Palkia

Like Dialga, Palkia represents a cosmic force with a dragon’s body, but its design moves away from metal and time to focus on pearls, water and space. Its upright silhouette is reminiscent of a European dragon standing on two legs, with features that also evoke bipedal dinosaurs. The plates on its face and the crest on its neck look like ancient armour, while the pearl set into its torso reinforces its connection to the sea and celestial objects.

The Pokédex entries place it in a spatial dimension parallel to our own. It does not merely live there: it can distort space, a power that explains its status as a deity in Sinnoh mythology. Its Japanese name, パルキア (Palkia), is retained in both Spanish and English; its origin is linked to “pearl”, “galaxy” and the Japanese term kai, meaning “sea” or “ocean”.

It is a Legendary species with no evolutionary predecessor or successor. Its evolutionary line ends with it, although it has an alternate form called Palkia (Origin Forme).

In battle, Palkia does have a clear competitive role: it appears in Ubers as a special attacker capable of breaking holes from the start or coming in after a teammate goes down. Its base stats are 90 HP, 120 Attack, 100 Defense, 150 Special Attack, 120 Special Defense and 100 Speed, for a total of 680. Special Attack dictates the usual game plan, although its Attack lets it take advantage of physical options such as Outrage or Aqua Tail.

Pressure is the ability that defines the regular form: every move targeted at it loses more PP than usual. Telepathy, its Hidden Ability, prevents it from being hit by its allies’ attacks in double battles and has a much more specific use in that format.

Water and Dragon make an offensive combination that is difficult to cover with a single switch-in. Hydro Pump provides immediate power, Spacial Rend offers a reliable Dragon-type attack and Earth Power punishes several opponents that resist its main moves. Defensively, it resists Fire, Water and Steel, but takes super effective damage from Dragon and Fairy. Its 100 Speed is not enough against every offensive attacker, and status conditions greatly shorten its time on the field: paralysis takes away its ability to apply pressure and poison wears it down. Fairy-type Pokémon switching in against Spacial Rend also force it to predict accurately.

Palkia cannot breed. It belongs to the Undiscovered Egg Group and is also a Legendary species, so it has no gender ratio or Egg Moves. It is obtained through the Legendary encounter or the special method provided by each game that includes it, not through a Day Care or an evolutionary line.

Its catch rate is 3, so catching it requires patience and resources: it is a long way from being an easy species to catch. The 120 Egg cycles would amount to approximately 30 855 steps, although that figure is only a theoretical reference because it cannot produce Eggs.

It does not evolve under any circumstances. The line ends with Palkia from its first appearance. Palkia (Origin Forme) is an alternate form, not an evolutionary stage, and changes its appearance without turning it into a different species.