Welcome to the second installment of sixth generation's Pokemon of the Week! This week we'll be discussing one of the very first Fairy types you can catch in X/Y. This week, we discuss Florges.

When Flabébé finds a flower it likes, it clings to this flower for it's whole life. It is believed that the flower becomes part of Flabébé's body. Upon evolution, Floette tends to wilting flowers with a mysterious hidden power to ensure they survive. It is known to dance in celebration if it finds a garden full of healthy flowers. Once it has reached it's final evolution, Florges will often seek out or create an amazing garden of flowers to claim as it's own land. It seems to gain power from being in fields of healthy flowers.

Base Stats: 78 HP / 65 Attack / 68 Defense / 112 Sp. Attack / 154 Sp. Defense / 75 Speed

Florges is one of the new Fairy types we've received in X and Y, and with this comes some positive and negative aspects. Fairy has a wonderful defensive type, only having two fairly uncommon weaknesses, an important immunity to Dragon, some useful Dark, Bug and Fighting resistances and no crippling weakness to entry hazards, though no strength against them either. As an offensive type, Fairy is also excellent, being resisted by only a few types, with a Ground type attack providing a Super Effective hit to all of the types that resist it (provided they don't have a secondary type resistant or immune to Ground, and cannot Levitate).

So why then are very few Fairy types seen in the metagame? It's honestly hard to say, but if I had to wager a guess, it's because most of them just aren't that good. Florges has an incredible base 154 Sp. Defense and base 112 Sp. Attack, but base 78 HP and 68 Defense really limit it as a wall. It's got some really nice support options in Wish and Aromatherapy, but the rest of it's movepool is very bare bones. It is walled very easily by Skarmory, Heatran, and Ferrothorn, depending on which Hidden Power you're using, if any at all, which provides all three of them opportunities to setup entry hazards or cripple you in another way. Oh, and Flower Shield will not be mentioned as an option on any set, because we don't really need to give Azumarill or Mawile an easier time setting up than they already have.

As for offensive options, I can list all of them here without taking up much space: Calm Mind, Moonblast, Grass Knot / Energy Ball, Psychic, Hidden Power. Yeah, you know you're in a bad spot when Hidden Power makes the list, especially with the nerf it has received, but if you're going to try to play Florges offensively, you'd better be packing a Hidden Power of some kind to deal with some Steel type threats.

Florges has a horribly shallow movepool, but it can provide a very nice niche as a cleric that has very nice resistances and immunities that Blissey would kill for. Aromatherapy is the reason you're even looking at this set, as it provides your team with a complete removal of status moves, something that can be very helpful, especially with that damn Klefki running around everywhere. Wish provides additional team support, as well as keeping Florges alive. Protect is the obvious choice to ensure you receive your Wish, but Toxic does help whittle down opposing walls. Moonblast gives you a STAB to work with so you don't completely become Taunt bait, but you can run a moveset of Aromatherapy, Wish, Protect, Toxic if you're feeling bold, as it packs every defensive tool Florges has into one set.

Obviously, Florges is not meant to be on the field for very long. Florges appreciates a Rapid Spin or Defog user on your team to ensure that entry hazards don't wear her down and keep her from healing your team up multiple times.

A bulky Calm Mind set can give Florges a chance to do some actual damage with that base 112 Sp. Attack. The only strategy here is to bring Florges in on either a special attacker, a Pokemon that is somehow afraid of her, or both, and setup a boost. From there you can decide whether boosting again is appropriate or if going for the kill is the best bet. Moonblast is your powerful STAB attack, and the main move you'll be spamming to win. Psychic hits Poison types, which can be useful for things like Venusaur (though it outspeeds you) and Amoonguss, as well as others, depending on how tiers end up fluctuating.

Hidden Power Fire is recommended to deal with most Steel type Pokemon, and after a boost it can deal out decent damage. Ground, however, is an option if you don't like Heatran. In general, this set prefers Fire, but if you're using Magnezone with HP Fire to trap and kill most Steels, Ground could catch Heatran off-guard.

This is really why I did this as my second issue; Florges is likely on many of your teams by virtue of being the first Fairy type you're likely to encounter in-game (unless you snagged Azurill and stuck with it). Flabébé can be found on Route 4 and Route 7 with a variety of different flower colors (which are purely aesthetic). At level 19, Flabébé will evolve into Floette, which can then be evolved with a Shiny Stone, which can be found on Route 12, 18, and in the Secret Super Training Event "An Opening of Lightning-Quick Attacks!". Here is what I'd recommend for an in-game Florges:

Florges is probably one of the best Pokemon you have access to early on in X and Y. The amazing base 154 Sp. Defense allows it to tank special hits with extreme ease, while it has more than enough power to deal with most foes. Moonblast is your STAB attack, though Dazzling Gleam is your second best option until Floette learns it at level 46. Psychic will deal with Poison types easily, which can be a problem in-game. Wish and Protect ensures that it can keep itself alive, and that will help a lot in those long caves and with the Elite Four. Protect is also given to you very early in the game, and Wish is learned very quickly.

When I think of Florges, my thought is immediately "Ehhh". The designs of the two previous stages are a lot cuter, and I'm really not digging the whole mermaid flower hybrid Florges has going on. Like many Kalos Pokemon, the reveal of the first stage had me really hyped up, only to leave me disappointed by the design of the final evolution (I'm looking at you, Diggersby and Aromatisse). Also, remembering that it's NOT part Grass type is really difficult, and I don't need more stupid things to remember.

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