Ash's Quilava
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Ash's Quilava (Japanese: サトシのマグマラシ Satoshi's Magmarashi) was the third Pokémon that Ash caught during his travels through Johto.
History
Johto
Quilava first appeared as a Cyndaquil in Good 'Quil Hunting. On the way to Azalea Town, Ash heard from a Trainer named Koji that the forest he and his friends were traveling through was reputed to be populated with Cyndaquil and decides to look for one. Ash was separated from his friends and chased by Team Rocket into a cave where he found Cyndaquil. It was attacked by a giant Team Rocket's mecha, but Cyndaquil unleashed a powerful Flamethrower to defeat them. Ash threw a Poké Ball at Cyndaquil, hoping to capture it in order to protect it from the explosion, which he succeeded in doing. Koji then challenged Ash to a battle for Cyndaquil, but Brock told Ash that Cyndaquil was his by right and he didn't have to battle for it. Ash accepted the challenge nonetheless, and Cyndaquil, despite having a disadvantage, was able to use its speed and Tackle attack to defeat Koji's Sandslash. Koji then decided to try to steal Cyndaquil anyway in a net, only to get badly burned when it used a Flamethrower at him, causing him to run away.
Cyndaquil's Gym battle debut came quite early, used only three episodes later in Ash's battle with Bugsy. Ash was confident that Cyndaquil could provide the firepower needed to take down the Bug-type Gym, but when Cyndaquil's fire didn't come out when called upon, Bugsy's Spinarak landed several Poison Stings and then tied Cyndaquil up with a String Shot. Ash recalled Cyndaquil, and only sending it out as his last resort against Scyther, and was once again put at a disadvantage against Scyther's Slash and its use of Swords Dance to deflect Flamethrower. However, it won the battle by leaping over Scyther's head, hitting it from above, where Scyther was unable to dodge.
Cyndaquil's sluggish battle skills were overcome in Hot Matches!, where it was outclassed by Miki's Skarmory. Ash trained with Cyndaquil, raising its attack and speed, and it also learned how to ignite the flames on its back at will whilst fending off wild Beedrill. In a rematch, Cyndaquil took down Skarmory with Flamethrower.
In Spell of the Unown, Cyndaquil defeated Lisa's Mankey with a single Flamethrower. It helped Ash and his friends break into the crystal mansion, but was defeated by a single attack from Entei.
In A Goldenrod Opportunity, Cyndaquil took down Whitney's Nidorina in a single Flamethrower, and she surrendered her Clefairy to avoid seeing it take pain when its Metronome turned into Splash. However, Whitney's Miltank proved far too powerful, taking down Cyndaquil with a trio of Rollouts. In the rematch, it lost to Miltank again, but Pikachu managed to win the battle. Against Morty in From Ghost to Ghost, it defeated Morty's Gastly by running up to Gastly's tongue and hitting it hard with Tackle, with Gastly still vulnerable to physical attacks from Noctowl's Foresight. Cyndaquil was stuck up against Haunter after it used Mean Look. It managed to strike with Swift and counter Hypnosis with a Smokescreen, but Haunter plucked Cyndaquil from the safety of the smoke and used Lick. It then tossed it to the ground, eliminating it from the battle.
Arguably, its most notable battle appearance was in the episode, Nerves of Steelix!. Cyndaquil took down Jasmine's undeniably powerful Steelix, which had already defeated Pikachu without much trouble. Steelix used Sandstorm to block Flamethrower, and a series of Digs and Iron Tails to attack Cyndaquil. Finally, Cyndaquil managed to hide in the holes dug by Steelix and took it down with an inferno fed by a sustained Flamethrower. It also defeated Pryce's Dewgong in Nice Pryce, Baby!, but was easily defeated by Pryce's Piloswine's Blizzard, whom it had rescued from its icy tomb in the previous episode.
Cyndaquil helped Ash get through the screening processes of the Silver Conference in A Claim to Flame!, and was entered in battle against Jackson at Misty's recommendation, as a counter to his powerful Meganium. However, it didn't get to fight Meganium, losing to Jackson's Shiny Magneton in a Thunder Wave/Tri Attack combination as Cyndaquil was burning through Double Team.
Ash left Cyndaquil along with the rest of his Johto team at Professor Oak's Laboratory when he wanted to start his journey fresh in the Hoenn region. In a Christmas special, it was seen helping Delibird find his presents and helped to build the Snorlax Snowman. During the special episodes, Cyndaquil was seen laying on the floor. It was trod on by Cassidy and was squirted with foam by Butch.
It reappeared in The Right Place and the Right Mime, where it greeted Torkoal.
Sinnoh
Ash called Cyndaquil back into his party for the Lily of the Valley Conference in An Old Family Blend!. It was separated from Ash along with Bayleef, Totodile, Snorlax and Corphish when Team Rocket attempted to steal them. After finding the others, Cyndaquil was the only one left for Ash to search for. While looking for Ash, it was attacked by one of Team Rocket's mechas. During the battle, it showed that it had learned the move Flame Wheel during its time at the lab. When the mecha had Cyndaquil cornered, it evolved into Quilava and used its newly learned attack Eruption to destroy it.
In the following episode, Ash used Quilava to battle Nando in the first round of the Lily of the Valley Conference where it went up against Nando's powerful Armaldo. During the fierce battle, it was revealed Quilava had learned Aerial Ace. When Aerial Ace and X-Scissor both landed, Armaldo went down first. Quilava grins briefly but then it faints, thus both Pokémon were knocked out.
Personality and characteristics
Personality-wise, Cyndaquil was the "baby" of Ash's group. It started off very weak and lazy, and was easily tired out. In battles, it usually had to wait for the flame on its back to ignite before using any Fire-type attacks. After training with Ash in Hot Matches!, Cyndaquil was able to ignite at will. Its evolution into Quilava marked a significant spike in its maturity and skill level. Quilava's personality was completely revamped as it became calm, serious, and stoic.
Moves used
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Trivia
- Cyndaquil is Ash's only Fire-type starter Pokémon that was not owned by another Trainer first. All of Ash's other Fire-type starters had previous owners who mistreated them.
- Quilava, as a Cyndaquil, took the longest to evolve out of any Pokémon in the anime, having been a Cyndaquil for 507 episodes, longer than a decade. However, it took slightly less than a decade for the dub, due to the fact that its introduction episode aired dubbed 338 days after the original, while its evolution episode aired dubbed only 149 days after the original.
Related articles
For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Cyndaquil and Quilava.
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This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |