Cress is a gym leader of Sanyo City Gym where he shared the responsibility with his brother's
Chili and
Cilan. He is also a Pokémon Sommelier who, with his abundance of knowledge and experience, determines the compatibility of Trainers and Pokémon and gives them advice on how to befriend each other.
Cress' Panpour is his main Pokémon, a water type, who was sent out to battle against
Ash's Pikachu when
Ash Ketchum challenged all three of the Sanyo City Gym Leaders.
Cress was quickly able to counter
Ash Ketchum's tactic of using an electric type Pokémon as his Hiyappu was able to defeat
Ash's Pikachu.
Argument with Pod
Cress explained to
Cilan over the video phone that he had a chat with their brother
Chili about his aggressive battling style, which ignores defense and solely concentrates on offense. Instead of giving him advice like
Cress had intended, it seemed like
Cress hurt
Chili's feelings when he pointed that out to him and he ran off.
Chili then showed up Driftveil City where
Cilan was with
Ash Ketchum as they waited for
Clay to be ready for the gym battle. After a battle,
Cilan found
Chili at the donut shop and the two of them talked and
Chili explained the reason that he left home was because
Cress ticked him off and he didn't want to return to the Gym, so he ended up setting off on a journey. But as time passed, he began thinking about
Cress's suggestion that he should change his battle style.
Cilan realized that
Chili had the time to let his thoughts ripen to make a good decision. After a battle with
Ash Ketchum,
Chili and his Baoppu's enthusiasm grew and he decided to return home to make up with
Cress before continuing on their journey.