May's Blaziken

May's Blaziken (Japanese: ハルカのバシャーモ Haruka's Bursyamo) was the first partner Pokémon that obtained at the beginning of her travels in Hoenn, given to her as a by Professor Birch.
==In animation==
===History===
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=====Hoenn=====
In Get the Show on the Road!, Blaziken was given to May by Professor Birch in Littleroot Town when it was still a . She chose it as her first partner Pokémon because she thought was creepy and scary, and had attacked her earlier with a in the face. In contrast, she seemed to like Torchic's cute appearance and sweet nature, which it showed by hopping over to her and nuzzling against her legs affectionately.
In the next episode, May used Torchic to try to catch her first wild Pokémon, an . Despite trying its best, the Azurill was too fast and agile for Torchic, easily dodging its attacks and causing Torchic to run into other objects. This eventually angered Torchic enough to fire an Ember attack, which hit not only Azurill but a and . They simultaneously sprayed Water Gun at Torchic, knocking it out in one shot.
In There's no Place Like Hoenn, May introduced Torchic to her family, much to the disappointment of her brother Max. It later participated in its first battle against , but it and May's inexperience led to it getting kidnapped. After being rescued by and , May attempted to command Torchic in battle once again, though all of its attacks ended up hitting Max instead. Despite the setbacks, Pikachu defeated the evil trio, and Torchic and May took another step toward becoming a team. 
In In the Knicker of Time!, May and Torchic battled against Nicholai and his . Although eager, May simply told Torchic to "start attacking" instead of calling out a move. The battle did not improve afterward, with Torchic getting knocked out by a single . 
Due to it being very immature and inexperienced, May used Torchic sparingly after catching and . During Having a Wailord of a Time, Max voiced his concerns about this, wondering if May even liked Torchic.
In A Togepi Mirage!, Torchic teamed up with Pikachu to face Colonel Hansen's to stop him from opening the portal to the Togepi Paradise. Unfortunately, the speedy Pokémon were able to knock Torchic out with a , leaving Pikachu to handle them alone.
In A Shroomish Skirmish, Torchic got separated from its Trainer and got lost alongside Ash's Corphish. Some wild and a started attacking them, causing Torchic to evolve into Combusken. Breloom challenged Combusken to hand-to-hand combat. Combusken obliged, and a vicious fight ensued. Both Pokémon were hit numerous times in the face by punches and kicks, and in the end, a cross-counter knocked out both Pokémon.
After evolving into Combusken, it proved very useful for Pokémon Contests. The first time it took part in one was in Pokéblock, Stock and Berry and Lessons in Lilycove! when May used it in the Contest. Even though its caused problems during the Appeals Round, Combusken managed to get a score of 23.6, which helped May to reach the Contest Battles. After defeating Jessie and , May had to battle , a fellow Pokémon Coordinator she met before entering the Contest. Kelly and her showed great talent and effort, but May and Combusken turned out as the winners, earning them the Lilycove Ribbon.
When May got the five required Ribbons, she participated in the Hoenn Grand Festival, where Combusken was used in the second round of the
battle stage against 's and , alongside , in Rhapsody in Drew. The two ended the round with more points, advancing May to the next stage, which Combusken also participated in alongside Skitty. The two faced off against Drew's and . Together, they managed to put up a great fight but were defeated, leaving May within the Top 8 Coordinators of the Festival.
=====Kanto=====
During May's Kanto journey, Combusken had more appearances due to the Pokémon Contests allowing Coordinators to use different Pokémon for each round. In A Hurdle for Squirtle, Combusken was used for the Appeals Round of the Saffron City Contest, where it used Fire Spin and Sky Uppercut on May's untied bandanna to knot it back to her head. Later on, in Weekend Warrior, it was used for the battle rounds of the Pokémon Contest. May and Combusken faced Coordinator and his in the final match; after a close battle, where the Grass-type used the powerful attack, May and Combusken ended as the winners, earning them the Ribbon. 
