Ash's Leavanny

**Ash's Leavanny** (Japanese: **サトシのハハコモリ** *Satoshi's Hahakomori*) was the sixth Pokémon that Ash obtained in the Unova region, and his fortieth overall.

## History

### Pokémon the Series: Black & White

#### Unova

Leavanny first appeared as a Sewaddle in *Sewaddle and Burgh in Pinwheel Forest!*, while Ash and his friends were in Pinwheel Forest. He randomly attacked Ash's Pikachu, thus initiating a battle between the two parties. Ash tried to catch him but was not successful, since Sewaddle ran away. He later reappeared and knocked Ash to the ground when the trio met Burgh, the Castelia City Gym Leader, who revealed that he was accompanying Sewaddle through the forest, even though he was not his Pokémon. When Ash and his friends tried to say hello to Sewaddle by using the two sensory knobs on the top of his head, he tackled Ash, while he kindly said hello to Iris, Pikachu, Axew, and Burgh. They followed Sewaddle for the rest of the day, observing his eating and sleeping habits. After Ash protected him from a double Air Slash attack, Sewaddle started to warm up to him, offering him some fruit and even sleeping with him and Pikachu in his sleeping bag.

The next day, due to his leaf's healing properties, Sewaddle was kidnapped by a Patrat who wanted to help its sick friend but managed to swing away with his String Shot. However, he got stuck on a Deerling's neck, who became agitated and messed up his leaf hood. As Ash and his friends ran towards him, Sewaddle tried to swing himself towards them but was caught by a sudden gust of wind and fell off a cliff. Ash dived in to save him, and Burgh called his Leavanny out in time to use String Shot and catch them both. Later, Sewaddle received brand new "clothes" from Leavanny and happily accepted Ash's proposal to join his team, but his Poké Ball became sealed until Ash transferred one of his Pokémon to Professor Juniper, as he already had a full party of six Pokémon at the time.

In *A Connoisseur's Revenge!*, Ash had Sewaddle examined by a C-Class Pokémon Connaisseuse by the name of Burgundy so he would know how compatible he was with him. She confirmed that his Ability was Swarm, which she thought was a bad thing, as she believed Ash would be better off with a Sewaddle with Chlorophyll, but did nothing to support her claim. When she said he should replace Sewaddle, he fired a String Shot at her in anger.

Sewaddle was chosen as Ash's second Pokémon in his Castelia Gym battle in *Battling For The Love of Bug-types!*. First, Sewaddle went up against Burgh's Dwebble, who had already managed to defeat his Tepig. Despite initially struggling to overcome Dwebble's Protect and powerful moves, Sewaddle managed to dodge or stop the incoming attacks with his String Shot and knocked the Rock Inn Pokémon out of its shell, allowing him to exploit this opening and defeat it. Next, he fought against Burgh's Whirlipede, whose Steamroller proved to be very helpful, cutting through his String Shot with ease and dealing massive super-effective damage. After enduring a Solar Beam, Sewaddle evolved into Swadloon and proceeded to finish off the Curlipede Pokémon with his newfound power. Then, Burgh sent out his last Pokémon, Leavanny. This matchup was quick, as Leavanny was shown to be much more powerful than its pre-evolved form, defeating him with a succession of strong moves, such as Leaf Storm and Hyper Beam.

In *Battling the Leaf Thieves!*, Swadloon evolved into Leavanny during a training battle against Iris' Emolga. The battle was cut short, as his innate caring nature came into force right away. Leavanny sewed various leaf hoods for the smaller Pokémon of the group, including a special leaf mask for Axew, and gave new clothes to three wild Sewaddle who were wearing withered leaves. During a nap, a group of Durant came across the gang and took the leaf clothing for food, as well as Axew, who was still wearing his outfit. Once awakened, they immediately noticed his absence and went looking for him, eventually coming across the entrance of the cave where the Durant made their nest. As they ventured down the path, Leavanny cleverly attached its thread to the walls so they could find their way back. After finding nothing, Cilan suggested that Leavanny wrap Ash and Scraggy with leaves so they could act as bait for the Durant, which proved to be successful and led them to the leaf hoard. After retrieving Axew, the group made its way out of the cave.

In *Rocking the Virbank Gym! Part 1*, Leavanny was chosen as Ash's third Pokémon in his Virbank Gym battle, going up against Roxie's Koffing, who had already defeated Boldore and Unfezant. Despite being at a type disadvantage, Leavanny managed to defeat Koffing with a String Shot-Energy Ball combo after its Special Defense had been lowered. Then, Leavanny fought against her Scolipede. Due to its typing and bulk, it easily resisted the attacks thrown in its direction and managed to leave Leavanny badly poisoned, which led to his defeat in the next episode.

In *Jostling for the Junior Cup!*, Leavanny was used in the first round of the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup against Marris' Karrablast. He was able to quickly knock Karrablast out, thus leading Ash to the second round.

