Mantine

The giant manta swims by beating its pectoral fins as if it were flying, and that gesture is the whole design: a diamond-shaped flattened body, a long, slender tail, and two short appendages flanking its mouth. The games take it literally and give it the Flying type alongside Water.

The Pokédex entries repeat a single scene. It gets up to speed while swimming, catches a wave and launches itself into the air: one mentions jumps 100 meters high before it comes back down gliding; another says it covers 100 meters in flight. At 2.1 meters and 220 kilograms, this is not a discreet hop.

The other fixed trait is the company it keeps. Several entries mention Remoraid clinging to its fins in search of scraps of food, and they all agree that it ignores them, just as a real manta tolerates the remoras that accompany it. That coexistence became the condition for evolving from Mantyke, and that is where the line ends: there is no third stage.

In Alola, the species slipped into the tourist landscape. Postcards and posters of Mantine leaping over the waves are a typical regional souvenir, and many surfers got started in the sport by imitating that swimming style. Its official category, the Kite Pokémon, does not refer to the fish but to the bird: a kite glides for long stretches and beats its wings very little.

The 140 Special Defense is the figure everything else revolves around. With 85 HP behind it, it can take almost any special attack without breaking a sweat; with 70 Defense, one decent physical hit knocks it flat without ceremony. And then there are the 40 Attack points, on a 220-kilogram animal.

That 40 ruins half its movepool. Aerial Ace, at level 9, and Double-Edge, at 47, are physical moves that are never worth pressing. The useful side is the special one, with 80 Special Attack to work with: Air Slash at 21 and Hydro Pump at 37, enough to sting and nowhere near enough to sweep anything.

Water Absorb is the ability that gives it a purpose, because it turns Water-type attacks into recovered HP and lets it stand in front of half the ocean without spending turns. Swift Swim raises its Speed in rain from a base of 70. Water Veil, its Hidden Ability, prevents burns; with 40 Attack, the damage reduction barely matters, but the damage over time does matter for something whose job is to soak hits.

Its defensive typing is one of the good ones: immune to Ground and resistant to Fire, Water, Fighting, Bug and Steel. The price is paid all at once. Electric hits it for double damage, ×4, and those 140 Special Defense points do nothing there: a Jolteon does not even need to land its strongest move. Roost, at level 29, is what keeps it standing, and it also removes the Flying type for that turn, cutting the Electric hit in half.

Beyond that, its place is on the sea routes of a normal playthrough: a roadblock for Water-type trainers and for any special attacker that does not carry an Electric move.

A single Egg Group, Water 1, with a 50% gender split. Its 25 incubation cycles come to around 6630 steps —(25+1)×255—, making it one of the more expensive eggs to hatch, and on top of that it has the Slow growth rate, so the species reaches every important level late. It gives 2 Special Defense EVs when defeated, which fits what it is.

The evolution does not depend on stones or friendship: Mantyke levels up while there is a Remoraid in the party and that is it. Remoraid does not have to take part in the battle, be at a specific level or hold any item; it simply has to occupy a slot. It is an extremely odd method, and the design's symbiosis is the reason it exists.

Its habitat is the sea, and its catch rate, 25, is below what is considered difficult: 45 already means weakening it and throwing several Balls, while 255 is practically a free catch. Twenty-five means a Dive Ball, a status condition and patience.

The information comes from Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and that game has neither breeding nor TMs nor Move Tutors, so no Egg Move is listed. The eight level-up moves, from Tackle to Double-Edge, are the entire list available here.