Crasher Wake

"The Torrential Masked Master!"
Crasher Wake
Species	Human
Hair color	Gray
Eye color	Black
Base	Pastoria City
Voiced by	Kyle Hebert (2019)
Debut	Pokémon: Diamond/Pearl Versions

Crasher Wake (less commonly known as just Wake) is the fourth gym leader (fifth in Platinum) of the Sinnoh region who is featured as an opponent in Pokémon: Diamond, Pearl and Platinum Versions, as well as the remakes Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. He specializes in Water-type Pokémon.

Background

Crasher Wake acted as the gym leader of Pastoria City. He was born and raised in Sinnoh, but he kept that secret as part of his gimmick as a wrestler was people believing that he hailed from another country. Wake has been described as being "breathtaking in a weird way", and dressed in the style of a luchadore wrestler despite specializing in Water-type Pokémon. This was because he actually was a professional wrestler outside of his gym leader career, with his matches (which he always won) being recounted in the Sinnoh Sports segment of the Pokémon Variety Hour. He described himself as a glory and believed that his Pokémon could take anything due to having been toughened up by stormy white waters. Wake also described himself as a "triple-threat Gym Leader" in the areas of Pokémon, wrestling and song, the latter being due to a theme song for himself that he occasionally sang. He was also known for his charitable acts, as he used the prize money from his Pokémon battles to help the disadvantaged and would also use the move Defog to keep Pastoria's weather clear.

Generation IV

In Platinum, he was first seen at Veilstone City, leaving its gym as Lucas/Dawn arrived, having come to spar with Maylene only to be stunned by her power. He introduced himself to the player trainer after warning them about how tough Maylene was and then departed for Pastoria. He could then be challenged there in all versions of the fourth generation games, after being defeated by Barry. After being defeated, he said that he had wanted to battle a lot more, but he still had a great time battling. He then gave the Fen Badge and TM55: Brine to the player trainer. In Platinum, Barry attempted to become Crasher Wake's apprentice, but Crasher refused. He said that he knew Barry's father and thought that they had the potential to become great trainers in their own right, although Barry still insisted on calling him his master. Wake then went to investigate the Great Marsh after a Galactic Bomb was set off in it and found no lasting damage.

In all versions, he could later be seen near Stark Mountain in the Battle Zone, having come to the area to compete in a tournament. He warned Lucas/Dawn and Barry about the dangers of Stark Mountain and then departed to train. In Platinum, he could be battled again at the Battleground and would also visit the player's villa on random days. In Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, he could be challenged to rematches at his gym in the postgame instead, and he could also appear as an opponent in the Battle Tower for single battles only.

Other Generations

Wake also made a cameo appearance at the Celadon City Department Store in Pokémon: HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions, where was shown shopping for masks. Assuming Ethan/Lyra was a mask fanatic, he bought them Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup masks and then left. He could then be seen at the bridge on Route 47, where he admired the great waterfall there as well as the effect of standing there. Recognizing Ethan/Lyra as the alleged mask fanatic from earlier, Wake mused about the nature of water and hoped that the trainer would become a trainer with the qualities of water: "strong, tough to beat, yet refreshing."

He also appeared in Black and White 2 as one of the competitors in the Pokémon World Tournament. He took part in the Sinnoh Trainers, World Trainers and Type Expert Tournaments. He could also be found on Route 18, where he sang his theme song while en route to Driftveil City for the tournament.

Pokémon Roster

Crasher Wake uses the following Pokémon for the Gym Challenge in Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl:

• Gyarados
• Quagsire
• Floatzel

Crasher uses the following Pokémon for Battleground rematches in Platinum:

• Sharpedo
• Quagsire
• Floatzel
• Gyarados
• Ludicolo

For rematches in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, he instead uses Politoed, Kingdra and Huntail with Ludicolo, Gyarados and Floatzel. At the Battle Tower, the Pokémon he could use included Floatzel, Politoed, Ludicolo, Kingdra, Swampert, Suicune, Armaldo, Pelipper and Scizor.

In Black 2 and White 2, Wake's roster for the tournament could include Floatzel, Empoleon, Gastrodon and Gyarardos, as well as Quagsire and Lumineon in the Sinnoh Leaders Tournament or Ludicolo and Poliwrath in the World Leaders and Type Expert Tournaments.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Crasher Wake and his Floatzel appeared together as a playable sync pair that could be unlocked at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature. He also appeared as an opponent who Barry had to face in a sync pair story for his Prinplup to evolve. Barry still insisted on being Wake's apprentice, much to his chagrin. Wake also attempted to issue a challenge for The Masked Royal during an extra scene for the "Trials on the Isle" Story Event.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• He was featured in two episodes of the Pokémon anime's Diamond & Pearl series. In the first episode he was part of a panel of judges at a Croagunk Festival, and in the second episode Ash Ketchum battled and defeated him for the Fen Badge.
• Wake appeared in several chapters of the Pokémon Adventures manga where Platinum challenged him during the Diamond/Pearl arc. He was actually first shown without his mask (although his face was obscured by shadow) until he was reminded to put it on. His charitable nature was also mentioned and summarized in his motto, "The strong should serve the people and the Pokémon". He used a Floatzel and a Quagsire in battle with Platina, but he was defeated. Wake reappeared following the Galactic attack on Lake Valor after being notified by Byron. Although he was too late to stop Team Galactic, he was able to save the lake's Magikarp using Rain Dance and then submitted Pearl to one night of training due to seeing potential in him, in which he helped Pearl to catch his own Pokémon. He then later helped the gym leaders fight off Team Galactic at the Spear Pillar. In the Platinum arc, he was still recovering from the previous arc's injuries from the hospital but was shown to have completed a personal theme song for Pearl that he had promised to make as a reward for how successful Pearl's training was.

Trivia

• A "wake" is a type of wave pattern, and his English name also simply refers to a crashing wave while fashioned in the style of a professional wrestler's name. His Japanese name is Maximum Mask, or Maxi for short, after the plant genus Maxillaria.