Nimbasa City Pokémon Gym Leader: Elesa "The Shining Beauty"
Pokémon Black and White
The Nimbasa Gym is designed like an amusement park, filled with brightly-colored neon lights, floating stars and roller coasters. Upon entering the Gym, there is a huge open room, filled with transparent platforms. The roller coasters within the Gym are scattered around the room, all connected by platforms. The player must find their way around the Gym by walking into the roller coasters cars, in which they are then taken to the next platform. Within several of them, Trainers are hiding, and when the player opens the cars, the Trainer will engage the player in battle. Also, there are several switches around the Gym, which redirect the path of the roller coasters. However, many of these are also guarded by Trainers. The final roller coaster slightly differs from the others, featuring a large loop-the-loop, and partially speeds up after a slope before the loop-the-loop.
After navigating through the roller coasters, the player will meet Elesa. She stands on a transparent platform just like the other platforms, which has the Unova Gym logo on it. Behind her is a large circular spinning wheel, but it is just for show, and cannot be interacted with. Once the player has defeated Elesa, a short-cut to the exit of the Gym is available to the left of her.
Pokémon Black 2 and White 2
The Shining Roller Coaster Former Nimbasa City Pokémon Gym
Elesa has moved the Nimbasa Gym to a new building nearby. The new Gym is a long catwalk where challengers must battle three Trainers before battling Elesa. The old Gym, known as "the Shining Roller Coaster", is still running with a few Trainers in it. The old Gym must be traversed before the player is allowed to enter the new Gym.
The Nimbasa Gym was first seen in Enter Elesa, Electrifying Gym Leader!. When Ash and his friends arrived there was a note saying that Elesa was somewhere else. Later it was revealed that Bianca had already requested a battle, therefore Ash had to wait until she was done. With the group observing, Bianca battled Elesa, but eventually lost.
Ash finally got the chance to battle Elesa in Dazzling the Nimbasa Gym!. He had planned to sweep the entire match with just Palpitoad, and was thus forced to call a time out and change his team around mid-battle when it was defeated. Despite this, Ash was still able to win himself a Bolt Badge in the end.
Just like the games, the Nimbasa Gym has a roller coaster that needs to be traversed in order to reach Elesa.
In Dazzling the Nimbasa Gym!, Zebstrika was used against Ash's Palpitoad during his challenge for a Badge. However, as Palpitoad was part Ground-type, Wild Charge would not work and Flame Charge did little damage. Although Zebstrika's Double Kick was powerful against Palpitoad, it was hit with Palpitoad's Supersonic, leaving it confused. A combination of Mud Shot and Hydro Pump finally knocked it out.
Elesa's Emolga first appeared in Dazzling the Nimbasa Gym!, where she was used second in her Gym battle against Ash. Using a combination of Attract and Aerial Ace, she was able to knock out Ash's Palpitoad. Next, she went up against Snivy. As both Pokémon were female, Attract could not work; however, after dodging Snivy's attacks and recovering from a Leaf Storm, Emolga was able to defeat Snivy using Aerial Ace and Acrobatics—moves Snivy was weak against. Finally, Emolga was sent up against Pikachu, but since the recent battles had taken their toll, Emolga was knocked out with a Quick Attack.
Tynamo was the last Pokémon Elesa used against Ash in their Gym battle in Dazzling the Nimbasa Gym!, and is called by Elesa as her "Electric Queen". Ash was confused by the unusual Pokémon that, despite being fishlike in appearance, could float in mid-air. Elesa worked around Tynamo's inability to learn more than a few moves by training her so her Tackle was extremely powerful, causing Pikachu to struggle. However, after Pikachu pulled himself together, he started to use Thunderbolt on the entire battlefield. With her view obscured, Tynamo was knocked out with just one Iron Tail.
The Nimbasa Gym appeared in Battle on a Roller Coaster, where Black challenged Elesa. Like in the games, the Gym is filled with a big roller coaster, with Elesa waiting at the end. However, when Black reached Elesa, he found out that he couldn't open his safety harness, forcing him to stay in his moving car during the battle. Using her favorite move, Volt Switch, Elesa was able to launch rapid fire attacks while avoiding Black's Pokémon's attacks. With good timing, Black was able to defeat Elesa's Zebstrika with Nite's Bulldoze, leaving her with just Emolga. With its great speed and Flying-type attacks, Emolga came close to defeating Nite, but with some quick thinking, Black came up with a strategy of using a roller coaster loop for Nite to land a surprise attack on Emolga from above, defeating it.
Just when Elesa was about to hand Black a Bolt Badge as a sign of his victory, his car started moving again, taking Black to an outside portion of the roller coaster, where he encountered Thundurus, which unleashed a lightning bolt on him, shocking him and opening his harness in the process. Back inside the Gym, Elesa told Black how she had also encountered Thundurus in her past.
In Gigi's Choice, a mischievous Zorua was revealed to have been the reason behind the roller coaster malfunctioning.
Zebstrika is the first Pokémon that Elesa is known to own. Zebstrika was first seen as a drawing when Black was reading a book while deciding on strategies to defeat Elesa in their upcoming Gym Battle. Later, it was seen in person along with Elesa's other Pokémon while it was seen being dressed up in preparation for the Pokémon Musical. Zebstrika was used against Black during the Gym battle, where it defeated his Galvantula, Tula, after exploiting its Motor Drive Ability to raise its speed. Eventually, Zebstrika was defeated by Black's Pignite, Nite.
Emolga is the second Pokémon that Elesa is known to own. Emolga was used in Elesa's Gym battle against Black, where it fought his Pignite, Nite, and was eventually defeated.
Related cards Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.
Due to a glitch, if the player loses to Lady Colette while directly facing her when encountered, when the player comes back in she will be standing on the same spot and will battle the player. After she is defeated, she still remains on the tracks of the roller coaster, and can be passed through while riding the roller coaster to Elesa.
