Ash's Infernape
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 Ash's Infernape | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ash's Infernape (Japanese: サトシのゴウカザル Satoshi's Goukazaru) is a Pokémon owned by Ash. It was initially owned by Paul but joined Ash's team after being released in Glory Blaze!.
History
With Paul
When Paul first saw Chimchar, it was being chased by a group of Zangoose. The situation looked bad for Chimchar but in its stress it pulled off an extremely powerful Flame Wheel. This impressed Paul enough to add Chimchar to his regular team. However, this first impression did not match up to Chimchar's normal abilities and so Paul regularly criticized it for being weak. After this incident, Chimchar had a morbid fear of all Zangoose.
Chimchar's first episode was When Pokémon Worlds Collide where Paul used it to battle Ash's Aipom. It fought well but lost in the end. Chimchar reappeared in Different Strokes for Different Blokes and where it won against Ash's Turtwig and Shapes of Things to Come! where it beat Roark's Onix but lost to Roark's Cranidos.
After losing to Cynthia's Garchomp in Top-Down Training, Paul realized that Chimchar was not fulfilling his expectations. This culminated in the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition where he was forced to battle alongside Ash. That night, Ash discovered Paul's training regime, which involved his Pokémon attacking Chimchar in the hopes of creating the power he had seen before. Ash intervened and took Chimchar to the Pokémon Center where Nurse Joy told Paul it would be unable to battle. However, Paul ignored this warning.
During the next battle against a Zangoose and a Metagross, Chimchar was too scared to make any attack when caught in Zangoose's claws and had to be saved by Turtwig, who was then seriously injured through Chimchar following Paul's orders. Chimchar made up for this by protecting Turtwig from a Fire Blast attack. Furious at it, Paul refused to give any orders and he simply turned away. Shocked by this, Ash gave Chimchar commands to get them out of the situation before finishing the battle with Turtwig. After the battle, Paul released Chimchar in front of Ash, who then invited it to join him.
In the final round of the competition, Paul and Ash selected Elekid and Chimchar for their last battle in Smells Like Team Spirit! against Conway's Heracross and Dawn's Buizel. During the battle, Elekid evolved into Electabuzz and they both combined Thunder and Flamethrower on Buizel and Heracross to knock them out. This victory meant that Ash and Paul won the Hearthome City Tag Battle Tournament.
With Ash
In Tears For Fears!, Ash and his friends had a picnic party. Chimchar watched the Pokémon having fun and it kept having flashbacks of when it was still in Paul's possession reflecting on how its former Trainer treated it as opposed to how Ash does, after which it cried tears of joy as it was finally treated with patience and kindness by Ash and his friends, something Paul failed to do as its trainer. In the same episode, Chimchar overcame its morbid fear of Zangoose stated above.
In A Triple Fighting Chance! Ash used Chimchar in his Gym Battle against the Veilstone City Gym Leader, Maylene. Chimchar battled Meditite, but was recalled after Meditite confused it. It was then sent out against Lucario where it fought bravely and caused some damage before being defeated.
In Chim - Charred!, Ash and co. came across Paul. Ash and Paul had an enormous argument at which point an enraged Ash challenged Paul to a battle. Chimchar volunteered to go up against Paul and faced Paul's Ursaring. Ursaring and Paul used brutal tactics and Chimchar was pushed to the point of using Blaze. Chimchar easily defeated Ursaring, but went on an uncontrollable rampage. Ash ran up to Chimchar and grabbed it, begging it to stop. Chimchar continued to struggle, biting Ash at one point. Eventually it was embraced by Ash and Chimchar calmed down.
Later in Double Team Turnover!, when battling Team Galactic, Chimchar protected Pikachu from a Poison Jab launched by Saturn's Toxicroak. Chimchar was incapacitated for the rest of the fight and was later thanked by Ash (after receiving medical treatment). Cynthia then comforted Chimchar about its past with Paul.
Ash later used Chimchar to battle against Barry in Barry's Busting Out All Over!. Chimchar easily defeated Barry's Staraptor using its superior agility. But, despite a type advantage, Chimchar lost to Barry's Roserade.
In Shield with a Twist!, using Ash's counter-shield strategy, Chimchar defeated Fantina's Mismagius and Drifblim, earning Ash his Relic Badge.
In Dealing With Defensive Types!, it was used in the battle against Byron's Bastiodon, Bronzor and Steelix. It defeated Bronzor and Steelix, but eventually fell to Bastiodon. This mirrors Staravia's previous participation in the third gym, with it defeating the gym leader's first two Pokémon and losing to their third.
In Sliding Into Seventh!, it was used in the Snowpoint Gym battle. Chimchar battled Candice's Snover and Abomasnow and despite a harsh battle with Abomasnow, it defeated both of them, earning Ash his Icicle Badge.
In Evolving Strategies!, Chimchar was used in the full battle Ash had against Paul. It defeated Paul's Ursaring, which had previously taken down three of Ash's Pokémon, and evolved soon after into a Monferno and immediately learned Mach Punch. During the following battle against Paul's Electabuzz, it put up a close fight but was defeated and badly injured, resulting in a loss for Ash.
In Uncrushing Defeat!, Monferno, along with the rest of Ash's Pokémon, was badly injured. It needed a Cheri Berry to help treat it but the Pokémon Center didn't have one. After Brock got one by Lake Acuity, it became better. It eventually attacked Team Rocket in combination with Ash's other Pokémon.
