Bayleef

Ivysaur does the same job in another region: the middle stage of a Grass-type starter, the form the player watches for sixteen levels and then forgets. The difference is in the neck. Chikorita had a loose leaf on its head and not much else; upon evolving, a collar of tubular leaves appears around its neck, and a tree shoot sprouts from each one. That collar is the entire character.

The three Pokédex entries insist on the same thing, the smell, although they cannot agree on what it is like. One calls it spicy and says it has a stimulating effect that helps restore health. Another describes it as sweet and says it cheers up anyone who smells it. The third clears up the plumbing: the fragrance comes from the collar’s shoots, not from the body. The official category, Leaf Pokémon, does not overcomplicate things.

The physical change from the previous stage is substantial. It is 1.2 metres tall and weighs 15.8 kg, walks on four legs, and its neck and tail have lengthened enough to give it the silhouette of a small sauropod. The leaf on its head is still there, longer, thinner and with a battered edge. It lives in grasslands and is pure Grass-type, with no second type to complicate things.

The 405 base points are distributed in a way that explains the whole problem: 60 HP, 62 Attack, 63 Special Attack, 60 Speed and two 80s in Defense and Special Defense. It takes hits a little from both sides and does not hit hard from either. Having its two best figures be defensive and tied fits what it gives when defeated: 1 Effort Point in Defense and 1 in Special Defense.

Overgrow, its regular Ability, powers up Grass-type moves only below one-third of its health, and with 63 Special Attack the boost does not change what it can knock out. Chlorophyll, its Hidden Ability, blocks status problems while the sun is up; someone has to set the sun, because here Sunny Day is a TM and spending a turn to activate it with 60 Speed is not worth it.

Pure Grass attacks Water, Ground and Rock well, and defensively it is one of the worst single types: Fire, Ice, Flying, Poison and Bug hit for double damage. On the attacking side, it has Energy Ball with 90 power and Leaf Storm with 130 from a TM, plus Magical Leaf at level 22, which never misses but is stuck at 60.

It is not a competitive Pokémon, and there is no way to disguise it: it is below its evolution in every figure and is not even the base stage of the line, so it does not enter low-level formats either. Where it does work is in a normal Johto playthrough, between levels 16 and 32, combining Leech Seed —level 26— with Synthesis, which it already learns at 12. Against the region’s Rock- and Water-type Gyms, two defensive 80s and healing every turn are enough to keep it from dying.

It belongs to the Monster and Grass Egg Groups, the same pairing carried by almost all Grass-type starters, which opens up breeding with half the plant-based Pokédex and with the large quadrupeds. The gender ratio is the usual one for a starter: 12.5% female, seven males for every one female. Getting the female is the slow part; Ditto skips that step.

The Egg hatches into Chikorita, never this form, and that is where the moves need to be left: Ingrain, Heal Pulse, Ancient Power, Counter, Flail and Vine Whip. Heal Pulse and Ingrain are the two worth the effort, because they fit the only thing it does well. The 20 Egg cycles work out at roughly 5355 steps.

The evolution has no trick to it: Chikorita becomes this form upon reaching level 16, and from here it evolves into Meganium upon reaching 32. No items, no friendship, no time of day. Its growth rate is Medium Slow, so it reaches both thresholds late and then makes up ground.

In the wild, its habitat is grassland, and its catch rate is 45, the same as almost any evolved starter: difficult, designed so the Poké Ball bounces several times. Wild specimens may be holding Miracle Seed.