Araquanid

birdboys-pokedex:

An ancient legend
tells of an Araquanid trainer centuries ago who saved Alola from a
rampaging Volcanion, enduring attack after attack and poking at it
with bubbles until it was finally slain.  This legend, of course, can
not be taken at face value; if any volcanic fire-type pokemon ever
rampaged in Alola, it was only generations later that it became
equated with Kalos’ Volcanion, which is anyway impervious to water.  

But the legend does
speak to a truth about Araquanid, for although it is far from Alola’s
toughest or most powerful pokemon, skilled trainers have always made
note of its one unique quality; a complete immunity to fire pokemon.
And while perhaps it has never slain Volcanion – or Heatran, or
Ho-oh, or Moltres for that matter – local bug catchers have long
prized it for its ability to stoically endure attacks from fire
pokemon like Incineroar and Turtonator, who have long burnt through
the rest of their teams.

For all the stories
told about it, however,  Araquanid’s true value does not lie in
battle. In the wooden houses of old Alola, like in much of the world,
fires are an omnipresent danger.  But Alolan fires rarely come with
significant loss of life, for the region contains a pokemon that can
scale walls, douse flames, and endure intense heat, and can do these
things even while carrying a fully grown human.  Firefighters in
Alola (and, increasingly, in fire-prone regions elsewhere), in fact,
are even more like pokemon handlers than is typical in their
profession.  For not only do they direct ground and water pokemon as
they douse or contain fire, but they rarely if ever venture into
burning buildings, and when they do they come only as guides; it is
their Araquanid partners who carry the survivors to safety.