Seaking

In Red and Green, 1996, much of Kanto’s aquatic wildlife was obtained with a fishing rod, and the Pokémon that kept biting was Goldeen. Seaking is what comes out of that at level 33: the same colorful fish, only bigger, with its horn turned into a tool.

The Pokédex entries keep coming back to autumn. When temperatures drop sharply, its skin turns crimson, a sign that the season is approaching; the males then dance on riverbanks to court the females, and the species’ coloration reaches its most vivid point. The rest of the year, it can be seen swimming energetically through rivers and streams.

The horn isn’t just decoration, either. It uses it to dig the holes where it builds its nest, and the male and female take turns watching over the eggs for more than a month. Several entries repeat the same idea in different words: it defends its eggs with its life.

It is 1,3 metres tall, weighs 39 kilograms, and the Pokédex classifies it as the Goldfish Pokémon. It closes out a two-stage line, with no further evolution and no variants: it has only one registered form. There is even an entry devoted to its human followers, divided between those who adore its fins and those who adore its horn, two camps that get along terribly.

Its 450 points are spread out without any clear peak. Its best figure is 92 Attack, followed by 80 HP, 80 Special Defense, 68 Speed, and a tied 65 in Defense and Special Attack. As a pure Water type, it handles incoming Fire, Water, Ice, and Steel moves well and only fears Grass and Electric, but attacking with a single type and 92 Attack leaves very few opponents genuinely hurt.

The ability that gives it any real purpose is Swift Swim: in rain, its 68 Speed doubles and it starts moving before almost everything. The problem is that you have to set up the rain, and whoever does that usually brings Barraskewda or Kingdra along as well, both of which exploit the same trick with better numbers. Water Veil, its other ability, merely prevents burns. Lightning Rod, its hidden ability, draws in and nullifies Electric-type moves and raises Special Attack: it gives Seaking a useful immunity and a boost to the stat it cares about least.

Its signature move is Megahorn, a 120-power physical Bug-type move that it learns at level 51. With Swords Dance from a TM and Waterfall as its STAB move from level 37, the set does damage in a normal playthrough, especially against Psychic- and Dark-type Pokémon that are not expecting a fish. In organized battles, it does not show up: 65 Defense and 68 Speed without rain mean it takes the first hit and never gets anything going.

One Egg Group, Water 2, which pairs it with the rest of the Pokédex’s fish and not much else. The gender ratio is straightforward, with 50% females, so any two specimens are enough to breed without going through Ditto. The difference between the sexes is visible at a glance: the female has a shorter horn than the male.

Twenty Egg Cycles are about 5355 steps, an ordinary figure.

The evolution has no trick to it: Goldeen becomes Seaking upon reaching level 33, with no item, time-of-day requirement, or friendship condition. Its habitat is the water’s edge, consistent with entries that always place it in rivers and streams, and its catch rate, 60, leaves it in the awkward middle ground—far from the 255 of things that practically fall into the Poké Ball, but also far from the 45 of the truly elusive. In the wild, it can be holding Mystic Water. Defeating it yields 2 Attack EVs, and it levels at a medium rate.