CAP 4 Pre-evos - Part 7 - Movepool Submissions

And now that Cupra and Argalis have names, it is time to move on to movepool submissions.

Unlike in a normal CAP project, movpools for prevos are a lot more restricted. The main reason for this being that everything in a Cupra and Argalis's movepools must be a part of Aurumoth's movepool. I don't care how insignificant the move seems to be, we are not allowed to change the makeup of our competitive CAP Pokemon with this flavor project. Of course, with that being said, you can, and probably should, omit some of the moves in Aurumoth's movepool from those of its prevos. While the exact decisions on what moves to remove are up to you, things like Hyper Beam and Giga Impact are typical examples of a move that NFE pokemon typically lack. In addition, remember that the egg movepool of the pre-evolutions should be identical to Aurumoth's.

Finally, since it is currently undecided, all movepool submitters should include a method of evolution in their final submission. While there is no rule against absurdly creative evolution methods, I urge you to base what you choose on in game precedent. Evolving at level 34 on Tuesday nights in spring while holding an Ring Target might sound amusing, but it just doesn't really make much sense. Oh, and in case this wasn't clear from the above, submissions should contain movepools for both prevo stages. This is for the sake of having a sensical flow to the movepools and evolution methods.

Other than the above restrictions though, feel free to get as creative as you want. I know the limited pool of moves restricts how creative you can be, but even so I'd like to have a decently diverse slate of movepools if at all possible. Remember though, typical movepools of not fully evolved Pokemon usually don't differ too much from their evolved forms. While you should feel free to make whatever changes you deem necessary within the rules, I would suggest you take a short while to justify and changes you make.

For reference here is Aurumoth's movepool:

Korski said:

Level-Up Moves

(14 moves, 6 VGMs)

-Dragon Dance
-Quiver Dance
-Tackle
-String Shot
-Silver Wind
-Sunny Day
7. Silver Wind
14. Sunny Day
21. Heal Pulse
27. Ominous Wind
34. Will-o-Wisp
41. Final Gambit
47. Ancientpower
54. Wish
61. Healing Wish
67. Tail Glow

There are a number of things going on in this Level-Up pool, so I'll start with the overall flavor I was going for when putting it together. I wanted to touch on the celestial themes of the art design, especially the connotations of protection ("guardian angel") and mysticism (a sense of "the unknown," as it were). Dante tells us that angels can be good or evil, and so I've thrown in a touch of both as they almost duel with one another as the Poke levels up, to make the flavor more complex. These elements not only reference the Psychic secondary-typing without being overt, they also play to the "pseudo-legendary" notion of our 600 BST stat spread by implying a greater backstory than meets the eye (not that I have a particular story in mind, but they should lead to plenty of good Pokedex entries). I also tried to experiment with text-blocking and visualization, wherein if you give the list of moves just a quick skim or passing overview, it should make four words jump out at you without you necessarily noticing: Dance, Wind, Heal, and Wish. That is because those words are all repeated more than once amongst the move names themselves and are often spatially situated either near each other (for impact) or far apart (for the reminder-effect). So, you should feel a subliminal sense of whimsy or lightness from those four words' connotations, even as you read through the list word-for-word. If it doesn't work, then oh well; it's a poetry thing, I'm not particularly familiar with it, and it's not super important.

Moving on, I use the Biblically-significant number "3" as the backbone for three consecutive sets of three moves each: Silver Wind / Sunny Day / Heal Pulse ; Ominous Wind / Will-o-Wisp / Final Gambit ; and Ancientpower / Wish / Healing Wish. The core of the movepool, these three sets all have similar progressions of [attack]-->[general aid]-->[specific aid]. The first set (presumably belonging to the "Basic" or "Baby" evolutionary stage) is much more innocent and subdued than the latter two, which focus on the more mature concepts of suffering (Will-o-Wisp to create suffering vs. Wish to remove suffering) and self-sacrifice (Final Gambit to hurt an enemy vs. Healing Wish to help a friend). The narrative of the learnset, based on this progression, is that while Aurumoth (or its pre-evolutions) can be robbed of its innocence and tempted with "evil" or aggression (@Ominous Wind/WoW/Gambit), as it grows and matures (evolves), it becomes more selfless and "good," in the end. I'm thinking if we go for a three-stage evolutionary process, we could choose any sort of method to flavorfully bring it all together, although I personally think activating evolutions at the learning of Ominous Wind and Ancientpower would be most acceptable in this case: the basic stage could be a cutemon, the middle stage emo or something, and the final stage, of course, would be Aurumoth itself (there are even precedents for evolution-by-Ancientpower, including Yanma-->Yanmega). Speaking of Biblical numerology, although less significantly, I also use a lot of the Biblically-significant number "7" in the Level-Up pool: attacks begin to be learned at L7, all attacking moves are learned at a level with a singles digit of "7", and most moves are learned seven levels apart, excepting Ominous Wind, Ancientpower, and Tail Glow, the three of which are learned six levels after their previous moves, for a touch of subliminal mystery (6-6-6 wtf!?). There are also 12 non-Heart Scale moves to be learned, and 12 is a major Biblical number as well.

