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095 - MYSTELIUM — Description
5/20/2020 NOTE: This is an upload/update from THE FUTURE!!! If you want to check out the original upload, the reposted version of that is over here !

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The Stink Cap Pokémon
"The putrid clouds of spores it emits from its cap can induce frightening illusions in victims who inhale them, leaving them easy prey. When in a hurry, it will spray vapor from its bottom to propel itself through the sky, spreading its spores far and wide."
"When gusts of wind pass through their hollow bodies, they emit shrill laughter known to give listeners intense migraines. This cackling is how they command colonies of SPORCANE, whose collective thoughts grant them incredible psychic abilities."

Type: Poison/Psychic
Height: 5'
Weight: 55 lbs
Ability: Effect Spore (Illusion)
Evolution: SPORCANE --> Level 30 --> MYSTELIUM
Egg Groups: Grass and Fairy

Basis: Clathrus archeri, a.k.a. the octopus stinkhorn or devil's fingers, with influences from the Leyak (an Indonesian witch taking on the form of a flying head and organs), flying broomsticks, and witches in general.
Name Origin: MYSTic/MYSTEry+MYcELIUM

Moves Learned: Same as SPORCANE. Absorb, Growth, and Astonish are now starting moves, and Disarming Voice is added as a relearnable move.
Notable Other Moves: Same as SPORCANE. Notable additions to the TMs are Aerial Ace, Acrobatics, and Fly.

Base Stats:
HP: 80
Attack: 100
Defense: 70

Sp. Atk: 110
Sp. Def: 80
Speed: 70

TOTAL: 510

Mystelium is the signature Pokémon of Helvella, the Poison-type Gym Leader of Calomel.

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Just in time for the descent of Eclipse, it's Sporcane's evolved form, Mystelium! Hope you've got your gas masks ready, because you do not wanna breathe in those spore-infested fumes, trust me.

Mystelium was designed specifically with the Poison-type gym leader of this region in mind - elegant but also sinister, charming but also monstrous. The Poison typing is due to the foul odor and toxic spores, and the Psychic typing is based on both the hallucinogenic properties of certain fungi and how colonial mushrooms, being genetically identical, can be considered one single giant organism and thus fit sci-fi-style "hive minds" better than social insect colonies do - Mystelium can thus be considered the colony's "queen", both as a "horde queen" and the "witch queen" in some fantasy works. Design-wise, I was going to continue with the skirted stinkhorn theme that I had going with Sporcane, with a second net coming from the "waist" acting as a dress and with a body shape akin to Tsareena, but some preliminary sketching told me that it wouldn't have pushed the angle of something imitating a person but not well enough for anyone to fall for it for a second - at least not without Illusion, anyhow! Still, while I'm pretty sure I could've made something amazing if I had put a little more effort into the lace dress theme, it could've easily ended up becoming stupidly complex (and Sporcane's own veil came dangerously close, I can say that much). Besides, I wanted this new design to also tie into an actual kind of witch from Indonesian folklore - the Leyak, a vampiric abomination associated with the dark magic of the witch queen Rangda and said to be a woman's head that flies through the air, her viscera dangling beneath. Obviously I was physically incapable of trying anything even remotely as gory here, but the weird shapes of many kinds of fungi could make for a handy substitute, and I found one particular variety especially intriguing: the octopus stinkhorn . I took one look at that thing, and I immediately went "...I want a fakemon based off of that. Right now." The torso and everything below it was always going to resemble a broomstick, but how could I not have the brush part be a cluster of "tentacles" like those of Ursula from Disney's The Little Mermaid film? The color scheme of the fungus itself even looks somewhat like entrails if you squint a little, and given that Mystelium has only a head portion and a torso portion, the torso/legs being the color of raw red meat made for a nice kid-friendly version of the leyak's appearance and nicely called out the goretastic lore as much as a Pokémon design could allow. Originally I'd tried keeping the skirted stinkhorn veil around the cap for consistency, but again, I couldn't get it to look quite right, so I just gave up and replaced it with "hair" made of more tentacles, including two acting as hands to homage the "devil's fingers" nickname. I think this was for the best, since it not only made this design more distinct from Sporcane, but also gave me a result I liked MUCH better. She'd have to have definite arms instead of having to use her lower body tentacles to pick things up, after all!

I also wanted, initially, to color the face red like the tentacles - yellow would blend with the "collar" too much, and dark purple like the hat might risk running into the same brand image issues as Jynx back in the day (though the lack of lips would make that less of an issue). Ultimately, though, there was no way I could get it to stand out after I gave her that vivid red tentacle hair, so I had to make it purple anyway since, as with Sporcane, this design uses only three different colors. I guess I'm worrying too much, though, all things considered. Oh, and while you can't see them in this render, she does have dot eyes like her pre-evo, though these are yellow like the hat brim rather than black, so they'd stand out from the rest of her face more.

