Red

Red (Japanese: レッド Red) is the first main character of the manga series Pokémon Adventures. His firstPokémon was a Poliwag, which evolved into a Poliwhirl when saving him from drowning prior to the beginning of the story, and evolved once more into a Poliwrath in Buzz off, Electabuzz!

Red is eleven years old at the beginning of the Red, Green & Blue chapter. He is first seen in A Glimpse of the Glow, when he shows a group of children the proper way to catch a Pokémon. He demonstrates by using his Poliwhirl to battle a wild Nidorino. Red is very sentimental, as shown in the battle versus Blue in the ninth annualPokémon League tournament. He believes that defeating an opponent is no fun if they are at a disadvantage, as seen in both The Secret of Kangaskhan and Make Way for Magmar!. At the beginning of the series, he is quite cocky, as shown in Suddenly Starmie. However, this cockiness has subsided by the end of the RGB saga.

Red's special skill, as described by Professor Oak, is Pokémon battling. As such, he is called the "Fighter" (戦う者Fighter).

In later adventures, Red has been viewed as a leader amongst the Pokédex holders, second only to Professor Oak.

Character history
Red, Green & Blue chapter In this saga, Red is the main protagonist, and his main rival is Blue(a.k.a.Green in the Japanese manga). Red was first seen showing off his catching abilities to a group of little kids, but once they mentioned Professor Oak and his grandson, they left. He then sees a few Team Rocket Grunts and overhears them talking about Mew. He manages to find it, only to see that Blue, who he didn't know yet, was already battling it with a Charmander. Seeing Blue quickly recalling his Pokémon angers Red to a point where he sends out his own Poliwhirl on it and is easily defeated. He then receives some words of wisdom from Blue and decides to suck up his pride and go to seeProfessor Oak.

Red enters the seemingly empty lab and notices a Bulbasaur, only to be found by Professor Oak and mistaken for a thief. All of the Professor's Poké Balls are then set loose, and Red volunteers to get all of them back. He does so, except for one last Pokémon - the same Bulbasaur from earlier, which he eventually finds in the Viridian Gym. He manages to calm Bulbasaur down only to be attacked by a wild Machoke. Red then figures out how to use SolarBeam on his own, impressing Oak to the point of giving him a Pokédex and Bulbasaur to keep. He is then sent along by Professor Oak to capture as many Pokémon as he can, and encounters Blue again in the Viridian Forest. The two boys fight over a Kangaskhan, and Red finally learns Blue's name and status as Oak's grandson, beginning a rivalry with him.

Red later manages to catch a menacing Pikachu that was destroying industry in Pewter City. He then runs into Blue again, learns of the Boulder Badge and decides to challenge Brock and earn Gym Badges. After blowing through the preliminaries with Saurand Poli Red realizes that he needs his newly caught Pikachu to beat Brock's Onix. After a rocky first part of the match, Red earns Pikachu's trust and he defeats Brock. He later encounters Misty and her Gyarados which had been stolen and went into an intense rage, horribly injuring Misty and her Staryu in the process. After re-capturing the Gyarados for Misty, Red learns about Team Rocket through Misty and Oak, and sets off to Mt. Moon after them with Misty. They win a battle against Team Rocket even after the admin Koga uses an injection to make his Rhyhorn evolve into a Rhydon. While staying in Misty's mansion, Misty whoops Red to make him see that they need to be stronger if they want to defeat Team Rocket. After several days of training, he defeats her and wins the Cascade Badge.

After stowing away and getting kicked off the S.S. Anne, Red meets the Pokémon Fan Club Chairman, learning from him that his Abra, along with other Pokémon, are being stolen. This leads him back to the S.S. Anne, where he runs into the owner, Lt. Surge. Lt. Surge, another one of Team Rocket's admins, throws Red and Poli overboard, only to trigger Poli's evolution into a Poliwrath, saving Red from drowning.

Later, Red enters a bike racing contest and uses his Pokémon to give him a good lead, until he and several of the racers are stopped dead by a Snorlax. By using his Bulbasaur covered in honey he catches the Snorlax and wins the race, however all of his prize money is spent to feed it. He then journeys into the Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town to rescue Blue who has mysteriously disappeared. He finds Blue possessed by a Gastly owned by Koga. Red then watches Blue defeat and slice Koga's Arbok in half, and gains some respect towards Blue.

