Pokemon: A small introduction to the world of Pokemon.
Pokemon Unless you've been away on a trip outside of the Milky Way, I'm sure you must have at least heard about Pokemon. It is a series of video games, anime, cards, toys and what not. To sum it up, they're everywhere, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
While most people seem to have been introduced to Pokemon with the games, I actually experienced the anime first. It was a big part of my childhood and yes, I did wallpaper my room in posters, collected cards, memorized random details about the original 151 pokemon and had a Pikachu plush to cuddle... I still have it and some of the other merchandise, even if it doesn't reside on my walls.
The story of Pokemon follows the journey of a young trainer who seeks to be the very best like no one ever was, by capturing, training, and battling with the mysterious creatures known as pokemon. There are various types, such as fire, water, electric, grass, psychic and so on, with strategic advantages and disadvantages. There are already over 700 pokemon and as time passes, I'm pretty sure there will be more.
Pokemon The main character of the anime, Ash Ketchum, is usually found traveling with a group of friends that vary throughout the seasons. My favorites are Misty and Brock, probably because those are the ones I grew up with. So yeah, Ash travels around, captures mythical creatures in capsules called pokeballs, coaches them in battles, and protects the world from various criminal organizations, the most prominent of which is Team Rocket.
The Charizard species starts out with Charmander, upon gaining enough experience, evolves into Charmeleon and finally Charizard. Charmander and Charmeleon are fire type pokemon, while Charizard is a fire and flying type. Charizard basically looks like an orange dragon and if pokemon had a third type, he would probably be a dragon type as well. He is one of the starter pokemon from Kanto, which trainers usually get to choose from when they begin their journey at Pallet Town.
It is said that if the flame on their tail goes out, they die... But it's a very strong fire since not even being underwater can put it out. I think the flame will continue to burn as long as the Char lives. Having it exposed to water seems to slowly drain the Char's energy, rather than an instant kill, which would be very inconvenient.Those are pretty much the basics, though I'm sure you already knew, and if not, come out from under that rock and go look at the next page.
Loyalty: Charmander's past trainer and his first meeting with Ash.
Pokemon "Charmander the Stray Pokemon" was the episode where Ash first obtained the pokemon that would later evolve into his Charizard. Ash, Misty and Brock ran into him while they were lost in the forest on their way to Viridian City. Ash tried to catch him, but despite being weak, Charmander refused to be caught. After a quick conversation with Pikachu, the electric cutie communicated Charmander's story through signs. Ash and company understood that Charmander was waiting for someone and left him there.
Later, at the Pokemon Center, Ash and company witness Damian bragging about abandoning Charmander. There was a storm and Brock feared that Charmander would die if his tail flame went out, so Ash and his friends went to find him. Albeit Damian claimed that Charmander was weak, I think he was wrong. Even in his condition, he fought against Ash's pokeball, surprising the group at being able to resist the capture even if his tail flame was very dim. Misty's reminder about water types being strong against fire and Damian's dismissive and cocky attitude throughout the episode make me think he's just a terrible strategist and also someone who mistreats his pokemon, so it's really no wonder they would be weakened by such conditions.
Pokemon Charmander was taken back to the Pokemon Center where nurse Joy took note of his critical condition, though by morning he had recovered. As soon as Charmander was well, he left the Pokemon Center to return to the spot where Damian abandoned him in hopes that he would return. Ash, Misty and Brock went on their way, worried for Charmander, but knowing they couldn't force him to go with them. This was a contrast to Damian, who doesn't seem to care about his pokemon's wishes. The trio was caught in a pitfall trap by Jessie, James and Meowth from Team Rocket and they capture Pikachu. However, Charmander happened upon the scene and returned the favor by chasing off Team Rocket and saving Pikachu.
