Horsea

It arrived in Red and Blue in the group that only shows up with a fishing rod, in Kanto’s final stretch: Routes 19, 20 and 21, the Seafoam Islands, and the waters around Cinnabar Island. That catalogue was packed with marine wildlife copied almost without changes, and a seahorse fitted right in. That is exactly what we have here. Light-blue body, tubular snout, three pointed fins on each side of its face and a spiral-curled tail that is no use for swimming.

Pokédex entries keep coming back to two behaviours. The ink: when danger approaches, it spits thick black ink from its mouth, sometimes unconsciously, and uses the opportunity to flee; some people know it for knocking flying insects down by firing it from the water’s surface. And anchoring: when ocean currents grow rough, it grips rocks or coral with its tail so it will not be swept away. It nests among coral. It eats small bugs and the moss that grows over stone.

At 40 centimetres and 8 kilograms, it is the smallest stage of a three-stage line. Its official category is the Dragon Pokémon, which does not match its type — Water and nothing else — but it gives away where the line is headed: Seadra first and Kingdra at the end, with the Dragon typing finally added.

Its 295 points are distributed unevenly and towards the wrong side. The useful parts are 70 Defence and 70 Special Attack. Everything else weighs it down: 30 HP, 40 Attack, 60 Speed and a Special Defence of 25 that is practically an invitation. Any neutral special attack blows it away; Electric- and Grass-type moves hardly need mentioning.

Its Abilities point in different directions. Swift Swim raises its Speed while it is raining, and it learns Rain Dance naturally at level 55 — also by TM — so it can set up the weather itself, even if that costs a turn it cannot spare. Sniper powers up critical hits and fits with Focus Energy, which arrives at level 15. Damp, its hidden Ability, prevents other Pokémon from self-destructing and is useful exactly as often as it is useful.

It is better supplied with moves than its Special Attack deserves: BubbleBeam at 25, Dragon Pulse at 40, Hydro Pump at 45 and Ice Beam by TM, which is what lets it hit Grass types that would otherwise wall it. There are two traps in its movepool. Dragon Dance, at level 50, raises an Attack stat of 40 that is going nowhere, while TM Outrage is a physical move with 120 power on a Pokémon that attacks from the other side. Pure Water typing does not help either: standard resistances, no immunities and zero surprise on offence.

It has no place in competitive battling. In a normal playthrough, its real function is to serve as bait until level 32 and give up its slot to what comes next; anyone looking for a Water type that can take special hits has a Pokédex full of better options from the very first generation.

It belongs to two Egg Groups, Water 1 and Dragon, and the second one is what opens up possibilities: it can breed with the Dratini line and the rest of the breedable dragons. The gender ratio is clean, with 50% female, without the skewed ratio carried by the starters.

Its 20 incubation cycles amount to about 5355 steps, an average figure. From the Egg it gets five moves: Aurora Beam and Clear Smog are the two that contribute something, Disable has occasional use, Rage depends on how much HP it has left — a bad deal with a base 30 — and Splash does absolutely nothing.

Its evolution has two steps, and the second is the expensive one. It reaches level 32 and becomes Seadra; Seadra only becomes Kingdra if it is traded while holding a Dragon Scale. The elegant part is that Horsea itself can appear in the wild holding that same Dragon Scale, so the required item can be obtained from the species itself if enough of them are fished up.

It lives in the sea and has a catch rate of 225, one of the high ones: an ordinary Poké Ball and a bit of damage are enough. It grows at an average rate and gives 1 effort point in Special Attack when defeated.