Later, Red is scammed out of his money for fake items by a mischievous girl called Green. He chases her down and gets his money back, only to realize that his first two badges, the Boulder Badge and the Cascade Badge, are gone. He then deduces that the stolen Squirtle mentioned by Professor Oak must have been taken by Green and evolved into Wartortle. Upon hearing some Team Rocket grunts mentioning her, Red infiltrates Team Rocket to see what they know about Green, and finds her surrounded by a group of Team Rocket members looking for a mysterious chip she stole, containing information about Mew. Even after everything Green did to him, Red saves her from Team Rocket. After that, the two of them go after Mew only to find that Team Rocket made it to it again, and Red has to stall them in order for Mew to get away. After this altercation, Green leaves, but but not before leaving Red's badges entrusted in his pocket.

Red then accidentally gets his Pokémon swapped with Blue near Celadon City. When he tries to battle with them they refuse to obey him, but later he decides to play with them while Blue trains Red's Pokémon with more exotic and useful moves. Blue's Pokémon become more kind to Red and more lighthearted overall, something that greatly annoys Blue when he gets his Pokémon back.

Red then goes to Erika and challenges her, but she first requires that he proves himself by catching an Eevee. Eventually, with Bill's help, Red finds and catches a strange Eevee with the ability to swap between any of its evolved forms, due to a special device implemented in its ear. He then goes to find Erika and asks why Eevee is like this, and challenges her to a gym battle. Erika easily defeats Red, and says that she will kill Eevee due to its deformity. Once Red uses Pika to protect Eevee, Erika reveals that it was simply a test and the real people that made Eevee like this were Team Rocket.

Red next visits the Safari Zone in Fuchsia City, and although he isn't supposed to do anything except watch, he smuggles in a Poké Ball and catches a Nidoqueen, angering two Nidoking that were fighting over her. He manages to escape them but is then taken by a Victreebel to be eaten for an evolution ritual for the Bellsprout and Weepinbell. He gets away from them only to run into the Nidoking again, resulting in a fight between Nidoking and the Victreebel. Red uses this to catch both Pokémon, and catches many others before he is finally found by the Safari Zone Warden.

He then unknowingly helps Rocket boss Giovanni, whom he believes is just a researcher, get some fossils and get to Pewter City through Diglett's Cave, only to see that Pewter Museum of Science is set ablaze by two Magmar. He battles the Magmar with Giovanni studying his moves. Giovanni eventually deduces Red is not a threat to Team Rocket since he lacks in cruelty, unfairness, and brutality. Red is then sent on his way, but not before Giovanni gives him an Old Amber.

Wanting to reach the Seafoam Islands, Red then goes to the bottom of a lake to retrieve the HM for Surf. He is instead confronted by a Dragonite and decides to use all of his other Pokémon to distract it, only to have their combined weight crush the HM and trap Red's leg under a rock. He is eventually rescued by Misty, who appears and drives the Dragonite off with her Starmie and Gyarados. Misty then trades Red's Krabby for her Gyarados, who knows Surf. On Seafoam Islands, Red encounters Team Rocket again, who are searching for Articuno.

He then reaches Cinnabar Island, spotting Team Rocket once more and secretly watching them battle Blaine's Pokémon from the edge of a cliff. A member spots him and threatens to throw him off the cliff if he doesn't surrender. Blaine appears but with his Gyarados, and the two of them easily overpower the grunts until they reveal their secret weapon, a Moltres. The grunts disperse and Moltres gives chase to the two of them on Blaine'sRapidash. When nothing that they do works, Blaine spots Red's Old Amber and has him revive it as fast as he can. He gets it revived into an Aerodactyland with that, he is able to drive Moltres away.

Later, when Red, Blue, and Green all fail to get into Saffron City, Red goes to Pallet Town to ask for Professor Oak's advice, only to realize that there is nobody there except for Sabrina and her Kadabra, masquerading as Oak. Sabrina, Team Rocket's third admin, then appears to him and pins him to the floor with her psychic powers, challenging him to go back to Saffron City. Blue then arrives and tells him that Saffron must be Team Rocket's headquarters, and they find out that Vee is missing. Saffron City is protected from invasion by a large psychic barrier, so with some urging from Green, Red and Blue team up. With Pika's Substitute and Blue's Golduck's Confusion, the two of them locate the source of the barrier, Sabrina's Mr. Mime, and defeat it, allowing access to Saffron City.

