CaP 18 Pre-Evo - Part 2 - Ability Discussion

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DHR-107

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So... Water/Fire won out in our Typing Poll. Volkrakid follows in its footsteps of its evolution and retains its typing. Unlike a normal CaP Process discussion, we are discussing All Three Abilities at the same time!

As a reminder: Volkraken's abilities are Analytic / Infiltrator / Pressure. Just as in the previous threads, stupid suggestions will be moderated.

Remember the first rule of CAP Pre-evolutions? That's right, the first rule is that this is a flavour-based project! Just back your preferred abilities with solid flavor reasoning, and explain why your ability would make sense on Volkraken's pre-evolution. Competitive reasoning is neither necessary nor sufficient when it comes of making the slate.

I will leave this topic open for approximately 24 Hours. (Maybe a little bit less). I will be putting up the art thread tomorrow evening at some point!

Our Prevo so far:

Typing: Water/Fire
Abilities: TBC
 

The Avalanches

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I think it's main ability should stay Analytic. I don't mind so much about the other two, but it's first ability should certainly stay Analytic, as squids are quite intelligent and capable of learning.

Infiltrator probably could too, as it shares this ability with Inkay and Malamar, both of which are squids.

I don't care about pressure, but I think this one could change into something a bit more fitting for a baby squid. Perhaps Pickup could be a valid replacement?
 
Infiltrator should definitely remain the same (it makes great flavor sense for squids as well, thanks to their ability to squeeze through small spaces). Analytic and Pressure I'm a little bit more skeptical of. Perhaps we could have a less focused squid evolve and gain the ability Analytic: thus, I feel that Hustle would be a good choice for primary ability. This would make the pre-evolution similar to Remoraid, which also has the Hustle ability but loses it when it evolves. Instead of Pressure, Illuminate might be a good idea, as it makes a lot of flavor sense with phosphorescence. It could start as a bright, shining squid (Illuminate) that evolves into a squid with fear-inducing patterns (Pressure).
 

HeaLnDeaL

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As a young, baby squid, I think Rattled has some flavor merit. I can imagine the Volkrakid getting scared by other underwater sea creatures.

Personally, I agree that pressure should be replaced by a new ability. However, I'm also not opposed to Analytic being changed to something else, either; my image of Volkrakid makes it seem slightly too young to be able to analyze things properly. However, I do think Infiltrator should stay, because at any age squids/octopuses are very flexible and can infiltrate between cracks in rocks, etc.
 
I would make a case for dropping Analytic due to the possible naivety of the unevolved Pokemon, but every Pokemon that gets Analytic has it through every stage of evolution. Then again, every Pokemon with Analytic EXCEPT Volkraken has it exclusively as a hidden ability, so I think that we could be safe in breaking this pattern.

Infiltrator should be all the more appropriate due to the (supposed) decrease in size while retaining the same mobility.

Pressure was voted in for some allusion to depth pressure, but the flavor of the ability is more of an imposing presence and I really don't think that is the route we should take for the minikraken. The only precedence that was given for this was Wailmer and Wailord. Wailmer has a 2m diameter, so a Charizard could literally fit entirely inside of it. I move to have Pressure replaced by a more fitting ability.

I suggest Pickup to replace Pressure as it displays both the curiosity of cephalopods as well as the similar behaviour of toddlers.
 
Infiltrator sounds like a good one to keep static between the two, if any.
I'll throw out Limber as a possibility for any slot. Being a young (vampire) squid, he must be very agile and, well, limber. That, and all it's doing is blocking paralysis as opposed to something offensively-oriented.
Seconding Rattled too.
Since Water/Fire won typing, let's revisit White Smoke as well, as I'm assuming he has the capability to produce smoke.
Finally, if we want to risk it, Swift Swim. Choosing it for flavor reasons, and I don't think there are any Drizzlers in LC, much less CAP LC. Just like Limber, this one is based off its nimbility, or so it should have.
 

Arhops

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I think Unaware could work because:
This Pokémon is highly intelligent. It will quickly learn from and solve even human-engineered puzzles.
It is still growing up at the moment since its a Pre-Evolution so it probably can't do what the Pokedex entry says. This wouldn't be the first time this happened in the Pokemon world either. Slowpoke, thought to be not very intelligent, evolves into Slowking, one of the smartest Pokemon in existence.