The movepool as a whole is largely pacifistic, which I thought was appropriate for a seraphim design, and so the only attacks included here are Tackle (out of necessity for a generic starting attack), and then Silver Wind, Ominous Wind, and Ancientpower. I like these moves not only because of their individual flavor merits (irrespective of one another), but also because they are the three moves available that each have a 10% chance of raising all of Aurumoth's stats at once, but with only 5 PP apiece, which is my sort of tongue-in-cheek allusion to the concept, flavor-wise. Ironically, Aurumoth gets all of its best stat-boosting moves here as well, either by leveling up to Tail Glow or by going to the Move Relearner with a Heart Scale or two to unlock the secret Dancing powers it never knew it had.

Aurumoth gets three recovery moves here: Heal Pulse, Wish, and Healing Wish, and while it can only benefit directly from one (and even then it doesn't necessarily benefit), the moves still offer that "guardian angel" vibe of taking care of its teammates, even if it's at a cost to Aurumoth itself. Other flavor choices include Sunny Day and Will-o-Wisp, which I added because of the angelic connection to fire and flame (Seraph literally means "burning ones"). In the case of these moves, Sunny Day represents more of the "clarity" aspect of the angel-fire relationship ("Clear Sky" is the Japanese translation of the move, and Sunny Day itself is a Fire-type move), while Will-o-Wisp offers the more literal interpretation of "creating fire."

Egg Moves

(Bug Group; 9 moves, 5 VGMs)

Bug Buzz - Accelgor, Beautifly, Butterfree, Dustox, Escavalier, Galvantula, Illumise, Kriketune, Ledian, Masquerain, Mothim, Ninjask, Venemoth, Volbeat, Volcarona, Yanmega
Close Combat - Heracross, Pinsir
Counter - Crustle, Escavalier, Forretress, Gliscor, Heracross, Illumise, Parasect, Scizor, Volbeat
Disable - Ariados, Galvantula, Venemoth
Feint - Accelgor, Flygon, Gliscor, Heracross, Pinsir, Scizor, Yanmega
Hydro Pump - Masquerain
Megahorn - Escavalier, Heracross, Scolipede
Safeguard - Beautifly, Butterfree, Ledian, Scizor, Shuckle
Wing Attack - Gliscor, Scizor, Yanmega
Code:
Legal Move Combinations:Bug Buzz + Counter + Megahorn (Escavalier)Bug Buzz + Feint + Wing Attack (Yanmega)Bug Buzz + Disable (Galvantula, Venemoth)Bug Buzz + Hydro Pump (Masquerain)Close Combat + Counter + Feint + Megahorn (Heracross)Counter + Feint + Wing Attack (Scizor)Illegal Move Combinations:Bug Buzz + Close CombatClose Combat + Disable + Hydro Pump + Wing AttackCounter + Disable + Hydro PumpDisable + Feint + Hydro PumpDisable + MegahornHydro Pump + Megahorn + Wing Attack
Note: not that it matters, but there are actually a few illegalities involving Safeguard; however, since Safeguard is also a TM, they aren't "real" illegalities, and as such I have not included Safeguard in either of these lists, since it is legal with all moves.

Whoa, so here's where the offense comes in. I put Aurumoth's hard-hitting STAB attacks and coverage moves here because, well, it needs them somewhere, and the Egg pool still runs on flavor, just with more leeway. The flavor additions I included are Disable, Feint, and Safeguard, which are all, to various degrees, good double or triple-battle moves (and since I already started with Heal Pulse, I thought I might as well toss in a few extra goodies), and also Wing Attack because lol it has six wings. They also fit thematically into the flavor priorities I gave myself for the Level-Up movepool, in terms of exploring protectiveness (or lack thereof; both Feint and Safeguard do this) and mystical powers (both Disable and Safeguard do this). Gengar has turned Disable into an intriguing move, to say the least, so I hope people experiment with it, especially considering how, should this movepool be chosen, Choice Scarf Pokemon may be commonly relied upon to check our CAP, and a Sub/Disable or, riskier yet, QD/Disable set might frustrate their gameplans.

