Vulpix

The first generation split it between versions: in Pokémon Blue, it appeared on Routes 7 and 8 and in the Pokémon Mansion, while anyone playing Red needed a trade to get one. The other version's slot went to Growlithe, with the guard dog acting as the fox's counterpoint.

And fox it literally is: Fox Pokémon category, 60 centimetres and 9.9 kg, a four-legged Pokémon with curly fur and six tails. Except it isn't born with six. At birth, it has one white tail that gradually splits from the tip as it grows, and one Pokédex entry ties how that happens to the affection of its Trainer.

A flame burns inside it and never goes out, which creates a domestic problem: on hot days, it opens its mouth and breathes out fire so it doesn't overheat internally. When hunting, it controls fireballs to corner its prey. Another entry compares it to a puppy because of how attached it becomes to whoever raises it from a young age.

Its evolutionary line has only one step and doesn't depend on level, but on a stone, so it can stay exactly as it is all the way to level 100 without the game pushing it to evolve.

299 points distributed without much generosity: 38 HP, 41 Attack, 40 Defense, 50 Special Attack and a double 65 in Special Defense and Speed, the only presentable part of the sheet. With 50 Special Attack, it can't KO anything, and with 38 HP and 40 Defense, any neutral physical hit takes half its already small health bar. As an attacker, it simply doesn't exist.

What does exist is Drought, its hidden ability: the sun comes out as soon as it hits the field. That one line gave it years of competitive history. In Generation V Little Cup, when sun didn't expire, sending it out for one turn was enough for Chlorophyll sweepers to double their Speed for the rest of the battle; Smogon banned it in May 2011 for centralising the entire format, then allowed it back in XY when Drought was reduced to five turns. None of those plans involved it attacking.

Its other ability, Flash Fire, lets it switch into a Fire-type attack for free and power up its own Fire-type moves, something that only matters in doubles. Fire hits Grass, Ice, Bug and Steel well, and struggles against Water, Rock, Dragon and other Fire. Defensively, it resists those same types and collapses against Water, Ground and Rock, with the added problem that Stealth Rock takes a quarter of its already scarce HP when it switches in.

From its own movepool, the useful options are Will-O-Wisp at level 24 for burning physical attackers, Confuse Ray at 20 and the Hypnosis it gets as an Egg Move. Flamethrower, at 32, is more of a formality than a threat. Litwick leaves it with nothing to do: it absorbs its fire and can't be burned.

It belongs to a single Egg Group, Field, the most populated in the Pokédex, so breeding it is straightforward. The sex ratio is the opposite of the usual pattern: 75% female and 25% male, making the hard-to-get specimen the male, and all you need to start your own line is the first one to come out of the grass.

The 20 Egg cycles amount to about 5355 steps, an average figure. It gets eight Egg Moves, and the one that makes the hassle worthwhile is Hypnosis; after that come Healing Wish, Memento, Howl, Baby-Doll Eyes, Flame Charge, Flail and Roar.

Evolution has no level or friendship requirement: give it a Fire Stone and it evolves immediately, whenever the Trainer decides. The Alolan form uses an Ice Stone instead, which is why its evolutionary line lists both stones at once.

Its habitat is grassland and its catch rate, 190, is very close to the easy end of the scale: with a little damage on it, it goes down to the first Poké Ball. In the wild, it may be holding a Rawst Berry or Charcoal. Defeating it yields 1 Speed EV, and it grows at a Medium rate, with no delays or head starts compared with the standard table.