InAn Egg Scramble!, Dawn battledLyra in theJohto Festival and defeated her. As a prize, Dawn was given anEgg, which was soon taken byTeam Rocket. While it was inTeam Rocket's possession, it showed signs of hatching. When Dawn finally got it back, it hatched right in front of her eyes, revealing it to be a Cyndaquil.
InGone With the Windworks!, Cyndaquil metDawn's Piplup. Cyndaquil, due to its shyness, ignored Piplup. This annoyed the Penguin Pokémon, which only grew worse when everyone praised Cyndaquil after its first official battle. The two then fought for the rest of the episode, forming a rivalry between them.
InDressed for Jess Success!, Cyndaquil showed its interest inPokémon Contests after watching Dawn practice with herMamoswine by trying to mimic it with the flames on its back. It was shocked and upset when Dawn told it that it could not compete in theLilypad Contest with her.
InLast Call — First Round!, Cyndaquil was used in the Performance Stage of theSinnoh Grand Festival along withBuneary. Their performance started with Buneary usingIce Beam to create a large frozen path resembling a roller coaster. Cyndaquil proceeded with Flame Wheel, rolling over the path and melting a trench for Buneary to slide on. After that, Buneary charged an Ice Beam and Cyndaquil used Smokescreen in order to cloak themselves above a large frozen spike. When the smoke was blown away, Buneary was seen inside aPoké Ball made of ice with Cyndaquil standing on top, impressing theContest Judges and securing Dawn a place among theCoordinators advancing to theContest Battles.
InDPS01, Cyndaquil was used in aDouble Battle alongside Piplup againstJohanna'sGlameow andUmbreon, but when Piplup and Cyndaquil unleashed theirWhirlpool-Flame Wheel combination, the battle was stopped due to them fighting. Cyndaquil then helped Dawn rescue aPiplup and aChimchar that had escaped fromProfessor Rowan's lab from a group ofAriados. It became injured when it took aPoison Sting meant forShinko. It was able to overcome its injury byevolving intoQuilava and was able to defeat the leader of the group, aShiny Ariados, with its newly learned move,Eruption.
InGoodbye, Junior Cup - Hello Adventure!, Quilava was used to battleAsh's Pikachu. It first hit Pikachu with Swift before dodging hisQuick Attack and stoppingElectro Ball with its newly learnedFlamethrower. Quilava then covered the field in Smokescreen before stopping Pikachu'sIron Tail and landing a direct hit with Flamethrower. After their Flame Wheel and Quick Attack clashed in midair,Cynthia stopped the match, withJervis declaring it a draw.
Cyndaquil's rivalry with PiplupCyndaquil copying Mamoswine's Contest move
As a Cyndaquil, it developed astrong bond withDawn from the moment it hatched from itsEgg. Prior to entering its firstPokémon Contest, it grew interested in watching Dawn trainher other Pokémon, often showing Dawn its own variations of the moves that she was practicing with them, and sulked when it was not chosen to compete.
Dawn's Piplup appears to be jealous over the attention that it gets, though this may be attributed to the fact that Cyndaquil wasn't very responsive to Piplup at first. Piplup often attacks it and it in turn fights back, causing frequent squabbles between the two. They seem to be trying to compete for superiority over the other. These fights have stopped ever since Cyndaquil evolved.
It has a tendency to flare up its back when it's happy or when it's showing affection, and Dawn usually ends up getting burned in the process.
Description: A combination of Flame Wheel and Flamethrower. Cyndaquil uses Flame Wheel while Monferno pushes the spinning Cyndaquil forward with Flamethrower. This creates more red-orange flames and increases Cyndaquil's momentum as it uses Flame Wheel, dealing notable damage. This was used inAsh andDawn'sTag Battle againstKhoury andLyra.
Description: A combination which was created by Mamoswine and Cyndaquil when they were training with Dawn. It involves Cyndaquil being trapped by Mamoswine's Ice Shard while utilizing Flame Wheel. It was perfected in the battle against Ursula inPlaying the Performance Encore!. Dawn calls it "Flame Ice".
Description: Mamoswine uses the Swallowing Ice Shard Technique to create the Ice Armor. Cyndaquil then uses Swift in a circle around Mamoswine. Then Cyndaquil makes the flame on its back split into two. Mamoswine then uses Take Down while Cyndaquil is on the top part of the Ice Armor.
Description: Buneary uses Ice Beam on the field to create a giant sculpture of slides. Cyndaquil then uses Flame Wheel on the ice path, allowing Buneary to follow Cyndaquil by sliding down.
Description: Cyndaquil developed this while training with Dawn inTwinleaf Town. Cyndaquil would perform it by firing a ring ofSwift into the air, then jumping into the center and chargingFlame Wheel, causing the two moves to mix.
Description: Piplup jumps on top of Cyndaquil and forms Bubble Beam into a circle and Cyndaquil uses Swift in the middle of the circle. It is unknown what Dawn was going to do with this, as Johanna destroyed it with her Glameow and Umbreon in a matter of seconds.
Description: Piplup would surround Cyndaquil's Flame Wheel with a Whirlpool, which created the effect of a sphere of water with flames inside. Dawn attempted to use this during her second battle against her mother, however the combination failed throwing both Piplup and Cyndaquil to the ground.
Trivia
Quilava is the only Pokémon:
Belonging to a main character thatevolved and learned a new move in a special episode.
Belonging to a main character whose Evolution episode was neverdubbed.