Damian conveniently watched the scene unfold, hidden behind the roadside trees and bushes, then decided he wanted to keep Charmander after all. Ash and his friends tried to make Charmander see the truth about Damian, but the fire pokemon's unwavering loyalty was too strong. It was clear in his expression that Charmander would rather go with Ash's group, but he looked at Damian sad and unsure, as if he was feeling guilty that he would think to abandon his trainer, even if that trainer abandoned him before.
I think that at that point, Charmander was still tricking himself into thinking that Damian had kept his promise to return for him and was simply delayed. His hope crumbled when Damian openly admitted he was going to abandon Charmander and didn't really enjoy raising pokemon, to him it was all about the power and victories. With his doubts gone, Charmander's flaming breath made it clear he wanted nothing to do with Damian anymore. After Damian ran away, Charmander was willingly caught by Ash.
Attitude: Charmander's evolution into Charmeleon and what might have happened if Ash wasn't his trainer.
Pokemon In "Charmander the Stray Pokemon" we see an interesting set of what ifs. If Charmander had gone with Damian, his life would probably have been sad. Misty offers to battle Charmander when they first encounter him in the forest, as her water types should have the advantage. I think Misty meant to catch Charmander for Ash, rather than herself. If Ash had captured him then, I can picture Charmander running away due to his unresolved feelings of loyalty towards Damian.
At the end of the episode, Ash claims that Brock should keep Charmander, after all he did show the most concern for him at the Pokemon Center when they overheard Damian. Brock disagrees because Ash was the one that watched over his flame as they rushed him to the Pokemon Center after saving him from the storm. What if Charmander had been Brock's pokemon? Brock is gentle and patient with his pokemon, so Charmander would have been happy, though not as active in battle, thus evolving into Charmeleon would come later if at all.
Charmander stayed in that form for quite a few episodes, until he evolved in "March of the Exeggutor Squad," where the clumsy magician Melvin accidentally causes a group of Exeggutor to stampede through a town under hypnosis. After having experienced several battles in the St. Anne cruise, the tower at Lavender Town and gyms such as Erika's, as well as facing off against Team Rocket, the effort he put into stopping the group of Exeggutor was enough to make him evolve into Charmeleon.
Pokemon After the evolution, Charmeleon became cocky and rough, quick to anger and pick a fight. For reasons I will explain in the next page, I think Charmeleon would have had that attitude upon evolving even if Brock had been his trainer. Though Brock is a good trainer, I think Ash was more capable of handling Charmeleon's new attitude. Brock is more patient and less rash than Ash, which may seem beneficial to calm Charmeleon, but I think it is that inner fire Ash has that in the end made them truly understand each other.
Like I said, Brock is definitely a great trainer, but if Charmeleon evolved under his care, he would have a hard time taming him with gentle treatment alone. Charmeleon tends to respect living creatures more easily after they've proven their strength. Brock is a strong trainer, but he would have less occasion to show it than Ash, who battles more often, especially since his gym focuses on rock types and a fire type would be out of place. Plus I can't imagine Charmeleon, very much less Charizard, letting go of his prideful superiority without having some sense knocked into him as it happened later on, which I will elaborate on next, and in Brock's care, I don't imagine there being an occasion for it to occur. Brock probably wouldn't send out Charmeleon to battle until he was properly trained and without a tough battle to knock some sense into him, he'd be in training for a very long time, maybe even getting fed up and running off.
Overall, I think Brock did well to let Ash train Charmander. I don't think he ever intended to capture him for himself anyway. Though with all the hints of what could have been in "Charmander the Stray Pokemon," I just had to talk about the possibilities. Then there's the fact that after Damian runs away, Charmander doesn't immediately run into Ash's arms, but just stands there as if at the time he's okay going with any of those kind trainers.
Confidence: Charmeleon's cocky attitude and his evolution into Charizard.
Pokemon Charmander's original trainer, Damian, made it clear that winning was everything. Though Ash wasn't hard on his pokemon when they lost, he did, as most trainers would, celebrate their victories. With Ash, Charmander had a good trainer relationship and was able to grow and evolve. With his evolution into Charmeleon, there came the unmistakable confirmation of his power and if there was any self doubt left in his mind, with that it was gone.
