May's Blaziken/Anime/History/AG/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 starter 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.

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 angers Torchic enough to fire an Ember attack, which hits not only Azurill but a and. They all simultaneously spray Water Gun at Torchic, knocking it out in one shot.

Due to it being very immature and inexperienced, May did not use Torchic very often, preferring and. During Having a Wailord of a Time, Max voiced his concerns about this, wondering if May even liked Torchic.

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 are hit numerous times in the face by punches and kicks, and in the end a cross-counter knocks out both Pokémon. After evolving into Combusken, it proved to be 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 Fire Spin 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 prior to 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 on the Hoenn Grand Festival, where Combusken was used in her quarter-finals battle round against Drew's and, alongside Skitty, in Rhapsody in Drew. Together, they managed to put up a great fight, but they were defeated, leaving May within the Top 8 Coordinators of the Festival.