In Spontaneous Combusken, it was used once again for the battle rounds, this time in the Chrysanthemum Island Contest. May and Combusken first faced Jessie and . Though Mime Jr. was able to Combusken's Fire Spin and hit it with the unusual attack, Combusken managed to land a Sky Uppercut through the opposing Fire Spin and win the battle. In the second battle, Combusken was seen beating a with . In the final battle, May and Combusken faced Brianna and her . After being weakened by , Combusken managed a Fire Spin. However, it was countered by and Combusken was trapped by Vibrava's and remained immobilized while May's points decreased until it broke out with a new move: . Combusken swiftly won the match and May received her third Ribbon.
Finally, in New Plot, Odd Lot!, Combusken was used for the Appeals Round of the Mulberry City Pokémon Contest. , who banded together with May's rival Harley, attempted to ruin her performance: Harley loaned James and Meowth his to sabotage May's appeal and kick her out of the Contest, so she would not get the last Ribbon she needed to get into the Grand Festival; however, surprisingly, their plan backfired when Combusken's Fire Spin started enveloping Ariados' web, going upwards in a spiral manner, not only setting Combusken free from it but also surprising all three judges in the process. May managed to advance to the battle rounds (narrowly, though) and went on to defeat Jessie, who this time had borrowed Harley's , in the final round.
For the Kanto Grand Festival, Combusken was used for one of the Appeals Rounds and two battle rounds. Its appeal performance during May, We Harley Drew'd Ya!, like the one in the Mulberry Contest, involved a frisbee, and easily led her to the next round. Combusken was used for May's battle against Drew, which started in Thinning the Hoard! and ended in the following episode, Channeling the Battle Zone!. It battled against Drew's Flygon and , alongside ; however, the fierce battle left only Combusken and Absol on stage after the first half of the five minutes. Just when Absol started to get the advantage, Combusken learned and gave its very best until the end of the match; by an extremely narrow difference, May and Combusken were announced as the winners of the round, and May moved on to the semi-finals. Combusken faced Solidad's and , battling along with . As Solidad had been observing May's battling style, she was able to evade their attacks and defeated them with relative ease, leaving May in the Top 4 of the Grand Festival.
In Once More With Reeling!, Combusken evolved into while attempting to stop Team Rocket from stealing and several other Pokémon. It used its newly-learned to send Team Rocket flying, upon which Ash remarked that he would like to battle Blaziken. Afterward, May used Blaziken in the Battle Round of the Terracotta Town Pokémon Contest, an informal event not sanctioned by the Pokémon Activities Committee. It went up against Ash's Sceptile in a hard-fought match that saw both Pokémon activating their . At the end of the five-minute time limit, May and Ash were tied in points, but due to the event's informality, a sudden-death round did not take place, and the battle ended in a draw, with May and Ash splitting the commemorative . Later, it left for Johto with May and the rest of her Pokémon.
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In A Full Course Tag Battle!, Blaziken was used in the Seven Stars Restaurant Tag Battles, in which it battled alongside Dawn's Piplup. When it was first called out, Ash seemed pleased at seeing it again, and remarked that it had also gotten stronger. After the food retrieval from Team Rocket, it was called out once again for the Tag Battle. Blaziken started off with a but failed to hit the opponent and got hurt by Girafarig's . The battle concluded with a combination of Piplup's and Blaziken's , resulting in a fusion of the and moves, knocking off both of the opponents as a result. Blaziken was not seen in the Wallace Cup.
===Personality and characteristics===
Much like May at the beginning of her , Blaziken, while it was a Torchic, was very inexperienced and unsure of itself. It was also shown to be a rather curious, ditzy, and playful Pokémon. It did not know how to , and it tended to wander around aimlessly when brought out of its . Additionally, it used to panic when in dangerous situations. It also showed a very compassionate demeanor as seen in A Corphish Out of Water when Torchic offered its food bowl when the latter wasn't eating its food.
