Leaf

Leaf
Species	Human
Hair color	Black
Eye color	Brown
Relatives	Mother
Voiced by	Kate Bristol (2018) Michelle Marie (2019)
Debut	Pokémon: FireRed/LeafGreen Versions

Leaf is the name given to the female player character featured in Pokémon: FireRed and LeafGreen Versions, which makes her the female counterpart of Red. While Red has been canonically established as having filled the protagonist role for the first generation, Leaf still exists as an alternate possibility and has been featured as a separate character in Pokémon Masters EX.

Background

As a female alternative to Red, her background in FireRed/LeafGreen follows the same story as Red. She lived in Pallet Town with her mother and had a rivalry with Blue. Professor Oak ultimately summoned Leaf and Blue to receive a starter Pokémon and a Pokédex. She set off on a journey to collect Pokémon, fill the Pokédex, take on the Pokémon League and become a Pokémon Champion. Along the way, she foiled the plans of Team Rocket and got them to disband. She ultimately became a Pokémon champion by defeating Blue.

Unlike Red, Leaf has not made appearances in any later mainline games, which has cemented Red's version of the story as the canonical one.

Pokémon Roster

As the character is controlled by the player, the Pokémon they catch are a variable depending on the player's choices. The primary absolute is that Leaf chose one of three starter Pokémon (Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle at the beginning of the game. She would also receive a Lapras as a gift at Silph Co..

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, Leaf could appear as the player's avatar when playing Battle Mode with a FireRed or LeafGreen game connected if the player had chosen to play as the female trainer in the respective connected game. Leaf also appeared battling Red in one trailer for Pokémon Battle Revolution, although they were absent from the actual game. Leaf was depicted using Groudon and Pikachu. In Pokémon Go, all parts of Leaf's outfit were released as free Style options for Pokémon Day 2018.

Leaf was featured in Pokémon Masters EX as part of a playable sync pair with Eevee that could be unlocked at random through the Sync Pair Scout starting in January 2020. Several variations were later made available during limited time periods: A Sygna Suit variant paired with Venusaur (capable of Mega Evolving) starting in August 2020 and a Neo Champion variant paired with Moltres in August 2023. Her default self could alternately be paired with Clefable by reaching Friendship Level 100 with Leaf at the Trainer Lodge after she was added to the mode in August 2023. Leaf was depicted as another trainer from Pallet Town who set out on her journey at the same time as Red and Blue, and who also received a starter Pokémon from Professor Oak. Within the PML Arc of the Main Story, Leaf made it to the finals of the Pokémon Masters League on a team with Red and Blue. She first appeared in Chapter 23, where she had a practice match with Elesa and helped Valerie to realize the feeling of being a Pokémon. Leaf's team was later featured as the opponents for the final match of the tournament in Chapter 30, and they were defeated by Scottie/Bettie's team. Leaf also made several appearances in Story Events, including spectating Ash Ketchum's battle alongside Red in the "Blazing Battle with Ash" Story Event and encouraging Red to battle him someday. In the Neo Champion Event "Three Trainers, Three Minds", the three Kanto trainers were each assigned to compete in coaching a team of young trainers as a unique Neo Champion Stadium challenge, and Leaf suggested forming sync pairs with Kanto's legendary birds due to being inspired by Hop, Marnie and Bede having used their Galarian forms for their own Neo Champion challenge. Leaf's team scored the highest on the written exam, as she was able to impart the importance of loving Pokémon to her students. All three were deemed successful enough to be appointed as Neo Champions.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• Leaf's hat has been worn by Jigglypuff as one of its alternate costumes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl onwards.
• In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Leaf's design was used for the female version of the playable character known only as the Pokémon Master, the male version of which was based on Red. There was also a Fighter Spirit of the female trainer that could be unlocked.

Other Media

• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Green wore Leaf's outfit during the FireRed/LeafGreen arc.

Trivia

• She is officially named 'Leaf' after LeafGreen, as it was one of the paired games she premiered in, and Red's name was already derived from the original version of the other game. 'Leaf' was one of the optional randomly-generated names that could be used if the player did not choose a name for the character in LeafGreen (with 'Green' also potentially appearing, as well as 'Fire' or 'Red' in FireRed). The name 'Leaf' was first officially used for the character in an official English trailer for FireRed/LeafGreen that was shown at E3 in 2004. It was later used for some officially-released figures in 2019 before officially being cemented by Leaf's appearance in Pokémon Masters EX in 2020.
• The character Green is based on the same concept of Leaf, of being a female trainer from Pallet Town who completes a trio with Red and Blue. Green was used instead of Leaf in the Let's Go! games instead of Leaf, but Leaf would be used instead of Green in Pokémon Masters EX.