Dawn's Ambipom

Dawn's Ambipom (Japanese: ヒカリのエテボース Hikari's Eteboth) was the only to be  by  during the Battle Frontier saga, and his twenty-sixth overall. Much later, she was traded to in exchange for  after Aipom showed a love for Contests and Buizel a love for battling in Throwing the Track Switch, becoming her fifth Pokémon overall.

As a wild Pokémon
Ambipom was first seen as an Aipom in Slaking Kong!, worshiping a giant with several other mountain-dwelling Pokémon. She also stole Ash's hat, much like Ash's Primeape did 428 episodes earlier, with a group of Aipom getting food to offer the Slaking. Later, Aipom joined the other Aipom, as well as several, and , to attack the giant Slaking, which turned out to be a mechanical robot made by. She then helped in returning the stolen berries to. Later, after Ash and his friends left Taylor's home, the group sees Ash's hat on a rock. After wondering who placed it there, they found out that it was Aipom, due to an apple and a flower she left with the hat. The group then continues their journey as Ash says Aipom is a cool Pokémon after all. Unknown to them, the happy Aipom was watching them from a nearby tree.

Aipom soon reappeared in the next episode, May, We Harley Drew'd Ya!, stealing the hats of the participants before making off with Ash's hat again.

In Thinning the Hoard, due to her causing too much trouble, Ash attempted to catch her. After used  to get Ash's hat back and  to weaken her more, she was still able to foil Ash's attempt to catch her.

In Channeling the Battle Zone, as well as the previous episode, after watching in the Kanto Grand Festival, Aipom became thrilled with  and challenged  and his  for a battle; as he won, Ash finally  her in front of a huge crowd.

With Ash
In Aipom and Circumstance!, Aipom became jealous of Pikachu's closeness to Ash. Aipom also seems to have a certain penchant for headgear; aside from taking Ash's and other participants' hats, Aipom wore a daisy chain on her head and put on a ceremonial crown that the locals had trouble getting off. The members of a crowd who wanted to crown, as well as Ash and his friends, attempted to remove the crown from her head so she would not become their king for a year. With the help of a Belue Berry's sourness, the crown was finally taken off. Ash then hugged Aipom and told her not to get into trouble all the time. As Ash laughed a bit when he told her this, Aipom blushed.

Aipom's gender was confirmed in the Japanese version of the said episode while Aipom was nearby gathering flowers. said, 「エイパムやっぱり女の子ね？」 Aipom is a girl after all, isn't she?. In DP048, Dawn also explicitly calls Aipom a girl, and in the dub of Steamboat Willies!, both Aipom and are referred to as girls when Dawn saw them wearing dresses and excitedly exclaimed "Buneary and Aipom you girls look so cute!", confirming them to be female.

Aipom enjoys participating in Pokémon Contests, but is also eager to battle. Her interest was first perked in Thinning the Hoard! where she took an interest in May's battle with Harley. Aipom also watched her battle with Drew before enticing Ash into catching her. While Ash had Aipom, she usually sat on his left shoulder when outside of her Poké Ball, in contrast to Pikachu sitting on his right shoulder.

In order to bring back to battle 's  in Overjoyed!, Ash sent Aipom to, where Aipom had trouble adjusting to the new environment and Ash's absence, even attacking the Professor. However, after Ash's second defeat, Aipom returned.

When Ash left for Sinnoh, he wanted to leave all of his Pokémon but behind as he did when leaving for Hoenn. However, Aipom snuck aboard the boat he was traveling on to accompany him on his new journey. Aipom proved to be necessary as a backup; as soon as they arrived, Team Rocket kidnapped Pikachu, and Aipom helped find them. During her journey through Sinnoh, Aipom defeated Paul's Chimchar in battle and helped Ash catch his.

In Mounting a Coordinator Assault!, Aipom was watching  with  for the Jubilife City Pokémon Contest and became interested in participating. Seeing as how Aipom wanted to join the competition, Dawn and convinced Ash to sign up. Ash and Aipom got through the Performance Stage, but in Arrival of a Rival!, they lost their first match in the Battle Stage to Zoey and her. After the battle, Zoey suggested that Ash should let Dawn raise Aipom.

In A Gruff Act to Follow!, Aipom put up a fight against Roark's Cranidos during Ash's Gym against Roark in the Oreburgh Gym, but lost.

In their rematch in O'er the Rampardos we Watched!, she went up against Roark's. Geodude managed to avoid a lot of damage from Aipom while countering with its attacks, but Aipom was able to connect a super effective Focus Punch and defeat Geodude. Aipom next went up against Rampardos. Aipom uses Swift, but it doesn't affect Rampardos at all. Rampardos uses Headbutt, but before Aipom could dodge it, it is hit and knocks out.

In Borrowing on Bad Faith!, Aipom entered an informal Pokémon Contest not sanctioned by the Pokémon Activities Committee under Jessie's command. It was able to advance to the final round, where it won against Dawn's Pachirisu, earning Jessie a year's supply of fruits.

