Aipom

Next to Mankey, the other ape in the early Pokédex, this one looks harmless: 80 centimetres, 11.5 kilograms, purple, with a fixed grin and blank eyes. The difference is behind it. Its tail ends in a three-fingered hand, and that hand is what does the work.

Pokédex entries keep insisting on the same detail, with an uncomfortable twist. After using its tail so much, it has become more skilful than its actual fingers; one entry puts it bluntly: its real hands have become somewhat clumsy. With its tail, it grips branches to keep from falling, balances as it jumps from one to another and builds its nest in the treetops. The official category, Long Tail Pokémon, is all about that.

It lives up in the forest and watches the ground from there, looking for food. If a Bounsweet, its favourite treat, appears, it gets excited and dives after it.

For two generations, it was a one-link evolutionary line, a dead end with 360 base stat points. The fourth generation put Ambipom on top of it, completing the design joke by doubling the tail.

Those 360 points have one obvious hole: 40 Special Attack, the lowest figure on its sheet, on a creature that learns Thunderbolt, Thunder and Solar Beam from TMs. None of the three does it any good. Its strengths are 85 Speed and 70 Attack, and everything below that is a bunch of fifty-fives — HP, Defense and Special Defense, all three stuck at 55. Any reasonably serious neutral hit knocks it out.

Its defining ability is the Hidden Ability, Skill Link: multi-hit moves always deal the maximum number of hits. Fury Swipes, which it learns at level 18, has 18 power per hit; with five guaranteed hits, that makes 90 fixed power, and it also breaks Sturdy while carrying on hitting. The other two abilities are irrelevant in battle. Run Away is useful for fleeing wild Pokémon and Pickup at least keeps filling your bag as you walk.

Being pure Normal means it resists nothing, is immune to Ghost and takes double damage from Fighting. When attacking, Rock and Steel hold it back and Ghost Pokémon ignore it completely, so its useful arsenal comes from TMs: Fire Punch, Ice Punch and Thunder Punch, all three with 75 power. Last Resort arrives at level 43 with 140 power and the condition that it must move last, something that almost never happens with 85 Speed.

And then there is the real problem. Ambipom does the same thing with 100 Attack and 100 Speed, and the price of getting there is a move it learns by itself. Its place in a normal playthrough is short: it joins around level 18 as a fast nuisance, wins the first few Gyms through sheer initiative and retires at 32.

A single Egg Group, Field, the most populated in the series, which pairs it with almost any four-legged beast. The sex ratio is 50%, so there is no need to hunt for females or rely on Ditto to get a line started.

The 20 incubation cycles work out at roughly 5355 steps. Two Egg Moves are worth the trip: Iron Tail, with 100 power, and Bounce, which provides 85 Flying-type power in exchange for a turn in the air. Counter, Switcheroo and Fake Out are curiosities more than tools.

The evolution condition is specific and allows no alternatives: level up while knowing Double Hit. No stones, friendship or time of day. It learns Double Hit by itself at level 32, so all you have to do is battle for one more level without overwriting it, which is exactly the mistake everyone makes the first time.

Its habitat is the forest, up in the treetops, and its catch rate of 45 puts it in the difficult range: you have to weaken it and chain Poké Balls. It grows at the Fast experience rate, with 72 base experience, and yields 1 Speed EV.