Poliwhirl

A tadpole caught halfway through metamorphosis. It already has arms and legs —the hind ones especially well developed, according to the Pokédex itself— but it still retains the belly whirlpool it had as a tadpole. The spiral has a biological explanation: in tadpoles and several glass frog species, the internal organs show through beneath the skin, and the abdominal pattern comes from that. The fact that it also looks like a hypnotic spiral fits with Hypnosis being one of the four moves it already knows at level 1.

The Pokédex entries repeat the same idea with different excuses: it can live perfectly well on land, but it prefers the water. In one version, because it finds fewer natural enemies there; in another, because there are more fish Pokémon to feed on. When it comes to the surface, it is there to hunt Bug Pokémon, and it does not even eat them up there: it takes them back down to safety. Out of the water, it sweats to keep its body slimy, and that slippery coating lets it wriggle free from an opponent’s claws in the middle of battle.

It is 1 metre tall and weighs 20 kilos, the family’s big growth spurt. It comes from Poliwag at level 25 and stays there, waiting for its Trainer to decide what to turn it into.

385 points distributed rather unceremoniously. HP, Attack and Defense all sit at 65, both special stats are at 50, and a Speed of 90 is the only notable thing on the sheet; in fact, defeating it gives 2 Speed EVs, which tells you what it is meant for.

The problem is one of coherence. Its most powerful attacks are special, while its Special Attack is 50: Hydro Pump, which it learns at level 48, comes off its worst stat. On the physical side, things line up somewhat better, with Aqua Tail and Waterfall via TM, Ice Punch for Grass- and Dragon-types, and Earthquake for everything else, although 65 Attack hardly breaks anything. At level 56 it gets Belly Drum, which maxes out its Attack in exchange for half its HP; starting from 65 HP, that is an expensive trade.

Of its three abilities, only one changes battles. Water Absorb restores HP when it is hit by Water-type attacks, so switching into an aquatic opponent is free healing. Damp merely prevents self-destruction. Swift Swim, its hidden ability, doubles its Speed in rain and pairs well with Rain Dance at level 24, but the Pokémon attacking afterwards still has 65 Attack.

In Smogon’s NFE format, the one for partially evolved Pokémon with Eviolite, it appears near the bottom of the rankings: decent Speed, reasonable coverage and not much else. Its real place is in the campaign, with Hypnosis from level 1 to put whatever gets in the way to sleep and Bubble Beam from level 18 to clear routes.

It belongs to the Water 1 Egg Group and comes out half and half, with a 50% female rate, so breeding does not depend on a gender lottery. The 20 incubation cycles amount to about 5355 steps.

It inherits five egg moves, and only two are worth the time: Muddy Water, which also lowers the opponent’s accuracy, and Water Pulse, with its chance to confuse. The others are Haze, Endeavor and Splash; the last one does absolutely nothing.

What sets this entry apart is the branching point. With a Water Stone it evolves into Poliwrath; if it is traded while holding a King’s Rock, it becomes Politoed. No levels, friendship or time of day are involved: it is a decision, and each specimen only gets one chance to make it.

Wild specimens sometimes hold a King’s Rock, exactly the item needed for the second path. It lives along the water’s edge and has a catch rate of 120, a comfortable figure: neither the triviality of a first-route bug nor the ordeal of a Legendary. It grows at a Medium Slow rate, so it takes a little longer than expected to reach the higher-level moves in its learnset.