Could Ash's Charizard or Infernape beat Tobias's Latios or Darkrai?

[Trevenant]

No. I may be remembering a different episode, but wasn't the only reason Ash's pokemon stood a chance against Darkrai because it could combat it's sleep attack?

Nah. Ash tried to use Heracross because it knew Sleep Talk, but Darkrai KO'd it pretty quickly. Sceptile won because it had both speed and strength and it managed to wake up after hearing Ash call out for it.

Yeah. But why on earth did Ash use Torkoal against Darkrai?

Not sure. If I had to make an educated guess, I'd say it's probably because Torkoal has relatively high defenses and Overheat, an attack that has a lot of damage output. Unfortunately, Torkoal was KO'd in a single hit, so it didn't matter very much.

 

[Sweenix]

No idea why ash used that team against tobias, it's like he wanted to lose

anyways, infernape would be able to wipe out darkrai pretty quick, but latios is another question
Charizard is 50/50 on both

 

[dracoflare]

I think both Lizardon and Goukazaru could potentially win against Takuto's Darkrai and Latios. While I like Satoshi's Jukain more than the two Fire-type starters, I don't think it is stronger than them and it managed to defeat Darkrai, so...

This is a highly subjective topic but I will still make an argument.

I personally believe Jukain is on the same level as Lizardon and Goukazaru, especially the latter. Most of the things that happen in a battle are circumstantial, and so are the choices Satoshi makes. I would like to remind everyone of Jukain's performance against Nendoll before we get deep into the subject.

Jukain has been ordered to use Quick Attack, as Satoshi placed his bets on Jukain's speed rather than bulk. He wanted to handle the battle like he did with Jukain in many other battles. However, Satoshi isn't privy to the fact that Darkrai is super fast. He makes a tactical error and he pays to it by letting Jukain be exposed to a close ranged Ice Beam. However, had he knew that, he would have definitely focused more on dodging and attack with Jukain's Leaf Storm from a long range.

About Lizardon, now if we assume Satoshi goes in with the same wrong assumption about Darkrai's speed he would make a grave mistake. He would first begin with the obvious move, Flamethrower. Darkrai's Dark Pulse not only overwhelmed Cotoise but even managed to knock it one hit. In other words, even if you assume that Cotoise as weak, it is safe to say that it can still overwhelm Lizardon's flamethrower and deal a good number on it.

That will be round 1. But Satoshi will come to senses and try to dodge the second time (best case scenario). He could underestimate Darkrai's speed and try to move around, attack with Flamethrower from a distance (something he does and kinda fails in the Lizardon versus Kamex battle). But that won't work against Darkrai, because Darkrai is pretty fast (as proved by it's ability to weave around Draco Meteor) and possibly outspeed Lizardon (safe to assume because Lizardon is definitely slower than a Quick Attack using Jukain and Darkrai is faster than that) and either finish it off with a close ranged Dark Pulse or severely cripple it.

But if Ash follows the other tactic and tries to close down on Darkrai and use techniques like Steel Wing (Side Note: I love the name Hagane no Tsubasa) or Seismic Toss, then he will be punished immediately by a Dark Void and Dream Eater combination. If that happens Lizardon is a goner.

Now let's just assume by some kind of luck, Lizardon does get up before Dream Eater finishes it much like Jukain, it could immediately grab Darkrai and take off into the air and finish it off with Seismic Toss. But that means Lizardon is no better than Jukain here.

Now take Goukazaru. The obvious strategy Ash would use here is Mach Punch because that's how his head works. He always calls out a powerful and reliable long ranged move like Thunderbolt/Flamethrower or get close and attack using Quick Attack/Mach Punch. Now if Darkrai dodged Jukain's Quick Attack, the chances of Mach Punch hitting are slim. However, Goukazaru holds the distinct advantage of using another Mach Punch like he does against Oba. Now that could work and Darkrai could take a chunk of damage but what next? Takuto won't just sit and let Darkrai taking hits, so he would immediately order a Dark Void. Goukazaru is weak against Dream Eater and will immediately be cut off unlike in Jukain's case.

