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#59 Arcanine

Interesting Facts: Because Arcanine is considered a legendary beast (albeit with a small "l"), and is a cross of a few mythical, magical beings (most notably the dragon and the Chinese fu dog), its name is most likely a portmanteau of the words "arcane" (in the sense of "mystical") and "canine." In the beta English translation, Arcanine was originally going to be called Blaze.

Poke'dex Entry: Arcanine is a canine pokémon that resembles the shisa but is orange, with black zig-zagging stripes and muscular chest resembling a tiger, also including large, bushy hair and a mane similar to that of a lion. In other words, Arcanine is a cross between a dog and a liger.

In the Pokémon world, Arcanine is one of the most admirable Pokémon. Many things contribute to this favorable impression: despite its imposing size, Arcanine is very agile and graceful. It can run as much as 6,200 miles (almost 10,000 kilometres) within 24 hours, all the while looking almost as if it is flying. As is the case with most Fire-type Pokémon, the fire burning within its body gives it strength. Its mane is said to be an object of exquisite beauty, and even its bark is described as "majestic" and "awe-inspiring".

Arcanine has been revered in this way from the ancient times and particularly in China, whose real-life ancient culture features divine entities resembling Arcanine in some respects. An ancient picture scroll reveals that Arcanine's passage through prairies attracted people to its movement.

Arcanine's species is classified as "Legendary" in the Pokédex, although the word is probably used in an entirely different context than with the actual Legendary Pokémon. It is theorized, however, that Arcanine was one of the original three Legendary Pokémon, the other two being Zapdos and Articuno. It is thought the game designers decided to make all three legendary pokémon "birds" and so they replaced Arcanines status as the legendary fire Pokémon with Moltres. They did, however, give it the label of "Legendary Pokémon".

Owned by: No one yet

#61 Poliwhirl

Interesting Facts: Poliwhirl is a portmanteau of polliwog and whirl. Whirl refers to the spiral on its stomach, while Poli is also the "family" name for this evolution chain. The Japanese version of the name is probably onomatopoeic: "Nyoro nyoro" describes "wiggling" or "squirming" or "slithering", which is how a tadpole or a "Poliwag", its most basic form, would move.

A water type Pokémon, Poliwag evolves into Poliwhirl at Level 25, which is also a tadpole Pokémon. Misty owns one in the animé, and battles often with her Poliwhirl, who later evolves into Politoed. It evolves into Poliwrath by the use of a Water Stone, and into Politoed when traded with the King's Rock attached.

Poke'dex Entry: Poliwhirl is a large, amphibious froglet-like Pokémon. It is capable of living in or out of water; in order to live out of water, it must sweat to keep its body slimy. It prefers to live underwater in ponds where there is less danger.

In battle, it uses the spiral-shape on its belly to put the foe to sleep. It does this by subtly undulating the spiral, causing drowsiness and eventually sleep. It is also capably of easily escaping the grasp of foes due to its greasy skin.

Poliwhirl's spiral goes in the opposite direction of Poliwag's.

Poliwhirl's mouth is no longer visible after evolution, but it is concluded that it moved to the center of its spiral, since it now sprays water from there.

Owned by: No one yet

#63 Abra

Interesting Facts: The name Abra comes from the well-known term used in magic, "Abracadabra." Its Japanese name, Casey, is a reference to mentalist and "sleeping prophet" Edgar Cayce. Its name in the English beta version of the games was "Hocus".

Poke'dex Entry: Abra is vaguely fox-like in appearance. It has two legs and two arms, but is always depicted in a sitting position, and sleeping. Its colouration is gold and brown, and it has a long tail. The brown upper torso seems to be armored, also it appears to wear two pauldrons.

Abra's lifestyle is reminiscient of the koala's, sleeping eighteen hours a day to conserve its psychic abilities and only awakening to feed. Its eyes are almost always closed, and it opens them only to launch one of its psychic attacks.

Using its psychic powers, it can teleport away from danger – and even conduct a battle – while sleeping. If it teleports multiple times over short distances in rapid succession, it can create an illusion that there is more than one of itself. Abras also teleport once an hour whilst sleeping.

Abras are supposedly good allies, and are useful in the Pokémon world thanks to their amazing and unique ability to teleport themselves and any object they desire to another place.

Owned by: Brayden, Hennajin

#65 Alakazam

Interesting Facts: Alakazam's name is a common word in magicians' parlance. In fact, the whole evolutionary line is a pun on the phrase "Abracadabra Alakazam!" (Abra, Kadabra, and Alakazam make up this evolutionary family.) Alakazam's Japanese name, Foodin, is a reference to either the French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin or his namesake, Harry Houdini.

Poke'dex Entry: Alakazam is vaguely fox-like in appearance, although it loses the thick tail it once possessed as Kadabra (which might explain why it is 19 pounds lighter than Kadabra). It stands on two legs and always holds two silver spoons - this can be taken as a reference to psychic Uri Geller, who can allegedly bend spoons with the power of his mind. (For the controversy involving Geller and Pokémon, see Kadabra.) As seen in Pokémon: The Movie, these spoons bend due to an extremely powerful psychic attack from the antagonist, Mewtwo. Parts of Alakazam's body are brown, but its predominant colouring is gold. Alakazam wears a long gold moustache - nonetheless, some Alakazam are female, though in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, females have dramatically smaller moustaches, while the males have longer ones.

