Cynthia's Garchomp (anime)

Cynthia's Garchomp is Cynthia's main Pokémon, and is also her most powerful.

Biography
Garchomp is Cynthia's most powerful Pokémon. She debuted in Top-Down Training, where she battled Lucian's Bronzong on television and won, blocking Flash Cannon with one of her fins and then defeating Bronzong with an incredibly powerful Giga Impact, which normally would not do much damage to a Steel type. She also battled against Paul in the same episode. Paul started with Chimchar who hit Garchomp with Fire Spin before attempting to use Dig. Garchomp used her own Dig attack and then burst out of the ground, still surrounded by Fire Spin, and knocked out Chimchar with one blow. She then endured Weavile's super effective Blizzard, dodged two Ice Beams and defeated Weavile with Dragon Rush. She also used Giga Impact to defeat Murkrow, easily overpowering the Darkness Pokémon's Sky Attack. Finally Paul used Torterra who actually managed to do a fair bit of damage with Giga Drain causing Garchomp to fall to her knees. However when Torterra attempted to use Frenzy Plant, Garchomp displayed incredible physical strength by blocking all six roots using her fins and shoving them all away before defeating Torterra with a single Brick Break.

Garchomp later appeared when Cynthia was challenged by Aaron, defeating his Drapion.

Garchomp also helped battle Team Galactic on two occasions, first when attempting to stop them from stealing the Lustrous Orb and later when preventing them from taking over the Pokémon universe by using the powers of Dialga and Palkia.

Garchomp also battled Flint's Infernape when Flint challenged Cynthia for the title of Sinnoh League Champion. Infernape dodged Garchomp's Draco Meteor and attacked with Close Combat. Garchomp smashed Infernape to the ground with Brick Break and then Infernape struck back with Mach Punch before using another Close Combat. Garchomp retaliated with Stone Edge and then intercepted Infernape's Flare Blitz with Dragon Rush creating a huge explosion. When the smoke cleared, Infernape collapsed and Cynthia was announced the winner.

Garchomp also appeared when Cynthia travelled to Unova where she battled Iris' Axew, taking Axew's Scratch and blocking Dragon Rage before almost knocking Axew out with Dragon Rush and Draco Meteor. Axew learned Giga Impact during the battle and actually managed to knock Garchomp off her feet. However Garchomp quickly recovered and would have defeated Axew with Brick Break if Cynthia hadn't called her off at the last moment.

Garchomp was also used during Cynthia's battle with Caitlin, fighting against her Gothitelle. The battle had a one minute time limit, and Gothitelle was initially able to gain the upper hand by confusing Garchomp with Flatter and then lifting it up in the air with Psychic. However when Gothitelle threw Garchomp into the air, Garchomp used her feet to propel herself off the ceiling and smashed into Gothitelle with Dragon Rush. She then attempted a Draco Meteor but Gothitelle blocked it by using Thunderbolt to destroy the meteors, creating a fireworks display. The battle ended when the time limit ran out after the two Pokémon's Brick Break attacks collided, resulting in a draw.

Garchomp was also used in the battle against the Kami Trio in Unova's Survival Crisis!. It battles against therian forme Tornadus, but was outmatched, until Meloetta's song calmed the beasts down.

Voice actor
Katsuyuki Konishi (Japanese and English)

Trivia

 * Cynthia's Garchomp has never been seen losing a battle and is easily one of the most resilient and powerful Pokémon in the anime, rivalling most, if not all Legendary Pokémon. However it was implied that she was defeated when Aaron challenged Cynthia since Cynthia's last Pokémon was Gastrodon. Garchomp is often shown to be able to block very powerful attacks using only her fins and although her species is capable of learning the move Protect she obviously doesn't need it since even Frenzy Plant was unable to get past her fins. However it should be noted that all six of the Frenzy Plant roots were coming down at her from above and if they had struck from six different directions at once Garchomp wouldn't have been able to block all of them.
 * Interestingly when Garchomp battled Iris' Axew, her Brick Break was used with only her claw whereas in all of her previous uses of the move she used her entire fin. This makes Brick Break look more like Dragon Claw. It is possible that she wasn't using Brick Break at full power, since Axew had already taken severe damage which may have been why only her small (albeit sharp) claw was glowing rather than her massive fin. It is also interesting to note that she used the same variant of Brick Break against Caitlin's Gothitelle.
 * For some reason when Garchomp battled Flint's Infernape they appeared on opposite sides of the battlefield from their trainers when Dragon Rush and Flare Blitz collided, suggesting that Garchomp and Infernape had not actually hit each other directly but instead the explosion was caused by friction as they passed each other. Another possibility is that considering Infernape's athletic abilities, it might have somersaulted over Garchomp just before the explosion which could explain why Infernape was still standing for a few seconds after the explosion despite the recoil damage from Flare Blitz and all the previous damage it had taken, since it didn't have to take the full power of the blast. Either way, Garchomp won the battle.