General LC Pokemon abilities like Pickup and Swift Swim could work as well.

edit: Blooper, what I think is the smaller version of the bigger boss squid, making it sort of a pre-evolution, from Mario looks pretty unaware too:

 
I suggest that Infiltrator remains as the second Ability for self-explanatory reasons. As stated above, Hustle could work as the first Ability due to the Volkrakid being hot-headed, both figuratively and literally. I'm not quite sure about the Hidden Ability, but Rattled seems like an option. Either Pickup or Rattled for the Hidden Ability.

EDIT: Unaware seems redundant with Privatyke and Arghonaut's Standard Ability, and both CAPs are cephalopods, so I'm not so fond of it.
 

The Avalanches

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Yeah, actually, I'm in full support of Rattled over Pressure. It works so well, I believe, as small squids would likely be skittish rather than imposing.

And although this is an entirely flavor-based project, it's worth mentioning that Rattled would be a useful ability for an LC Pokemon with all the Knock Off spam.

I'm still entirely for keeping Analytic though.
 
Why not Suction Cups? I think it makes sense with it being a squid. We could also add Flash Fire mainly because Volkrakid needs to absorb heat to power its attacks, while Volkraken has an internal furnace. Sort of a Joltik scenario.

Slowpoke is not dumb. The reason it is so slow is because it is omniscient, and can't deal with all of the knowledge it has. A Shellder's bite grounds it in reality.
 
Rattled really doesn't much fit with Water/Fire and no Fire type has ever gotten that ability before. I think Run Away would be a much better choice if that approach is considered.

Volkraken did not receive Suction Cups because vampire squid do not have suction cups. We do not yet know what the minikraken will be, so this could be a possible ability.
 
I don't think that Rattled has much to do at all with typing; it's more to do with the looks and personality of the Pokémon. Rattled or Hustle would both be good choices to use instead of Analytic, as both convey a sort of skittish nature that could later become Analytic.

The thing with Flash Fire is that no Pokémon that has it loses it upon evolution. In addition, I don't really see it working for a part Water-type.
 

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I'm definitely in favor of keeping Infiltrator as its secondary ability, as all evolved Pokemon who get Infiltrator as non-hidden (Noivern, Meowstic, Whimsicott) kept it from their prevos. Keeping Pressure also has merits, as everything that evolves that has Pressure as a hidden ability keeps it post-evolution and are two-stage evolutions (Pawniard and Wailmer); and, the reason Pressure was chosen was that a la Wailord Volkraken lived in the deep sea, and Volkrakid does as well.

I like Swift Swim - it's a generic LC ability, and young vampire squids swim with jet propulsion as opposed to adults, which favor the more energy-efficient method of using their fins. it also has precedence in Magikarp, which evolves into the Intimidating Gyarados; here, a Swift Swimming Volkrakid would evolve into a more Analytic, energy-mindful Volkraken. Sticky Hold, Gooey, and Limber could also be options, as vampire squids use glowing sticky mucus instead of ink to startle and distract predators, and they also have jellyfish-like gelatinous bodies. (I was thinking about Liquid Ooze, but all the Pokemon that get Liquid Ooze are Poison-type and keep it upon evolution.) maybe Regenerator as well because vampire squids can regenerate their tentacles, but that has less precedent as all Pokemon that get Regenerator that evolve keep it upon evolution. I'm also a fan of Illuminate because photophores.
 
I'd like to suggest Anticipation. It senses the foe's dangerous moves, which could sort of be a precursor to Analytic? Perhaps Keen Eye could fit this idea as well. I like the idea of Gooey a lot as well.

EDIT: Disregard Keen Eye and Gooey, I'm completely supporting Anticipation now. First of all, I believe Volkrakid would essentially wait- or anticipate change- all its life. It waits to ambush its prey, it waits to evolve... Also, Anticipation would make a good HA, as its text when entering battle is "<insert Pokémon> shuddered!" Pressure also has text upon entering battle, and it could signify a change from being fearful to being feared.
 
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paintseagull

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I think we should keep Analytic/Infiltrator, since there's no logical reason to change them, nor is there precedent. Prevo does not mean inept babymon, and an intelligent adult Pokemon would likely also be more intelligent as a prevo than other prevos. Pressure, however, could definitely be changed for the reasons others have stated - there is precedent and Pressure is reserved for intimidating Pokemon, which prevos tend not to be.

