Aegislash Report

Aegislash (the Royal Sword Pokémon) is an exceptionally rare Steel/Ghost-type Pokémon found in fields, caverns and spiritual centers/buildings within the Kalos and Galar regions as well as the Alola region on rare occasions. Readily armed and willing to enter battle at all times, Aegislash are devastating ghosts that can both shred their targets to pieces and withstand the harshest of blows. It may take some time getting used to their unique powers in battle, but few trainers will be able to put up much of a fight when faced with both blade and King's Shield in battle with nowhere to run!

The members of the Honedge family represent a very unique form of spiritual possession in that they consist of lost spirits that have tethered themselves to this world by permanently possessing old swords, usually being the spirits of individuals who were killed by said words. In this form, these creatures are literally living weapons in and of themselves, as they have the capacity to alter the physical state of their occupied body just as any sword smith would, sharpening dull blades and tempering them with heat in order to strengthen them. For reasons that are still not well understood, these creatures are master swordsmen and have proven to be capable of outfighting even the best human swordsmen in the world; the problem with this is that these creatures seem to have inherited this ability through possession alone and do not require much in the way of private training to perfect their craft. It has been hypothesized by some that this might be because the spirits possessing these old swords are actually those of soldiers that died on the battlefield; whether or not this is true, however, has yet to be seen. Nonetheless, this grants these creatures a unique mix of attacks and techniques perfectly suited for their abnormal anatomical form, including the rare Sacred Sword Attack, which is otherwise only seen among the Swords of Justice of Unovan legend. Moreover, although they are technically better suited for defense than offense for the most part, these creatures have proven to be more than resourceful in acquiring more power and skill over time and can gradually become some of the most powerful Ghost and Steel-type Pokémon out there, especially when taking into account the fact that Honedge and Doublade both possess the rare No Guard Ability, while Aegislash are an entirely different force to be reckoned with in battle. As such, trainers should be very careful about how they interact with these creatures in battle and plan their strategy cautiously, because these monsters have already come back from death and they will gladly take anyone else trying to send them back down with them.

While Doublade are generally considered to be the naturally fully-evolved form of the Honedge family, when exposed the radiant energy of a Dusk Stone, their spiritual energies are heavily amplified to the point where the two alone cannot contain the sheer amount of power; in response, they join together and fuse once again into a single body, creating the devastating weapon known as Aegislash. Although they may only have one body, Aegislash end up with two brains in this evolution, making them literally twice as smart as they ever were before. In terms of combat abilities, this shift causes additionally dramatic effects in regards to both the creature's offensive and defensive abilities. Due to the fact that Doublade consisted of two separate blades, Aegislash have all that mass and more confined to a single blade in addition to twice the swordsmen skill, not only making them that much sturdier but capable of withstanding blows from extremely harsh attacks; this enables them to learn both powerful and skillful moves beyond its pre-evolutions, namely the Head Smash attack. Moreover, evolution does these beasts a favor defensively by converting the sword sheaths they used to carry around into a single, massive shield that can cover the majority of their main body (the blade). This shield is the source of not only Aegislash's signature technique, King's Shield, which is acquired immediately after evolving, but also its signature Ability, Stance Change. In battle, these creatures can choose to take either an offensive or defensive position in battle. In their Shield Forme, their offensive stats are extremely low but their defensive stats are extremely high, enabling them to withstand otherwise crushing blows as if they were nothing. The moment they wish to attack, however, these beasts will remove the shield covering them, reveal their main body and convert to their Blade Forme, switching their offensive and defensive stats to make every attack that they deliver, physical and special, a devastating blow capable of crippling just about any opponent. Aegislash will remain in their Blade Form indefinitely after the initial attack, but they can revert back to their Shield Forme by using their signature technique, the King's Shield technique, or any other move that raises its defensive stats. This move works exactly like Protect but has the added twist of greatly lowering the Attack stat of a Pokémon that tries to strike with a physical attack while the move is active, mainly as a result of their shield being coated in an intense field of spiritual energy before impact. This makes Aegislash both difficult to attack and difficult to work with in terms of strategizing, but trainers that are able to use their abilities efficiently will likely have a hard time finding a sturdier Ghost-type to work with. It is noted, though, that these beasts are not just prominent in battle but the history of the Kalos region in general, as these regal ghosts were once used to determine whether or not someone had the courage, leadership qualities and intelligence needed to rule as king of the region. As such, they were an important aspect to royal life and often served their duty outside of battle just as efficiently inside, using their spectral powers to control the minds of others to sway the opinion of enemies and subjects in the king's favor. However, this is not to say that all was well and good, as these creatures have been equally known to possess those royal leaders to whom they work with to build their kingdoms as Aegislash see fit, and may even drain them in particular of their life energy, leaving kingdoms to fall in their wake. Sadly or thankfully, depending on your take, these creatures are now fairly rare in the wild, but those that do encounter them will have to be very careful, as these ghosts have hundreds of years of experience under their belt and are more than willing to demonstrate that to anyone foolish enough to get in their way.

Though they might be beyond rare and hard to find, Aegislash are devastating creatures that can more than decimate the opposition in battle when called for. With the highest base Attack stat out of all non-UB Steel-type and Ghost-type Pokémon in general and the highest non-legendary base Special Attack stat out of all Steel-type Pokémon when in Blade Forme, as well as the highest base Special Defense stat out of all Ghost-type Pokémon in Shield Forme, it goes without saying that these bladed fiends are perhaps the worst nightmare a trainer can face when stuck with a limited strategy. If you are forced to fight these creatures in battle, you had better say some prayers and hope for a little luck, because only the greatest of trainers will be able to easily best these regal nightmares without suffering pain and agony intense enough to be fatal by itself!

Professor Wormwood