Though Ash had confidence, it wasn't out of control like it happened to Charmeleon. I think that maybe some of Damian's attitude did rub off on him and the lessons learned at such an early stage surfaced with the evolution: the strong should use their power. While he was Charmander he might have seen himself as needing Ash and relying on his training and encouragement, but upon evolving, Charmeleon might have thought there was little Ash could teach him.
Charmander had gone through such hardship because of his supposed lack of power that as Charmeleon he basked in the confidence and strength that evolution had proven he had. He let it go to his head and seeing Ash as someone he no longer needed to rely on, perhaps as someone who was too much weaker than himself to listen to, a hindrance, he became defiant.
The unruly demeanor persisted through his time as a Charmeleon. I should acknowledge that there's sufficient evidence to point out that pokemon can leave their pokeballs without being called out. I'm pretty sure there are mechanisms that could prevent that, but as seen by the fact that Ash's and Misty's pokemon have left their pokeballs without being called before, it's safe to say that Charmeleon was not locked up by Ash and had plenty of chances to run away if he so truly wished it, but he didn't.
Pokemon He evolved into Charizard when an Aerodactyl mocked him and captured Ash in the episode Attack of the Prehistoric Pokemon. At first everything seemed to indicate that he only evolved to fight Aerodactyl, who initially cast him aside with ease. This was reinforced by the fact that his fire attacks on Aerodactyl were reckless despite Ash being held hostage. Ash himself reached that conclusion after being burned.
While Charizard chased Aerodactyl in the air, Jigglypuff sang a lullaby that ultimately put them both to sleep, ending their battle. Ash fell asleep in Aerodactyl's claws before the prehistoric pokemon dropped him and fell into an underground cavern. At that moment, if Charizard truly only cared about the battle, he would have focused on finishing it before he fell asleep. Instead, he stopped using his fire and concentrated on catching up to Aerodactyl. When Ash was dropped, Charizard caught him and safely landed. Once on the ground, Ash rolled off Charizard's back in his sleep.
It makes sense that the people on the ground, closer to Jigglypuff, would fall asleep first, so Misty and Brock wouldn't have witnessed Charizard saving Ash. Upon finding himself on the ground, Ash might have assumed that Aerodactyl dropped him and he was lucky that the fall wasn't high enough to injure him. I think all of this proves that Charizard did care for Ash, though he was too prideful to admit it. It was a sort of "only I am allowed to pick on him" relationship, with burning instead of teasing.
Bond: Charizard's lesson in humility and a change of heart.
Pokemon Ash continued his journey and eventually competed in the Indigo League, a big pokemon battle tournament known throughout the region of Kanto and beyond. During all that time, Charizard still refused to listen to him and acted with superior pride. Eventually, at the league, Ash found himself in a difficult battle against a trainer quite similar to him, Ritchie. He sent out Charizard who easily defeated Ritchie's Charmander. However, Charizard only battled because it was against one of his own kind. When Ritchie sent out a Pikachu, Charizard refused to fight, even if Ash literally begged him to. That cost Ash the battle and the Indigo League. Ash was very disappointed, but he remained friends with Ritchie and didn't hold a grudge against Charizard.
The first season of Pokemon ended, and it was followed by the adventures of Ash, Misty and Tracy traveling through the Orange Islands. Charizard and Ash's dynamic remained the same until the episode "Charizard Chills," where Ash battles Tad, another trainer he encountered while traveling the Orange Islands. Charizard battles against a Poliwrath who had defeated Pikachu, despite the type disadvantage. With the type advantage and a steady strategy, Poliwrath defeated Charizard and left him dangerously cold with a dim tail flame.
Pokemon That night, Ash stayed up taking care of Charizard, surrounding him with camp fires and massaging his scaly back to warm him up until his hands bled. Charizard resisted the attention at first, but Ash persisted, despite Charizard having disobeyed him so much in the past even when Ash begged him to cooperate. Charizard recalled his time with Ash since he was a Charmander and finally warmed up to him again. Okay, cheap pun.
