Carvanha

The official classification, Savage Pokémon, promises a fierce one, and the Pokédex entries deliver: entire schools launching themselves at a ship’s hull until they sink it bite by bite, river territories defended en masse, an intruder torn to pieces before it can react. The smell of even a little blood is enough to make the whole group attack. Then comes the qualifier that undercuts the scene—in isolation, it loses its nerve. Two different entries insist on the same thing: the ferocity comes from the school, not the individual.

Its design is that of a red-bellied piranha, with jaws wildly oversized for its body and a yellow star marked on its side. It is 0.8 metres tall and weighs 20.8 kilograms. One on its own does not scare anyone; numbers are its weapon.

There is a contradiction in its own Pokédex data that is worth leaving untouched: its recorded habitat is the sea, while the entries repeatedly mention the mighty rivers that run through jungles. Both things are written down.

It is the first of two stages and the smaller one in every sense. At level 30, it evolves into Sharpedo, and the scale jumps from 0.8 to 1.8 metres and from 20.8 to 88.8 kilograms, with the same two types and the same pair of abilities.

305 points distributed with very poor judgement. Its 90 Attack is a high figure for a first-stage Pokémon, and that is where the good news ends: 20 Defense and 20 Special Defense, backed by 45 HP, mean that almost any neutral hit knocks it out in one blow. Its 65 Speed is not enough to move first against anything that actually runs fast, either.

Rough Skin, its regular Ability, deals damage to anything that hits it with contact, which with those defenses usually turns into a one-way exchange. Its Hidden Ability, Speed Boost, raises its Speed by one stage at the end of every turn, and it is the only way that 65 ever comes to mean anything—provided it survives the turn, which is asking a lot.

On offense, the Water and Dark combination covers plenty of ground: Dark hits Psychic and Ghost, while Water hits Fire, Ground and Rock. Defensively, it resists Fire, Water, Ice, Ghost, Dark and Steel, while carrying five weaknesses: Grass, Electric, Fighting, Bug and Fairy.

Its physical arsenal arrives late and slowly. Bite at level 16, Ice Fang at 20, Crunch with 80 power at 32 and Liquidation with 85 at 40, almost on the verge of evolution. The only immediate option is Aqua Jet at level 1, a 40-power priority move that works for finishing off weakened targets. Screech, at 24, lowers the opposing Pokémon’s Defense by two stages and fits that 90 Attack better than anything else it learns.

Beyond that, it is not a serious battle Pokémon: it remains a normal-playthrough tool, useful against Psychic- and Ghost-type Trainers and against any slow opponent it can hit before taking a hit itself. Its slow experience-growth rate makes the problem worse, because it reaches each level later than the team around it.

It belongs to a single Egg Group, Water 2, the one for elongated fish, which narrows the list of possible partners considerably compared with species in two groups. The gender split is 50%, so finding a female is no trouble. Its 20 Egg Cycles amount to roughly 5355 steps.

Six moves can come from the Egg, and two of them are better than anything on its level-up list: Double-Edge, with 120 physical power, makes use of its 90 Attack despite the recoil, while Revenge reaches the same figure in exchange for requiring the opponent to have hit first. Hydro Pump, with 110 Special power, relies on a Special Attack of 65 and performs considerably worse than its number suggests. It can also inherit Destiny Bond, Ancient Power and Swift.

The evolution has no trick to it: reach level 30 and that is it, with no items, no time-of-day requirements and no friendship conditions. It is worth keeping in mind because its experience curve is slow.

Its catch rate is 225, practically the maximum, so it goes down to the first Poké Ball as soon as some of its HP has been taken off. In the wild, it may be holding a Deep Sea Tooth or Black Glasses. Defeating it awards 1 Attack EV and 61 base experience, among the lowest figures in the game.