Morty (Matsuba in the Japanese version of Pokemon) is the Gym Leader of Ecruteak City's Gym, known officially as the Ecruteak Gym. He hands out the Fog Badge to Trainers who defeat him. He is a young man who uses Ghost-type Pokemon.
In the anime, Morty appears in three episodes of the anime: A Ghost of a Chance, From Ghost to Ghost, and For Ho-Oh the Bells Toll!.
He teaches classes on training Ghost-types. He knows that most Ghosts lack physical power, and relies on disabling his opponent by confusing or frightening them.
Ash, Misty and Brock first meet Morty when they mistakenly went to the Burned Tower thinking it was the Gym. His Ghost Pokemon had created an illusion of fire to scare the trainers away, but Morty settled them and introduced himself as Gym Leader. He told them about the legend of Ho-Oh and the two towers of Ecruteak, but didn't believe that Ash had ever seen Ho-Oh. When Team Rocket kidnapped Pikachu and Togepi, he used his powerful Gengar to stop them.
Whitney's and Morty's appearance in Bagged Then Tagged!.
The next day, Ash and Morty had their Gym battle. Ash was able to defeat him by relying on his Noctowl's Foresight to weaken Morty's Ghost Pokemon and make them vulnerable to Normal attacks. After Morty was defeated, he said he believed that Ash may very well have seen Ho-Oh, given Ash's great spirit.
When Ash and company returned to Ecruteak on their way to Mahogany Town, it is revealed that he and Eusine have a close relationship because they both study rare legendary Pokemon.
He makes a small cameo along with Whitney in Bagged Then Tagged! when it was revealed that Lyra's next Gym challenge was supposed to be one of them.
In Pokemon Adventures, he is a natural version of the Itemfinder, using his powers to locate lost objects and Pokemon. He has clairvoyant psychic abilities that allow him to see things at a distance. He was unfortunately away from Ecruteak when Team Rocket attacked it with the earthquake, but later assisted in its reconstruction. His dream is to one day be able to see Ho-Oh. The rainbow Pokemon's power is so great, it blocks Morty's abilities. Another Pokemon that he found unable to locate was Suicune, which he tried to search for on Eusine's behalf.
Morty first appeared after finding a Girafarig for a young woman and after hearing that Suicune had awoken from a radio, quickly went searching for it. He encountered a mist with both Gastly and Misdreavus, and was soon able to sense and find it. Morty had run Suicune into the town, where it seemingly acted paralyzed by Gastly's Thunderbolt, though it was able to trick Morty. As he had thrown the Great Ball, it turned out that Suicune used Mirror Coat to negate the attack and paralyze Misdreavus instead. Morty then contacted Eusine about having come into contact with Suicune and went off on the chase as well.
