Lazuli's Torterra

**Lazuli's Torterra** (Japanese: **ラズリのドダイトス** *Razuri's Dodaitose*) is Lazuli's very first Pokémon, as well as her strongest.

## **New Era**

### **Sinnoh**

Torterra, while still a Turtwig, first became partners with Lazuli when she started out as a Pokémon Trainer. Whilst both young and inexperienced, Lazuli and Turtwig experienced Rollins's battle against Brandon at the Battle Pyramid, taking Rollins's loss to heart and striving to become better. Traveling through the Hoenn, Johto and Kanto regions, Turtwig competed in each of the region's League conferences and evolved into Torterra at some point during these adventures.

Torterra made his first appearance during Lazuli's battle against Cynthia's Garchomp at Amity Square, being chosen as Lazuli's ultimate weapon and last resort. She commands Torterra to use Giga Drain. Since Giga Impact left Garchomp unable to move, Giga Drain was able to hit and it causes Garchomp to kneel down, much to the surprise of the crowd. After Giga Drain, Torterra uses Frenzy Plant and it causes dust to kick up. When the dust clears, Garchomp is seen blocking attack with its fins, much to Lazuli's astonishment. Cynthia then tells Garchomp to use Brick Break. Garchomp pushes the vines from Frenzy Plant away and jumps into the air, hitting Torterra with Brick Break on its head, taking it down and out, prompting Lazuli to forfeit the match.

Torterra later appeared helping Lazuli's brutal training of Chimchar. He fired Hyper Beam for Chimchar to dodge, followed by a Leaf Storm, which trapped and badly injured Chimchar. Torterra was then used in the semi-finals of the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition. It was paired off with Dwayne's Golbat and was up against their opponents's Croagunk and Farfetch'd. Lazuli showed total disregard for Dwayne, ordering Torterra to blast Farfetch'd with Hyper Beam, not caring that Golbat was hit as well. With Farfetch'd out, Croagunk challenged Torterra and managed to damage it with a powerful Brick Break to the head, similar to its battle against Garchomp. Before Croagunk could follow up, Torterra recharged and hit Croagunk with Leaf Storm, winning the round single-handedly.

Torterra appeared again where he saw the battle between Dwayne's Turtwig and Lazuli's Honchkrow. He also witnessed the evolution of Turtwig into Grotle and his loss of speed. Later on, he used Frenzy Plant against Lazuli's Weavile in a practice battle to improve Torterra's reflexes; however, he remained distracted by Dwayne's Grotle, who was in the Pokémon Center at the time. While Grotle was training to become faster, Torterra came forwards on his own to show him that a Pokémon could still be powerful by coping with its lack of speed with strong defense. To prove this, Torterra battled against Dwayne's Gliscor in a practice match. After teaching this, Torterra returned to Lazuli's camp. Lazuli, while curious about Torterra's decision, did not push the issue.

It appeared again during Dwayne and Lazuli's Full Battle at Lake Acuity, and was Lazuli's first choice of Pokémon. Dwayne substituted Buizel for Gliscor, who used his ability to fly in order to dodge Giga Drain. However, Lazuli and Torterra used Frenzy Plant to lull Gliscor into a false sense of security and when Dwayne continued to attack at close range, Torterra crunched Gliscor's tail and used Giga Drain to sap energy to recover. However, Gliscor used Fire Fang to injure Torterra, and was recalled by Dwayne. Crobat went up against the disadvantaged and tired Torterra, but it became aware that Lazuli predicted this, and Torterra hit with a super-effective Stone Edge before Lazuli recalled him.

Torterra was later called back out, where he fought against Dwayne's Chimchar, where it was shown to control its Stone Edge at will to mow down its faster opponents. It was protected by Electabuzz's Light Screen and managed to absorb Chimchar's Flamethrower, forcing Dwayne to retreat for Gliscor again. However, Lazuli does not play with Gliscor this time around, and Gliscor gets knocked out with a single Frenzy Plant. Dwayne chose to send out Gardevoir, but Torterra was recalled and not used for the rest of the battle.

Torterra was then seen briefly during the Lily of the Valley Conference, where Torterra's enormous power helped Lazuli advance through the first few rounds of the tournament, although Torterra wasn't used for Lazuli's battle against Dwayne in the finals.

## **Personality and Characteristics**

Unlike the majority of Lazuli's Pokémon, who are either brutal like their Trainer, or completely indifferent towards Lazuli's attitude, Torterra is shown to be calm and somewhat kindhearted, as he actually went out of his way – against Lazuli's wishes – to help Dwayne's Grotle cope with his lack of Speed upon evolving and taught his pre-evolved form how to use Defense to make up for Speed, and upon being appreciated by Dwayne himself, Torterra nods in response before leaving.

Nevertheless, Torterra remains completely obedient and loyal towards Lazuli, and despite his occasional acts of kindness, follows his Trainer's orders without hesitation, seen as when Torterra, along with Lazuli's other Pokémon, were ganging up on Chimchar as part of the Chimp Pokémon's harsh training, despite Chimchar being visibly exhausted and injured, although Torterra, unlike Elekid, showed no pleasure in these brutal methods.

While Torterra was never directly referred to as Lazuli's strongest Pokémon, her treatment of him indicates that she holds Torterra in high regard. Torterra was used during Lazuli's battle against Cynthia's Garchomp at Amity Square, and even though many of Lazuli's other Pokémon had already fallen to the Pseudo-legendary Pokémon, she continued battling. When Torterra was defeated, Lazuli forfeited the battle. Torterra also boasts great strength and longevity, and was praised by Cynthia as being exceptionally well-trained. Torterra was one of the very few Pokémon that Lazuli showed consistent respect for, and throughout his appearances, he wasn't scolded or reprimanded by his Trainer once.