Skarmory

It does not come from anything and does not evolve into anything: the line starts and ends in the same place, with no previous stage or later stage. What you get is a metal bird, and Pokédex entries insist that the armor is not an accessory but its entire body, completely enclosed within protective armor. It flies at over 300 km/h.

The curious part is how that edge is made. It nests in thorn bushes, and its chicks grow wings hardened by scratches from the thorns: the sharp edge comes from the wounds, not inheritance. Then, as it fights, the wings get dented and torn, and once a year they grow back whole, with their sharp edges restored. The feathers it sheds during battle are thin and sharp, and one entry claims that warriors of old used them as swords.

It also has a very down-to-earth weakness. Its metallic body rusts easily, so it stays resting in its nest on rainy days.

It is 1.70 m tall and weighs 50.5 kg, little for something described as massive. Its official category is the Armor Bird Pokémon, and it is number 227 in the National Pokédex.

The 140 Defense is the figure that explains everything, and the rest of the spread is built around it: 65 HP, 80 Attack, 40 Special Attack, 70 Special Defense and 70 Speed, for 465 in total. Against physical attacks, it can take almost anything. Against special attacks, with 65 HP and 70 Special Defense, it goes down quite a bit sooner than its reputation would suggest.

The Steel/Flying combination is what gives it room to work. No quadruple weakness, immunity to Ground thanks to Flying and to Poison thanks to Steel, double resistance to Grass and Bug, and regular resistance to Normal, Flying, Rock, Psychic, Dragon, Steel and Fairy. Only Fire and Electric hit it for double damage; Ice and Fighting, which are a death sentence for other Steel types, are neutral here. Offensively, the story is worse: 80 Attack does not break through much, and the two types share half a list of opponents that resist them.

Sturdy is the Ability that matters, because it prevents it from being weakened in one hit. Weak Armor, the hidden Ability, raises Speed and lowers Defense when it takes a physical hit—in other words, it undoes exactly what it is supposed to do.

Its move pool’s oddity is that it can set both hazards: Spikes at level 44 and Stealth Rock by TM. Roar removes whoever is setting up and makes the opponent pass through whatever is on the ground. For damage, it has Iron Head and Brave Bird at level 52, although a 120-power attack with recoil on top of 65 HP contradicts the rest of the plan.

What holds it back: Taunt leaves it unable to do anything, any Fire type forces it out, and with 70 Speed it will almost always heal after taking the hit.

It belongs to a single Egg Group, Flying, which cuts down the list of possible partners quite a bit compared with species that have two groups. The gender ratio is 50%, so getting a female is no trouble.

The 25 Egg cycles work out at roughly 6630 steps—(25 + 1) × 255—which puts it among the longer stretches in the game. The Egg Move list is the best reason to breed it: Roost is only available this way, and without Roost it has no reliable way to recover health, which is what keeps a wall going. Alongside it come Sky Attack, Curse, Feint, Night Slash, Air Slash and Whirlwind.

There is no evolution condition: it does not evolve in either direction or with any item, level or time of day. What you catch is what you get.

Its habitat is rugged terrain, which fits the mountainous areas where it usually appears. Its catch rate is 25, lower than the usual 45 for starters, so it is worth weakening it and putting it to sleep before spending Poké Balls. It grows at a slow rate, the kind that takes a while to reach high levels.

In the wild, it may be holding a Metal Coat or Sharp Beak. Defeating it awards 2 Effort Points in Defense.