Elizabeth

**Elizabeth Birch** (Japanese: **オダマキ・エリザベス** *Odamaki Erizabesu*) is the second child of the Petalburg Gym Leader Gwendolyn and Top Coordinator Jethro, and the younger sister of Layla.

## **New Era**

### **Background**

Elizabeth was the second child born to Gwendolyn and Jethro, having an older sister named Layla. During her childhood, Elizabeth's favorite activity was teasing Dwayne, her older sister's friend, often making jokes and sarcastic remarks at his expense, something that greatly infuriated Dwayne, who chose to keep his distance from her as a result of her constant teasing.

### **Hoenn Again**

When Dwayne arrived in Hoenn and entered the Petalburg Gym looking for a battle, Elizabeth responded and upon seeing Dwayne, Elizabeth lets out a rather loud gasp and comments that she was surprised to see him. Before Dwayne can utter a word, Elizabeth comments on his performance at the Johto League Silver Conference, and Dwayne nods, assuming that Elizabeth was impressed with his peformance, but becomes annoyed and upset when Elizabeth specifically mentions his loss against Raven in the finals. She then goes onto criticize Dwayne's performance against Raven's Cinderace, and Dwayne becomes infuriated by the young girl's sharp comments, and says that watching from the TV was easier than actually participating in the battle, and Elizabeth smugly remarks that if she was in his place, Raven wouldn't have had stood a chance, making Dwayne even more irate, who recalls why he rarely spent time with Elizabeth during his childhood: because of her sharp tongue.

Dwayne has had enough of Elizabeth's comments and orders her to call out the Gym Leader. Elizabeth sassily replies that Dwayne couldn't order her around, and smugly remarks that she wouldn't take orders from someone who lost at the Johto League, startling Dwayne, whose anger continues to grow. Dwayne then spitefully picks up Elizabeth and puts him on the side, spitefully remarking that a kid who couldn't even own a Pokémon shouldn't butt in "official Trainer business", which infuriates Elizabeth, as she and Dwayne engage in a shouting match. At that moment, Layla peers through a window and returns with two other people, Gwendolyn and Jethro. Layla, unimpressed, asks why Elizabeth was bothering Dwayne, and Elizabeth says that she wasn't doing anything, and Gwendolyn, aware of her youngest daughter's sassiness, gives Dwayne permission to give her a spanking if necessary, and Dwayne's evil grin causes Elizabeth to run away.

After everyone calms down, Dwayne exchanges pleasentries with Gwendolyn and Jethro, who remark on his growth and praise him reaching the finals of the Silver Conference. Hearing this, Elizabeth mumbles that Dwayne still lost, but Dwayne's glare of fury causes her to shut up immediately. Jethro asks to see which starter Pokémon Layla chose, and she sends out Torchic. Elizabeth is disappointed that Layla picked Torchic, and states that she would have picked Treecko, angering Torchic, who starts pecking her, much to Dwayne's amusement. Gwendolyn doesn't mind the extra company, so Dwayne decides to enjoy lunch with the family.

When Dwayne arrived in Rustboro City for a Gym battle, Elizabeth runs into him while on a field trip at the Trainers' School, sarcastically remarking that she knew he would eventually have to return to school because of his awful training, which irritates Dwayne. Roxanne quickly settles her students before ordering them back to the Pokémon Trainers' School. Dwayne then tells Elizabeth that he was there to challenge the Rustboro Gym, and Roxanne is pleasantly surprised to learn that Dwayne is a Gym challenger, admitting that the Rustboro Gym is next door to the academy. With that, Dwayne decides a detour to the school is in order.

Back at the school, Roxanne presents Dwayne as an elite Trainer to her students, and another student named Tommy asks whether Dwayne was indeed a good Trainer, Dwayne remarks that he competed in both the Indigo and Johto Leagues, which impresses the other students, although Elizabeth sassily remarks that he lost on both occasions. Tommy then laughs and says that Dwayne was utterly pathetic if he couldn't win the League, and this triggers Elizabeth into fiercely defending him, lashing out at Tommy for insulting Dwayne, and remarks that Tommy himself wouldn't make it past the preliminaries, and says that Dwayne reached the finals of the Johto League. Dwayne becomes both surprised and confused at Elizabeth defending him with such ferocity, always believing that she thought the same as Tommy.

Subsequently, Elizabeth and Tommy continuously kept arguing, over Tommy's bullying over their classmate Kenny over the latter's fear of Pokémon, and when Tommy purposely stepped on a Poliwag's tail just as Kenny was trying to pet to overcome his fear, Elizabeth accuses Tommy of deliberately stepping on Poliwag's tail, but he refutes it. Tommy pokes his tongue out at Elizabeth, immediately antagonizing her.