After a trap door splits him up from Blue while inside [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Silph_Co. Silph Co.], Red runs into Lt. Surge, who has been equipped with many gadgets involving electricity and Electric-type Pokémon, powered by Zapdos. Red sends out Saur in defense and uses Razor Leaf to cut the electrical cords, causing Lt. Surge to get electrocuted. Red swipes the Thunder Badge from him as well as a pair of gloves, and finds Koga standing victorious over Blue. Red tries to stop Koga from killing Blue, but is restrained by Koga's Grimer. After a hard battle with the legendary Articuno, the same one that Red had saved earlier, the two boys defeat Koga. Red takes the Soul Badge from him, and the two split up once again.

He runs into the Badge Energy Amplifier room, where he meets Green, who hands him the Marsh Badge in exchange for his Moon Stone. Red fits his seven badges into the Amplifier and points it at his Pikachu, when Sabrina appears, and though he points it at Pikachu, the Amplifier does not work. Green then reveals that the two badges that she returned to him earlier were a fake, and escapes with the Amplifier, leaving Red to fight Sabrina. Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno are merged together when Green inserts the real badges in, creating a new Pokémon. Combining their attacks, Red, Blue, and Green eventually defeat it.

Red then journeys back to Cerulean City to capture the "monster Pokémon", which turns out to be Mewtwo. After attempting to catch it, Red and his Pokémon are almost sucked into Mewtwo's Psywave. They are saved by Blaine, and Red uses his whole team to fool Mewtwo and catch it with a Master Ball for Blaine.

Later, Red encounters Yellow being attacked by a Dratini in Viridian Forest. He helps her catch a Rattata and explains how battling and catching Pokémon works. He takes her back to Viridian City and finds that Team Rocket has been releasing abused Pokémon into the Forest to make them stronger. He also learns that the Gym Leader there has been absent for a very long time. Entering the Gym, Red finally meets Giovanni again, who reveals his true intentions behind the incident at Diglett's Cave. Giovanni then challenges Red with a catch: if Red loses he has to join Team Rocket. After a very intense and long battle, Red defeats Giovanni. He is offered to become the new Gym Leader of Viridian, but he first wishes to become a better trainer and goes off to the Indigo Plateau.

With the badges he gained, Red is able to enter the Pokémon League, where he faces Blue in the final match. Just as Oak notes how Blue has become more instinctual like Red, Red in turn has become more calm and is able to use knowledge as well as instinct. He defeats Blue and his Charizard with Saur and emerges as the Champion of the 9th Pokémon League competition. This makes him interesting to the Elite Four, who are watching the battle from the side.

Yellow chapter
At the beginning of the second chapter, two years after the end of the previous chapter, Red receives an invitation to battle Bruno of the Elite Four at Mt. Moon. During the battle, Bruno stops to let several Diglett and Dugtrio pass and then Agatha uses her mind controlling powers over him to render him incapable of further battle. Red is then confronted by Lorelei and Agatha, who want him to join them in their quest to wipe out humanity for the sake of Pokémon. They also want information about Giovanni so they can find the Earth Badge to power the Badge Energy Amplifier that Agatha retrieved at the[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Silph_Co. Silph Co.] rubble. When he tells the truth, Lorelei freezes him in a block of ice, making everybody think that he has disappeared since nobody else had seen him for over a month. Only Pika escapes and makes it to Professor Oak's laboratory, where he teams up with Yellow.

Red's frozen ice sculpture is found by Brock in Mt. Moon, but Red is nowhere to be found. Even Bruno, looking for Red so they could finish the battle that they started, can't trace him. As revealed at the end of the chapter, Giovanni eventually rescued Red, enabling him to seek out his friends and help them fight the Elite Four on Cerise Island. Red arrives just in time to save Bill and Lt. Surge, finally finishing his battle with Bruno.

Gold, Silver & Crystal chapter
Red is offered the newly open position of Viridian City Gym Leader, and even though he passes the test easily, he has to turn it down due to injuries he suffered from being frozen. He is also asked to help Yellow deal with findingLugia in Johto, but also turns it down for the same reason. He learns from Blue where to heal his wounds and leaves to recuperate at the springs in Mt. Silver with Blue's Charizard and Green's Blastoise, where he meets Sabrina, also there to heal the same injuries. Sabrina informs him of the Gym Leaders meeting in the Pokémon League, and he later arrives at the scene in time to save Blue, Brock, and Erika from a train crash.

