Ash's Torterra

**Ash's Torterra** (Japanese: **サトシのドダイトス** *Satoshi's Dodaitose*) was the second Pokémon that Ash caught in the Sinnoh region, and his thirtieth overall.

## History

### Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl

In *Gettin' Twiggy With It!*, Ash originally caught Torterra as a Turtwig. He had been living in the forest near Clara's home, and he broke up fights among wild Pokémon in the area. After Team Rocket stole Ash's Pikachu, their balloon crashed, and Turtwig defended Pikachu against them. When Ash and his friends appeared, Turtwig assumed they were trying to wrongfully steal Pikachu too, so he attacked them and ran off with an exhausted Pikachu in tow. The next time they confronted Turtwig, the misunderstanding was explained, and Turtwig apologetically befriended Ash. At the end of the episode, Ash and his friends began to leave, and the old woman encouraged Turtwig to go with Ash, so he ran to challenge him to a battle. Ash accepted his challenge, facing him with Pikachu and eventually catching him.

As Turtwig, he was a brave yet kind Pokémon with high confidence for his small size. He apparently had a strong jaw, as he was often seen latching himself onto people and Pokémon's heads, tails, hats, and appendages to attack or show affection. he has done this to Ash as well, the behavior somewhat resembling that of James's Victreebel, Carnivine, and Cacnea. He has also been shown to be both incredibly fast and quite strong, such as the time when he used Bite on Roark's Rampardos on its tail and threw the Head Butt Pokémon into a rock, after which Brock said, "Big things come in small packages!"

In *Different Strokes for Different Blokes*, Turtwig battled Paul's Chimchar and lost. Although he held his own in battle, he appeared to hesitate upon receiving Ash's command to dodge attacks.

Overall, he has taken part in five of Ash's Gym battles. As a Turtwig, he defeated Roark's Cranidos in their first battle, and in the rematch, defeated the newly-evolved Rampardos, giving Ash his first Sinnoh Badge.

In *The Grass-Type Is Always Greener!*, Turtwig was first sent out to rescue Cheryl from vines with his Razor Leaf. He stayed out of his Poké Ball and was later found by Gardenia, who found him cute. He later battled as Ash's first Pokémon against Gardenia's Cherubi in their unofficial two vs two battle. Turtwig used Tackle, hitting Cherubi, and then used multiple Razor Leaf attacks, hitting Cherubi the first time, but Cherubi dodged without receiving any commands. Impressed with Turtwig, Gardenia recalled Cherubi, with Brock speculating that Gardenia used Cherubi to check out Ash's Turtwig. Gardenia next used her Turtwig, who overwhelmed Ash's Turtwig with its superior speed and easily defeated it.

In *The Grass Menagerie!*, Turtwig was Ash's first Pokémon in his Eterna Gym battle against Gardenia, going up against her Cherubi again. Turtwig ended up struggling against Cherubi due to its Ability Chlorophyll, so Ash chose to eventually recall him. He later called him out to face Gardenia's Turtwig again. This time, Ash's Turtwig was prepared for his opponents speedy strategies and was able to defeat it. He next went up against Gardenia's final Pokémon, Roserade. Due to the harsh sunlight present during the battle, Roserade's Weather Ball turned into a Fire-type move, allowing the Bouquet Pokémon to snatch an easy victory.

In *Glory Blaze!*, Turtwig was used in the quarterfinals of the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition. He was paired up with Paul's Chimchar, who was still weak from earlier training, and was up against a Zangoose and a Metagross. The two quickly become overwhelmed due to Chimchar being too weak and afraid of Zangoose to make any attacks. The situation became even worse when Paul ordered Chimchar to use a friendly fire Flame Wheel on Turtwig, seriously injuring him, before getting caught in Zangoose's claws. Turtwig saved it, and Chimchar made up for this by protecting him from a Fire Blast attack on its own accord. Realizing that not even reliving the traumatic event of being attacked by Zangoose could motivate Chimchar to activate Blaze, Paul gave up on it and refused to give it any more commands. Consequently, Ash gave Chimchar commands from then on, and the three went on to win the battle.

After learning Energy Ball from Kenny's Breloom in *Tanks for the Memories!*, Turtwig didn't battle again until the Pastoria Gym battle in *A Crasher Course in Power!*, where he battled Crasher Wake's Quagsire. But despite having a major type advantage, he was called back after encountering difficulties with the opponent's super effective Ice Beam and Sludge Bomb attacks.

