042 - AMPENOME

The Generator Pokémon
"AMPENOME uses the volatile poisons stored inside its body to heat up the water around it and generate electrical power. The waters in the vicinity of where it lives soon become acidic, easily conducting the electrical blasts it uses to stun its prey."
"Because of its sedentary nature, its bright colors warn others that it's armed with highly venomous, electrified tentacles. As a last resort, it will release all the chemicals stored in its body, flooding the surrounding water with deadly poison."

Type: Poison/Electric
Height: 4'
Weight: 193 lbs
Ability: Water Absorb/Corrosion (Natural Cure)
Evolution: MEDUCID --> Level 35 --> AMPENOME --> GIGANTAMAX AMPENOME
Egg Groups: Water 3

Basis: Magnificent sea anemones; lead-acid batteries; nuclear power plants and cooling towers; citrus fruit batteries (look closely at the upper half of the midsection).
Name Origin: AMPEre + ANEMONE.

Moves Learned: Same as MEDUCID, with added moves Scald, Thunder, Poison Jab, Selfdestruct, Stockpile, Swallow, Spit Up, Parabolic Charge, Gamma Burst*, Zap Cannon, and Explosion. Discharge, Constrict, Acid, and Toxic Spikes are now starting moves.
Notable Other Moves: Same as MEDUCID.

Base Stats:
HP: 83
Attack: 60
Defense: 80
Sp.Atk: 80
Sp.Def: 115
Speed: 56
TOTAL: 474

* Acid Bath
Category: Special
Type: Poison
Power: 70
PP: 20
Accuracy: 100%
The user hurls forth a corrosive sludge that may badly poison the foe. This attack deals super-effective damage against Steel-types. (Compare: Freeze-Dry.)

** Gamma Burst
Category: Special
Type: Poison
Power: 110
PP: 5
Accuracy: 80%
The user overloads the poisons in its body, unleashing a colossal blast of toxic energy. The user also takes terrible damage.
(Note: Hits all enemies on the field. The user takes damage according to half the amount dealt to the foe that took the most damage.)

**********



1/20/21 UPDATE: Improved linework and adjusted color scheme!

Now here's a surprise for you! Instead of a bigger citrus jelly, Meducid becomes a big tentacled cooling tower! How cool is that? Introducing the power plant of the sea, and my entry to KronnicK's "Bring The Reef To Life" Contest, the beautiful but deadly Ampenome! Da da da daaaaa!

There were plenty of interesting possibilities for me to work with for this contest, but I was in need of more Electric-types, and more Poison-types, so why not try something that's the best of both? Part of the inspiration here was bogleech‘s 151 Poison-type prompts on the Pokémon corner of his website, and I'm pretty sure one of the ones mentioned was an anemone (a "colorful, clown or harlequin themed sea anemone" to be specific, but Poison/Water). Yeah, it would've been pretty obvious for a sea anemone to be a Water-type, but there are canon Pokémon that aren't Water-type but live in the water regardless. Looking at that electric jelly concept I'd done previously for Tumblr's Omnis Region, I realized that the conductive nature of acid could work very well for Poison/Electric, and we already have a real-world example of that in the form of battery acid. Then I threw in the influence of a nuclear power plant (I know straight up radioactivity won't fly with Japan, but I'm pretty sure I "watered" it down well enough), and this design was the end result. Notice the sickly green tentacles coming out of the top - making them green was a last-minute decision and I quite like it! Really gives it a feel combining toxic smoke and an acid leak.

Now, you may be wondering how the heck a jellyfish would evolve into an anemone. Well, these two animals are related! They're both from the phylum Cnidaria, which also includes corals, and in fact, all three groups have a free-swimming juvenile stage known as a medusa, which actually looks like a teeny tiny jellyfish! You could say jellyfish never grew out of their childhood days at all.

Like real sea anemones, Ampenome is slow as molasses, and though some species of sea anemones can actually wiggle freely through the water if they have to, most tend to stay rooted to the seabed. Hence, Ampenome fills the rare niche of an Electric "mighty-glacier"-style tank, and it makes me a little sad to see that this typing doesn't have that many slow, defensive combatants in canon. The good defensive aspects of the Poison typing are super helpful, which is why I derived the stat spread and the Liquid Ooze ability from Tentacruel. Cradily, from the same egg group, also contributes a few stat buffs. The 83 HP is halfway between Tentacruel's 80 and Cradily's 86, while the 115 Special Defense is midway between Tentacruel's 120 and Cradily's 107. From Tentacruel's 70 Attack and 65 Defense, Attack actually got nerfed by 10 points, and Defense buffed by 15. Anemones are just terrible at punching people. The 80 Special Attack is from Tentacruel, and the 56 Speed is just 13 points higher than Cradily's 43. Like I said, slow.

So, with mighty defensive stats, terrible attack and speed, and nice HP, what's an atomic anemone to do? Sit there and take it? Probably. Parabolic Charge and a breedable Recover are good for sustaining Ampenome's health, and Thunder Wave is the bane of non-Ground-or-Electric sweepers everywhere. Mirror Coat is also useful for capitalizing on that meaty special defense, and Gastro Acid can negate certain critical abilities. As for direct attacking, that 80 Special Attack isn't anything to write home about, but his damaging attacks certainly make up for it. This is one anemone that can give as good as he gets! Sludge Wave, Sludge Bomb, Thunder, Zap Cannon, all STAB and all dangerous. Fairies and fish, beware! For flavor, and for the attack nerf, try bringing things to a boil with Scald, which is also useful against Ground-types. Or, if you don't mind ditching the Poison coverage, bring in the nuclear winter with the famous Bolt-Beam combo! And lastly, Gamma Burst is the signature move of Ampenome and extremely lethal (except against Steel types, but that's what Acid Bath is for!). Just watch out for recoil and keep your Recover move close at hand!

Good luck to all the other entrants to this contest! Also, this 'mon is the subject of another contest entry which I'll be working on ASAP, once I have access to my scanner again.

Pokémon © Nintendo
AMPENOME is mine!