Ash Ketchum

Biography
Ash has always dreamed of becoming a Pokémon Master and as soon as he hit the age of ten, he rushed to Professor Oak's Laboratory to get his first Pokémon. Originally wanting to choose Squirtle, Ash ended up getting the Pokémon, Pikachu, and left on his journey. At first, Pikachu does not listen to Ash and keeps running away so that Ash had to tie him up. Then after getting chace by a swarm of Spearow, Ash tries to save Pikachu from it, and Pikachu, after seeing Ash so determinded and kind, he protected Ash from the Spearow that were attacking Ash. From then on, Pikachu and Ash became best friends for life. As a completely unskilled trainer, Ash managed to go through, while meeting his friends Misty and Brock and capturing new Pokémon. Then, Ash tries to defeat the gym leader in Kanto, allowing him to enter in the Pokémon League. Since then, he has continued to travel, make new friends such as Tracey, May, Max and Dawn, and capture new Pokémon while still following his goal of becoming a Pokémon Master. Since this goal is so close to his heart, he sometimes acts a bit rash and rushes to the next battle he can as fast as possible. Ash currently travels in Unova Region with his new friends Iris and Dento.

Season 1: Pokémon: Indigo League
Ash finally starts his Pokémon journey because he is already ten, though he overslept and when he came to the Professor's Lab, there were no more starter Pokémon to choose, but the Professor has one Pokémon left but he says that the Pokémon isn't that friendly and he shows pikachu, then pikachu dislikes Ash and shocks him with its thundershock, this would be the mark of starting his journey with his Pikachu, later Pikachu trusts Ash, and Ash also meets some friends along the way and challenging various Gyms also, he started having traveling companions which is Brock and Misty. He was in the Top 16th in the Indigo League Competition.

Season 2: Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands
During this time, Ash was sent to Orange Islands by Professor Oak to do an errand, though he found out that there were gyms there so he also challenged the gyms there, also Brock left to be with Professor Ivy, then they also had a new traveling companion named Tracey. Ash also befriends and catches many other Pokémon also. He won and got a trophy in the Orange Islands.

Season 3: Pokémon: Johto Journeys
Ash heard that there was a region called Johto and went there to find and catch new Pokémon that wasn't seen in the Kanto region, also he battled the gym leaders there. He also caught the first three starter Pokémon of the Johto region just like in the Kanto region. Also Brock joined again and left Professor Ivy for unknown reasons and Tracey was left at Professor Oak's Lab.

Season 4: Pokémon: Pokémon Johto League Champions
He continues his quest in capturing and battling Gym Leaders and Pokémon. He also went to the Whirl Islands during this time.

Season 5: Pokémon: Master Quest
During this season he has finally completed his badges for entering the Johto League. He fought his best and then fought a certain trainer with a Blaziken in the Hoenn region, then he released his Charizard both battled greatly but Ash lost. Then he decided to go to the Hoenn region but sadly both of his traveling companions have to go back and will not be traveling with him to the Hoenn region. He has reached 8th place in the Johto League.

Season 6: Pokémon: Advanced
Afterwards he went to the Hoenn region, he met two new friends that became his traveling companions, it was none other than May and Max, also Brock returned stating that he finished with his errands at home. Ash also left all of his Pokémon at home so that he can start a new challenge for himself, but he didn't leave his first Pokémon: Pikachu.

Season 7: Pokémon: Advanced Challenge
Ash finally challenged Gym Battles but is held up by May because May decided to be a Pokemon Coordinator. Now both of them are on their way to the challenges up ahead of them.

Season 8: Pokémon: Advanced Battle
Now Ash is entering the Hoenn League and now battles with all he has after he obtained all of the badges in the Hoenn region. He meets rivals, Morrison and Tyson. He fought against Tyson in the Hoenn League but lost. He has come to the 8th place in the Hoenn League. Though he decided to challenge the Battle Frontier in the Kanto region.

Season 9: Pokémon: Battle Frontier
Ash battles all of the Frontier Brains, although he has a hard time battling the last Frontier Brain, but in the end, he won and collected all the symbols.

Season 10: Pok é mon: Diamond and Pearl
He has started a new journey again, this time in the Sinnoh region, though this time May and Max isn't coming. But Brock is still traveling with them. Also he met a new traveling companion, Dawn, and a new rival, Paul.

Season 11: Pokémon: DP Battle Dimension
In this season, Ash continued battling and earning badges, while Dawn continues to earn contest ribbons, they also see Team Galactic.

Season 12: Pokémon: DP Galactic Battles
During this time, they battle against Team Galactic and also free the legendary Pokémon from Team Galactic.

Season 13: Pokémon: DP Sinnoh League Victors
Finally Ash is entering the Sinnoh League, this may be the hardest and intense league he ever joined as he has many rivals to compete with and also there is a mysterious trainer who joined with a legendary Pokémon: Darkrai. He battled against most of his rivals and won then his next match was Paul, the battle was intense but Ash won with Infernape's ability, Blaze. Though he faced an opponent that was hard to defeat, it is none other than the trainer with a Darkrai: Tobias. He was able to defeat Tobias' Darkrai but he drew to Tobias' Latios. However, as Ash had no Pokémon left, he defeated. He reached the top 4 in the Sinnoh League.

Season 14: Pokémon: Black & White
He started a new journey in the Unova region but this time Brock and Dawn didn't travel with him. Though he finds new traveling companions: Dento and Iris. And catches new Pokemon, currently he has won the first badge. As the story continues, he gets a mysterious egg. And similar to the original series, he also gets all of the starter Pokémon in there.