However, there's a very good chance Darkrai could be too injured to immediately use a Dark Void or a Dark Pulse. Then if Ash is on his top game, he would order consecutive Mach Punch and theoretically beat Darkrai before it could even recover. He used the repeated Quick Attack strategy against Kotetsu's Lucario, nothing is there to stop him here. So Goukazaru could potentially win without much damage.

So, all the three have equal chances of beating Darkrai. Well, maybe Goukazaru a bit higher but I definitely see Takuto trying to put him to sleep first rather than attack with Dark Pulse or Ice Beam. I tried making moves in Ash's style

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Charizard has shown that he can handle himself pretty well in battles with Legendaries and he has defeated Nolan's Articuno. I think Charizard would've been able to show Trollbias who's boss. I think Infernape would fare rather well against Darkrai since it didn't have any moves that could really devastate Infernape, and plus Infernape did have a super effective move, though its base power is only 40, though he does get STAB and double damage since Mach Punch is super effective.

 

[Jonathan Chone]

For those who think Infernape does't have a chance against Latios, think again. He survived Empholeon's super-effective Hydro Cannon (which is also the water type move with highest base power) when he was a MONFERNO, and he kill a ninjask with a Mach Punch, which has 4x resistant to fighting type move.

As Infernape, we could expect a fighting type pokemon defeat a psychic type like Latios, we will never know.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I think Infernape vs Darkrai would result in Infernape win with Blaze activated, and Charizard could deal with Latios with dragon moves.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

If the writers didn't rush to get to the BW series and wanted to at least give Ash a better chance and have him take down more of Tobias' Pokemon, Charizard and Infernape could have. Charizard has managed to take down an Articuno before, so I don't think he'd have much trouble taking down either of those OP legendaries. Infernape would likely have a better time dealing with Darkrai than Latios, due to having Flamethrower as a likely counter to Ice Beam and Mach Punch to deal some super effective damage.

 

[Wishy-Washy]

I'd say based off how Charizard is shown as equal to Articuno it stands a chance of beating one of the two legendaries but not both, I'm not quite sure how strong Infernape is normally compared to Scetiple and Charizard but I think with Blaze boost it might stand a chance of beating Latios or Darkrai separately but I can't see it beating both, though considering how it was probably tired after the battle with Paul I don't think it could've beat either of them in that battle.

 

[Cresselia92]

I think Charizard could have taken down either Darkrai or Latios. As other users have said, he managed to take down an Articuno all by himself, and managed to hold his own against an OP Mirage Entei (from M03), so he shouldn't have too many troubles beating one of those Legendaries, or at least cripple them badly.

Infernape would have a chance only if Blaze-powered, but should be able to do some damage even as regular Infernape.

 

[Harryghost]

Could? Yes
Would? Maybe
Would it have changed the result of the battle? LOL!!!

 

[thumbs1]

Honestly he'd do as well as Torkoal. Torkoal, who gave brandon's registeel a hard time was one shot. I can't see him beating latios either. He's slower than swellow, and arguably weaker than Pikachu.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

Not by themselves.

 

[Gengarzilla]

Ash's Infernape is tough alright, but are we really expecting it to be in peak condition after the brutal beatdown Paul's Electivire served out before fainting? Remember how Harrison's Blaziken couldn't battle in any further matches after besting Ash's Charizard?
No, I believe Infernape wasn't used against Tobias for that very same reason; it couldn't be used. Ash clearly did his homework if he had the foresight to lead with a Bug/Fighting type Pokémon who knew Sleep Talk so I doubt he'd use Torkoal over the type advantaged Infernape without a good excuse.

 

[Jonathan Chone]

Charizard defeated Articuno, but with type advantage, so I guess Charizard should be able to take down either Darkrai or Latios, but defeating both is sadly impossible.

Infernape might take down Darkrai easily without blaze, but he need to activated Blaze to defeat Latios again.

But even Ash used all his strongest pokemons that time, he will never defeat Tobias because Tobias still have 4 porkmons......