Ash's Bayleef

Ash's Bayleef one of the Starter Pokémon Ash caught while traveling through Johto. She is voiced by Mika Kanai in both the Japanese and English language versions of the anime. Kanai also voiced her as a Chikorita and continues to voice her as a Bayleef.

Bayleef made her first appearance in "the Chikorita Rescue" when she was a wild Chikorita and proved to Ash that it was very tough by defeating his Bulbasaur with a single Vine Whip. She was stubborn, unwilling to give up and even went against very high odds to fight against Ash's Charizard despite the obvious type advantage. This in turn left her injured and although she wanted to contine fighting, she eventually fainted, forcing Ash and his friends to bring her to a Pokemon Centre for treatment. Later on, Team Rocket kidnapped Chikorita and attempted to get her to join their side. However, Ash and Pikachu stopped it from happening and were able to rescue Chikorita, resulting in the tiny Grass Pokemon developing respect for Ash. When Ash left the Pokemon Centre, a heartbroken Chikorita, unwilling to be left behind with Nurse Joy ran up after him and begged him to take her with him. In mere seconds, Ash accepted and Chikorita officially joined his party much to her joy.

Chikorita later developed a crush on Ash and began constantly seeking his approval. Whenever she was released from her Poke Ball to engage in battle or stop Team Rocket, she always insisted on hugging Ash much to his discomfort. It was later revealed in "Chikorita's Big Upset" that Chikorita was female and that she was jealous of Ash giving so much time to Pikachu but she soon developed a friendship with Pikachu.

In the episode, "Current Events", Chikorita, distraught at seeing Ash taking several beatings from Team Rocket's Pokemon evolved into Bayleef to protect him. Not realizing her form had changed since she'd evolved, she kept attempting to jump into Ash's arms as if she was still small.

This caused her to accidentally knock Ash over on several occasions and Ash eventually snapped in "Turning Over a New Bayleef", angrily telling Bayleef to get away and stay away from him. His harsh words left Bayleef in tears and she ran away from Ash, her feelings. When Ash, Misty and Brock found her, she'd been taken in by a kind old woman but Bayleef's tears had turned to anger and she refused to accept Ash's apology and stayed put for the time being, refusing to give Ash any attention. Ash, guilty over his treatment attempted to rescue the Pokemon from a glass cage yet Bayleef refused to help, still believing that her trainer didn't care for her. But after seeing Ash's efforts, she helped out and her strength was enough to shatter the glass, setting the trapped Pokemon including herself and Pikachu free. After sending Team Rocket flying, she and Ash repaired their broken relationship with Bayleef learning Body Slam in the process.

Since evolving from Chikorita, Bayleef has still kept her longing feelings and crush for Ash which did end up getting it in trouble on several occasions. However after getting used to her size, she managed to become a vital part of Ash's team and helped win many Gym and League battles.

Ash left her at Oak's when he decided to make a fresh start when he left for Hoenn. In An Old Family Blend, Bayleef was one of the Pokémon Professor Oak sent to Ash and Bayleef tackled Barry when it got separated from Ash. However despite being called up, Bayleef didn't take part in the Lily of the Valley Conference.

Moves

 * Vine Whip
 * Razor Leaf
 * Tackle
 * Body Slam
 * Sweet Scent
 * Headbutt

Trivia

 * When traveling in Johto, Bayleef was the only one of Ash's Pokémon that evolved.
 * Bayleef has been in her middle evolution longer than any of Ash's Pokémon other than Pikachu.
 * Like Ash's Pikachu, Butterfree, Kingler, Pidgeot, Lapras, Noctowl, Donphan and Buizel, Bayleef's original voice is not only used in the Japanese version of the anime but also the English language dub as well.