Ash's Infernape
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 Ash's Monferno | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ash's Monferno (Japanese: サトシのモウカザル Satoshi's Moukazaru) is a Pokémon owned by Ash. Monferno is voiced by 林原めぐみ Megumi Hayashibara in Japanese and Bill Rogers in English as a Chimchar. 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 tag battle tournament arc that spanned through Tag, We're It!, Glory Blaze! and Smells Like Team Spirit! 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 hurt 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.
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.
Soon after the Wallace Cup, 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 DP127, it was used in the Snowpoint Gym battle. Chimchar battled Candice's Snover and Abomasnow and it defeated both of them.
In DP132, 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 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 DP133, Monferno, along with the rest of Ash's Pokémon, was badly injured. It needed a Cheri 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.
Moves used
| Using Mach Punch | Move | First Used In |
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| Flame Wheel | When Pokémon Worlds Collide! | |
| Dig | Different Strokes for Different Blokes | |
| Flamethrower | Tag! We're It...! | |
| Scratch | When Pokémon Worlds Collide! | |
| Fire Spin | Top-Down Training! | |
| Ember | When Pokémon Worlds Collide! | |
| Mach Punch | DP132 | |
| 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 DP132. Monferno uses Flamethrower after using Flame Wheel, releasing fire whips everywhere.
Trivia
- This is Ash's third primate-based Pokémon, the others being Primeape and Aipom. Unlike the other two, however, Monferno has not stolen Ash's hat, and actually evolved under his care.
- Monferno 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.
- 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.
- Monferno is Ash's fourth Pokémon voiced by Megumi Hayashibara in Japanese. The other three are Pidgeot, Bulbasaur and Phanpy.
- Chimchar is also Ash's third Pokémon voiced by Bill Rogers in the English dub. The other two are Corphish and Sceptile.
- Monferno is the only Pokémon on Ash's Sinnoh team to not have met any of its evolved forms.
- Monferno took the most amount of episodes so far to reach a certain stage in the Diamond & Pearl series.
- Monferno is Ash's third Pokémon to evolve while battling against Paul, the others being Grotle and Staraptor.
Related articles
For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Chimchar and Monferno.
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