Pokemon One-Shots and Headcanons

The Pokemon You (Probably) Didn't Know Had a Strong Bond With Ash

Ash has been known for the entirety of the Pokemon anime as someone who values friendship with his Pokemon above all else. When it comes to the Pokemon who have particularly strong bonds with our favorite protagonist, usually the ones that come to mind are Charizard, Sceptile, Infernape, Greninja, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and, of course, Pikachu. Oh, and probably Lycanroc too, from the few episodes I've seen of Sun and Moon.

However, what if I were to tell you that there's another Pokémon that has a strong bond with Ash that's been overlooked this whole time? Well, as it turns out, there just so happens to be one. Can you think of who it might be?

No?

Well, I'll tell you, then. That Pokemon is none other than Ash's Leavanny.

If you're surprised, I don't blame you. Generally speaking, the Pokemon Ash has the strongest bonds with are usually his more powerful ones. Now, Leavanny wasn't horrible by any means-it did well enough in the Unova league-but it wasn't the powerhouse of Ash's team either. That honor instead went to Krookodile, who, I might add, also has a close friendship with Ash.

Some of you might be wondering what makes me think Ash and his Leavanny have a strong bond. After all, their friendship wasn't really touched upon all that much. It certainly didn't get a whole backstory like Pignite from what I can remember. So for the reasoning behind this, I would like to point you to Leavanny's information on Bulbapedia. If you look on Leavanny's page, it says that it evolves from Swadloon with high friendship.

And that, right there, is all the proof we need that Ash and his Leavanny have a powerful bond that's probably been overlooked by a lot of people.

Honestly, when I found this information, I was pretty shocked myself. Swadloon isn't really a Pokemon you'd think would have a friendship evolution, in my opinion at least. But it does make a lot of sense that Ash would have a Pokemon that only evolves with high friendship, considering that's basically what he preaches as a trainer.

So what do you guy think? Were you as surprised as I was? Let me know in the comments.

Oh, and by the way, there's going to be an important update in my rant book soon, so stay tuned.