Ash's Tepig

 Ash's Tepig is the third Pokemon caught by Ash in the Unova region.

History
Tepig first appeared in ''The Battle Club and Tepig's Choice! ''where it was abandoned by its former trainer due to losing to a Deerling at the Accumula Town Battle Club. It was later found by Ash which he thought it was an Umbreon through the PokeDex. But it was revealed to be Tepig after he examined it more closely. Ash then comforted the Fire Pig by feeding it food. When Pikachu was kidnapped by Team Rocket, it used Ember to destroy their baloon and saved Pikachu. Tepig was later adopted by Ash.

As promised, Ash used Tepig at the Striaton Gym in ''Triple Leaders, Triple Threat!. ''Ash used it against Chili's Pansear during the battle. Tepig's Fire-type attacks were no match for Pansear's strong Flamethrower and Fire Punches that land effectively. But Tepig was hit hard by Dig and fell down, which allowed him to grab its tail by his mouth and throws the Fire Temp onto the ground and used Tackle to win.

In A Rival Battle for Club Champ!, Ash sent him out after Oshawott was defeated by Trip's Tranquill during his 5-on-5 battle with Trip at the Luxuria Town Battle Club. He used multiple Embers to take down Tranquill, but were also dodged. He was then knocked out by Super Luck-boosted Aerial Aces the same time Oshawott did and was knocked out.

In The Battle According to Lenora!, Ash sent Tepig in first against Lenora's Lillipup. But when the battle began, Roar sent him back for Oshawott. After Oshawott's defeat, he returned to battle Lillipup, but was unable to dodge multiple Shadow Balls, but was knocked out by a powerful Take Down. Ash and Tepig trained two times in The Rematch at the Nacrene Gym!. At the Battle Club in Nacrene City, he and Ash managed to dodge and counter the Shadow Balls with Ember and learned Flame Charge. Using this, he managed to dodge Shadow Ball and counter it with Ember. He then defeats Lenora with his newly-learned Flame Charge.

In Scraggy-Hatched to be Wild!, Tepig was also sent out along with Pidove, Oshawott, and Snivy to meet the newly-hatched Scraggy. When Scraggy glared at him, he got headbutted, but wasn't accurate this time. He later used Ember to stop the Electro Ball to protect Scraggy from the Galvantula.

In Battling for the Love of Bug-Types!, he entered his third Gym battle at the Castelia Gym. He was up against Burgh's Dwebble-who was Bug-type and Rock-type-and used its Fire-type attacks. But when Dwebble dodged and used Rock Wrecker, he was unable to dodge it and fell in battle.

In Ash and Trip's Third Battle!, he was the last to be sent out by Ash in the 3-on-3 battle with Trip. There, he had fought against Trip's Vanillite who had a disadvantage to Fire-types. But the Vanillite had a great defense since Tepig's Flame Charge and Embers weren't effective. When their Flame Charge and Blizzard attacks clashed, both were knocked out.

Tepig battled a wild Roggenrola in Gotta Catch A Roggenrola!, when Oshawott was defeated, but was also defeated as well. He had a rematch with Roggenrola during a fierce battle, but defeated it victoriously.

In Battle for the Underground!, Tepig helped propel the train cart Ash and co. were riding on to escape from Team Rocket. With Roggenrola using Flash Cannon and Axew using Dragon Rage, he used a powerful Ember that changed into a Flamethrower.

Tepig battles with Cilan's Pansage in BW052 where they face the Subway Masters Ingo and Emmet at the Battle Subway. They fought real hard and used their powerful attacks until they were defeated by their opponents Chandelure and Eelektross.

Personality
Tepig is considered a good battler, but dosen't take losing very well and feels very sad as shown in ''A Rival Battle for Club Champ! when he lost to Trip's Tranquill and again in The Battle According to Lenora'' when he loses to Lenora's Lillipup. The third time is when he drew with Trip's Vanillite in ''Ash and Trip's Third Battle!. ''He is also a very sweet and loveable Pokemon and wanting to please Ash.

Tepig also tries to please Ash multiple times. Lenora says in Rematch at the Nacrene Gym! that Tepig is trying hard to win for Ash. This may be because Tepig's original trainer abandoned it for not trying hard and felt that Ash would do the same.

As a Tepig

 * Ember
 * Tackle
 * Flame Charge
 * Flamethrower

In Japan

 * Wasabi Mizuta

In Dub

 * Marc Thompson

Trivia

 * Tepig is Ash's first Fire-type Starter Pokemon not to have its name start with C.
 * Like Charmander, Cyndaquil, and Chimchar, Tepig is Ash's fourth Fire-type Starter Pokemon.
 * Tepig has been in three of Ash's Gym battles;At the Striaton Gym in Triple Battles, Triple Threats!, at the Nacrene Gym in The Battle According to Lenora!, and Rematch at the Nacrene Gym!, and at the Castelia Gym in Battling for the Love of Bug-Types!.
 * Tepig will evolve into a Pignite in the near future.