In *Strong Strategy Steals the Show!*, Ash used Leavanny as his third Pokémon in his battle against Stephan during the Vertress Conference, sending him out against Stephan's Sawk. Initially, Leavanny was able to swiftly and gracefully dodge Sawk's attacks, as well as deal big damage with his own moves, but the battle started to lean to Stephan's side after Sawk scored a Low Sweep, allowing him to strike Leavanny with a barrage of Close Combats. This, however, activated Leavanny's Swarm Ability, giving him a big boost on his Bug-type moves, allowing him to bind Sawk in his threads even after the Karate Pokémon had used two Bulk Ups. After a hard-fought battle, Leavanny was finally brought down by a clean Karate Chop to the head.

#### Decolore Islands

In *Farewell, Unova! Setting Sail for New Adventures!*, Professor Juniper sent Leavanny to Professor Oak's Laboratory before Ash left for Kanto, touring through the Decolore Islands.

Ash brought Leavanny back to his active party once, in *Butterfree and Me!*, so he could help Ash evolve a wild Caterpie into a Butterfree.

Leavanny reunited with Ash and the entire Unova team at Oak's lab in *The Dream Continues!*. He joined in with them to launch a group attack on Team Rocket, using Energy Ball to send them blasting off for the final time in *Pokémon the Series: Black & White*. Later, Leavanny posed in a group photo with the rest of Ash's Pokémon. Then, he was left at the lab when Ash set off for the Kalos region.

### Pokémon Journeys: The Series

Leavanny, along with the rest of Ash's Pokémon at the lab, reunited with Ash in *Friends, Rivals, Lend Me Your Spirit!*. During the visit, he was seen relaxing with Noctowl and Gliscor and later watched the battle between Ash and Paul. Before Ash left, he posed with the rest of Ash's Pokémon in a group photo with him.

From *Battling as Hard as Stone!* onwards, Leavanny watched Ash's Masters Eight Tournament matches against Steven and Cynthia. In *Partners in Time!*, Leavanny appeared as a vision to Pikachu during his battle against Leon's Charizard.

In *Heroes Unite!*, Leavanny, along with the rest of the Pokémon at the lab, welcomed Ash back to Pallet Town after his victory over Leon.

In *A Fated Face-Off!*, Leavanny was shown to have rejoined Ash's team. During the episode, he met Misty and later watched as she and Ash battled over a wild Clauncher.

## Personality and characteristics

As a Sewaddle, Leavanny was childish, often doing things without warning when Ash first met him, such as attacking Pikachu for no reason other than wanting to battle. He was stubborn, and wouldn't admit his feelings for Ash right away, but after he had been saved a few times, he became more comfortable with Ash and snuggled up to him. Since then, he had been very caring towards his Trainer, even to go so far as to wrap Burgundy's head in a String Shot web merely one episode later when she suggested Ash get rid of him.

Leavanny, as both a Sewaddle and Swadloon, was also competitive since his debut and has a strong passion for battling. He always tried his hardest, allowing him to defeat opponents even when the odds were stacked up against him, such as against Burgh's Dwebble and Whirlipede, as well as Roxie's Koffing. Since he evolved, Swadloon became a bit more mature and recluded, although he still got a bit childish when he believed Oshawott, Tepig, and Scraggy took his food in *Emolga and the New Volt Switch!*. Swadloon also has some sewing skills, as seen in *Movie Time! Zorua in "The Legend of the Pokémon Knight"!*, where he helped make costumes for Luke's movie with his Leavanny.

After evolving into Leavanny, he adopted a more caring nature and acted like a parent to the other Pokémon. This was shown in *A Fated Face-Off!*, when Leavanny spent the entire episode looking after Rowlet, soothing him to sleep, and consoling Psyduck after its hug offer was ignored by Pikachu. He also became very independent, prancing off on his own to find leaves to use for clothes and taking a lot of pride in his work. He is also able to make good use of his newly acquired skills, cleverly lining the Durant's maze with thread to mark the way out without being commanded to by his Trainer. As shown in *Rocking the Virbank Gym! (Part 1)* and *Strong Strategy Steals the Show!*, he has also been able to use these new skills in battle to powerful effect.

## 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

* Leavanny is Ash's only Grass-type Pokémon that is not a starter Pokémon.
* Leavanny is the first Pokémon Ash has owned to have evolved via friendship while under his ownership.
* Leavanny is Ash's first Bug-type Pokémon since his Heracross, which was caught in *A Sappy Ending*, 556 episodes earlier.
* Sewaddle's capture marked the first time in the anime that Ash had caught a Pokémon while already having a full party of six Pokémon since he caught his Krabby in *Mystery at the Lighthouse*, 662 episodes earlier.
	+ Furthermore, this was also the first time that Ash has had to rotate his seventh Pokémon into his main team.
* Leavanny, upon evolving from Sewaddle to Swadloon, is the first of Ash's Pokémon to evolve during a Gym battle.
* As a Sewaddle, Leavanny was the first Pokémon in the anime to have his Ability confirmed without using it.
* Swadloon's evolution into Leavanny was first revealed in the Japanese ending Seven-colored Arch.

1. ↑ Confirmed in *Emolga and the New Volt Switch!*.