Arcanine

155 kilos spread over 1.9 metres of dog. It weighs more than two adults and, standing on all four legs, reaches its trainer's chest. Its official category is Legendary Pokémon, and the Pokédex entries insist on that idea above all else: it appears in ancient tales, is admired “since ancient times for its beauty”, and its bark alone is enough to make anyone who hears it end up fawning over it. One entry has it conquering entire territories alongside a warlord.

The rest is speed. According to the Pokédex, it runs 10 000 kilometres in 24 hours, and the explanation given by the games themselves is physiological: the fire burning inside it works like an engine and lets it keep up the pace over long distances. It runs “as if it had wings”.

It evolves from Growlithe and evolves no further. It is a two-stage line that skips the process: there is no level to reach, only a Fire Stone. The Hisui region also has its own variant, with its form recorded separately.

Of the 555 base points, the useful part is heavily concentrated: 110 Attack and 95 Speed, with 100 Special Attack that almost nobody uses because spreading the investment around isn't worth it. Its 90 HP holds up well, but both defences sit at 80, leaving it exposed to anything that hits hard once.

Intimidate is what fixes that physical 80: it lowers the opponent's Attack as soon as it comes in, turning a risky switch-in into a clean one. Its other ability, Flash Fire, lets it stand in front of a Fire-type attacker and come out powered up. Justified, its hidden ability, raises its Attack whenever it takes a Dark-type hit.

In Generation IX it appears in NU with a specific plan: Curse to raise Attack and Defence, 120-power Flare Blitz as its main attack, and Extreme Speed to avoid paying the Speed penalty imposed by Curse. Crunch covers Ghost-types, which are immune to its priority move and have no problem with Fire.

What holds it back is predictable. Flare Blitz's recoil wears it down by itself, and the Fire type carries the usual weaknesses: defensive Water-types shrug off its hits and heal at their leisure, while Ground-types take it down in one move. Add entry damage from hazards, and a long game becomes an uphill battle. Against Ninetales, Kanto's other Fire dog, it trades longevity for brute force.

It belongs to the Field Egg Group, the most populated of them all, so sharing moves with other species is easy. The gender ratio is three males for every female: 25% female, meaning that starting your own line takes patience or a Ditto.

Its 20 Egg cycles work out at around 5355 steps. Its Egg Move list is empty: everything it learns comes from levelling up or TMs, and there is nothing exclusive to pass on there.

Its evolution has no requirement beyond the item. Just use a Fire Stone on Growlithe at any level and at any time, with no friendship, time of day, or trading involved. That freedom has a catch, because once it evolves, the level-up moveset is over: it only learns Flamethrower at level 5, and the rest of the entry is TMs.

In the wild, it lives in grasslands and sometimes carries a Rawst Berry. Its catch rate is 75, in the middle range: it isn't the 45 of a starter or the 255 of a first-route Pokémon, but it won't go down to the first Poké Ball either. It grows slowly, the kind that reaches each level late. Defeating it awards 2 Attack EVs.