Characters / Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire — Main Cast

aka: Pokemon The Series May

Pokémon anime characters index
Series-wide: Ash Ketchum | Pikachu | Team Rocket Trio | Team Rocket Organization
The Original Series (Misty and Brock, Main Cast) | Ruby and Sapphire (Main Cast) | Diamond and Pearl (Main Cast, Paul) | Black & White (Main Cast) | XY (Main Cast) | Sun & Moon (Main Cast) | Journeys (Main Cast)
Others: Movie characters

Ash's Companions

May (Haruka)

Voiced in Japanese by: KAORI

Voiced in English by: Veronica Taylor (4Kids), Michele Knotz (current)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Ana Lobo (Season 6 and first episodes of season 7), Liliana Barba (temporary replacement in Season 6), Mariana Ortiz (rest of the series), Agustina Priscila (Movies 6 and 7)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Cristina Yuste

Voiced in European French by: Maia Baran, Isabelle Volpé (Movie Jirachi Wish Maker), Laurence Sacquet (Movie Destiny Deoxys)

Voiced in Canadian French by: Éveline Gélinas (Movies Jirachi Wish Maker and Destiny Deoxys)

Starting the Advanced series as a newbie trainer, May, the daughter of Petalberg City's renowned Gym Leader Norman, only wanted to travel the world at first, until a chance encounter (and one fried bicycle) with Ash Ketchum lead her on a journey she never forgot. She initially disliked Pokémon before experience around them changed her mind. She aspires to be a Pokémon Coordinator, leading towards a quest similar to Ash's.

