Ash's Tauros
Ash has 30 Tauros which reside at Professor Oak's lab in Pallet Town. They are held in Safari Balls.
Ash spent some time in the Safari Zone in the episode, The Legend of Dratini. He was attempting to catch as many Pokémon as possible, though all he ended up with were 30 Tauros. As Ash had six Pokémon with him at the time, they were sent to Professor Oak's Laboratory. This episode has never been aired outside of Japan due to the high use of firing arms. The dub provides no explanation for their appearance.
The Tauros' main characteristic is stampeding. This means that the lab is a good place for them as there is plenty of space to run around. It has proved useful as their main contribution when the Pokémon were searching for Butch and Cassidy after their theft was to wake Ash's Snorlax up through the noise of stampeding. It is unknown whether this worked, however, as neither species were seen during the final confrontation. Yet the stampeding has also caused trouble. The first time Ash returned to Pallet Town, they stampeded through a fence. Later, they stampeded through the lab, leaving a mess and a large hole in the wall.
The only time Ash has used any of them was when he needed a replacement for Snorlax for his battle for the Winner's Cup of the Orange League in Hello Pummelo and Enter The Dragonite. He traded Snorlax for one of his Tauros to see if the 'beginner's luck' strategy would work again. This Tauros managed to defeat a Venusaur on its own during the battle. It then stayed in its Pokéball until Ash returned it to the herd when he returned to Pallet Town.
Ash also used one of his Tauros in early Johto during the Pokemon Swap Meet. One of the events was a Tauros battling competition, which Ash entered using one of his Tauros. He ended up winning the competition, but sent Tauros back to Professor Oak in the next episode.
On Ash's return from Hoenn, the Tauros were seen running towards Ash with his other Pokémon. However, they were just stampeding as usual and Ash had to be rescued before he could be reunited with the other Pokémon. He did finally use one again when he challenged the Battle Tower in AG169.
Trivia
- Brock's Tauros? - Brock caught a Tauros at the same time that Ash caught his first Tauros. Because of this, some believe that Brock should own a Tauros and the writers forgot about it in subsequent episodes. However, he caught it using one of Ash's Safari Balls, and therefore it is just one of the 30 belonging to Ash.
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For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Tauros.