Gaiien Region: Borne away on the wine-dark sea: Palaephin

(Does not evolve.)

#085 - Palaephin (Palaemon (deified drowned son of Ino) + dolphin)
Bier Pokémon
Water/Ghost-Type

It was said to carry the souls of the dead into the west, where the sun sets. They often swim alongside ships and guard them against attack by other pokémon, but they are capricious and may attack, too.

Base Stats: 60/60/70/100/80/100 (470)

Ability: Echolocation [Opponents are unable to reduce this pokemon's accuracy through moves or abilities that obscure sight]/Tangling Net [Contact with this pokémon lowers the attacker's speed stat.]/[Cursed Body]

Moveset: Curse, Destiny Bond, Amnesia, Ancientpower, Sonic Boom, Quick Attack, Constrict, Bubble, Water Gun, Bubblebeam, Bubble Blast, Surf, Hydro Pump, Water Pulse, Shadow Ball, Astonish, Water Spout, Absorb, Night Shade, Ominous Wind, Confuse Ray, Spite, Flash Flood, Sea Smoke, Depth Charge, Dive, Supersonic, Soul Drain, Soul Tether, To Xibalba, Death Roll, Play Rough, Cavitation, Hysteria, Nasty Voice, Sonar Ping, Ultrasonic, Headbutt, Signal Beam, Aqua Jet, Aqua Tail, Echoed Voice, Hyper Voice, Disarming Voice

Design notes: Dolphins, river dolphins, dolphin skeletons, netting, roman mosaics, "wine-dark sea"

The whale (and the dolphin) has gone from being a sea monster to a mystical woo symbol of environmentalism in popular culture, while dolphins have had their image somewhat tarnished in recent years by the revelation that like other social mammals with big brains, they're capable of cruelty and violence too. I'm not interested in that kind of edgy "DID U KNO DOLPHINS R RAPISTS" clickpost, but rather a realistic assessment of animal behavior and intelligence (and also we should probably not keep animals with powerful drives to travel thousands of kilometers every year in tiny enclosures).

Anyway. Did u kno that dolphins were the bearers of the dead in Greek mythology? Here's my slightly grim ghost dolphin take for that oft-requested Dolphin Pokemon rather than Water/Psychic or Water/Fairy as many have done (which are quite appropriate but I wanted to do something different).

In the early stages of Gods and Demons I planned for various ordinary pokemon to be connected to the God or Demon characters in various ways (servants, corrupted forms, ascended forms, etc.) and that idea has mostly fallen to the wayside, but I will say that as of right now, Palaephin is connected to one of the God characters. (If you've read the fanfic, you might have wondered where the absent god characters are compared to the present demons. You'll seeeeeeeee)