first off, everyone play Live-a-Live because the brainrot from that game is what inspired me here, near future is my favourite chapter and akira is a pretty cool blorbo, eh runs a taiyaki stand and doesn't afraid of anything
Anyway, there was no way I was skipping this "week" after seeing that prompt, even though its been like a month. The very simplistic fish silhouette instantly reminded me of the japanese street food
taiyaki, which is basically a fried, fish-shaped cake filled with red bean paste. The etymology for that is literally
tai, being sea bream, and
yaki, meaning to cook/bake/fry/etc. There are sometimes other fillings and colours but red bean paste is the most common.
So.... introducing, my horribly-named
Taiyacotta, the
Terracotta Fish Pokemon, a Rock/Ghost type because im sick of fairy types being related to pastries and such, 9 gens in we
still don't have this particular typing, and im forever mad that Runerigus, one of my favourite pokemon, is a ground type.
Left: a halved Taiyaki, showcasing the red bean paste and other fillings
Middle: statues in the Terracotta Army
Right: taiyaki in the taiyaki army i mean being fried at a stall
all sourced from wikimedia
I love the Cofagrigus line, but instead of being a regional evolution like Runerigus, Taiyacotta is a convergent species that remains a single-stage Pokemon. I was inspired by two things:
taiyaki, and the statues of the
Terracotta army.
Salt baked fish is another minor inspiration detailed further below. So, keeping it simple, Taiyacotta is a Ghost-type Pokemon that occupies a carved rock or clay model of a fish, similar to the Cofagrigus line, but making it part Rock-type due to the casing. I don't want to hear about how uhm ackshually clay is more like refined dirt so it should be ground type like Claydol or Golurk, I will shove you into a locker. Minior is probably another minor inspiration due to its breakable outer casing, and my beloved star child hasn't been brought back for several generations, so (ignoring that meteorites and terracotta are barely the same) that's good enough for me!
The ghost is visible through a crack in the bottom of the casing, similar to where one would slice an actual whole fish to stuff it with herbs/etc. It regularly disguises itself as just a clay fish, and holds the cracked pieces together in place with an adhesive substance (usually just dried bean jam it gets from taiyaki stalls). It's name is just
tai and
terracotta in case that somehow wasn't obvious,
Unlike the Cofagrigus line, the ghost takes on a slightly reddish colour, likely due to its desire to mimic the street desert itself, and scare tourists and other hungry patrons of taiyaki stands, since taiyaki is also its favourite desert. Of course, you'd probably expect taiyaki shaped like Magikarp to be the canon appearance, but I like the idea that these guys are occupying ancient stone fish casings that showcase naturally-appearing fish and no one really understands why so many of them were made, but have theories nonetheless. hey girl, fish
Due to terracotta being pretty fragile, if a Taiyacotta loses half of its fish casing, it will gather up cracked pieces of clay pots, chipped sedimentary rocks, and such to try and rebuild itself. If it can't find enough pieces, it will resort to scratching/breaking sedimentary rocks to carve out a new shell, as it prefers as much of its body being encased as possible. It preys on Baltoy/Claydol, and since being domesticated, regularly fights Sinistea/Polteageist for turf (abandoned antique shops/houses). However, it's most often found in buried temples, provided they haven't been flooded. Archaeologists can't really explain why so many temples are filled with clay statues of fish, but they suspect Relicanth was once a highly worshipped pokemon by ancient societies. They usually swarm like schools of actual fish, resembling lines of terracotta soliders.
Anyway, some very basic nerdy stuff: its a very original Shell Smash sweeper archetype pokemon with the very original ability pairings of Weak/Shell armor, but it's made somewhat viable because it has the hidden ability Purifying Salt, because I remember making salt-baked sea bream in the critically acclaimed generation defining
Cooking Mama 3, which had a breaded casing resembling a stylised fish. Plus, due to Purifying Salt's resistance, it helps with its typing, since Rock types lost their Ghost resistance after Gen 5. It also gets Fischious Rend because yes
Taiyacotta, the Terracotta Fish Pokemon
Type:
Rock/
Ghost
Abilities: Shell Armor/Weak Armor/
Purifying Salt
Movepool selection: Curse, Sweet Scent, Mean Look, Hone Claws, Shadow Sneak, Shadow Claw, Ancient Power, Rock Tomb, Shell Smash, Stone Edge, Earthquake, Sand Tomb, Fischious Rend (meme)
This Pokemon was uncovered when an excavation team dug into the antechamber of an ancient temple, finding a necropolis filled with terracotta fish models as far as the eye could see. It has since become enamored with street food, favouriting both savory and sweet fried dough, and regularly harasses foodies for half of their treats after they've been purchased.
Taiyacotta prefers to occupy terracotta figures or rugged, hollowed out rocks if it can no longer find enough clay, particularly ones shaped like mysterious fish. When its outer shell is smashed, it will retreat into one half of its fish model, and try to rebuild a new half by holding together shards of baked clay with bean paste. Scientists believe there may be a common Ghost-type pokemon ancestor that links pokemon such as Taiyacotta, Polteageist, Runerigus, Cofagrigus, and Mimikyu.
