Dwayne's Heracross

**Dwayne's Heracross** (Japanese: **ドゥエインのヘラクロス** *Douein's Heracros*) is the first Pokémon that Dwayne caught during his travels in the Johto region, and his thirteenth overall.

## **New Era**

### **Johto Journey**

While on his way to Violet City, Dwayne stops in the middle of a forest on Route 30 and notices several of the trees are missing their leaves without showing any other signs of damage. Suddenly, Dwayne spots a horde of Heracross clamped onto a healthy tree trunk, and thinking he can catch some new Pokémon and save the tree at the same time, Dwayne is about to throw a Poké Ball when a voice behind him tells him to stop. Dwayne turns around to see a man in a red uniform, who warns Dwayne that catching the Heracross will only cause more damage to the forest.

The man introduces himself as Woodruff, a forest ranger. After Dwayne introduces himself, Woodruff explains that the Heracross are important to the forest's natural balance. They share a symbiotic relationship with the local Butterfree population, who also feed on the tree sap but are too weak to break into the tree trunk to get to it. The more powerful Heracross dig into the trunk to start the sap flow, eat their fill, and then allow the Butterfree to come and feed. When Dwayne becomes worried about both the Heracross and Butterfree hurting the forest, Woodruff explains that the balance of nature in the forest was broken by invaders. Just then, a large herd of Pinsir stampede toward the tree. Woodruff identifies the Pinsir as the "invaders" as the Bug Pokémon leap onto the tree trunk and scare away the Butterfree. Dwayne yells at the Pinsir to leave the other Pokémon alone, while also demanding that the Heracross do something about it. In unison, the Heracross fly up and attack the Pinsir, while Dwayne cheers them on. However, the Heracross are easily scared off by the Pinsir's massive pincers, and fly away. Woodruff tells Dwayne that the Heracross are too peaceful to have any desire to take on the Pinsir; this worries Dwayne, who says that the forest will surely be destroyed if the Heracross don't do something to prevent it.

Dwayne notices a Butterfree still trapped in the branches of the tree. A single Heracross pops up in front of the Pinsir to defend the Butterfree, and is quickly attacked by their giant, spiked pincers. Dwayne, upset that Heracross is being ganged up on, sends out Kirlia to help it. One Dazzling Gleam attack takes out all of the Pinsir, and Butterfree soon flies away, but Heracross is too tired to follow. The Pinsir regroup and ascend the tree trunk, which Dwayne thwarts by having Kirlia use Psybeam. Heracross looks on while Dwayne defends it, watching as Kirlia defeats the Pinsir with Psybeam.

Once the Pinsir flee, Heracross flies down and approaches Kirlia and Dwayne. Dwayne thinks that it wants to thank Kirlia, but instead, Heracross attacks Kirlia with Megahorn, sending Kirlia rolling back, and Dwayne questions Heracross's sudden attack. Kirlia knocks Heracross off with a strong Psybeam attack, sending him sprawling on his back in the grass. Dwayne then assumes that Heracross was simply looking for a good fight, and deemed Kirlia a good opponent, and Woodruff is worried about the Pinsir returning. He explains that the Pinsir live on the opposite side of a river and that something has been causing them to uncharacteristically cross the river and invade the Heracross's territory. Dwayne agrees to help Woodruff save the forest, and Woodruff begins to lead him towards the Pinsir territory, and Dwayne notices Heracross following them.

Once they are out of the woods, Dwayne and Woodruff approach a deep gorge that the river is running through. Woodruff points out a rope bridge that he uses to cross, only to find that the bridge is down. Looking into the gorge, Dwayne sees the Pinsir getting across by jumping along the branches of trees. Dwayne accuses the Pinsir of having cut the bridge ropes, but when Woodruff inspects the severed ends of the rope, he points out that the cut is suspicious and that it could have only been done by a human. Angered by this, Dwayne then ponders how to cross the gorge. They hear a sound and turn to find Heracross pushing on a tree. Dwayne realizes that Heracross is trying to push the tree over. Dwayne and Woodruff jump out of the way as the tree comes crashing down, landing neatly across the gorge. Dwayne and Woodruff successfully cross the river with it and enter the Pinsir forest, with Heracross still following at a distance.

