Emolga made her debut in Emolga the Irresistible! where she used her Attract move to take apples from a group of Patrat. She later encounters Iris's Axew chasing a fruit down a hill. She acts kindly towards Axew so that she can obtain food from Iris; however, she runs off after being smothered and almost captured by Bianca. She is later reunited with Iris whose Axew wanted to share its fruit. The trio then end up deep in a forest filled with hostile Swoobat. They team up to try and battle the Swoobat, but Emolga's Discharge and Hidden Power attacks did not work well. However, Ash and Pikachu were able to rescue them. Once they're safe, they return to their camp, where Emolga flies into Iris's arms and accepts capture.
In Emolga and the New Volt Switch!, Iris decides to give Emolga some training and she is sent out to battle with Bianca and her Pignite. With one Attract, Pignite becomes infatuated and is recalled to his Poké Ball. She also battles Minccino but kept using Volt Switch to get other Pokémon to battle for her. She gets into a bit of a scrape with Ash's Snivy who is not impressed by her laziness. But the two end up settling their differences temporarily when they both work together to stop a rampaging Simisear and also save its life.
In BW036, Iris sent out Emolga, alongside Ash's Tranquill, to help a revived Archen learn to fly. She started off by using Attract which failed, revealing that Archen was also female. After being pecked on the head, Emolga used Volt Switch to leave and send out Cilan's Stunfisk while she slept in a tree.
Emolga can be a strong battler but can also be lazy and gluttonous. She has a particular fondness for apples. She will often use her cute looks to manipulate those around her to get what she wants. Her conniving ways are shown when she uses Attract on Pokémon such as Ash's Oshawott and they willingly give up their food without realizing what they just did. She also uses Volt Switch regularly in an attempt to avoid doing any work, such as battling. Emolga can also be a drama queen as shown when she lied to Oshawott and Axew about three Watchog hurting her when she just wanted to get apples from the Watchog. However, she is still good at heart, as she tried to protect Iris and Axew from a group of Swoobat and thanking Ash's Snivy for helping her, Oshawott, and Axew get out of a scrape with a Simisear a little bit later. In BW032, she was shown to still hold some animosity towards Snivy. Also in BW038, Emolga and Snivy were seen fighting again, while fighting they dumped paint on both their trainers by mistake with their tails.
