May's Blaziken/Anime/History/AG/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 really 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 Convention. 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 Quick Attack. 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. It was then trapped by Vibrava's and remained immobilized while May's points decreased, until it broke out with a new move:. Combusken was then able to swiftly win 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 of the battle rounds. Its appeal performance during May, We Harley Drew'd Ya!, just like the one in the Mulberry Contest, involved a frisbee, and easily led her to the next round. Combusken was then 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 then faced Solidad's and, battling along with. As Solidad had been observing May's battling style, she was able to evade their attacks and defeat them with relative ease, leaving May at 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 then used its newly-learned to send Team Rocket flying, upon which Ash remarked that he would like to battle Blaziken. Afterwards, 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.