Ash's Charizard

Evolved: | **32** episodes as Charmander
 **Evolves In:** | IL043: The March of the Exeggutor Squad

**Ash's Charizard** is one of Ash's most powerful Pokémon.

## Biography

Charizard was first introduced as a young Charmander in the episode, Charmander the Stray Pokemon where it belonged to a Trainer named Damien who had promptly abandoned it, calling it a pathetic and weak Pokemon. Despite this, Charmander's loyalty to Damien still existed to such a degree that it resisted being captured.

After bonding with both of the trainers, it ultimately chose Ash as its new trainer. As it prepared to leave with Ash, its original trainer had wished to reclaim and recapture it, only to have Charmander use Flamethrower on its former trainer. As a result, Charmander became the newest addition to Ash's team.

When Charmander evolved into a Charmeleon after stopping a group of rampaging Exeggutor, it refused to obey Ash's order. Cassandra's grandmother later explained that due to Charmeleon's own skill level surprassing Ash's own, it did not respect him anymore. During a practice battle, it was so out of control that Pikachu had to step and use a Thunderbolt to knock Charmeleon out, enabling Ash to recall it.

Similar, when it evolved into a Charizard, it disobeyed Ash too. However, Ash later learnt that the only reason Charizard had evolved was not to save him but to avenge its own injured pride after a Aerodactyl had insulted it. Upon being released from its Ball, it simply shot out flames onto Ash's face and usually ignored his orders, a tact that later cost Ash his match with Ritchie during the Kanto Pokemon League.

However when Ash saved it after being frozen by a Poliwrath's Ice Beam, Charizard started to obey Ash once again, and its loyalty and devotion to Ash who had helped since it was a Charmander returned in force. Sometimes it will burn Ash's face out of affection.

Charizard helped Ash in his battles with Luana and Drake, fighting alongside Pikachu against Luana's Marowak and Alakazam and defeating Drake's Electabuzz with Seismic Toss. Charizard then battled Drake's Dragonite but due to the damage he had taken in his battle with Electabuzz he was no match for the more experienced Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon. In the end their Dragon Rage's collided and although Dragonite was injured by the explosion, Charizard fainted and Dragonite still had enough energy to defeat Ash's Squirtle and Tauros before finally being defeated by Pikachu.

When Charizard entered the Charicific Valley, it immediately challenged one of the many Charizards that were there, only to be humiliated at its loss. Ash gave Charizard the option to stay and train if it wished to, which Charizard agreed and was given an assurance from Ash that it won't be abandoned. Ash didn't want to leave Charizard but he knew it was for the best for Charizard.

However it later returned to Ash and helped him and Clair calm a rampaging Dragonite. After that it defeated Clair's Dragonair using a unique combination of Fire Spin and Seismic Toss, both of which were used inside Dragonair's Twister to give them more power. Charizard's victory over Dragonair earned Ash the Rising Badge. It returned to Charific Valley for a little while before it returned to Ash again for the Johto League.

In "Spell of the Unown", after watching footage of Ash running after Entei who'd kidnapped his mother, Charizard left the Valley to head straight for Greenfield. He arrived in the nick of time, rescuing Ash and Pikachu who were just about to fall to their deaths after stumbling off a cliff. Charizard fought Entei and managed to hit it with a Fire Spin that was strong enough to cause the Legendary Pokemon to roar with pain, despite the fact that Fire Spin would not normally do much damage to a fellow Fire type. Although Charizard had grown stronger in the Charicific Valley, displaying the agility and power to dodge and counter many of Entei's attacks, the Legendary Pokemon was too fast and too powerful and Charizard was defeated. Fortunately young Molly Hale ordered Entei to stop just before Entei was about to kill Charizard with Fire Blast.

Charizard later returned in the Silver Conference, where he quickly defeated Gary's Scizor and Golem. Gary's Blastoise put up a better fight but in the end Charizard used Flamethrower to burn the battlefield and when Blastiose used Hydro Pump to cool down the burning field, Charizard used the smoke to get in close, ensuring that Blastoise couldn't aim its cannons. Blastoise ducked under Charizard's Dragon Rage and used Bite on its shoulder but Charizard ignored the pain and smashed Blastoise into the ground with Seismic Toss. Blastoise managed to stand but after glaring at Charizard for a few moments it collapsed and fainted. This caused Ash to move to the top 8 and resulting in Gary's elimination from the Johto League.