Later on, during the Beginner's Class battle practice, Tommy and Elizabeth square off. Roxanne offers six Poké Balls for a one-on-one battle between the two. When the battle begins, Tommy has Magby while Elizabeth has Poliwag, putting Elizabeth with the type advantage. As Elizabeth is contemplating his battle options, Tommy makes the first move with a Flamethrower attack. Elizabeth counters with Water Sport, weaking any and all Fire-type attacks. When Tommy tries another Flamethrower, Elizabeth has Poliwag use Belly Drum. With its Attack power increased to the maximum, Elizabeth waits for Tommy to make another move, and Magby uses Flamethrower again, Elizabeth orders Poliwag to dodge and use Pound, which instantly knocks out Magby, giving Elizabeth the win.

Tommy recalls Magby and blames it for the loss, but Roxanne cuts him off and scolds him for placing the blame upon the Pokémon. Dwayne also joins in and says that Tommy would make an awful Trainer if he always blamed his Pokémon for any and all losses, and says that even when losing, a Trainer should assure their Pokémon that they did their best, otherwise the Pokémon would eventually resent them. This finally seems to resonate with Tommy, who mumbles an apology while looking down in shame. Roxanne says that Tommy would have a lot to learn, but says she believed in him, and Tommy thanks her for the reassurance. Elizabeth then walks over and offers him a handshake, saying despite their differences, she enjoyed their battle. Tommy accepts the handshake and says she indeed battled well.

The next day, Elizabeth and her classmates were allowed to spectate the Gym battle between Dwayne and Roxanne, and Elizabeth was seen cheering for Dwayne all throughout and was happy to witness his victory over Roxanne, earning him the Stone Badge. Then, Dwayne bids Roxanne, Elizabeth, and the other students goodbye as he departs from the Gym.

Sometime later, Elizabeth greets her sister as she decided to a pay visit home, greeting her at the doorstep, but she quickly changes to a suspicious tone when Layla asks about their father. Layla is left utterly confused, but before she can say anything, Gwendolyn comes and greets her. She too is acting suspicious and invites Layla inside to enjoy some lunch. Layla eats and brags about her journey. Layla then talks about her recent adventures, and mentions that she met up with Dwayne, and asks about her father, which causes Gwendolyn to tense up and hold back her anger. Elizabeth then quickly steers her off that subject by asking about her recent captures. Layla mentions having recently caught a Beautifly, but this only infuriates Gwendolyn more.

Elizabeth quickly steps in, through Layla mentions that Beautifly helped her to win some Gym battles. Gwendolyn is now nearly losing her temper, though she turns around and pretends that nothing is amiss. Soon after, Elizabeth takes Layla into the greenhouse to explain the situation. She begins to warn Layla that this may give her a nasty shock, and whispers that rumor has it that Jethro has been visiting the Pokémon Center a lot recently and is having an affair with the local Nurse Joy. Layla refutes Elizabeth's claims, adding that a lot of people visit the Pokémon Center. Elizabeth then adds that Gwendolyn has been frustrated with the situation, and the mention of “Beautifly” really angers her. Inside the house, Gwendolyn is busy packing her possessions and places a photograph of her and Jethro surrounded by Beautifly facedown. Dwayne suddenly arrives at the greenhouse, interrupting the secret conversation.

Dwayne informs them that he saw Jethro at the Center talking to Nurse Joy, though the information only alarms Elizabeth and Layla. However, this only fuels Layla into wanting to solve this situation and orders everyone to follow her towards the Pokémon Center, although Dwayne remains confused as to why, and Elizabeth says she would explain it to him later. Layla, Elizabeth, and Dwayne enter the lobby and they’re all shocked to see Jethro speaking with Nurse Joy. Jethro notices everyone and happily greets them. Layla and Elizabeth are unable to speak to their father, while Dwayne remains confused as to what was happening, and Elizabeth pulls him down and whispers to his ear about the situation, and Dwayne almost freaks out, but gets slapped in the back of the head by Elizabeth, who demands him to keep quiet. Dwayne decides to subtly confront Jethro, adding that Gwendolyn is worried sick at home about him, but suddenly, a very angry Gwendolyn, with her suitcase in hand, arrives at the Center and reveals she is leaving.

Jethro doesn't explain still, and Gwendolyn repeats that she is going somewhere else. Jethro, however, remains dense, asking her if she needed help with her bags, causing everyone to become dumbfounded at him. Dwayne eventually explains the rumored situation to Jethro and Nurse Joy, and the tale takes the pair aback. Gwendolyn reiterates that she cannot forgive him for being unfaithful, especially on the day of their wedding anniversary. Dwayne and Elizabeth urge Gwendolyn and Jethro to figure things out, but Layla demands that they give Jethro the benefit of the doubt. Gwendolyn understands Layla's idolization for her father, but is still set on leaving. Though Jethro smirks, before explaining that there has been a big misunderstanding. He calls for everyone to head back home where they can figure things out.

