Pastoria City Pokémon Gym Leader: Crasher Wake
The Torrential Masked Master!
The Pastoria Gym is a large indoor swimming pool with numerous floating platforms. Switches on the floor of the pool raise and lower the water between three levels. To get to the Gym Leader, the switches must be hit in a certain order so that a path will be formed with the floating platforms.
Like most Water-type Gyms in Pokémon the Series, the Gym's battlefield is featured as a pool with several floating platforms on it for non-swimming Pokémon.
The Pastoria Gym debuted in Cream of the Croagunk Crop!, where Ash tried to challenge the Gym, but Crasher Wake told him that he was going to be one of the judges at the Pastoria Croagunk Festival, and thus couldn't accept Ash's challenge at the moment.
The Gym reappeared in A Crasher Course in Power!, where Ash faced Crasher Wake in a 3-on-3 battle, which culminated in Ash's Buizel facing off against Wake's powerhouse, Floatzel. Buizel was eventually able to defeat its evolved form, earning Ash the Fen Badge.
The first Pokémon used by Crasher Wake during the Gym battle against Ash was his Gyarados which went up against Pikachu. Gyarados showed its strength by standing up to Pikachu's Thunderbolt, but was defeated when Pikachu combined the speed it picked up by falling alongside a Volt Tackle.
Crasher Wake used Quagsire as his second Pokémon during his Gym battle against Ash, and it proved itself to be very tricky, able to counteract Turtwig's high speed with its excellent hearing and as Quagsire had attacks perfectly suited to battle Grass-types, Ash was forced to recall it.
Quagsire next went up against Buizel and although Quagsire was able to absorb Buizel's Sonic Booms with its bulky body, it was knocked out by the sheer force of Ice Aqua Jet.
Floatzel is Crasher Wake's main Pokémon. He was introduced right after Ash's Buizel got into a fight with Pikachu. Upon seeing his evolved form, Buizel became hyped up for battle and a chance to prove himself to Ash.
Floatzel seems to know many different defensive techniques to guard himself from attacks such as inflating the flotation sac around his body and blocking with his fin. He also knows a variety of different and powerful moves. Crasher Wake claimed that Floatzel is powerful enough to endure even a Giga Impact by using his flotation sac. At one point he used his flotation sac to reflect Buizel's Water Pulse back at him, confusing him. Later in the battle he used Ice Fang to freeze part of Pikachu's back. Despite all this, he lost to Buizel after Buizel fired a Water Pulse attack at him which sent him crashing into the ceiling and getting knocked out.
The Pastoria Gym first appeared in A Skuffle with Skorupi, where Platinum entered the Gym in order to challenge it. However, since her only Pokémon were Empoleon and Ponyta, a Sailor working as a Gym Trainer suggested she'd try to catch some new Pokémon at the Great Marsh before challenging the Gym.
Although she failed to catch a single new Pokémon at the Great Marsh, Platinum nevertheless challenged the Gym in Crafty Carnivine and Floatzel and Jetsam, using her Empoleon and Diamond's borrowed Torterra, Tru, against Crasher Wake's Floatzel and Quagsire. With some clever thinking and good timing, Platinum was able to defeat the Gym Leader and earn herself a Fen Badge.
Floatzel was the first Pokémon sent against Platinum, going up against her Empoleon in the Gym's pool. Both Pokémon demonstrated great speed, but Floatzel was eventually hit by a Vacuum Wave, sending him flying and defeating him.
Quagsire was the second and last Pokémon chosen by Wake to go against Platinum and her Empoleon. Both Pokémon started by using Blizzard, and kept using it until Empoleon collapsed from exhaustion. Quagsire next faced Diamond's Torterra, Tru. After tossing it into the pool, Quagsire prepared to attack Tru as soon as he surfaced. However, Platinum surprised Wake by swimming behind him before surfacing, allowing Tru to defeat Quagsire with Giga Drain, thus making Platinum the winner.
The Pastoria Gym made a brief appearance in Dialga's Secret Keys, showing Hareta defeating Crasher Wake and earning the Fen Badge.
In the TCG
The following is a list of cards mentioning or featuring Pastoria City Gym in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
Pokémon in Pastoria Gym 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.