Alakazam's brain is the most powerful of any Pokémon, with an IQ said to be in excess of 5,000. It can outperform a supercomputer and memorize anything that it sees. It is able to calculate a great deal of information in order to gain the advantage over its opponent. (Compare with Metagross.) However, its large brain is too heavy to be held up by its neck and shoulders, so Alakazam must use its psychic powers to keep its head aloft. In fact, its muscles are far underdeveloped, so Alakazam uses its psychic powers to move parts of its body. This makes Alakazam's frail body its weakness, but often it does not need to worry because its mental powers can thoroughly defeat most Pokémon before they can attack.

When it closes its eyes, all of its other senses are heightened dramatically, which is its cue for attack, as seen when using Calm Mind, one of its attacks.

Alakazam possesses the largest intelligence among all the common Pokémon (that are not legendaries). It holds two metal spoons that increase its psychic powers, a reference to the spoon bending phenomenon.

Owned by: No one yet

#67 Machoke

Interesting Facts: Its name is a portmanteau of the words macho and choke (as in choke hold or choke slam, two wrestling techniques). The Japanese name Goriky is a pun on the Japanese word for herculean strength (強力, gōriki?).

Poke'dex Entry: Machoke is vaguely humanoid in appearance. It has a gray-skinned body which is bulging with muscles. Each of its arms has six red markings across it, which may be its blood vessels pushed out by its muscles, while having three crests on its head. It is always wearing a speedo-like garment that goes up to its chest and is seen wearing a special belt with the letter "P" on it. This "P" probably stands for "Power Save" according to clues from Pokédex entries.

Machoke is best known for its well-muscled physique and prodigious physical power. Machoke, along with Machop and Machamp, can be said to be the bodybuilders of the Pokémon world.

A Machoke's muscles are said to be as hard as steel, and they become thicker still with each battle it fights. They never get sore or tired, even though a Machoke habitually battles at its full power. Its strength is such that it can easily lift a sumo fighter with one finger. Outside battle, Machoke trains its body by helping humans in demanding physical labor. Even in its days off, Machoke heads to the countryside and continues its training there.

Since it possesses such extraordinary power, a Machoke has to wear a special belt around its waist (called a "Power Save Belt" by the Pokédex) to restrain and control its strength. It is unknown where the belt is obtained, when or how it is fitted and exactly what would happen if it were to be removed. It is implied that the Machoke's power would get out of control, posing a danger to others or even to Machoke itself, making its motions impossible to regulate. However, it is a very conceited pokemon. It may be too busy looking in a mirror to fight. Rather than its fighting skills, it also finds a bond to its trainers, often protecting them from harmful situations, much like Gardevoir.

Owned by: No one yet

#69 Bellsprout

Interesting Facts: Bellsprout's name is derived from the words "bell", referring to its bell-shaped head, and "sprout", which is a young plant growth. "Bluebell" may be another influence on its name. It may be of interest to know that "tsubomi" means "flower bud", hence, its Japanese name: "madatsubomi".

Poke'dex Entry: Bellsprout is a carnivorous, plant-like Pokémon, hunting small insects with blinding agility despite its skinny body. It tends to ensnare its prey in its vines and devour it, in much the same way as real carnivorous plants do. Bellsprout's preferred habitat is warm and humid climates, since it can absorb more moisture from the ground when planting its root-like feet inside it.

In battle, Bellsprout can take advantage of its flexibility to bend and sway its way out of the range of its opponent's attacks, no matter how powerful they may be. However, it will be helpless to escape if it decides to plant its roots in search of water. In terms of offense, Bellsprout can spit out of its mouth a highly corrosive fluid that can melt even iron.

Because its bud looks like a human face, Bellsprout is considered in the Pokémon world to be a type of the legendary mandrake plant, although in real world lore the human-like part of a mandrake is actually its roots.

Owned by: No one yet

#71 Victreebel

Interesting Facts: The name Victreebel may be a combination of "victory" and "bell." The "bell" refers to the shape of the Pokemon's head, similarly to its pre-evolved forms Bellsprout and Weepinbell. It is also worth noting that it contains the word "tree" within it, as Victreebel is a grass-type Pokémon. It may also be derived from "big tree bell". If its name does come from "victory bell," the name may be a reference to the Liberty Bell. It may be of interest to know that its Japanese name "Utsubot" is probably inspired by the word "utsubokazura", the Japanese word for the pitcher plant. It is speculated that the full spelling should be "Victreebell" in keeping with the names of its pre-evolved forms. However, the limit of letters to a Pokémon species' name is 10, as dictated by the code to any Pokémon game, so one "l" was discarded (compare with Feraligatr).

Poke'dex Entry: Victreebel looks like an elongated Weepinbell; however, its mouth is now at the top of its body as opposed to the bottom. Its mouth now has two small fangs, and a leaf covering it so that it can open and shut. Its leaf, as mentioned above, grows from this vine. The design that Victreebel is based on is very similar to the carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plants.

Victreebel is said to live in huge colonies deep in the jungle, although nobody has ever returned from these places to confirm. It lulls its prey with a sweet, honey-like scent, and also the vine on its head (which waves as if it was an animal) before digesting it with powerful stomach acids that can even dissolve bone. Normally, its prey are bugs, but it has been known to attack and consume small animals.

Owned by: No one yet