Lickitung

Next to Chansey, Kanto’s other soft pink one without claws or fangs, Lickitung is the version that actually goes rummaging around on its own: the same padded outline, the same pastel colour, but with a tongue up to two metres long that does the work of its arms. The Pokédex entries keep repeating that it moves it more deftly than its front legs and uses it both to grab food and to strike. At 1,2 m tall, its tongue is twice the length of its body.

The behaviour described by the games is that of an animal that experiences the world through taste. When it comes across something it does not recognise, it licks it; that is how it memorises the texture and flavour. It cannot tolerate acids. Its saliva is sticky and leaves a trail: two entries warn that its licks sting and cause rashes if they are not washed off, while another mentions paralysis. It even handles grooming with licks, leaving behind a smell that the entry itself describes as anything but clean.

Its official category is the Licking Pokémon, and its 65,5 kg put it among the heavy, slow ones. For three generations it was a one-member line, with neither an evolution nor a pre-evolution; Lickilicky did not appear until the fourth.

Its 385 base stat total is spread out without a single useful peak. Its highest stat is 90 HP, both defences tie at 75, and its attacks sit at 55 physical and 60 special. Its Speed is 30: it moves last and always takes the first hit.

Of its three Abilities, two are very specific safety nets: Own Tempo prevents confusion, while Oblivious stops it from being attracted or taunted. Its Hidden Ability, Cloud Nine, is the only one that affects the field: it nullifies the weather while it is in battle, so sun, rain and sandstorm stop applying their bonuses to either side. It is an off switch, not an advantage of its own.

On the offensive, Normal is the worst-distributed type in the game: Rock and Steel resist it, while Ghost ignores it completely. Defensively, it makes up for that a little — only one weakness, Fighting, and that same Ghost immunity working in its favour. The problem is that 55 Attack does not turn anything into a threat. Double-Edge, at level 25, hits for 120 and deals recoil; Giga Impact, at 43, hits for 150 and forces it to lose the following turn recharging. Bulldoze, at 11, is its only coverage against Rock and Steel, and with 60 power it does not solve the problem, only point it out.

It is not a serious battling Pokémon, and it is worth saying that plainly: a Machamp knocks it out before it can move. Where it does work is in a normal playthrough, as a body that can take two or three turns while the team rearranges itself, with Rest available from level 6. Wild specimens sometimes carry a Lagging Tail, which makes whoever equips it move last: stealing it is more useful for someone else than using it itself.

It belongs to a single Egg Group, Monster, the one for large, heavy-blooded quadrupeds and bipeds, which gives it a short list of partners compared with Pokémon in two groups. The gender split is 50%, so breeding does not depend on finding a rare female or resorting to Ditto.

Its 20 incubation cycles come to around 5355 steps, an average figure within the Pokédex. It has no Egg Moves, and it does not need any: it learns Rollout, the move it needs, simply by reaching level 34.

That is the exact evolution condition. Lickilicky does not appear through levelling up or by using a stone: you have to gain a level while it knows Rollout in all four move slots. If the move is overwritten, the evolution stays blocked until it is restored.

The habitat assigned to it by the Pokédex is grassland. Its catch rate, 45, is among the low ones — the same as the starters — so you have to weaken it before throwing a Poké Ball, which gets complicated when the target has 90 HP and knows Rest. Defeating it gives 2 HP EVs and 77 base experience, and it grows at the medium rate, with no delays or head starts compared with the rest of the team.