Dusclops Report

Dusclops (the Beckon Pokémon) is a relatively rare Ghost-type Pokémon found among graveyards, abandoned buildings and forests within the Hoenn, Sinnoh, Galar, Hisui and Kitakami regions. Feared for their impressive defensive abilities and surprising variety of attacks, Dusclops are fearsome creatures that can easily outlast and overwhelm their opponents with a wicked combination of scare tactics and hypnotism. They might not be much to look at, but if you know what's good for you, you'll probably want to avoid looking at them and going near them anyways…that is, of course, unless you have a strong desire to disappear forever!

While Ghost-types in general are confusing to most trainers and scientists, Dusclops take the group to a whole new level of strangeness unseen in most others. When Duskull evolve, they lose their Levitate Ability and obtain in exchange the ability to induce absolute terror in others simply by staring at them (the Pressure Ability), which comes as a direct consequence of their diet of fear before evolution. In their current form, Dusclops are extremely powerful defensive fighters that can utilize a surprising variety of attacks due to the addition of sturdy hands on their torso, including the Shadow Punch (gained immediately after evolving), Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch and Bind attacks. However, their offensive abilities are still fairly limited and a lack of mobility can make any offensive assault difficult for them to pull off. In order to bring opponents closer to them, Dusclops engage in a bizarre ritual in which they force the opponent to pay attention to them by waving their hands about in a somewhat macabre manner, distracting the opposition before finally staring directly at them with their 'eye'. Their single eye is in fact the same energy-collecting nodule that they possessed as a Duskull, but because Dusclops no longer need to feed on fear in order to survive, it has been converted into a beacon for focusing psychic energy. In addition to allowing Dusclops to see and distinguish creatures and objects by the psychic energy they emit, this beacon allows Dusclops to focus their mind directly into the mind of another, in turn making them their slave. As such, when the opposition stares directly at a Dusclops during this ritual, a Dusclops will steal their soul and they effectively become a puppet that is under the specter's complete control, making most battles easy to win.

What truly makes Dusclops unique and absolutely bizarre, however, is the fact that their bodies are almost completely hollow and effectively act like black holes: whatever goes in them never comes out. Although Dusclops resonate fairly little psychic energy from their bodies and thus would seem rather benign all-around, the energy fields within their bodies are exceptionally chaotic and are so destructive that even the most durable test probes only last a few moments within them before being destroyed. Dusclops generally do not take things into their bodies on a regular basis, but the fact that they can absorb literally anything if they suck it into their open maw, even something as massive as a jumbo jet, has made them a highly-feared creature among even Ghost-type specialists. For the longest time, there was no real explanation as to why or how this was possible; it was only recently that it was discovered that Dusclops actually are black holes…in a sense. Hoenn folklore states that the only thing that exists within a Dusclops is a spectral ball of fire, which was once believed to be nothing but a myth. As it turns out, however, there is a kind of spectral fire within Dusclops; it just happens to be the heart of an immense gravity well. It appears that the internalization of massive amounts of fear, in combination with their bizarre metaphysical composition, generates a considerable amount of torsion within the fabric of space-time contained within their bodies, twisting it into a unique type of black hole only seen in Dusclops and their evolved form, Dusknoir (which may explain their odd ability to utilize the Gravity technique). Unfortunately, this is only an educated guess and not proven fact, as it is currently impossible to keep any instrument working within a Dusclops for more than a fraction of a second; the fact that nothing ever leaves their body and their ability to utilize the Gravity technique, however, would seem to make it the only logical explanation. Interestingly enough, Dusclops can often be seen absorbing will-o-wisps in dark forests at night, though it is unclear why; it could be said, however, that they are practicing for the duties they will take up when they eventually evolve into Dusknoir.

While they might not get any medals for their offensive strength, Dusclops are exceptionally durable spirits that can easily take a tremendous amount of punishment before succumbing to defeat. With a surprising variety of attacks at their disposal and the ability to manipulate and control the opposition's every move without even touching them, it can certainly be said that Dusclops are worthy fighters to try out if you're looking for something different. Just make sure not to take one to a large airfield on a particularly busy day; it might seem funny at first, but when an airport loses a Boeing 747 jet and a lot of people miss their flight, it's unlikely that they will find it very amusing!

Professor Wormwood