Dawn's Ambipom

Dawn's Ambipom ヒカリのエテボース Hikari's Eteboth

Dawn's Ambipom

Debuts in Slaking Kong! Caught in Channeling the Battle Zone! Caught at Indigo Plateau Evolves in Journey to the Unown! Gender Female Ability Unknown Traded in Throwing the Track Switch Original Trainer Ash Traded for Dawn's Buizel Current location Training with O

→ This Pokémon spent 73 episodes as Aipom.

Voice actor Japanese English As Aipom Miyako Itō As Ambipom Chie Satō Emily Jenness

Dawn's Ambipom (Japanese: ヒカリのエテボース Hikari's Eteboth) is the only Pokémon to be captured by Ash in the Battle Frontier saga. Much later, she was traded to Dawn in exchange for Buizel.

History

File:AshAipom.png

Ash with Aipom

With Ash

Aipom was first seen in Slaking Kong!, worshiping a giant Slaking with several other mountain-dwelling Pokémon. She also stole Ash's hat, much like Ash's Primeape did 428 episodes earlier, with a group of Aipom getting food to offer the Slaking. Later, Aipom joined the other Aipom, as well as several Mankey, Vigoroth and Slaking, to attack the giant Slaking, which turned out to be a mechanical robot made by Team Rocket. She then helped in returning the stolen berries to Taylor. Later, after Ash and his friends left Taylor's home, the group sees Ash's hat on a rock. After wondering who placed it there, they found out that it was Aipom, due to an apple and a flower she left with the hat. The group then continues their journey as Ash says Aipom is a cool Pokémon after all. Unknown to them, the happy Aipom was watching them from a nearby tree.

Aipom soon reappeared in the next episode, May, We Harley Drew'd Ya!, stealing the hats of the participants before making off with Ash's hat again.

In Thinning the Hoard, due to her causing too much trouble, Ash attempted to catch her. After Pikachu used Quick Attack to get Ash's hat back and Thunderbolt to weaken her more, she was still able to foil Ash's capture attempt.

In Channeling the Battle Zone, as well as the previous episode, after watching May in the Kanto Grand Festival, Aipom became thrilled with battling and challenged Ash and his Pikachu for a battle; as he won, Ash finally captured her in front of a huge crowd.

In Aipom and Circumstance!, Aipom became jealous of Pikachu's closeness to Ash. Aipom also seems to have a certain penchant for headgear; aside from taking Ash's and other participants' hats, Aipom wore a daisy chain on her head and put on a ceremonial crown that the locals had trouble getting off. The members of a crowd who wanted to crown, as well as Ash and his friends, attempted to remove the crown from her head so she would not become their king for a year. With the help of a Belue Berry's sourness, the crown was finally taken off. Ash then hugged Aipom and told her not to get into trouble all the time. As Ash laughed a bit when he told her this, Aipom blushed.

Aipom's gender was confirmed in the Japanese version of the said episode while Aipom was nearby gathering flowers. May said, 「エイパムやっぱり女の子ね？」 Aipom is a girl after all, isn't she?. In DP048, Dawn also explicitly calls Aipom a girl, and in the dub of Steamboat Willies, both Aipom and Buneary are referred to as girls, confirming them to be female.

Aipom enjoys participating in Pokémon Contests. Her interest was first perked in Thinning the Hoard! where she took an interest in May's battle with Harley. Aipom also watched her battle with Drew before enticing Ash into catching her. While Ash had Aipom, she usually sat on his left shoulder when outside of her Poké Ball, in contrast to Pikachu sitting on his right shoulder.

In order to bring back Torkoal to battle Brandon's Registeel in Overjoyed!, Ash sent Aipom to Professor Oak, where Aipom had trouble adjusting to the new environment and Ash's absence, even attacking the Professor. However, after Ash's second defeat, Aipom returned.

When Ash left for Sinnoh, he wanted to leave all of his Pokémon but Pikachu behind as he did when leaving for Hoenn. However, Aipom snuck aboard the boat he was traveling on to accompany him on his new journey. During her journey through Sinnoh, Aipom defeated Paul's Chimchar in battle and helped Ash capture his Starly. Ash also used her in his first two Gym battles in the region.

In Mounting a Coordinator Assault, Aipom entered her first contest with Ash. They got through the Appeals round but lost the first battle round to Zoey and her Glameow. After the battle, Zoey suggested that Ash should let Dawn raise Aipom.

In A Gruff Act to Follow, Aipom put up a fight against Roark's Cranidos in Ash's first gym match in Sinnoh, but lost. In their rematch in O'er the Rampardos we Watched, she defeated Geodude.

In Borrowing on Bad Faith, Aipom entered an unofficial contest under Jessie's command and won against Dawn's Pachirisu.

