Suicune

The Pokédex calls it the Aurora Pokémon and describes it running with the north wind, but it doesn't have a drop of Flying or Ice typing. It's pure Water, and nothing else. Everything else—the purple mane that imitates the aurora borealis, the two tails streaming forward like ribbons, the hexagonal crest on its forehead—is stage dressing for a type that, in practice, boils down to Surf.

Its three recorded entries all insist on the same thing: it purifies polluted water, radiates the purity of springs and runs around the countryside. It's more of a walking cleaner than a hunter. Its assigned habitat is grassland, not the sea or the riverside, which fits the image of an animal crossing open terrain and leaving the water better than it found it.

It's two metres tall and weighs 187 kilos, figures more suited to a large feline than a dog. Its evolutionary line has a single link: it doesn't come from anything and doesn't lead anywhere.

It shares its history with Raikou and Entei. The three died in the fire at the Burned Tower in Ecruteak City and Ho-Oh brought them back to life; Suicune was made to represent the rain that put out the fire.

The 580 points are distributed as symmetrically as possible: 115 Defense and 115 Special Defense, 100 HP, 90 Special Attack, 85 Speed and 75 Attack. There are no standout figures, but nothing embarrassing either. It's a wall on both sides that also hits hard enough not to be harmless.

Pressure makes moves aimed at it use extra PP, something that only matters in long battles. Inner Focus, its hidden ability, prevents flinching.

The move that actually decides things is Calm Mind, learned at level 18: it raises Special Attack and Special Defense at the same time, so each use makes those 115 defensive points harder to break while the 90 offensive points stop being mediocre. The classic combination is to stack boosts and heal with Rest, available by TM, with Sleep Talk so it doesn't waste its sleep turns. Roar, learned at level 24, does the opposite: it throws out an opponent that's boosting itself.

What holds it back is its offence. Water on its own covers little—Water, Grass and Dragon types all resist it—and its real alternatives are Blizzard at level 78 or Ice Beam by TM. Hydro Pump arrives at level 72 with 110 power and shaky accuracy; Scald, also available by TM, hits for half as much but can burn. The physical moves it learns, Crunch at 42 or Liquidation, run into 75 Attack that can't support them. And with 85 Speed, it goes after almost anything fast.

It's a Legendary Pokémon, so in formats that don't allow legendaries it simply isn't there. Where it is allowed, and where it does a lot of work, is in a normal playthrough against teams that attack from the special side: it switches in, heals itself and doesn't die.

Breeding isn't possible. Its Egg Group is Undiscovered, it has no gender, and the 80 hatch cycles listed in the data—about 20 655 steps if you apply the usual formula—are a figure that never gets used because there is no egg. The two moves the game lists as Egg Moves, Extreme Speed and Sheer Cold, come through special methods rather than a Ditto.

It doesn't evolve or come from anything either: the line begins and ends with it.

Getting one means catching it, and the relevant figure there is its catch rate: 3. That's the lowest tier the game uses, a long way below the 45 of a starter and worlds away from the 255 of a Rattata. With a Poké Ball and no prior weakening, the chance per throw is negligible.

In Gold and Silver, it is released when you enter the Burned Tower and then roams around Johto, adding the problem of finding it before the problem of catching it. Crystal changed the setup: after visiting a sequence of locations, it waits at the Bell Tower for anyone carrying the Clear Bell, and you can battle it there without it running away. Eusine, the character who chases it for half the game, exists solely because of this species. Outside Johto, it appears as a Shadow Pokémon in Pokémon Colosseum.

It grows at a slow rate, its base friendship is 35 and defeating it gives 1 EV in Defense and 2 in Special Defense.