Gwendolyn

Gwendolyn Birch (Japanese: オダマキ・グエンドリン Odamaki Guendorin), usually and affectionately referred to simply as Gwen (Japanese: グウェン Guuen), is a from  in the  region. She is the daughter of.

Background
When Gwendolyn was little, she and her parents traveled to in the  region while on vacation. While there, Gwendolyn became friends with a boy named Jethro, and the two spent many days playing together. One day, while Jethro's father,, was taking the aptitude test to become a future , Gwendolyn and Jethro were attacked by a wild while playing together. Salamence decides to charge towards them to attack, but Jethro quickly grabs Gwendolyn and pushes her out of the way.

Jethro then sends out his, and , who attack Salamence with ,  and , respectively, and cause Salamence significant damage. However, Salamence recovers and strikes Jethro with across his chest, leaving him with giant, bloody, and permanent claw-shaped scars across his torso. Jethro ignores the pain and gets Zangoose to attack with. Salamence, finally having enough, flies off. After the battle, Jethro realized that, because of his aggressiveness, he caused Gwendolyn to cry, while Gwendolyn realized that because she was weak, she caused Jethro to get hurt. Because of this, Jethro decided to focus on and a Pokémon's beauty, while Gwendolyn learned how to become stronger.

Hoenn
Gwendolyn first appears when she saves Jethro from two wild. She was, at first, mistaken by Jethro as a wild Pokémon due to her wearing a leaf bikini, and started attacking him. This hostility escalated when she learned the two had contrasting goals. Soon, they agreed to settle their rivalry with an 80-day pact, in which Gwendolyn would conquer all eight  while Jethro would collect all five Hoenn. She fainted shortly afterwards. When Gwendolyn wakes up, she discovers a letter where Jethro explains that he had made her clothes in thanks for saving his life. Initially, she is angered, but quickly realizes that in order for Jethro to have made clothes for her, he must have taken her measurements, horrifying her.

In, a crowd has gathered to watch Gwendolyn struggle to free a from a fountain. watch as begs Gwendolyn to wait for the authorities. However, Gwendolyn refuses, because it would be too late if they waited. Instead, Gwendolyn has chew the iron pillar of the fountain so she can easily rip the top part off, freeing Castform. With Castform freed, she has warm its body with its flames.

The crowd celebrates Gwendolyn's rescue of Castform, but Mr. Stone asks if her Rono is all right after eating all of the iron. Gwendolyn explains that Aron's favorite food is actually iron, and that he has a big appetite. Realizing that Mr. Stone is the president of the, Gabby has Ty go interview Gwendolyn due to it having the potential to be a great news story. Gwendolyn, not liking television, decides to turn down the interview option and leaps onto a lamppost.

Nearby, three people in maintenance personnel uniforms watch the scene in frustration. They explain to their boss via their that they had sabotaged the fountain as a trap for Mr. Stone. Since he strolls with his Pokémon here every day, the plan had been to lure him in by trapping his Pokémon in the fountain, then disguising themselves as staff and kidnapping him when they arrived to "rescue" his Castform. However, thanks to Gwendolyn's interference, they've been foiled. Their boss tells the three that while he would have preferred for them to kidnap Mr. Stone in secrecy, it still has to happen today, and that he doesn't care what they do as long as the mission is successful.

Back at Gwendolyn's location, Mr. Stone introduces himself to Gwendolyn and requests that she come to the next town with him so that he can properly express his gratitude. Gwendolyn immediately jumps down and reveals that something else is inside of the fountain. Suddenly, three Pokémon leap out of the fountain and attack. Gwendolyn sends out Aron and Torchic to battle the three Pokémon that have leaped from the broken fountain. They manage to pin down the and, but the  attacks Mr. Stone and steals a machine from his pockets before running off. The Sharpedo and Carvanha run off too, forcing Gwendolyn to chase after them with Mr. Stone being carried on her back.

As Gwendolyn, Gabby, and Ty chase after the Pokémon, they realize that the attack was too coordinated to be a coincidence, meaning that the attackers were given orders. They chase the Pokémon into the, but Gwendolyn reveals that she is much more energetic in nature, allowing her to locate the three thieves.

Noticing that one of their Pokémon is missing, Gwendolyn sees that the Lombre had snuck up behind them and it attacks Gabby and Ty. Gwendolyn tries to attack, but one of the thieves reveals that her Pokémon were injured from her Sharpedo's. But, to give them an advantage, the female thief,, gives her Lombre a to evolve into a , thus allowing it to easily defeat Sapphire's Pokémon.

The thieves reveal that Mr. Stone actually had the component to the which he was going to deliver whilst pretending to be on a stroll. Since they now have the component, the thieves prepare to kill Gwendolyn and company in order to silence her. Before Gwendolyn can react, Mr. Stone's Castform helps by giving her Torchic a boost in strength with, allowing her to beat Shelly's Ludicolo with a enhanced.

