Ash's Donphan
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Ash's Donphan (Japanese: サトシのドンファン Satoshi's Donfan) was the sixth Pokémon obtained by Ash during his travels through Johto.
History
Johto
Ash received a Phanpy egg as a prize in the episode Extreme Pokémon! after he and Bayleef won a race hosted by an old couple who were breeders.
It hatched in the episode Hatching a Plan!. It was shown to be a very playful and energetic Pokémon, refusing to be returned to its Poké Ball, only to be snatched by Team Rocket. Pikachu rescued Phanpy, but the electricity scared the baby Pokémon away. It ran into the clutches of Team Rocket again, who used Meowth to deceive Phanpy and hatch a plot to capture Pikachu. After this plan succeeds, Team Rocket double crossed Phanpy and stuck it in a cage, only for Pikachu to hatch an escape plan and Ash to come to the rescue, selflessly diving into the river to rescue Phanpy. It was then used Rollout to knock back Team Rocket's Pokémon for Pikachu to send them blasting off. It was unable to replicate this success in the next episode, where Team Rocket used Delibird's Blizzard to knock out Phanpy in a single blow.
In As Cold as Pryce, Phanpy battled Pryce's Dewgong and lost easily, but it did slightly better in battle with Nelson's Misdreavus in Entei At Your Own Risk, managing to use Defense Curl to block a Swift, but was hit and confused by Psybeam. Team Rocket interrupted the battle and left it without conclusion.
In Pop Goes the Sneasel, Phanpy joined Harrison's Houndoom in taking down a rogue Machop with Rollout whilst recovering the stolen Sacred Fire for the Johto League opening ceremony.It also helped him get through the screening phases of the Silver Conference.
Phanpy played a role in Ash's battle against Macy in the Silver Conference in the episode Love, Pokémon Style!. It was used in counter to her Electabuzz, and this succeeded as Electabuzz's Thunderbolt had no effect. However, Macy pulled Electabuzz and Phanpy ended up battling against her Slugma. Phanpy managed to dodge Slugma's Body Slam and stun Slugma with Earthquake, before knocking it out with Take Down. However, it was defeated by her Quilava's powerful Flame Wheel, which overpowered Phanpy's Rollout and left Ash's Squirtle and Totodile to face Electabuzz.
Kanto Battle Frontier
Ash left Phanpy at Professor Oak's lab before traveling to Hoenn. In The Right Place and the Right Mime, it happily greeted Ash's Pikachu and the two spent most of the episode together. As Ash made to leave at the end of the episode to take on the Battle Frontier challenge, Pikachu rode up on Phanpy's back. Ash offered to let Phanpy come with them, which Phanpy delightedly agreed to. It had shown signs that it had grown up beyond the young Pokémon seen in Johto.
In Reversing the Charges, Phanpy battled a Team Rocket mecha and evolved into a Donphan. It learnt Hyper Beam and took down the mecha easily.
Ash also used Donphan in the match against Pike Queen Lucy and her Seviper in Queen of the Serpentine. Seviper blocked Donphan's Take Down with Poison Tail. Donphan used a Defense Curl/Rollout combination to protect itself from Bite and knock Seviper back. Seviper knocked Donphan back with Poison Tail, but Donphan recovered and turned the momentum into a powerful Take Down, but Seviper lashed out with a perfectly timed Flamethrower, knocking Donphan back again. Seviper then blinded Donphan with a wall of smoke created by a Poison Tail into the water, then consumed the rolling Donphan in fire. Donphan pushed through the flames and, despite a last minute aerial dodge from Seviper, knocked it out with Rollout.
In Grating Spaces!, Ash used Donphan in a double battle with Brock and his Steelix against Jessie, James and their newly obtained Charizard and Aggron. The two Pokémon worked well together, with Donphan rescuing Steelix from Charizard's Flamethrower by attacking Charizard recklessly. However, Aggron fought back with Mega Punch and Hyper Beam, knocking Donphan back. Donphan recovered and kept attacking Charizard, but Aggron's Water Pulse took it down. Steelix propelled Donphan over the subsequent wave of water and allowed it to hit Aggron. At this point, the battle ended when Forrest confronted Team Rocket's objectives.
Donphan returned to Professor Oak's lab when Ash left for Sinnoh in Home is Where the Start Is.
Sinnoh
Donphan appeared in An Old Family Blend!, alongside Ash's other Pokémon. It was shown training with Ash.
In Working on a Right Move!, Ash used Donphan in his battle against Conway in the Lily of the Valley Conference. Donphan was initially called out to battle Conway's Shuckle, and it put up a good fight, utilizing its Rollout attack, before being recalled by Ash. Later in the battle, it was called out to battle Conway's Dusknoir, but ultimately fell to its powerful Shadow Punch.
Moves used
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| A † shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves. | |||||||
In the TCG
Ash's Donphan was featured in the TCG.
| Name | Type | Level | Rarity | Set | Set no. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ash's Phanpy |  |
- | - | Movie Commemoration VS Pack: Aura's Lucario | 004/020 |
Trivia
- Donphan is the first Template:Type2 Pokémon to be owned by Ash.
- It is the only Pokémon that Ash owns that had been in his team once before, left at Professor Oak's Laboratory, and then again returned to his main team for more than a few episodes at a later time. Any other Pokémon Ash has called from Oak's have been used only during the course of one or two episodes, then returned.
- During its time as a Phanpy, it had the largest rotation of English voice actors of all of Ash's Pokémon, with four.
Related articles
| Ash's Pokémon | ||||||
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| At Oak's/In rotation: | ||||||
| With Kukui/In rotation: |
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| The Power of Us only: | ||||||
| EToP only: | ||||||
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| For a list of Pokémon Ash has temporarily owned, used, or commanded, see here | ||||||
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This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
