Ash's Scraggy

**Ash's Scraggy** (Japanese: **サトシのズルッグ** *Satoshi's Zuruggu*) was the fifth Pokémon that Ash obtained in the Unova region, and his thirty-ninth overall.

## History

### Pokémon the Series: Black & White

#### Unova

Ash received Scraggy's Egg in *Here Comes the Trubbish Squad!* as a parting gift from Karena for helping her settle a conflict between her granddaughter Daniela and her students, who had befriended a Trubbish.

In *Scraggy-Hatched to Be Wild!*, when the Egg started hatching, Axew accidentally knocked it over in excitement, causing it to roll down a hill towards some sharp rocks, but Pikachu used Quick Attack to catch it in midair just in time.

Scraggy hatched from his Egg shortly after and he wasted no time showing off his headstrong nature. When Pikachu tried to greet him, he used Leer on him and then attempted to Headbutt him, but missed. Ash and Pikachu decided to have a small battle with Scraggy as a "welcome gift". Scraggy was easily subdued by a weakened version of Pikachu's Thunderbolt attack, while his attacks hardly did anything on Pikachu. He later tried to pick fights with Ash's other Pokémon, Pidove, Oshawott, Tepig, and Snivy. Since he was newly hatched, he was easily subdued by their weak attacks. Ash attempted to catch him with his Poké Ball but Scraggy refused, wanting to explore the outside world a little longer.

Later, Scraggy wandered off and started headbutting a tree which was the home of a group of Galvantula. He became paralyzed, and was heavily injured by Galvantula's attacks and needed to be healed. With no Pokémon Centers around, Iris quickly made up a potion for him to cure his paralysis. He felt better the next morning and left to confront the Galvantula that attacked him. Again he was outmatched as the entire colony appeared to battle him and was saved by Ash and the rest of his Pokémon. Seeing what they were willing to do for him, Scraggy began to trust his new teammates.

After returning to camp, Cilan suggested that Scraggy battle Iris' Axew, as Axew had previously struggled to train against the stronger Pokémon owned by Ash and Cilan, while Scraggy would be a fair match for him. The battle ended in a draw when both Pokémon knocked each other out. After the battle, Scraggy happily agreed to go inside his Poké Ball.

Scraggy was used to battle Axew on two more occasions, but each had the same result as their first battle. Their third battle however, Scraggy lost because Axew was able to execute a perfect Dragon Rage.

In *Cottonee in Love!*, Scraggy met a wild Cottonee who tried to play with him. Like with every new Pokémon he meets, he tried to attack him but was distracted by his Cotton Spore. He eventually befriended the Cottonee after he was shot down by a female Cottonee he was trying to court. Scraggy helped him train in order to prove to his love interest that he was a capable battler. By the end of the episode, Scraggy was called out of his Poké Ball in order to say goodbye to Cottonee and chased him and his lover while waving.

In *Facing Fear with Eyes Wide Open!*, his aggressive attitude landed him and the other Pokémon in trouble when he attacked a group of wild Foongus. In retaliation, they engulfed the Pokémon in a cloud of Poison Powder, poisoning them. Though, with the combined effort of Ash, Oshawott and Cilan, everyone was cured of their poison.

In *Meowth's Scrafty Tactics!*, Scraggy was used to assist Meowth in negotiating with a wild Scrafty to rescue Axew who Scrafty had kidnapped. In the process, the Scrafty taught him how to use High Jump Kick. Once Axew was rescued, Scraggy wished to assist Scrafty whose home had been taken by a Mandibuzz as a return favor. Using his new High Jump Kick, Scraggy was able to subdue Mandibuzz.

He battled with Axew once more in *Scraggy and the Demanding Gothita!* to play, which ended in another draw when Scraggy's High Jump Kick countered Axew's Dragon Rage. They then ran into a Gothita that took a liking to Scraggy. Gothita's Trainer challenged Ash to a battle on the condition that if she won, he'd have to trade Scraggy away to her. After Ash won, they all stayed the night together in a cabin. Scraggy left with Gothita while everyone was sleeping for a mid-night snack, but Axew came out to bring him back. Gothita ended up disturbing a wild Garbodor. Scraggy attempted to stand up to the Trash Heap Pokémon, but they were only safe when Snivy turned up to defend them. The next day Scraggy was happy to see Gothita storm away after Snivy defeated her.

