It has often been surmised that the reason Torchic are so rare today is because, unlike their relatives such as Natu and Starly, they are unable to fly. In reality, the opposite is true; Torchic's ancestors were easy prey for Hoenn's large flying-types such as Swellow and Pelipper, and large, vivid targets for the arrows of early Man, who drove them to the edge of extinction.
Yet mutation came to the rescue when a female Torchic was born who lacked large, ear-like wings and was therefore unable to fly. This Torchic hid in tall grass and fed on seeds, and learned that the pokemon which could find her there, such as Zigzagoon, did not regard her as prey. Forced to use her legs from a young age, she found that they did not atrophy but strengthen. When she evolved, she had arms instead of wings, and her legs had grown so strong that she became a fighting type and could jump high enough to kick birds out of the sky. Because of this, she was able to live a long life and lay many an egg, all of whom hatched into these flightless birds.
In time, she became the ancestor of modern Torchic, Combusken, and Blaziken, and the Latias-like creatures who once bore those names went the way of Armaldo and Cradily. These modern Torchic are not nearly as numerous as their prehistoric ancestors, and much harder to spot. Yet every now and then they can be found not only in the care of trainers, but also in the wilderness whenever tall grass ignites into a brushfire.