Ash's Oshawott

Ash's Oshawott is the second Pokémon obtained by Ash during his travels through Unova.

Biography
Oshawott first appeared in In The Shadow of Zekrom!, where he was one of the Starter Pokémon that Trip could choose from. He took an instant liking to Ash after he called him cute and started following him at the end of the episode. In the following episode, Oshawott helped rescue Pikachu and Axew from Team Rocket. In A Sandile Gusher of Change, Oshawott expressed his desire to travel with Ash, who attempted to catch him. However, the Poké Ball bounced off his head, revealing to Ash and Iris that he already has a Trainer. Ash soon discovers that Oshawott actually belongs to Professor Juniper and requests Oshawott's Poké Ball from her.

Later on, Oshawott is kidnapped, along with Pikachu, by a wild Sandile, who is terrorizing a sand spa. Ash later saves Oshawott from falling into boiling water, by recalling him.

In The Battle Club and Tepig's Choice!, Oshawott comes out of his Poké Ball in order to battle an unnamed Trainer, even though Ash had already chosen Pikachu. When he discovered that he would be battling his evolved form, Oshawott pushed Pikachu into battle. He then let himself out of his Ball again in order to assist Ash in finding a wild Tepig, who everyone thought initially to be an Umbreon.

Ash used Oshawott in his Gym battle against Cilan in Triple Leaders, Team Threats, where he battled against Cilan's Pansage, despite being afraid at first. When Pansage began charging a SolarBeam attack, Oshawott managed to deflect it with his scalchop. He also deflected Pansage's Bullet Seed. Eventually, Oshawott managed to defeat Pansage with a Razor Shell attack.

Oshawott battled against a wild Snivy in Snivy Plays Hard to Catch!, however he had to be recalled after being hit by Snivy's Attract, confirming him male in the process.

Ash used Oshawott in his battle against Trip in A Rival Battle for Club Champ!, but was easily defeated by Trip's Tranquill.

In The Battle According to Lenora, Oshawott battled against Lenora's Watchog after Lillipup's Roar sent Tepig back into his Poké Ball. Oshawott was easily defeated after he was hit by Watchog's Thunderbolt. After training at the Battle Club, Oshawott learned Aqua Jet, but struggled to control it. During Ash's rematch against Lenora, Oshawott managed to hit Watchog with Aqua Jet on his third try, knocking out not only Watchog, but also himself.

Oshawott developed a crush on a wild Emolga, as shown when he pulled Bianca's Minccino out of the way of Emolga's Attract so he could get hit instead. He then faced off against a flock of wild Swoobat in order to protect Emolga, but was overwhelmed by his opponent.

In the following episode, Oshawott protected Emolga and Axew from a group of wild Watchog and managed to get an apple for each of them. However, an angry wild Simisear knocked him out.

In Oshawott's Lost Scalchop!, Oshawott battled against Stephan and his Blitzle. However, the battle was quickly interrupted as Blitzle used Double Kick on Oshawott's scalchop, sending it flying into the distance. Oshawott failed to find it and after several ineffective substitutes for the scalchop, Cilan's Dwebble made a huge scalchop out of stone for Oshawott to use. However, it turned out to be too large and heavy to be used properly, so Ash trained it to use the scalchop properly. Oshawott then had a rematch against Blitzle. During the battle, the stone scalchop was destroyed, but Oshawott's speed had increased dramatically through training and it managed to defeat Blitzle with a lucky-shot Aqua Jet. After the battle, Axew found the scalchop and gave it back to Oshawott.

Oshawott battled Trip's new Timburr in Ash's 3-on-3 battle with Trip in Ash and Trip's Third Battle!. His Aqua Jet went off course once again and Trip explained to Ash that the reason for Oshawott's inability to use the move was because it always had its eyes closed while using the move. Oshawott later defeated Timburr with a Razor Shell.

In Facing Fear With Eyes Wide Open!, Ash began training Oshawott to overcome its fear of opening its eyes underwater. These attempts failed. After the gang's Pokémon had become poisoned, Ash and Oshawott went under the lake to find a cure. However, a group of Tympole attacked Oshawott, who was at a huge disadvantage due to its fear. Eventually, Oshawott managed to open its eyes and defeat the Tympole with a single Razor Shell. Later on, Ash used Oshawott to battle a wild Palpitoad. During the battle, Oshawott opened its eyes while using Aqua Jet and controlled it for the first time, defeating Palpitoad and allowing Ash to capture it.

At Purrloin: Sweet or Sneaky?, Oshawott has a crush on a trainer's Purrloin. However, at the end of the episode, the trainer explained that her Purrloin was actually male.

In Enter Elesa, Electrifying Gym Leader!, he was used to battle Bianca's father against his Darmanitan. Even at a type-advantage and proving its tough speed and power, it quickly fell to Flare Blitz.

In BW060, he fought against Chili's Pansear with Ash. In the battle, they managed to use a couple Razor Shells which worked a little, but were defeated by its newly-learned SolarBeam.

In BW063, Oshawott was first used in a battle against Clay and his Krokorok. He was having a hard time battling Krokorok because of its Sandstorm attack and got sand in the eyes, but Ash told him to spin and use Water Gun. The water not only got rid of the attack, but it washes off the sand out of Oshawott's eyes. So he continued the battle and defeated Krokorok with a powerful Razor Shell. Next, he battled against Clay's Palpitoad and got defeated with Rock Smash.

Trivia

 * Oshawott is the first of all Ash's starters to not be caught after a -type starter was captured (Tepig was second as always with fire types), Ash captured a grass-starter in each region first, then catching the other starters later on.
 * Besides Pikachu, Oshawott is the only other starter Ash got from a Professor. Ironically, Oshawott is the Water starter, which is what Ash wanted to start his journey with when he planned to pick Squirtle as his starter.
 * Oshawott seems to be over-confident, but at the same time scared of many things.
 * Oshawott comes out of its Poké Ball on its own much like Misty's Psyduck, Brock's Croagunk, Jessie's Wobbuffet and May's Skitty.
 * Oshawott is Ash's second Water type Pokémon that knows Aqua Jet. The first is Ash's Buizel. Coincidentally they are both male.
 * Oshawott's English Dub voice actor is Pokémon voice veteran Lisa Ortiz.
 * Oshawott can't fight well without his shell. This is probably because he uses it as a shield. This may also be because of one of his signature moves "Razor Shell", a Water-type move much the same as 'Razor Leaf'.
 * He has very similar personality traits to Dawn's Piplup and Ash's Gliscor, as Piplup can be spoiled at times and that Gliscor tries to get Ash's affection a lot and had a fear to overcome.
 * Oshawott has a developed crush on Iris's Emolga. Like Dawn's Buneary has a crush on Ash's Pikachu.
 * A running gag is when Oshawott is not chosen for battle he becomes a white statue and faints.
 * Oshawott's water-related fear is similar to Misty's Psyduck's Hydrophobia.
 * When Oshawott is mad, he throws his scalchop on the ground, then picks it up.
 * Oshawott was the star of two episodes: Oshawott's Lost Scalchop! and Facing Fear With Eyes Wide Open!