The only notable move illegalities here are that both Megahorn and Close Combat are illegal with Hydro Pump, which basically means mixed sets will not have auto-Rain abuse built into them. While this doesn't change the fact that QD/TG are both legal with Hydro Pump (unavoidable in the case of Quiver Dance), or that Megahorn/CC are both legal with Surf, or that Thunder is legal with everything, it remains a move illegality that reigns in the power of Rain-bosted Hydro Pump at least a little bit. No, I didn't do this on purpose, but I can at least explain why it isn't a big deal that it turned out this way. So yeah, movedump.

TM/HM Moves

(43 moves, 21 VGMs)

TM03 - Psyshock
TM06 - Toxic
TM07 - Hail
TM10 - Hidden Power
TM11 - Sunny Day
TM13 - Ice Beam
TM14 - Blizzard
TM15 - Hyper Beam
TM16 - Light Screen
TM17 - Protect
TM18 - Rain Dance
TM19 - Telekinesis
TM20 - Safeguard
TM21 - Frustration
TM22 - SolarBeam
TM24 - Thunderbolt
TM25 - Thunder
TM27 - Return
TM29 - Psychic
TM30 - Shadow Ball
TM32 - Double Team
TM33 - Reflect
TM42 - Facade
TM44 - Rest
TM45 - Attract
TM48 - Round
TM49 - Echoed Voice
TM50 - Overheat
TM51 - Ally Switch
TM52 - Focus Blast
TM56 - Fling
TM61 - Will-o-Wisp
TM67 - Retaliate
TM68 - Giga Impact
TM70 - Flash
TM76 - Struggle Bug
TM77 - Psych Up
TM81 - X-Scissor
TM85 - Dream Eater
TM87 - Swagger
TM90 - Substitute
HM01 - Cut
HM03 - Surf

With the exception of Bug Buzz and Hydro Pump, Aurumoth gets all of its Special attacks here, including its primary Psychic STABs and Electric/Fighting/Fire/Ice coverage. It also gets a physical STAB attack in X-Scissor, which is a more reliable alternative to Megahorn. Additionally, Dual Screens are present, potentially pairing nicely with Healing Wish and/or Illusion. There is never a good way to talk about TMs, so I'll just say that I went through the list with an eye for the competitive VGMs I wanted, type-move and move-move requirements, Bug/Psychic moves, and generically-required TMs. After all that, there wasn't much left to add and so this is the result. Aurumoth learns 43 TM/HMs, with Sunny Day, Will-o-Wisp, and Safeguard as repeats from the LU/Egg pools, leaving 40 moves unique to this list.

Tutor Moves

(12 moves, 3 VGMs)

Bug Bite
Electroweb
Helping Hand
Icy Wind
Magic Coat
Magic Room
Recycle
Roleplay
Skill Swap
Trick
Wonder Room
Zen Headbutt

I'm glad we finally have tutor moves in BW2! This list is visibly focused on Aurumoth's Psychic movepool, featuring Magic Coat, Magic Room, Roleplay, Skill Swap, Trick, Wonder Room, and Zen Headbutt (over half the list). It also learns Bug Bite as a Tutor move, along with Electroweb, Helping Hand, and Recycle (because it’s what Jesus would do), for flavor.

Click to expand...

And the rest of Aurumoth is here, should there be anything else you wish to reference.

Our Prevos so far:

Name: Cupra | Argalis
Type: Bug/Psychic | Bug/Psychic
Abilities: Shield Dust/Keen Eye/Illusion | Shed Skin/Compoundeyes/Illusion
Stats: 50/60/49/67/30/44 | 60/90/89/87/40/54

Movepool for Cupra and Argalis

Hello! My name is Conor and this is both my first time contributing to CAP and my first post! :3 I've been a lurker for a few months now, so I think I've got the gist of things. However, If I make any obvious mistakes then please try to forgive me. :)

Cupra to Argalis: Level 24.
Argalis to Aurumoth: Level 37.

Cupra:





Argalis:

Final Submission

Cupra to Argalis: L30
Argalis to Aurumoth: L55

The original pseudo-legendary evolution levels established by the Dratini and Larvitar lines.

Cupra

Argalis

Everything is looking good so far. I hope that we can get a few more submissions in, but for now I'm going to put out perliminary 24 hour warning. If you are working on one and need more time, be sure to let me know though, as I am willing to give a bit more time.

Okay so I've been working on mine for the last few hours and I think I've come up with something a little different but I'm happy with. like the other submitters I've removed some of the sillier moves like Hyper Beam/Giga impact but I'll go more into detail on those in their respective sections. there were some little niggles, but that's because the original movepool is difficult to whittle down in some aspects.

Final Submission

Cupra to Argalis - Level 30
Argalis to Aurumoth - Level 50 (Same as Salamence)

Cupra




Argalis




All Egg moves remain the same, but I will post them again.


So there we go, my submission into Aurumoth's prevo movepools! :D

Well, its not a ton, but 3 is good enough for a poll. Closing. Expect the poll up shortly.