Red and Blue then travel underground with Blue's new Rhydon towards Ilex Forest, where the villainous Masked Manheaded. Along the way they meet Bruno and Koga, two former enemies, who help them on their way and tell them about Celebi.

When they arrive at Ilex Forest, Red, Blue, and the other main characters then team up with several legendary Pokémon to help fight the Masked Man. During the battle Red finally learns that Yellow is a girl. At the end of the story, Gold becomes impressed with Red and goes to train under him at Mt. Silver.

FireRed & LeafGreen chapter
Red and Blue meet at Professor Oak's lab, where they find messages mysteriously asking them to leave their Pokédexes and head to Vermilion City. Once there, the two board the Seagallop Ferry to the Sevii Islands, where they also find Greenbeing attacked by Deoxys. They are soon confronted by the new Team Rocket Admins, the Beast Warrior Trio, as well asDeoxys, who is under control of Giovanni. As it turns out, Professor Oak has been kidnapped by Team Rocket again.

Red undergoes special training under Kimberly on Boon Island, where his Venusaur learns the legendary Grass-type moveFrenzy Plant. However, he is still defeated by Deoxys, who he shares a strange connection with. Red loses his confidence, but eventually regains the will to fight in order to understand the meaning of his connection to Deoxys.

Mewtwo shows up and offers to battle under Red's command to get revenge on Deoxys. The two arrive at the Team Rocket helicopter hovering above Viridian City, where Giovanni is searching for his long-lost son. After a very long and fierce battle, Mewtwo manages to defeat Deoxys. However, victory is short as Carr, one of the Beast Warrior Trio, rebels against Team Rocket and, after placing his Forretress all over the helicopter and ordering them to use Explosion, takes over the helicopter. While Deoxys transports everyone else aboard to safety, Red stays behind to defeat the Forretress and stop the aircraft from blowing up over Vermilion City. In the process, he discovers that Deoxys absorbed a sample of his blood when it broke free from Team Rocket's lab.

At the end of the chapter, Red is turned to stone along with the other main characters by Sird's beam intended for Deoxys.

Emerald chapter
Red, along with Blue, Green, Silver, and Yellow, still statues, were transported in boxes on the S.S. Tidal by the other main characters to the Battle Frontier for their salvation. For most of this chapter, Red, along with four other Pokédex holders, remained frozen in stone. It was only towards the end of the chapter that he and the others were liberated by Emerald with the help of the wish-granting legendary Pokémon Jirachi. Free again, Red and the others helped fight Guile Hideout.

Pokémon
Red's Pokémon nicknames are taken from two syllables from their Japanese language-version names.

Status unknown
This is a listing of Pokémon that Red owned but which were not listed in the full character Pokémon listings at the end of Volume 15, nor seen since then. It's possible that Red has released or traded them since their last appearances.

Indigo League
Red only has seven of the eight Kanto Gym badges. Although he defeated Giovanni at Viridian Gym, he has not obtained the Earth Badge.

The badges Red has obtained were not won in the traditional order. He earned them as follows:


 * Boulder Badge in Onix is On!
 * Cascade Badge in Suddenly Starmie
 * Rainbow Badge in Meanvile...Vileplume!
 * Volcano Badge in Holy Moltres
 * Thunder Badge in Zap! Zap! Zapdos!
 * Soul Badge in The Art of Articuno
 * Marsh Badge in A Little Kadabra'll Do It

Trivia

 * Red's Pokémon were not nicknamed in VIZ Media's translations of Pokémon Adventures (except Pika). Their English nicknames were first officially used in Chuang Yi's translations of the FireRed and LeafGreen Chapter. Coincidentally, they are exactly the same as Coronis's nicknames, coined long before Chuang Yi.
 * However, VIZ has recently begun to use nicknames for Red's other Pokémon beginning in Volume 9.
 * Red's birthday is August 8th.
 * Red's blood type is O.
 * This gives Red the same birth month and blood type as his main nemesis, Giovanni.
 * Red and Emerald are the only Pokédex holders with no revealed family members.
 * Although Emerald has once mentioned his deceased parents.