EP134

Charizard's Burning Ambitions (Japanese: リザードンのたに！またあうひまで！！ The Valley of ! Until We Meet Again!!) is the 134th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on February 10, 2000 and in the United States on February 3, 2001.

Blurb
''When Ash hears of the nearby Charicific Valley, he is sure a quick trip would be just the thing to reignite his Charizard's flagging spirits. When they reach the valley, though, they find its dragon denizens anything but cordial. Judged weak, and denied entrance to the valley, Charizard is left more dejected than ever.''

Plot
A fatigued and  hike along a path, followed by a similarly fatigued. Jessie contemplates abandoning the trio's quest to catch Pikachu, while James mentions how many Ash's friends have compared to them, using Ash's Charizard as an example. As they walk, Ash mentions that with and Charizard by his side, he could beat any opponent, but his friends mention that he uses Charizard excessively, making it unfair for opponents. The group overhears a faint echo, so decides to respond. A woman calls over to them from atop a cliff and introduces herself as, the caretaker of the Charicific Valley. Liza knows that Ash has a by the scent on him and reveals that she knows about his win in Violet City, before invite the group into the valley.

Liza calls out Charla, a female Charizard that helps transport Liza,, and Brock in a balloon. There isn't enough room for Ash, but Liza suggests for him to on his Charizard. Charla takes off as Ash asks how to ride, which stuns Liza that he never flew on Charizard. Ash summons his Charizard and requests a ride; it refuses at first, but Liza's taunt motivates Charizard to try. Ash and Pikachu hop on Charizard as it stomps and flies off, but it accidentally leaves them behind. After getting them back on, Charizard unsteadily and furiously flies with them onboard. Meanwhile, Liza mentions that the Charizard in the valley are wild, except for Charla. Ash and Charizard catch up, but Charla speeds forward, angering Charizard. Meanwhile, Team Rocket slides down a mountain hill towards the valley.

As Liza, Misty, and Brock reach the Charicific Valley, Liza mentions its history and how the Charizard train naturally without humans by battling each other, with the intense competition making them the strongest worldwide. Misty thinks that it would be too intense for Ash's Charizard, but Charizard tries to prove their strength. However, Charla and Liza note that only weak Charizard show off, suggesting it needs training. Charizard fires a to disprove this, but it briefly sets Ash on fire while he takes her comments as an insult. Ash demands to have a battle with Liza using Charla, but she mentions that she raised it since it was a. As a result, Ash and Charizard want to battle the ones in the valley, so Liza shows them all of the other Charizard, leaving them stunned at their larger size. One larger Charizard walks by and Liza points out that if Ash's Charizard can defeat it, it may qualify to join.

Charizard marches up behind it and hits it in the face with Flamethrower. However, the Charizard literally inhales the attack and retaliates with its own, leaving Ash's burnt, and it collapses. Charizard gets back up and shakes off the dust as Liza points to one sleeping, mentioning that despite it being larger than Ash's, it is still the gentlest of the Charizard. Charizard confronts that one and fires another Flamethrower, but the wild Charizard hardly reacts and simply lashes its tail, tossing Charizard into a wall. Ash tries to console Charizard, that it will always be good enough for him. Charizard refuses to listen and tries to attack again, but another lash from the gentle Charizard knocks it down. Despite the pleas of Ash and the others, Charizard persists but continues to get beaten, eventually getting out of the valley. Charizard struggles to climb up the stairs, but Liza kicks the whole group out of the valley and closes the gates, telling them to return after some training.

Team Rocket, watching from a distance, realizes that they cannot capture any of the Charizard in the valley because they were easily able to beat Ash's Charizard, who always beats them, while the mecha that they bought is inadequate. Meanwhile, after Charizard repeatedly beats the gates, Liza reopens them and repeats her instructions, but Charizard stubbornly refuses. Liza allows Charla to attack, and Charizard is tossed into a lake. Liza then tells Charizard to stay put and reflect before closing the gate. When night falls, Misty notes that Charizard has stayed in place since that afternoon. Ash wants to leave, but Charizard doesn't budge. Team Rocket watches as translates Charizard's thoughts about wanting to be stronger. Throughout the night, Ash and his friends fall asleep, but Team Rocket tosses rocks at Charizard to keep it awake and prevent its flame from fading. Through the gates, Liza and Charla realize how determined Charizard is to get in.

The next morning, Ash wakes up and sees Charizard still sitting in place. Just then, Team Rocket's mecha shows up and rolls up to the gates, attempting to break in. Charizard confronts the mecha and hits it with Flamethrower, causing it to explode and send Team Rocket blasting off as planned. The gate opens, revealing an applauding Liza, who invites Charizard in, explaining that it finally proved that it wants to enter. Shocking his friends, Ash angrily tells Charizard it should stay in the valley if it wants to, and then adds that he doesn't want a weak Charizard anyway. Ash starts to walk away and points to the valley, telling Charizard that it has a lot to learn there. Then, Ash starts running away, followed by Misty and Brock. Pikachu briefly remains to bid Charizard farewell before following the group as well.