She was used in Ash's second Sinnoh Gym Battle in The Grass Menagerie! as well, going against Gardenia's Roserade, which resulted in a victory, giving Ash his Forest Badge.

With Dawn

File:DawnAipom.png

Dawn and Aipom

In Throwing the Track Switch, Ash began the training for his next Gym battle in Veilstone City. However, Dawn's Buizel seemed to be more interested in Ash's battle training and thus couldn't set his mind on Dawn's training; meanwhile Ash's Aipom appeared to have a similar problem in Ash's training because she tended to be more interested in Dawn's Contest training. Then Zoey proposed that Ash and Dawn trade them. After some soul-searching, the Trainers agreed, and the trade took place.

In Journey to the Unown!, Dawn planned to use Aipom in the Solacean contest by showing of the speed of its tail which lead to Aipom learning Double Hit. Brock told Dawn that Aipom would evolve into Ambipom soon. Later in the episode, when Dawn was being attacked by a group of Unown, Aipom jumped in front of Dawn to protect her and evolved into Ambipom.

In Team Shocker!, Dawn was doing some last minute practicing with Ambipom using a form of break dancing and Swift at the same time, by spinning her tail to make waves of Swift attacks, leading to the birth of "Rainbow Swift.".

Dawn used Ambipom in her appeal for the Solaceon Contest, but failed to pass the Appeals round. Zoey  later appeared to show Dawn the mistakes she made. Zoey explained to Dawn that she failed because of an overuse of Swift, blocking Ambipom from view, she said that "A Pokemon Cotest is to show of a Pokemon and how beautiful both the Pokemon and the Pokemon's moves look". 

File:D-Ambipom.png

Dawn, Piplup and Ambipom

In Crossing the Battle Line!, Dawn used Ambipom in her gym battle against Maylene. She was chosen for her extensive battling experience with Ash. Ambipom proved her strength in the battle by defeating Maylene's Meditite, making her the only Pokémon Dawn used in the match who managed to defeat one of Maylene's team. Despite this Ambipom found herself unable to stand up to the strength of Maylene's Lucario and was quickly knocked out.

In Staging a Heroes Welcome, Dawn once again used Ambipom for the appeal round in the Wallace Cup. She managed to pass the round by dazzling the judges with Swift, Focus Punch, and Double Hit.

File:AshDawnAmbipom.png

Ambipom saying goodbye to Ash and Dawn

In Battling the Generation Gap! Dawn used her in the Celestic Contest Battle Rounds. Ambipom was able to easily defeat her first two opponents and then went up against Lila's Delcatty. Ambipom won the Contest by using combinations of Double Hit, Focus Punch, Double Team, and Swift.

In Old Rivals, New Tricks, Ambipom was used in a Contest in Sandalstraw Town, and was defeated by Kenny's Prinplup in the finals. During the Contest, she discovered a love and talent for ping pong. She used this talent to compete in To Thine Own Pokémon Be True's Pokémon Ping Pong Tournament. Due to her obvious natural ability, fellow competitor O offered her a place at his Ping Pong Training Center in Vermilion City. Dawn left the decision to Ambipom. After deciding to pursue Ping Pong over her love of Contests, Ambipom bid farewell to Dawn and Ash and left the group in order to follow her talent.

Moves used

File:Ambipom Swift.png Using Swift	Move First Used In Scratch Slaking Kong! Swift † Channeling the Battle Zone Focus Punch † Channeling the Battle Zone Double Team † Aipom and Circumstance Fury Swipes Mutiny in the Bounty! Double Hit † Journey to the Unown!
A † shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.

Move improvised

• Spin was used by Ambipom, when it was still an Aipom under Ash's command. The move was used to evade Roark's Geodude's Rollout in O'er the Rampardos We Watched!.
• Spinning Swift was first used in The Grass Menagerie! where Aipom released a Swift that spun around Gardenia's Roserade. It was later used again in Crossing the Battle Line! (after Aipom evolved into Ambipom) where it was used against Maylene's Meditite.
• Rainbow Swift Ambipom balances herself with her hand and starts spinning her tails glow and the stars shoot out of it Ambipom then spins on her back (break-dances) the stars then collide making spurts of rainbows.

