Erika is ladylike, and a teacher of flower-arranging. She is a quiet girl, but she's well-known in Celadon City. Erika only collects Pokémon if she considers them attractive, though her definition of attractive seems to include varieties only a botanist could love. She also tends to doze off quite a bit, implying she may be narcoleptic, (or simply being affected by the powders given of by the grass Pokémon), but will become inspired after a good match.
She is able to be rebattled in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, after talking to her on Saturday or Sunday between 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM. She is found by Celadon City's fountain. If she is called on Sunday morning, she will happily give a rematch at the Fighting Dojo.
"Hello. Lovely weather isn't it? It's so pleasant. ...Oh dear... I must have dozed off. Welcome. My name is Erika. I am the Leader of Celadon Gym. I teach the art of flower arranging. My Pokémon are of the Grass-type. Oh, I'm sorry, I had no idea that you wished to challenge me. Very well, but I shall not lose."
When defeated
"Oh! I concede defeat. You are remarkably strong. I must confer you the Rainbow Badge."
Pokémon Gold and Silver
Before battle
"Hello... Lovely weather, isn't it? It's so pleasant... ...I'm afraid I may doze off... My name is Erika. I am the Leader of Celadon Gym. ...Oh? All the way from Johto, you say? How nice... Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you wished to challenge me. Very well, but I shall not lose."
When defeated
"Oh! I concede defeat... You are remarkably strong... I shall give you Rainbow Badge..."
After being defeated
"Losing leaves a bitter aftertaste... But knowing that there are strong Trainers spurs me to do better..."
Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver
Celadon Gym
Before battle
"Hello... Lovely weather, isn't it? It's so pleasant... I'm afraid I might doze off... My name is Erika. I am the Leader of Celadon Gym. ...Oh? You are from Johto, you say? How nice... Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you wished to challenge me. I know. I have been training myself on not only flower arrangement but also Pokémon battle. I shall not lose."
After sending out last Pokémon
"Don't go easy on me. Give me everything you've got!"
During battle
"Wow, that’s a bit harsh!"
When defeated
"Looks like I underestimated you..."
After being defeated
"Oh! I concede defeat... You are remarkably strong... I shall give you the Rainbow Badge..."
"That was a delightful match. I felt inspired. Please, I wish you to have this TM19 as a special token. It is Giga Drain. It is a wonderful move that drains half the damage it inflicts to heal your Pokémon. It is indeed a horrifying move."
"Losing leaves a bitter aftertaste... But knowing that there are strong Trainers spurs me to do better..."
PokéGear Registering
"Hi <player>. Would you like to exchange numbers?"
Yes: "I am often free in the morning on Sunday. Call me around then."
Pokégear Phone
Calling her:
"Hello... Oh, hiya, what's up? Things are sweet over here! My schedule's fairly open on Sunday mornings. Try calling me then, OK?"
Erika appeared in Pokémon Scent-sation!, running a perfumery in Celadon City where she sold a special brand of perfume made from the essence of her favorite Pokémon, Gloom. Misty, Brock, and Pikachu were enamored with the scents, but Ash insulted the perfume. In protest, the manager, who was later revealed to be the Gym Leader Erika, had him banned from her store and by extension the greenhouse/Celadon Gym.
Jessie and James were sneaking into the gym trying to steal the perfume scents to sell them, but they were stamped with a red X and banned from the gym, too. Ash found them and untied them in exchange for help entering the gym.
Erika as the manager in her Perfume Shop
Disguised as a girl named Ashley, Ash signed up as a student at the Gym. Erika was reading a fairy tale to some Grass-type Pokémon when he found and recognized her. Pikachu instantly recognized Ash and exposed him. Erika finally agreed to a battle for the Gym Badge. She turned out to be very confident in her abilities, but became too confident when Ash used his Charmander - as Fire was Grass Pokémon's greatest weakness - when she tried to use her Weepinbell. However, their match was interrupted when Team Rocket started a fire in the Gym as revenge for being thrown out.
Ash risked his life to run in and rescue Erika's beloved Gloom, who had once saved her from a wild Grimer when she was a little girl. Out of gratitude, Erika awarded Ash with the Rainbow Badge.
Pokémon
This listing is of Erika's known Pokémon in the anime:
Tangela
One of Erika's battling Pokémon, Tangela is a strong Pokémon that manages to use its vines and Stun Spore in order to incapacitate the enemy. In its battle against Ash, it managed to take out Bulbasaur before eventually succumbing.
Weepinbell was only seen briefly in battle with Ash. Against Ash's Charmander, Weepinbell did not stand much of a chance and had it's attacks destroyed by fire. It was eventually Skull Bashed out of the match.
Gloom once saved Erika from a Grimer when she was a girl. From that moment onwards, they have become very close friends.
Erika used Gloom in a gym battle against Ash Ketchum. With its horrid scent, it defeated Charmander easily. But before it could fight with Ash's Pikachu, a bomb placed in the Gym by Team Rocket exploded, setting the Gym ablaze.
Even though everyone managed to escape, Gloom was still trapped in the Gym surrounded by flames. Ash rushed into the Gym and rescued Gloom. In gratitude for saving Gloom, Erika gave Ash the Rainbow Badge.
In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Erika is an elegant young princess who gives lectures at universities and practices archery. She is allied with the "good" Gym Leaders of Kanto, and often assists Misty and Brock during crises.