---

• The Ace:
  • Subverted during her guest appearance on Diamond and Pearl. Despite being favored to win the Wallace Cup, and having obtained fame as "The Princess of Hoenn" (which she hadn't been called before), she admits to Ash's group that she's still struggling against Drew, Harley, and Solidad in Johto. Moreover, while she manages to defeat Zoey (something Dawn never accomplished), she narrowly loses to Dawn in the final round. By that point, she was certainly better than when she started out, but she still had a long way to go.
  • Played Straight during Journeys, where Serena suggests that May has become well-reputed enough to become a legend on the contest circuit, referring to her by her In-Series Nickname. Her final appearance in the show reveals that May has indeed become a popular coordinator, as she's part of an Idol Unit with Serena and Lisia.
• Achilles' Heel: May's battling style in contests, though very flashy, leaves a lot of room open to reprisals if the Pokémon aren't quick enough to get out of the way in time. This causes her to get utterly trounced against Solidad, who's more aware of this style's flaws and is quick to exploit them.
• Acquired Situational Narcissism: After going on a hot-streak with contest victories and garnering a fan club, May briefly lets her success go to her head. Naturally this immediately leads to a Break the Haughty moment when she's disqualified for pushing her newly-caught Bulbasaur too hard during a match.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: Zig-Zagged. In the games, if she was selected as the main player, her family is indicated to have only recently moved to Hoenn, whereas picking Brendan makes her Birch's daughter, and therefore a native of the region off the bat. She mixes the two stories by being Norman's daughter, but having lived in Hoenn for a while.
• Adaptational Nationality: Zig-Zagged. In the games, picking her as the main player makes her a recent arrival to the Hoenn Region, while picking Brendan makes her a Hoenn native. The anime chooses the latter option.
• Adaptational Sympathy: Her game counterpart was either Norman or Birch's daughter, depending on the player's choice of gender, allowing her to serve as the protagonist or rival. She's given the former option here, showcasing her as struggling to break out of her father's shadow, as well as being forced down the Pokémon path when she had no interest in them to begin with. It takes traveling with Ash to help her better appreciate these creatures, as well as developing a love for contests.
• Adaptational Wimp: Like with Misty, she's not nearly as skilled as her game counterpart (whom, if selected as the rival, is shown to have some experience with Pokémon on account of being Birch's daughter) or her Pokémon Adventures iteration (who is a Wild Child who literally fights Pokémon barehanded). She does get better over time.
• Aesop Amnesia: It takes her a few times before she realizes that Harley is not to be trusted, and is faking any apparent remorse he has for his past actions.
• Always Someone Better:
  • To Jessie. May was part of the main cast during Team Rocket's arguably most ineffectual tenure, and Jessie was an Unknown Rival to her in Pokémon contests, failing every time to outdo her. Even during the Sinnoh contests, where Jessie proved far more competent, she failed to challenge May in any capacity during her brief return (though that could be blamed on Jessie getting too overconfident in herself).
  • And to Harley. He managed to defeat her only once. The Japanese version also implies he's insecure about her being cuter (and thus more popular) competition than him. These are among the more unecessary reasons he has for hating her.
  • She was on the other side of the equation in regards to Drew, whom she only managed to beat once. While she grew into a skilled Coordinator in her own right, Drew proved to be a far superior trainer—even after she beat him in the Kanto Grand Festival, he managed to one-up her in a practice rematch (though it didn't help she was in a bad funk at the time). During her journey through Johto, she mentions that he was proving difficult to compete against.
  • Zig-Zagged with Dawn. She did lose to her successor in the Wallace Cup, and Dawn actually managed to get to the finals in the Sinnoh Grand Festival, but May notably was the only one to actually beat Zoey, whereas Dawn was never shown doing so.
• Always Second Best: Like Ash (initially), she never won a major Coordinating Competition, only placing eight in the Hoenn Grand Festival and fourth in the Kanto Grand Festival. She did remarkably well, but was soundly beaten by Drew and Solidad respectively.
• Amusing Injuries: She gets subject to a fair amount of slapstick, notably getting soundly smacked by the entire Azurill line in her second episode. However most of her Damsel in Distress moments seem to lampshade her lack of Toon Physics. Her almost falling down the exact same cliff Team Rocket passively shot down Wile E Coyote-style was completely Played for Drama.
• Art Evolution: For her cameo in Journeys, she's redesigned to match the new series' art style, with more rounded eyes, a smaller nose, and a more streamlined look to her hair.
• Aside Glance: Sometimes during her "expedition team" routine, she would act like she's reporting "progress" to the audience.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Scott and Brock observe that May is inadvertently influenced by Ash's battle style, which relies heavily on dazzling power attacks. While this approach served her well in the past, it proves ineffective against an experienced coordinator like Solidad, who shares the style, but is aware of the glaring flaw of vulnerability to maneuver and reprisal assaults. This ultimately leads to May's crushing defeat in the Kanto Grand Festival semifinals.
• Authority in Name Only: While she's called "The Princess of Hoenn", it's more of a formality to her fame than an actual indicator of royalty.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: With Max. No matter how many times they argue, they still really care for each other; after all, they're still brother and sister.
• Back from the Dead: She's eaten alive in Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew by The Tree of Beginning's protectorate cells, but is brought back when the Mew living there is able to convince the Tree that she and her friends aren't a threat to it.
• Badass Adorable: She isn't called "The Princess of Hoenn" for no reason; she's a well-regarded Coordinator who's got a gaggle of powerful Pokémon at her disposal.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Her Blaziken has Fighting Type as his secondary typing.
• Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Like Misty before her, she's the only girl in the group. While she doesn't show it off in her normal outfit, she gets a few bikini scenes (notably in the eight and ninth movies), she wears a Bedlah Babe outfit for the Wallace Cup during Diamond and Pearl, and her contest outfit from JN132 (lifted from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire) shows off her stomach.
• Bedlah Babe: May wears an outfit that wouldn't look out of place on a real belly dancer for her return for the Wallace Cup.
• Berserk Button: She gets very mad when food is stolen from her, sometimes to the point of violence. As shown when she returns for the Wallace Cup and finds out Team Rocket stole all of the food:
  May: (as a fiery background appears behind her and she has glowing red eyes) I'll tell you NOBODY STEALS MY FOOD AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!!!^note The Japanese version gave her a demonic voice just to drive it home!
  Dawn: ''What happened to our princess?!''
• Between My Legs: In "Ruin With a View", when she spots an Azurill (the shot framed by May's legs, not the Azurill's).
• Beware the Nice Ones: She's The Cutie most of the time, and is even more easily duped or kidnapped by Team Rocket than Ash. Some of their most vicious comeuppances throughout the entire series have been inflicted by her however, and usually more a result of pressing her buttons than actual self defence.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: She owns the Bug Type Beautifly, although it's a lot prettier an example than is typical of this trope.
• Big Eater: Worse than Ash in this regard. In fact, in one episode, Ash was actually astounded by how much she could eat. Taking her food in any way is a good way to get her mad.
• Big Sister Instinct:
  • Shows at times with Max. She and Liza once inflicted an Extreme Mêlée Revenge onto Team Rocket for kidnapping him. Deconstructed in one episode where a promise May made to her mother about keeping an eye out for Max nearly cost her a chance for getting into her first Grand Festival.
  • Also helps pivot Ash's Big Brother Instinct characterization, being the first main character trainer more novice than him and being protected by him several times over. Possibly inverted since both characters are ten.
• Birds of a Feather:
  • When she arrives in Sinnoh, she and fellow Coordinator Dawn hit it off almost instantly. It helps that both trainers have a "bird" for their starter.
  • Later implied with Serena, a fellow Coordinator, Eeveelution owner, and former traveling companion of Ash, whom she's seen with watching Ash's battle again Leon. The two even hold hands when it seems like Ash is on the verge of losing.
• Bound and Gagged: She arguably holds the unflattering record of getting tied up, string shotted or otherwise restrained by Team Rocket or another antagonist most out of any of Ash's companions.
• Both Sides Have a Point:
  • May let her two contests victory's go to her head during her fourth contest in Rubello Town, and she gets upset with Ash for trying to offer advice to one of her competitors/friends, noting that what they do as Trainers is entirely different. However, May ended up losing when she pushed her freshly caught Bulbasaur too hard and she gets scolded by the judges when she tries to contest it, then is flat out told she's showing no care for the well being of the poor grass type, leaving her to run off in embarrassment. Seeing this, Ash, who was more than likely reminded of his younger days when he could have just as been haughty as she was, talks to May as he told that she was right that what they do as Trainers is different because he focuses on collecting Gym Badges while she focuses on getting contests ribbons. However, Ash also had a point as he told May that they may have different roles as Trainers, but what they do with Pokémon and bonding with them will always be the same.
  • In the Hoenn Grand Festival, May bought Harley's feigned reformation in order to get her to mess up during the contest out of petty revenge for beating him in their last encounter. When Drew tells May of Harley's deceit, she rightfully chews him out for tricking her like that. He doesn't deny it, and in fact brags about it in front of everyone, but he retorts that she fell for it nonetheless, which she somberly realizes that it was true.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Downplayed case. While usually sweet-natured, May can sometimes have a very huffy temperament, especially when she starts to get too confident in her abilities. Notably, the one time she acts like a brat towards Ash when he's just trying to offer genuine advice, her swelled head pops when she gets disqualified and chewed out by the judges for pushing her Bulbasaur too hard.
• Breaking Old Trends:
  • May is the first main character besides Ash to obtain a starter, marking the first generation he didn't get all three of them (a trend of which would repeat throughout every generation except Unova).
  • She's the first companion to obtain a Pokémon that Ash himself caught, starting with Bulbasaur and Squirtle. To this date, only Kiawe (who inherited a Charizard from his late grandfather) and Goh (who caught several Pokémon Ash owned, most notably a Froakie in Kalos) would obtain similar feats.
  • She's also the first main character who has both parents still around, something of which wouldn't be seen until Lana, Sophocles, and Kiawe in Sun and Moon, followed by Goh and Chloe in Journeys.
• Break the Cutie:
  • When May loses her first and second contests, and later the Hoenn Grand Festival, she's utterly crushed and breaks down in tears.
  • The Battle Frontier Arc eventually took its toll on May. After losing the Kanto Grand Festival (and having to say goodbye to Manaphy in Temple of the Sea), she's become a Stepford Smiler by the time Ash defeats Brandon. She's able to bounce back somewhat by going on her own journey through Johto, but she's still struggling to keep up against Drew, Harley, and Solidad, and loses the Wallace Cup to Dawn during her guest appearance.
• Break the Haughty: One contest arc has her get a swelled head, causing her to dismiss Ash's advice. She winds up pushing her freshly-caught Bulbasaur too hard and is disqualified, causing her to get upset when she's scolded for it.
• Broken Win/Loss Streak:
  • During her trek through Hoenn, May lost her first contest, but managed to win two in a row. However, she lost her fourth contest when she wound up with a swelled head and pushed her Bulbasaur too hard during the last round, getting her disqualified. She did win her next three after that, but lost the Grand Festival during the quarter finals.
  • She did have it better during Kanto, since she only lost one contest to Harley (the only time he won, in fact) in Wisteria Town. She bounced back pretty quickly (in spite of Harley's cheating), but her streak came to a halt when Solidad walloped her in the semi-finals of the Grand Festival.
• Butt-Monkey: Like Misty before her, May was prone to getting subject to a fair amount of slapstick, starting off with ramming her bike into a tree, getting soaked by a Mudkip when she neglects to tell it where to aim its Water Gun, having said bike fried by Pikachu, and getting decimated by the entire Azurill family on her first outing.
• But Now I Must Go: After winning the Terracotta Ribbon with Ash, May decides she needs to leave the group permanently and travel to the Johto Region by herself, wanting to find her own way of performing in contests without being stuck in Ash's shadow. While it does leave Max briefly distraught at not being able to go with her, a quick conversation helps him understand, and the two leave for Hoenn so they can get Max home before she sets off.
• The Cameo: While May hasn't physically appeared since Diamond and Pearl, she does make flashback cameos during "The Dream Continues!" and JN105. She would make a cameo in the flesh for JN132 where she and Max join Serena and Lisia in watching Ash's match against Leon.
• Character Catchphrase: When calling her Pokémon for a Contest, "Stage On!"/"Take The Stage!"
• Character Development: At first, May didn't like Pokémon, only becoming a trainer since she wanted to travel, but Ash's Pikachu and her first two Pokémon (Torchic and Wurmple) change her opinion, and she has come to really love Pokémon. In "Cruisin' for a Losin", after pushing her newly caught Bulbasaur too hard and listening to a fellow competitor tell her that the ribbon she already has is a reminder of how hard her Pokémon worked for her, May realizes that the same is true for her Pokémon and the two ribbons they won, and vows to never take them for granted again.
• Clothing Damage: Downplayed. In "Sharpedo Attack!", her new swimsuit gets roughed up a little when a group of Sharpedo attack, but it doesn't cause the damage typical of this trope. She's still quite angry that it got torn though, on account of it being brand new.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Whenever she starts her "expedition team" narration and Finger Framing, it's a sure-sign that she's..."lost".
• Composite Character: Between the two Hoenn Protagonists, she picks up the trait of being the lead choice and Norman's daughter, but picks up the other lead's backstory of being native to Hoenn instead of having moved there just recently. Brendan himself does exist in the anime via cameos in Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea and Giratina and the Sky Warrior, but there's little known about him.
• Conflicting Loyalty: In the episodes leading up to the Petalburg gym battle, Max gets on her case several times about who May wants to win: their father Norman, or Ash. In the gym match itself, she clearly chose Ash's side.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Misty as the show's female lead. While Misty was Ash's coach, mainly followed him to support his goal, and was a Type A Tsundere toward him, May is Ash's mentee, has her own independent goal that rotates with his, and a Type B Tsundere toward Drew. Moreover, while Ash and Misty got into a lot of arguments due to the latter finding Ash to be a haughty and lazy trainer way in over his head, May and Ash very rarely got into a fight, and she looked up to him for guidance (albeit that Ash had mellowed out of his arrogant phase for the most part).
• Contrived Coincidence: How she happens to meet Ash. The day she was going to get her starter was the day he came to Hoenn, rushing to save his wounded and exhausted Pikachu after Team Rocket ambushed him on the way over. With the TRio still in hot pursuit, things go south very quickly, Pikachu recovers and fries both his foes and May's bike, and she finds herself wanting to travel with him.
• Costume Evolution: She goes from her Ruby and Sapphire outfit to her Emerald outfit by the time she rejoins the main group.
• Crazy-Prepared: In "Brave the Wave!", once the group arrives in town, May shucks off her usual outfit and shows she has a green bikini on underneath, having been ready to hit the beach even before they got there.
• Curbstomp Battle: On her first contest battle, Drew smashed her into the ground hard. And in her last battle in the Kanto Grand Festival, Solidad wiped the floor with her using her Slowbro and Pidgeot.
• Cuteness Proximity: If a Pokémon looks cute, she's going to gush over it. Although there was one time she squeed over Gulpin, a.k.a. the living stomach.
• The Cutie: Probably the dorkiest and childish of Ash's female companions. In keeping with the trope, she gets a lot of Big Brother Instinct moments out of Ash and Brock.
• Cutting Off the Branches: Depending on the player's choice of protagonist in Ruby and Sapphire, May is either Norman's daughter, or Birch's daughter. She's made the former in this continuity.
• Daddy's Girl: Although her father doesn't appear as much in the series, she's still driven a lot by the fact he's a gym leader. In fact, there's a strong implication that being the daughter of a famous gym leader pressured her into going out to be a Pokémon trainer, despite her general disinterest at the time. Nevertheless, he supports her decision to become a Coordinator, and when Ash finally challenges him, she's conflicted about whether or not to root for him or Ash.
• Damsel in Distress: Ash has saved her life several times on the show, notably in Temple of the Sea when he put her and Pikachu in a torpedo tube to help them escape the sinking Sea Temple while he tried to undo the damage wrought by The Phantom.
• A Day in the Limelight: Apart from the Contest arc, the ninth movie comes to mind.
• Deadpan Snarker: She can provide snark especially where her brother is concerned, but Ash and Brock tend to take the heat as well.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: She starts off the series not wanting to be a Pokémon trainer at all, but feeling like she only had to because her father is the famous Norman of Petalberg City, only using it as an excuse to travel. Once she learns about contests, she quickly finds that purpose.
• Determinator: Like Ash, she isn't one to quit easily. She suffers from the occasional blow to her confidence, but she always manages to bounce back and find a way to compete in contests again.
• Deuteragonist: To Ash during "Advanced Generation" - even the final major battle (an unofficial contest they both enter) reflects this mindset. Like Ash, she (eventually) wants to be the very best at a major Pokémon competition (in her case, contests), but she winds up getting put through the wringer more than once, including when she got as swelled a head as Ash did during his early days. Nevertheless, she persists hard until she achieves her dreams. For added bonus points, she even obtains two of the starters (Bulbasaur and Squirtle) that Ash himself got during his travels (albeit they didn't evolve like hers did).
• Didn't Think This Through: Part of her loss during her second contest loss (besides a swelled head) was that she decided to press her Bulbasaur into the competition despite the fact she only caught it a few days before, giving her little time to be properly trained in what to do. When May pushed her too hard, she was disqualified.
• Disproportionate Retribution: On the receiving end by Harley, who's done everything he can in his power to destroy her. Why? When they met, she called his cookies "not bad" and found his Cacturne to be scary.
• Distress Ball: Even after becoming one of the most active and capable female companions, she often couldn't catch a break with this. This usually inflicted Big Brother Instinct moments from Ash.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: KAORI, May's Japanese VA, sings AG's final ending theme, which is also May's Image Song, herself.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: May was slightly taller than Ash in her debut, whereas later episodes make her more diminutive in both height (and personality), likely so Ash can better take on a Big Brother Mentor role towards her.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: An offscreen variation. Since May hasn't appeared in the series outside of flashbacks or cameos due to her Japanese voice actress retiring, Serena reveals that May is revered in Hoenn on the contest circuit, suggesting she finally managed to achieve her dreams after all the trauma she got put through during Battle Frontier.
• Easily Forgiven: Deconstructed. She gives Harley god-knows how many chances to redeem himself before she finally gets the hint and that he's only interested in destroying her.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: May is sweet to everyone she meets. The one person she initially dislikes is Drew, but even then she starts to become very Tsundere with him and earns enough of his respect that he stops treating her so harshly. Harley, however, is one person she grows increasingly less fond of the more he pulls his stunts on her.
• Establishing Character Moment: When she's first introduced, May is shown riding her bike to get her starter, only to get frightened by a Duskull and slamming into a tree while her self-narration indicates she's not a big fan of Pokémon.
• Famed In-Story: Because she's Norman's daughter, the entirety of Petalberg City worships the very ground she walks on, which didn't help the one time that Team Rocket rather unconvincingly disguised themselves as Norman's family and sicced the whole town on the Twerps. By the time of Diamond and Pearl, her reputation had grown in the Coordinator circuit enough to where she was called "The Princess of Hoenn", which Journeys indicated held some serious respect amongst her competitors.
• The Fashionista: Amongst Ash's companions, she, Misty, Dawn, and Serena have shared the most varied outfits, though May's mostly worn more varieties of swimsuits and casual outfits. She's also the first of them to change her outfit permanently after leaving the group, which only Serena has followed suit in.
• Fatal Flaw: Her lack of confidence. She's never able to beat Drew aside from one time because she has little faith in herself. Even though she gets better, she's still very prone to self-doubt, causing her and her Pokémon to falter at inopportune moments. Notably, the one time she did beat Drew was because she cast her doubts aside and pushed to the end, but lost to him once more when losing to Solidad at the Kanto Grand Festival crushed her confidence hard. Part of the reason she decides to journey out on her own is because she thinks it will help her find herself without being stuck in Ash's shadow.
• Figure It Out Yourself: After brutally losing to Solidad at the Kanto Grand Festival, May spends a lot of time down in the dumps, but realizes that she's borrowed far too much of Ash's own battling style for herself—something that isn't helping her improve in contests. Once she and Ash have their last battle, she decides to strike out on her own, hoping that she'll be able to find her own style. While Diamond and Pearl indicated she's still struggling in that aspect, mentions of her in Journeys indicates that she eventually grew to find it.
• Flaw Exploitation: Drew is able to take advantage of May's lack of self confidence and beat her down just enough that he wins at the Hoenn Grand Festival (though he loses himself in the next round). The next time they face in the Kanto Grand Festival, May is able to pull herself together that she narrowly beats Drew...only for Solidad to exploit her other flaw of leaving her Pokémon too open to reprisal while showing off their moves, resulting in a crushing defeat.
• Flung Clothing: In "Brave the Wave!", she immediately shucks off her usual outfit right in front of her friends and brother to show off the new swimsuit she had on. Ash and Max panic when she does so.
• Foil: To several of the previous characters in the series.
  • First, to Ash himself. Ash was an overeager, immature, and sometimes Jerk with a Heart of Gold who wanted to be a Pokémon trainer right off the bat, while she was a shy, somewhat mature, and more reserved Nice Girl who only became a trainer because of her father, only picking up on a career choice when she got the hang of traveling around. Ash overslept and missed getting his pick of a starter, leaving him with a disobedient Pikachu that only started listening to him when he saved his life, and the two remained inseparable since, while May arrived early and got her choice of a fully obedient Torchic that she often overlooked until it evolved. Both trainers got enough qualifying badges/ribbons to make it into their prospective competitions, but got eliminated by their rivals in the Top 8, the difference being that Tyson had only become Ash's brief rival recently, while Drew was May's rival since the beginning. Both trainers also got a Bulbasaur and a Squirtle, but Ash never evolved his, while May did. Meanwhile, Ash would achieve his goal after he bested Leon 25 years in real-time after his journey begin, while May managed to become world-famous far earlier in the Pokémon universe (though it's not clear how much she's accomplished her goal). Both also met Serena, the former as a child before traveling through Kalos with her, the latter when Serena went to Hoenn and became a Coordinator.
  • Likewise, with Misty as Ash's female traveling companion. Misty was a gym leader and the youngest of four siblings, May was the daughter of a gym leader and the eldest of two. Misty often butted heads with Ash and held the fact that he destroyed her bike over his head, but she did care for him deep down, and even developed feelings for him later on. May, on the other hand, rarely got into a spat with Ash, never made an issue with him destroying her bike, and any sense of a crush was far more subtle. Misty couldn't stand her sisters, May loved Max in spite of the fact they bickered often. Misty chose to specialize in water types only, while May acquired several different types of Pokémon.
  • She's also presented as one to her rival, Drew. She's a rookie to the Coordinator scene, while he's a bit more experienced. Her Signature Mon is the Fire-Fighting type Blaziken and later the Ice type Glaceon, while his are the Grass-Poison type Roserade and the Dark type Absol. She's a Nice Girl who grows from an under-confident noobie into a seasoned veteran, while he's a Defrosting Ice King that is impressive to start with, but keeps upping his game nonetheless. Neither of them win their Grand Festivals, with Drew being knocked out of the Hoenn Festival in the Top 4, while May fell in the same place in Kanto.
  • Her other rival, Harley, is yet another Foil. She's sweet, polite, kind, and as fashionable as Harley is deceitful, manipulative, and a downright cheat who would happily screw May over if it meant he could win.
  • On her Diamond and Pearl guest appearance, she's presented as one to Dawn. Unlike May, Dawn wanted to be a Coordinator the moment she could, but struggled far worse than May due to getting too focused on the performance itself and not having fun, while May's problem largely stemmed from a lack of confidence in herself. Both also picked the bird-themed starter of their respective regions, but Piplup is a feisty water type who doesn't want to evolve, while Blaziken is a mighty Fire/Fighting type who did evolve all the way.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: She can serve in either role with Max depending on the situation. While she's the more experienced Pokémon Trainer on account of her reaching the age requirement to begin, he's far smarter than her on most things Pokémon in spite of not being able to become a trainer yet.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Harley claims that May stole his lunch as a child, long before the two met on the Contest Circuit. Given he's a known liar, it's very hard to say if he's telling the truth.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine: She's a very sweet and caring girl who's an elegant performer and plenty easygoing, but she can get very distraught in troubling situations, and her confidence can shatter very easily when she's handed a lopsided defeat.
• Freudian Excuse: It's implied she doesn't like Pokémon that much because her mother mistook her for a Tentacool and tried to catch her while one was getting too close for comfort. She gets over it.
• Friendly Rivalry: Her relationship with Drew eventually grows into this, once she started heeding his advice and became a far more serious coordinator. Though the series does imply something more on their part.
• Good Is Not Soft: Despite her Nice Girl status, pissing her off is not a good idea, especially if you threaten to hurt her brother or you trick her.
• Good Luck Charm: Describes her half of the Terracotta Ribbon, which she tied with Ash, as her lucky charm during her travels in Johto.
• Guest-Star Party Member: She briefly returns for the Wallace Cup arc in "Diamond and Pearl" for four episodes.
• The Heart: She occupied this role in the Advanced Generation party, thanks to her Nice Girl status, though a lot of the focus on the series was on her finding her footing in the Pokémon world.
• Heroic BSoD: Losing lopsidedly to Solidad at the Kanto Grand Festival shook her confidence so badly, she could barely function. Seeing Ash overcome Pyramid King Brandon does help her recover, leading her to decide to strike out on her own.
• Hero of Another Story: She and Serena evidently crossed paths with one another during their travels, and perform contests together in Hoenn, as the two are seen watching Ash's final match against Leon.
• Her Own Worst Enemy: May's lack of confidence in her own abilities led her to struggling in her Coordinator Career early on, and getting handed lopsided losses only crushed her confidence to the point she could barely function.
• Hidden Depths: Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea puts her in the position of the surrogate mother to Manaphy, which she manages to catch on quickly with. She even demonstrates that she's a pretty good singer while giving it a lullaby.
• Iconic Outfit: Her red bandanna, red shirt, white skirt, and black boots, which even her later outfits have drawn some inspiration from.
• Identical Stranger: She (apparently) looks just like a girl that stole the last bit of Harley's lunch when he was in preschool. Given that Harley is an Unreliable Narrator, we can't tell if he's being serious.
• Idiot Hero: At times, she demonstrated she could be just as bad as Ash in that regard. Not only did she keep falling for Team Rocket's disguises, but it took her a long time to stop falling for Harley's bad bits of advice.
• Image Song: "Watashi, Makenai!", AG's final ending theme.
• An Ice Person: She owns the Ice Type Glaceon.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: She's got big, bright blues, and has a far more innocent outlook on the world.
• In-Series Nickname: Diamond and Pearl establishes her as "The Princess of Hoenn".
• Ironic Echo: Ash teaches May the basics of catching Pokémon, and May later returns it to him word-for-word when he forgets those basics.
• Irony:
  • She starts out the series not liking Pokémon, but is the daughter of one of Hoenn's premier Gym Leaders.
  • When she first begins, she refuses to take Mudkip due to a bad experience with one. Later, Brock gets a Mudkip, which she has no problem with hanging around.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She really doesn't want to let Manaphy go, having grown very fond of it, but she accepts that it needs to fulfill its destiny, no matter how much it hurts to let her "child" go.
• Jerkass Ball: As sweet as she is, she can get pretty angry with Ash or Max for no good reason. One time, she and the former got into such a huge argument, it devolved into a Girls vs. Boys Plot where even Team Rocket got involved to settle the score. All Brock, Max, and Pikachu could do was watch—and referee in the former's case.
• Jerkass Realization: When she's disqualified from a contest for pushing her Bulbasaur too hard, she runs off in tears. She soon realizes how unfair she was to her Pokémon, and how much she let the fame go to her head.
• Karmic Jackpot: May is nearly unable to compete in the Kanto Contest Circuit because Harley tricked her as to how registration actually worked. However, she's still able to get in anyway when a Nurse Joy witnesses her help to rescue a group of stolen Pokémon from Team Rocket, allowing her to compete (much to Harley's chagrin).
• Lethal Chef: Pokéblocks are edible for humans and Pokémon (to be fair, they are made of berries, after all). May's Pokéblocks? Not so much.
  • The first time she made a batch, only Beautifly liked them.
  • On another, more infamous occasion. They were so bad that it knocked out almost everyone who ate them, with James noting that they tasted of jet fuel and burning tires. The only two who liked them were Munchlax, which will eat almost anything, and Jessie, who was able to stomach another female's nasty concoction.
• Like Parent, Unlike Child: She starts off the series not really liking Pokémon, while her father is a dedicated Gym Leader specializing in Normal Types. She grows out of the disliking Pokémon part, but she notably declines to partake in Gym Battles and chooses to go into Contests instead.
• Living Legend: By Diamond and Pearl and Journeys, May is revered as "The Princess of Hoenn" for her various contest exploits.
• Long Bus Trip: Between Misty, Dawn, Iris, Serena, Lana, Mallow, and Lillie, May has been absent from the series longest, having last shown up in "Strategy With A Smile!" back during the Diamond and Pearl era.^note Though this is due to her Japanese voice actress, KAORI, having semi-retired due to spasmotic dysphonia, and a refusal to recast the role until she decides to return. It wouldn't be until JN132 that she would show up in the flesh alongside Max, and even then it's a silent cameo, marking her as the only one of Ash's companions he wouldn't reunite with in Journeys prior to the character being retired as the lead.
• Lost Food Grievance: May does NOT take it lightly when someone steals her food.
• Lovable Coward: A bit of a scaredy-cat at the beginning of the series. Whenever faced with threatening Pokémon, she would be seen cowering behind a male companion's (usually Ash) back. She eventually grows out of it, but an early Battle Frontier episode sees her as the only one of the twerps who cannot sleep peacefully inside a ghost town.
• Making a Splash: She owns the Water Type Wartortle, and for a time was the caretaker of the Mythical Water Type Manaphy.
• Mama Bear: She tends to be very protective of her Pokémon, and develops a mother-child bond with Manaphy in Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea.
• Meaningful Name: Her English name, May, is quite fitting considering her initial lack of confidence and indecisiveness in her abilities.
• Ms. Fanservice: While nowhere near as much compared to Misty, the anime definitely found May attractive enough and wasted no time in giving her numerous bikini scenes, with Lucario and the Mystery of Mew and Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea being the most noteworthy of them. Her Bedlah Babe outfit from the Wallace Cup also qualifies.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • In "Cruisin For A Losin", after pushing her Bulbasaur too hard and getting scolded for her bad behavior, May realizes her actions were inappropriate and tearfully apologizes to her Bulbasaur, before running off the stage in shame.
  • In "Take This House And Shuppet", May shows regret when she realizes that she's really hurt Max's feelings during her argument with him and said some things that she shouldn't have.
• Mythology Gag: Both of her outfits in Diamond and Pearl and JN132 are taken from Emerald and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire respectively.
• Nice Girl: May is extremely sweet and friendly to almost everyone.
• Nice Mean And In Between: Between the three rivals, she's the Nice to Harley's Mean and Drew's In Between.
• Non-Elemental: Both her Munchlax and Skitty are Normal Types.
• Noodle Incident: According to Max, she once had a bad encounter with a Tentacool, which explains her slight fear of Pokémon at the start of her journey.
  • It's revealed (by Max accidentally giving information to Harley and broadcasted through the speakers) that when she was little she had a blue swim cap and was swimming in the water...and Tentacool were there. She called for help but instead her mom mistook her for one of the Tentacool and tried to capture her instead!
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Due to real-life circumstances relating to her Japanese voice seiyuu, much of May's exploits, achievements, and adventures after her guest star appearance in Diamond and Pearl are only hinted at, with characters alluding to her reputation. Journeys reveals that she became skilled and popular enough to be deemed the Princess of Hoenn, with talent on par with Serena and Lisa, who are considered to be the top coordinators in the Hoenn regions. How she got there is left to the imagination.
• One Degree of Separation: Journeys revealed she eventually met Serena, another former traveling companion of Ash's and a fellow trainer with an Eeveelution, as the two joined Max and Lisa in watching Ash's battle against Leon.
• Pals with Jesus: She becomes a surrogate mother to a baby Manaphy in Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea. She bonded very closely with it, but was heartbroken when it came time to say goodbye.
• Parental Neglect:
  • Related to the above - her parents couldn't be bothered to watch their toddler at the beach, and do nothing after hearing her cries for help. Norman goes back to sunbathing, and Caroline decides to try and catch some Pokémon!
  • For a human to Pokémon example, she soon began paying more attention to her Beautifly and Skitty more so than her own starter, Torchic, which left Max worried about the chicken's well being. However, when he and Ash are asked to watch some starters being given out to new trainers, and that Torchic busts loose, beats up some wild Pokémon and evolves into Combusken, Max decides to exploit the situation by having May's Torchic pose as the one intended to be given away, while steering the new trainer towards picking Treecko or Mudkip so they won't take Torchic instead. Unfortunately for him, May notices Torchic is missing and is less than pleased that Max tried to pull that stunt.
• Parental Substitute: In Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea, she winds up in the care of a Manaphy that was being targeted by The Phantom so he could use its power to steal the titular Sea Temple's treasure. The young Manaphy sees May as its "mama", and she happily takes the title after a while. Unfortunately, she's forced to let her child go so it could fulfill its destiny.
• Playing with Fire: Her starter is the Fire Type Blaziken.
• Plucky Girl: Brave, optimistic, kind, and at times, awkward, she definitely fits.
• Poisonous Person: Her Venasaur is partially a Poison Type.
• Power Copying:
  • Her Skitty knows Assist, which can copy any of the attacks her current party knows, though it's never the same one twice. At one point, this is Deconstructed when Harley once again tricks her by saying she should just use Skitty's Assist in the Battle Round. She falls for it hook, line, and sinker, and gets docked points for not using more varied moves. She still wins, but is peeved that she got duped again.
  • Another subtle example came up that was subject to a similar deconstruction. It turns out May had been unconsciously using Ash's own battling style for her contests—a strategy that's fine for Gym Battles, but nowhere as suitable for the Coordinator scene. In doing so, she gets utterly destroyed by Solidad during the Final Four of the Kanto Grand Festival, as the elder Coordinator recognizes the flaws with such an approach and is quick to exploit them.
• Princesses Prefer Pink: Although her title of "Princess" is more an indicator of her fame, her Wallace Cup outfit and her contest outfit in JN132both have prominent pink elements.
• Put on a Bus: She leaves for her own journey at the end of Advanced Generation, and, aside from a four-part guest appearance in Diamond and Pearl, she hasn't been seen outside of flashbacks or Ash reminiscing about his companions until JN132. This is even more glaring compared to Misty, Dawn, and Iris, as they've all come back, but May still has yet to reappear.^ExplanationThis is due to the fact that May's Japanese seiyū Kaori has been diagnosed with vocal cervical dystonia (spasmodic dysphonia) in 2012, which severely impairs her ability to speak. Due to the anime industry's reverence and respect to seiyū in general, replacing Kaori with another seiyū would be seen as disrespectful to her and thus May is simply relegated to non-speaking cameos until Kaori feels ready to reprise the role.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: The reason she never came back to the series outside of silent cameos or flashbacks (not even during the XY era, which brought her back in the games as the lead for the Gen 3 remakes), was due to her Japanese voice actress being forced to retire due to her vocal chord issues.
• Red Baron:
  • "The Princess of Hoenn" when she appears for the Wallace Cup.
  • In Journeys, Serena tells Chloe the outfit she's suggesting Chloe wear during her performance was formerly used by "The Princess of Hoenn" indicating May is still called that, and that the name still seems to carry some serious respect, though it isn't expanded upon.
• Red Is Heroic: She's clad primarily in red, and she's one of the series main protagonists.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to her rival Drew's blue. She's far more passionate in her everyday life compared to the more stoic and reserved Drew.
• Remember the New Guy?: Dub-only, where it's implied that May and Max had already met Ash's Charizard prior to the latter's actual debut in AG.
  May: Oh no, not again. (referring to Charizard's way of saying hello to Ash.)
  Max: Of course, that's the only way Charizard knows how to say hello.
• Replacement Flat Character: Replacing Ash as the show's clueless newbie.
• Riddle for the Ages:
  • How exactly she wound up time-traveling into the past (or got back to the present for that matter) is never given any explanation, as there's no hint of Celebi being involved, and Dialga had yet to be introduced at the time.
  • How and when she was deemed "The Princess of Hoenn" was never established in the series.
• Rotating Arcs: The focus of her seeking out Pokémon Contests alternates with Ash's own quest for the Hoenn League and later the Battle Frontier. Notably, in the latter she's the one who had to contend with a Tournament Arc, since Ash's own quest at that time is more along the lines of a Run the Gauntlet.
• Running Gag: Early on, the group would frequently be slow to get going because May was adjusting her appearance in a mirror.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: May decides to travel to another region to register in the Wallace Cup and end her losing streak, but winds up losing in the finals to Dawn.
• Ship Tease:
  • She receives some with Ash, sprinkled liberally throughout Advanced Generation and especially in Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of The Sea. In the former, she guilts Ash into letting her tag along due to her bike being destroyed (which she happily cheers out when he accepts), and the latter sees her and Ash swimming underwater in amazement of the sea life.
  • Also gets quite a bit of this with Drew, especially once their rivalry starts to become more friendly; the most cited hint is Drew frequently giving her roses, although he insists it's for her Pokémon.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Max. She's more of a Nice Girl with a naive streak, while he's a Bratty Half-Pint Deadpan Snarker who veers into Know-Nothing Know-It-All territory.
• Signature Headgear: Her bandanna, which she always wears a variation of. In Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea, Manaphy actually goes out its way to get it back for its "mama" when she drops it in the ocean.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: Her entire outfit changes from her more familiar red, white, and black clothes to the outfit she wears in Pokémon Emerald to signify she's out on her own.
• Small Name, Big Ego: In one episode she develops a group of admirers and an over-inflated ego. Then she enters a contest. You can imagine what happens next.
• Socially Awkward Hero: As skilled of a coordinator she grows to become, she still gets a few moments of fluster and shyness, even around her rival Drew.
• Super Gullible: One of May's flaws. She gets tricked by Team Rocket a lot and she even trusted Harley when the latter manipulated her with misleading advice in the Advanced Generation season. Harley was quick to point out that she was the one dumb enough to keep falling for it.
• Surpassed the Teacher: A Downplayed example. Near the end of the Advanced Generation saga, May decides to follow her rivals to compete in the contests in Johto due to wanting to come up with her own unique style in contests after realizing that emulating Ash's more offensive-battling style isn't good for contests. As a result, she decides to stop traveling with Ash, realizing such a step is necessary for her to step out of his shadow, but she still expresses her gratitude to him for everything he has taught her.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Averted. While she takes Misty's place as Ash’s female companion, her personality is rather different. May's competing in Contests also mean she has a much more active role in the narrative than Misty did.
• Sweet Tooth: Prominent for her Big Eater tendencies, she's shown numerous time munching down on various sweets.
• Tender Tears: After her various contests losses, she breaks down crying. Luckily, Ash and co. are there to help comfort her.
• Time Travel: Encountered a rather random case in "Time Warp Heals All Wounds", where she teams up with Meowth of all people to undo a stranger's death in the past. Said stranger being spared from his death results in her egg finally hatching into an Eevee.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: She fulfills both roles.
  • Tomboy: To her successor Dawn's Girly Girl. May is much into the travel aspect of her Pokémon journey while also borrowing a lot of Ash's battling techniques, while Dawn places a lot more emphasis on her performance.
  • Girly Girl: To her predecessor Misty's Tomboy. Misty is a Gym Leader who can wallop foes through sheer force, while May is a Coordinator much more interested in performances.
• Took a Level in Badass: May took a noticeable level in badass somewhere around the time of Combusken's evolution. The first half of the season had her freezing up a lot and relying on blind luck — shortly post-Combusken she was holding her own against villains of the day. By Battle Frontier, she entered every contest with confidence. Journeys indicates that she's managed to become a world-respected coordinator, famous enough to be a part of an Idol Unit with the likes of Lisia and Serena.
  • Not only that, but most of her Pokémon also got this change.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Noodles; specifically, Tonkotsu Ramen. It gets to the point in "Pasta la Vista" that she'd fight off against Ash in order to make sure she can enjoy those noodles, combined with a fiery aura to show how determined she was.
• Trauma Conga Line: A more benign example than most, but the Battle Frontier era really put May through the wringer. She nearly misses registration because Harley once again tricked her by feigning reformation. While she's able to breeze through most of her contests, and even gets two new Pokémon, she's subject to numerous attempts of humiliation (and one defeat) by Harley, sometimes with Team Rocket's help, and she actually dies in Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew (albeit temporarily). Things finally take their toll when loses lopsidedly to Solidad in the Kanto Grand Festival only after she manages to finally beat her rival Drew, leaving her a sobbing mess. And though she's able to find solace again when she becomes a surrogate mother to a baby Manaphy, she winds up having to bid farewell to it after nearly dying a few times trying to protect it. By the time she and Ash part ways, she's barely holding together, and even when she reunites with him, she admits she's still struggling to find herself in Johto. Even the Wallace Cup proves unfruitful, as she narrowly loses to Dawn. Poor girl doesn't catch a break until Journeys, and even then it's all offscreen.
• Tsundere: A Type B, meaning she's mostly sweet and gentle...unless Drew is around, or Ash and/or her brother Max pisses her off.
• The Unfavorite: Downplayed. Her parents are generally a lot more interested in Max, though that's probably just because he's younger and needs more attention. They do a good job of cheering her on in Contests, though — her mother traveled all the way from Petalburg to Slateport City to support her when the Hoenn Grand Festival came!
• The Unreveal: Exactly when she and Serena crossed paths, how they learned about their connection to Ash, and when they decided to start competing together has yet to be revealed.
• Verbal Tic: "-kamo" in the Japanese version, which even squeezed its way into her Image Song!
  • Stealth Pun: Her starter was Achamo, which could easily mimic this sound. The Verbal Tic isn't present in the dub, and would have to be changed anyway as Achamo's English name is Torchic. However, "kamo" is used to suggest uncertainty and can be translated to "may," which makes her English name quite appropriate.
• Watch Out for That Tree!: She slams her bike into one after getting scared by a Duskull—in her debut episode no less!
• What the Hell, Hero?: Received an earful from Nurse Joy and the other judges for pressuring her Bulbasaur too hard in its first Contest.
• The Worf Effect: While May did admirably well in the Kanto Grand Festival, she got walloped by Solidad so badly due to her being far less experienced and having borrowed too much from Ash's own battle style to effectively see the flaws with using it in contests. The defeat practically broke her for a good while.
• Worf Had the Flu: Although she finally beat Drew in the Kanto Grand Festival, she lost to him in their next bout in a practice contest because she was utterly broken about having lost to Solidad.
• Worthy Opponent: May has no care for Harley as a person, but she does admit that he's a skilled Coordinator in his own right. Even later on, she describes him as being quite tricky to deal with, even against the likes of Drew and Solidad.
• Yank the Dog's Chain:
  • Despite finding some semblance of happiness when she becomes a parent to Manaphy, she's forced to bid it farewell so it can fulfill its destiny.
  • Her arc in the Wallace Cup amounts to her managing to make it to the finals, only for Dawn to narrowly edge her out.
• Your Size May Vary: Was roughly Misty's height in her first episode. In all later episodes she's slightly shorter than Ash, though some Off-Model moments occur, most commonly the actual difference in height between her and Ash.

