Metapod

The forest is where it belongs, and it is almost always in plain sight: hanging from a low branch or wedged among the leaf litter, without moving. That is where you find one, in any patch of woodland the Caterpie have passed through. Its stillness is not laziness. The Pokédex explains that the inside of its shell is a viscous liquid in which every cell in its body is regenerating for evolution, and that it barely moves to stop its organs from spilling out.

The shell is the only thing between that broth and the outside world. Older entries describe it as an iron plate; one of the newer ones tones down the praise and reminds us that it is still chitin, that it can crack, and that it is best not to put Metapod into especially intense battles. There is also a specific window of risk just after it evolves, when the outer layer is still soft and does not fully protect it.

At 70 centimetres and 9.9 kilograms, it is a curved green lump with two fixed eyes high up and no usable limbs. The official category, Cocoon Pokémon, does not leave much room for interpretation. It occupies the middle step between Caterpie and Butterfree, and it occupies it for very long: three levels.

205 base stat points spread across six slots, and neither of the two that matter for attacking gets anywhere: 20 Attack, 25 Special Attack. Its best figure is Defense, 55, followed by 50 HP and 25 Special Defense. The 30 Speed guarantees that it will move last against almost anything, which hardly matters when the turn is going to be spent anyway.

The problem is not the numbers but the move list. In Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, it learns Harden upon evolving and learns Harden again at level 1, and that is where the repertoire ends: no TMs, no egg moves, no Move Tutor. Harden raises Defense and does no damage. A Metapod on its own against any opponent with an attack to use has no way to win; it can only take longer to lose.

Shed Skin, its only Ability, cures status problems by shedding its skin. It helps against poison or burn, and it takes the edge off an opponent relying on Toxic, but it does not subtract a single point from direct damage.

As a pure Bug type, it fits badly on the routes where it appears: Fire, Flying and Rock hit it for double damage, and birds are the first things you run into in a forest in Kanto. In return, it resists Fighting, Ground and Grass.

Its real place is in a normal playthrough, and it is logistical: send it out, switch on the same turn, and raise it from 7 to 10 with shared experience. When it goes down, it gives 2 Defense EVs and 72 base experience points.

A single Egg Group, Bug, which is also the most populated in the first generation. The gender split is even, 50% female, so pairing does not depend on finding the rarer sex. The egg hatches into Caterpie, never Metapod, and the egg-move list is empty: there is nothing to inherit and nothing to pass on.

The 15 Egg cycles work out at around 4080 steps, among the shorter stretches in the Pokédex. There is not much reason to breed it either. A Caterpie that reaches level 7 becomes Metapod with no extra conditions, and three levels later, at level 10, Butterfree comes out. No items, no time of day, no friendship, no trading: two level thresholds and that is it.

Its habitat is the forest, and the catch rate, 120, puts it in the middle of the table. Neither the 45 of a starter, which forces you to lower the Pokémon's HP and put it to sleep, nor the 255 of something you catch on the first try. A regular Poké Ball with the opponent already a little worn down is usually enough.

It grows at a medium pace, with an uneventful curve, and its starting friendship is 70. It does not matter: the Metapod you raise stops being Metapod after a couple of battles.