Pokemon Black and White spotlight: Minezumi, Yorterii, Choroneko and their evolutions

Welcome to week two of our one-by-one journey through the entire Isshu Pokedex. This week, we highlight three evolutionary families who appear early on in the game. They may be brand new, but their kind is ubiquitous - these are the Bidoofs, Sentrets and Rattatas of this generation. But are they just doomed to be HM slaves, or do any of these three have greater potential in their evolved forms? Let's take a closer look...

Minezumi (ミネズミ)
#010 Isshu / #504 National
Type: Normal
Species classification: Lookout Pokemon
Abilities:
Run Away – Always successful at running away from wild Pokemon
Keen Eye – Accuracy cannot be lowered
Dream World ability: Analyze – If user's move hits second it will be more powerful
Location found (Black/White): Routes 1, 2, 3, Abandoned Site of Dreams (Yume no Atochi)
Wild hold items: None
Egg group: Ground
Capture rate: 255
Gender ratio: 50/50
Effort values: 1 Attack
Evolution family: To Miruhoggu @ lvl 20

Miruhoggu (ミルホッグ)
#011 Isshu / #505 National
Type: Normal
Species classification: Precaution Pokemon
Abilities:
Illuminate – Frequency of wild Pokemon encounters doubles if user is at head of party
Keen Eye – Accuracy cannot be lowered
Dream World abilities: Analyze – If user's move hits second it will be more powerful
Location found (Black/White): Route 1 (doubles grass only), Routes 7 and 18, P2 Lab
Wild hold items: None
Egg groups: Ground
Capture rate: 255
Gender ratio: 50/50
Experience at lvl 100: 1,000,000
Effort values: 1 Attack
Base stats: 60 HP / 85 Atk / 69 Def / 60 SAtk / 69 SDef / 70 Spd / 420 Total
Evolution family: From Minezumi @ lvl 20

You might be surprised to hear that this Bidoof analog can only learn one HM in its first stage (HM01 - Cut) and only two in its final evolution (HM01 - Cut and HM04 - Strength), but keep in mind that this generation only has six HMs total compared to last generation's eight. Design-wise, Minezumi and Miruhoggu are fairly unremarkable aside from their intense facial expressions. Their Dream World ability, Analyze, is new to this generation and could be quite interesting to experiment with, but if you catch Minezumi in-game you'll probably get bored with him quickly. Unless you're Pokemon Monday host Henry Gilbert, in which case you'll probably level him up with no regard for EVs and enter him in an office tournament.

Next page: A triple-dog dare with Yorterii, Harderia and Murando