Brock's Ludicolo

**Brock's Ludicolo** (Japanese: **タケシのルンパッパ** *Takeshi's Runpappa*) was the first Pokémon that Brock caught in the Hoenn region, and his sixth overall.

## History

### Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire

#### Hoenn

Before joining Brock's party in *The Lotad Lowdown*, Lotad belonged to a group of Lotad that lived near the Pretty Petal flower shop between Petalburg City and Rustboro City. It was somewhat dense compared to the other Lotad that watered the shop's garden, but thanks to some encouragement from Brock, it was eventually able to water the plants as well. Soon after, it joined Brock's team after rescuing its fellow Lotad from Team Rocket.

In *Sharpedo Attack!*, Lotad battled a wild Sharpedo, distracting it long enough for May to get out of the water. Once she was safely out, the two attacked each other, with Lotad knocking it away with Water Gun. Brock ordered it to use Water Gun again, but Lotad simply swam up to Sharpedo and watched as it fainted from poison damage that it sustained earlier. Brock took care of Sharpedo, and early the next morning, it was captured by Team Rocket. Using Razor Leaf, Lotad cut the nets and freed Sharpedo, who carried it back to Brock on its back in thanks.

During the events of *A Mudkip Mission*, Lotad rescued some Mudkip, one of which Brock captured. Since then, the two Water types would often be used together, usually to launch a dual Water Gun attack.

Lotad evolved in *Take the Lombre Home!*, after falling into an empty well. The people of the nearby village claimed Lombre as their "Water Lord," and hoped that it would be able to end the drought blamed on a Solrock. It later did by cooling the Solrock down with Water Gun and creating enough steam to make rain clouds. As a Lombre, it continued to be used often alongside Mudkip. Because it looks similar to a sombrero-wearing human, Lombre has performed alongside Brock in his Takeshi's Paradise outfit.

In *Judgment Day!*, Lombre was used in a mock battle alongside Mudkip against Ash's Swellow and Corphish to help Jimmy train as a referee. Lombre was quickly pushed into a tough position and Brock had it play dead to give Jimmy an easy judgement. As Jimmy wondered what to do, Ash commanded Swellow to attack Lombre, who retaliated with Razor Leaf. The attack failed to knock out Swellow, and it and Mudkip attacked with dual Water Guns, which Corphish blocked. Jimmy declared Corphish unable to battle, though it sprung back up immediately after. His teacher scolded him for the rash judgement and the battle was put to an end.

In *Once in a Mawile*, a Mawile became infatuated with a seemingly uninterested Lombre. Brock wished Lombre to reciprocate so that he could get closer to Mawile's Trainer, Samantha, but Lombre appeared apathetic. Later, while Mawile and Samantha were performing onstage, Lombre searched through Samantha's belongings, discovering a Water Stone. The contact with the Water Stone triggered its evolution into Ludicolo, as well as a change in personality. As a Ludicolo, it now was much more friendly and energetic, and was now willing to return Mawile's affection. Unfortunately for Ludicolo (and Brock), Mawile wanted nothing to do with the fully evolved Pokémon and moved on to other Pokémon, namely a Psyduck. Although surprised, Ludicolo quickly bounced back to its happy state and took Brock with it.

#### Kanto Battle Frontier

Because of how much his brothers and sisters enjoyed it, Brock left Ludicolo with his family at the Pewter City Gym, as revealed in *A Real Cleffa Hanger*.

In *Grating Spaces!*, it was revealed that Lola and Flint took Ludicolo with them on holiday so it could carry their luggage.

### Pokémon Journeys: The Series

In *Rocket Revengers!*, Ludicolo was shown to have rejoined Brock's team. During the episode, it used Water Gun to clear away the Spore used by James' Amoonguss and joined Brock and Croagunk in using Teeter Dance on Amoonguss and Jessie's Yanmega while the rest of the group went on ahead.

### Personality and characteristics

As a Lotad, Ludicolo's personality was somewhat similar to that of Misty's Psyduck, although Ludicolo was not as frustrating to its Trainer, as Brock is much more patient than Misty was. It usually had a vacant stare about it and was slow to react to the events occurring around it. Nevertheless, it remained a trustworthy Pokémon when called upon to battle or to aid Brock. It proved to be slightly mentally slower than the other Lotad it worked with. Gradually, Lotad grew to be a high-functioning Pokémon, with the help of Brock's encouragement. By the time it evolved into a Lombre it was shown to have a greater sense of its surroundings, occasionally picking up on things that the other Pokémon in the group hadn't.

As a Lombre, Ludicolo was shown to be a very happy Pokémon, often cheering for its teammates in battle. However, Lombre was occasionally apathetic to situations around him, such as in *Once in a Mawile!*, when it ignored the advances of a Mawile. In said episode, Lombre evolved and its personality changed again; this time, it fell for the Mawile, but was rejected instead. Like all Ludicolo, Brock's enjoys dancing and having fun with other Pokémon. As seen in *Grating Spaces*, when it carried Brock's parents' luggage, Ludicolo is very helpful as well.

## Moves used

 A **†** shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.

## Trivia

* Brock's capture of Lotad marks the first time that any of Ash's friends owned a Grass-type Pokémon.
* None of the moves used by Lotad, Lombre, and Ludicolo have been learnable by it in the games through leveling up at the time they first became able to learn the moves. Water Gun, Razor Leaf, and Teeter Dance have to be taught through breeding (though impossible at the same time prior to Generation VI), and Bullet Seed has to be taught through TM09. It can learn Water Gun and Teeter Dance by leveling up as of Generation VIII.
* Ludicolo is the first Pokémon owned by a main character to be shown evolving via an Evolution stone.
* In the English dub of *Once in a Mawile*, it was implied by Brock that Ludicolo is male.