Cheryl: The Partner Who Heals Your Team in Eterna Forest

Cheryl doesn't battle the player: she walks beside them. A Trainer from the Sinnoh region, she belongs to the small group of five partners the adventure makes available, and she's the only one you can't miss. Her style comes down to one word: endurance. Pokémon with enormous HP pools, healing between every battle, and a forest you can get through without using up a single Potion.

Contents

• The mandatory meeting at the entrance to Eterna Forest
• A teammate built on HP, not on hitting power
• On screen: the treasure hunter of the Diamond & Pearl series
• The Pokémon Generations horror short
• Cheryl at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The mandatory meeting at the entrance to Eterna Forest

When the player first sets foot in Eterna Forest, someone is already hesitating in front of the trees: Cheryl doesn't dare go in alone and asks to travel with them. This meeting isn't optional — in Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, she's the only one of the five partner Trainers the main story makes you meet.

Once the deal is struck, the rules of the trek change completely. Battles switch to Double Battles, against the Trainers posted beneath the trees as well as against wild Pokémon, and Cheryl fights alongside the player instead of being one more obstacle on the list.

Between encounters, she patches up her teammate's Pokémon. As a result, the forest becomes a corridor with no resource management: no counting Potions, no backtracking to a Pokémon Center, in an area that's otherwise designed as a long string of battles.

A teammate built on HP, not on hitting power

What sets Cheryl apart from the four other partners comes down to one stat. Her Pokémon are chosen for their HP totals, backed up by status moves and moves that restore health. In fact, the franchise's mobile game boils the character down to this gentleness: a Trainer who's put off by the idea of hurting anyone in battle, and who puts her energy elsewhere.

Her role doesn't end with the forest. She can be chosen as a Multi Battle partner in the Battle Towers of Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, then in those of HeartGold and SoulSilver. Platinum adds the chance to battle her at the Battleground in the Survival Area, where she appears alongside the Gym Leaders.

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl bring her back in Master Class Double Battles at the Battle Tower, this time alongside Mira. The mobile game has featured her since launch: as a sync pair with Blissey, the species she's most associated with, and as an alternate sync pair with a Wailord obtained in exchange for an invitation ticket. Like Buck, she's one of that handful of Sinnoh Trainers the player meets in order to battle alongside them.

🧸 Healers to cuddle: see the section Pokémon plushies.

On screen: the treasure hunter of the Diamond & Pearl series

The anime gives her three episodes in the middle of the Diamond & Pearl series, under a label the games never use: there, she's called the treasure hunter. Ash's group comes across her after an Aipom leads them to a Honey tree.

Her entrance is a capture: a Burmy pops up in the wild, and she catches it on the spot. The object of her quest, we learn next, is the Enchanted Honey, kept out of reach by a wall of Combee; Burmy, now evolved into Mothim, then serves as the group's guide.

The character also stands out for a verbal habit: she's forever quoting the sayings her grandfather used to repeat. Her stint lasts those three episodes, long enough to lift her out of the one-off Trainer category, too short to make her a traveling companion.

The Pokémon Generations horror short

The Pokémon Generations miniseries brings her back to Eterna Forest, but at night and in search of shelter, with her Chansey as her only company. A butler welcomes them to the Old Chateau and offers them dinner and a room.

From there, the story turns into a ghost tale. Cheryl and her Pokémon devour a feast that doesn't exist, from empty plates; the corridors they walk down go around in circles, the butler sinks through the floor, and a purple smoke finally engulfs them — a Haunter's illusion.

They wake up unharmed, but in a mansion in ruins. A letter, then the appearance of a little girl's ghost close the short without saying what becomes of them.

Cheryl at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Where do you meet Cheryl in the games?
  At the entrance to Eterna Forest, on your very first visit. She asks the player to cross the woods with her, in Diamond, Pearl and Platinum as well as in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
• Can you avoid Cheryl?
  No. In Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, she's the only one of the five partner Trainers the main story requires you to meet in order to progress.
• What does Cheryl do when she travels with the player?
  She fights alongside them in Double Battles, against the forest's Trainers as well as wild Pokémon, and she heals the player's Pokémon after every battle.
• Which Pokémon are associated with Cheryl?
  Blissey above all, with Chansey in the Pokémon Generations miniseries and a Wailord as an alternate sync pair in the mobile game. In the anime, she catches a Burmy that evolves into Mothim.
• Does Cheryl appear in the anime?
  Yes, for three episodes of the Diamond & Pearl series, where she's nicknamed the treasure hunter and searches for the Enchanted Honey guarded by a wall of Combee.

In short

Cheryl makes her mark with very little material: a forest, a support role, and an approach to battle that bets on endurance rather than power. The games make her the only Sinnoh partner you can't get around, the anime a treasure hunter armed with sayings, the miniseries the heroine of a night of ghosts. Three roles for a character the adventure crosses paths with only once.