In Bagged Then Tagged!, it was used in a tag battle with Dawn against Lyra and Khoury. Monferno used Flamethrower on Dawn's Cyndaquil's Flame Wheel to defeat Lyra's Chikorita and defeated Khoury's newly evolved Croconaw with a Mach Punch.
In DP163, Monferno battled Barry's Empoleon. After being struck by a Hydro Cannon and sent crashing into the forest nearby, Monferno entered once again into an uncontrollable rampage with Blaze, but managed to control it in the last second in order to save Ash's Pikachu, Dawn's Piplup, Paul's Electabuzz and Barry's Empoleon from Team Rocket's falling mecha, evolving into an Infernape in the process.
In DP165, Ash used Infernape in a battle against Flint's Infernape, however despite its power and speed it was unable to keep up with Flint's Infernape and was quickly knocked out with a Mach Punch.
In DP179, Infernape participated in Ash's rematch against Volkner. It defeated Volkner's Jolteon with a Mach Punch. When it battled Volkner's Luxray, it took severe damage, pushing it to activate Blaze. This time, however, Infernape was able to control its ability and defeat Luxray with a powerful Flame Wheel, giving Ash the victory and the Beacon Badge.
Moves used
| Using Mach Punch | Move | First Used In |
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| Ember | When Pokémon Worlds Collide! | |
| Flame Wheel | When Pokémon Worlds Collide! | |
| Scratch | When Pokémon Worlds Collide! | |
| Dig | Different Strokes for Different Blokes | |
| Fire Spin | Top-Down Training! | |
| Flamethrower | Tag! We're It...! | |
| Mach Punch | Evolving Strategies! | |
| Moves used recently are in bold unless all moves all fit this case. | ||
Moves improvised
- Counter Shield was used in Shield With a Twist! and Evolving Strategies!. Chimchar/Monferno uses Flamethrower after using Flame Wheel, releasing fire whips everywhere.
Trivia
- Ash's Infernape is similar to his Charizard and Torkoal. They are all Fire-types, they are all the fourth Pokémon Ash caught in a region (not counting Pikachu), and they are currently unable to evolve.
- This is Ash's third primate-based Pokémon, the others being Primeape and Aipom. Unlike the other two, however, Infernape has not stolen Ash's hat, and actually evolved under his care and hasn't been put in training.
- Infernape is also the only one of the three who is currently on a main character's team.
- Because of his capture of Chimchar, Ash now has owned each Fire-type starter whose English name begins with a C and whose Japanese name begins with a ヒ hi: Charmander, Cyndaquil, and Chimchar. Incidentally, Charmander and Chimchar were either abused or abandoned by their former Trainers, while Cyndaquil narrowly avoided being captured by a potentially abusive Trainer.
- It is also Ash's only Fire-type starter whose English name does not begin with a C.
- Fans initially assumed Chimchar to be Paul's starter Pokémon until it was revealed in Top-Down Training! that Paul's starter Pokémon was actually a Turtwig, possibly in parallel to Ash's.
- For DP067, Professor Oak's lecture is about Ash's Chimchar.
- As a Chimchar and Monferno, it is Ash's fourth Pokémon voiced by Megumi Hayashibara in Japanese. The other three are Pidgeot, Bulbasaur and Phanpy.
- It is also Ash's third Pokémon voiced by Bill Rogers in the English dub. The other two are Corphish and Sceptile.
- Infernape, as Chimchar and Monferno, and Gible are the only Pokémon on Ash's Sinnoh team to not have met any of their evolved forms.
- Infernape took the most amount of episodes so far to reach a certain stage in the Diamond & Pearl series.
- When Infernape evolved from a Chimchar to a Monferno, it became the first time Ash had two evolved forms of starter Pokémon from the same region on hand.
- Infernape is Ash's third Pokémon to evolve while battling against Paul, the others being Torterra and Staraptor.
- Out of these three, Infernape is the only one who did not evolve during a battle with Paul's Honchkrow, evolving instead from a Chimchar to a Monferno after defeating Paul's Ursaring.
- Infernape is the only one of Ash's Pokémon to have been able to defeat Paul's Ursaring in battle, doing so three times.
- Infernape is Ash's second Fire-type Pokémon to evolve more than once, the first being Charizard.
- Monferno's evolution into Infernape was revealed in the Japanese opening The Greatest - Everyday!.
- Infernape is the first final evolution of a starter Pokémon belonging to a main character to mark its species debut in the main series when it evolves.
- However, Charizard could be accounted as the first time this happens if the fake Charizard that appeared before it in Island of the Giant Pokémon isn't counted.
- Infernape is Ash's first Template:Type2 Pokémon to evolve under his care and only his third one overall. It is also Ash's first primate-based Pokémon to evolve in his care as Ambipom evolved under Dawn's care while Primeape evolved before it was caught.
- Paul was present at the time of both Chimchar and Monferno's evolution in Evolving Strategies! and DP163, respectively.
- As of Infernape, the three fully evolved Sinnoh starters are each owned by regular characters - Paul has Torterra, Ash has Infernape and Barry has Empoleon (although it should be noted that Ash also owns a Torterra, and Kenny owns an Empoleon).
- Infernape is the only fire-type starter pokémon Ash owns that used it's blaze ability and it is Ash's the only starter pokémon overall to use this ability more than once.
- Infernape also used it's ability more than any other pokémon Ash owned, using it three times; in Chim-Charred!,DP163 and DP179.Buizel is the only other of Ash's pokémon other than Infernape to use it's ability more than once; in A Triple Fighting Chance! and in Short and To the Punch!.
Related articles
For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Chimchar, Monferno, and Infernape.
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