Like many of Ash's Pokémon, Turtwig's battle style was based on his speed, a factor that Ash focused on even more after seeing Gardenia's Turtwig in action. However, in *Aiding the Enemy!*, Turtwig evolved into Grotle during a battle against Paul's Honchkrow. It quickly became apparent that, due to his new body being larger and heavier, Grotle's speed had diminished, and he fumbled and fell down a lot in the battle, ultimately losing. The newly evolved Grotle had high expectations of himself, well exemplified in the same episode. During the night, he went out to try and recover his speed. However, he failed and continued to stumble over. This was initially upsetting, but Paul's Torterra provided some unexpected help by showing Grotle that he could rely on defense instead.

In *Jumping Rocket Ship!*, it was shown that Grotle became fatigued from walking a lot due to his increased weight. He had to be carried by Brock's Happiny for a portion of the journey.

In *A Breed Stampede!*, Ash used his Grotle to help train Dawn's Piloswine, where he utilized the defensive method he was taught by Paul's Torterra. By *Leading A Stray!*, this training had begun to pay off in battle as Grotle took a Swampert's Focus Punch on the head and replied accordingly with Razor Leaf, knocking his opponent out.

In *The Lonely Snover!*, in order to save a Snover, Grotle surpassed his own limits and learned Rock Climb through his willpower alone, which allowed him to regain some of the speed he had as a Turtwig.

In *Sliding Into Seventh!*, he was Ash's first Pokémon in his Gym Battle against Candice, going up against her Sneasel. Thanks to the training from Paul's Torterra, Grotle was able to withstand Sneasel's super effective attacks and defeat it before being recalled. He later went up against her Abomasnow and went in for a Rock Climb, but this was countered by Wood Hammer, which knocked him out.

In *Pedal to the Mettle!*, Grotle was used in the Full Battle between Ash and Paul. He was sent out against Electabuzz, but had an Energy Ball blocked by Light Screen before Paul substituted it for Honchkrow, pitting the two against each other once again. With Grotle's apparent determination to redeem himself after losing before, Ash decided not to switch. However, Honchkrow proved to be far too powerful with its type advantage on top of Electabuzz's Light Screen still being active. A badly timed Synthesis gave Honchkrow an opening to unleash a Sky Attack, and Grotle was defeated as a result.

In *Uncrushing Defeat!*, Grotle, 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, he helped rescue Pikachu from Team Rocket by knocking Jessie's Yanmega out with a single Energy Ball, before blasting them off with another one.

In *Challenging a Towering Figure!*, he was used to battle Palmer's Rhyperior in the Festival Battle Challenge. With Rhyperior's Solid Rock Ability, increased speed from Rock Polish, and powerful Rock Wrecker and Sandstorm attacks, Grotle struggled at first, but was able to make a comeback after healing himself with Synthesis and accidentally swallowing his own Energy Ball, which caused the bushes on his back to radiate a green aura and grant him a huge power boost. Said boost made him strong enough to push Rhyperior back with Rock Climb. However, this position left Grotle vulnerable to another Rock Wrecker, which was enough to knock him out despite putting up a good fight.

In *Gone with the Windworks!*, he battled Dawn's Cyndaquil where the newly hatched Pokémon proved to be a strong battler.

In *Dressed for Jess Success!*, Grotle helped Dawn's Mamoswine train for the Lilypad Town Pokémon Contest. During the training, Grotle demonstrated the strategy he learned in the battle with Palmer's Rhyperior of swallowing his own Energy Ball to gain power. Mamoswine mirrored the motion by swallowing its own Ice Shard, which in turn caused ice to form on its back as an appeal.

In *The Fleeing Tower of Sunyshore!*, Grotle was used in Ash's first Gym battle against Volkner's Luxray where, despite having the type-advantage, it started to get overwhelmed, before the battle was canceled due to the Gym losing power. Later, Grotle was called out to battle Team Rocket inside the Sunyshore Tower, and he quickly evolved into a Torterra. Along with his new and more powerful form, Torterra immediately learned Leaf Storm and sent Team Rocket blasting off.

In *An Elite Coverup!*, Torterra battled Bertha's Hippowdon. Despite managing to predict where Hippowdon's Dig would resurface and landing a super effective Leaf Storm on it, Torterra was eventually overwhelmed by that Elite Four-level Pokémon and got defeated by a super effective Fire Fang.

