Ash's Pignite

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

Biography
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, but still needed him here when Shamus made the decision to tie his neck to a post. 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, thus winning Ash the gym badge. 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 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. It's unknown if they won or lost. Tepig evolved into Pignite in Evolution by Fire! and turned the tide in the battle against his former trainer as he defeated his Emboar and Heatmor with its newly learned Fire Pledge and finished off with Flame Charge.

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.

Voice actress and actor

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

Trivia

 * Pignite is the only Unova Pokémon who was never sent to Professor Oak or Juniper.
 * Pignite is the first Fire-type Ash owned that didn't know Flamethrower when caught.