Ash's Pignite

This Pignite is a /-type Pokémon owned by Ash. He is the third Pokémon that Ash obtained in the Unova region. He is also the only Unova starter in Ash's team that ever evolved.

Personality
Pignite as a Tepig during his debut appearance, he was seen to be sad and desperate when his snout got tied and like Ash's Charmander and Chimchar, Tepig was abandoned by his trainer due to being weak in battle (in his case he was abandoned and left to starve). When Pikachu was captured by Team Rocket making Ash became desperate to save Pikachu, Tepig became serious and determined as he manage to break their protective barrier with a single Ember causing the group to escape by air via para glider. Tepig happily took a liking to Ash due to his caring nature to his Pokémon which is the reason that allowed Ash to capture him and let him join the team.

Upon evolving into Pignite, he is a brave and confident Pokémon and also an adept battler similar to Ash's Infernape when he unleashes his Flame Charge to resemble Infernape's Flare Blitz. He maintains his friendly relationship to other Ash's Pokémon especially Snivy who convinces him to battle his former Trainer while he was in his pre-evolved form.

As Tepig
Before the events of The Battle Club and Tepig's Choice! in the Accumula Town Battle Club, Pignite was abandoned by his trainer as a Tepig. The then-yet to be identified trainer had tied a rope a rope around Tepig's neck, tied it to a post, and left it to die. Ash discovered Tepig eating the bait he and Iris laid out for him and realized that it was actually a Tepig covered in soot and proceeded to catch him.

Since Ash promised to use him in his first Gym Battle, Tepig fought against Chili's Pansear in Triple Leaders, Team Threats. His attacks did not do much damage to Pansear, whose Fire Punch, Flamethrower and Dig attacks hit Tepig hard. Tepig then managed to bite Pansear's tail and send it flying and manage to defeat it with both Ember and Tackle, winning Ash the first Gym battle round until Ash defeats Cilan and his Pansage by using Oshawott as his final Pokémon.

Tepig was confirmed male in Snivy Plays Hard to Catch! when he was hit by a wild Snivy's Attract, forcing Ash to recall him.

In A Rival Battle for Club Champ!, Tepig battled against Trip's Tranquill. Like Oshawott, Tepig was defeated by Tranquill's Super Luck-boosted Aerial Ace. Tepig battled Lenora's Lillipup in The Battle According to Lenora and was forced back into his Poké Ball by Lillipup's Roar. After training in Rematch at the Nacrene Gym, he battled Lenora's Herdier where he won using his newly learned Flame Charge attack.

In Ash and Trip's Third Battle!, Ash used Tepig against Trip's Vanillite. Despite the type advantage Tepig had, the match ended in a draw.

In Gotta Catch a Roggenrola! Tepig is used to fight a wild Roggenrola after Oshawott had fainted during the fight and he too being defeated by it with both Sandstorm and Stone Edge combination. After being recovered at the Pokémon Center, Tepig is used again to release Roggenrola from Team Rocket's capture and later defeating Jessie's Woobat using Ember. He also manages to defeat both Woobat and James' Yamask using Ember and allowing Pikachu and all of the Roggenrola to destroy the machine using Electro Ball and Flash Cannon combination forcing the trio to flee using jetpacks.

After the incident, Tepig gains a rematch against the wild Roggenrola after he lost the first. Tepig eventually gains the upper hand despite its type disadvantage by hitting it with a Tackle followed by a Flame Charge and it allows Ash to capture it.

In Battle For The Underground!, while trying to remove Team Rocket from the Battle Subway in Nimbasa City, Tepig learned Flamethrower. Tepig battled alongside Cilan's Pansage in Lost at the Stamp Rally! where they were battling against Subway Masters Emmet and Ingo's Chandelure and Eelektross while in the Battle Subway. After a hard battle, Tepig and Pansage got defeated. In Evolution by Fire!, Tepig finally reunites with its former trainer who abandoned him and left to starve way back in Accumula Town as Shamus threw Tepig away which Ash catches it making both him and Iris got mad from his mean and cruel behavior especially for abandoning Tepig. Don George finally settled to have both into a double battle which Shamus wanted to fight Ash with using both Emboar and Heatmor while Ash will use Tepig and Snivy who finally decided to join because of her concern for Tepig and her dislike to Shamus for abandoning it.