In The Grass Menagerie!, Aipom was Ash's third and final Pokémon in his Eterna Gym Battle against Gardenia, she went up against Gardenia's after performing a contest like introduction. She used Double Team and began to get close to Roserade but Roserade used intending to trip Aipom up like Turtwig, although it destroyed the Double Team clones, Aipom herself was able to jump and avoid Grass Knot. Aipom then hit Roserade with, Roserade then used , but Aipom dodged by climbing on the trees. Using its vines, Roserade was able to grab Aipom using its vines. Roserade then used blinding Aipom, making her unable to hit with her Focus Punch. Roserade then hit Aipom with Magical Leaf, initially panicking, Ash was able to calm down Aipom and got her to listen with her ears instead as she was still blind. Roserade used, which was due to the , Aipom was able to listen for the Weather Ball and she then hit the Weather Ball with Focus Punch, punching it back to Roserade, dealing super-effective damage. Roserade then used Magical Leaf, but Aipom countered with Swift, opening her eyes as the effects of Flash had finished, the Swift then circled Roserade, then Aipom used Focus Punch on one of the Swift stars, knocking it into the Swift stars, causing them all to hit Roserade dealing major damage, Aipom then used the Focus Punch hitting Roserade, defeating the Bouquet Pokémon, winning Ash the.

In Throwing the Track Switch, Ash began the for his next Gym  in Veilstone City. However, seemed to be more interested in Ash's battle training and thus couldn't set his mind on Dawn's training; Meanwhile, Ash's Aipom also had a problem in Ash's training because her style tended to be best suited for Pokémon Contests. Then, Zoey proposed that Ash and Dawn trade them. After some soul-searching, the s agreed, and the trade took place.

With Dawn
In Journey to the Unown!, Aipom managed to learn Double Hit. told Dawn that Aipom would evolve soon. Later in the episode, when Dawn and Aipom were being attacked by a group of, Aipom jumped in and evolved into Ambipom.

In Team Shocker!, Dawn used Ambipom in the Performance Stage of the, but failed to advance to the Contest Battles. Zoey explained to Dawn that she failed due to an overuse of Swift, blocking Ambipom from view.

In Crossing the Battle Line!, Dawn used Ambipom in her Gym battle against Maylene. Ambipom was chosen for her extensive battling experience with Ash. She proved her strength in the battle by defeating Maylene's, making her the only Pokémon Dawn used in the match who managed to defeat one of Maylene's team. Despite this victory, Ambipom found herself unable to stand up to the strength of Maylene's Lucario and was quickly knocked out.

In Staging a Heroes Welcome, Dawn once again used Ambipom for the Performance Stage in the Wallace Cup. She managed to pass the round by dazzling the Contest Judges with Swift, Focus Punch, and Double Hit.

In Battling the Generation Gap!, Dawn used Ambipom in the Battle Stage of the Contest. Ambipom was shown defeating a and a  to advance to the finals, where she went up against Lila's. The battle started with Ambipom using Swift, which seemed to hit Delcatty. However, it was actually a decoy created through the use of while the real Delcatty sneaked behind Ambipom and wrapped himself up in her tails before using, landing a clean hit and costing Dawn some points. After that, Ambipom used Double Team and then Focus Punch, hitting Delcatty but unknowingly activating his Ability. This left Ambipom and allowed Delcatty to use  to put Ambipom to. Delcatty proceeded to hit Ambipom with, sending Ambipom flying in the air and posing in an elegant manner while she was falling. The then used Shock Wave and the attack woke Ambipom up. Ambipom used Swift but Delcatty once again avoided the attack with Substitute. This time, however, Ambipom surprised Delcatty and attacked him with Double Hit, becoming infatuated in the process.

Despite the infatuation, Ambipom was able to use Double Team. Delcatty then used Sing but Ambipom used Double Hit to defend herself from Sing and attack Delcatty at the same time—something which inspired Ash to come up with the Counter Shield. When the infatuation wore off, Ambipom used Swift while spinning around to make the golden stars swirl. Delcatty tried to avoid the attack with Substitute but failed and then used Shock Wave. When the move came into contact with the Swift stars, it formed a flat, rotating disk containing stars and dust at the center of the stage. Ambipom kept on using Swift on one side of the stage while Delcatty used Shock Wave on the other. A few seconds before time ran out, Swift broke through the disc and a massive amount of stars hit Delcatty. When the smoke cleared, Dawn was shown to have more points on the scoreboard, winning the battle and earning the Celestic Ribbon, her third Contest Ribbon overall.

In Old Rivals, New Tricks!, Ambipom was used in the Sandalstraw Town Pokémon Contest. In the Performance Stage, Dawn sent her out of her Poké Ball with a Song Seal and asked her to use Double Team followed by Focus Punch. Ambipom created multiple copies of herself and then punched all the s with her long tails, taking advantage of the Seal's effect to begin her performance. Ambipom proceeded to use Swift as if she was serving a ping pong ball. She then spun around rapidly, causing the golden stars to move in a spiraling pattern before destroying them with Double Hit, which resulted in sparkles pouring down on both Ambipom and Dawn as they posed together to mark the end of the performance. The presentation was well received by the judges and allowed Dawn to move on to the second round.