The next day, Charizard was feeling much better. Jessie, James and Meowth made their usual appearance to try to steal Pikachu, but Charizard rescued him. Team Rocket wouldn't give up without a fight and seeing Ash in danger, Charizard's tail flame flared and he sent their rivals blasting off with a powerful fire attack. The next order of business was a rematch with Poliwrath. This time instead of stubbornly using the same flamethrower attack that had proved ineffective before, Charizard followed Ash's strategy and defeated Poliwrath in an epic battle. You know a battle is especially epic when the theme song starts playing in the background!
Development: What could have been the finale of Charizard's character development, but wasn't.
Pokemon The next key episode in Charizard's character development was "Double Trouble." The next step was to learn to work as a team with Ash's other pokemon. This was accomplished when Ash faced Luana's Alakazam and Marowak in a double battle for his final Orange League badge. Unlike the Indigo League, the Orange League only gave out four badges, but the gym battles tended to have some twist to them, including races and various challenges. Ash chose his most powerful pokemon at the time, Pikachu and Charizard.
I can see why Ash would think Pikachu and Charizard would be an unbeatable team in terms of power and strategy. Both pokemon were very strong, Charizard was large, able to fly and had great endurance, while Pikachu was small, agile and hard to hit. Charizard might have learned to listen to Ash by that point, but he wasn't willing to share the glory, and refused to work together with Pikachu, instead picking a fight with him. It was clear that Charizard wasn't fighting at his best when the battle began, he was hasty and prideful.
Charizard got caught in Alakazam's psychic hold, leaving it up to Pikachu to back him up. The electric mouse, who had gotten his tail burned by his fire type teammate minutes prior wasn't exactly enthusiastic at first, but made somewhat of an effort anyway. However, when Pikachu realized that Charizard was being really hurt by Alakazam and Marowak ganging up on him and that Ash would lose the battle, since there was no way Pikachu could beat them both alone, he set their differences aside and helped Charizard. As the battle progressed, Charizard returned the favor and they worked together towards victory.
Pokemon Thus Charizard got over the remaining portion of his cockiness and learned to respect Ash's other pokemon. Charizard became the power house of Ash's team and remained that way for several episodes. He made a strong contribution to Ash's victory in the Orange League, though it was Pikachu who delivered the finishing move, the whole team's effort was vital. Charizard later helped Ash win a badge against Falkner in Johto, further proving his power and skill.
Thus far we've seen Charizard overcome his insecurities as a Charmander, learn not to overestimate himself, and grow to be a truly strong pokemon. This is what draws me to the character of Charizard, the fact that he is a character, rather than just another pokemon. Other than Pikachu, he gets the most development in my opinion, maybe even more so than Pikachu. While the yellow mascot has been in the series for as many episodes as the main human protagonist, he hasn't changed that much. His dynamic with Ash was similar to that of Charmeleon, but it didn't take long for Ash to earn his respect and they've been good friends since. Charizard had a more drawn out character development and even after he started listening to Ash, his persona still continued to develop. I think this was pretty realistic, since people don't change overnight.
I like that Charizard, even when he's being cooperative, still keeps a prideful air around him, the excess of it diminishes with time, but his pride does not, that's just who he is. Charizard's story has several classic and perhaps cliche twists, but I still find it enjoyable. He starts out weak and in need of protection, he becomes an equal to his protector and later feels that he has moved beyond him. His power goes to his head until he learns that even the strong need others to back them up, reconciles with the friend who had time and again proven his loyalty, and truly returns that loyalty as both his power and personality continue to develop.
Parting: Charizard leaves Ash's team... for the time being.