Scraggy was picked as Ash's registered Pokémon for the Clubsplosion tournament in *The Clubsplosion Begins!* when Ash heard that the tournament was geared towards Fighting-type Pokémon. He battled Angus' Simisage in the first round. While the match started off with both Pokémon avoiding each other's attacks, Scraggy was eventually able to land a High Jump Kick on Simisage. However, Simisage countered by stepping on Scraggy's "pants", so that he couldn't defend with them again, and hit him with Low Sweep. After Scraggy's next High Jump Kick missed, he was hit by a barrage of Low Sweeps while he writhed in pain from the crash damage. Simisage was about to finish the match with Giga Impact when Scraggy formed a Focus Blast between his hands, learning a new move, and used it to shield himself from Simisage's attack. Unfortunately; when it came to launching his Focus Blast, Scraggy was unable to keep it on target, though he made up for it by using Leer on Simisage and with its effects, hit it with a Headbutt attack, winning the match. Scraggy continued to watch the first round matches in the next episode. While watching, he became annoyed by Bianca's admiration of him and hit her with Headbutt. During the break between battles, he and Ash began practicing Focus Blast, however, not making any progress. In *A Clubsplosion of Excitement!*, Scraggy battled Betty's Simipour. After defending against Simipour's Aqua Tail and Brick Break, Scraggy once again attempted Focus Blast but with no result. After enduring an Acrobatics attack, Scraggy was able to hit Simipour with Leer, block a second Brick Break with Headbutt and win the match with High Jump Kick. In *Commanding the Clubsplosion Crown!*, Scraggy faced off against Montgomery's Throh during the semi-finals. After persistently trying to weaken Throh's Defense with Leer, Scraggy was heavily damaged by Throh's Circle Throw and Superpower attacks. Scraggy then released a barrage of Focus Blasts, all of which failed to hit his target. Scraggy was then defeated by Seismic Toss, eliminating him and Ash from the tournament.

In *Battling the Leaf Thieves!*, Scraggy watched a battle between Iris' Emolga and Ash's Swadloon, with his friend Axew and was excited to see Swadloon evolve into Leavanny. When Leavanny first looked upon his young friends, he pranced of and made leaf hoods for them both, which Scraggy was very happy to receive. Whilst the gang were taking a nap, a group of Durant took Axew away, believing he was food, as he was still wearing his leaf outfit. When Scraggy first awoke and found that Axew was missing, he screamed and shouted for him, waking the others up and alerting them to the situation. The gang soon discovered a swarm of Durant's nest, where Scraggy and Ash were both wrapped up in leaves so that they'd be taken to the Durant's food pile so that they could retrieve Axew. However, they were noticed and a huge battle broke out between Scraggy, Pikachu, Emolga and Leavanny and the dozens of Durant. Scraggy was able to easily dodge the various Iron Head, Shadow Claw and Guillotine attacks that came his way but like his teammates, he was unable to land a hit on the Durant because of their excessive use of Protect. After all but one Durant was infatuated by Emolga's Attract, Scraggy and Pikachu were able to defeat her and allow Iris to rescue a still sleeping Axew. Leavanny led the gang back through the Durant maze and Scraggy stayed out his Poké Ball with the gang until Axew woke up.

Scraggy was used in its first Gym battle during *Caution: Icy Battle Conditions!*, where it was Ash's second Pokémon in his Icirrus Gym Battle against Brycen, he went up against Vanillish. Initially, Scraggy sustained crash damage from a failed High Jump Kick and missed his target again with Headbutt, having trouble maintaining his balance on the iced over battlefield. On the defensive, Scraggy was able to deflect Vanillish's Icicle Spear with his "pants" and launch a Focus Blast attack. Like before, Scraggy's attack missed, but by chance the Focus Blast fell backwards and struck Vanillish. Scraggy then knocked out his opponent with Headbutt. Cryogonal was brought out subsequently to fight Scraggy. His Headbutt attack was blocked by a fearsome Rapid Spin and then took more Rapid Spin attacks, and after a failed Focus Blast, despite using his "pants", Scraggy was knocked out by Cryogonal's powerful Aurora Beam.