As they enter the Pinsir territory, they notice a tree with a single gigantic Pinsir up in the branches. As the giant Pinsir drops down, it is accompanied by a group of poachers, who explain their plan to drain the forest of all of its sap and sell it, and hopefully lure the Heracross and sell them as well. When Dwayne and Woodruff berate them for upsetting the balance of nature for selfish needs, the poachers order the giant Pinsir to attack. Dwayne sends out Kirlia and commands her to use Shadow Ball, but the giant Pinsir negates the attack with its giant pincers. Kirlia then uses Shadow Ball again. However, the giant Pinsir easily absorbs the attacks and retaliates with Rock Tomb, pinning them down. To everyone's surprise, Heracross intervenes and begins to push against the robot.

The giant Pinsir pushes Heracross for some distance. In response, Heracross gathers up its strength and begins pushing back, while Dwayne cheers him on. The giant Pinsir tries to use Vise Grip, but Heracross uses Counter, and after being grasped by Vise Grip, Heracross's Counter activates, and he returns the damage many times over, and Pinsir drops down to one knee. Unable to move, the giant Pinsir cannot fight back, allowing Heracross to retaliate with a flurry of Fury Attacks. Once that is accomplished, Heracross shoves its horn under the giant Pinsir and lifts it up onto its shoulders by using Strength. With a mighty heave, Heracross tosses the giant Pinsir high up into the air. The giant Pinsir lands next to the poachers, and the impact causes them to lose balance and fall flat on their faces, and they get surrounded by Dwayne, Woodruff, Kirlia, and Heracross, and they promptly surrender.

Heracross strikes a victory pose as Dwayne congratulates it. They then notice a crowd of Pinsir approaching them from the surrounding forest, signaling that the Pinsir population has returned to its own territory, thus leaving the Heracross and Butterfree in peace. Back on the Heracross's side of the river, Dwayne and Woodruff watch the Heracross and Butterfree feeding on a tree. The Heracross who battled the giant Pinsir approaches Dwayne, and he commends Heracross's efforts and congratulates him on helping to save the forest. Saying goodbye to Heracross and Woodruff, Dwayne continues on his path to Violet City. However, upon leaving the forest, Dwayne finds out that Heracross is still following him. He realizes that Heracross wants to leave the forest behind and come with him. Heracross agrees, so Dwayne tosses a Poké Ball and Heracross willfully enters. Dwayne thanks Heracross for choosing him as his Trainer and promises that he'll find several good opponents to become stronger, before continuing on his journey.

When Dwayne challenged the Violet Gym, Heracross was chosen as Dwayne's second Pokémon to battle against Falkner's Pidgeotto, whom Heracross easily knocks out with Fury Attack. Falkner withdraws Pidgeotto, and sends out his second Pokémon, a Pidgeot. Dwayne orders a Megahorn, and Falkner calls for Roost. He then explains that Roost heals Pidgeot whenever it suffers damage. Dwayne grits his teeth in frustration, and orders Heracross to use Strength, and Pidgeot suffers yet another attack, but quickly uses Roost to recover. The battle continues, with Heracross and Pidgeot exchanging attacks, and with both Pokémon growing tired, Falkner orders Pidgeot to use Aerial Ace, having saved the attack until the last minute, aware that it cannot be evaded. Dwayne becomes worried as Heracross was exhausted, but at the last second, Heracross demonstrates having learned Endure, which allows him to withstand Aerial Ace, and quickly retaliates with Counter, causing severe damage, although Pidgeot quickly returns with Wing Attack, which finally knocks out Heracross.

When Dwayne came across a wild Chikorita that he wanted to capture, Heracross was chosen to battle against the Grass-type Pokémon. Seeing this, Chikorita immediately kicks up, and charges towards Heracross with Tackle, but Heracross counters with Fury Attack, but Chikorita surprisingly manages to dodge all of Heracross's attacks. Chikorita then uses Razor Leaf, but Heracross shoots them down with Megahorn, then hits Chikorita with it. Dwayne throws a Poké Ball, but Chikorita simply swats it back, which surprises Dwayne, as Chikorita was clearly still able to fight. Chikorita then uses her Vine Whip attack to hit a nearby tree and cause sap to leak out, which causes Heracross to discard the battle and treat himself to the sap, and Dwayne recalls him as a result.

