anyway, as I had suspected, Entry 386 showed what I assumed to be another Proto evolution, and this one was in my opinion even more surprising since it featured an evolution of a Pokemon I would have not expected at all. Pricklystuff looked like a Jigglypuff that was going through a rebellious phase. Its little curled tuft had become a very long curled tuft of fur that extended down its back and looked a bit like a tail. It actually looked a bit like Jessie's hairstyle; The one from the anime I mean. The tuft had the same pink color as its body up until roughly its midway point after which it became a darker/reddish shade of pink.

On top of the different tuft-style, the Pricklystuff in the picture also seemed to sport a pair of fangs. Oh, and its eyes were yellow instead of blue; It also had some markings above its eyes that looked like makeup. Honestly, I was not sure if Pricklystuff was an alternate proto-evolution of Jigglypuff that replaced Wigglytuff or if it was an alternate proto-evolution of Igglybuff that replaced Jigglypuff. 

It might be because Pricklystuff was listed as a fairy/psychic type, but I kind of felt like it was likely the former. Regardless of which one it was, I was sure that Pricklystuff would become incredibly popular once its existence became public, and I had to admit that I was interested in finding out how to get one as well, though my interest in Pricklystuff was nowhere near the level of interest I had in Phantusk. 

The Pokemon in the next entry was even less interesting to me since I did not particularly care for or like the line in general, but Entry number 387 was on Sombrugus, who appeared to be the proto-evolution of Amoongus, though had it not appeared after what I assumed to be two proto evolution, I could have suspected that it was a regular evolution since it had the same standard Pokeball motif as the rest of the Amoongus line, and standard Pokeballs were not something I would associate with ancient.

Either way, Sombrugus was listed as a grass/dark type, and it did give off a vicious/primal vibe like Phantusk and to some extent Pricklystuff did. It had large caps on its head and arms that resembled standard PokeBalls and pink jagged lips. Its lower body had four stumpy brownish legs and a tail, which was quite a bit different from the simple stem-like (lower) body of Amoongus. Oh, and the cap on Sombrugus' head was spiked and had what seemed to be green moss growing underneath it. Honestly, if not for my dislike for the PokeBall-like coloring of its caps I would have thought that Sombrugus looked pretty great. Yet, the Pokeball look was there, so all I could say was that it looked decent and that I was sure that there would be people who could appreciate its looks.

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