Ash's Torterra: Difference between revisions

[[File:Clara and Turtwig.png|220px|thumb|left|Turtwig and Clara]]

{{Ash}} originally caught Torterra as a Turtwig in ''[[DP005|Gettin' Twiggy With It!]]''. He had been living in the forest near [[Clara]]'s home, and he broke up fights among [[wild Pokémon]] in the area. After {{TRT}} stole [[Ash's Pikachu]], their {{TP|Team Rocket|balloon|mechas}} crashed, and Turtwig defended Pikachu against them. When Ash and {{ashfr}} appeared, Turtwig assumed they were trying to wrongfully steal Pikachu too, so he attacked them and ran off with an exhausted Pikachu in tow. The next time they confronted Turtwig, the misunderstanding was explained, and Turtwig apologetically befriended Ash. Ash and his friends began to leave at the end of the episode, and the old woman encouraged Turtwig to go with Ash, so he ran to challenge him to a battle. Ash accepted his challenge, facing him with Pikachu and eventually catching him.

Overall, he has taken part in five of Ash's [[Gym]] battles. As a Turtwig, he defeated [[Roark's Cranidos]] in [[DP016|their first battle]], and [[DP018|in the rematch]], defeated the newly-[[Evolution|evolved]] {{p|Rampardos}} giving Ash his first {{DL|Badge|Coal Badge|Sinnoh Badge}}.  

[[File:DP018.png|220px|thumb|Turtwig facing off against Roark's Rampardos]]

In ''[[DP031|The Grass-Type Is Always Greener!]]'', Turtwig was first sent out to rescue [[Cheryl]] from vines with his Razor Leaf. He stayed out of his Poké Ball and was later found by [[Gardenia]], who found him cute. He later battled as Ash's first Pokémon against Gardenia's {{p|Cherubi}} in their unofficial two vs two battle. Turtwig used Tackle, hitting Cherubi, and multiple Razor Leaf attacks. Impressed with Turtwig, Gardenia recalled Cherubi, with Brock speculating that Gardenia used Cherubi to check out Turtwig. Gardenia next used her own Turtwig, who overwhelmed Ash's Turtwig with its superior speed and easily defeated it.

In ''[[DP037|The Grass Menagerie!]]'', Turtwig was Ash's first Pokémon in his [[Eterna Gym]] battle against Gardenia, going up against her Cherubi again. Turtwig struggled against Cherubi due to its Ability {{a|Chlorophyll}}, so Ash chose to recall him. He later called him out to face Gardenia's Turtwig again. This time, Ash's Turtwig was prepared for his opponent's speedy strategies and was able to defeat it. He next went up against Gardenia's final Pokémon, {{p|Roserade}}. Due to the [[harsh sunlight]] present during the battle, Roserade's {{m|Weather Ball}} turned into a {{type|Fire}} move, allowing the Bouquet Pokémon to snatch an easy victory.

In ''[[DP051|Glory Blaze!]]'', Turtwig was used in the quarterfinals of the [[Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition]]. He was paired up with Paul's Chimchar, who was still weak from earlier training and was up against a {{p|Zangoose}} and a {{p|Metagross}}. The two quickly become overwhelmed due to Chimchar being too weak and afraid of Zangoose to make any attacks. The situation worsened when Paul ordered Chimchar to use a friendly fire {{m|Flame Wheel}} on Turtwig, seriously injuring him before getting caught in Zangoose's claws. Turtwig saved it, and Chimchar made up for this by protecting him from a {{m|Fire Blast}} attack on his own accord. Realizing that not even reliving the traumatic event of being attacked by Zangoose could motivate Chimchar to activate {{a|Blaze}}, Paul gave up on him and refused to give it any more commands. Consequently, Ash gave Chimchar commands, and the three went on to win the battle.

[[File:Ash Turtwig learning Energy Ball.png|thumb|220px|left|Turtwig training to learn Energy Ball]]

[[File:Ash Grotle Paul Torterra.png|thumb|220px|Grotle with Paul's Torterra]]

In ''[[DP106|A Breed Stampede!]]'', Ash used Grotle to help train [[Dawn's Piloswine]], where he utilized the defensive method Paul's Torterra taught him. By ''[[DP109|Leading A Stray!]]'', this training had begun to pay off in battle as Grotle took a {{p|Swampert}}'s {{m|Focus Punch}} on the head and replied accordingly with Razor Leaf, knocking his opponent out.

In ''[[DP121|The Lonely Snover!]]'', in order to save a {{p|Snover}}, Grotle surpassed his limits and learned Rock Climb through his willpower alone, which allowed him to regain some of the speed he had as a Turtwig.

In ''[[DP127|Sliding Into Seventh!]]'', he was Ash's first Pokémon in his Gym Battle against [[Candice]], going up against her {{p|Sneasel}}. Grotle was able to withstand Sneasel's super-effective attacks and defeated it before being recalled. He later went up against her {{p|Abomasnow}} and went in for a Rock Climb, but this was countered by {{m|Wood Hammer}}, which knocked him out.