May's Pokémon

In General

• Not Allowed to Grow Up: In Advanced Generation, most of her team consisted of cute, unevolved Pokémon, though this is largely subverted for her return in Diamond and Pearl. By the time of the Wallace Cup, only Skitty and Munchlax have not evolved, while the rest of her team have evolved at least once.
• Put on a Bus: Beautifly and Skitty were left behind at the Petalburg Gym, while May chose to leave Bulbasaur at Oak's so she could learn from Ash's own Bulbasaur. She later reclaimed the former two before heading to Johto, and now rotates all of them in and out of her roster.
• Signature Mon: Thanks to the anime's influence, Torchic (in its first stage, if not fully evolved) is usually depicted as May's partner in most promotional material, including the Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire commercials, various statues, and even as her Pokémon Adventures counterpart Sapphire's first 'mon. Glaceon also qualifies, given how she used it in the Wallace Cup and how it was her only Pokémon present in JN132 for her cameo.
• Similar Squad: May's Pokémon in Advanced Generation tend to draw parallels to Pokémon Ash caught during his early journey: her strongest Pokémon is a fully evolved Fire-type starter, mirroring Ash's Charizard; her first capture/evolution is Beautifly, mirroring Ash's Butterfree; her Bulbasaur and Squirtle mirror Ash's own Bulbasaur and Squirtle; and her Munchlax mirrors Ash's Snorlax.
• Took a Level in Badass: May obtained each of these Pokémon in their first stages, and they all grew from oddballs into fully-capable fighters and performers.

