Games - Absol

	Games - Absol

Absol (アブソル Absol in Japanese, also called Absol in German and French) is a fictional creature from the Pokémon franchise.

The name "Absol" might mean "absence" of "sol," or sunlight, which might refer to the fact that there is no sunlight (literally) or happiness (figuratively) in a natural disaster, why it is a Dark-type and coloured black, and why it is a nocturnal Pokémon. It may also come from the word "absolute".

Its name is common to all the languages that have different Pokémon names (English, French, German, and Japanese).

Characteristics

Appearance

Absol has a blue face, black tail, and a black scythe-like growth on the right side of its head. Some believe this to be an abnormal development of its right ear. Despite its appearance, this scythe is actually very soft to the touch, particularly whenever Absol is not tense or angry, but when it does become so, the scythe becomes dangerously strong and sharp.

Absol is widely believed to be based on the Barghest, a mythical nocturnal spectre-hound that lives in the mountains. Also worth noting is the design of the head: mostly white fur on the head with a small black dot in the forehead, a black face, and a scythe-like blade along its face. This design, and Absol itself, seems to be based on the symbol and principles of yin and yang.

Biology

Absol is a nocturnal carnivore in the wild. It mainly lives high up in the arctic mountain ranges playing in snow. It also has a startling lifespan; the average individual of the Absol species lives up to 100 years. Its natural hobby is to sit on top of a mountain and look at the moon, and it is said that when the moon is full, the flowing moonlight restores its energy and improves its health.

Absol’s claim to fame (or infamy, depending on the observer) is that it appears whenever a natural disaster is about to happen. Absol uses its sharp senses to detect subtle changes in the sky and the land, and with its knowledge of natural balance it can predict oncoming natural disasters. It apparently carries a concern for the safety of humans because, once it detects the coming of a disaster, it goes off to the nearest human settlements to give warnings to the people. Unfortunately, over time people have developed a misunderstood view of the Pokémon; they held a superstitious belief that Absol had a cause-and-effect relationship with disasters like earthquakes, gaining it a classic “bad luck” image. However, to the population of people who have come to understand the Pokémon, Absol is popular as a pet and as a Pokémon partner in areas prone to natural disasters because it can warn its owners of large-scale danger.

In the video games

Absol's Attack stat is high, but its Defense and Sp. Defense are average. Its move pool is quite poor, with only Bite as a STAB move. However, due to the fact that many Psychic-Types have high Sp. Defense, but a low Defense stat, Absol can make very good use of its physically-based attacks, as opposed to its one special-type attack, Bite. Absol's ability is Pressure, a quite useful ability that's very rare among non-legendary Pokémon, which may imply that Absol is a high tier Pokémon. With this ability, when Absol is hit by a move, the opponent's PP is reduced by 2 rather than 1.

Availability

Absol can be captured on Route 120 between Fortree City and Lilycove City, but it is quite rare. There is only 8% chance of seeing. A level 48 Absol can also be snagged in Pokémon Colosseum in Realgam Tower under the control of Rider Delan. Also, in western world numerology, its a proven fact that adding the letters of Absol's name equals the number "13" or "4". These are numbers long considered through the ages as a threat, equal to death,or sudden disaster.

In the animé

Absol has appeared in the sixth movie "Pokémon 6: Jirachi - Wish Maker." It acted as Jirachi's protector and had to help Ash & Co. get Jirachi to the place where it must return to its shell form on time. However, Butler stopped it and after being released it got consumed by the fake Groudon.

Absol also appears in an episode called "Absol-lute Disaster".When a village fears of an Absol predicting it could flood their bridge.

In the trading card game

Absol appears only as a Basic Dark-type Pokémon on three cards:

EX Team Magma vs. Team Aqua
EX Hidden Legends
EX Legend Maker

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Absol ]