Ash's Staraptor

**Ash's Staraptor** (Japanese: **サトシのムクホーク** *Satoshi's Mukuhawk*) was the first Pokémon that Ash caught in the Sinnoh region, and his twenty-ninth overall.

## History

### Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl

Ash caught it as a Starly in *Two Degrees of Separation!* while searching for Pikachu, who was missing due to the antics of Team Rocket. Aipom was swinging through the trees and accidentally bumped into Starly, so the two Pokémon battled. Weakened by Aipom, Starly was captured and immediately used in the search for Pikachu. In *When Pokémon Worlds Collide*, it successfully found Pikachu. Later Starly had its first battle against another Starly belonging to Paul and lost.

In *A Staravia is Born!*, Starly evolved into a Staravia during a battle with Team Rocket. Immediately after its evolution, Staravia had perfectly learned Aerial Ace. Evolving had also made it stronger and it become more useful in searches.

In *A Gruff Act to Follow!*, Staravia was the only one of Ash's Pokémon who didn't participate in Ash's first Sinnoh Gym battle against Roark. It was upset by this, but Ash promised it would be involved in the next Gym battle.

In *The Grass-Type Is Always Greener!*, Ash used Staravia as his second Pokémon in his unofficial two-on-two battle against Gardenia. It went up against her speedy Turtwig, as Ash used it thinking a Flying type would be faster, but was quickly proven otherwise and defeated, costing Ash the battle.

In *The Grass Menagerie!*, Ash used Staravia as his second Pokémon in his Eterna Gym battle against Gardenia. It went up against Cherubi. Due to Cherubi's Chlorophyll, it was able to maneuver fast across the battlefield. Despite this, though, the Cherry Pokémon was eventually defeated by Staravia. Staravia's next opponent was Turtwig, who once again ended up defeating its Flying-type opponent, although not without taking a hit this time around.

In *Smells Like Team Spirit!*, Staravia was used in the semi-finals of the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition. It was paired off with Paul's Torterra and was up against Brock's Croagunk and Holly's Farfetch'd. Paul showed total disregard for Ash, ordering Torterra to blast Farfetch'd with Hyper Beam, not caring that Staravia was hit as well. Once Torterra was done recharging, it proceeded to defeat Croagunk as well, winning the battle without Staravia's help.

After seeing Reggie's Staraptor use the powerful Brave Bird attack in *Lost Leader Strategy!*, Ash was inspired to teach it to Staravia. In the third Sinnoh Gym battle, Staravia defeated Maylene's Machoke and Meditite, as well as successfully mastering Brave Bird. Soon after, it was defeated by Lucario.

In *Pursuing a Lofty Goal!*, Ash learned that a PokéRinger competition was going to be held in Squallville and decided to enter with Staravia. During the event, Ash and Staravia were able to defeat their opponents to reach the final round, where they found themselves against Paul and his Honchkrow. Although Staravia initially struggled to deal with Honchkrow's speed, it evolved into Staraptor thanks in part to Ash's encouragement and learned Close Combat. It then managed to outspeed the Big Boss Pokémon to make Ash the winner of the Squallville PokéRinger.

In *Sliding Into Seventh!*, Staraptor was the second Pokémon in his Gym battle against Candice, going up against her Medicham. It was chosen as Ash wanted to attack from the air and had a type advantage. While struggling a bit, Staraptor was indeed able to defeat Medicham, after which it was recalled. It later went up against Candice's last Pokémon, Abomasnow, but was knocked out by a single super effective Ice Punch.

It participated in Ash and Paul's Full Battle in *Pedal to the Mettle!*, where it went up against Torterra and Weavile after Gliscor had previously battled the former. Of its two opponents, Staraptor was able to defeat Weavile, giving Ash his first knockout in the battle. It was then recalled afterwards. In *Evolving Strategies!*, it also fought against Paul's Ursaring, but ended up getting overpowered and knocked out by the Hibernator Pokémon.