In ''[[DP131|Pedal to the Mettle!]]'', Grotle was used in the [[Full Battle]] between Ash and Paul. He was sent out against {{TP|Paul|Electabuzz}}, but had an Energy Ball blocked by {{m|Light Screen}} before Paul substituted it for Honchkrow, pitting the two against each other once again. With Grotle's apparent determination to redeem himself after [[DP100|losing before]], Ash decided not to switch. However, Honchkrow proved far too powerful with its type advantage on top of Electabuzz's Light Screen still being active. A badly timed {{m|Synthesis}} gave Honchkrow an opening to unleash a {{m|Sky Attack}}, and Grotle was defeated as a result.

[[File:DP141.png|250px|thumb|left|Grotle clashing with Palmer's Rhyperior]]

In ''[[DP141|Challenging a Towering Figure!]]'', he was used to battle [[Palmer]]'s {{p|Rhyperior}} in the [[Festival Battle Challenge]]. With Rhyperior's {{a|Solid Rock}} Ability, increased speed from {{m|Rock Polish}}, and powerful {{m|Rock Wrecker}} and {{m|Sandstorm}} attacks, Grotle struggled at first but was able to make a comeback after healing himself with Synthesis and accidentally swallowing his own Energy Ball, which caused the bushes on his back to radiate a green aura and grant him a huge power boost. Said boost made him strong enough to push Rhyperior back with Rock Climb. However, this position left Grotle vulnerable to another Rock Wrecker, which was enough to knock him out despite putting up a good fight.

In ''[[DP146|Dressed for Jess Success!]]'', Grotle helped [[Dawn's Mamoswine]] train for the [[Lilypad Town]] [[Pokémon Contest]]. During the training, Grotle demonstrated the strategy he learned in the battle with Palmer's Rhyperior of swallowing his own Energy Ball to gain power. Mamoswine mirrored the motion by swallowing its own {{m|Ice Shard}}, which caused ice to form on its back as an appeal.

In ''[[DP179|The Eighth Wonder of the Sinnoh World!]]'', Ash used Torterra as his first Pokémon during his rematch with Volkner, sending him against Volkner's {{p|Electivire}}. Despite Torterra's massive type advantage, Electivire could counter almost all of his moves and defeated him with a powerful {{m|Ice Punch}}.

Ash used Torterra as his fifth Pokémon in his battle against Paul in ''[[DP187|A Real Rival Rouser!]]''. He was sent out against Paul's {{p|Drapion}}, whose {{m|Toxic Spikes}} {{status|poison}}ed him instantly. He battled well and was able to cause Drapion some damage with his Energy Ball and Leaf Storm attacks, but his Rock Climb attack was stopped cold by Drapion, who knocked him down with {{m|Poison Fang}}. Torterra healed himself with Synthesis, but despite this, he was immediately defeated by Drapion's {{m|Pin Missile}} barrage.

[[File:Ash Grotle defense.png|thumb|220px|Grotle using his strong defense to block an attack]]

[[File:Grotle acorn.png|thumb|250px|left|Pokémon eating Grotle's acorn-like nuts]]

As a Turtwig, Torterra was very brave. Similarly to [[Ash's Bulbasaur]], he helped care for sick or injured Pokémon and kept the peace between them. If there was a feud between other Pokémon, Turtwig would be the mannered one and break them up. He could sometimes be a little reckless, ignoring Ash's commands to dodge in ''[[DP006|Different Strokes for Different Blokes]]''. He was quite stubborn and would not give up, no matter how hard the challenge, another trait he shared with Bulbasaur.

 

He was a brave yet kind Pokémon with high confidence even when he was still small for his size. He had a strong jaw, as he was often seen latching himself onto people and Pokémon's heads, tails, hats, and appendages to attack or show affection. He often latched onto Ash's head prior to evolving. He has also been shown to be both incredibly fast and quite strong, such as the time when he used Bite on [[Roark's Rampardos]] on its tail and threw the {{pkmn|category|Head Butt Pokémon}} into a rock, after which {{an|Brock}} said, "Big things come in small packages!"

 

After evolving into Grotle, he became less active due to his weight gain, still battling well but taking things slowly. His strategy for battle changed as a result, focusing more on tanking hits over dodging them, something he struggled to accept until getting help from [[Paul's Torterra]]. As he grew and evolved, Torterra became quite serious in everything he did and never had any issues listening to Ash's commands, unlike when he was still Turtwig and Grotle. As a Grotle, he was capable of growing nuts on his trees. The gang noted that this meant that Grotle had completely adjusted to its evolution from Turtwig.

 

| colspan="3" style="text-align:left" |'''Description:''' As a Grotle, he swallows his Energy Ball to power up his {{type|Grass}} moves. He used it again in ''[[DP146|Dressed for Jess Success!]]'', to help Dawn's Mamoswine use the technique with {{m|Ice Shard}} in the [[Lilypad Town]] Contest. However he never used it in any more of his battles.

* Torterra is the last {{type|Grass}} [[first partner Pokémon]] to evolve under a main character's ownership during Ash's time as a protagonist.

* Torterra is the only Grass-type first partner Pokémon owned by a main character to have been confirmed male.

* Out of all of Ash's first partner Pokémon, Torterra took the longest amount of episodes to reach his final form, at 161.

==See also==