May.

May (Haruka in Japan) debuts in AG001 as a ten-year-old who is more interested in traveling than in battling. Her father is Norman, the Petalburg Gym Leader; her younger brother Max (technically too young to legally own Pokémon) tags along as the encyclopedic foil. Professor Birch gives her Torchic as a starter; she initially treats it as a travel companion before discovering Pokémon Contests through May Maple's Sceptile training and Drew's Roselia.

Her Coordinator arc is the spine of Advanced Generation. She enters Hoenn Contests, gradually climbs the rankings, places strongly at the Hoenn Grand Festival. Departs the main cast in AG192 to enter Johto Contests; reappears in Diamond & Pearl for the Wallace Cup (DP051-DP053) where she meets Dawn directly. Her rival is Drew (a snide green-haired Coordinator who throws roses at her); secondary rivals include Harley (a flamboyantly antagonist Coordinator), Solidad (a competent older Coordinator), and Dawn (during the Wallace Cup).

By the time she leaves the regular cast May's Blaziken is the strongest fully evolved starter the female-protagonist position has ever wielded. She popularized the Pokémon Contest format more than any other single character; Coordinators in subsequent media still cite her as the template.