Iscariot (Pokémon)

Iscariot (Japanese name: Judas) is a Mythical Pokémon introduced in the Nozomi region.
It does not evolve.
Its type is Dark-Poison in its Avatar form, or Dark-Ghost in its Fallen form.
== Base stats: ==
=== Avatar form ===
HP: 100
ATK: 70
DEF: 60
SAK: 170
SDF: 90
SPD: 160
Total: 650
=== Fallen form ===
HP: 1
ATK: 250
DEF: 1
SAK: 250
SDF: 1
SPD: 250
Total: 753
== Ability and moves ==
Iscariot is the only Pokémon possessing the ability Fallen One, which makes it even weaker to supereffective moves but causes it to turn into its Fallen form when at 1 HP. It also allows him to survive lethal damage with 1 HP if at full health. 
As his Fallen One form, it possesses Made of Void, an ability working like Wonder Guard. It can only stay in Fallen forms for three turns, after which it dies (three turns that get reset if the Pokémon is switched out). Like Shedinja, Fallen Iscariot is locked at 1 HP. 
It can learn the exclusive moves Traitor's Kiss (which is a Dark-type special move which has 100 base power, doubles in power if used in Fallen form but forces the user to return to Avatar form and debuffs the user's special attack by two stages if used in Fallen form), Ginkasanjuumai (a Dark-type special attack with 30 base power, which can hit from 1 to 5 times and drains health from the target) and Unholy Hanging (a Dark-type move that causes it to drop to 1 HP but raise Sp. Atk to maximum level). 
== Plot and lore ==
Iscariot is known as the most evil Pokémon ever, aside from Giratina. 
Unlike most Mythicals, Iscariot has a massive plot relevance, since it was the creator of a cult which ruled over the Nozomi region for years and committed violent massacres. Iscariot also has its own language, called Iscariotic Speech (that is perfectly accurate Japanese, except in the Japanese versions of the games where it's Korean).
Originally Iscariot was one of the Five Apostles alongside Mattenshi, Lukoushi, Markoshishi and Jovanshi. Arceus created him and the other Apostles to protect the region from Giratina and guide mankind. It was the Apostle of freedom and independence, who taught the Nozomian humans to fight barbarians and never surrender to anyone. It had a shrine dedicated to it during the Nozomian republican age, but it was turned into a shrine for Iuppitrex himself by a man named Cesare who was trying to proclaim himself as the first Nozomian Emperor...
Until he started seeing the Republican institutions turn more and more autocratic, killed Cesare in order to preserve freedom, and started to see Iuppitrex as a slaver trying to drown the world in ignorance and use the Nozomians as puppet rulers, and wanted the Nozomian Empire to not be ruled by anyone (except for himself). It attacked the Colle dei Kami in Kaminomiyako and attempted to rebel against Iuppitrex and steal the Three Imperial Regalia (the Trident of the Ocean, the Jewel of the Sky and the Helm of the Earth). Cesare's son Augusto became the first true Nozomian Emperor after Iscariot's banishment. 
As Iscariot fought against Iuppitrex, Hadyss and Neptremor, Arceus judged it a criminal and immediately banished it to the Distortion World to be eternally tortured by Giratina, tied to an upside-down cross in the Distortion World and with its legs destined to be perpetually devoured by Giratina and then regrow in a very painful way (as Prometheus was punished. Its hate turned into an immaterial phantom which can only briefly manifest in the world, except when attached to a human host called a Duce in the form of a black snake. 
It returned after 2000 years, possessing a human host named Hideki (a heretic opposed to the Alphen Church) and using him as the head of the Fa'Shan Cult, an organization whose goal was to destroy the three gods and free Iscariot from his eternal punishment. As the head of the Fa'Shan Cult, he ruled Nozomi as a totalitarian despot for 50 years until forces from various other Regions such as Galar, Unova and Zovyat stormed Nozomi and eradicated the cult, imprisoning Iscariot once again.
He seems to have come back, however, possessing the Jinzoningen Castor and using him to form a new Fa'Shan Cult... however Castor seems to have more control over Iscariot and is trying to destroy it once and for all.
Since it's so evil, despite being present in the games' story and lore, it's impossible to catch it unless the player uses a DLC to travel back in time and become the head of the Fa'Shan Cult, bonding with Iscariot and causing Hideki's despotism to never happen.
== Design and inspirations ==
Iscariot is inspired by many famous historic and legendary criminals such as Judas (as his name says), Brutus and Cassius, but also Prometheus. It's also inspired by the Batman villain Victor Zsasz and Dante from Devil May Cry and the Nahobino from SMTV. Its true form is based on a snake, referencing how the Lucifer was the snake of Eden. 
In its Avatar form, Iscariot looks like the torso of a naked androgynous human with white skin covered in scars, pale-white hair and blood coming out from its eyes as if it was eye makeup, hanged by his neck by a black snake-like figure and tied to an upside-down cross. The snake wraps around his head like a crown and forms a necklace with silver coins attached. Its body is covered in scars. Iscariot lacks arms and legs, only having black tendrils coming out of its torso. 
In its Fallen form, Iscariot is a serpent made of black mist and covered in red eyes, with a skull for head and a giant black eye in his mouth.
Its name is derived from Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus. 
== Trivia ==
* Iscariot was designed to resemble a Shin Megami Tensei demon more than a Pokémon, to the point that it's intentionally named after its real-life inspiration rather than having a portmanteau name. 
* Iscariot's cry in Avatar form is actual words: "Yurusanai!" (Japanese for "unforgivable"). 
* Ginkasanjuumai is Japanese for "thirty pieces of silver".
* Iscariot's punishment is based on both how Prometheus was tied to a rock with an eagle eating his liver (and it painfully regrowing) and how Judas, Brutus and Cassius are eaten alive by Lucifer in Cocytus in Dante's Inferno.
*Fallen Iscariot's gimmick is that it's an extremely broken Pokémon, but perishes instantly if a trainer facing it knows that raw power isn't everything, in other words what Shedinja was supposed to be like but ended up being too impractical to be. 
Category:Ghost Pokémon
Category:Edgy Pokemon