Having escaped, Gwendolyn takes the injured Mr. Stone, Gabby, and Ty to. Gabby thanks Gwendolyn for saving them, but Gwendolyn says that it was Castform who really saved them with its Sunny Day. Mr. Stone comes to, and Gwendolyn apologizes for not being able to get the component back for him. Before he faints again, Mr. Stone gives Gwendolyn a letter to give to his son,. After he falls unconscious again, Gwendolyn promises to deliver the letter to his son.

Gwendolyn then starts her first challenge at the  and opens the door, but finds no one inside. Suddenly, a bell rings and several people rush inside and start studying. Confused, Gwendolyn checks and confirms that she is at a Pokémon Gym. When Gwendolyn wonders where the is, she is told by a person entering the room that they are the Gym Leader.

At the Rustboro hospital, Gabby and Ty wonder what to do about the situation that happened with Mr. Stone. Due to broadcast regulations, they are unable to put what really happened on the news. However, they manage to use their recorded footage to find out the name of the people who attacked Mr. Stone:.

Back at the Gym, the Gym Leader,, begins giving test papers to the people that entered her Gym earlier. Believing that she is giving a lesson, Gwendolyn decides to come back at a more appropriate time. Roxanne corrects her, and reveals that in order to face her in a battle, one must take a test. Due to Gwendolyn's poor reading skills, she has to have someone read out certain words to her, but manages to finish it. Later, Roxanne is pleased to see that someone has managed to pass with full marks for the first time since she started the test. After struggling to read the poorly-written name, she is shocked to see that the winner was Gwendolyn.

Roxanne accepts her challenge and sets up a stage to start their Gym battle. They start their match, with Gwendolyn choosing Aron and Roxanne choosing. When Nosepass proves to be too strong for Aron, Gwendolyn decides to switch to Torchic, but discovers that she cannot switch Pokémon. Roxanne starts laughing, and exclaims that for Gwendolyn's Aron, there is no escape. Roxanne explains that her Nosepass has the Ability, which prevents Gwendolyn's  Aron from leaving the battle. Roxanne has her Nosepass use moves to bury Aron in a pile of rubble.

Roxanne begins bragging about her type specialty, which, despite being weak to Steel-types, has an advantage when magnetic forces are applied in the fight. Roxanne continues her strategy, which she continues to brag about how she studied hard to come up with it. Gwendolyn tries to get far away from Nosepass, preventing its magnetic force from affecting Aron, but cannot attack due to her techniques requiring physical contact.

For Roxanne, however, being far away doesn't affect her strategy, and she has Nosepass shower Gwendolyn and Aron in rubble with. Believing that she has won the battle, Roxanne opens the door outside to let the Gwendolyn out. Wind begins blowing inside, allowing Gwendolyn to find out where north is.

Aron climbs out of the rubble, revealing that he is still able to battle. Due to Nosepass being unable to face a different direction than north, it loses its balance when it turns around, allowing Aron to beat it with and give Gwendolyn the victory. Sapphire reveals that she figured out that Nosepass can only face north due to the position Roxanne started the battle in. Gwendolyn tells Roxanne that she shouldn't spend all her time reading books, as nature can tell people things that books cannot.

Roxanne understands, and presents Gwendolyn her first Gym Badge: the. As Roxanne clips the Badge to Gwendolyn's pack, Gwendolyn decides to go to and deliver the letter to Steven. In Dewford Town, Steven Stone talks to via Pokégear about the near-completion of the Submarine Explorer 1 and prepares to do something after investigating.

Gwendolyn sits perched on a lamppost, whistling out at the ocean. Roxanne finally catches up to her and says she's not through explaining about Gym Badges, then demands to know where Gwendolyn is going in such a hurry. Gwendolyn says she's headed to Dewford Town and will use a Pokémon to get there—a that she borrowed from her father. Wailord appears and Gwendolyn leaps onto its back, telling it to take her to Dewford, and as they swim away, Roxanne tries to yell across the water the full explanation about Gym Badges and the.

Meanwhile in Team Aqua's hideout,, and  stand at attention as their boss, , congratulates them on successfully stealing the heart component of the Submarine Explorer 1. He promotes them to sub-leaders and gives them each a vest to mark their new position, but also warns that he hasn't forgiven them for allowing themselves to be seen by Gwendolyn, Gabby, and Ty during their mission. He says he expects they know what to do about it, and they agree.

Gwendolyn approaches Dewford Town while riding on Wailord. Wailord sneezes, which accidentally sends a wave of water rushing to the people swimming at the beach. Suddenly, a man and his come in and they surf on the wave. After they finish, Gwendolyn comes in and apologizes for the wave that Wailord created. The man says that it was alright, since the wave Wailord created was a good one. He reveals that he was training his Makuhita, despite it being a and not a, by teaching it the power of Jū, a fighting style that uses the energy in one's body to fight.