As seen in There's no Place Like Hoenn, Torchic seems to have developed a grudge against Max, which started when he commented that May should've chosen instead of Torchic. Later, when May commanded it to attack , Torchic instead attacked Max, and did so again when May commanded a second attack. However, Torchic does let go of its grudge against Max and its on much better terms with him, even maintaining those terms after evolving twice. When May started to ignore Torchic in favor of her , it felt like it needed to compete for its Trainer's attention and its personality began to change: it grew more determined to improve itself and recapture May's attention. Its competitive streak continued to grow as it lost most of its childishness and confusion; this culminated in its evolution into in A Shroomish Skirmish, where it learned both and .
As a Fire Pokémon, Torchic feared water, as demonstrated in Sharpedo Attack!, when it chose not to follow its Trainer in jumping into the ocean.
Upon its evolution, it became much more assertive and confident, as it felt it didn't need to compete with Beautifly for attention anymore. As a Blaziken, it was shown to be quite an adept battler, being able to battle on par with Ash's Sceptile and work well with Dawn's Piplup.
====Appearance====
As a Torchic	As a Combusken
 	
===Moves used===
====Moves improvised====
	 	 	
	Rhapsody in Drew 	and 	Drew's
	Description: A combination between Flamethrower and Sky Uppercut. During 's two-on-two Contest Battle against Drew in the Hoenn Grand Festival, May had Combusken jump into Flygon's Flamethrower, cloaking the in flames and providing extra damage for its Sky Uppercut. 	Description: A combination between Flamethrower and Sky Uppercut. During 's two-on-two Contest Battle against Drew in the Hoenn Grand Festival, May had Combusken jump into Flygon's Flamethrower, cloaking the in flames and providing extra damage for its Sky Uppercut. 	Description: A combination between Flamethrower and Sky Uppercut. During 's two-on-two Contest Battle against Drew in the Hoenn Grand Festival, May had Combusken jump into Flygon's Flamethrower, cloaking the in flames and providing extra damage for its Sky Uppercut.
	Hail to the Chef! 	and 	Brock's Mudkip
	Description: A combination of Fire Spin and Water Gun. Combusken uses Fire Spin while Mudkip shoots a Water Gun and the two attacks combine to create a stream of water surrounded by a spiral of red-orange fire. This was used to try and stop from making off with Ash's Pikachu, 's , and Rhoda's , but to no avail. 	Description: A combination of Fire Spin and Water Gun. Combusken uses Fire Spin while Mudkip shoots a Water Gun and the two attacks combine to create a stream of water surrounded by a spiral of red-orange fire. This was used to try and stop from making off with Ash's Pikachu, 's , and Rhoda's , but to no avail. 	Description: A combination of Fire Spin and Water Gun. Combusken uses Fire Spin while Mudkip shoots a Water Gun and the two attacks combine to create a stream of water surrounded by a spiral of red-orange fire. This was used to try and stop from making off with Ash's Pikachu, 's , and Rhoda's , but to no avail.
	Channeling the Battle Zone! 	and 	May's Squirtle
	Description: Squirtle uses Bubble to surround Combusken. Then, Combusken heads towards the opposing Pokémon while using Sky Uppercut. The combination was used during a two-on-two Contest Battle against Drew's Flygon and in the Kanto Grand Festival. 	Description: Squirtle uses Bubble to surround Combusken. Then, Combusken heads towards the opposing Pokémon while using Sky Uppercut. The combination was used during a two-on-two Contest Battle against Drew's Flygon and in the Kanto Grand Festival. 	Description: Squirtle uses Bubble to surround Combusken. Then, Combusken heads towards the opposing Pokémon while using Sky Uppercut. The combination was used during a two-on-two Contest Battle against Drew's Flygon and in the Kanto Grand Festival.