In *The Eighth Wonder of the Sinnoh World!*, Ash used Torterra as his first Pokémon during his rematch with Volkner, sending him against Volkner's Electivire. Despite Torterra's massive type advantage, Electivire was able to counter almost all of his moves and defeat him with a powerful Ice Punch.

Ash used Torterra as his fifth Pokémon in his battle against Paul in *A Real Rival Rouser!*. He was sent out against Paul's Drapion, whose Toxic Spikes poisoned him instantly. He battled well and was able to cause Drapion some damage with his Energy Ball and Leaf Storm attacks, but his Rock Climb attack was stopped cold by Drapion, who proceeded to knock him down with Poison Fang. Torterra healed himself with Synthesis, but despite this, he was immediately defeated by Drapion's super effective Pin Missile barrage.

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

### Pokémon the Series: Black & White

Torterra was 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

Torterra appeared in a flashback of Ash's Gym battle with Volkner in *Ultra Exciting from the Shocking Start!*.

Torterra, 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 Scraggy 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, Torterra watched Ash's Masters Eight Tournament matches against Steven, Cynthia, and Leon. In *Partners in Time!*, Torterra appeared as a vision to Pikachu during his battle against Leon's Charizard.

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

In *Ride, Lapras, Ride!*, Torterra was shown to have rejoined Ash's team. During the episode, he was called upon to help free a trapped Wailord. Using his Frenzy Plant attack, Torterra grabbed hold of Wailord and was able to help free it, receiving help from Team Rocket's submarine.

## Personality and characteristics

As a Turtwig, Torterra was very brave. Similarly to Ash's Bulbasaur, he helped take care of sick or injured Pokémon and kept the peace between them. If there was feud between other Pokémon, Turtwig would be the mannered one and break them up. He could be a little reckless at times, ignoring Ash's commands to dodge in *Different Strokes for Different Blokes*. He was quite stubborn and would not give up, no matter how hard the challenge, another trait he shared with Bulbasaur. He was also quite affectionate, latching on to Ash's head as a Turtwig.

After evolving into Grotle, he became a lot less active due to his weight gain, still battling well but taking things slowly. His strategy for battle changed as a result, focusing more on tanking hits over dodging them, something he struggled to accept until getting help from Paul's Torterra. As he grew and evolved, Torterra became quite serious in everything he did and never had any issues listening to Ash's commands, unlike when he was still Turtwig and Grotle.

## Moves used

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

### Moves improvised

 **Description:** As a Grotle, he swallows his Energy Ball to power up his Grass-type moves. He used it again in *Dressed for Jess Success!*, to help Dawn's Mamoswine use the technique with Ice Shard in the Lilypad Town Contest.

## Trivia

* The Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia featured at the end of DP016 is about Ash's Turtwig. He writes this senryū about him: 「ナエトルは　あたまにはっぱ　はえとるぞ」 "*Naetle has leaves growing on its head.*"
* Torterra, as a Turtwig, is the first of Ash's Pokémon to evolve while battling one of his rivals.
* Grotle's evolution into Torterra was first revealed in The Greatest - Everyday!.
* After fully evolving, Torterra was defeated in every battle he participated in without defeating any opposing Pokémon, with the exception of battles against Team Rocket.
* During *Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl*, Ash used Torterra (or one of his previous forms) in four of his six battles against Paul. Despite this, Torterra is the only Pokémon Ash used against Paul in those battles that has never knocked out any of Paul's Pokémon. This also makes Torterra the Pokémon that Ash has used against Paul the most times.
* Torterra is Ash's first Pokémon to learn an HM move.
* Torterra is the only Pokémon in the anime to have used the move Rock Climb.
* Torterra is the only Pokémon belonging to a main character to use one of the elemental variations of Hyper Beam.
* Torterra is the latest Grass-type starter Pokémon to evolve under a main character's ownership.
* Torterra is Ash's first dual Grass-type Pokémon since his Bulbasaur, which he caught in *Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village*, 622 episodes earlier.
* Out of all of Ash's starter Pokémon, Torterra took the longest amount of episodes to reach his final form, at 161.

1. ↑ Confirmed in the Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia segment of DP016, where Professor Oak says that Turtwig is "like a big brother".