As everyone is asleep, Tepig remembers the time he was released by Shamus back in the Accumula Town and he decides to abandoned it. Tepig decides to come but he refuses. Because of his cruelty, he ties up Tepig and left it alone. Tepig could not forget about what happened until he was found by Ash and the group and Snivy manages to wake Tepig from being sad up by slapping to his face with her Vine Whip which she convinces Tepig not to give up the fight and don't let his guard down when facing Shamus which Tepig agrees.

During the battle, Tepig is initially unwilling to listen to Ash's commands whenever he sees Shamus as well as how he abandons it by saying goodbye he got hit from Emboar's attack. When Shamus reveals how he abandoned Tepig and showing his cruel streak to think he was waving goodbye to it but to replace it with another Tepig who currently in his hands is his fully evolved form is much talented than he is. Tepig was horribly surprised by this revelation after realizing how cruel Shamus was. Tepig was later hit by Emboar and Heatmor's Flamethrower and Fire Spin combination. By the time Snivy takes serious damage on both Pokemon, Tepig regains composure after Snivy convinces him to work together to fight and Tepig both of them with Flame Charge but it didn't do a thing. Both Heatmor and Emboar unleashes a combination of both a Flare Blitz and Fire Spin combination to knock Tepig down only to be tackled by Snivy to take a direct hit which she ends up fainted. Ash confidently to make Tepig do it as Cilan, Iris, Pikachu and an injured Snivy are counting on him. Seeing Snive gets heavily injured and being supported by Ash and his friends, Tepig angrily yells in a rage to evolved into Pignite as he demonstrates by hitting both Emboar and Heatmor with his newly learned Fire Pledge and defeats them with a newly powerful Flame Charge. Shamus wanted to give Pignite back from Ash but since he knows of his cruelty for abandoning him while he was a Tepig, Pignite burns him with Flamethrower which he decides to stay with Ash causing Shamus to flee while he cursed him to remember this beating.

As Pignite
In Caution: Icy Battle Conditions!, Pignite was used against Brycen's Cryogonal and Beartic. He was able to take out Cryogonal by using Fire Pledge to aim for the center of the Rapid Spin but lost to Beartic when it used Aerial Ace for its Fighting-type weakness.

In Rocking the Virbank Gym! (Part 2), Pignite was up against Roxie's Scolipede and after his Flame Charge was blocked by Scolipede's Screech and its Sludge Bomb was intercepted by Pignite's Flamethrower, Pignite used the smoke to his advantage and hit Scolipede with Flame Charge. However, Pignite got knocked out by Garbodor's Hyper Beam.

Pignite battled Dawn's Mamoswine in The Mystery of the Missing Cubchoo!. Pignite managed to dodge Mamoswine's Hidden Power by quickly jumping and then hitting Mamoswine with a very powerful Flame Charge. It managed to counter Mamoswine's Ice Shard with Flamethrower and Mamoswine used Take Down followed by Hidden Power. Pignite used Flame Charge and hit the Hidden Power head on, knocking both out and ending the battle in a draw. Pignite battled Trip's Serperior in BW094 in the final round of the Junior Cup. Although it had the advantage, it couldn't land a single hit, even after using Flame Charge multiple times to increase its speed. Serperior eventually finished it with Frenzy Plant, knocking Ash out of the tournament and winning Trip the Junior Cup.

Pignite was sent to Professer Oak's laboratory after Ash ended his Unova adventure.

Voice actress and actor

 * Wasabi Mizuta (Japanese)
 * Marc Thompson (English)

Trivia

 * Pignite is Ash's only Unova Pokémon who was never sent to Professor Juniper.
 * Pignite is the first -type Ash owned that didn't know Flamethrower when caught.
 * Pignite also shares some similarities with Ash's Charizard and Infernape:
 * All of them are Fire-types that evolved from Starter Pokémon at least once.
 * All of them were abandoned by their original trainer because that trainer thought they were weak.
 * All of them became among Ash's most powerful Pokémon, proving that their original trainers had been wrong about their strength.