During Dwayne's Azalea Gym battle, Heracross was chosen as Dwayne's third Pokémon to battle against Bugsy's Metapod. Metapod uses Tackle and Heracross avoids it which causes the Tackle to stir up a cloud of dust. Heracross avoids another Tackle from Metapod, causing it to land into a tree. The resulting falling leaves allows Metapod to camouflage itself and seemingly vanish. Heracross listens for Metapod and he dodges its Tackle. Metapod jumps and uses Tackle again, which Heracross avoids by flying upward. Heracross then waits for Metapod's next Tackle, and quickly retaliates with a Fury Attack, which manages to knock out Metapod.

Before Bugsy sends out his third and final Pokémon, he informs Dwayne that no Trainer has reached the last round in a while. Bugsy then sends out his Scyther. Dwayne has Heracross use Megahorn, though Scyther remains standing on the spot, and dodges it using a Double Team. Bugsy then tells Scyther to use Slash. Heracross unleashes a flurry of Fury Attacks to blast Scyther's Double Team, but they all disappear much to Heracross's surprise. The real Scyther then appears behind Heracross and unleashes an onslaught of Fury Cutter attacks. Dwayne attempts to order Heracross to use Counter, but Heracross finds no window to charge the attack, and gets knocked out as a result.

Heracross was chosen by Dwayne to battle a pack of wild Noctowl that were ganging up on a Shiny Noctowl at Ilex Forest. Dwayne orders him to use Rock Tomb to attack the gang of Noctowl, but the attack bounces back at Heracross after the Noctowl band together and use Hyper Voice. Dwayne, not giving up, orders Heracross to use Double Team to create several copies to disorientate the Noctowl. Dwayne climbs a tree to get to the Shiny Noctowl, who's slightly injured, and Dwayne gives it an Oran Berry to restore it's strength. However, Dwayne then falls through the trees and the Shiny Noctowl talks to Heracross, deciding to work together. The Shiny Noctowl uses Flash to blind the other Noctowl, allowing Heracross to land a direct hit with Rock Tomb, and this manages to scare them off.

Afterwards, the Shiny Noctowl challenges Dwayne to a battle. Dwayne uses Heracross to fight against Noctowl. Heracross uses Megahorn while Noctowl uses Hypnosis. Heracross falls asleep and Noctowl responds by using Wing Attack, and the pain causes Heracross to wake up. Heracross runs away as Noctowl flies close behind him. Heracross listens to Noctowl's wings instead of looking at its eyes so that he won't get hypnotized. Heracross successfully hits Noctowl with Horn Attack just as Noctowl was closing in for a Wing Attack, and Dwayne throws a Poké Ball at Noctowl, catching him.

When Dwayne challenged the Goldenrod Gym, Heracross was chosen as Dwayne's second Pokémon to battle against Whitney's Miltank. Whitney orders a Rollout, which heads straight for Heracross. Heracross orders a Fury Attack, but it doesn't slow Miltank down and the Milk Cow Pokémon pushes Heracross back. Dwayne tells Heracross to get out of the way, but it is too late and Miltank hits Heracross with Rollout, knocking Heracross out.

During Dwayne's rematch against Whitney, Heracross was chosen as his first Pokémon, battling against Miltank. Heracross charges at Miltank with Megahorn, but gets bounced off instead. Heracross repeats the move, but fails to do damage to Miltank, and gets recalled. This was part of a three-step plan by Dwayne: Exhaust Miltank with Heracross, then create ditches in the field with Chikorita, before using the aforementioned ditches to gain the upper hand and finally defeat Miltank with Noctowl.

When Dwayne battled against Sydney to claim ownership of a Totodile they were both looking to capture, Heracross was chosen to battle against Sydney's Skiploom. Skiploom and Heracross clash with their Aerial Ace and Megahorn, respectively. Heracross follows up with Fury Attack and lands a direct hit, before Skiploom uses Aerial Ace again, which Dwayne allows to land, much to Sydney's confusion. Then, Dwayne orders Heracross to use Reversal, and Heracross strikes Skiploom with the attack, causing massive damage. With the battle near its end, Sydney assumes defeat, but Skiploom is soon enveloped in a white light and evolves into a Jumpluff.