Charizard was then used against Harrison's Blaziken in the quarterfinals. Charizard had never battled a Blaziken before and Ash had only encountered the Pokemon once when Harrison used it to catch his Sneasel. Therefore both Charizard and his trainer were caught off guard by Blaziken's speed and power. Even Charizard's Seismic Toss wasn't enough to defeat Blaziken and when Charizard attempted to use another one it was caught off guard by Blaziken's Blaze Kick. Blaziken tried to finish Charizard with Flamethrower and Charizard countered with Dragon Rage resulting in an explosion which caused both Pokemon to collapse. Charizard and Blaziken managed to stand up but when Ash ordered Charizard to use another Flamethrower, the pain from Charizard's injuries overwhelmed him and he fainted. However Charizard injured Blaziken badly enough to prevent Harrison from using it in the next round which caused Harrison to lose his next battle.

It appeared in the episode *The Symbol Life*, where Ash used Charizard to battle with Noland's Articuno. Despite his type advantage, Articuno had the upper hand throughout most of the battle, recovering from Flamethrower and DragonBreath remarkably quickly and dodging all of Charizard's other attacks. It also revealled that it could use Water Pulse to counter its weakness to Fire types and froze one of Charizard's wings with Ice Beam. Charizard used Overheat to melt the ice on his wing allowing him to regain full mobility but Articuno still managed to land a Steel Wing which very nearly defeated the exhausted Charizard. However when Articuno attempted to finish Charizard with another Steel Wing Charizard grabbed both wings and hurled Articuno to the ground with Seismic Toss, almost knocking itself out in the process. Articuno managed to get up and the referee was about to announce that it had won but Noland told him to wait until he was sure the battle was over. Articuno fainted as Charizard got to his feet. Charizard was the first non-Legendary Pokemon in the anime to have defeated a Legendary Pokemon and won Ash the Knowledge Symbol before it returned to the Charicific Valley.

Charizard was also used during Ash's final battle with Pyramid King Brandon, where he battled Brandon's Dusclops. Although Dusclops had not reached its final stage of evolution it proved to be Charizard's equal, countering Flamethrower with Will-O-Wisp and using Mean Look after being hit by DragonBreath. When Charizard used his newly learned Steel Wing, Dusclops grabbed onto one of his wings and used Confuse Ray. Ash was unable to recall Charizard because of Mean Look allowing Dusclops to hit Charizard with Shadow Punch and Will-O-Wisp. Charizard snapped out of his confusion with some encouragment from Ash and hit Dusclops with a powerful DragonBreath. Dusclops struck back with Will-O-Wisp but by that time both Pokemon had become tired. Ash ordered Charizard to inflict what would have been the finishing blow if Dusclops hadn't been a Ghost type but it turned out that ordering Charizard to use Seismic Toss was a huge mistake. Due to Dusclops' immunity to Seismic Toss the Ghost type escaped from Charizard's grasp and smashed him with a final devastating Shadow Punch becoming the only Pokemon that was not in its final stage of evolution to have defeated Charizard since it evolved from Charmeleon. However Ash still managed to win the Brave Symbol with his three remaining Pokemon, Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Pikachu and Charizard then returned to Charicific Valley.

In BW118: The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion!, Ash and his companions found themselves at a festival for the Kanto Region. Upon seeing a Charmander, Ash was reminded of his own Charizard. After reliving his memories, he decided to ask Professor Oak if he could get Charizard from the Charicific Valley so that he could join Ash in his roster again. Once receiving Charizard from Professor Oak, in exchange for his Unfezant, Ash was greeted with one of Charizard's most notable moves, Flamethrower. When Charizard met Iris' Dragonite, a very quick rivalry emerged, which resulted in a Pokémon battle between the two. During this battle, Charizard was found to have learned three new moves since it's last appearance: Wing Attack, Slash, and Dragon Tail. The battle was called a draw by N, on the basis that both Charizard and Dragonite learned eachother's strengths.

Shortly after his return to Ash's roster, in BW119: Team Plasma's Pokémon Manipulation!, Charizard was called out to help stop Iris' Dragonite who was on a rampage due to Team Plasma's machine that brings a Pokémon to its greatest potential. Fortunately, for both Charizard and Dragonite, the machine received damage due to a Pokémon attack which resulted in Dragonite regaining control of itself.

## Gallery

* Ash's Charizard as a Charmander.
* Ash's Charizard as a Charmeleon
* Charizard refusing to battle
* Charizard using DragonBreath

## Trivia

* Charizard is one of the few Pokémon Ash owns that initially disobeyed him (albeit only after evolving into Charizard due to rapid evolution), the others being Pikachu and Primeape.
* Charizard is considered to be one of Ash's most powerful Pokémon.
* Charizard is one the three Pokémon owned by Ash to battle and defeat a Legendary Pokémon, the other two being Pikachu and Sceptile. Charizard defeated Articuno, Sceptile defeated Darkrai and Pikachu battled to a draw with Latios and defeated Regice.
* Charizard learned the most moves out of Ash's Pokémon.
* Charizard is the first official Flying-Type Pokémon on Ash's team who is not a Normal-type; the other one is Gliscor