Torchic-Combusken-Blaziken (Achamo-Wakasyamo-Bursyamo)

Voiced in Japanese by: Chinami Nishimura (Achama and Wakasyamo), Katsuyuki Konishi (Bursyamo)

Voiced in English by: Rachael Lillis (Torchic), Darren Dunstan (Combusken, 4Kids), Bill Rogers (Combusken second voice and Blaziken)

---

• 11th-Hour Superpower: Evolved into Blaziken right as Advanced Generation was hitting its finale (handily beating Team Rocket in the process), and also just in time for use against Ash and Sceptile in the unofficial Contest at Terracotta Town.
• The Ace: It's not only May's first Pokémon, it's also her strongest, as demonstrated in her final battle against Ash.
• Badass Adorable/Killer Rabbit: As cute as it was, Torchic could prove itself to be a capable fighter...at least while it wasn't getting its butt handed to it.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Combusken and Blaziken's secondary type is fighting, and it gains access to fighting moves upon evolving.
• Berserk Button: After May got Torchic and returned home to Petalberg City, Max made the mistake of insulting it. Torchic promptly pecked him.
• The Big Guy: Once May left the main group, Blaziken was the strongest and biggest of her Pokémon she had (though her Venasaur took that slot when she rejoined the group in Diamond and Pearl). At the very least, Blaziken is the tallest of her team.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: When May went to Sinnoh for the Wallace Cup, she teamed up with Dawn for a tag battle. Blaziken and Piplup fit together quite well with this trope.
• Butt-Monkey: Prior to evolution, Torchic got walloped pretty much every time it came out of the Poké Ball. After evolution though...
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Ash's Charizard and Quilava. Torchic winds up fully evolving into a powerhouse like the former, but like the latter, was a shy and timid Mon who couldn't quite get the hang of things at first. Where this chicken differs is that it's a Lightning Bruiser who relies on speed and power all at once, compared to Charizard being The Big Guy and Quilava having a standard fighting prowess. Also he's a Fire-Fighting type, whereas Charizard is a Fire-Flying type, and Quilava is just a Fire type.
• The Dog Bites Back: Corphish goes right back to being a Jerkass to Torchic once the events of "A Shroomish Skirmish" are all over. Problem is, Torchic is now Combusken and isn't having it, type disadvantage be damned.
• Out of Focus: An In-Universe case. When May started competing in contests and started using Beautifly and Skitty more often, Max pointed out that she barely paid any attention to Torchic. He wound up exploiting this when he and Ash were asked by the local Nurse Joy to watch over some starters she was preparing to give out for a new trainer, only for that Torchic to break loose, get into fights with wild Pokémon, and evolve. Thinking May wouldn't notice her Torchic was missing, Max took it and tried to substitute it for the freshly evolved one while he and Ash tried guiding the new trainer into picking Treecko or Mudkip. Unfortunately for them, May did notice.
• Playing with Fire: It knows Ember starting as a Torchic, but gains access to more powerful moves like Fire Spin as it evolves, Overheat and later Blaze Kick as well. Its ability is Blaze, which activates during May's final battle with Ash.
• Plot Parallel: Its evolutions mirror May's own growth as a Trainer. It starts as a clueless and overly naive starter as a Torchic, develops into a more focused and competent partner as a Combusken, and then finally a confident and independent powerhouse as a Blaziken.
• Shoryuken: It knows Sky Uppercut, allowing it perform a shoryuken on its foes.
• Signature Mon: Being one of the Hoenn Starter and May's first Pokémon, it naturally is her Signature Mon. However, Torchic had to fight for this status, since Beautifly, Skitty and Bulbasaur got more attention from their trainer than it did. After evolving into Combusken, it rose to the rank of May's Ace Pokémon, to the point that most other versions of May have Torchic as her starter.
• Signature Move: During its time as Torchic, it was Ember, but after evolving into Combusken, its Signature Moves became Fire Spin and Sky Uppercut.
• Took a Level in Badass: Torchic's evolution into Combusken...and to up the ante, it evolves into Blaziken at the end of AG.
• Well Done Chicken Mon: Torchic went through a personality change when evolving into Combusken. It went from timid and cutesy to a Proud Warrior Race Mon. What triggered this personality change? May paying more attention and spending more time with her other Pokémon (who, it must be said, were getting more attention to prepare for Contests while Torchic was left behind).
• Who's Laughing Now?: Literally happens in "A Shroomish Skirmish". Torchic settles its differences with Corphish after Corphish protected Torchic from a herd of angry Breloom, and Torchic returned the favor by evolving into Combusken to save him. At the end of the episode, Corphish attempts to steal Combusken's food again (which started their squabble in the first place) but was now intimidated by the more powerful Combusken, and Combusken simply laughs it off.
• Wind from Beneath My Wings: It knows Peck, a Flying Type move, in spite of not being a flying type.

Wurmple-Silcoon-Beautifly (Kemusso-Karasalis-Agehunt)

Voiced in Japanese by: Ryōko Shiraishi

Voiced in English by: Tara Jayne (Wurmple), Rachael Lillis (Silcoon and Beautifly 4Kids), Michele Knotz (Beautifly, current)

---

• Always Someone Better: To Jessie's Dustox, with Beautifly almost always besting Dustox in battles and contests, and being considered the prettier more impressive Pokémon by everyone but Team Rocket. Odd since this was subverted when they were both Wurmples, with Jessie's being the far more obedient and competent Pokémon.
• Big Eater: Wurmple. When he had his first lunch with the other Pokémon, he ate not only all the Pokémon food...but also the lunch Brock made for everyone else!
• Brick Joke: During the gang's return to Petalburg for Ash's fifth gym battle, it's revealed that a Beautifly was something of a soft spot for Caroline because it symbolizes her marriage with Norman. At the beginning of the Battle Frontier saga, May cites that very reason as to why her Beautifly stayed in the Petalburg gym.
• The Bus Came Back: Returned with May during the Wallace Cup arc; in fact, it was the first to greet Ash & Brock, while May's ship was entering the docks.
• Flight: It's a Bug-Flying type, and has wings, giving it this ability.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: As a Wurmple, it was poorly trained and lazy, while Jessie's was diligent and loyal. May's still evolved into a competent Beautifly as she desired, and always outshone Jessie's Dustox.
• Head Pet: Beautifly's favorite roost. On one occasion, Ash as well.
• Only One Who Likes Spam: When May first tries making Pokéblocks, only Beautifly likes them.
• Pretty Butterfly: It's the very reason May wanted to catch a Wurmple, thinking that Beautifly's looks would make it a shoe-in for winning Contests.
• Psychic Powers: Knows Psychic.
• Signature Move: After evolving into Beautifly, Silver Wind immediately became its Signature Move.
• Wind from Beneath My Wings: Beautifly's secondary type is flying, and it also knows Gust when it evolves.

Skitty (Eneco)

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara

---

• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Often has trouble keeping her head in the game, and gets easily distracted by several things, including moving curtains, toys, other Pokémon, and her own twitchy tail.
• Confusion Fu: Her Assist allows her to draw a random attack from any one of her teammates' arsenal.
• Cute Kitten: Way too cute for her own good.
• Cute Little Fangs: Being a Skitty, she has two tiny ones.
• Cuteness Proximity: In I Feel Skitty, everyone, including Team Rocket, thinks that Skitty is adorable.
• Divided We Fall: Skitty is terrible at teamwork, and this costs May in Battles and Contests more than once.
• Fatal Flaw: As mentioned above, her inability to work as a team with May's other Pokémon.
• Genki Girl: Skitty was incredibly energetic, with there being minimal scenes where she wasn't smiling or playing.
• Non-Elemental: Skitty is a Normal Type, and thus lacks access to most of the fancier moves that her other party members have besides Ice Beam. At least when it doesn't use Assist.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: One of the smallest members of the Hoenn ensemble, but she packs a mean punch when she can summon a Blizzard.
• Pokémon Speak: Averted — her cry consists of "nya!" instead of her own name, which is the Japanese equivalent to "meow" in English.
• Put on a Bus: Left at May's house following the Ever Grande Conference.
• Random Effect Spell: Her Signature Move Assist allows her to use a randomly selected move from one of May's other Pokémon.
• Running Gag: Chasing her own tail, then getting dizzy and falling over.
• Signature Move: Two. Assist, with its random nature being Skitty's trademark, and Skitty's Blizzard.

Bulbasaur-Ivysaur-Venusaur (Fushigidane-Fushigisou-Fushigibana)

Voiced in Japanese by: Miyako Ito (Fushigidane)

Voiced in English by: Tara Jayne (Bulbasaur)

---

• Because You Were Nice to Me: When May was about to be attacked by the other Grass Pokémon in the reserve, Bulbasaur defended her since she saved the Pokémon from falling off a cliff.
• Birds of a Feather: After May catches her Bulbasaur, Ash decides to call his over to help show it the ropes. Naturally, the two hit it off pretty well. She later leaves her Bulbasaur at Oak's so Ash's could teach her.
• The Bus Came Back: May adds her back to the party during her own journey through Johto, at which point it evolves into Venasaur.
• Foil: Straightest parallel between May and Ash: she was basically the innocent, gentler version to Ash's Troubled, but Cute Bulbasaur.
• Green Thumb: Granted given it's a Grass Type.
• Innocent Flower Girl: Started out as one, first seen trying to pick a flower at the side of a cliff, and the only non-hostile inhabitant of the grass preserve (this was probably due to May saving her from a nasty fall).
• Naïve Everygirl: During her first time outside the preserve, she would get distracted over several things, almost unknowingly endangering herself even, because of her innocence. Ash had to temporarily call in his own Bulbasaur to set her straight and teach her the ropes.
• Petal Power: Knows Petal Dance.
• Poisonous Pokémon: It's secondary type is poison, although it's not shown with any poison moves.
• Put on a Bus: May leaves her at Oak's lab under the mentorship of Ash's own Bulbsasaur.
• Signature Move: Petal Dance, which serves as yet another contrast between May's Bulbasaur and Ash's Bulbasaur who knows Solarbeam.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Has a pair of heart-shaped spots on its forehead to indicate that it's female. As a Venusaur, it follows the games by having a seed in her flower/tree.
• Took a Level in Badass: She evolves into Venasaur by the time of Diamond and Pearl.
• Vine Tentacles: Knows Vine Whip.

Munchlax (Gonbe)

Voiced in Japanese by: Chie Sato

Voiced in English by: Darren Dunstan (4Kids), Billy Beach (current)

---

• Acrofatic: Can move really, really fast if he's motivated enough.
• Badass Adorable: He packs quite a punch whenever May uses him-literally as he knows the move focus punch.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Knows Fighting-type Focus Punch. Unlike the games, Munchlax never needs to charge for the attack and can use it immediately. Other Pokémon would later follow his example.
• Big Eater: Of course, even more so than May.
• Breath Weapon: Fires his Solarbeam out of his mouth.
• Clear My Name: Taking a liking to Munchlax after it devoured all her Pokéblocks, May set out to prove its innocence when Team Rocket framed it for stealing other trainers' Pokéblocks.
• Confusion Fu: It kicked Combusken's ass by not paying attention. Later played straight for having access to the Metronome attack.
• Cute Little Fangs: Has two that protrude from the bottom of his mouth, as he is a Munchlax.
• Early-Bird Cameo: As Gen IV species began making their way to the anime, Munchlax was the first one to be owned by a main character.
• Extreme Omnivore: Only Munchlax was able to eat May's first original Pokéblock recipe. He has limits, however, as he didn't take with her second original Pokéblock.
  • And of course, it swallowed a Pokéball and it still got captured.
• Green Thumb: Knows the Grass-type move Solarbeam.
• Non-Action Guy: May only captured him to save his skin. For the rest of Hoenn, he never competed in a single Contest, only getting a chance in the spotlight during Battle Frontier.
• Random Effect Spell: Knows Metronome, which allows it to use pretty much any move a Pokémon can learn, but it's all at random. Some examples:
  • It once joined a herd of Cleffa-line Pokémon in a mass use of Metronome that ultimately led to Team Rocket blasting off.
  • Once, it used Metronome while confused, and did Splash.
  • In a contest, May desperately called Munchlax to do Metronome. It picked up Rest, and got a ton of Cute points.
  • When May used it to try to catch an Arcanine, it really hit the Lottery, picking up EXTREME SPEED! Just one problem: it abused the power to snatch and gorge on Pecha Berries instead.
• Signature Move: Solarbeam.

Squirtle-Wartortle (Zenigame-Kameil)

Voiced in Japanese by: Tomoe Hanba (Zenigame), Katsuyuki Konishi (Kameil)

Voiced in English by: Eric Stuart (Squirtle, 4Kids), Michele Knotz (Squirtle, second voice), Craig Blair (Wartortle)

---

• Bubble Gun: Knows Bubble.
• Foil: To Ash's Squirtle: while Ash's Squirtle was a leader-type and had a frosty side due to being abandoned by trainers, this one is prepared to be given to trainers and is known to be a cry-baby when first introduced.
• Goo-Goo-Godlike: Did unbelievably well in most of the fights it was in despite being very young and smaller than the average Squirtle.
• An Ice Person: May's Squirtle knows Ice Beam, which serves as its Signature Move and sets it further apart from Ash's Squirtle who doesn't know Ice-type moves.
• Making a Splash: May's first Water-type Pokémon. It knows Bubble, Water Gun, Withdraw and later Aqua Tail.
• Signature Move: Ice Beam, which also serves as another contrast to Ash's Squirtle who knows Hydro Pump.
• Spectacular Spinning: Knows Rapid Spin.
• Took a Level in Badass: A normal beginner Pokémon who was shown to cry when Max tried to say hello to it...soon learned Ice Beam to beat Harley's Ariados. In Diamond & Pearl, it's shown to have evolved into Wartortle, and pulls off a flawless Contest appeal with confidence and elegance, showing how much it's grown since its last appearance.
• Unskilled, but Strong: When it first learns Ice Beam, it doesn't have much control over it, but the raw power of the move is enough to break it free from a Spider Web produced by Harley's Ariados.

Eevee-Glaceon (Eievui-Glacia)

Voiced in Japanese by: Megumi Hayashibara

Voiced in English by: Kayzie Rogers (Eevee), Megumi Hayashibara (Glaceon)

---

• Clingy MacGuffin: One Battle Frontier episode had the egg's incubator briefly stuck to a rampaging Elekid's plug head. Even though Elekid removed it relatively early, it became the reason why Ash and company went after the Elekid, since they think the mon still has it.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Knows Dig.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Knows Iron Tail.
• Fast Tunnelling: Again, knows Dig.
• An Ice Pokémon: After evolving into Glaceon, it changes its type from Normal to Ice. It knows Ice Beam and Ice Shard.
• Non-Elemental: It used to be a Normal-type when it was still an Eevee.
• Psychic Powers: It knows the Psychic-type move Mirror Coat.
• Soul Power: Knows the Ghost-type move Shadow Ball, which is its Signature Move.
• Signature Mon: Since evolving into Glaceon, it has been May's signature cute companion. In the Wallace Cup finals, May uses Glaceon to compete against Dawn's Piplup and only lost by 0.5 point despite being its first contest. When May reappears in a cameo in JN132 alongside Serena watching Ash vs Leon, Glaceon is her only Pokémon seen alongside her, paralleling with Serena's Sylveon.
• Signature Move: For both, Eevee and Glaceon, it's Shadow Ball.
• Time Travel: It winds up hatching thanks to May, Squirtle, and Team Rocket's Meowth going through one of this adventures, saving the life of the man who helps bring it into this world.
• Took a Level in Badass: Before reuniting with Ash, May took Eevee to Snowpoint City and evolved it to Glaceon with the Ice Rock.

