Ash's Scraggy

Ash's Scraggy (Japanese: サトシのズルッグ Satoshi's Zuruggu) is the fifth that Ash Ketchum obtained in the Unova region.

History
Ash received Scraggy's Egg in Here Comes the Trubbish Squad! as a parting gift from Karena for helping her settle a conflict between her granddaughter Daniela and, who had befriended a.

In Scraggy-Hatched to Be Wild!, when the Egg started hatching, accidentally knocked it over in excitement, causing it to roll down a hill towards some sharp rocks, but  used  to catch it in midair just in time.

Scraggy hatched from his Egg shortly after and he wasted no time showing off his headstrong nature. When tried to greet him, he used  on him and then attempted to  him, but missed. Ash and Pikachu decided to have a small battle with Scraggy as a "welcome gift". Scraggy was easily subdued by a weakened version of Pikachu's attack, while his attacks hardly did anything on Pikachu. He later tried to pick fights with Ash's other Pokémon,, , and. Since he was newly hatched, he was easily subdued by their weak attacks. Ash attempted to catch him with his Poké Ball but Scraggy refused, wanting to explore the outside world a little longer.

Later, Scraggy wandered off and started headbutting a tree which was the home of a group of. He became, and was heavily injured by Galvantula's attacks and needed to be healed. With no Pokémon Centers around, quickly made up a potion for him to cure his paralysis. He felt better the next morning and left to confront the Galvantula that attacked him. Again he was outmatched as the entire colony appeared to battle him and was saved by Ash and the rest of his Pokémon. Seeing what they were willing to do for him, Scraggy began to trust his new teammates. After returning to camp, suggested that Scraggy battle Iris's Axew. The battle ended in a draw when both Pokémon knocked each other out. After the battle, Scraggy happily agreed to go inside his Poké Ball.

Scraggy was used to battle Axew on two more occasions, but each had the same result as their first battle. Their third battle however, Scraggy lost because Axew was able to execute a perfect.

In Cottonee in Love!, Scraggy met a wild who tried to play with him. Like with every new Pokémon he meets, he tried to attack it but was distracted by its. He eventually befriends the Cottonee after it was shot down by a female Cottonee it was trying to court. Scraggy helped it train in order to prove to its love interest that it was a capable battler. By the end of the episode, Scraggy was called out of his Poké Ball in order to say goodbye to Cottonee and chased it and its lover while waving.

In Facing Fear with Eyes Wide Open!, his aggressive attitude landed him and the other Pokémon in trouble when he attacked a group of wild. In retaliation, they engulfed the Pokémon in a cloud of, poisoning them. Though, with the combined effort of Ash, and, everyone was cured of their poison.

In Meowth's Scrafty Tactics!, Scraggy was used to assist in negotiating with a wild  to rescue Axew who Scrafty had kidnapped. In the process, the Scrafty taught him how to use. Once Axew was rescued, Scraggy wished to assist Scrafty whose home had been taken by a as a return favor. Using his new Hi Jump Kick, Scraggy was able to subdue Mandibuzz.

He battled with Axew once more in Scraggy and the Demanding Gothita! to play, until they ran into a that took a liking to Scraggy. Gothita's Trainer challenged Ash to a battle on the condition that if she won, he'd have to trade Scraggy away to her. After Ash won, they all stayed the night together in a cabin. Scraggy left with Gothita while everyone was sleeping for a mid-night snack, but Axew came out to bring him back. Gothita ended up disturbing a wild. Scraggy attempted to stand up to the Trash Heap Pokémon, but they were only safe when Snivy turned up to defend them. The next day Scraggy was happy to see Gothita storm away after Snivy defeated her.

Scraggy was Ash's chosen Pokémon for the Clubsplosion tournament in The Clubsplosion Begins!. He battled Angus's in the first round. While the match started of with both Pokémon avoiding each others attacks, Scraggy was eventually able to land a Hi Jump Kick on Simisage. However, Simisage countered by stepping on Scraggy's "pants", so that he couldn't defend with them again, and hit him with. After Scraggy's next Hi Jump Kick missed, he was hit by a barrage of Low Sweeps while he thrived in the pain of his unsuccessful Hi Jump Kick. Simisage was about to finish the match with when Scraggy formed a  between his hands, learning a new move, and used it to shield himself from Simisage's attack. Unfortunately; when it came to launching his Focus Blast, Scraggy was unable to keep it on target, though he made up for it by using Leer on Simisage and with its effects, hit it with a Headbutt attack, winning the match. Scraggy continued to watch the first round matches in the next episode. While watching, he became annoyed by 's admiration of him and hit her with Headbutt. During the break between battles, he and Ash began practicing Focus Blast, however, not making any progress. In A Clubsplosion of Excitement!, Scraggy battled Betty's. After defending against Simipour's and, Scraggy once again attempted Focus Blast but to no result. After enduring an attack, Scraggy was able to hit Simipour with Leer, block a second Brick Break with Headbutt and win the match with Hi Jump Kick. In Commanding the Clubsplosion Crown!, Scraggy faced off against Montgomery's during the semi-finals. After persistently trying to weaken Throh's defense with Leer, Scraggy was heavily damaged by Throh's and  attacks. Scraggy then released a barrage of Focus Blasts, all of which failed to hit his target. Scraggy was then defeated by, eliminating him and Ash from the tournament.