Pokemon As it happens when Ash reaches a new region, he must make room for new pokemon on his team. Though I was sad to see Charizard go, I'm glad he wasn't simply sent back to Professor Oak or some other pokemon lab in an anti-climatic parting. By the time this happened, Ash and Misty were traveling through Johto, Tracy remained in Pallet Town and Brock returned to the group. In the episode "Charizard's Burning Ambition," it was proven that Charizard was not really in a class of his own as it might have appeared recently. The group ventures into the Charicific Valley, a place filled with very strong wild Charizard. They meet a trainer named Liza, who introduces them to the area along with her own Charizard, Charla.
I'm not sure if I should call this a plot hole, if Charizard got lazy because of the lack of worthy opponents lately, if Ash got fat, or maybe a combination of all the above. The thing is, despite Charizard having carried Ash before, he shows difficulty in doing so in this episode. I suppose it was a matter of endurance perhaps, as Charizard was not shown to carry Ash for long distances in the past... But really, they made it look like a balance problem, which didn't make a lot of sense. For the sake of plot development, let's say it was endurance.
Moving on to the more important parts of this episode, Ash's Charizard fails to be a match for any of the wild Charizard in the valley and his row of losses culminates with Charla beating him easily and literally tossing him out of the training grounds. Charizard is both devastated and frustrated, despite Ash insisting that he's good enough for him. There's a certain sadness in Ash too that's different from a trainer whose pokemon lost a match, I feel that Ash began to question if he could make Charizard stronger or if what his journey had to offer simply wasn't enough.
Pokemon Jessie, James and Meowth attack with their usual antics that night and, having witnessed Charizard's determination, Liza extends an invitation to train the next morning. Ash suggests that Charizard should remain in the valley, I believe he had been thinking about it the whole night and though he didn't really want to leave Charizard, he also wanted to do what was best for him.
Ash had left other of his pokemon in training before or set them free, but their partings were usually happy, bittersweet at times, but rarely involving tears. Ash claims he doesn't need a weak Charizard, though it's obviously just something he's saying so that Charizard won't feel bad about leaving his team. Ash runs away, unable to even look at Charizard as he says goodbye, hoping in tears that Charizard doesn't forget him. Though Ash is kind to all his pokemon, the only other pokemon that's this close to him in my opinion is Pikachu.
I found Charizard's development to be similar to that of a classic hero. As I mentioned, I don't believe he started out as truly weak, he was strong, but not amazingly strong. Then he became truly powerful and had to learn to use that power and better his responsibility towards it. It was as if he became like the one who used to put him down, but with the power to back it up, until he was beaten by someone he used to see as inferior, much like it happened to Damian. He achieved power, was corrupted by it, learned his lesson and went back on his way to become truly strong in more ways than one. After all that, Charizard discovered that there were others far stronger than him and became determined to reach their level.
Visits: The pokemon and the trainer are destined to meet again.
Pokemon Charizard temporarily rejoined Ash on several occasions, including in the movie "Spell of the Unown" where he rushed out of the Charicific Valley after seeing the news on Liza's TV and saved Ash and Pikachu from falling off a cliff right in time. A bit of a big coincidence, I know, but most epic adventures have a few convenient close calls like that. He went on to challenge Entei, who was threatening Ash and his friends. He battled bravely against the legendary, with Ash riding on his back the whole time, and he had no problems carrying him while making some fancy aerial moves. I think this is one of the most epic battles in any of the movies I've seen. Though Entei wins in the end, it was no easy task for him. I have to give Charizard credit for standing up to a legendary so strongly, plus he recovered pretty quickly afterwards.
I confess I lost interest in the Pokemon anime soon after Charizard left the team, though not only because Charizard left. The series was long, it was getting a bit repetitive and the Kanto pokemon for whom I had a soft spot were appearing less and less. Plus I got impatient waiting for new episodes to air once a week, tired of the reruns during the weekdays. However, I eventually returned to the fandom and became active in writing fanfiction and drawing fanart. The story comes full circle to the design of this site. I thought it was fitting that, since my thoughts are written as Charizard's story progressed, I would put a little of my own personal Pokemon story into this site.