Max (Masato)

Voiced in Japanese by: Fushigi Yamada

Voiced in English by: Amy Birnbaum (4Kids), Kayzie Rogers (current)

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Diego Armando Ángeles, Mara Campanelli (Movies 6 and 7)

Voiced in European Spanish by: Beatriz Berciano

Voiced in European French by: Guylaine Gibert, Isabelle Volpé (Movie Jirachi Wish Maker), Maia Baran (Movies 8-9, The Mirage of Mastermind Pokémon)

Voiced in Canadian French by: Johanne Léveillé (Movies Jirachi Wish Maker and Destiny Deoxys)

May's younger brother who travels with his sister and friends, even though he has no Pokémon of his own.

---

• Ambiguously Absent Parent: Averted. He's one of the few characters who has both parents around in his life.
• Amusing Injuries: Like his sister, he would be frequently subjected to a fair amount of slapstick, usually from one of the wild Pokémon of the day. In his debut episode, Torchic pecked him for stating May should have picked Treecko instead.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: To May he is. They take potshots at each other every chance they get, just like how real life siblings would "get along".
• Ascended Extra: Max is the young child who, in the Hoenn games, was stationed at the entrance to Littleroot Town; now he and May are Related in the Adaptation and he accompanies her on her travels.
• The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest of the Advanced Generation team.
• Back from the Dead: He's eaten alive in Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew by The Tree of Beginning's protectorate cells, but is brought back when the Mew living there is able to convince the Tree that he and his friends aren't a threat to it.
• Berserk Button: He doesn't take being insulted by his sister very well.
• Big Brother Instinct: If he's in danger, Ash or May will elicit this and ensure whoever's responsible will suffer accordingly.
• Big Brother Worship: He starts to develop this towards Ash during their travels, witnessing his skills as a Pokémon Trainer and coming to admire him.
• Blatant Lies: In his debut episode, he tries claiming he's the gym leader of Petalberg, even though anyone could see he's too young to even own a Pokémon, let alone run a gym. Ash being who he is, he falls for it until May has to point it out to him.
• Brains and Brawn: When he has gotten the chance to battle, he always uses brains. Deconstructed in that for all his book smarts, he prefers using defensive moves instead of going on offense against his foes.
• Bratty Half-Pint: As emphasised above, Max can sometimes be a very snarky, 'know it all' kid. He seems to be renowned for Crocodile Tears before he met Ash as well.
• Breaking Old Trends:
  • He's the first character to join the group who isn't old enough to be a Pokémon Trainer yet, which only Bonnie would lay claim to in later years.
  • Like May, he's also the first main character with both parents still around.
  • He's also the only traveling companion never to own a Pokémon all to his own, which even Bonnie beat him out on by being able to use her brother's Dedenne (which he did explicitly catch for her).
  • He's notably the first main character other than Ash to get A Day in the Limelight in the movies, beating his sister out by three.
• Break the Cutie: He's utterly devastated when Ash manages to beat Norman in their Gym Battle. He's so distraught at seeing his Dad lose that he swipes Ash's badge away and runs off to hide, until his Dad tells him that's okay to lose so long as you learn something from it.
• The Cameo: He makes one during Diamond and Pearl watching his sister in the Wallace Cup, and again in JN132 watching Ash's match against Leon.
• Canon Foreigner: Downplayed. In the games the protagonist is an only child, and the rival only has a younger brother in Emerald. He is, however, identical to the child who loiters at the entrance to Littleroot Town in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald.
• Character Development: Traveling with Ash, Brock, and May teaches him that he's not as knowledgable as he thinks he is about Pokémon, and helps to him to develop valuable skills he can use when he's eventually old enough to become a trainer.
• Character Tics: He usually tips up his glasses when he gets smart-alecky with someone.
• Color Motif: He's always seen in a green shirt, and even the Ralts he befriends has a similar shade of green to him.
• Composite Character: Although Max is an original creation of the series, he's a mix of the School Kid Trainer Class from his sister's debut games, and he does borrow a bit from the rival Wally in befriending a Ralts.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Much to his horror, using Corphish against Vivi turns into this, since the lobster won't listen to his commands to take things easy against Marill.
• The Cutie: Since he's The Baby of the Bunch, he's played as this at times to help him learn more about the Pokémon World, especially because he can't become a trainer yet.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • The episode Do I Hear a Ralts? focuses on him befriending an ill Ralts and having to take it to the Pokémon Center in order to be treated.
  • Like his sister, a movie (Pokémon: Jirachi: Wish Maker) focuses on him as a main character.
• Deadpan Snarker: Naturally, May gives him plenty of ammunition.
• Didn't Think This Through: In "Candid Camerupt", he battles against a girl named Vivi, who's developing a crush on him. Unfortunately, he decides to borrow Ash's Corphish for this battle, who not only refuses to listen to Max, but utterly destroys Vivi's Marill and any feelings she might have had.
• Disney Death: In Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, he and the rest of the group are consumed by the protectorate cells of the Tree Of Beginning, but they're fortunately restored to normal.
• Everyone Has Standards: He may not always get along with his sister, but he won't tolerate anyone trying to hurt her, especially Harley.
• Famed In-Story: Because he's Norman's son, he's practically worshipped in Petalburg City.
• Fatal Flaw: His intelligence (or rather, what he thought he knew). Despite being the son of a major Gym Leader and studying Pokémon left and right, he's not really as smart as he thinks he is on the subject due to a lack of experience and not being old enough to actually be a trainer yet. He's especially not good at battling, and usually falters due to relying on defensive tactics only.
• Fire-Forged Friends:
  • Although he initially meets Ash on bad terms (with Max posing as the Gym Leader and thinking Ash bungled his League Match in Johto, both of which greatly annoyed Ash), he greatly grows to respect the Kanto native during their travels together, and Ash starts to see him almost like a little brother.
  • He also forges one with his identical duplicate, also named Max. Despite the two not getting along at first, the two work together to save a Surskit from Team Rocket and become friends from there.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: He likes to think of himself as the responsible to May's foolish, but he has more than a few Bratty Half-Pint tendencies that lead him to cause quite a few problems of his own.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Melancholic of the quartet.
• Friend to All Living Things: You have to hand it to Max. He doesn't have any Pokémon of his own, but he nevertheless has a knack of making friends with a lot of wild ones over the course of the Advance series, most notably the Ralts who he promised to return for once he begins his journey.
• Hero-Worshipper: While it's not overly blatant, and his first appearance has him quickly criticizing Ash's accomplishments (alongside not getting the name right), he does look up to the latter to a certain degree. Likewise towards his father Norman, only it's a lot more pronounced.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Out of May's Pokémon, Max seems to be most attached to her Munchlax.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Besides him falling for all of Team Rocket's numerous disguises, he once told Harley a completely embarrassing story about his sister and a bad encounter with a Tentacool, completely oblivious to Harley's intentions that he was planning on using it to crush May's confidence for no reason other than to ruin her just for giggles.
• Hypocrite: Max has a tendency to criticize May and Ash for their flaws as a coordinator & a trainer respectively, but when it was time for Max to battle one time, he knew almost nothing about battling. This may be quite understandable, since he is too young to be a trainer, after all.
• Iconic Outfit: His green shirt, brown pants, and glasses, which he never changed.
• Identical Stranger: He meets a kid who looks exactly like him in "Maxxed Out!", except this Max is browned haired and wears a brown coat.
• Insufferable Genius:
  • Max likes to behave as though he's the smartest one around, often poo-pooing Ash's strategies and accomplishments and often whining when he witnesses things that don't match how he's learned the world should work. In his Establishing Character Moment, his meeting with Ash goes sour when he keeps mentioning that Ash lost in the second round of the Silver Conference, happily ignoring that this was the victory league of the conference.
  • As it turns out, he's actually something of a Know-Nothing Know-It-All when it came to battling. When he gets his first taste of actual battling, he's so busy trying to keep up with his learning that he spent all of his time buffing and forgot the short-term game, which notably contrasts him with Ash and his improvised style.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Strikes one up with President Stone, Steven's father and CEO of the Devon Corporation.
• Interspecies Friendship: He and May's Munchlax wind up forming one, even using him in an Orienteering Contest.
• Irony: Despite being the son of one of Hoenn's premier Gym Leaders, he's not as well-versed with Pokémon as he likes to think, though this is mainly because he's not old enough to be a trainer yet.
• Jerkass Ball: He grabs this hard when he and May get into a fight in "Take This House and Shuppet!", using the titular Shuppet to play pranks on her even when she becomes worried sick about him.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: How his initial character boils down. He is knowledgable, granted, but he's not able to practically apply that knowledge when it comes time. Take battling for instance; when he uses a Poliwag against a Magby, he has it use Defense Curl only. The Magby, despite a type disadvantage, wipes the floor with him simply by beating the Poliwag down.
• Long Bus Trip: Because of his Japanese VA retiring from the industry, as well as his sister's Japanese voice being forced to retire due to health complications, Max has been kept out of the series barring silent cameos or flashback scenes.
• Made of Iron: He's able to handle a fair amount of being hit by Pokémon Moves despite the intense pain of them, and walk away no worse for wear.
• Mirror Character: His XY successor Bonnie is his exact opposite in every way: he's the son of a gym leader, she's the sister of one. He has no Pokémon in his name, she has one thanks to her brother. He doesn't hesitate to block Brock's romantic attempts, she seeks out every pretty girl she can find and get them to marry Clemont. He befriends a Ralts and promises to make it his partner when he's old enough, she ends up doing the same with a Zygarde.
• Mistakes Are Not the End of the World: He's taught this lesson by his Dad. After Norman loses to Ash and Max takes away Ash's badge, Norman comes over to his hiding spot and tells him there's never anything wrong with losing so long as you can take away from what happened and improve towards next time.
• Mouthy Kid: Acts like a know it all towards Ash and May. This is understandable, since he is very intelligent for his age and he does study more than Ash and May.
• Mythology Gag: In "Do I Hear a Ralts", he befriends a sickly Ralts, a reference to the games in which Wally gets a Ralts as his first Pokémon.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: He and a girl named Vivi start getting a crush on one another, and he agrees to battle her. However, he goofs that all up the moment he decides his best partner to handle it is Corphish, and it all goes downhill from there.
• No Sense of Direction: Applies to the whole group as a whole, but, come on...he's got the PokéNav, the franchise's equivalent to a GPS! He has the least excuse.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: He's even worse than Ash in this regard. While Ash is at least somehow 10 years old for all time, Max hasn't aged once, even after he left the group, still making him ineligible for becoming a trainer.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: During their first meeting he keeps bringing up how Ash lost in the second round in the Silver Conference's Victory Tournament, which, Ash quickly reminds him, is already an admirable feat in of itself.
• One-Steve Limit: In-universe, averted when another Max shows up in the episode Maxxed Out!
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Max imagines tricking May into believing her Torchic evolved (May's actual Torchic had to be used in an Emergency Impersonation), he gets genuinely afraid of facing her wrath. And yet, this example can still be Played for Laughs.
• Pals with Jesus: He befriends a Jirachi in Pokémon: Jirachi: Wish Maker.
• Plot-Driven Breakdown: Something always seems to happen to the PokéNav that results in the gang still getting lost. In no particular order: A magnetic field to disrupt the map feature, Max accidentally spilling his drink on it, or having no signal at all. And then there was one time Max admitted it was his own fault the twerps got lost.
• The Promise: To a stray Ralts in "Do I Hear a Ralts", to meet up again once Max starts his own journey.
• Puppy Love: In-universe example: one episode has him develop a mutual crush with Vivi Winstrate, the youngest member of a family of trainers. However, when the family challenged Ash and co. to a friendly 4-on-4 match, Max just had to borrow Corphish in his match against Vivi. The results weren't pretty...
• Put on a Bus: Max is forced to return home to Hoenn while his sister heads off to Johto, much to his disappointment, as he's still not old enough yet to travel on his own. Because of the complications with May's Japanese voice actress, as well as his own Japanese voice actress retiring, he never came back to the series aside from a silent cameo in JN132, watching Ash's final battle alongside his sister, Lisia, and Serena.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: Inverted; Max holds his father in such high regard that when Ash actually defeats Norman, Max freaks out and steals Ash's Balance Badge as if that would somehow undo the damage.
• Remember the New Guy?: Max already recognizes Ash when he first meets him, having watched him compete in the Silver Conference on TV.
• Reused Character Design: Based on the male school kid trainer class' RSE appearance. Amusingly, the design in ORAS looks like it was based off of Max (the color palette is more similar to Max than to the original design).
• Running Gag:
  • Early in the series, he would take pleasure in being on the receiving end of attacks or abilities' effects.
  • After he watched Misty pull the Ear Ache gag on Brock, he picked up on it. When Croagunk takes over in Diamond and Pearl as Brock's "chaperone" with his signature gag, May makes a remark about the frog taking over for Max.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: They start shining usually when he's up to something or when his companions (usually Brock and his Romeo antics) start doing something snark-worthy.
  • In "Do I hear a Ralts" episode has them appear when he is absolutely pissed off at Team Rocket still doing their disguised charade after Ralts has recovered from it's severe illness.
• Sore Loser: Not him, but he acts this way when his dad lost the gym battle with Ash. He got so upset with his father losing that he angrily takes Ash's badge away.
• Status Quo Is God: Unfortunately for him, Max never gets to grow up and go on his own journey, staying behind in Hoenn and never getting a chance to reunite with Ash.
• Tagalong Kid: The only reason he's there is because his dad (Norman) said that he should go travel along with his sister while also learning to prepare for his own eventual journey as a Trainer.
• Too Kinky to Torture: As stated in Running Gag, Max actually took great pleasure in experiencing attacks and abilities from Pokémon head on.
• Tranquil Fury: At the end of "Do I Hear a Ralts", he has both a combination of Scary Shiny Glasses and Cross-Popping Veins when he confronts Team Rocket in their disguises before he kicks their asses by having Ralts use Psychic on them.
• Tuckerization: The producers have suggested the anime character is based on one of Satoru Iwata's sons.
• With a Foot on the Bus: Happens to him in the episode "The Scheme Team", where both him & May leave Ash at the beginning of the episode, only for him to return (with Professor Birch) at the end of the episode. (May follows suit in the following episode.)

Brock (Takeshi)

See here for more about Brock and his Pokémon.

