IDDD #7: Lunatone

GENERAL INFO:

0337, Lunatone

Meteorite Pokémon

Type: Rock/Psychic

Ability: Levitate

Height (avg): 1.0 m

Weight (avg): 168.0 kg

Shape: Head only

Color: Yellow

BIOLOGY:

Lunatone is a rock-based Pokémon shaped like the crescent moon. More specifically, it seems to be made out of Moon Stone, judging by the fact that it always has a chance of carrying one when encountered in the wild (and its counterpart, Solrock, is visually similar to a Sun Stone and does the same). While Moon Stones are described and shown as “dark as the night sky” (1), this portrayal was only consistent as of FireRed & LeafGreen; Lunatone was conceptualized before then. It’s likely still made of Moon Stone, albeit possibly a differently colored variety. (They also carry Stardust, an item that could be any pulverized space rock; it’s almost certainly Moon Stones in this case.)

Moon Stones, and by extension Lunatone, are infused with power from the moon. Earth’s moon holds special power; this can be seen through the moves Moonlight and Moonblast; the latter even directly says the user is “borrowing the power of the moon” (2). Moon Stones also display this power through inducing evolution in several Pokémon (and this radiation can be seemingly leveraged for Moon Balls, as well). Lunatone displays the moon’s power most directly, though, with it leveraging both moon moves in battle, as well as several other mystical moves, such as telekinetic moves, Magic Room, and Heal Block. Its stare can also transfix targets with fear and put them to sleep through Hypnosis. It also uses its psychic powers to levitate, which is how it moves. Lunatone, when spoken to by other Pokémon, even directly say that the power of the moon is theirs (3).

Unlike inanimate Moon Stones, which carry small amounts of power, Lunatone can absorb more from the moon. They become more active under full moons, with their health ebbing and flowing along with the lunar cycle. The moon’s energy is seemingly all the sustenance Lunatone need, being the energy that keeps them animated.

However, there is another energy present within Lunatone as well. The weirdest example of Lunatone’s powers ever witnessed is the encounter in the Haina Desert with an amnesiac old man. When one is brought to him, it shares its energy with the old man, restoring some of his memories and some of his old strength. The man then assures Lunatone that its star pulses are safe with a group of wonderful men and returns to his old home, space. These ‘star pulses’ that can be bestowed by Lunatone are O-Powers, as the O-Power sound can be heard here, and they are gifted by a group of men in Hoenn. (Oddly enough, as of Legends: Z-A, O-Powers have all vanished, but Solrock and Lunatone remain.) Per the Teraleak, O-Powers are more properly “Overload Powers” and come from alien Pokémon such as Deoxys, Solrock, and, indeed, Lunatone. The Original Old Man (as the Haina man is called here) was entrusted to spread these powers by Overload (alternatively known as the Great Will), and lost his memories due to fragmenting the power to the old men in Hoenn (4). (Those old men took on aspects of his personality, and when they fused their powers into Mr. Bonding, he became similar to the Original Old Man.) Within this documentation, Overload Power is described as “Universe Power” (宇宙からのパワ), to use a direct translation. This phrasing is directly echoed on the Mystery Files website, a website that in large part serves as a tie-in to the Haina Desert event. There, the phrasing “Universe-Related Power” (宇宙的なパワ) is used to describe the move Cosmic Power (5). Cosmic Power is more generally space-related, is learned by Lunatone, Deoxys, and Solrock, among others (the former two are even two of Mystery Files’s three examples), and generally fits the role of Overload Power very well. Lunatone thus have received power from Overload, a strange, alien entity we know very little about, and wield that, in addition to their natural moon-based powers. Additionally, Lunatone is Psychic-type, like Cosmic Power, and not Fairy-type, like Moonlight, Moonblast, and fellow lunar Pokémon Clefairy. Also, Overload uses Lunatone to directly carry out its will, as the Original Old Man states he received the O-Powers from them and Solrock, while the internal documentation states he was tasked with this by Overload itself. It seems like Overload’s connection to Lunatone runs deeper than with other space-based Pokémon, but what this entails exactly is unclear.