In the Battle Stage, Ambipom squared off against Jessilina's in the semifinals and managed to win the battle. She proceeded to the finals, where she found herself up against Kenny's Prinplup. The battle started with Prinplup using, which Ambipom blocked with Swift before using Double Team. After that, Prinplup used to destroy the illusory copies Ambipom had created. However, before the attack could hit the real Ambipom, Dawn had the idea to implement ping pong moves into the battle and asked Ambipom to use Focus Punch, sending the bubbles back to Prinplup. Seeing that, Kenny asked Prinplup to repel the bubbles with. The bubbles went back and forth for a while until Prinplup used Bubble Beam again. This time, instead of repelling the bubbles, Ambipom used Double Hit to destroy them. The bubbles were keeping Ambipom busy and Prinplup took the opportunity to try to attack her with Drill Peck, but Ambipom saw Prinplup coming and countered with Focus Punch. The two clashed in midair but Prinplup quickly recovered, jumping high and then using Drill Peck while nosediving and spinning. Ambipom proceeded to use Double Hit, but the move was unable to stop Prinplup. Ambipom was taken aback by this and Prinplup attacked her with another Drill Peck, knocking her out. As a result, she lost the battle.

During the Sandalstraw Contest, she discovered a love and talent for. She used this talent to compete in the Pokémon Ping Pong Tournament with Dawn in To Thine Own Pokémon Be True. Due to her obvious natural ability, fellow competitor O offered her a place at his Ping Pong Training Center in Vermilion City. Dawn left the decision to Ambipom. After deciding to pursue ping pong over her love of Pokémon Contests, Ambipom bid farewell to Dawn and Ash and left the group in order to follow her new ambition.

She was seen in a flashback as an Aipom as one of Ash's Pokémon in League Unleashed!.

Personality and characteristics
Like most of her species, Ambipom is a playful Pokémon. As an Aipom, however she behaved much like Ash's Chikorita, being mischievous, often stealing Ash's hat or other forms of headwear and even other Pokémon's food just for attention. She was also quite attached to Ash, getting jealous of his attention to, or even attacking just because Ash wasn't present. Upon her evolution, most of these traits mellowed. Ambipom had stopped stealing and became quicker to obey orders. While still loyal to Ash after being traded and evolving, she also became loyal to his friends, showing a more mature side.

Ambipom has been shown to develop different interests over time. A well known example of this is Contests. While not necessarily preferring them to Battles, she has shown great interest. She first showed interest in Contests as a wild Pokémon when watching and other Coordinators compete in Thinning the Hoard!. Her love for Contests even persuaded to participate in the  Contest.

Later, she became interested in Pokémon Ping Pong after using Ping Pong-like moves in a recent Contest. This interest, once again, ended up in Ambipom switching roads.

In the Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl manga
While still under the ownership of Ash, his Aipom appeared in the manga, which is based on the  of the anime. In Friendship Power, Ash used her in a battle against a powerful. Later, as an Ambipom, she first appears under the ownership of Dawn in Pikachu, Pinch at the Sea!.

In the TCG
While still under the ownership of Ash, his Aipom was featured in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. The following is a list of related cards.

Trivia

 * Ambipom is the first Pokémon character to be the focus of Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia twice:
 * For Leave It To Brocko!, Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia is about Ash's Aipom. He writes this about her: 「エイパムが　しっぽでつかむ　サトシのハート」 , it seizes with its tail, 's heart.
 * For Crossing Paths, Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia is about Dawn's Ambipom. He writes this senryū about her: 「エテボース　しっぽでリング　ともだちだ」 "When make rings by linking their tails, they're friends."
 * Ambipom and are the first two Pokémon to be traded between main characters.
 * Since Aipom was Ash's Pokémon before being traded to Dawn, Aipom was the only Pokémon owned by a main character that was introduced before the character.
 * Ambipom, as an Aipom, was the only Pokémon other than Pikachu that Ash has had on hand through the end of one series to the start of the next.
 * Ambipom was the first Pokémon belonging to Dawn that evolved and her first fully evolved Pokémon.
 * Ambipom is the only Pokémon of Dawn's that shares an English voice actress with her.
 * Despite leaving in To Thine Own Pokémon Be True!, Ambipom, unlike other Pokémon that left the main cast, was not removed from the opening sequence until the sequence itself was replaced over eight months later.
 * Ambipom was the first of Dawn's Pokémon to evolve by the method of knowing a certain move, the second being her.
 * Ambipom is the first recurring Pokémon to be caught by a main character.
 * Ambipom has been under the command of the most known Trainers out of all individual Pokémon in the anime, with four: Ash, Jessie, Dawn, and O.
 * Ash's capture of Aipom marked the first time Ash had caught Pokémon outside of the series its debut generation is based off.