#177-178: Natu and Xatu

I've made too much of a habit disappearing for a while, haven't I? Well, I took some time off for birthday and related hijinks, and then when I came back I was unwell and very busy at work, so yeah, can you really complain? Yes, I guess you can, but then that makes you the bad guy so nerr!

I kinda see some influences from central/south American culture infiltrating on these next two Pokemon, and they certainly have some mystery from the Ruins of Alph where the Unown first spring up...

Natu is a bit like a cutdown form of Xatu, not just in what it is and does, but also in how it looks... 40 HP is underwhelming, 45 in both defences also don't fill you with hope, 50 physical attack means that the good physical flying moves don't really do anything, and 70 special attack and speed aren't the best things but they aren't awful. You get to be flying/psychic in type, so at least you can use the special attack for psychic moves, synchronize and early bird are the standard abilities (the former means that if you get a status affliction the foe gets it too, and the latter means you wake up faster), but a better choice is the hidden ability of magic bounce, which bounces things like stat reducers and entry hazards back at the foe.

Why is this either a sentient garden pea or a decapitated Xatu?

Standard flying start with peck and leer, which I don't think you really need to be reminded of. Night shade inflicts damage based on your level on the foe, teleport is hated from the Abra spam in that it takes you out of battle (and in the overworld can take you back to a Pokemon centre), whilst lucky chant boosts critical hit chances. In ORAS, stored power comes in at 17 (39 in XY), which is a base 20 psychic move, but the base damage rises with each stat boost applied to the team, so you can make it horrifyingly powerful by boosting the 7 available stats (attack, defence, special attack, special defence, speed, accuracy and evasiveness), and in particular a boost to special attack is a good way to go as it is a special move, and so you can basically wipe anything out on the end of a baton pass team. Ominous wind is a base 60 ghost special move and carries a 10% chance of boosting all stats by a stage, like ancient power (this is level 20 in ORAS, 44 in XY), confuse ray confuses the target coming in at level 23 in both gen 6 sets, and in XY you can also take miracle eye before evolving, this move removing a dark-type's immunity to psychic attacks. Me first also pops up in XY before evolution which uses the foe's move against them before they can attack.

We already have a few moves we've seen dependent on the game that would be in after the chance to evolve at level 25, but there are a few more. Wish is a decent one as it can be cast, switch the Pokemon and then the incoming one will be healed by it, or just heal yourself after a pause. Psychic is a very obvious choice as a base 90 psychic special move, so everything that aligns with the Pokemon. Future sight packs a bit more punch as a base 120 psychic special move, but suffers from being overly telegraphed, hitting a couple of turns later, so the opponent can switch to an immune Pokemon, or you could have been defeated before then anyway. Psychoshift will move your status affliction from you to the target, which doesn't really work with synchronize, and Noctowl is arguably a better choice to use it with. Power and guard swap come together, and they switch the changes to stats (power for attacks and guard for the defences) with the opponent, so you can hand off losses or gain boosts, say.

In addition to the standard TM lists, you can take psyshock and calm mind, the former being a psychic special move that hits the physical defence, and the latter being a one stage boost to both special categories, thus being useful for boosting up a stored power as well. You can get sunny day and solar beam, for some reason, and you can also get roost as a healing option, which temporarily sheds the thus far useless flying-type. Shadow ball offers a base 80 ghost special coverage option, and aerial ace is a good move, but your physical attack is just too weak, the same being the issue for steel wing. Thunderwave is another good move to allow build-up, along with confuse ray, dream eater is great if the foe is put to sleep, grass knot works well with how light Natu is, U-turn is always a decent option for an escape route, and dazzling gleam is a base 80 fairy special move.

Breeding time (if you can be bothered), and drill peck offers something for the flying-STAB, but sadly physical attack. Feint attack is a reliable way to score damage (not much since, y'know, physical) as a base 60 dark move, but feather dance can slow a foe's physical charge by lowering their physical attack two stages. Haze gives a welcome niche to this Pokemon as a way to remove all in play issues, quick attack is just quick attack, simple beam is a nice idea to cripple a foe that relies on a great ability (like a Protean Greninja, say), and skill swap does a similar job except you don't just swap their ability out for Simple (stat changes are twice as effective if you have simple), you swap your ability for theirs, so you could dump early bird for something really rocking (maybe something like Protean, or simple if you've already put it on them and you have a cunning plan). Synchronoise is a poor move in some ways in that you can only hit Pokemon of the same type as you, but this is where the nearly worthless flying-typing comes in, so you can hit all flying foes (unless they are dark) with a base 120 psychic special move! Zen headbutt is a little wasted here, but sucker punch can still do a small job. The tutor offers some ok moves like giga drain, heat wave, sky attack (arguably), signal beam, pain split (sorta), magic coat, magic room, trick, tailwind and snore, along with skill swap and zen headbutt.

Evolution time! C'mon, grab your birds! Yes, Xatu is a lot bigger, and a fair way better in stats: a boost of 25 to everything gives still mediocre bulk and physical attack, but 95 in speed and special attack isn't awful with the chance for some buffing. You stay as flying/psychic, you seem to become a Native American-themed Pokemon, and you keep the same abilities...

I kinda like the 'New World' vibe about it, but why does it have eyes for nipples?

Keeping pretty much the same level set, the big change (other than levels) is the addition of air slash, a much needed base 75 flying special move with a decent flinch chance and the ability to target anyone on the field. Giga impact and hyper beam kinda suck still, and pretty much the only other move that comes in is fly, which is worth a little less than air slash. Foul play is the only addition to the tutor list, so that was nice and brief. Foul play, by the way, is a base 95 dark physical move, and is therefore basically wasted here.

You don't really get much by the way of anything here, but the inclusion of stored power is a very nice thing, with the chance to stick that on the end of a baton pass chain, maybe add some more with calm mind and then go to town, but I feel there are better candidates, and as such, this is a fairly forgettable Pokemon that can barely get by on nostalgia.

(All artwork presented by Ken Sugimori, taken from the Bulbapedia image archives)