In Battling the Leaf Thieves!, Scraggy watched a battle between Iris's Emolga and Ash's, with his friend Axew and was excited to see Swadloon evolve into. When Leavanny first looked upon its young friends, he pranced of and made leaf hoods for them both, which Scraggy was very happy to receive. Whilst the gang were taking a nap, a group of took Axew away, believing he was food, as he was still wearing his leaf outfit. When Scraggy first awoke and found that Axew was missing, he screamed and shouted for him, waking the others up and alerting them to the situation. The gang soon discovered a swarm of Durant's nest, where Scraggy and Ash were both wrapped up in leaves so that they'd be taken to the Durant's food pile so that they could retrieve Axew. However, they were noticed and a huge battle broke out between Scraggy, Pikachu, Emolga and Leavanny and the dozens of Durant. Scraggy was able to easily dodge the various, and  attacks that came his way but like his teammates, he was unable to land a hit on the Durant because of their excessive use of. After all but one Durant was infatuated by Emolga's, Scraggy and Pikachu were able to defeat her and allow Iris to rescue a still sleeping Axew. Leavanny led the gang back through the Durant maze and Scraggy stayed out his Poké Ball with the gang until Axew woke up.

Scraggy was called upon for his first Gym battle in Caution: Icy Battle Conditions! against Brycen and his. Initially, Scraggy sustained damage from a failed Hi Jump Kick and missed his target again with Headbutt, having trouble maintaining his balance on the iced over battle field. On the defensive, Scraggy was able to deflect Vanillish's with his "pants" and launch a Focus Blast attack. Like before, Scraggy's attack missed, but by chance the Focus Blast fell backwards and struck Vanillish. Scraggy then knocked out his opponent with Headbutt. was brought out subsequently to fight Scraggy. His Headbutt attack was blocked by a fearsome and after a failed Focus Blast, Scraggy was knocked out by Cryogonal's.

Personality and characteristics
From the moment he hatched, Scraggy has been shown to be a headstrong Pokémon who views new Pokémon as opponents. He will at his potential opponents to show his toughness before trying to  them. His overconfidence often gets him into trouble as he believes he is much stronger than he actually is, as seen in Scraggy-Hatched to be Wild! when he took on a whole group of by himself or in Facing Fear with Eyes Wide Open! when he took on a group of angry. A stubborn Pokémon, Scraggy will not give up on trying to defeat an opponent even if he is injured. Despite disliking to do so, he knows when to accept help from his friends and Trainer. He is also shown to care about those who he considers his friends. This is shown in both Cottonee in Love! and Meowth's Scrafty Tactics! when Ash tried to recall him to his Poké Ball but he didn't want to go in because he wanted to help his new friends on both occasions.

In Scraggy and the Demanding Gothita!, his relationship with Axew was shown to have become strong. Numerous training battles had led the two to become best friends. Both being very young, they are quite playful together, akin to human children.

In the games
A Japanese event distributed a game counterpart of Ash's Scraggy via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Interestingly, it always has as its Ability and knows  in addition to,  and , since its anime counterpart currently only knows the latter three moves. This event started on January 28th, 2011 and ended on February 10, 2011.

In the manga
Scraggy appears in the. During his appearance, he volunteers to go up against Carlita's. During the battle, he had trouble handling Hydreigon as the opponent was too strong due to it being fully evolved. However, with a power-up received from, Scraggy managed to defeat Hydreigon.

Trivia

 * Scraggy is the first Pokémon owned by any main character in the anime.
 * Interestingly enough, Scraggy actually has yet to learn a Dark-type move.
 * Scraggy's Egg was the first Egg owned by a main character, that appeared onscreen, not to be taken from its owner by another person or a Pokémon.
 * Scraggy is currently the only Pokémon that Ash uses in Unova that is not a member of a three-stage evolutionary line.
 * Scraggy is also currently Ash's only non- Unova Pokémon that is unevolved.
 * Scraggy was the last of Ash's Unova Pokémon to be used in a Gym battle, and the only one that wasn't used in at least two.
 * Scraggy is the only one of its species to be seen in the anime.
 * Scraggy is Ash's only Unova Pokémon that didn't battle any of Ash's rivals in the Higaki Conference.