Pokemon I rewatched the episodes I talked about before to refresh my memories, as it had been years since I first watched them, and from this point on, the episodes were mostly new to me. I did watch a few movies and caught a few glimpses of scenes, in which I noticed that Charizard did occasionally return, though sadly Misty didn't come back for more than a cameo or a mention, she's the other element from the original series that I miss the most. I looked into Charizard's little visits out of curiosity, not expecting much more than a quick cameo, and was surprised to find that he was in quite a few epic battles. Thus my interest in Charizard was reborn, which eventually sparked the motivation for this site.
Though Charizard did make a few small appearances in other episodes, his next big role was in "Better Eight Than Never," where Charizard rejoins Ash and helps him win against Claire's Dragonair by combining seismic toss with fire spin while resisting his opponent's dragon rage. With his final badge won, Ash moved on to the Silver Conference. Charizard went back to his training at the Charicific Valley, but later returned in "Can't Beat the Heat," where Ash battled against Gary in the Silver Conference pokemon tournament in the Johto region. The battle was six on six and Ash was down to his final pokemon, while Gary had three. Charizard battled against Gary's Scizor, Golem and finally Blastoise.
Despite the previous battles and the type disadvantage, Charizard endured and won, giving Ash a victory versus Gary, his childhood rival. Unfortunately, Charizard later lost against the Blaziken of a trainer called Harrison, though he did put up quite the fight. To be fair, he must have still been tired from the previous round against Gary's pokemon. Furthermore, Blaziken didn't recover enough for Harrison's next battle. Since it was such a close match, even like that, I think that if it was a one on one with both Charizard and Blaziken equally well rested, Charizard would have won.
Legend: An epic journey that never ends.
Pokemon Charizard continued making small appearances from time to time and rejoined Ash again for the Battle Frontier. At the time, Ash was traveling with Brock, May and Max... no Misty. 
Charizard battled Noland's Articuno in "The Symbol of Life" and after quite a struggle, won the match. So there you have it, Charizard was finally able to defeat a legendary pokemon in battle. You can add surpassing a legendary foe to the list of this epic warrior's deeds.
Charizard joins Ash's team again in "Gathering the Gang of Four" along with Bulbasaur and Squirtle. Since the Kanto pokemon are my favorites, it was nice to see them reunite. Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charizard go camping alone with Ash, as he tries to re-experience the early days of his journey. They get into a fight setting up camp, but later worked together and shared their memories over a camp fire. As a side note, I was amused by Ash's comment that a lot has happened over the years, since he's inexplicably eternally ten years old. I'll go with the Ho-Oh wish theory on that one, that he was granted a wish for eternal happiness in the first episode, but that's a topic for another time.
Afterwards, Charizard battled Brandon's Dusclops, getting caught by a confusion attack that put him at a disadvantage for most of the battle. Charizard managed to snap out of it, but a strategic mistake on Ash's part, using a fighting move against a ghost type, caused another setback and Charizard wasn't able to recover. That twist made me go "what?!" at first. I mean, Charizard beat Articuno, a legendary, but looking back on it, this is part of what keeps his story interesting, it wouldn't be fun if Charizard reached an untouchable level and was left at that. Plus the fact that it was a strategic mistake kind of takes the loss off Charizard in a way. The struggles are part of the adventure and there's always room to improve.
Pokemon It should be noted that while when Charizard defended Ash from Entei, Ash was surprised to see him, his surprise was less during their encounters after that. In some occasions Ash even called Charizard to rejoin his team. This sets him apart from the other pokemon Ash caught, which reside mostly with Professor Oak, or were left in training, or in the wild, with a promise for a reunion that was never kept, or at least not kept at the time of this writing, Pidgeot and Primeape, I'm looking at you.
