Day 28: Decidueye

(BGM: Iki Town from Pokemon Sun & Moon)

(To start this day off, Lyra enters the scene dressed in her Luminous Peacock outfit)

Lyra/Luminous Peacock: Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!

Me: All dressed up with no place to go, Lyra?

Lyra/Luminous Peacock: I'm all dressed up with very good reason, WildCard! Today's the day we're going to be talking about my favorite Pokemon and the inspiration behind my superhero outfit, Decidueye!

Me: Oh, I didn't take that much inspiration from Decidueye when making Luminous Peacock to be honest.

Lyra/Luminous Peacock: Say what now?

Me: Yeah, most of my inspiration for the Luminous Peacock was Father Balder from Bayonetta.

Lyra/Luminous Peacock: You're joking.

Me: Nope. The color scheme of your costume, the peacock motif, the fact that you can use giant peacock feathers as blades. You're basically Father Balder with extra steps.

Lyra/Luminous Peacock: B-but…I can shoot peacock feather arrows like Decidueye can.

Me: That's really the only thing you and Decidueye have in common, Lyra. Sorry to break it to you like this.

Lyra/Luminous Peacock: Man…so everything that I thought I knew was a lie…first my mom and now this! (She makes her leave) When will this roller coaster of a life end?!

(Lyra leaves and I deem this a good a place as any to talk about Decidueye)

Me: So yeah, we're talking about Decidueye today.

(Insert Decidueye cry here)

(BGM: Battle! Island Kahuna from Sun & Moon)

Up until Generation 9, Decidueye was hands down my favorite Grass type starter…but more on that later. Second place is still a good place to be and Decidueye wears that honor with pride. So let's not waste anymore time, and let me list the reasons why Decidueye rocks!

First, as per usual, the concept, which actually ties in with his dual typing of Grass-Ghost.

Decidueye is actually based on the extinct Hawaiian bird, the stilt-owl, which is why Decidueye is part Ghost type and why he's one of Alola's starter Pokemon. Usually we save the extinct stuff for the fossil Pokemon, but once again Game Freak chose to think outside the box and do something different which is always appreciated. And making Decidueye an archer type character along the lines of Hawkeye, Green Arrow, and Robin Hood while also giving him a hood is worth another 100 cool points.

The Grass-Ghost combo, while it sounds interesting, isn't the most defensive type as Decidueye is weak to five of the eighteen types, but on the flip side he now has an immunity to Fighting and Normal type moves, so be grateful for the little things.

By now we should know that Decidueye has the Overgrow ability, which is typical for Grass-type starters and boost the power of Decidueye's Grass-type moves when he's on his last leg. But he has a hidden ability known as Long Reach, and with this ability Decidueye can use any of its moves without making physical contact with the target. So, abilities like Static, Flame Body, or Poison Point will be rendered null and void. Which is especially good because those abilities are annoying as hell to deal with otherwise.

Shame it's only a hidden ability and only available in the Rowlet line…change that for Generation 10, please, Game Freak?

Now let's talk about those stats! Decidueye has some pretty damn good stats across the board. Sure it may be packing 78 HP, 75 Physical Defense, and 70 Speed, but I've seen Pokemon with worst stats in those categories, so I'll let it slide. Especially since Decidueye more than makes up for his shortcomings with a 107 Physical attack, and a 100 in both Special Defense and Special Attack!

And as you'd expect with great attack stats like that, Decidueye learns many great moves to take advantage of them.

Let's with his natural moveset, and we're looking at a plethora of great Ghost, Grass, and even Flying type moves including but not limited to Phantom Force, Leaf Blade, Brave Bird, Leaf Storm, and it can even learn moves like Nasty Plot to boost its Special Attack stat as well as Synthesis to regain health, and U-Turn if you're up against a Pokemon that Decidueye won't fair well against.

And I can't talk about Decidueye's natural moveset without bringing up his signature move, Spirit Shackle; an 80 power 100 accuracy Ghost move that not only deals a substantial amount of physical damage, but also prevents your opponent from switching out!

And, even better, if Decidueye is holding a Decidium Z, then Spirit Shackle becomes Sinister Arrow Raid, where Decidueye uses a boatload of its arrows and flies down at his opponent with them. The animation for Sinister Arrow Raid is one of the best in the game and honestly my favorite of the exclusive Z-Moves. And the total power of Sinister Arrow Raid…180! Good…God!

And I haven't even talked about the TM moves Decidueye could learn such as Aerial Ace, Low Sweep, Energy Ball, Shadow Claw, Seed Bomb, Shadow Ball, Light Screen, Acrobatics, Frenzy Plant, and more beyond that!

Decidueye has the makings of a truly wonderful Grass-type starter. I love his design, his stats, his moves, and that Z-Move of his just cements his status as my favorite Alolan starter, my second favorite Grass starter, and my third favorite Pokemon in all of Alola.

My hood's off to you, Decidueye, good work!