Dawn's Ambipom
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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
With Ash
Kanto Battle Frontier
Ambipom was first seen as an Aipom 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, but is also eager to battle. 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.
Sinnoh
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. Aipom proved to be necessary as a backup; as soon as they arrived, Team Rocket kidnapped Pikachu, and Aipom helped find them. 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
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 also had a problem in Ash's training because her style tended to be more Contest oriented. 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!, Aipom managed to learn Double Hit. Brock told Dawn that Aipom would evolve soon. Later in the episode, when Dawn and Aipom were being attacked by a group of Unown, Aipom jumped in and evolved into Ambipom.
In Team Shocker!, Dawn used Ambipom in her appeal for the Solaceon Contest, but failed to pass the Appeals round. Zoey explained to Dawn that she failed due to an overuse of Swift, blocking Ambipom from view. Ambipom also learned how to break dance, by spinning her tail to make waves of Swift attacks.
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.
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 and Battles, Ambipom bid farewell to Dawn and Ash and left the group in order to follow her talent.
Personality and characteristics
Like most of her species, Ambipom is a playful Pokémon. As an Aipom, however she behaved much like Ash's Chikorita, being mischievous, often stealing Ash's hat or other forms of headwear and even other Pokémon's food just for attention. She was also quite attached to Ash, getting jealous of his attention to Pikachu, or even attacking Professor Oak just because Ash wasn't present. Upon her evolution, most of these traits mellowed. Ambipom had stopped stealing and became quicker to obey orders. While still loyal to Ash after being traded and evolving, she also became loyal to his friends, showing a more mature side.
Ambipom has been shown to develop different interests over time. A well known example of this is Contests. While not necessarily preferring them to Battles, she has shown great interest. She first showed interest in Contests as a wild Pokémon when watching May and other Coordinators compete in Thinning the Hoard!. Her love for Contests even persuaded Ash to participate in the Jubilife Contest.
Later, she became interested in Pokémon Ping Pong after using Ping Pong-like moves in a recent Contest. This interest, once again, ended up in Ambipom switching roads.
Moves used
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Move improvised
- Double Team-Swift was used in Mounting a Coordinator Assault! when Aipom wanted to express her wish for performing in Contests. Aipom uses Double Team, before jumping between them and using Swift to create a large glowing star and then lands on its tail. A variation of this was used in Borrowing on Bad Faith! when Aipom was used in an unofficial Pokémon Contest under Jessie's command, Aipom uses Double Team and forms into a circle and starts "dancing" and uses Swift and the Swift spins around the audience and then disperses into sparkles or Aipom would use Double Team and grab its tail and form into a circle and uses swift while spinning.
- 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 |  |
- | - | Movie Commemoration VS Pack: Sea's Manaphy | 010/019 |
Trivia
- 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.
- Since Aipom was Ash's Pokémon before being traded to Dawn, Aipom was 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 only Pokémon of Dawn's that shares an English voice actress with her.
- Despite leaving 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.
- Ambipom was the first of Dawn's Pokémon to evolve by the method of knowing a certain move. The second being her Mamoswine.
- Coincidentally, they are both Pokémon that debut in Generation II that evolve into Generation IV Pokémon.
Related articles
For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Aipom and Ambipom.
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This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
