Tom's Garchomp

Garchomp
Gender	Male
Special Ability	Sand Veil
Other Abilities	Blocking attacks using only his fins, flight
Location captured	Mount Coronet
Current Location	Professor Rowan's lab

Garchomp was the final Pokémon Tom Norton caught in Sinnoh. As a Gabite he was disobedient but after Tom protected him from Hunter J's freeze ray, he evolved into Garchomp, defeated J's Salamence and Drapion by himself, and became loyal to his trainer.

Biography

Sinnoh

Gabite challenging Tom inside Mount Coronet.

Gabite was found in a cave in Mount Coronet where he picked a fight with Tom's Riolu. Easily defeating Riolu Gabite, disappointed by the lack of a worthy opponent, demanded a rematch. Tom sent out his more experienced Spiritomb who weakened Gabite enough for Tom to catch him. However Gabite refused to obey Tom's commands.

By the time Tom arrived at Sunyshore City, Gabite was still stubbornly disobedient. His arrogance caused him to lose to Volkner's Electivire and cost Tom the battle. Gabite started sulking about his defeat but while Tom trained for a rematch, Pokémon Hunter J attacked them. After freezing or defeating five of Tom's Pokémon, Tom protected Gabite from her freeze ray. This act caused Gabite to gain respect for his trainer and he evolved into Garchomp before defeating J's Salamence and Drapion all by himself. J was captured and sent to prison and Tom was freed. During the rematch with Volkner, Garchomp defeated Electivire, taking an Ice Punch in the process, and then defeated Luxray. Volkner's Raichu managed to defeat Garchomp with an Iron Tail to the head but then Tom's Riolu battled Raichu and evolved into Lucario, winning the battle.

During the Lily of the Valley Conference, Garchomp became the first Pokémon to defeat Tobias' Darkrai, taking an Ice Beam and blocking a Hyper Beam with his powerful fins before knocking it out with Dragon Rush. Garchomp then battled Latios, deflecting Luster Purge and managing to hit Latios with Dragon Rush. Latios dodged Draco Meteor but was hit by Dragon Claw before using Recover to restore his energy. In frustration Garchomp learned Giga Impact which collided with Latios' Giga Impact resulting in a massive explosion. Latios, who had restored most of his strength with Recover, managed to endure the explosion but Garchomp fainted.

Kanto

Garchomp fought on the Indigo Plateau against Jonas' powerful Hypno and Kangaskhan. He smashed Hypno's Reflect and Light Screen with Brick Break and then knocked it out with Dragon Rush. Kangaskhan endured a hit from Garchomp's Brick Break and confused him with Dizzy Punch. Garchomp then took a brutal pounding from Kangaskhan's Outrage but regained his wits and used Draco Meteor causing severe damage. Kangaskhan snapped out of her own confusion caused by Outrage in time to see Garchomp preparing to use Giga Impact. Kangaskhan used her own Giga Impact and endured the resulting explosion but Garchomp collapsed from exhaustion.

After losing to Kangaskhan, Garchomp stayed with Tom until he got back to Sinnoh.

Johto

Garchomp later returned to battle Clair's Dragonair who evolved into Dragonite as soon as Garchomp was brought onto the battlefield. Garchomp was revealled to have learned Fire Fang and since Dragonite wasn't used to its new form it was unable to beat him due to him being in his final form for considerably longer. After a feirce battle Dragonite was defeated by Giga Impact.

Garchomp remained with Tom on his journey to the Silver Conference. In one of the early battles, Garchomp defeated all three of his opponents Pokémon which were a Shelgon, a Sceptile and an Aggron. He didn't battle in the next round due to exhaustion but in one of the six on six battles he defeated a Charizard. Garchomp was not used during Tom's battle with Kayla.

Hoenn

Garchomp was used briefly in Hoenn when Tom travelled to Sky Pillar after hearing rumours that Rayquaza had landed there. Garchomp proved to be powerful enough to hold his own against the Legendary Pokémon and caused a lot of damage before the furious Rayquaza defeated him with Outrage. After Garchomp was defeated Tom nearly fell to his death after being knocked off Sky Piller by Rayquaza's Hyper Beam but was rescued by a wild Altaria whom he captured soon afterwards. Garchomp returned to Rowan's lab after being used to defeat Altaria.

Battle Frontier

Garchomp was later used to battle Tucker's Salamence and Swampert in the Battle Dome. Fighting alongside Lucario, Garchomp was eventually put at a disadvantage when Lucario was defeated by Swampert's Hydro Pump. However whilst Garchomp was shielding himself from Hydro Pump, Salamence attempted to use Hyper Beam on him from behind. Garchomp leapt into the air and the Hyper Beam slammed into Swampert and knocked it out, leaving Salamence to battle Garchomp alone. Without the aid of its partner, Salamence was unable to defeat Garchomp and was defeated by Giga Impact.

Unova

Garchomp was one of the Pokémon Tom used during his battle with Iris, where he was revealled to have learned Flamethrower. He defeated Dragonite and Iris' own Garchomp and hurt Excadrill badly with Brick Break before finally fainting when Dragon Rush collided with Drill Run, although he knocked Excadrill out at the same time.

Personality

As a Gabite, Garchomp was stubborn, disobedient and rather immature, sulking after being defeated by Volkner's Electivire. He never listened to Tom's commands but after realising that his trainer was willing to risk his own safety to protect his Pokémon, Gabite gained respect for him and after he evolved into Garchomp, he always listened to Tom's orders.

Garchomp was arguably Tom's most powerful fighter and loved to battle. He was able to block almost any Special Attack, simply by using his massive fins as a shield. His determination was shown during his battle with Tobias' Latios; despite being weakened by Darkrai and Latios' ability to use Recover, Garchomp did everything he could to defeat the Legendary Pokémon, even learning Giga Impact but eventually lost the battle. Garchomp was shown to have matured and no longer sulked after losing.

Garchomp was somewhat sexist and confident he could defeat Jonas' Kangaskhan. After losing the battle, Garchomp gained more respect for females. He treated Tom's Altaria with respect and it was implied that he was attracted to her. Although Garchomp had gotten over his sexism he was still rather arrogant, thinking he was powerful enough to defeat even the Legendary Pokémon Rayquaza. Even after being defeated by the Sky High Pokémon, Garchomp was still very confident in his abilities. Considering Garchomps ability to frequently defeat multiple Pokémon in a row his confidence was justified.

Moves

• Dragon Rush

  

  Dragon Rush

• Draco Meteor
• Brick Break
• Fire Blast
• Flamethrower
• Giga Impact
• Fire Fang
• Dragon Breath
• Dragon Claw
• Crunch
• Dig

Trivia

• Tom's Garchomp is very similar to Cynthia's Garchomp and constantly blocks attacks with his fins as well as using many of the same moves. One thing that sets him apart from Cynthia's Garchomp is their different genders.
• As a Gabite, Garchomp was the second Pokémon who disobeyed Tom's commands, the first being Spiritomb.
• Interestingly both times Garchomp has been defeated in a Pokémon tournament, he has been defeated by his Giga Impact colliding with another Pokémon's Giga Impact, the first being Latios and the second being Kangaskhan.
• Apart from Lucario, Garchomp is the only one of Tom's Pokémon who has defeated entire teams all by himself. However both trainers were only allowed three Pokémon.
• Apart from Lapras, Garchomp is the only one of Tom's Pokémon who has fought a wild Legendary Pokémon, nearly defeating Rayquaza before the furious Sky High Pokémon used Outrage.