	Channeling the Battle Zone! 	and or 	May's Squirtle or Dawn's Piplup
	Description: Combusken uses Fire Spin and Squirtle follows up with Bubble. The two moves fuse into a water and fire whirlwind surrounded by sparks which traps the opponents. It was inspired by Tucker's tactical fusion of - and attacks. The combination was first used during a two-on-two Contest Battle against Drew's and in the Kanto Grand Festival. Another version involves Blaziken's Fire Spin and Piplup's Bubble Beam. It was used in A Full Course Tag Battle! during a Tag Battle against Roman's and Kylie's in the Seven Stars Restaurant.	Description: Combusken uses Fire Spin and Squirtle follows up with Bubble. The two moves fuse into a water and fire whirlwind surrounded by sparks which traps the opponents. It was inspired by Tucker's tactical fusion of - and attacks. The combination was first used during a two-on-two Contest Battle against Drew's and in the Kanto Grand Festival. Another version involves Blaziken's Fire Spin and Piplup's Bubble Beam. It was used in A Full Course Tag Battle! during a Tag Battle against Roman's and Kylie's in the Seven Stars Restaurant.	Description: Combusken uses Fire Spin and Squirtle follows up with Bubble. The two moves fuse into a water and fire whirlwind surrounded by sparks which traps the opponents. It was inspired by Tucker's tactical fusion of - and attacks. The combination was first used during a two-on-two Contest Battle against Drew's and in the Kanto Grand Festival. Another version involves Blaziken's Fire Spin and Piplup's Bubble Beam. It was used in A Full Course Tag Battle! during a Tag Battle against Roman's and Kylie's in the Seven Stars Restaurant.
	The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing! 	and 	May's Beautifly
	Description: Beautifly uses Psychic to power-up a move making it faster and more powerful like Combusken's Fire Spin or 's . 	Description: Beautifly uses Psychic to power-up a move making it faster and more powerful like Combusken's Fire Spin or 's . 	Description: Beautifly uses Psychic to power-up a move making it faster and more powerful like Combusken's Fire Spin or 's .
===Artwork===
 	 	 	 	
Early poster for	Official artwork from	Official artwork from	Official artwork from	Official artwork from
==In the games==
===In the spin-off games===
====Pokémon Advanced Generation: I've Begun Hiragana and Katakana!====
Torchic appears in Pokémon Advanced Generation: I've Begun Hiragana and Katakana!.
====Pokémon Advanced Generation: Pokémon Number Battle!====
Combusken appears in Pokémon Advanced Generation: Pokémon Number Battle!.
====Pokémon Masters Arena====
Torchic appears in Pokémon Masters Arena.
==In the manga==
===Ash & Pikachu===
May's Blaziken appeared as a Torchic starting in Let's Save Pikachu!!. It was revealed to have evolved into Combusken in The Birth Of The Invincible Team, Max And Ralts!!.
====Moves used====
===Movie adaptations===
As a Torchic, May's Blaziken appeared in many of the movie adaptations, as it is one of May's main Pokémon.
====Moves used====
==In the TCG==
May's Blaziken was featured in the Pokémon Trading Card Game as both a Torchic and a Combusken. The following is a list of related cards.
==Trivia==
* Blaziken is the first first partner Pokémon in the to be owned by a main character besides to:
** Fully evolve.
** Not use a move in its debut episode.
** Evolve in two different regions.
* Blaziken is the first partner Pokémon to be owned by a main character other than Ash.
* Blaziken is the only Hoenn first partner Pokémon belonging to a main character who did not fall in love.
* Blaziken is the first Pokémon owned by a main character other than Ash.
* Blaziken is May's only Pokémon to:
** Activate its Ability.
** Have had a unique type combination.
** Have not used .
* Blaziken has used the most moves out of all of May's Pokémon, with a total of nine.
* Blaziken is the only concurrent first partner Pokémon owned by a main character introduced prior to Pokémon Journeys: The Series to not appear in said series.
* Both its first battle as a Combusken and its first official battle as a Blaziken resulted in a tie. Coincidentally, it fought a fully evolved Pokémon in both instances.
* Combusken evolved into Blaziken exactly 100 episodes after its first Contest victory in Lilycove City.
* Like Ash's Sceptile, Blaziken was voiced by Darren Dunstan in its second stage followed by Bill Rogers after the voice switch.
==Related articles==
* 
Blaziken
Blaziken
Blaziken, May's
Category:Ash & Pikachu characters
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