As much as I wanted to reference the other fully evolved mushroom 'mons for Mystelium's stat spread, I realized that since she turns up later in the dex than they do, relatively speaking, she'd have to have a smidge more power - especially since she's intended as a Quiver Dance abuser with Illusion. So while I did look at Shiinotic and Breloom, I also needed to reference something a touch more powerful with a similar role, so here comes fellow vegetative Psychic-type Kantonian Exeggutor to take up the slack. The 80 HP is 20 points more than Sporcane's 60, the same amount that Morelull gains when evolving into Shiinotic. The Special Defense of 95 is also 5 points below Shiinotic's 100, and the 70 Speed is the same as Breloom. However, the 85 Defense is from Exeggutor, and the 100 Attack is 5 points above Exeggutor's 95, and the Special Attack actually started off as the same as Exeggutor's 125, but because I didn't want her to outclass Zoroark in this respect (seeing as Zoroark is also a special attacker with Illusion), I toned her Special Attack down to a still-respectable 110. Mystelium doesn't carry as much firepower as Zoroark, sure, but she's tougher, especially since she resists four commonly seen types, including two that give Zoroark trouble (though ironically, she's weak to Zoroark's typing, Dark!). The BST of 510 is 20 points below Exeggutor's 530, but leagues ahead of Shiinotic's 405 and Breloom's 460!

As mentioned, Mystelium is primarily meant as a special attacker, and while she certainly does stink literally, she doesn't stink figuratively, what with that 110 Sp. Atk. stat! Since she's in the Grass egg group, she can also snag Quiver Dance from either Lilligant or Bellossom as an egg move, not only boosting her ho-hum Speed stat to something more passable as sweepers go, but boosting her Sp. Def. and especially her Sp. Atk. at the same time! Combine this with her Hidden Ability of Illusion, and you can seriously screw with your opponents and potentially give her a free turn to set up - especially if you can disguise her as a teammate weak to the typings she'd be powerful against. There's Calm Mind for tankier sets, too, but Quiver Dance's speed boost is just too good to pass up. And then there's her unique type combination, which... well, face it, it's not exactly stellar offensively. It's strong against four types - Fighting, Poison, Fairy, and Grass - but resisted by six - Poison and Psychic themselves, Ground, Rock, Ghost, and Steel. Fighting, Fairy, and Grass are all common enough that this isn't as big of an issue as it could be, though, and a Sludge Wave or Sludge Bomb coming from a Quiver Dance- or Calm Mind-boosted Mystelium would make any Fairy-type that isn't Klefki soil themselves in fear! For her Psychic STAB, Psychic is the obvious first pick, with Extrasensory being a close second with the added honorable mention of Psycho Cut and Psyshock to spring a nasty surprise on any special tanks hoping to tank a Psychic or Sludge Bomb. If you want to bet on her 100 Attack for a similar effect, you can even try Poison Jab, Gunk Shot, or Zen Headbutt, though the lack of a Quiver Dance boost might present some issues there if you can't get a Baton-Passed Attack boost onto her in time. There's also something to be said for a Dream Eater/Spore combo if you want both decent recovery and a guaranteed chance of tranquilizing your target as opposed to Effect Spore's... 3.3% chance. Yikes. As for coverage, she's got something for all three of the types she's weak to: Flamethrower or Fire Blast for Steel; Energy Ball, Scald, or Giga Drain for Ground; and Leech Life and Draining Kiss (both also good for healing!) along with Dazzling Gleam for Dark. Support options include Rage Powder, Sleep Powder, Hypnosis, the aforementioned Spore, Strength Sap for both healing and stalling physical attackers, Psychic Terrain, Will-O-Wisp, and even Heal Bell if you want a complete antithesis of how her laughter causes headaches (though I can certainly imagine her revitalizing others with her laugh as well!). And last but certainly not least, if you really want to give opponents a final rude gesture, she can also learn Self-Destruct or, in the words of a certain Crimson Demon Clan Arch-Wizard, "EXPLOOOOOOSIOOOOON!!!"

All in all, I'm definitely happier with these new fungus witches than the previous designs that occupied their slots up to this point, though that's not to say that I'll be abandoning those poor serpent-ladies altogether - I just need to redo them and find a place for them that isn't redundant with other fakemon. Still, I had a lot of fun designing and drawing Sporcane and Mystelium, and surprisingly, I got them both done in less than a day! Given my IRL-work-related duties and a ton of commissions I owe other people here and now, that's no mean feat! Don't worry, though - even with Eclipse being permanent, I'll still keep on trucking as I always have. In the meantime, thanks so much for reading, and I hope these malicious mushroom mages are to your liking as much as mine!

Pokémon © Nintendo

MYSTELIUM is mine!