Tomo's First Gym Battle

After Paul and Roark's gym battle, the gang went to the Pokemon Center so Ash and Tomo could decide what Pokemon they'll use. Roark and Paul were there to get their Pokemon healed. Unfortunately Paul gave his Azumarill to a little boy; he wasn't happy with Azumarill's results at the gym and didn't want to keep it. Ash wasn't happy with that but didn't say anything. Then Paul left to head to the next gym.

Tomo and Ash eventually decided what Pokemon to use.

"So have you two decided yet?" Dawn asked the two brothers.

"Yes, I'm going with Pelipper, Croconaw and Poliwrath." Tomo said.

"I've decided to use Piplup, Masquerain and Riolu." Ash said.

Riolu wanted to battle and despite being young he was already independent.

Soon it was time for Tomo to battle Roark. The rules were the same with it being a 3 on 3 Pokemon battle.

"Will Tomo be okay considering when Roark battled Paul?" Dawn asked.

"Dawn, Tomo has battled lots of different trainers during our journeys." Ash said. "He is ready for this."

"Ash is right." Brock added.

Roark sent his Geodude out first and then Tomo sent his Pelipper out. Brock pointed out to Dawn that even though Pelipper was a water type, it's also a flying type. So Geodude's Rock Throw could do serious damage.

"Use Hidden Power." Roark told Geodude.

Pelipper dodged it and used Water Gun. Dawn could see that Tomo did know what he was doing.

"Geodude, Rock Throw." Roark said.

Geodude started to throw rocks at Pelipper.

"Cut through that with Steel Wing." Tomo said.

Pelipper broke the rocks with Steel Wing and then struck Geodude with the move. Geodude couldn't any more after that and fainted.

"You see now Dawn?" Ash said. "Even though this is Tomo's first official gym battle, he knows what to do because of everything he's learned during our travels."

Dawn did understand now.

Roark returned Geodude and sent Onix out next.

"Pelipper, use Water Gun again." Tomo said.

As it fired Water Gun again, Onix used Screech. Not only did it stop Water Gun, it threw Pelipper off balance because of the noise.

"Now Onix, Double-Edge." Roark said.

Onix tackled Pelipper really hard with Double-Edge. Pelipper was injured, but could continue battling.

"Pelipper, use Roost." Tomo said.

Pelipper recovered thanks to Roost.

"What move did Pelipper use?" Dawn asked.

"Roost. It restores a Pokemon's energy just like the move Recover." Brock explained.

"Okay Pelipper, use Hydro Pump." Tomo said.

Pelipper fired Hydro Pump, but Onix dodged it and slammed Pelipper with it's tail. Pelipper fainted after that, so it was now 2 to 2.

Tomo returned Pelipper and sent Poliwrath out.

"What a Pokemon." Dawn said, looking it up on her Pokedex.

There were clearly a lot of Pokemon Dawn hadn't seen before.

"Onix, use Slam." Roark said.

"Dodge and use Hydro Pump, Poliwrath." Tomo said.

Poliwrath avoided being hit by Onix and then fired Hydro Pump. Onix was hit by the attack and instantly fainted.

"Wow out with one hit." Dawn said.

"Tomo's had Poliwrath ever since it was a Poliwag and he's trained his Pokemon well just like Ash has." Brock explained.

"The more you train your Pokemon Dawn, the stronger they become." Ash said.

Roark was down to his last Pokemon, Cranidos.

"Poliwrath, use Submission." Tomo said.

Poliwrath rolled towards Cranidos.

"Zen Headbutt, Cranidos." Roark said.

"Since Zen Headbutt is a psychic type move, Poliwrath's in trouble." Ash said.

The two Pokemon collided with each other and fell back.

"Use Zen Headbutt Cranidos." Roark said.

Cranidos headbutted Poliwrath really hard before it was able to do anything.

"Use Bubble Beam Poliwrath." Tomo said.

Poliwrath fired a lot of bubbles, but Cranidos dodged them and headbutted Poliwrath with Zen Headbutt again. This time Poliwrath wasn't able to take anymore and fainted. So Tomo was down to one final Pokemon as well.

"That Cranidos really is something." Ash said.

He was thinking that he wanted to have a Cranidos as well.

Tomo returned his Poliwrath and sent out his Croconaw. Roark had seen now that Tomo had just been using water type Pokemon this whole time.

"Cranidos, Zen Headbutt." He ordered.

"Scary Face, Croconaw." He said.

Croconaw's eyes glowed red and made a really scary, angry looking face. Cranidos was frightened by that and stopped using Zen Headbutt. Dawn was frightened by it too.

"I'd hate to get on Croconaw's bad side." She said.

"Croconaw, Hydro Pump." Tomo commanded.

Cranidos was hit by a stream of blue water.

"Now use Aqua Tail." Tomo said.

Croconaw struck Cranidos with a watery tail and it fainted. So Tomo won the gym battle.

Tomo was happy with his victory.

"That was good for your first gym battle Tomo. Very good." Ash said.

"I must admit it was fun." Tomo said.

Roark gave Tomo the Coal Badge and he placed it in his badge case. Roark then turned to Ash.

"I know you want to challenge me too Ash." He said. "But can we do it tomorrow. My Pokemon need to rest and I need to get some work done at Oreburgh Museum and Oreburgh Mine."

"I can wait." Ash said. "Could we come visit the Oreburgh Mine and Museum please?"

The others wanted to visit the museum and mine too. Roark agreed with the request, so Ash's battle with him was tomorrow.