In *Lost at the League!*, Scraggy was seen defeating a Darumaka with Headbutt after using High Jump Kick and Leer and winning Ash's third round battle of the Vertress Conference.

#### Decolore Islands

In *Farewell, Unova! Setting Sail for New Adventures!*, Professor Juniper sent Scraggy to Professor Oak's Laboratory before Ash left for Kanto, touring through the Decolore Islands. He was brought back to Ash's team prior to *The Path That Leads to Goodbye!*. In the episode, Scraggy became very upset at Axew's absence after Ash and Iris had fallen out. He set off with Pikachu to find them before being captured by Team Rocket and subsequently rescued by Iris. Scraggy later returned to Oak's lab in *The Dream Continues!* where he reunited with the entire Unova team. Scraggy joined in with them to launch a group attack on Team Rocket, using Focus Blast to send them blasting off for the final time in *Pokémon the Series: Black & White*. Scraggy later posed in a group photo with the rest of Ash's Pokémon. Then, he was left at the lab when Ash set off for the Kalos region.

### Pokémon Journeys: The Series

Scraggy, along with the rest of Ash's Pokémon at the lab, reunited with Ash in *Friends, Rivals, Lend Me Your Spirit!*. During the visit, he was seen relaxing with Torterra and later watched the battle between Ash and Paul. Before Ash left, he posed with the rest of Ash's Pokémon in a group photo with him.

From *Battling as Hard as Stone!* onwards, Scraggy watched Ash's Masters Eight Tournament matches against Steven and Cynthia. In *Partners in Time!*, Scraggy appeared as a vision to Pikachu during his battle against Leon's Charizard.

In *Heroes Unite!*, Scraggy, along with the rest of the Pokémon at the lab, welcomed Ash back to Pallet Town after his victory over Leon.

In *The Rainbow and the Pokémon Master!*, Scraggy joined Ash's other Pokémon to search for a missing Charmander around Oak's lab, but to no avail.

## Personality and characteristics

From the moment he hatched, Scraggy has been shown to be a headstrong Pokémon who views new Pokémon as opponents. He will Leer at his potential opponents to show his toughness before trying to Headbutt them. His overconfidence often gets him into trouble as he believes he is much stronger than he actually is. This was best evidenced in *Scraggy-Hatched to be Wild!*, when he took on a whole group of Galvantula by himself; and in *Facing Fear with Eyes Wide Open!*, when he took on a group of angry Foongus. A stubborn Pokémon, Scraggy will not give up on trying to defeat an opponent even if he is injured. Despite disliking to do so, he knows when to accept help from his friends and Trainer. He is also shown to care about those who he considers his friends. This is shown in both *Cottonee in Love!* and *Meowth's Scrafty Tactics!*, when Ash tried to recall him to his Poké Ball, but he didn't want to go in because he wanted to help his new friends on both occasions.

In *Scraggy and the Demanding Gothita!*, his relationship with Axew was shown to have become strong. Numerous training battles had led the two to become best friends. Both being very young, they are quite playful together, akin to human children.

## Moves used

 A **†** shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.

## Trivia

* Scraggy is the first Dark-type Pokémon owned by a main character in the anime.
* Scraggy is Ash's only Pokémon caught in Unova:
	+ To not be member of a three-stage evolutionary line.
	+ To not have battled any of Ash's rivals.
	+ That isn't a starter Pokémon to not have evolved at least once.
* Scraggy is Ash's first Pokémon to be obtained as an Egg since his Larvitar, which he received in *Lapras of Luxury*, 412 episodes earlier.
* Scraggy's Egg was the first onscreen Egg owned by a main character to not be taken from its owner by another person or a Pokémon.
* Scraggy was the last of Ash's Unova Pokémon to have been used in a Gym battle, and the only one who wasn't used in at least two.
* Scraggy is Ash's only non-fully evolved Dark-type Pokémon.

1. ↑ Confirmed in *Scraggy—Hatched to be Wild!*.