She sent Red out on a quest to capture an unusual Eevee that could change at will between its three elemental forms, due to being "modified" in a Team Rocket experiment. Erika threatened to kill Eevee; however, it turned out that she was just testing Red's character, then healed the Eevee. She debuted in Blame it on Eevee.
Erika then starts teaching at the Celadon Pokémon School, replacing a dangerous professor. She then goes to meet Yellow after hearing about her from Misty, only to hear from one of her teammates that a Red look-a-like has been spotted right outside of Celadon City. Pika races to him only to find out it was a disguise and the real trainer was hired by the Elite Four. He then uses his Marowak's Bonemerang laced with some of his Paras' Spores to disable Erika while Yellow chases him. She then figures out that to disguise himself as Red, he would've needed to encounter Red's scent in real life and has his teammates call Blaine for assistance.
She is next seen defending Celadon from Lorelei and her Shellder and Cloyster. She then realized that the Good Gym Leaders of Kanto were simply being stalled so Lance could carry out his real plan, and hoped that Yellow and Blaine had found out the same. She then realized as well that they were being targeted so the Elite Four could get their hands on the Gym Leader's badges, which one of the Shellder finally retrieved from her.
Erika is the supervisor of the Kanto Gym Leaders, much as Winona is the leader of the Hoenn Gym Leaders.
Pokémon
This is a listing of Erika's Pokémon in the Pokémon Adventures manga.
Angela, Erika's Tangela, first appeared on Cycling Road, where it hoped in front of Red on his bicycle and was nearly run over. Later on, Erika used it to fight Red's Saur when Red and Bill confronted her, thinking that she had been working with Team Rocket. During the Elite Four's invasion of Kanto, it was used to fight off their Ice-type Pokémon that had been attacking Celadon City. Its moves are Bind and Vine Whip.
Vileplume was first sent out to defend Erika from an attacking Drowzee. When Erika fought Red, she used Vileplume against Pika, lasting a long time before Erika ended the match and awarded Red the badge. It was later seen when Erika meet up with Yellow. Its known moves are Petal Dance and Swords Dance.
Victreebel first appeared as a Bellsprout during Erika's battle with Red, where it used Mimic to defeat Red's Poli. Later, during the Yellow arc, it was revealed to have fully evolved.
Bellossom was first seen accompanying Erika, Brock and Misty to Goldenrod City for the gym leader conference. It was used in Erika's match with Pryce, where it used its Petal Dance against the old man's Swinub. It also fought against Team Rocket.
Erika appears in the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga in the chapter A Tough Battle With The Powerful Venusaur!!. She appears with her Venusaur, preparing to help Isamu Akai defeat Team Rocket. Isamu and Erika attempt to steal the Silph Scope from Team Rocket as they guard the gym searching for Erika and Isamu. They hide in the bulb of Erika's Bulbasaur, however, they are eventually exposed due to Isamu's Clefairy "passing gas" inside the bulb. Team Rocket captures them, however, they eventually escape.
In the Trading Card Game, the card Erika allows each player to draw up to three cards. Another card, Erika's Kindness, demonstrates her kindness, depicting her as helping a Growlithe out of the rain. Erika's Maids enables the player to trade two cards in a hand for two Pokémon in the deck, both with Erika in their names. Charity is attached to the player's Active Pokémon, and if that Pokémon is not knocked out, the card returns to the owner's hand; it allows the player to reduce the damage their attacks inflict on the Defending Pokémon. Erika's Perfume allows the player to peek at the hand of the opponent and force them to summon any number of basic Pokémon from the hand to the bench.
As in the anime, she also appears to make fragrances, such as LeAF, depicted on Erika's perfume.
Despite her artwork, she appeared in the anime with blue hair instead of black.
In the How I Became a Pokémon Card manga, Erika was childhood friends with Kaede, who had an unfortunate reaction to a flower wreath Erika gave her at a party and ran off in shame. They met again later when Kaede, now a Team Rocket agent, invaded Erika's Gym. Erika was overjoyed to see her old friend and seemed to disregard any and all ill plots.
Erika is the only in-game Gym Leader that has the same name in Japanese and English.
She, alongside Sabrina, is also the only Gym Leader to have been defeated in the anime by Ash out of sequence with the games, if one discounts the change in order between Diamond and Pearl and Platinum.
Erika's Generation III sprite is the only one of her sprites that does not have a Poké Ball in it.
In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, in her rematch team, Erika's Victreebel and Bellossom don't level up at all, both staying at Level 56.
If one looks closely at her hairband at the HeartGold and SoulSilver artwork, the heart-shaped crest from the HeartGold logo can be seen.
In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, Erika's hairband and Obi are red in her official artwork, battle sprite and VS sprite and magenta in her overworld sprite.
Names
Language
Name
Origin
Japanese
エリカ Erika
From the Erica genus. A common Japanese given name.
English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Erika
Refers to the Erica genus - heathers.
Korean
민화 Minhwa
화 hwa means flower. Alternatively, 민화 means "folk tale".
Chinese (Mandarin)
艾莉嘉 Àilìjiā (anime) 莉佳 Lìjiā (manga)
Transliteration of Erika. In addition, 艾 (ài) refers to "mugwort," while 莉 (lì) means "jasmine." Transliteration of Rika in Erika.