[Meta thread] Iron's PokeRole Adventure: The Skull Ruins

[Lord Windos]

Quick Summary: a Charizard like Ash's that shows off all the time and trying to prove how strong they are is typically a weaker one.  Stronger Charizard know how strong they are, and thus don't typically engage in battles they deem pointless.  Charla, a Charizard belonging to the sole trainer who lived in the Charicific Valley, treated Ash's Charizard in a similar way to how Nathan's Charizard is currently treating Arete.

The resolution of the episode was Ash leaving his Charizard in the valley to train and become a truly strong Charizard.  At various points in the anime (movies included), Ash will sometimes reminisce about it, or Charizard will fly in and save the day, definitely much stronger (as evidenced by some of the moves he's learned while training there) and more composed than he used to be in the first few seasons of the anime.  (Ash's Charizard also went on to apparently have a romantic relationship with Charla).

Charizard are a very prideful species as well, and Nathan's Charizard knows he's strong.  On top of that, Nathan just got a Key Stone and has both varieties of Charizardite, which he is fully qualified to use now.  Charizard's spent a long time training and working up to this, and he's got a good idea of the kinds of foes he can handle on his own now.  (similar to Charla)

Arete, by contrast, is still very much growing and learning (similar to Ash's Charizard).  While strong, they still have a long ways to go before they could be considered truly powerful.  And Nathan's Charizard knows this because Arete isn't yet anywhere near as powerful as the Genesect Arete was effectively birthed from.

So in short, Charizard has every reason to think he could reasonably beat Arete in a fight if he absolutely had to.  He's a big, strong, well trained (sorta) Dragon (and an actual Dragon if he's using Charizardite X), and Arete's still little more than a newborn (even as exceptionally powerful as they are for a pokemon that's only a few days old).  He has no reason to fight Arete unless the Bug gives him a reason to do so.  He doesn't have anything he thinks he needs to prove.

Ah, gotcha. Don't think Arete would have understood (or even cared, if she did) why Charizard was so dismissive of her/themselves, but it does shine light on the why of the matter.

I won't deny Charizard's an utter beast right now, especially since he's gained access to both his Mega Evolutions, so I get and accept that he would just consider Arete a lesser threat than himself, but I think he is underestimating her/them, as well as just being not very savvy with handling her in the first place. Baby Legend or not, Arete is still a Legendary with considerable power that also has a Type match up advantage against the fire breathing dragon, and at that moment the confrontation was happening was still rocking a + 2 Fell Stinger Buff on top of her/their + 1 All Attribute Surprise. Given that Nathan is their trainer, I'd thought they'd have enough Insight not to provoke her/them in the first place, let alone treat them and their issue with him as nothing and expect she/they wouldn't get pissed off.

For Arete, that conflict was not a matter of proving her/their Strength towards Charizard. She/they are already completely self-confidant in that regard, even if it's in an egotistical, aggressive, and brutal way. No, she/they were mad because of being so disrespected by, if not an inferior, then by someone who SHOULD know better than provoke her/them. If they had just plain ignored her, or treated her issues with them as not 'beneath' him, she'd/they'd probably still be angry, but much less so and not so inclined to have attacked them. In the end, she/they were giving what they got, or at least that's how I see it.

Regardless, I'm glad that neither of our character's Pokemon got into a fight. Probably would have ended badly no matter who won, in one way or another!