Dwayne expresses surprise, but nonetheless commands a Megahorn from Heracross. Jumpluff uses Cotton Guard to increate its defenses, allowing it to withstand the attack, before using Dazzling Gleam, badly hurting Heracross. Sydney then orders Jumpluff to use Solar Beam, and the attack begins charging. Knowing that Heracross couldn't withstand the attack, Dwayne tells Heracross to use try and use Fury Attack. However, Heracross insteads charging an attack on his arms, and Sydney recognizes it as Focus Punch, and Heracross charges towards Jumpluff. Just as Jumpluff's attack gets fully charged, Heracross successfully manages to hit with Focus Punch, and Jumpluff gets knocked down the ground, unable to continue, giving Dwayne the victory.

During Dwayne's Olivine Gym battle against Jasmine, Heracross was chosen as his first Pokémon to battle against Jasmine's Magnemite. Heracross starts it off with a Megahorn, but Magnemite simply evades. Magnemite throws down a Thunder Wave back at Heracross, with Heracross dodging as well. Magnemite is worryingly fast and evades several Thunderbolt attacks with ease. Heracross also dodges Magnemite's Thunder Waves. Dwayne decides to take a direct hit from Magnemite. The tactic works as Magnemite is too exhausted to evade Heracross's Fury Attack. Magnemite floats back up but is clearly injured. It tries another Thunder Wave, but Heracross knocks it out with a Focus Punch, giving Dwayne the first round. Next up is Steelix; however, it has the advantage with Heracross fatigued from the last round. Heracross uses Horn Attack, but it has no effect on Steelix's hardened body. Steelix soon finishes Heracross off with Iron Tail.

When Dwayne challenged the Blackthorn Gym, Heracross was chosen as his first Pokémon to battle against Clair's Kingdra. Dwayne starts the match with Heracross's Megahorn, though Kingdra dodges the attack with Agility. Kingdra tries to hit Heracross but Heracross uses Arm Thrust to block Kingdra's attack. Clair has Kingdra follow up with Swift, but the attack once again harmlessly bounces off Heracross's Arm Thrust. Dwayne tries to use Heracross's Fury Attack, but Kingdra dodges it with Agility. Kingdra hits Heracross again, but Heracross is barely affected. Clair has Kingdra use Hydro Pump. Dwayne tells Heracross to dodge the attack, but it is unable to and is hit. Clair orders a Hyper Beam, which Heracross narrowly avoids by diving into the battlefield’s pool.

Dwayne congratulates Heracross on its quick thinking before ordering a Double-Edge. The attack lands, causing both Pokémon to sink underwater. However, Heracross begins to weigh less, allowing Kingdra to float back to the surface unharmed. Clair tells Kingdra to use Hydro Pump once Heracross comes up for air, but Dwayne tells Heracross to jump out of the water. As Heracross leaps into the air and Kingdra fires a Hydro Pump, Dwayne orders Heracross to lean back, and it manages to successfully dodge the attack without sustaining any damage. Clair orders Kingdra to use Swift, but Dwayne tells Heracross to just take it. Clair orders another Hydro Pump, but it only Heracross dodges the attack by spinning around it. Kingdra is starting to look tired, and Clair realizes that Dwayne's plan must be to just wear Kingdra out. She orders another Hyper Beam, but Heracross dodges it once again by going underwater. With Kingdra's stamina starting to run low, Heracross uses Megahorn, which knocks Kingdra out of the match.

Clair sends out Gyarados as her second Pokémon. Clair orders Gyarados to use Hydro Pump, while Heracross uses Arm Thrust to block the attack. However, Heracross is starting to tire out, causing Gyarados's Hydro Pump to overpower its Arm Thrust block. Gyarados then uses Dragon Breath, and as Heracross is tired out, he is unable to counter the attack. As such, the Dragon Breath lands a direct hit on Heracross, paralyzing him and preventing Heracross from moving. After taking a Hyper Beam, Heracross finally faints.