Pokémon
As a Trainer, Ash has captured and befriended a sizable number of Pokémon over the course of the anime. His philosophy on training is that Pokémon are individuals and that a combination of trust, friendship and hard work are needed to overcome adversity. He seems to battle best with Pokémon that are similar to Pikachu: ones that are speedy and maneuverable, yet able to perform high-powered attacks; however, he is willing to work with any Pokémon that comes into his care. Ash's battle style is generally spontaneous, unpredictable, and fairly unorthodox, and his Pokémon often reflect these traits. Ash currently has an unknown amount of Pokémon with him since his capture of Sewaddle.

Kanto League

 * Boulder Badge
 * Cascade Badge
 * Thunder Badge
 * Marsh Badge
 * Rainbow Badge
 * Soul Badge
 * Volcano Badge
 * Earth Badge

Orange Islands

 * Coral-Eye Badge
 * Sea Ruby Badge
 * Spike Shell Badge
 * Jade Star Badge

Johto League

 * Zephyr Badge
 * Hive Badge
 * Plain Badge
 * Fog Badge
 * Storm Badge
 * Mineral Badge
 * Glacier Badge
 * Rising Badge

Hoenn League

 * Stone Badge
 * Knuckle Badge
 * Dynamo Badge
 * Heat Badge
 * Balance Badge
 * Feather Badge
 * Mind Badge
 * Rain Badge

Sinnoh League

 * Coal Badge
 * Forest Badge
 * Cobble Badge
 * Fen Badge
 * Relic Badge
 * Mine Badge
 * Icicle Badge
 * Beacon Badge

Unova League

 * A7.png Badge
 * Basic Badge

Symbols

 * Knowledge Symbol
 * Guts Symbol
 * Tactics Symbol
 * Luck Symbol
 * Spirit Symbol
 * Ability Symbol
 * Brave Symbol

Pokémon League Status

 * Kanto Conference (Indigo League) Loses to Ritchie: Top 16
 * Silver Conference (Johto League) Loses to Harrison: Top 8
 * Ever Grande Conference (Hoenn League) Loses to Tyson: Top 8
 * Suzuran Tournament (Sinnoh League) Loses to Tobias: Top 4

Pokémon Championship Battles

 * Orange League: Champion
 * Battle Frontier: Champion

Contests

 * Bug-Catching Contest: Champion
 * Extreme Pokémon: Champion
 * Fuchsia Pokémon Race: Champion
 * P1 Grand Prix: Champion
 * Pokémon Balloon Race: Champion
 * Pokémon Contests
 * Terracotta Contest (unofficial): (Winner - Tied with May)
 * Wallace Cup: Top 8
 * Hearthome Tag Battle: Champion-with Paul
 * Pokémon Summer Academy Triathlon: Winner
 * Pokémon Swap Meet Tauros-Battling competition: Champion
 * PokéRinger - Crossgate Town: Champion
 * PokéRinger - Squallville: Champion
 * Rota Tournament: Champion
 * Sumo Conference: Champion
 * Twinleaf Festival Battle Tournament: Champion
 * Sinnoh Pokéthlon Tournament: Runner-Up

Other Voice Actors

 * German: Caroline Combrinck (1st-3rd Season & 12th- ), Veronika Neugebauer (4th-11th Season, dec.)
 * Italian: Davide Garbolino

Gallery
See Ash Ketchum/Gallery

Trivia

 * Everytime he battles and defeats a rival he constantly loses to the next one in league tournaments.
 * Ash is based on the Generation I video game character, Red.
 * Ash got all the starter Pokemon except Mudkip, Torchic and Piplup.
 * Ash's first pokemon choice was a Squirtle, which Gary got.
 * Ash has had 30 Pokémon throughout the series. (Not counting evolution and the thirty extra Tauros as one) 49 including different evolutionary forms.
 * Pidove is the 5th bird pokemon Ash has captured. Pidgeot, Noctowl, Swellow, Staraptor are the others.
 * Ash's personality matches Azelf; the Willpower Pokémon.
 * Ash's last name, Ketchum, may have come from the phrase "Gotta catch 'em all".
 * There is a parody of Ash in Johnny Test called Blast Ketchup.
 * In a game called Adventure Quest Worlds, there was a parody version of Ash named Bash Ketchup.
 * Ash has caught at least 1 of the starter pokemon in every League, and has caught every bird pokemon that first appears in that region's Pokdex.
 * So far, Ash has caught all known -type starters.
 * When one of Ash's friends captured the other starters, he would capture another pokemon to fill in the missing types.
 * Brock capturing a Mudkip and May choosing a Torchic, he captured a Corphish and a Torkoal for a water and fire type pokemon.
 * When Dawn chose Piplup as her starter, Ash later obtained Buizel when he traded Aipom for it.
 * Ash has a different outfit in every region (Besides Johto and Kanto).
 * Ash is made fun of everywhere but he is actually the most loved Pokemon character.
 * Since the beginning of the series, Ash's skin has gotten progressively darker, perhaps due to the constant exposure to the sun, as he and his friends that he journeys with walk almost everywhere, and are normally outside.
 * Ash has seen almost every legendary Pokemon.
 * Ash has never won a league battle.
 * Ash is the only trainer who defeated Tobias's Darkrai.
 * Dawn is the only Trainer who is not related or is a Gym leader the has traveled with Ash.
 * Ash's eye color was mostly black but there are some scenes it is shown to be brown, but in Best Wishes, his eyes were changed so that it would be obvious that his eyes are brown.
 * As of now, Ash hasn't captured or was accompained by a Psychic or Steel-type Pokemon.
 * Zuruggu was the third egg that Ash had, the second to born as his pokemon and the first Dark-type pokemon for him.

Ash Ketchum