By nightfall, Jethro explains that Nurse Joy was helping him with a gift for Gwendolyn, and Joy sets off the machine, and Beautifly-shaped fireworks are shot into the air. Joy also apologizes about being secretive, but she reveals that Jethro knew that she is also a fireworks technician. He wanted to arrange a special gift for Gwendolyn to celebrate their anniversary, with the Beautifly fireworks commemorating that day in the flower field with all the Beautifly. Gwendolyn begins to cry, and apologizes to her husband for her suspicions, and wishes him a happy anniversary as they kiss. Dwayne sighs in relief that everything worked out well in the end, and mumbles to himself to never try as hard as Jethro did, as Jethro's kind gesture almost resulted in the end of his marriage, and jokes that he was surprised that Gwendolyn didn't just beat him to a pulp instead of simply deciding to leave.

The next day, Dwayne enters the Petalburg Gym, ready for his battle against Gwendolyn. Gwendolyn tells him that she's been waiting for another fight with Dwayne ever since their last battle, and Dwayne says he's more than willing to take Gwendolyn up on her offer. Watching from the sidelines, Layla says she's excited to see how the match turns out. Elizabeth tells her that their mother is certain to win. Jethro tells her that she should just relax and enjoy the match without worrying about the final result, but Elizabeth remains adamant that Gwendolyn would win. Ultimately, however, Elizabeth can only stare in disbelief as Dwayne successfully defeats her mother to win the match. Later, Gwendolyn presents Dwayne with the Balance Badge – however, before she can give it away, Elizabeth grabs it and runs away. Locking herself in the Gym's greenhouse, Elizabeth tells everybody gathered outside that it was unacceptable for her mother to lose the match and that it's not okay for a Trainer like her to lose in a Pokémon battle.

Gwendolyn tells her that losing is just as important as winning and that sometimes life's most important lessons are learned through losing. Dwayne tells Elizabeth that he really doesn't need the Badge, beating Gwendolyn in a fight taught him enough that he'd be satisfied without one. Touched by their words, Elizabeth comes out and gives the Badge back, but not demanding Dwayne to eventually win the Hoenn League, otherwise his victory over Gwendolyn would've been for nothing, and Dwayne assures her that he would win no matter what.

Elizabeth and her parents later watch the Ever Grande Conference through their television, rooting for both Dwayne and Layla. When the two Trainers ultimately end up meeting in battle, Gwendolyn notes that Layla seemed depressed, and Jethro comments that she was probably sad to be facing Dwayne so early in the tournament, and Elizabeth correctly theorises that Layla was actually upset to have to face Dwayne at all.

## **Character**

Elizabeth is an extremely sassy, sarcastic, direct, stubborn, and confrontational individual, described as having an extremely sharp tongue, unafraid to speak her mind and let others know whenever she was displeased. She particularly enjoyed teasing Dwayne, whom Elizabeth aimed most of her sarcasm towards, seen as after years without seeing each other, Elizabeth was quick to poke fun at his defeat at the Johto League Silver Conference and sarcastically criticizing his performance at the tournament.

As a result of her constant mockery at his expense, Dwayne genuinely believed that Elizabeth had something against him, but never bothered to figure out why. In reality, however, Elizabeth genuinely cares about him and considers him a very close friend, seen as when Tommy began maliciously mocking Dwayne after Elizabeth herself made one of her usual sarcastic remarks at his expense, Elizabeth angrily and fiercely defended Dwayne, stating that Tommy would never compare to Dwayne as a Pokémon Trainer, which completely caught Dwayne off-guard. Elizabeth later admitted that she views Dwayne as an elder brother of sorts, and her constant teasing was her way to show affection, as she rarely acted this way towards anyone else.

Elizabeth holds her parents in extremely high regards, especially her mother, as during Dwayne's Petalburg Gym battle against Gwendolyn, Elizabeth was adamant that her mother would defeat Dwayne in battle, and was shocked into disbelief after witnessing her mother's defeat, to the point of being unable to accept Dwayne's victory and snatching the Balance Badge just as Gwendolyn was about to give it to Dwayne, but after Gwendolyn and Dwayne convinced her that losing was part of becoming a great Trainer, Elizabeth was finally able to accept her mother wasn't perfect and return the Badge, apologizing for her behavior.

Despite not being old enough to become an official Pokémon Trainer, Elizabeth's knowledge about Pokémon battling and their attributes are far advanced compared to her peers, due to her mother's teachings. This was shown during her practice battle against Tommy at the Pokémon Trainers' School, where Elizabeth used a combination of status moves to weaken Tommy's Magby's attack, while increasing her Poliwag's own attack power, to score an easy and quick victory.

## **Pokémon**

### **Borrowed**

Poliwag's known moves are Water Sport, Belly Drum, and Pound.