During the Silver Conference's semi-final round-robin stage, Dwayne chose Heracross as his third and final remaining Pokémon to battle against Skyler's Electabuzz. As Skyler prepares to strike Heracross with an Electro Ball, Heracross hits its mark with an Arm Thrust. Skyler is left startled for a moment, though she soon goes on the attack. Heracross evades a series of Thunder Punches and hits again with Fury Attack, which Electabuzz blocks with Iron Tail. A second Iron Tail hits Heracross, and Skyler tries to finish it off with a Thunder Punch. However, Heracross, out of the air, hits a Megahorn onto Electabuzz's wrist, which causes the Thunder Punch to redirect itself onto Electabuzz's face, sending him flying backwards, before Heracross finishes it off with a vicious Double-Edge.

The match is now down to Meganium and Heracross, with momentum back on Dwayne's side. Heracross opens with a Megahorn, which Meganium counters with Razor Leaf and Vine Whip. Heracross responds to the Vine Whip with Arm Thrust. The attacks collide, creating an opening for a Double-Edge to hit Meganium. Another Megahorn attack is met with a Razor Leaf, which sends Heracross reeling, with Heracross ending up on its back. As Heracross struggles to get back up, Meganium sees an opening and rushes in for a finishing Body Slam. In a last-minute move, Heracross slams his horn into the ground and uses his sheer force to toss large amounts of dust onto Meganium, whose Body Slam cancels because of the dust, and Heracross defeats Meganium with a super-effective Megahorn, and Dwayne wins the match.

During Dwayne's match against Raven in the finals of the tournament, Heracross was chosen as Dwayne's third Pokémon to battle against Raven's Stantler. Stantler quickly outspeeds Heracross and puts him to sleep as well with Hypnosis. Stantler then takes advantage of the situation by using Dream Eater. As Stantler slowly absorbs Heracross's energy, its target soon wakes up in a rage, not appreciating at having his dreams stolen, as Stantler becomes shocked. With a single Megahorn, Stantler is blasted into the stadium's walls, and gets knocked out of the battle. The announcer orders a five-minute intermission due to three of Raven's Pokémon being unable to battle.

Heracross gets called back out to fight against Raven's Alcremie. As Heracross prepares to use his Fury Attack, Alcremie uses Sweet Scent, decrasing Heracross's movements because of the scent. Heracross manages to free himself from the influence before knocking Alcremie out with a Megahorn. Raven's fifth Pokémon is her Duraludon. Heracross uses Arm Thrust, but Duraludon uses Stone Edge to stop Heracross dead in his tracks, and after Heracross gets blasted by the attack, Duraludon follows up with a vicious Hyper Beam, which knocks Heracross out of the battle.

Following Dwayne's decision to travel to the Hoenn region, Heracross, along with Dwayne's other Pokémon (with the exception of Gardevoir and Dratini) were left at Professor Oak's Laboratory.

## **Personality and Characteristics**

Heracross is an eager but easily distracted Pokémon, especially regarding sap. This was shown during Dwayne's battle against a wild Chikorita, where Chikorita was aware of Heracross's love for sap and smacked a tree hard with her Vine Whip to cause sap to leak out, and Heracross immediately abandoned the battle to treat himself to the sap.

Nevertheless, Heracross remains completely loyal towards Dwayne, and proved himself countless times to be an extremely reliable Pokémon, first seen when Heracross defeated Falkner's Pidgeotto with a single move. Heracross's power was noted by others, and his power often allows Heracross to even overcome type disadvantages, seen during his battle against Raven's Alcremie.

Aside from his battling spirit, Heracross is a very short-tempered Pokémon, becoming easily-angered whenever he gets insulted or belittled, seen during Dwayne's battle against Raven, where Heracross forced himself out of his sleep while his energy was being sapped by Stantler's Dream Eater simply because Heracross was enraged at having his dreams stolen.

Heracross is also very adaptable, being capable of learning a variety of attacks in short periods of time, and should the situation call for it, Heracross can often push himself into learning a specific move to help either himself, his friends, or his Trainer, in a dire situation, or when faced off against an opponent that's too powerful to handle.