Chili

"Triple Trouble!"
Chili
Species	Human
Hair color	Red
Eye color	Red
Base	Striaton City
Relatives	Cilan, Cress (brothers)
Voiced by	Unknown (2022)
Debut	Pokémon: Black/White Versions

Chili is one of the three gym leaders of Striaton City's Pokémon gym who collectively count as the first gym leader who must be battled within the Unova Region, acting as a potential opponent in Pokémon: Black and White Versions. Chili specializes in fire-type Pokémon.

Background

Chili, along with his brothers Cilan and Cress, became the gym leaders of the Striaton Gym together. They were also chefs, and the gym doubled as a restaurant. Chili was particularly arrogant and considered himself to be the strongest of the brothers. The three of them each specialized in a type that was part of a triangle which matched the traditional starter Pokémon types. Rather than forcing challengers to battle all three of them, the brothers would see which starter Pokémon the challenger had, and then the challenger would have to face the brother who had the type advantage over them. Victorious challengers would earn the Trio Badge.

In Pokémon: Black and White Versions, Hilbert/Hilda faced Chili if they had chosen Snivy as their starter Pokémon. After Hilbert/Hilda defeated him or one of his brothers to win the Trio Badge and TM 23: Work Up, he was left pondering the implications of reusable TMs. They were later also defeated by Cheren and Bianca.

The three brothers were presumably present when the gym leaders had a meeting about Team Plasma. Bianca later went around gathering all of the gym leaders when N's Castle arose at the Pokémon league, but she went to Striaton last, and the brothers wound up being the only gym leaders who did not make it in time. If Hilbert/Hilda revisited the gym later, Chili would note that the trainer's fire now burns much more intensely than it used to.

In a Memory Link from Black and White 2 set one year after the events of the first Black/White, it was shown that they were troubled by their failure to help in the Team Plasma battle. Chili was especially aggravated about it, feeling that neither the Seven Sages nor the Shadow Triad would have escaped them. He was also bothered by criticisms stating that it took the three of them to make one full-fledged trainer. Coincidentally, the Shadow Triad chose that moment to challenge them to a surprise battle, which they lost. Demoralized by this, they decided to resign as gym leaders and retrain from the ground up so that they could each become powerful individuals. The gym was converted into Striaton Restaurant.

One year after their resignation, they could be found at the restaurant in Black and White 2. The player could team up with any of the three of them to battle the other two in a Multi Battle on a daily basis. Chili also entered the Pokémon World Tournament, competing in the Unova Leaders, World Leaders and Type Expert Tournaments.

Pokémon Roster

In Black and White, Chili uses Lillipup and Pansear in battle. In Black 2 and White 2, he uses Heatmor, Darmanitan and Simisear for Multi Battles.

For tournament battles, his roster can include Simisear, Heatmor, Darmanitan, Arcanine, Camerupt and Magmortar.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Chili and his brothers have made appearances in some of the games' events, with Pansear being shown as Chili's sync partner. Chili initially appeared with his brothers in the "Curious Tea Party" Costume Event, in which they had recently arrived at Pasio and were excited about the tea party being held by Sonia. They presented a challenge as part of the tea party. The brothers also appeared in "Trainer Files: Akala Passion", in which they worked together to prepare specialty tea for Lana, Mallow and Kiawe, which inspired Mallow to work with her friends on a dish.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In the Pokémon anime, the brothers first appeared in a two-part episode, where they initially served Ash food until he demanded to meet the gym leader. Ash actually had to fight all three of them, and Chili was the first of the three to be defeated by him. He reappeared in a later episode where he had run away from the gym after being offended by Cress's attempt at constructive criticism of his skill (saying that he focused too much on offense over defense) and claimed he was only advancing his studies. His insecurities about his Pansear caused it to run away after losing again to Ash. Cilan soon learned of Chili's situation and helped him to find Pansear, then to improve by teaching Pansear SolarBeam. The Pokémon improved to the point where it defeated Ash's Oshawott, which restored Chili's confidence. In another episode, Chili and Cress made a bet with a trainer named Morana that she could take over their gym if she beat all three of them in battle. Morana beat the both of them, and they sought out Cilan to save their gym. Cilan was able to succeed by defeating Morana.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, the Striaton trio appeared and were challenged early in the Black/White arc. The battle was actually a three-on-three battle where Black, Bianca and Cheren faced the three gym leaders. Chili's Pansear was the only Pokémon to be defeated (by Oshawott's scalchop) which caused the other team to win. The brothers later battled the Shadow Triad and were overwhelmed until Keldeo suddenly saved them. The Shadow Triad turned their sights on Keldeo, but this attracted the attention of Cobalion, Virizion and Terrakion, who sent both the brothers and the Shadow Triad flying. The brothers later had a minor appearance in the Black 2/White 2 arc helping with damage control.

Trivia

• He is named after the type of dish called "chili", likely because of its spiciness which corresponds to his affinity with heat. His Japanese name is Pod, in reference to pod corn, with each of the brothers being named after a type of corn.