Chi-Yu is a fish-like Pokémon. It is composed of four curved beads, each of which resembles a fish circling a black orb coated by white around the sides. The beads, in two pairs, make up the eyes of Chi-Yu, while the rest of its fish-shaped body is formed by a dark red and yellow flame. The beads and sometimes the eyes glow red when it attacks.
Like the other Treasures of Ruin, Chi-Yu's true form is the beads comprising its eyes, having been given life by the envy of those who desired them enough to start wars over them, its body being a form it has constructed using its control over fire. Chi-Yu's flames burn at over 5,400 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing it to swim through molten rock and sand and create seas of lava. It is known as the Beads of Ruin.
Chi-Yu and the other Treasures of Ruin are the only known Pokémon capable of learning the move Ruination.
- Chi-Yu is significantly lighter than the other three Treasures of Ruin, likely due to its body being mostly made out of fire, which has no weight.
- Chi-Yu, along with the other members of the Treasures of Ruin, are the first Pokémon whose base stats were adjusted via a patch to the game.
Origin
Chi-Yu may be modeled after members of the Cyprinidae family, specifically the goldfish. The beads around its eyes make it particularly similar to the telescope eye and celestial eye breeds. The curved beads by its eyes are based on the magatama, comma-shaped beads made of jade that served as ceremonial and religious objects. The coloration and location of the beads may invoke the idea of the "green-eyed monster", a phrase coined in William Shakespeare's Othello to refer to jealousy.
Name origin
Chi-Yu may be a combination of 鯽魚 / 鲫魚 jìyú (Chinese for goldfish) and 玉 yù (Chinese for jade). The name is formatted in Wade–Giles, a romanization system used in the Anglosphere for most of the 20th century.
Īyui may be a combination of 玉 yù (Chinese for jade) and 魚 / 鱼 yú (Chinese for fish).