Ash's Pokémon

Advanced Generation Team as a Whole

• Ambiguous Gender: Halfway averted this time around - Corphish is confirmed male, Sceptile is pretty implicitly male, and Aipom is confirmed as female. Glalie has been implied to be male as well (the English dub refers to it as a "he", but only once), while Swellow and Torkoal are debatable.
• Back for the Finale:
  • Mostly during "An Old Family Blend", where Ash calling upon all his reserves back in Oak's lab. Also, Torkoal was lucky enough to be called upon for Ash's second battle with Brandon.
  • In JN132, all of Ash's captured Pokémon (that were around for at least two episodes) and Larvitar and Solgaleo return in Pikachu's Imagine Spot to cheer him up. This naturally includes the group of Pokémon captured in this series. Notably, even Ambipom is included in this group, despite being traded over to Dawn as an Aipom.
• Badass Crew: While all of Ash's teams have their badass moment, this team in particular gave more even distribution with highlighting each Pokémon.
• The Bus Came Back: Ash uses a rotating team in Aim to be a Pokémon Master, where he uses all of his Pokémon in his team, using Pokémon of different generations besides Pikachu. For each individual entry, see below.
• Description Cut: Ash brags about his team being awesome. Max, seeing the team's (sans Treecko) state at the time being, begs to differ.
• Breaking Old Trends: This is the first time Ash doesn’t have all three regional starters on his team. In fact he only has one while his traveling companions have the other two,
• Guest-Star Party Member: Torkoal and Glalie were left behind at Oak's lab, and while Phanphy/Donphan would rejoin the roster, Ash still has an empty slot on his team for the majority of this saga. (Aipom officially filled the sixth slot near the end, but Ash never ended up using her for Frontier challenges.) This gives the other Pokémon over at the lab or Charicific Valley a little time in the limelight again when a Frontier challenge comes up (namely Charizard, Snorlax, Heracross, and Tauros). For the final battle against Brandon, Ash chooses Pikachu and the Kanto Starter Trio over this team and switches them back once he has won the last Symbol. This is possibly a precursor to his rotating roster in Best Wishes.
• Tag Team: Compared to other series, Advanced Generation features Tag Battles aka Double Battles far more often, and thus every of Ash's Hoenn Pokémon has been used in at least one Double Battle.
• Put on a Bus: Torkoal and Glalie are left behind at Professor Oak's lab at the beginning of the Battle Frontier arc, with Sceptile, Swellow, and Corphish joining them just before Ash heads off to Sinnoh.
• True Companions: Ash's Hoenn team have a great relationship with each other as they do stand up for one another and help in their time of need, although there have been times when they don't get along.

Hoenn

Taillow-Swellow (Subame-Ohsubame)

Voiced in Japanese by: Natsuki Yoshihara (Subame), Unshō Ishizuka (Ohsubame)

Voiced in English by: Kayzie Rogers (Taillow), Darren Dunstan (Swellow, 4Kids), Billy Beach (Swellow, current)

Taillow is the first Pokémon Ash and friends met in Petalburg Woods during the journey to Rustboro City. First showing up to steal Max's chocolate, and being the leader of a massive flock, Taillow splits up from its group to challenge Pikachu to a battle. The battle eventually leads to Ash capturing it, but not before proving itself to be a Pokémon that displays incredible endurance before finally being knocked out.

Taillow later evolves into Swellow when its will is strong enough to complete a PokéRinger competition. Swellow's incredible endurance as a Taillow carries over, which leads it to win many important battles for Ash from then on as one of his top Hoenn Pokémon. Its also taken along for the Kanto Battle Frontier journey.

---

• The Ace: After evolving into Swellow, it has been a major competitor on Ash's team for the rest of the Hoenn saga, as well as parts of the Battle Frontier. During the Hoenn League, he ties with Corphish and Glalie for the most wins.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The Rockets express their admiration for the Taillow flock after seeing them shake off Pikachu's electric attacks, and Meowth adds the taste for chocolate cookies.
• Back for the Dead: Despite its impressive track record during Advanced Generation, it gets taken out rather quickly by Tobias's Latios.
• The Bus Came Back: Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN146.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Leader of an aggressive flock in Petalburg Woods, but mere seconds after capture Taillow gets called back out, and all of sense of hostility from him is instantly gone. That's got to be a record.
• Determinator: The Taillow species is described to be this, and the flock of Taillow this one came from, were all able to endure Electric-type moves due to sheer willpower. Obviously, this trait continues with Taillow's evolved form Swellow, who is able to endure Pikachu's Thunder to the point that it can literally wear it as armor.
• The Dreaded: Brock speculated that the reason Petalburg Woods is so quiet during their first day in is that all other Pokémon in the forest run and hide once the flock shows its face.
• Friendly Rivalry: According to Professor Oak, it and Staraptor have formed one while staying at his ranch, with the two of them often having aerial races with each other.
• How Do I Shot Web?: A couple of episodes are dedicated to Swellow trying to learn and master Aerial Ace after Ash saw Winona use it.
• The Leader: During its debut episode, Taillow is the leader of a massive flock of other Taillow, who all had the unusual characteristic to endure Electric-type attacks through sheer determination.
• Lightning Bruiser: Swellow flies fast, hits really hard and is really, really tough.
• Made of Iron: It had a surprisingly strong resistance to Electric attacks, as shown in its debut as well as the Mossdeep Gym Battle. Most likely, its ability may well be Guts, which actually makes it stronger the more damage it takes.
  • Deconstructed in the former, where Ash was forced to capture Taillow or else it would suffer worse injury from electric attacks if its battle with Pikachu would go on any longer.
• Head Pet: As Taillow, it likes to sit on top of another, larger Pokémon (like Forretress or Torkoal).
• Mirror Match: First claim to fame was a battle against gym leader Winona's own shiny, more powerful Swellow.
• Out of Focus: As a Taillow, as most of the focus was put on the other Pokémon. Not so much as a Swellow.
• Razor Wind: In JN146, it's revealed that Swellow has learned Air Slash.
• Signature Move: Initially Wing Attack. But once Ash teaches Swellow Aerial Ace, the new move becomes its Signature Move.
• Spanner in the Works: In "Off the Unbeaten Path", Team Rocket would have actually gotten away with stealing the Pokémon and the Orienteering prize (since the Pokémon Center is deserted save for the Pokémon) but for some reason they didn't take Swellow into account, perched on the Pokémon Center roof. Swellow immediately takes off and brings the heroes back to thwart the Rockets.
• Super Power Lottery: Seriously, a Flying-type that is most invulnerable to Electric attacks and is a Lightning Bruiser.
• Took a Level in Badass: Upon evolving, Swellow becomes arguably the most reliable battler of Ash's Hoenn team.
• The Worf Effect: Swellow is one of Ash's most important and reliable battlers in Advance Generation, but it's one-shotted very easily by Tobias' Latios. This is also the only battle where Swellow don't defeat a single Pokémon.

Treecko-Grovyle-Sceptile (Kimori-Juptile-Jukain)

Voiced in Japanese by: Yuji Ueda

Voiced in English by: Dan Green (Treeko), Darren Dunstan (Grovyle, 4Kids), Bill Rogers (Grovyle second voice and Sceptile)

Treecko was once the lone inhabitant of a giant dying tree along the path to Rustboro City, which he refused to leave even after the rest of his herd had moved on. He would gain respect for Ash after the latter helped him save the tree, even though it still died in the end, which results in Treecko allowing Ash to challenge him with Pikachu; leading to his capture. Treecko eventually evolves into a Grovyle during a battle with a Loudred (who evolved into Exploud in return), and goes on to become one of Ash's top fighters during the Hoenn journey.

Grovyle then evolves into Sceptile during the Kanto Battle Frontier journey wishing to protect a Meganium that he had fallen in love with from Team Rocket, but had his heart broken due to Meganium not returning his feelings. After getting over his broken love, Sceptile would go on to become one of Ash's best overall Pokémon; he even managed to take down a Darkrai when Ash called upon him for the Sinnoh League.

---

• The Ace: Was Ash's go-to guy for the better part of Advanced Generation, already establishing himself as one of his strongest Hoenn Pokémon or at least as strong as Swellow (see above), competing in all but 2 of Ash's Hoenn Gym Battles and was just as impressive. Sceptile's credibility didn't fade after the AG saga; upon returning in Diamond and Pearl for the Sinnoh League he's the only Pokémon to ever actually defeat Tobias' Darkrai. On top of that, after his final evolution and recovering from his Heroic BSoD, Sceptile has only lost twice and his opponents were both Legendary/Mythical Pokémon.
• Aloof Ally: Downplayed, but he has shades of this. He always distances himself from the others whenever they have a break and he is never shown to be playing with other Pokémon. This becomes more apparent after his first evolution, where he only helps his friends whenever he either feels like it or when he is ordered by Ash to do so.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: While trying to fend off a Gulpin horde, Treecko and a stray Gulpin would accidentally find themselves inside a machine that grows them to Kaiju-size.
• Badass Arm-Fold: All three of his forms are very prone of doing this trope. This Pokémon distinguishes himself from the other Hoenn Pokémon with his cool personality, and folding his arms is a visual indicator of this.
• Blood Knight: This was a rather prominent trait when it used to be Treecko, as it would often volunteer to fight strong opponents without even waiting for his trainer to choose him. Upon evolving, Grovyle practically loses the trait after his evolution episode.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Powerful in his own right, he just spends most of the time lazying around, apathetic to almost anything (i.e. whenever the other Pokémon cause chaos, you can see him just sleeping in the background not doing anything). However, unlike Charizard, he's always ready to get out of his nap to fight for his trainer.
• The Bus Came Back: Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN137, alongside Donphan, Buizel and Noivern.
• Character Development: This Pokémon's character was far more temperamentful and would often pick fights with others or taunt them (including his teammate Corphish). Traces of this was still present in the episode where Treecko evolved into Grovyle, but after that episode, this side of him was completely gone and wouldn't come up again until the episode where Grovyle fights his love rival Tropius. The heartbroken Sceptile then suffered an existencial crisis and was unable able to perform moves for a while, hurting his pride, but after overcoming it, he grew stronger and strengthened his bond with his trainer.
• Character Tics: The twig he holds in his mouth, which separates him from other members of his species.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: He's the only Pokémon to ever defeat Tobias's Darkrai.
• Determinator: He will continue to battle regardless of disadvantage (condition, typing, evolutionary level, etc.). He even beat a Darkrai through this as well.
• Did Not Get the Girl: Grovyle fought tooth-and-nail against a wild Tropius to win the heart of Nurse Joy's Meganium. Grovyle won...only to see Meganium tending to Tropius, showing him who her heart belongs to.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: During the Lily of the Valley Conference in Sinnoh he is able to beat Tobias's Darkrai, which no one else was able to accomplish for the entire tournament.
• Fastball Special: Several times with Corphish, although who's the thrower and who's the ball depends on the situation.
• Fighting from the Inside: Sceptile fought Tobias's Darkrai's Dark Void attack from inside his mind and hearing Ash calling out to him.
• Forgot I Could Fly: The first time he and the other Pokémon were captured by Team Rocket while he was a Grovyle, he simply cut the net with Leaf Blade. In a later episode during the Battle Frontier arc, Team Rocket did it again, and Grovyle made no attempt to use any move to cut the net. It should be noted that during the first time, Ash ordered him to use Leaf Blade, and it could be implied that Grovyle couldn't do anything on his own in such situations without receiving orders, maybe because he's Brilliant, but Lazy.
• Forgot About His Powers: A variation of this trope. His Heroic BSoD didn't make him actually forget how to use moves, but he couldn't overcome his broken heart until bonding with Ash and seeing him in danger.
• Green Thumb: He's a Grass-type, but he wouldn't learn an actual Grass-type attack, Bullet Seed, long after his debut.
• Heartbroken Badass: Grovyle is completely shattered when he finds out Meganium doesn't return his feelings, and this funk continues after he evolves into Sceptile and temporarily loses the ability to use his moves.
• Heroic BSoD: He lost the ability to use any attacks for a few episodes after being rejected by a Meganium in "Odd Pokémon Out" and he became very frustrated about that. He was only able to snap out of it once Ash was in peril a few episodes later.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: His signature move is Leaf Blade.
• Heroic Resolve: Secptile was able to defeat Tobias' Darkrai through Ash's encouragement and broke free from its Dark Void attack.
• Heroic Second Wind: Overgrow gives him a power boost when he's on the ropes; it kicks in twice, once during Ash's Gym Battle with Norman, and later against May's Blaziken at the end of Advance Generation.
• Hope Sprouts Eternal: Treecko was so determined to save his home, yet in the end the tree still dies. However, a seedling was immediately planted next to its remains to grow and become the Treeckos' new home.
• I Shall Taunt You: Treecko becomes well-known for taunting his opponents, especially Team Rocket.
• In a Single Bound: Treecko and its evolutionary line have good jumping skills.
• Interspecies Romance: With a Meganium, although it's a valid pairing in the games. It was one-sided, though.
• Ineffectual Loner: Mingling is not his strongest suit. In his first outing with the rest of the twerps' Pokémon, his answer to their curious looks is to climb up a tree and stay there. (High tree branches would later be his favorite roost whenever there's a stopover.) That being said, his teamwork with other Pokémon is pretty good, though.
• Irritation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery: When he was asked to take care of some younger Starter Pokémon, the Treecko instantly crushed on him, causing her to imitate Ash's Treecko by having a twig in its mouth. Either Treecko saw this as weird, or he was just taking after his trainer.
• Laser Blade Below The Shoulder: The leaves on his elbow start glowing when he uses his Leaf Blade attack.
• Mundane Utility: After their loss in the Dewford gym, Ash tells Treecko to start being laid-back again. Treecko proceeds to use his giant tail as a makeshift bed.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: During the Pokélantis debacle, Sceptile was frequently ordered by the possessed Ash to resort to dirty tricks in order to win the battle against Brandon (up to and including using the referee as a Human Shield). While obviously appalled by this, Sceptile had no choice but to follow "Ash's" commands.
• Not So Stoic:
  • In the "Pokémon-Gotta Dance" short, Treecko attempts with all his might not to get caught in the rhythm of Meowth's dancing device. He eventually submits when it converts into a waltz.
  • In a less comedic example, he's clearly fighting back tears in Lucario & The Mystery Of Mew when Ash is seemingly killed.
• Oral Fixation: With a twig. Grovyle loses it after his evolution, coinciding with his Heroic BSoD, and immediately plucks a new one from a nearby bush after recovering.
• Pet the Dog: In his first appearance, as the only one in his herd that wants to keep his old (and dying) tree home alive.
• Petal Power: Learns Leaf Storm by the time he comes back for the Sinnoh semifinals.
• Power Glows: On the ropes against Spencer's Claydol, Ash and friends notice the bulbs on Sceptile's back start glowing after absorbing sunlight, culminating in Sceptile learning Solarbeam.
• The Power of the Sun: Knows Solarbeam.
• Power Up Let Down: His newly-learned Leaf Storm doesn't do much in his battle against Darkrai. Good old Leaf Blade did the trick.
• Precocious Crush: Grovyle's crush on Nurse Joy's Meganium is basically this. Grovyle was fully under the childish impression that Meganium would be impressed by winning his rematch against Tropius, but Grovyle was caught off-guard that Meganium and Tropius already loved each other, which broke his heart into pieces. When Meganium got captured by Team Rocket (again), Grovyle tried to save her by evolving into Sceptile, but he was unable to use any moves because of a mental blockade caused by his hurt pride. Being able to move on and seeing how much he cared for his trainer Ash allowed Sceptile to being able to use moves again.
• Pride: He's a very proud Pokémon and if his pride gets hurt, he will do anything to restore it. This gets deconstructed when his pride got seriously damaged due to him being unable to earn Meganium's love, making him unable to use moves for a couple of episodes. He gets so ashamed for his inability to use moves that he ends up running away to hurt himself and even let a swarm of Beedrill hurt him as a form of punishment.
• Psychoactive Powers: After having his heart broken by a Meganium, Sceptile found himself unable to initiate attacks properly, only regaining control of his abilities when he broke out his Heroic BSoD. It is worth noting that Sceptile is the first of several Pokémon shown exhibiting power through this trope throughout the anime.
• Rebel Relaxation: His default position whenever the group stops on their journey.
• Signature Mon: Of Ash's Hoenn and Battle Frontier team. Though not to the same extent as Charizard or Ash's later aces in the future, Treecko/Grovyle/Sceptile was commonly featured alongside Ash and Pikachu during the Ruby and Sapphire saga, often being both a reliable powerhouse and the unfortunate Worf Effect victim for many major battles. Not surprising since he's seemed to be designed as Charizard's successor.
• Signature Move: Pound as Treecko. Leaf Blade as Grovyle and beyond.
• Something Else Also Rises: A flower pops out of his twig when he became victim to Love at First Sight. From the other end of the spectrum, the flower wilts as soon as he gets rejected, a nod to the other visual metaphor used.
• Strong and Skilled: (Bordering even on Story-Breaker Power) While all the training and experience he got during his first two stages are definitely the most dangerous thing about him, his final evolution really boosted his power and abilities to absurd heights (even by typical final form starter standards). He was the MVP for Ash's 3v3 victory against Spenser (defeating two of Spenser's mons). He defeated a Scizor of all things with just one hit from Leaf Blade. He held his own against a Deoxys (and even outsped its Speed Form). It almost defeated a Regirock (that happened to be Brandon's ace mon). And finally, his last major accomplishment was defeating Tobias' Darkrai, a Mythical Pokemon on par in terms of power with Legendaries like Regirock.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Charizard, solely because he's Ash's Hoenn Brilliant, but Lazy draconic Badass. Inverted however because Sceptile was never outright disobedient (at worse was his 10-Minute Retirement), nor did he have a drastic personality change after evolving - he's still Ash's AG powerhouse, functions as The Lancer to Pikachu, and frequently gets involved in the major battles.
• Tail Slap: Treecko and Sceptile's version of the Pound attack, where he whips his tail to hit the opponent. (Grovyle instead uses his, erm, hair?)
• Threatening Mediator: When Corphish and Torchic have a big fight with each other and fire Bubble Beam and Ember indiscriminately in every direction, the others try to stop them peacefully, but with no avail. Grovyle, who's chilling on a tree the entire time, finally takes notice of it when he's disturbed by the commotion, and he quickly ends the fight by splitting the ground with Leaf Blade and scares them to stop.
• Took a Level in Badass: When Ash first caught Treecko, he didn't even know any Grass-Type attacks and wasn't the most skilled battler. Nonetheless, he gradually became the powerhouse of Ash's Hoenn team, and by the time he evolved into Sceptile, he was one of Ash's most powerful Pokemon, comparable with Charizard and Pikachu.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Downplayed; Treecko had a bit of an aggressive streak and could be quick to anger. Once he evolved into Grovyle, he became more laid-back, and was typically seen peacefully sleeping in a nearby tree-top.
• Undying Loyalty: Despite his aloof nature, he's proved himself to be very loyal to Ash; indeed hearing it's Trainer calling out him is what gave him the strength to overpower Dark Void and defeat Darkrai.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…:
  • For most of his time as a Treecko, he only knew physical attacks and no grass-type attacks. Otherwise, Treecko would have put up a better performance during the Rustboro gym battle. Learning grass-type attacks later are few and in between. (Bullet Seed early in Advance Generation's 2nd season, Leaf Blade upon evolving into Grovyle, Solarbeam halfway through Battle Frontier (as a Sceptile), and finally, Leaf Storm during the Sinnoh League.)
  • In comparison to Ash's other top battlers/main starters in other regions. Sceptile hadn't special training in a special training area (Charizard), a supernatural ability/Super Mode (Infernape and Greninja) or even the "power of slapstick" (Oshawott and Rowlet). All he always used was his guts and Ash's training only. That was more than enough to ensure many wins under his belt.
• The Worf Effect: Grovyle/Sceptile had an unfortunate tendency to fall victim to this, being defeated by Drake's Altaria, Juan's Luvdisc, Greta's Hariyama, and Brandon's Regirock.
  • A downplayed example when he was defeated by Tobias' Latios (immediately after defeating his Darkrai). For one, Sceptile had already taken a lot of damage from Darkrai's Ice Beam and Dream Eater. Plus, Sceptile are, by nature, incredibly fragile; they just happen to make up for it with strength and speed. Frankly, it just makes the fact Sceptile was able to stand up straight and look a Latios in the eye before fainting even more badass.
• Worf Had the Flu: A few episodes in the Battle Frontier season has him rendered useless because of a Heroic BSoD.