In *Uncrushing Defeat!*, Staraptor, along with the rest of Ash's Sinnoh team, was under the care of Nurse Joy in the Lake Acuity Pokémon Center, suffering bodily repercussions from the rough Full Battle loss against Paul. Later, it helped rescue Pikachu from Team Rocket by knocking James' Carnivine out with a single Aerial Ace before blasting them off with another one.

Staraptor was the first Pokémon used during Ash's Lily of the Valley Conference battle against Nando in *League Unleashed!*, where it battled against Roserade. It was able to defeat it with a single Brave Bird, but was then defeated by Nando's Armaldo's super effective Rock Blast.

In *Familiarity Breeds Strategy!*, Staraptor was used against Paul's Gastrodon during Ash and Paul's second Full Battle at the Lily of the Valley Conference. Ash struggled due to Paul having taught Gastrodon to use Counter Shield, and eventually recalled Staraptor. Later on, in *A Real Rival Rouser!*, Ash called Staraptor out again after Buizel fell to Paul's Drapion. However, it was unable to triumph against the superior power of Drapion's Cross Poison and Toxic Spikes.

Ash left Staraptor at Professor Oak's Laboratory when he decided to go to Unova.

### Pokémon the Series: Black & White

It was mentioned in *The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion!* by Professor Oak that Staraptor would sometimes have air races with Swellow at the lab, and Unfezant would make a good addition to those races.

Staraptor was later reunited with Ash in *The Dream Continues!*, where it and the rest of Ash's Pokémon posed in a group photo with him.

### Pokémon Journeys: The Series

Staraptor, along with the rest of Ash's Pokémon at the lab, reunited with Ash in *Friends, Rivals, Lend Me Your Spirit!*. During the visit, it helped train Ash's Dragonite and later watched the battle between Ash and Paul. Before Ash left, it posed with the rest of Ash's Pokémon in a group photo with him.

From *Battling as Hard as Stone!* onwards, Staraptor watched Ash's Masters Eight Tournament matches against Steven, Cynthia, and Leon. In *Partners in Time!*, Staraptor appeared as a vision to Pikachu during his battle against Leon's Charizard. After Ash won the battle, Staraptor joined the rest of Ash's Pokémon at the lab in celebrating their Trainer's victory.

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

In *The Rainbow and the Pokémon Master!*, Staraptor assisted Ash in looking for a missing Charmander around Oak's lab, but to no avail.

## Personality and characteristics

As a Starly, it mostly performed duties done by Ash's other bird Pokémon, such as scouting and bursting Team Rocket's balloon. As a Staravia, it loved battling to the point of sulking when Ash didn't choose it to participate in his first Sinnoh Gym battle. Staravia was very adamant about training, which was evident in its determination to master Aerial Ace and Brave Bird. When Staravia evolved into Staraptor, its personality changed, and it became fierce, fast, and proud, but always maintaining an undeterred loyalty to Ash and a love for battling.

Since being left at Professor Oak's lab, Staraptor became good friends with Ash's other Flying-type Pokémon and would do races with them, particularly with Swellow.

## Moves used

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

* In the dub, Starly used Whirlwind instead of Gust, since the Starly evolutionary family could not legally learn Gust at the time, but could learn Whirlwind. After it evolved into Staravia though, the move has been consistently dubbed as Gust, first being called as such in *Getting the Pre-Contest Titters!*.

## Trivia

* For DP015, Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia is about Ash's Staravia. He writes this senryū about it: 「ムックルが　ムクムクしんか　ムクバード」 *"Mukkuru evolves abruptly, Mukubird."*
* Staravia's evolution to Staraptor was first revealed in a Japanese movie poster for *Arceus and the Jewel of Life*.
* Staraptor, as a Starly, is the only Pokémon to date that Ash caught without Pikachu with him.
* Out of all of Ash's bird Pokémon (not including Noctowl, who was fully evolved when caught), Staraptor took the longest amount of episodes to reach its final form with 116.
	+ However, Staraptor, as a Starly, took the shortest to evolve out of any of Ash's bird Pokémon, evolving just 11 episodes after its capture.
* Staraptor is the only Pokémon of Ash's that shares an English voice actress with him.
* In the Czech dub and Latin American Spanish dub, Staraptor is referred to as female.