This is not to say that Ash is the type to forget about his pokemon entirely, he's just a distracted kid caught up in his adventures. I don't know about you, but I admit that there are times when I suddenly remember that I said I would not lose contact with that one friend, but haven't emailed or texted in weeks. Yet there are friends I'm in constant communication with, regardless of physical distance. Life gets in the way and the sudden motivation to catch up with certain people pops up more often than with others, especially if you have more in common or there is some activity that would be mutually enjoyed, such as with Ash, Charizard and pokemon battles.
Ash's other pokemon might enjoy battling too, and as Gary once said, it's good to rotate them now and then, but let's face it, that's not how most of us play the games. I can't blame Ash for remembering the ever talented Charizard when he is needed, mostly because Charizard enjoys the battles too, so he's not entirely being used and they're both happy to be reunited. Plus Ash respects Charizard's wish to hang out and train in the Charicific Valley with his girl most of the time.
Wishes: This next season feels different...
Pokemon For the Pokemon games, many would agree that the Kalos region felt like a reboot of the series. The pokemon sprites were replaced with 3D models, a lot of details were improved upon, and it felt very distinct from the other generations. There were fewer new pokemon, but I for one I'm glad they focused more on improving the games rather than simply adding a hundred or more new pokemon. But this site focuses on the anime, rather than the games, and to me Best Wishes, the Unova based series, felt like a reboot. Jenny and Joy got updated designs, Ash got more detailed eyes, we got to see Jessie and James wearing the black Rocket uniforms, at least for a while, and let's not forget, the Team Rocket boss, Giovanni, got a little more participation and even a bellhop uniform! Er... general, I mean general!
With that said, as I did my research, I didn't expect to have many more episodes to watch with Charizard in them, but fortunately, my favorite fire pokemon was not entirely left forgotten. He reunited with Ash in "The Fires of a Red Hot Reunion." By then, Ash had long since parted ways with Brock and Dawn, and was traveling with his new friends Iris and Cylan, though N was also present at the time.
Pokemon After a friendly battle with Iris' Dragonite, Charizard stayed to travel with Ash for a while. He helped out along the journey through Unova, albeit if you ask me, none of the battles were quite as epic as the ones he had before and there was not much in the way of character development. Charizard was last seen in the Best Wishes final episode at Professor Oak's research lab, though I imagine that he later flew off back to the Charicific Valley after hanging out for a while.
I like it when tales of adventure end in a high note, but the good news is that the Pokemon series is not over. I used to think it was inconvenient that there were so many episodes, especially episodes with little to no development spacing out the good ones, but now I'm waiting to see how far the series goes. I do want it to continue, though I still wish that they would focus on episodes with substance. I also wish Misty would return, but I'm not keeping my hopes up, at least she got a split second of screen time as Ash remembered his friends at the end of Best Wishes.
Relationships: Those who are closest to Charizard.
Pokemon Ablaze Damian: They weren't exactly close really, but Damian was Charizard's original trainer when he was a Charmander and as I mentioned before, he might have had more of an influence than it looks. Charmander was mistreated by Damian at first, later he was taken good care of by Ash, but got cocky after becoming stronger and evolving into Charmeleon. The attraction to power and the need to show it off might have been influenced by the early memories of his time with Damian and been an underlying need to mend his pride at last.
Pokemon Ablaze Ash: Like I've been saying this whole time, Ash and Charizard share a strong bond. Ash saved Charmander and took care of him, Charmeleon rejected him and continued to do so for a while as Charizard. Yet even after all the fireballs to the face and a loss in the Indigo League, Ash stayed by his side in his hour of need and earned Charizard's respect. They've been great pals since, with only Pikachu being closer to Ash than Charizard out of all his pokemon, in my opinion. Ash still gets a fireball to the face whenever they reunite, but it's a friendly one...
