POKEDDEXY CHALLENGE DAY 3

-Favorite Dragon Type-

Flygon, the Mystic Pokémon

I’m very fond of Flygon. It’s another example of how much the people at Game Freak must know about biology. Flygon is, infact, NOT based on a dragonfly, but much rather an antlion! I’m sure at the very least a few of you were confused when you found out that Trapinch, some little brown creature with massive jaws, evolves into Vibrava, a dragonfly-looking Pokémon (who inturn becomes Flygon). I know I was.

Some of you might know antlions as insectoid creatures with large jaws that dig collapsing sand pits and dwell at the center of them, waiting for pray. Trapinch fits this description: it has a massive maw and the ability Arena Trap. This however is but the larval stage of an antlion. Antlions will stay in this stage up to three years. It should be noted that antlion larva don’t have an anus. That means they don’t poop for THREE YEARS. Of only I could manage to hold it in that long, travelling would be much more enjoyable! Finally, after said constipated three years they build a cocoon out of sand and silk and stay that way for a month. Finally, they hatch into dragonfly-like creatures, which Vibrava and Flygon are based on. Their lifespan is about three weeks in that form. This, thankfully, does not apply to Flygon.

Ingame, Flygon isn’t as interesting as the concept behind it (but that’s a pretty hard thing to top anyway). It is however, a solid physical attacker and it’s typing is Ground/Dragon. 100 in both Attack and Speed and 80 in all the other stats may not be the greatest thing around, but it’s far from bad. Flygon also gets a STAB Earthquake to boot, which is nothing to scoff at. Aside from that, it has a STAB Dragon Claw, Stone Edge, Power-up Punch and a few other attacks. Sadly, it’s movepool isn’t the most amazing one. As for it’s ability, it has Levitate, which grants it full immunity to all Ground type moves, which is a nice bonus.

As I said earlier, I was no exception when I was stumped about how Trapinch finally becomes Flygon. The only indication I’ve had was that Trapinch is #328 in the Pokédex and Vibrava and Flygon are #329 and #330. Back when Gen III was new, I trained a Trapinch up, hoping it would become a Flygon… and I was right! I loved my Flygon and it was the first Pokémon to reach level 100 during Gen III.

Another reason why I love Flygon is its very interesting real-life counterpart. But the reason I like it most, is a completely different story. Flygon is my favorite Dragon type, because it reminds me of a dragon from a childrens book I loved when I was younger. It was titled “My Father’s Dragon”.

Flygons chubby build, gentle eyes and striped body resemble the dragon from said story a little.

The story (as far as I recall) was about a boy, named Elmar, who had a dream about a timid dragon, who was held captive by wild animals on a faraway island. Elmar sneaks out of bed and travels to the island. There, he ventures forth in search of the tied up dragon.

As Elmar gets closer and closer to the dragon, he meets the wild animals, one by one, who try to stop (and sometimes eat) him from freeing the dragon. He manages to outsmart and trick them and finally does reach the dragon.

Elmar frees the dragon and the two fly from the island, back to Elmars home, accompanied by the angry cries of wild animals, who lost their dragon. Elmar and the dragon become friends, but part ways, as Elmar needs to get back to bed, so his parents won’t figure out that he was out all night.