Ash's Heracross

This Heracross is a /-type Pokémon owned by Ash. It was the first Pokémon that Ash Ketchum captured in the Johto region.

Personality
Like Misty's Politoed, Heracross can be seen throughout the series as a happy-go-lucky Pokemon and loves sap from flowers and trees. Its most notable gag is to suck the sap of Bulbasaur's bulb much to its annoyance as it attacks with Vine Whip to keep away leaving Heracross wondering and confused. This also happens when it and Bulbasaur teaming up to save Pikachu and Chikorita from Team Rocket, and being reunited with it in Professor Oak's lab. Later, in its initial battle against Spenser's Venusaur, Heracross continues its notable gag of sucking sap, this time its Venusaur's flower pollen much to latter's annoyance and it knocks the former away with its Vine Whip before being defeated by it. It also shows its bravery when it protects the sap from a tons of wild Pinsir and demonstrating its brute strength to fight off a robotic Pinsir made by Team Rocket. It also likes Ash especially Professor Oak when Ash lets it stay in his lab for studying its behavior.

Johto
Heracross first appeared in A Sappy Ending. In this episode, a group of wild Heracross were having an argument about territory with a group of wild Pinsir. This Heracross decided to follow Ash and the gang while they worked to solve the dispute. After a battle with Team Rocket, the Pinsir and Heracross settled their differences. However, Heracross followed Ash outside of the forest, where it was happily captured by Ash.

Heracross is a strong battler, as seen in Roll On, Pokémon!, where it battled against a Donphan and also in Wired For Battle, where it battled against a Scizor. Heracross has a great liking for sap, which it sucks from plants or trees. It also sucks sap from Bulbasaur's bulb, causing Bulbasaur to use Vine Whip to smack it away. This also happens in Chikorita's Big Upset where he and Bulbasaur teamed up to save both Pikachu and Chikorita from Team Rocket and in Bulbasaur...The Ambassador where he was reunited with Bulbasaur before he serves as a peacemaker between water and grass type Pokemon.

Heracross was sent to Professor Oak's lab in Tricks of the Trade so Ash could add one of his Tauros to his party. Although Tauros was returned to Prof. Oak in the next episode, the professor asked Ash to leave Heracross with him for a while, as he wanted to study its behaviour.

Heracross was used in Ash's Johto League battle against Gary in The Ties that Bind. It managed to defeat Gary's Magmar, however in the following episode, Heracross was defeated by a Hydro Pump from Gary's Blastoise.

Battle Frontier
Ash used Heracross in his battle against the Palace Maven Spenser. Immediately after being released from its ball, Heracross went to start sucking the sap from Spenser's Venusaur's flower. Heracross was defeated by Venusaur's Solar Beam after a hard-fought battle.

Sinnoh
Heracross appeared again in An Old Family Blend, where it was shown to be sucking the sap from Bulbasaur at Prof. Oak's lab and also sucking Oak's head. In the following episode, Ash used Heracross to battle Nando and his Kricketune. Kricketune used Sing to put Heracross to sleep, but Heracross managed to dodge Kricketune's Fury Cutter with Sleep Talk and counter it with Focus Punch. Heracross soon woke up and battled fiercely with Kricketune and managed to defeat it with a combination of Megahorn and Horn Attack. Heracross then began sucking on Ash's head.

Heracross was the first Pokémon used by Ash to battle Tobias' Darkrai in The Semi-Final Frontier. Heracross was revealed to know Hyper Beam, which clashed with Darkrai's Ice Beam. Darkrai's Dark Void put Heracross to sleep, but thanks to Sleep Talk, Heracross managed to hit Darkrai with Megahorn, causing serious damage. However Heracross was defeated when Darkrai attacked it with Dream Eater and Darkrai restored its energy at the same time.

Voice actor
Katsuyuki Konishi (Japanese and English)

Trivia

 * Heracross only has two moves of the Bug and Fighting-types: Megahorn and Focus Punch. These moves have the highest base power of their types. They also are the only moves Heracross has that are not Normal-type.
 * Heracross is one of the -type Pokémon that Misty is not afraid of.

Gallery
Heracross Asha