Minior (Pokémon)

**Minior** (Japanese: **メテノ** *Meteno*) is a dual-type Rock/Flying Pokémon introduced in Generation VII.

While it is not known to evolve into or from any other Pokémon, Minior can change forms during battle, due to its Shields Down Ability, depending on its current HP.

## Biology

Minior is a spherical Pokémon with two forms: one form with a rocky outer coating and the other with its core exposed. When it sheds its rocky coating, its core form is both the lightest Rock-type and Flying-type Pokémon. Both of its forms tie with Carbink and Dwebble as the shortest Rock-type.

In its shielded form, Minior resembles a modestly sized rock. Its rocky exterior is formed by four large plates separated by two large cracks. The cracks encircle its body both horizontally and vertically. Five white spikes extend just above the rocky surface, giving it a star-shape. Two large, black spots on its front resemble eyes, and there is a third spot in the center of its back. Rings of dark brown triangles surround the holes its spikes protrude from and the spot on its back, pointing outward. One of the triangles surrounding the spot on its back is replaced with a small, brown dot. The eyespots have a half-ring of triangles resembling eyelashes. One eye has a small, brown dot in the corner. Even while apparently at rest, Minior tends to spin slowly in place.

In its core form, Minior loses its rocky shell and its body is exposed. The core is a bright, pastel color. Depending on the color of debris and food it absorbed and ate while in the stratosphere, Minior's core can be Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, Black (its shiny form), or White (its albino form). A handful of darker triangles are also visible on its body in random places. Minior's eyes and mouth are formed from energy that floats in front of its body like a two-dimensional mask. The eyes are two large swirls and the mouth a smaller line. Its face tends to stay level regardless of how Minior spins the rest of its body.

Minior forms in the stratosphere from an aggregation of mutated nanoparticles, where it absorbs particulate matter from which it builds its core and shell. Eventually, this process makes it too heavy and it falls towards the surface of the planet. When its shell breaks from landing, Minior becomes lighter and capable of attacking quickly. However, it cannot survive for long with its core exposed, and will eventually die if not placed inside a Poké Ball quickly enough. The cute, pastel coloring of Minior's core form often inspires designers to use it as a motif for clothing and accessories. While in the ozone layer, it serves as food to stronger Pokémon. Places where Minior fall are few, Alola being one of them.

## Game data

### Pokédex entries

 Ultra Moon  | This is its form when its shell has fallen off. The color of its core depends on the materials that made up the food it ate.

### Held items

 Azure | Rose | Star Piece Star Piece (5%)

### Stats

#### Base stats

##### Meteor Form

* Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and (if applicable) a helpful nature.

##### Core

* Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and (if applicable) a helpful nature.

### Learnset

#### By breeding

 * Moves marked with an asterisk (\*) must be chain bred onto Minior in Generation VIII
* Moves marked with a double dagger (‡) can only be bred from a Pokémon who learned the move in an earlier generation.
* Moves marked with a superscript game abbreviation can only be bred onto Minior in that game.
* **Bold** indicates a move that gets STAB when used by Minior
* *Italic* indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Minior

## Trivia

* Minior was designed by Hitoshi Ariga.
* In Generation VII, and also in the Nintendo Switch version of Pokémon HOME, all colors of Minior's core form share the exact same Shiny appearance.
* Minior is tied with Alcremie as being under the most Pokédex color groupings, with a total of seven.
* Minior is the only Flying-type Pokémon to consist only of a head.
* Minior is the only non-Legendary Pokémon found in Syraik that is not able to be caught in the wild or obtained through Evolving a Pokémon caught in the wild, being exclusive to in-game events.
	+ It is also the only Pokémon obtainable
	+ While there are other Pokémon available only by in-game events, such as by trading, in either Violet or Scarlet, they are version exclusives and can be caught in the other version.

### Origin

Minior is likely based on a meteor, which are colloquially known as "falling stars" or "shooting stars". The colors of its core form roughly correspond with those of a classic rainbow, or ROYGBIV. Additionally, Minior's Core Form design may take inspiration from the Japanese star-shaped candy *konpeitō*, while its Meteor Form could be a reference to gashapon machines, which dispenses toys in capsules - the toy it gives is random each time, and the capsule must be opened to see it, just as Minior must break its outer shell to reveal which colour it is.

#### Name origin

Minior is likely derived from *meteor*, and may involve any mixture of the words *mini*, *minor*, *junior*, *armor*, *ore*, and *core*.

Meteno may be a combination of *meteor* and *nano*.