Major events

 * leaves his to train at the Charicific Valley.

Pokémon debuts

 * Charla

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Jessie
 * James
 * James

Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international),  (Japan)


 * (fantasy)
 * (leaves)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * (fantasy)
 * ('s; Charla)
 * (multiple)
 * (fantasy)
 * ('s; Charla)
 * (multiple)

Trivia

 * This was chosen by Shōko Nakagawa as the sixth episode of Pocket Monsters Anime Premier 10.
 * 's tail was completely submerged in the water, but it was unharmed. This also happened when it was a in Island of the Giant Pokémon.
 * This episode is featured on Volume 3: Charizard from Viz Media's series.
 * This is one of the few episodes where actually wants to be blasted off. They help Charizard become stronger by allowing it to blow up a Team Rocket mecha which they used to break into the Charicific Valley.
 * Team Rocket doesn't recite their in this episode.
 * However, the motto theme is played when Team Rocket attacks the valley with their mecha.
 * Not counting the Pokémon seen in James's thoughts, the only Generation II Pokémon to appear in this episode is.
 * The book is based on this episode.
 * Music from Mewtwo Strikes Back was used in this episode.
 * Parts of this episode were reanimated and used for flashback material for The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion.
 * A shot this episode was reanimated and reused in a flashback in Alola, Kanto!.

Errors

 * In the dub, says that he has not ridden Charizard before; however, this is not true, as he rode on Charizard in both Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon and Charizard Chills. He never said this in the Japanese version.
 * Technically, the moment in Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon doesn't really count as Ash riding Charizard, as it wasn't intentional. Additionally, both Charizard and Ash were half-asleep from 's ing, so they may not remember it.
 * When James counts the Pokémon of, a picture of all of them is shown. was also pictured, even though it was back at Professor Oak's Laboratory at the time.
 * The initial dialogue between Liza,, and Ash was changed completely in the dub; this included changing Liza from calling for Charizard in general to calling for Charla. This creates an error since multiple plumes of fire emerge from behind the mountains, which couldn't have been produced by one Charizard.
 * In the dub, Liza refers to by her name despite nobody ever telling her that name. In the Japanese version, Liza never refers to Ash, Misty, and Brock by their name.
 * When Team Rocket blasts off, their mouths move, but no sound comes out in the dub.

Dub edits

 * Pokémon Karaokémon: Song of Jigglypuff
 * There is a closeup shot of Ash's Charizard being hit very hard by a Charizard and sent flying into the top part of the entrance to the Valley with its tail; it was cut from the English dub and replaced with an impact animation.
 * It is mentioned in the dub that Charla evolved from a . This was not in the original Japanese dialogue.
 * Several scenes of dialogue involving Team Rocket are changed:
 * In the Japanese version, Jessie breaks the fourth wall by telling that the their problem is that they are going up against the increasingly popular . Meowth denies this by saying that their lack of strength, not popularity, is their problem. The dub changes this to Jessie suggesting that they should pick on somebody else for a change.
 * In the Japanese version, James counts the Pokémon of Ash's friends but trails off by the time he reaches number seven. In the dub, he doesn't trail off and stops at twelve, which is wrong as, counting Snorlax, there are a total of sixteen Pokémon.
 * In the Japanese version, Team Rocket once again breaks the fourth wall by talking about how popular Charizard is and how it's just too powerful for them to defeat. They gather together at the end and declare Charizard "unfair". The dub changes this to them wondering what the boss would say if he knew how afraid they are of Charizard.
 * Several scenes of dialogue involving Liza are also changed:
 * In the Japanese version, Liza says that the Charizard in the Valley are seen as the guardian deities of the area. The dub changes this to Liza saying that it was "a place where Charizard have lived in peace for thousands of years" and an "ancient place where the greatest Charizard in Pokémon history have come from". Later, Liza says that "the Charizard in the Valley turn out to be the best in the whole world", which was also never said in the Japanese version.
 * Liza tells Ash that "only weak Charizard show off like that" in the dub. While in the Japanese version, she just warns Ash that shooting out fire randomly is dangerous and could get him burned.
 * In the dub, Liza tells Ash that "she can't be responsible for what happens if Charizard continues to fight", while in the Japanese version, she tells that "she understands how Ash's Pokémon feel but that it really is no use for it to continue like that".
 * In the dub, Liza says to Ash's Charizard that "he will never be a great Charizard if he acts tough and doesn't respect his own limitations". However, in the Japanese version, Liza tells Ash that Charizard will be okay as long as the flame on his tail doesn't go out, which is the reason a lot of closeup shots happen throughout the rest of the episode.
 * In the Japanese version, James never said that the mecha was purchased online.

In other languages
Herausforderung für Glurak EP136 EP134 EP134 無印編第134話 精灵宝可梦 第135集