The Original Old Man recovers his memories (in Japanese)

ECOLOGY/BEHAVIOR:

Moon Stones are from the moon (6). Since Lunatone are made of Moon Stones, they are thus from the moon as well. We do not get a look at Lunatone in their native habitat, so all information is filtered through the lens of them adapting to Earth. On Earth, they are most active and most numerous during full moons, staying in hiding when the moon is less bright. A behavior commonly witnessed is Lunatone spinning under the full moon. They defend themselves with their psychic powers (transfixing foes with fear), but do not appear to need to eat, drink, or hunt.

On Earth, Lunatone are almost exclusively found near meteorite strikes. The similar being Solrock is often found in similar places, despite not being from the same locale. Additionally, the largest known moon meteorite strike (Kanto’s Mt. Moon) has no Lunatone at all. This could imply Lunatone and Solrock are both attracted to many of these meteorite strikes, rather than arriving alongside them. This is supported by their location in Unova, where they are found at the Giant Chasm (and are the only aliens to be found in the surrounding areas as well), a place where the meteor is definitely not from the moon. Meteor Falls in Hoenn is another place pockmarked with meteor craters, albeit ones of unclear origin, where Lunatone can be found. Even Galar’s Giant’s Cap features a Star Piece, Comet Shard, and Stardust near each other (and even wild Clefairy), implying a past impact. However, it seems like these Pokémon, both Lunatone and Solrock, are just attracted to otherworldly power in general; they are found at each of Sinnoh’s three lakes plus Mt. Coronet and Sendoff Spring, if drawn out of hiding; all are places with lots of power collected from Legendaries that predate Earth (and thus are sort of extraterrestrial), but no known meteor impacts. (Lakes Verity and Valor, at least, are confirmed not to be meteor craters. (7,8)) Other places, such as Galar’s Route 8, as well as Kalos’s Glittering Cave, are even more unclear; could these places have been impacted by meteors in the past? Or are these simply where Lunatone happened to fall?

CULTURE:

Lunatone is stated to have first been discovered 40 years before the events of Emerald, at the site of a meteor strike. This is certainly how it was discovered in modern times, but one can be seen in AZ’s flashback of the Kalos War, implying it was known in ancient times but knowledge of it was lost at some point. (This is far from an isolated case; Laventon’s entire Pokédex went missing for hundreds of years, after all.) However, there’s an interesting pattern here: Lunatone and Solrock were both forgotten, but additionally, knowledge of other Overload-related Pokémon (ie, those that wield Cosmic Power) is consistently spotty and scarce in the modern day, even if we know them to have been more well-known in antiquity and/or originated on Earth (such as Claydol or Sigilyph). It’s probably nothing (aliens are harder to study, after all), but it’s worth noting.

SOURCES:

Lunatone’s various Pokédex entries

(1): “A peculiar stone that can make certain species of Pokémon evolve. It is as black as the night sky.” — Moon Stone description, FRLG & DPPt onwards

(2): Moonblast description

(3): “The power of the moon is my power.” — Lunatone, PMD Rescue Team

(4): Haina Desert amnesiac sidequest internal documentation (niji_ソルロック・ルナトーンイベント_仕様書.xlsx [niji Solrock Lunatone event specifications] from the Teraleak)

(5): Mystery Files: Ruin Maniac Sakuji’s Mystery Column, part 2: https://www.pokemon.jp/special/mystery/column/02.html#column05

(6): Mystery Files: Ruin Maniac Sakuji’s Mystery Column, part 1: https://www.pokemon.jp/special/mystery/column/01.html#column02 (an astronaut brought back a Moon Stone from the moon)

(7): “They say this lake actually used to be a volcano. Then it erupted, leaving a huge crater that filled with water. And so Lake Verity was born.” — Volo, Legends: Arceus

(8): “Do you know about Lake Valor? It’s said to have been formed by a volcanic eruption, much like Lake Verity. Though there are other theories that say it was carved out in the midst of a Pokémon battle.” — Volo, Legends: Arceus