Chikorita, Bayleef, Meganium (SM)

Chikorita? More like Chikn'awwrita.

Location: Route 2 (Island Scan on Friday)

Stats, Evolutions
Chikorita's stats are nothing special. Aside from those high defenses, nothing worth calling home about. It's a defensive Pokémon, but it's actually not terrible when it comes to attacking stats,

It evolves at the pretty close-by level 16, you get it six levels earlier. The kicker? It actually evolves a level earlier than your Alolan starter! If your starter hasn't evolved yet when you get to the Melemele grand trial, making Chikorita evolve into Bayleef is the best choice. It still has the same stat distribution. They just increased most of its stats by 15 base points.

Bayleef blooms into Meganium at level 32. Still the same stat distribution. If you got lost: Good defenses, average everything else. All of its stats get 20 more points. No sequel, just a remaster.

Movepool, Abilities, Typing
Chikorita has Leech Seed as an unique move, which absorbs a bit of the foe's HP every turn. Other noteworthy moves it starts with are Poison Powder, which works well with Leech Seed, and Razor Leaf, whose base power is huge for this part of the game and it increases further with STAB and it has a high chance of a crit. Two levels after you get it, it gets Synthesis, which is a nice recovery move, especially this early in the game. That's all it gets before evolving.

After it evolves, it gets no moves worth of note until Magical Leaf at level 20, although Reflect can be an option if you want Bayleef to be bulky. It gets no other good moves before evolving. What a shame

Just as it evolves, it gets Petal Dance, a move of the Thrash-archetype, and that is amazing. Later on, it gets Light Screen at 40, Body Slam at 46, and the last noteworthy move it gets before the league is Aromatherapy at level 60, which is handy if you can't heal status conditions.

For TMs, the best it gets is Sunny Day + Solar Beam, Earthquake, Energy Ball, Dragon Tail and Grass Knot, although we could also mention Giga Impact.

Its ability is Overgrow, the same bland ability that all grass starters have. It's easy to take for granted, but it's not terrible.

Its typing, however, pure grass, clashes with the idea that it is a defensive Pokémon. It has five weaknesses, although it has four resistances, but still.

Important Battles
Mostly the same as Rowlet, Dartrix, Decidueye (SM), although Chikorita's more limited options in comparison to the owlets really hurt it. Fortunately, Meganium is better on some Pokémon Decidueye is weak to.

Conclusion
I... don't know. Meganium is meant to be a defensive Pokémon, but the result is a balanced Pokémon with a slight edge on defense. Its movepool is a bit faulty, it leans too much on defense. Still, since there aren't many great Grasses until you can catch Bounsweet, and since Chikorita has a strong start, you should think about it at least. When you can get Bounsweet and evolve it, the only way is Bounsweet, but these grass sauropods are still not bad.

Rating￼: 57%