Wartortle

It tucks its head away the moment it gets hit, then keeps dishing out tail slaps from inside its shell: the tail stays outside and never stops. That tail is half the design. It has a long one, covered in thick fur that darkens with age, and Pokédex entries treat it as a symbol of longevity — the species is said to live to 10 000 years, and the oldest specimens grow moss on their shells.

The rest of its behaviour is that of a proper aquatic animal. It uses its furry ears and tail to keep its balance while swimming, something its previous form still doesn't know how to do. Its shell also serves as a service record: the scratches it collects are proof of the fights it has won, according to the descriptions in the games.

At exactly one metre and 22,5 kg, it's no longer something you can carry in your arms, and its upright posture puts it well clear of the crawling turtle. Official category: Turtle Pokémon. It is number 008 and the middle step of the line that starts with Squirtle and ends with Blastoise, a stage that lasts exactly twenty levels and that almost nobody sees through to the end.

Its 405 base points are weighted backwards: 80 Defense and 80 Special Defense prop up a fairly modest 59 HP, while 63 Attack, 65 Special Attack and 58 Speed leave its offense going nowhere. It gives 1 Defense EV and 1 Special Defense EV when it faints, which already tells you what it does.

Torrent, its standard ability, powers up its Water-type moves when its HP is low, and arrives late for how little it actually multiplies. Rain Dish, its Hidden Ability, restores HP every turn while it's raining, and fits better with a body that can take hits but doesn't heal itself: it learns Rain Dance at level 25 on its own. As a pure Water type, it has only two weaknesses, Grass and Electric, and doesn't resist anything that matters when attacking: Water is a comfortable, predictable type.

It does have a place in Smogon's NFE metagame, and not as a wall. With Eviolite, it sets up Shell Smash — which it learns at level 35 — and from there sweeps with Surf and Ice Beam, using Substitute or Rapid Spin in the fourth slot. The problem is what's on the other side: any special wall can take the hit, and opponents with Choice Band or Speed boosts run straight through it even after the boost, because starting from 58 is unforgiving.

Outside that format, it's a transitional Pokémon. In a normal playthrough, it serves to get through the twenty levels separating its previous form from its final one without dying in the process.

It belongs to two Egg Groups, Monster and Water 1, the usual combination for Water-type starters. The gender ratio is seven males for every female: only 12,5 % are female, so setting up your own breeding project means finding one or relying on Ditto. Its 20 Egg cycles work out to roughly 5355 steps.

Of its Egg Moves, the one that genuinely changes anything is Aqua Jet: 40 power with priority, the only way it has to move first. Yawn forces the opponent to switch or fall asleep, while Life Dew and Aqua Ring give it the recovery its normal movepool doesn't include. Mirror Coat sends back twice the special damage it takes, and with 80 Special Defense there's room to pull it off.

It evolves from Squirtle when it reaches level 16 and becomes Blastoise when it reaches level 36, with no stones, items or friendship conditions involved. It grows at a medium-slow rate.

Its recorded habitat is the riverbank. A catch rate of 45 corresponds to a Pokémon that's difficult to catch, although that figure is largely theoretical: it doesn't appear on routes in the main-series games, and the normal way to get one is to evolve the starter.