In the TCG

Name	Type	Level	Rarity	Set	Set no.
Ash's Aipom		-	-	9th Movie Half Deck (no English release)	010/019

Trivia

• For Leave It To Brocko!, Professor Oak's lecture is about Aipom. He writes this Pokémon senryū about her: エイパムが　しっぽでつかむ　サトシのハート Eipam, it seizes with its tail, Satoshi's heart.
• For Crossing Paths, Professor Oak's lecture is about Dawn's Ambipom. This makes her the first Pokémon character to be the focus of the lecture twice.
• Aipom is one of the few Pokémon on the show to have its gender explicitly stated via dialog multiple times, including the dub of Steamboat Willies.
• Aipom is one of the few main characters' Pokémon to be traded, along with Jessie's Lickitung and Ash's Butterfree.
  • However she is the only one to be traded from one main character to another.
• Aipom shares some similarities with Ash's Butterfree. Both were caught, evolved, traded, and released (although, unlike Butterfree, Aipom evolved after being traded). Both had their genders confirmed (Aipom being female, and Butterfree being male).
  • In the Brazilian dub, however, Ambipom is referred to as male.
• Aipom shares some similarities with another of Ash's primate Pokémon, Primeape. Both evolved while not owned by him - Primeape in the wild and Ambipom with Dawn. Both of these Pokémon have also annoyed Ash by stealing his hat, and both were later released by their Trainer to pursue another kind of training. In addition, the Trainers both were given to participated in a competition where both Pokémon participated respectively, and are based in Kanto (Anthony was given Primeape in Kanto, while O was based in Vermilion City).
• Aipom is the fourth Pokémon to take Ash's hat, after the aforementioned Primeape, then Pikachu and Latias.
• Due to now being Dawn's Pokémon, Aipom is the only Pokémon owned by a main character that was introduced before the character.
• Ambipom was the first Pokémon belonging to Dawn that evolved, and her first fully evolved Pokémon.
• Ambipom is the second traded Pokémon in the anime to evolve, after James's second Victreebel.
• Aipom was the first of six Generation II Pokémon to be in the party of a member of the main cast during the Diamond & Pearl series, followed by Sudowoodo, Gligar, Yanma, Swinub, and Cyndaquil (second if one counts Wobbuffet).
• Ambipom, under Dawn's ownership, and Mamoswine both evolved quickly from their previous stages. Ambipom spent about five episodes as an Aipom with Dawn while Mamoswine only spent two as a Piloswine.
• Ambipom, along with Buneary, another Template:Type2 Pokémon, are Dawn's only Pokémon to have never disobeyed her at any point.
• Ambipom is the only Pokémon of Dawn's that shares an English voice actress with her.
• Despite being given away in To Thine Own Pokémon Be True!, Ambipom, unlike other Pokémon that left the main cast, was not removed from the opening sequence until the sequence itself was replaced over eight months later.
• It wasn't revealed that Aipom knew either Fury Swipes or Scratch (Fury Swipes was most likely debut in Overjoyed when Ash swapped Aipom for his Toarkal and it attacked Professor Oak.
• Note that Aipom/Ambipom can't learn Focus Punch on their own but through TM01.

Related articles

For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Aipom and Ambipom.

External links

• Eteboth's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)

Dawn's Pokémon
On hand:	Piplup	Buneary	Pachirisu	Mamoswine	Quilava	Togekiss
In training:	Ambipom
Traded away:	Buizel
Released:	Oshawott
Temporary:	Pikachu	Croagunk	Chimchar	Staravia	Grimer	Dodrio
	Sharpedo
Befriended:	Mesprit

Ash's Pokémon
On hand:	Pikachu
Traveling with:	Rotom Phone
At Oak's/In rotation:	Pidgeot	Bulbasaur	Charizard	Kingler	Muk	Tauros (×30)
	Snorlax	Heracross	Bayleef	Quilava	Totodile	Noctowl
	Donphan	Swellow	Sceptile	Corphish	Torkoal	Glalie
	Staraptor	Torterra	Infernape	Buizel	Gliscor	Gible
	Unfezant	Oshawott	Pignite	Snivy	Scraggy	Leavanny
	Palpitoad	Boldore	Krookodile	Talonflame	Hawlucha	Noivern
	Dragonite	Gengar	Lucario	Sirfetch'd	Dracovish
With Kukui/In rotation:	Rowlet	Lycanroc	Incineroar	Melmetal
At home:	Mr. Mime
In training:	Squirtle	Primeape
Released:	Butterfree	Lapras	Larvitar	Greninja	Goodra	Nebby
	Naganadel
Temporarily owned:	Seaking	Buzzwole	Stakataka	Pheromosa	Rowlet
Traded away:	Raticate	Aipom
Given away:	Beedrill
Traveled with:	Haunter	Azelf	Meowth	Meloetta	Rotom Pokédex	Latias
The Power of Us only:	Ekans	Sentret
EToP only:	Fearow	Oddish	Mankey	Slowpoke
Newspaper Strip only:	Starmie	Clefairy
For a list of Pokémon Ash has temporarily owned, used, or commanded, see here

This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.