Corphish (Heigani)

Voiced in Japanese by: Katsuyuki Konishi

Voiced in English by: Maddie Blaustein (4Kids), Bill Rogers (current)

Corphish was an abrasive Pokémon that tormented Ash's group, as well as Team Rocket, while they were setting up camp along the beaches of Dewford Island. With the help of Treecko, Ash would finally put an end to Corphish's reign of terror by catching it, making the crayfish Pokémon the third addition to Ash's Hoenn squad. Corphish would go on to being a worthy contributor for Ash throughout the Hoenn journey, and continued to be a part of the team for the Kanto Battle Frontier.

In Aim to be a Pokémon Master, Corphish is the last Pokémon Ash uses in a proper Pokémon battle during his career as The Protagonist.

---

• Ambiguous Situation: It isn't clear if he's the same Corphish that appeared in "Which Wurmple's Which" two episodes before his capture, but the dub seems to imply it.
• Ass Shove: On at least two occasions (one of them being Ash himself), someone's been on the receiving end of Corphish's horns. Once, the camera even bothered to make a split-second close-up of Corphish's contact with the victim's behind!
  • Ash is on top of a tree, trying to talk to a brooding Treecko, and Corphish, being the latter's friend, tries to get up there as well. Corphish climbs up the tree at an amazingly fast clip, and Ash is still on the tree and thus on Corphish's path, so...
• Badly Battered Babysitter: in his own accord, he doesn't seem thrilled about being in charge of a group of baby Pokémon. Three times!
• Blood Knight: He hated being made to do anything besides battle, whether it be performing for a crowd of humans or babysitting a group of baby Pokémon. However, he was always raring to go whenever Ash sent him out during a match.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Much of the time Corphish is less of a Jerkass than that he simply doesn't get that he's being out of line in his behaviour. He frequently means well and usually just needs a scolding to be set straight.
• Bubble Gun: Knows Bubble Beam, which over the course of the series changed its animation multiple times.
• The Bus Came Back: Is part of Ash's rotating roster in JN138, alongside Totodile, Leavanny and Rowlet.
• The Cameo: Shows up in Sun and Moon during Ash's visit to Kanto with his class.
• Chekhov's Gunman: the dub has Ash mention that the Corphish that tormented them in "Gone Corphishin'" might actually be the same one that he pulled out of the water a couple episodes prior.
• A Day in the Limelight: Several years after the Advanced series, it finally gets a limelight episode in the second episode of the Aim to Be a Pokemon Master series, focusing mainly on its developed rivalry with a Clauncher.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: After getting captured, Ash tries to shake hands with him, only for Corphish to unknowingly give him a shoulder toss.
• Fast Tunnelling: He tormented Ash and friends (complete with Worm Sign) while moving fast underground.
• Genius Ditz: Not really the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's pivotal in foiling Team Rocket during "It's still Rocket Roll to Me"; simply by telling Max and Tate to keep quiet before freeing them, giving them the element of surprise against Team Rocket.
• Innocently Insensitive: When he's not being a deliberate jerkass, he just doesn't get that he's acting offensively.
• Interspecies Romance: Fell for a female Mawile who fell for Brock's Lombre who didn't care until he evolved, but then she lost interest and fell for another Pokémon.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: For all his abrasiveness and insensitivity he does have a redeeming side, like his loyalty (and affection, somewhat) to Ash, as well as his Pet the Dog below. He's generally quite gregarious, as well.
• Not Allowed To Evolve: The only member of the AG team to never evolve (apart from Torkoal, who can't).
• "Not So Different" Remark: Brock coerces Corphish into helping him perform "Takeshi's Paradise" with this spiel, claiming that as they're both unlucky in love, they should help each other out.
• Odd Friendship: Only in early Hoenn episodes, Corphish and Treecko seem to be constantly at odds, though they'd still stick with each other.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Corphish thinks this is the case when he first meets a freshly evolved Grovyle. After Grovyle starts easily impressing the rest of the team with his new moves, Corphish tries to prove himself the better mon by challenging a random trainer. Although throughout the series, Corphish has proven himself to be a reliable and strong battler.
• Signature Move: Crabhammer, which is a move only crab-like Pokémon can perform. While not as powerful as Kingler's Crabhammer, Corphish's Crabhammer isn't half bad either.
• Pet the Dog: After being a bully for most of the episode "A Shroomish Skirmish", Corphish suffers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to protect May's Torchic...
• Pintsized Powerhouse: One of the smallest on Ash's team, but he's still one of Ash's primary battlers in AG.
• Unknown Rival: He's giving Lombre the Death Glare in the Mawile episode, to which Lombre is completely oblivious to. Of course, it's hard to tell anything about Lombre...
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Showed shades of this with Treecko.
• The Worf Effect: In JN138, the strong Corphish, who normally performs well against other Water-types, loses to Misty's Politoad, showcasing that Politoad Took a Level in Badass, that Misty wasn't slacking off as a trainer, that Ash can still lose despite having become the Monarch, and gives Misty a new capture. The episode also makes it clear that Corphish never slacked off and learned new moves himself during the time he was absent, which makes Politoad's victory over him even more impressive.
• Worm Sign: In his introduction episode, he was an unknown Pokémon that attacked Ash's group by burrowing under the sand. It wasn't until shortly before his capture that his identity was revealed. Although the episode title (in original and English) gave it away.

Torkoal (Cotoise)

Voiced in Japanese by: Shin-ichiro Miki

Voiced in English by: Maddie Blaustein (4Kids), Billy Beach (current)

Torkoal was befriended by Ash and company after they saved it from being bullied by Steel-type Pokémon during their journey back to Petalburg City. Ash would help the Torkoal defeat the ruler of the Valley of Steel, Steelix, which leads to the tortoise Pokémon accepting Ash's invite to join his Hoenn team. Torkoal overall is very friendly, but is also a bit of a crybaby, and remained one of Ash's lesser used Pokémon. Following the Hoenn journey, Torkoal would remain at Oak's lab, but would later get called upon by Ash for some important battles.

---

• Back for the Dead: Is brought back in the Sinnoh League to fight Darkrai, only to be quickly overpowered.
• Defend Command: Iron Defense has Torkoal retract into its shell, making it impervious to most attacks.
• Epic Fail: In AG059, it tries to go bipedal in order to kick a soccer ball. It went as well as you'd expect.
  • In addition, later in that same episode, it gets defeated by Wattson's newly evolved Manectric's Thunder Wave, which isn't supposed to do any damage.
• Ocular Gushers: Pretty emotional, and would cry at the slightest provocation; it would even cry when someone else starts gushing a waterfall! Then it's followed by its nostrils flaring out smoke.
• Out of Focus: Compared to Swellow, Sceptile, and Corphish, Torkoal didn't have as many moments in the spotlight. And unlike them, doesn't get taken along for the Kanto Battle Frontier journey.
  • Was noticeably absent in JN068 as the only one of Ash's Fire-types that wasn't battled by Infernape for training.
• Prone to Tears: Torkoal sobs at the slightest upset.
• Playing with Fire: It knows Flamethrower and Overheat. Also learns Heat Wave later on.
• Plucky Comic Relief: When it isn't in a battle, Torkoal tends to have this at its expense.
• Took a Level in Badass: Ash brought him back to battle Brandon's Registeel. Although Torkoal lost, he put up an excellent fight and inflicted some serious damage. Notably, Registeel is a Legendary Pokemon and, as a trainer, Brandon is on par with an Elite Four member.
• Signature Move: Overheat. The drawback of the attack means it can only be used sparingly.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: During JN068, it's mentioned that Ash's Infernape, training to face a Moltres, battled Ash's other Fire-types in the lab... Except for Torkoal. Given Torkoal's nature, it would be perfectly possible for it to have declined Infernape's challenge, but it isn't shown or even mentioned at all in the episode, even in the shot featuring Infernape reuniting with the other Fire-types. This is rectified in JN114, where it's together with all the other Fire-type Pokémon residing at Oak's lab and together they teach Gengar the move Will-O-Wisp.
• The Worf Effect: Despite its type advantage, it only won once against a Steel-type Pokémon (unless one counts the practice battle against a Scizor in the episode "Vanity Affair!").
• Worthy Opponent: Its determination in its debut paid off, with the Steelix in the Valley of Steel acknowledging its strength after Torkoal finally defeated it.

Snorunt-Glalie (Yukiwarashi-Onigohri)

Voiced in Japanese by: Miyako Ito (Yukiwarashi), Katsuyuki Konishi (Onigohri)

Voiced in English by: Kayzie Rogers (Snorunt), Pete Zarustica (Glalie)

Snorunt was met by Ash and company on Izabe Island during their journey to Sootoplis City. It started off as a mischievous Pokémon by stealing the Hoenn badges that Ash had obtained so far, which causes Ash to chase after Snorunt to get them back. However, seeing Ash go so far as to protect it from an avalanche results in Snorunt beginning to form a bond with him. They next team up to deal with Team Rocket, which results in Snorunt allowing Ash to challenge it with Pikachu, leading to Snorunt's capture.

While not contributing much at first during its time a Snorunt, it eventually evolves into Glalie during a battle against Team Rocket while May's Grand Festival was going on. Glalie would then go on to being a huge powerhouse for Ash for the Ever Grande Conference, but has remained at Oak's lab ever since.

---

• Berserk Button: If you try to hit it before it evolves, it will never live it down. Team Rocket learned this the hard way.
• Demoted to Extra: Just like Kingler, Glalie was only used in one regional League, in Hoenn. He was never used in the Battle Frontier or even the Sinnoh League unlike the rest of the Hoenn team. Although unlike Kingler, Ash at least considered using him.
• Doppelgänger Spin: Knows Double Team.
• Finishing Move: Headbutt of all things; it's very strong coming from Glalie and is capable of taking down even Steel-type Pokémon like Metang.
• Harmless Freezing: His freezing ability is only for pranks on Ash.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Ash spent a much longer time helping Snorunt master Ice Beam than he did with Swellow's Aerial Ace.
• An Ice Pokémon: Knows Ice Beam and Icy Wind.
• Mundane Utility: On one occasion, it used Icy Wind on a clump of berries to provide a makeshift ice pack for a sickly Ralts.
• Out of Focus: Despite proving itself to be a powerful battler during the Ever Grande conference, it was left at Oak's lab when Ash left for the Battle Frontier and hasn't been used since.
• Not So Stoic: Like many of Ash's evolved Pokémon, Glalie seemingly loses its playful personality it had as a Snorunt, becoming a much more serious Pokémon that only smiles when celebrating victory with Ash. After Advanced Generation, Glalie has received some of its old characterization back, as it happily freezes Ash in a block of ice during its brief cameo at the beginning of the Sinnoh League Tournament arc, and we see it later happily playing with Ash, Palpitoad and Boldore in the final episode of Aim to be a Pokémon Master.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Acted as this as a Snorunt with its pranking and freezing shenanigans and inablity to use Ice Beam properly.
• Power Floats: As Glalie, its only means of locomotion is by floating.
• Punny Name: In the Japanese version, his name Onigohri is a pun to "onigiri" ("rice ball") and "kouri" ("ice"). At the start of the Hoenn League, when Ash commands Glalie to use an Ice Beam during a training session, Morrison is chasing a giant onigiri and then gets frozen with his onigiri by Glalie. The joke is lost in the dub because the onigiri was edited into a giant sandwich.
• Running Gag: It constantly had trouble firing off its Ice Beam correctly. Once it was mastered, it helped it become Glalie.
• Signature Move: Headbutt and Ice Beam, the former being usually the Finishing Move.
• Spectacular Spinning: During the climax against Morrison's Metang, Glalie spins around to power-up its Headbutt, enough to defeat that Steel-Type Pokémon.
• The Trickster: Mostly as a Snorunt, as it likes to prank people; the Nurse Joy in the Pokémon Center that he frequents knows he doesn't mean any harm, however.
• Took a Level in Badass: When he was a Snorunt, he lost his only on-screen battle (a Gym Battle only a few episodes after being caught, but still). Evolving into a Glalie did him a world of good. He took down a Charizard, a Pokémon that had a type advantage over him, all by himself after Grovyle was knocked out during a double battle, who knocked out Quilava before. Glalie also defeated Morrison's Metang, another Pokémon with type advantage.
  • After evolving, he took out at least one Pokémon in every battle he was in and won two matches, one of which was against Morrison. To date, he's only been defeated twice in battle: firstly due to Destiny Bond; and secondly from an explosion between his Ice Beam and Tyson's Sceptile's Solarbeam, and even that was a draw.
• Use Your Head: Knows Headbutt and tends to use it as a Finishing Move. It defeated a Charizard and a Metang with Headbutt. And somehow a Misdreavus despite the latter's type immunity to Normal-type moves.
• Wave-Motion Tuning Fork: It uses Ice Beam by summoning the attack between its two horns.