Volkraken's ability to intimidate comes from its glowing false face, so replacing Pressure with Illuminate makes a lot of sense to me. As a younger Pokemon, it doesn't need to be as sneaky with its glowing lights, and it could use them to signal to older Volkraken, as a communication tool, or if it gets lost.

I don't like Rattled - adult Volkraken are the type of thing that could Rattle you - prevos should be used to seeing creepy things and they should be pretty fearless.

I don't like Pickup - it's a deep sea pokemon, it's probably not picking things up very often.
 
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The Avalanches

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I'm not a fan of Gooey or Keen Eye. Squids aren't gooey or sticky, they're slimy, and I don't think we should give a unique ability to something that will lose it on evolution, and squids aren't really known for their eyesight with the depths they live at.

I could see Anticipation being chosen, but I have no idea why people want this thing to lose Analytic so badly. I imagine squids are curious, inquisitive and intelligent from a young age, I don't see this thing having a reason to lose its evolution's main ability.
 
I agree that Infiltrator is good and should stay as secondary ability. For primary, I was looking for something that showed curiosity, to transition into the intelligence of Analytic, but there really isn't much. So instead, how about we go with the prevo being naive, and growing into an intelligent creature when it evolves? In that case, I will put up Oblivious to show that right now it couldn't care less what the opponent is doing, but will eventually become a fearsome fighter when it learns to watch and wait. For hidden ability, I would like to see Unnerve or possibly Cute Charm, if we want to go that route with the art.
 
squids aren't really known for their eyesight with the depths they live at
Giant squids have the largest eyes of any living creature, cephalopods can see polarization, they can recognize visual patterns, etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalopod#Vision

I don't like Pickup - it's a deep sea pokemon, it's probably not picking things up very often.
The reasoning I gave was the innate curiosity shown when an octopus encounters a new object. It's not that it is finding stuff constantly, but that when it does it will pick up and inspect the object.
 

The Avalanches

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Giant squids have the largest eyes of any living creature, cephalopods can see polarization, they can recognize visual patterns, etc.
Even so, that just makes it stranger for a pre-evolution to have it and its evolution not have it. I can get something like Rattled and Pickup - those are abilities that pre-evolutions lose upon evolving, but I don't think there is any precedent for a Keen Eye user losing it. Not amongst non-birds, anyway.
 
I guess Anticipation could replace Pressure without any problem, but I've thought about it for a few hours, and we should probably keep both of the Standard Abilities as they are. Analytic describes Volkrakid's intelligence and curiosity, while Infiltrator implies Volkrakid's capability to slip through smaller places.
 
How about Unnerve as it's Hidden Ability? Instead of being intimidating enough to cause a fight or flight instinct, it's still just uncanny enough to distract Pokemon from eating their berries. Squids and Octopi are creepy, man. Maybe Weak Armor could serve as a prelude to Infiltrator in that instead of using it's squid-ish flexibility and sneakiness to attack targets, it becomes faster and essentially chooses the 'flight' response as a child. As well as that a baby isn't very likely to have solid defenses. I do, however, like the idea of it having Rattled, but keeping its main ability as Analytic makes sense too (we all know how curious children can be).
 
I'd like to point out that Mewtwo has Unnerve. It's not really a toned down version of Pressure, it's just an alternate version of the same effect.
 

HeaLnDeaL

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I don't like Rattled - adult Volkraken are the type of thing that could Rattle you - prevos should be used to seeing creepy things and they should be pretty fearless.
In defense of Rattled, I'd also like to point out that Magikarp gets it. Gyarados, much like Volkraken, can be seen a very fierce-some Pokemon. However, just because an evo is fierce it does not mean that the prevo has to be as well.

That said, I'm not particularly opposed to Unnerve, either. Illuminate is also good flavor choice, and there's little wrong with it overall.

Regarding Pick Up, however, I can't truly imagine a squid picking up, holding, and carrying around an item for all too long.
 
Regarding Pick Up, however, I can't truly imagine a squid picking up, holding, and carrying around an item for all too long.
Octopodes have been seen to disassemble a sunken coconut shell, carry it for an extensive period of time and reassemble it to use as shelter.
 
Flavour wise, I see Pressure as a creature having an overwhelming presence and kind of authority, whereas Unnerve is basically being disturbing and anxiety causing, and Intimidate basically being you pounding your chest and glaring the other guy down. Pyroar has Unnerve because it's face is at the deepest depths of the uncanney valley and Joltik has it because nothing in this world can naturally be that adorable.
 
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