Pokemon Ablaze Liza: The keeper of the Charicific Valley and the trainer of Charla, who becomes Charizard's trainer for a while, sort of. Albeit Charizard trains with her and Charla at the valley and takes trips outside of it where Liza acts as his human escort in places were wild pokemon wouldn't normally venture, he's more so closer to a wild pokemon during his time at the valley, coming and going when he wants to see his friends, or when Ash calls him up. Honestly, I don't like her much, she seems Mary Sue-ish, though she has little development so I can't say she is Mary Sue-ish.
Pokemon Ablaze Charla: Bring on the valleyshipping! Charla was raised by Liza since she was a Charmander. She wears a pretty pink bow and is used to pulling a balloon where Liza carries her stuff. It is said that Charizard has become her protector, though I'm not sure what he would protect her from. Charla was already living at the Charicific Valley when they met and seemed to be doing just fine. Plus she beat him pretty easily at first, though I supposed he must have surpassed her power at some unseen point later on. Despite not liking Liza, I do like Charla, she's cool... er, hot.
Mythology: I did say he's like an epic hero...
Charizard's hero monomyth! Since I've already discussed the most important points of his story, I'm going to keep it simple on this page.
Pokemon Ablaze Departure
Ablaze Call to Adventure: Ash encounters Charmander and tries to catch him.
Ablaze Refusal of the Call: Charmander refuses to go with Ash, instead choosing to wait for Damian.
Ablaze Supernatural Aid: Charmander is weak, trapped in a storm and is rescued by Brock, Ash and Misty.
Ablaze Crossing the First Threshold: Damian admits to not caring about Charmander and Charmander decides to join Ash's team.
Ablaze Belly of the Whale: Charmander is now a part of Ash's team and battles at his side.
Pokemon Ablaze Initiation
Ablaze Road of Trials: The battles at the St. Anne, Lavender Town, etc. while he was still a Charmander.
Ablaze Meeting with the Goddess: Metaphorically speaking, the goddess is represented by evolution. This is when Charmander becomes Charmeleon.
Ablaze Woman as Temptress: No, this isn't about Charla, it's another metaphor. The temptation is power and Charmeleon becomes cocky, this continued after he becomes Charizard.
Ablaze Atonement with the Father: The "Charizard Chills" episode, Charizard's battle with Poliwrath and his reconcilement with Ash.
Ablaze Apotheosis: That weird word refers to a sort of ascent to a greater plane, which coincides with Charizard's training at the Charicific Valley.
Ablaze Ultimate Boon: The battle with Articuno!
Pokemon Ablaze Return
Ablaze Refusal to Return: Charizard's brief fight with Pikachu, Bulbasaur and Squirtle during "Gathering the Gang of Four." It shows that, though not as stubborn as before and quickly put under control, Charizard still needs to be reminded about team work. Plus he kind of wants extra attention from Ash. I define this as the refusal to return in the sense that Charizard doesn't seem to want to get off his pedestal. He's not going back to his old ways, he's just having so much fun he gets a bit carried away. It is in a sense, a similar emotion to not wanting an adventure to end.
Ablaze The Magic Flight: Charizard's battle with Dusclops; welcome back to reality dear epic hero, there is still more that needs to be done after the great adventure. Charizard didn't literally escape from anywhere, but this battle was a sort of reality check that got him past the high of the ultimate boon and back into his normal determined to get stronger state.
Ablaze Rescue from Without: Again, this applies metaphorically, Charizard wasn't literally in need of being rescued, but a very important part of this step is the hero reintegrating into a normal life after the adventure. After his battle with Dusclops, Charizard returned to the Charicific Valley.
Ablaze Crossing of the Return Threshold: Basically, the hero takes the adventure's lessons and uses them in life. This happened when Charizard rejoined Ash in Unova and traveled with him.
Ablaze Master of Two Worlds: Charizard became more well integrated into Ash's team and was shown to get along with the other pokemon. He has reached a balance of adventurous ambition, wisdom and friendship. This step culminates at the end of the Best Wishes series.
Ablaze Freedom to Live: The as of yet unseen future of Charizard during the time frame of the new XY series, which has not yet aired at the time of this writing.