Kanto Battle Frontier

Aipom (Eipam)

Ash caught Aipom in the Battle Frontier season and planned to leave her with Professor Oak, but she stowed away and joined him on his travels across Sinnoh, eventually being traded to Dawn in exchange for her Buizel. See here for more info.

Team Rocket Trio's Pokémon

Jessie

Seviper (Habunake)

Voiced in Japanese by: Chie Sato

Voiced in English by: Michael Sinterniklaas (4Kids), Bill Rogers (Current)

Seviper was beaten mercilessly by Jessie and captured after biting her hair. This would be the first in a long line of humiliations for the snake Pokémon, who would serve as Jessie's main fighting Pokémon through the AG and DP series.

---

• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: In "Jumping Rocket Ship", it's quite happy to be reunited with Jessie, and later even Meowth.
• Beware My Stinger Tail: Its Poison Tail attack. It's been shown to even contest Pikachu's Iron Tail to explosive levels at one point.
• Bookends: Jessie used Seviper in both her first and last contest performance.
• Breath Weapon:
  • It breathes out Haze from its mouth. It is works pretty much the same as Weezing's Smokescreen and Smog.
  • Its newly learned Sludge Bomb is also fired from its mouth.
• The Brute: Jessie sought after it in particular due to its nasty, aggressive attitude. It often proved useful for capturing or intimidating targeted Pokémon (as often as it got overpowered ultimately).
• The Bus Came Back: It rejoins Jessie's party in JN145, alongside Yanmega, Woobat, Frillish and Gourgeist. With Wobbuffet, they form a full party of six Pokémon for the very first time since Jessie's debut.
• Butt-Monkey: Being one of Jessie's favored battlers, Seviper ends up taking a LOT of punishment over the course of the series.
• Defeat Equals Friendship: Despite its rather...unpleasant method of capture, it ended up one of Jessie's most favoured Pokémon.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: For all its faults, it is frequently shown that Seviper is fond of Jessie (who returns the feeling, of course).
• Jerkass: Compared to its predecessors Arbok and Weezing, it doesn't seem to have as many redeeming qualities, or at least they aren't shown as much. Offset by being just as loyal and comical as most TR Pokémon.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Despite its losing streak, it could prove formidable when the plot called for it. In "Do I Hear A Ralts?" it fought Pikachu to a stalemate, and in "A Trainer And Child Reunion" it has both the heroes' and Aaron's Pokémon (of the Elite Four) on the ropes, losing only when the Pokémon of the Day appears. It also helped Jessie win the Neighborly Town contest and reach the semi finals of the Sinnoh Grand Festival.
• Oh, Crap!: Done very effectively in Seviper's debut. During its confrontation with Team Rocket, it was not afraid of anything, even after Jessie threw Wobbuffet and Meowth (literally in the latter's case) at it. And then it bit off Jessie's hair, and Seviper quickly realized that it had done something bad. Really bad.
  James: (terrified) Poor Seviper!
  Meowth: (equally terrified) It knows not what it's done!
• Poisonous Person: Poison-type Pokémon and knows Poison Tail.
• Put on a Bus: Was retired to Team Rocket headquarters for Best Wishes, along with the other Pokémon of the group. Did not return for XY.
• Serious Business: Like with others of its species, regarding its rivalry with Zangoose - in DP052, it repeatedly refused to back down, and even kept exiting its Poké Ball whenever Jessie tried to recall it.
• Signature Mon: It serves as Jessie's main powerhouse after Arbok's release from Advanced Generation to Diamond and Pearl, and its personality is even more akin to Jessie's. It actually lasted almost a good 100 episodes longer than Arbok did, staying with Jessie all the way until the Soft Reboot of Black & White (whereas the Team Rocket's other Hoenn Pokémon were gradually Put on a Bus one by one).
• Signature Move: Poison Tail, which is the signature move of its species.
• Smoke Out: Seviper's Haze, which replaced Weezing's Smokescreen as the means for Team Rocket's escape cover.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Replaced Jessie's Arbok as the Poison-type snake Pokémon on her team. Amusingly enough, it ended up remaining on Jessie's team for about 100 episodes longer than Arbok did. It's role for helping Team Rocket to escape with its Haze is also the same as James's Weezing with Smokescreen and Smog.
• Team Rocket Wins: After two regions of failures, Seviper finally won Jessie a ribbon in the Neighborly Town contest. Johanna even obliviously complimented its abilities.
• Your Size May Vary: Seviper's size/length is never consistent.

Wurmple-Cascoon-Dustox (Kemusso-Mayuld-Dokucale)

Voiced in Japanese by: Chinami Nishimura

Voiced in English by: Tara Jayne (Wurmple), Amy Birnbaum (Cascoon), Amy Birnbaum (Dusktox, 4Kids), Michele Knotz (Dusktox, current)

Wurmple was caught in the hopes of being raised to be a Beautifly to win Contests. However, like all of Team Rocket's aspirations, they were for naught, since she evolved into a Dustox...which Jessie loved anyway. Dustox would go on to be her main contest Pokémon until her eventual release in Sinnoh.

---

• Always Someone Better: Though Jessie ended up loving Dustox, she was still usually outshone by May's Beautifly. Reversed when they were Wurmple, she was actually the more upstanding Pokémon.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: She's a giant moth.
• Blow You Away: Knows Whirlwind.
• The Cameo: In JN145, she appears in Jessie's and James's memory of Pokémon that parted their ways with them. Regarding Jessie's Pokémon, it's Arbok, Lickitung, Dustox and Mimikyu.
• Evil Counterpart: To May's Beautifly, though granted she's not really that bad...
  • Their personalities are completely flipped when they were still just Wurmple, too. May's was gluttonous and lazy. Jessie's was obedient and loyal from the start.
• Flight: As a Dustox, she knows how to fly.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: As a Wurmple, she was diligent and loyal while May's was poorly trained and lazy. May's still evolved into a competent Beautifly as she desired, with Jessie's Dustox nearly always outshone.
• Poisonous Person: Dustox's secondary type and knows Poison Sting.
• Psychic Powers: Knows Psybeam.
• Put on a Bus: Butterfree-style — she finds a mate (of different-than-usual color), wears an article of clothing, and then has a tearful goodbye with her trainer.
• The Rival: To May's Beautifly, natch. Both were caught in the same episode, and evolved both times in the same episodes. In fact, they evolved into Cascoon and Silcoon (respectively) at the exact same time, leading to Jessie's confusion that both had Silcoon since Ash didn't read hers with his Pokédex.
• Shoo the Dog: Dustox didn't want to leave Jessie's side, but Jessie, in a I Want My Beloved to Be Happy mood, destroys Dustox's Pokéball to convince her otherwise.
• The Smurfette Principle: The first of Team Rocket's Pokémon to be confirmed female.
• Team Rocket Wins: She ended her tenure with Jessie finally helping her win her very first ribbon in the Solaceon Town Contest.
• Undying Loyalty: To the point that Jessie had to actually smash her Poké Ball in order to get her to finally leave so she could be with her mate. Apparently, this freed her from Jessie's control.
• Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Subverted. Jessie was shocked when her Wurmple turned out to be a Dustox instead of the Beautifly she'd been hoping for, with James and Meowth expecting the worst. She very quickly decides she prefers her new Pokémon however.

James

Cacnea (Sabonea)

Voiced in Japanese by: Katsuyuki Konishi

Voiced in English by: Lindsey Warner (4Kids), Michele Knotz (current)

Cacnea first helped Team Rocket by driving off a flock of Beedrill with its Pin Missile. After James fed it some cookies and released Weezing, Cacnea walked up to James and offered to join. It would go on to be James' main battling Pokémon and hugger until it left to master Drain Punch under Gardenia's tutelage.

---

• The Cameo: In JN145, it appears in James's and Jessie's memory of Pokémon that parted their ways with them. Regarding James's Pokémon, it's Weezing, Victreebel, Cacnea, Chimecho and Mareanie.
• Cuddle Bug: And since Cacnea is a cactus, it is really very painful.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Knows Sandstorm.
• The Glomp: Constantly offers an expectedly painful one to James upon its release as a Running Gag.
• Green Thumb: The second Grass-Type of James and it continues the Running Gag that Vicreebel codified.
• Power Fist: Knows Needle Arm, and later learns Drain Punch with Gardenia's training.
• Put on a Bus: Left to train with Gardenia after she promises to bring out Cacnea's full potential and teach it Drain Punch.
• Signature Mon: It serves as James's replacement for Weezing and Victreebel for the entirely of Advanced Generation, being both his main battler and grass pain deliverer. However, by Diamond and Pearl, Cacnea is immediately demoted as a secondary battler when James gets Carnivine on his team, who pretty much did the same thing that Cacnea did. Not surprisingly, Cacnea is soon Put on a Bus with Gardenia in the middle of the DP saga.
• Smoke Out: A variation, Cacnea can use Sandstorm as a cover to aid escape.
• Spike Shooter: Knows Pin Missile.
• Tastes Like Friendship: James wins Cacnea over when he feeds it some cookies.
• Took a Level in Badass: According to Barry, Cacnea had mastered Drain Punch by the time he fought Gardenia and proved a tough opponent. James was understandably delighted by this news.
• Trigger-Happy: Has a tendency to get angry and shoot his Pin Missiles randomly.

Chimecho (Chirean)

Voiced in Japanese by: Natsuki Yoshihara

Voiced in English by: Bella Hudson (4Kids), Michele Knotz (current)

Chimecho volunteered to become a member of Team Rocket after coming over to James, getting him out of his funk over not having a Chimecho since childhood. It was very sheltered by James, only allowed to come out to cheer on and heal Team Rocket, but it didn't seem to mind. It retired to stay with old caretakers of a summer home after getting a fever.

---

• The Cameo: In JN145, it appears in James's and Jessie's memory of Pokémon that parted their ways with them. Regarding James's Pokémon, it's Weezing, Victreebel, Cacnea, Chimecho and Mareanie.
• Failed a Spot Check: After hearing about James' plight, Jessie and Meowth don't see an actual, real Chimecho passing them by.
• The Glomp: It likes to wrap its sash around James' head, often times blinding him!
• Jump Scare: Its Astonish attack is as scary as it is unexpected.
• The Medic: It knows Heal Bell, and because Team Rocket has tendency to be on the wrong end of Pokémon attacks, this makes Chimecho quite useful.
• Non-Action Guy: It has participated in battle a small handful of times, but never consistently or for very long. Chimecho's main role is as a cheerleader, like Wobbuffet.
• Psychic Powers: Chimecho levitates thanks to its psychic powers.
• Put on a Bus: After Chimecho came down with a terrible fever that prevented it from following Team Rocket any further, James left it with the caretakers of his old vacation home. James promised to return for Chimecho once it got better, but as of Diamond & Pearl, he has not had the opportunity.
• Sixth Ranger: Became Team Rocket's second cheerleading Pokémon alongside Wobbuffet.
• Soul Power: Knows the Ghost-type move Astonish.

Mime Jr. (Manene)

Voiced in Japanese by: Ikue Otani (first and current), Tomoe Hanba (second)

Voiced in English by: Kayzie Rodgers (first and current), Michele Knotz (second)

As Chimecho was released, Mime Jr. voluntarily captured itself in one of James's Poké Balls. It became James's replacement for Chimecho, but it was more of an active battler.

---

• The Bus Came Back: It rejoins James's party in JN145, alongside Carnivine, Yamask, Amoonguss and Inkay. With Morpeko, they form a full party of six Pokémon for the very first time since James's debut.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: It stopped appearing partway through the Sinnoh Grand Festival arc, not even making an appearance in the final episode of Diamond & Pearl before getting Put on a Bus off-screen with the rest of Team Rocket's Pokémon.
• Cheerful Child: Fittingly, it would always copy James' (or even anyone for that matter) demeanor, but most of the time it's a happy sort.
• Crowd Song: Its use of Teeter Dance can make anyone in the vicinity to start dancing.
• Cuteness Overload: Since Mime Jr. has no combat abilities, it's utilized in contests. Jessie was even known to borrow it from time to time to participate in contests, and Mime Jr. doesn't seem to mind being in the spotlight. Although James was initially against the idea, he has come around to it.
• Ditto Fighter: Which came in handy once during one of Jessie's contest performances.
• Irritation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery: Frequently mimics its teammates as a Funny Background Event. Granted it doesn't seem to irritate James at least.
• Jumped at the Call: After James dropped one of his empty Poké Balls, Mime Jr eagerly activated it, having chosen James as its trainer.
• Modern Major General: Mime Jr. is far better suited to participating in contests and is shown to be a natural performer. As a combat Pokemon for Team Rocket, however, it's next to harmless as James finds it too adorable to fight and doesn't want Mime Jr. to come to any harm.
• Non-Action Guy: The few moves it does know aren't even offensive, anyway (save Mimic, and that depends on which move he does Mimic).
• Psychic Powers: Subverted. It's a Psychic-type Pokémon, but doesn't know any Psychic moves.
• Put on a Bus: As of Best Wishes, it's with the other old Team Rocket Pokémon at headquarters.
• Signature Mon: From the Battle Frontier arc all the way to the end of Diamond and Pearl, it served as the main cheerleading partner for James in a similar sense that Wobbuffet serves for Jessie. Thus it's surprising that it didn't accompanied Wobbuffet when the latter rejoined the Team Rocket trio at the end of Black & White. It soon reestablishes itself as James's main Pokémon companion, being the key player in Team Rocket's latest and grandest attempt to steal Pikachu in the Aim to be a Pokémon Master mini-series.
• Sixth Ranger: Team Rocket's third cheerleadering Pokémon, effectively replacing Chimecho.
• Tagalong Kid: It's very rare that James would actually use it in battle, not wanting to get it hurt.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In JN145, James has it pretend to be a lost, scared Pokémon in order to lure Ash and co. into an ambush.

---