Maylene

"The Barefoot, Fighting Genius!"
Maylene
Species	Human
Hair color	Pink
Eye color	Pink
Base	Veilstone City
Relatives	Father
Debut	Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl Versions

Maylene is the third of the eight gym leaders of the Sinnoh region to be battled in Pokémon: Diamond, Pearl and Platinum versions (although in Platinum she is instead the fourth gym leader). She specializes in Fighting-type Pokémon.

Background

Maylene was the gym leader of Veilstone Gym described as a cute little girl who could give even adults trouble in Pokémon battles. Her father also appeared in the games, spending his time at Veilstone's Game Corner and describing his daughter as "kind of tough." Crasher Wake even admitted that he was stunned by how tough she was when he trained with her. Maylene herself took battling very seriously but also seemed somewhat confused by the process of being a gym leader, as she did not known what it meant to be strong nor how she got to be a gym leader. However, she was determined to do the best she could as a gym leader.

In Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, she was challenged and defeated by Lucas/Dawn. She admitted defeat and that it was a tough loss but that she learned alot from it, surrendering the Cobble Badge as well as TM60: Drain Punch to the victor. Maylene said that even though she did not understand what it means to be strong or how much effort is required for it, but believed that being with Pokémon helped them to make that effort. In Platinum, she is later seen walking along the frigid Route 217 to Snowpoint City as part of her training, musing on how conveniant using Fly to reach the city would be if her Pokémon knew it, but also saying she would not use it even if she did have the HM in order to improve her training. After arriving, she was seen at Snowpoint City waiting for Candice to train with her, as Candice wanted to learn from battling her Fighting-type Pokémon. Maylene admired Candice because of how studious she was. Additionally in Platinum, Maylene could also appear as an opponent for rematches in the Battleground along with the other defeated gym leaders.

Pokémon Roster

Maylene uses the following Pokémon for the Gym Challenge in Diamond, Pearl and Platinum:

• Meditite
• Machoke
• Lucario

She uses the following Pokémon for Battleground rematches in Platinum:

• Hitmontop
• Breloom
• Medicham
• Machamp

Other Appearances

• Maylene appeared in several episodes of the Pokémon anime's Diamond & Pearl series, where she struggled with self esteem issues. In her first appearance she was shown to have been a gym leader for only six months, and a defeat at Paul's hands leads her to lose her self confidence and reject Ash Ketchum's challenge. She later battles Dawn due to her having similar confidence issues, and when Maylene defeats her she finally accepts Ash's challenge. Their battle ends in a tie, but Maylene decides to let Ash have the Cobble Badge regardless.

Trivia

• In Diamond and Pearl, her gym resembles an Eastern martial arts dojo, and the player must push sliding doors back and forth to reach her. In Platinum, her gym is redesigned to resemble a boxing arena, where boxing bags must be knocked to the side instead.