The man reveals himself to be, the Gym Leader of the , and that he hopes remembers what he told her in their upcoming match. Due to Brawly being busy, Gwendolyn is forced to wait until the next day to have her Gym battle, so she walks around waiting. As she does, Jethro and dock in Dewford Town, where the two Trainers meet up once again. Mr. Briney introduces himself to Gwendolyn and learns about the bet between her and Jethro. Seeing that Gwendolyn is wearing the clothes he made for her, Jethro is happy to see that she has "joined civilization", which angers her. Gwendolyn asks Jethro how many he won, but after learning he hasn't won a single one, she brags to him about her recent  acquisition. The two quickly get into another argument about their training styles, but quickly go to after saying goodbye to Mr. Briney. Upon entering the cave, the two split up after discovering a fork in the area.

Gwendolyn prepares with Torchic and Aron for her upcoming Gym battle. She has the two of them fight the wild, , and  living in the cave. From their brief conversation earlier, Gwendolyn knows that if she fought Brawly as she is now, she'd lose the fight. She apologizes to Mr. Stone for not delivering the letter immediately, but since it's the only time she can fight Brawly, she has to finish tonight.

Later, Gwendolyn arrives at the Dewford Gym, where she finds Brawly waiting for her inside. The two start their match, with Brawly sending out his. However, he does not see what Pokémon Gwendolyn sent, as Gwendolyn immediately orders. Machop barely dodges the attack from Gwendolyn's new Pokémon, a. Brawly is surprised, since this was quick and sudden. Gwendolyn sends her, who also evolved, then asks Brawly to send his secret weapon. Brawly calls Machop back and grants her request, sending his Makuhita. Gwendolyn yells out and, but neither attack seems to hit Makuhita. Instead, Makuhita throws Lairon away.

Brawly commends Makuhita, telling Gwendolyn like the wave, she shouldn't fight the force, but ride it. Seeing Lairon wounded, Gwendolyn calls it back. Brawly sees though Gwendolyn trained Lairon well, it is still not enough to defeat the secret of jū. Gwendolyn sends Combusken, who uses. Brawly laughs, for attacks are less effective due to Makuhita's  Ability. Makuhita throws Combusken away onto the wall. Gwendolyn is shocked, as Brawly can counter any of her attacks. Gwendolyn thinks there is more to jū. She explains she was raised in the woods, she climbed tall trees with the vine. She explains should one accumulate enough energy, the vine can be binded. She is certain Makuhita has been storing energy, since it never attacked directly, only repelling attacks.

Brawly commends on her correct answer, for Makuhita has been storing energy to evolve into a. Brawly has Gwendolyn in a tight spot, as his Hariyama goes to finish Combusken, whose hand got stuck in the wall. Hariyama strikes, while Combusken uses his leg to block the attack and both exchange attacks. Brawly tells Gwendolyn he won due to Hariyama's. Gwendolyn disagrees, as Hariyama falls down, defeated. Brawly is shocked, seeing two bruises on Hariyama. Gwendolyn knows well if Combusken were to attack Hariyama, she would lose due to Counter. However, Gwendolyn knew that and had Combusken use, allowing it to attack once more.

Gwendolyn knew well Brawly would use Hariyama's most powerful attack, so she had Combusken use that move. Brawly still wonders how she knew Makuhita would evolve. Gwendolyn replies that usually Gym Leaders don't reveal too much of their strategies, though Brawly already told her much. Gwendolyn thought he was hiding something and suspected there was a reason to come tonight. Brawly is surprised, but gives Gwendolyn her reward, the. Suddenly, a noise is heard from the nearby cave, so Gwendolyn speeds up, thinking of Jethro. Brawly stops her, warning that even if Gwendolyn trained there, there are still dangerous Pokémon inside Granite Cave. Gwendolyn replies a fool is inside the cave. Brawly asks if her friend is inside the cave, but Gwendolyn denies Jethro is her friend.

Brawly understands that, for he would also do anything for a friend. He also has a friend, whom he trained together and mastered gō. At any rate, Brawly bids her farewell, as he has to go on an expedition. Gwendolyn climbs up and finds Jethro on the Granite Cave. Jethro taunts her, thinking this is where she is looking for breakfast: grass and pebble soup. Gwendolyn yells out, replying she was looking for him, thinking Jethro is in danger. Jethro replies he was fighting with a man named Steven.

Gwendolyn is shocked and asks where he went. Jethro replies he went out to sea, so Gwendolyn grabs Jethro and runs off, hoping she may be able to catch up with him. Gwendolyn and Jethro land on Wailord and Gwendolyn commands Wailord to hurry up... TO BE CONTINUED

Hoenn Badges
This listing is of the Gwendolyn has obtained in the :