What if they were real 2: Excadrill
Part 2 of a potentially 1,025+ part series.
It is time for part 2 of our 1,025+ part series. As a recap, I will be passing judgement on whether or not this Pokémon existing in the world would be a good, neutral, or bad thing for most people. As a reminder, the evidence base includes height, weight, cry, abilities, moves learned as at level 1, by TM or egg move, and Pokedex entries. Attacking moves will not be considered, but base stats will. Catch rate will be of limited importance.
The winner of the random draw from the suggestions from my loyal readers was Excadrill. Excadrill is a 2 foot, 40kg, ground-steel type. I feel that given this does not seem too unreasonable for a child, this would probably not be too unmanageable for most people.
Figure 1: https://pokemondb.net/pokedex/excadrill
Its abilities, sand force and sand rush, will have little impact on those who do not live in countries where sandstorms are frequent. It has a 7.8% chance of being caught with a normal poke ball, so I am going to suggest that there will probably be a decent number of domestic Excadrills. it has a normal base friendship stat of 50, so no more difficult than most Pokémon to befriend. Excadrill sounds like this: Pokemon Cries - #530 Excadrill, which would admittedly be slightly unnerving to hear at night, but does not seem too loud to me.
In terms of moves, Excadrill knows how to sharpen its claw with Hone Claws, and it knows scratch, presumably a byproduct of all the digging it does. It also knows Rapid Spin and mud-slap, which may be of use as Rapid Spin removes hazards, so presumably it would also remove any shards of glass you dropped on the kitchen floor. It also knows Horn Drill, which is less likely to be of immediate use to most people. Through TMs, it can learn the useful helping hand, rest and fling, which enable it to be of use by assisting other Pokémon, go to sleep, and throw stuff. Which all may have circumstantial uses.
In terms of Pokedex entries, Excadrill throws up some interesting problems. Starting in Generation 5:
It can help in tunnel construction. Its drill has evolved into steel strong enough to bore through iron plates.
This seems like great news on the face of it. An animal has evolved an incredibly strong drill, thereby removing the necessity for expensive machinery, and from a cynical and non-RSPCA standpoint, means that humans do not need to do these jobs. I am hoping that evolution has also provided Excadrill with the means to cope with mining at these depths. However, as the entry for Pokémon White makes clear, all is not as rosy as it seems:
More than 300 feet below the surface, they build maze-like nests. Their activity can be destructive to subway tunnels.
I am not too worried about domestic Excadrill, whose urge to drill and nest could be directed away from the destruction of infrastructure, I am worried about the wild Excadrill with their immense tunnelling prowess. Think of all the sensitive pipework we have, and the risk of sinkholes. Feral Excadrill could be a serious issue.
Forming a drill with its steel claws and head, it can bore through a steel plate, no matter how thick it is.
As the entry for the next game shows, there would also be precious little we could do to Excadrill-proof our construction. The next few entries are similar, until we get to Sword and Shield.
It’s not uncommon for tunnels that appear to have formed naturally to actually be a result of Excadrill’s rampant digging.
This does not seem too much of a concern, though it highlights the prowess of Excadrill, and does not tell us much about the size of the tunnels, which would be a point of concern for me. Geologists would suddenly experience a high demand for their services, so presumably they would benefit in some degree from the presence of Excadrill.
Known as the Drill King, this Pokémon can tunnel through the terrain at speeds of over 90 mph.
The speed only adds to my fears over the havoc that Excadrill could wreak upon the landscape. Not only do we lack the infrastructure to prevent Excadrill carving through the subterranean landscape, but we also lack the time to realise what is happening. Imagine a concentration of Excadrill, wild and in a small area, and the damage it could do to the sewer system? On the other hand, the amount of time construction would take would be massively reduced, which would appease many people. However, archaeologists would probably concern themselves with the speed of Excadrill, which could be hazardous to many sites of historical significance.
To conclude, Excadrill is a much trickier Pokémon to place than Trubbish. Whilst it has the potential to transform construction projects at low cost, which could be of great ecological benefit, those same abilities pose a great risk to infrastructure as their natural maze-building carries with it the risk that it subducts a motorway. Given the fact that a controlled population of Excadrill could presumably fix this problem, I am going to say that Excadrill has a net positive potential, placing it in the B tier below Trubbish.
