Corsola

Five kilos. That is what a sixty-centimetre creature built on a coral skeleton weighs, less than a small dog, and the figure explains quite a lot: what sprouts from its head is not an ornament it carries around, but the part of itself that keeps growing and shedding without end. Pokédex entries return to that detail again and again. A broken branch regenerates overnight, or in three days depending on the version you read, and under the sun the whole thing can shine in seven colours.

The rest of what we know comes from the water. It lives in warm seas, forms large schools that small Pokémon use as hiding places, and migrates towards southern seas when the temperature drops. Its coral fades and deteriorates in dirty water, so a school of Corsola is, quite literally, an indicator of clean water.

It also has something that hunts it. When Mareanie goes after its branches, Corsola sheds them itself and makes its escape lighter. Its official category is Coral Pokémon, and it makes no effort to hide that fact. The familiar pink form stays as it is for its whole life; the Galarian one is the only one that goes anywhere from there.

The stat spread is that of a wall with half the bill left unpaid: 95 Defense and 95 Special Defense built on 65 HP. The two walls are identical and neither holds up to much, because real bulk comes from combining defense with HP and that is where the multiplier is missing. With 35 Speed it moves last against almost everything, and the 55 Attack leaves Hustle — its flashiest ability, which raises Attack at the cost of Accuracy — with nothing physical worth boosting.

What gives it a purpose is Regenerator, its Hidden Ability: every switch restores HP without costing a turn. With Recover (Lv.50) and Aqua Ring (Lv.10), the plan is to come in, take a hit and leave. Natural Cure serves the same role for status conditions. It also gets Stealth Rock by TM, which is probably the most useful job you can give it.

On offense, Water and Rock split the work well: Scald (80, with a chance to burn), Power Gem at Lv.40 and Earth Power at Lv.45 cover a lot of ground. On defense, the same pairing is a disaster. Water and Rock together quadruple Grass damage and double Electric, Fighting and Ground damage, four types that nobody has trouble bringing along.

In a normal playthrough, it is a different story: it handles the opening stretch of a route with Surf and Ice Beam by TM, does not go down to a single neutral hit and works as a cheap switch-in while something more dangerous heals outside the battle.

It is in two Egg Groups, Water 1 and Water 3, which lets it breed with almost anything that swims. The gender ratio is three females for every male — 75% female — so starting your own line is rarely the problem. The 20 hatch cycles work out at about 5355 steps, neither short nor long.

Its Egg Move list is better than its stat sheet. Head Smash, a physical Rock move with 150 power, is the strongest hit it can reach by any method, although with 55 Attack and the recoil on top, the numbers do not add up. Liquidation (85) is the physical Water attack it cannot learn any other way. Then there is the odd package: Curse, Amnesia, Confuse Ray, Ingrain and Haze, all pointing towards a much heavier role than its Speed allows.

Its evolution has a trick. The regular form does not evolve at all; only the Galarian variant evolves at level 38, and it evolves into Cursola. No items, no friendship, no time-of-day conditions.

Its habitat is the Sea, it grows at the Fast rate and leaves 1 EV in Defense and another in Special Defense. Its catch rate, 60, puts it well away from trivial: it takes plenty of Poké Balls before it finally stays in.