bills-pokedex:

Charmander
The Lizard Pokémon
Type: Fire
Official Registration #: 4
Entry: One of three pokémon traditionally offered to new trainers at the beginning of their journeys in Kanto. Many people believe that out of the three, charmander are the hardest to raise. This is a fairly understandable statement. Charmander are naturally energetic, and their fire element means they don’t do well against Pewter or Cerulean’s gyms. More importantly, however, charmander are considered a challenge to raise because of the flame at the tip of their tails. A physical representation of charmander’s health and emotions, this flame must be meticulously kept, not only because allowing it to become extinguished would kill the host charmander but also because it is an actual flame that will react to Kanto’s abundance of fields full of dry, tall grass just about as well as you think it would.

Charmeleon
The Flame Pokémon
Type: Fire
Official Registration #: 5
Entry: The evolved form of charmander, by battle experience. Charmeleon are thought to be merciless, bloodthirsty pokémon that will attack foes with their sharp claws and intense flames. This is not necessarily true. While some charmeleon are indeed that aggressive, the vast majority of them are actually simply outgoing. It just so happens that the flame on a charmeleon’s tail grows hotter and taller whenever its host is excited, and charmeleon itself is a very excitable pokémon. As for the note concerning its claws, evidently, a charmeleon’s first instinct upon accidentally setting its new friends on fire with its tail is to smack the flames in an attempt to smother them with their hands. It’s just that charmeleon also unfortunately forget that they have claws, so their attempts to help are often not particularly helpful.

Charizard
The Flame Pokémon
Type: Fire/Flying
Official Registration #: 6
Entry: The evolved form of charmeleon, by battle experience. Stories throughout Europe tell of ancient charizard flying on giant wings and using its flame breath to burn the countryside, the peasants, and the people in their thatched-roof cottages. Only heroes brave enough and with water-types strong enough were able to vanquish this threat and bring peace to the land. Of course, the validity of these claims are debatable. While charizard’s preferred fighting style is indeed a combination of flying over its opponents and breathing flames that reach temperatures in excess of 1000 degrees, historical evidence seems to point to the notion that the stories concerning giant charizard terrorizing the countryside were made up by bored young men who would have liked to think they were braver, funnier, and more attractive than they actually were.

Mega Charizard X
The Flame Pokémon
Type: Fire/Dragon
Official Registration #: 6+
Entry: The advanced form of charizard, via charizardite X. Upon mega evolution using charizardite X, the fire that burns within this pokémon gains mystical properties that in turn imbues it with an affinity for the dragon element, rather than flying. This same process leaves charizard with the appearance of something fresh from a heavy metal album cover; thus, the answer to the age-old question about base charizard’s flying-type is, in the words of the author’s Sinnohan counterpart, because “charizard isn’t normally rad enough.”

Mega Charizard Y
The Flame Pokémon
Type: Fire/Flying
Official Registration #: 6+
Entry: The advanced form of charizard, via charizardite Y. In contrast to charizardite X, charizardite Y keeps charizard’s affinity for the flying type intact but heavily boosts its affinity for fire instead. It does this by granting charizard a number of unique traits, including extra wings to fan its flames, healthier flame sacs, and most importantly, Drought, the very ability that Groudon used to dry up the seas and create continents. So if for trainers who have ever wanted to wield the literal power of a god in the body of a dragon bred to be as loyal and intelligent as a pet dog … charizardite Y can be found in a number of specialty jewelry shops in Kalos and Hoenn.