Images of Diglett, Weedle, Onix, and Steelix. Level at which they evolve and stat table: https://i.postimg.cc/26nPpwR7/onix-alternative-pre-evolution-and-stats.jpg
Image of Onix and its pre-evolutions alongside Red: https://i.postimg.cc/MTMzn4MM/diglett-weedle-onix-red.jpg
Hi, I really liked Onix when I was little. It always bothered me that its stats were so low, since I feel it's unrealistic that a nearly 9-meter-long rock snake would become a weak baby Pokémon.
I know there's a justification I've read that Onix was meant to be a level boss and not for us to play, but I really liked it and wanted to have it on my team when I was a kid, but I was discouraged when I saw how weak it was.
I don't agree with the decision they made in later generations to give it evolutions and Mega Evolutions to compensate for this.
Onix should be a final evolution, not a baby Pokémon.
That said, I've been thinking about Pokémon that could fit as pre-evolutions for Onix. At first, I researched Fakemon, but I didn't like any of them. Finally, I decided to look for Pokémon that already exist in the game. Initially, I considered creating a Magikarp-Gyarados version with Diglett and Onix, where Diglett would have the same stats as Magikarp, evolve at level 20, and learn its first offensive move, Mud Slap, at level 15. I chose Diglett because its evolution always seemed to me like a gathering of Digletts. Diglett is free-roaming, legless, and resembles an earthworm (you can imagine the rest of its body has the same appearance), just like Onix, which in this case is a rock worm, but both move underground. The idea of choosing Diglett as its pre-evolution came from reading somewhere that Onix could be a normal snake inside covered by stone plates, which is the idea I chose for Onix. That way, thinking that Diglett is simply a pre-evolution of Onix without the stone plates doesn't sound so far-fetched.
Then I remembered Weedle. If you think about it, Weedle looks like a small Onix, but without being made of stone. Both are formed from similar segments, both have a horn on their forehead, and the most interesting thing is that it fits as an intermediate evolution since its mouth, eyes, and brown skin color match Diglett's.
These and other Pokémon changes were made for a personal ROM hack game that I haven't released because I'm not very good at modding, but I wanted to share this idea I've always had for Onix with you.
I hope you like it at least. Cheers.
by MulberryMajor