#386: Deoxys

All Deoxys forms. Clockwise from bottom left to bottom right:
Defense Forme, Normal Forme, Attack Forme and Speed
Forme. Official artwork by - who else? - Ken Sugimori.

The last Pokémon in the Hoenn Pokédex is an odd one. While we humans are still speculating about whether there's life beyond Earth, the Pokémon world already got an extraterrestrial being in the form of Deoxys. This Pokémon comes in four different forms (Normal Forme, Attack Forme, Defense Forme and Speed Forme), and the main components that are constant for all of them are a dominant orange color, a bluish-green face, three bluish-green dots on their backs arranged in a triangle, a purple stripe running down the center of their faces and a purple crystalline organ in their chests that appears to be the brain. I am not going into detail about the differences between all forms, but just know that the first letters of Deoxys's form names spell out 'DNAs' in order from the most bulky-looking form to the most bare-looking one, showing less of its orange-colored plates and revealing more of its sleek and striated black body as it changes from Defense to Speed Forme. Then again, Deoxys was formed when the DNA of a space virus underwent a sudden mutation upon exposure to a laserbeam (hence its classification as the 'DNA Pokémon'), and it came to Earth on a fucking meteorite. Therefore, it's not surprising that this Pokémon can adjust its form to its own will - not in the games, unfortunately, in which you're required to take it to a meteorite in the overworld - and is able to regenerate any part of its body it may have lost in battle, as demonstrated in the seventh movie Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys. Also demonstrated is its ability to create an aurora without changing the form it's in. These auroras can have different electromagnetic wavelengths and are used to communicate with other Deoxys, and the various electromagnetic waves given off by people, Pokémon and all electronics can obscure its vision if there is enough interference with its communication. Such a movie, right?

In fact, that movie is kind of important when talking about the lore of this Pokémon, so get ready.

The official film poster for Pokémon: Destiny
Deoxys.

You see, you'd think that Rayquaza has more of a connection with Groudon and Kyogre, but this dragon Pokémon has comparatively little to do with these weather titans and almost has no interaction with the pair of them. It shows up in Emerald to break up the fight between Groudon and Kyogre, but only for a sequence of a couple of seconds long, after which it returns to the Sky Pillar only for the player character to catch it in a goddamn Master Ball. It also shows up in the Delta Episode of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, but only after the disaster with Primal Groudon/Primal Kyogre is averted and a new threat turns up: a meteorite that is about to collide with Earth threatens the human race and your objective is to hop on the back of Mega Rayquaza, travel to space and destroy the meteorite... only for you to battle and catch the Deoxys hidden inside it - which, by the way, makes me think that Deoxys has lost its status as a mythical Pokémon, because these are usually event-only. In any case, the movie follows a similar pattern in that a meteorite containing Deoxys manages to crash down on Earth in the polar regions and Rayquaza, whom you can call any variation of 'the Guardian of the Ozone Layer', perceives this as an invasion of its territory and attacks, ending up destroying the camp of a group of researchers and blasting Deoxys to the bottom of the ocean. A green crystalline orb is taken back on a chopper with the researchers, and four years later the orb is subject to laser experiments. Meanwhile, Deoxys has regenerated and bursts through the ice, heading for a technologically advanged city called LaRousse City to find its friend. Of course, Rayquaza frantically starts searching for the threat to prevent any catastrophes from happening, but the question remains whether it actually succeeds in that, as an all-out fight between Rayquaza and Deoxys ensues. In the meantime, Ash's Pikachu shocks the laser machine to give it more power, resulting in the green orb transforming into a second Deoxys who even saves Rayquaza from the first Deoxys's attacks. However, when the block security robots protecting the city power up and go into overdrive due to Pikachu's electrical boost, Rayquaza gets buried under them, and when the Deoxys try to help it the exact same thing happens to them in the process. Needless to say it's up to Ash to save the day.

Unintentional rhymes for the win.

This is some awesome eerie fan art of all different forms of Deoxys.

Oh, what happens with the Deoxys, you ask? Well, they befriend Rayquaza and go home after an unnecessarily extended stay on Earth. Yeah, it's a bit of an anticlimax now, but back then this movie was my third favorite just after The Power of One and Spell of the Unown, just because I thought it was more action-packed than the previous movies. Nowadays it would be nowhere near as close to my top 3. It probably falls a little short compared to later movies (I've seen every movie up until the one with Victini and Rashiram/Zekrom, so I've got some catching up to do), but it's still a decent movie that is far more exciting and action-packed than the regular anime, although that shouldn't be too hard.

Nothing can beat a movie or a three-episode anime arc with Lugia, though.

Mega Rayquaza vs. Normal Forme Deoxys. This form also has
the ability to transform its tentacles - coiled in a double helix, like
a DNA strand - into a full-fledged hand, apparently. Huh, I had
never even noticed that, to be honest. 

In the competitive scene, Deoxys is kind of a weird Pokémon to use. It's too strong for the OU, UU, RU and NU tiers, but it is too feeble to use in the Uber tier. Let's start with Normal Forme Deoxys, who has base 150 offensive stats and base 150 speed, which is nothing to sneeze at. Though its base 50 defenses are complete and utter shit and it will hardly be able to take a hit, unless you invest some EVs in HP and either defense or special defense, which is hardly worth the hassle. You'll be better off with Attack Forme Deoxys, then, who's sporting off-the-chart base 180 offensive stats and base 150 speed, but with even more abysmal defenses than Normal Forme. Attack Forme can dish out heavy damage really fast (and its diverse movepool sure helps with that), but it's a certainty it gets knocked out at the first opportunity your opponent gets, so you might want to give it a Focus Sash to ensure it can live at least one hit at full HP. Or just give it a Life Orb to enhance its damage output as much as possible, I really couldn't care less. Speed Forme Deoxys looks like it's the most frail one, but it actually has very well-rounded offensive and defensive stats as well as excellent base 180 speed. However, its less-than-stellar base 50 HP stat - which every Deoxys form has, by the way - doesn't back up its decent defenses and its offensive stats are a little bit too mediocre to do much with them. Speed Forme is mainly there as a Stealth Rock and Spikes setter and be gone from the battlefield as soon as possible, and even though Smogon's recommended moveset also contains Taunt and either Magic Coat or Skill Swap, I'd really swap one out - preferably Taunt, because there are plenty of other Pokémon who can learn that move - for a strong offensive move like Psycho Boost. Lastly, we have Defense Forme Deoxys, who is really made to act as a supportive wall; just give it Stealth Rock or Spikes to set up some kind of entry hazard, teach it Toxic and Recover so that it can wear down opposing Pokémon while healing itself up, and slap Knock Off on it to annoy opponents that use Pokémon that rely on their held items. Although its HP is still horrible, its base 160 defenses ensure that it can survive at least a couple of hits, especially when it's holding the Leftovers to heal a little of its HP every turn.

This portrayal of Deoxys in a more realistic style is actually totally creepy.

Deoxys in general has a wide offensive and support movepool, with even set-up moves as event-only moves available to it. Even the different forms have slightly different level-up movepools. With the right moves and EV investment on the right form, it can be a force to be reckoned with or a tough cookie to take down. Design-, flavor- and battle-wise, Deoxys is a weird Pokémon, but nevertheless it has never appealed to me as much as it probably should have. It's a nice and clever Pokémon, with its name also being an abbreviation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and all, but not awesome enough for me to actually care about it; it definitely doesn't have the cuteness of Pokémon like Mew and Jirachi either, and, above all, I never really had the chance to obtain one in the first place. The first Deoxys in my possession was the one I caught on my Alpha Sapphire cartridge. Go figure.

And that's it, then. We're done with Hoenn now, and I'll be talking about the Sinnoh starters before you know it. Also, you'd better brace yourselves, because I'm gonna be talking about my all-time favorite Pokémon very soon!

Rating: 4/5