Red's Charizard

**Charizard** is Red's Starter Pokémon.

## History

### As a Charmander

When Red started his journey, he picked Charmander as his starter Pokémon. Afterwards, Blue challenged Red to their first Pokémon battle, using his Squirtle against the latter's Charmander. Although Squirtle was tough with Tackle and Growl, Charmander managed to win after landing a powerful Scratch attack and knocking the former against a bookcase.

Charmander helped Red traverse through Route 1 safely to and from Viridian City on the duos first day, and later weakened a Nidoran Male on Route 22 before Red caught him. In his second battle against Blue, Red used Charmander to fight Pidgey after the latter weakened Nidoran Male's accuracy, and used Ember after tanking a Gust attack. But when Blue used Squirtle's Bubbles against Charmander, he got weakened due to the type disadvantage. Red wisely recalled Charmander for Nidoran Male after remembering the Trainer School lectures.

During Red's travels through the Viridian Forest, Charmander fought a wild Pikachu and weakened him enough for Red to capture the yellow mouse.

When Red challenged the Pewter City Gym, Charmander fought a Jr. Trainer's Sandshrew and defeated it. During the fight against Brock, Red used Charmander to defeat Geodude after Pikachu and Nidoran Male weakened the former. Despite Charmander's insistence on fighting Onix, Red kept him on standby as he enacted a status weakening strategy with Pikachu and Nidoran Male. Once Onix's attack and defense was lowered, Charmander was sent out and tanked a weak Bide before finishing the former with Ember, securing Red's first Gym Battle victory. The following day, Brock taught Charmander how to use Bide and he successfully mastered it.

As Red travelled through Route 4, he used Charmander to fight off different Pokémon the Trainers threw at him. Eventually, Charmander evolved into Charmeleon after defeating a Trainer's Spearow.

### As a Charmeleon

In Red's journey through Mt. Moon, Charmeleon fought a Geodude his Trainer tripped over, and helped Red capture it. He later received a stat boosting vitamin from Red, and defeated a Lass's Oddish after it defeated Geodude and Magikarp. When Red came across two Team Rocket Grunts holding a Super Nerd hostage, Charmeleon was sent out to defeat them. When the Super Nerd fought Red for the fossils he had, Charmeleon easily defeated the former's Pokémon team.

Charmeleon was Red's second Pokémon during the latter's third fight with Blue. Charmeleon easily defeated Abra due to the latter only knowing Teleport, and handed it back to an embarrassed Blue by the tail.

When Red fought the Team Rocket Grunt that led the Nugget Bridge Trainers, Charmeleon was used to take out the latter's team. Days later, Charmeleon was used fight another Grunt's Drowzee. Despite getting confused by the Grunt's Drowzee, Charmeleon managed to defeat the latter and forced the Grunt to return TM - 28 Dig.

On board the SS Anne, Red used Charmeleon as his fourth Pokemon to fight against Blue. Charmeleon fought against Kadabra, and after a brief bout against Confusion, he knocked the latter out with Scratch. Then, Charmeleon and Raticate went back and forth and he uses Ember to try and burn the latter. However, Raticate jumped out of the fire and defeats the former with Bite.

During Red's Gym Battle against Lt. Surge, Charmeleon was the former's second Pokémon to be used. He used Bide to defeat Surge's Voltorb, but against Pikachu, he struggled due to the latter using X Speed to dodge his Ember. He was knocked out by Pikachu using Thundershock.

After Red's break, he returned to Vermilion City and trained with Lt. Surge. Charmeleon was part of the training regiment and was later seen taking out a group of Magnemites and Magnetons from two Engineers. One Gambler tried to use Vulpix to attack Charmeleon from behind, but Pikachu came to his aid and used Thunderbolt to knock Vulpix out.

At the Celadon Department Store, Red gave Charmeleon a TM to learn Mega Punch. Also, Red offered Charmeleon a Fire Stone, but he rejected it after a quick sniff.

At the Team Rocket Hideout, Charmeleon was out when Red sucker punched a Grunt after seeing the latter rip out the skull of a Marowak. Charmeleon burned the money another Grunt was counting, and joined Leaf's Bulbasaur in fighting the Grunt's Pokémon. As more Grunts appeared, Charmeleon gets restrained by the Grunts' Pokémon. Both Red and Charmeleon get pummeled by the Grunt and their Pokémon, and the latter grows enraged to see his Trainer abused. The rage burrowing inside Charmeleon caused something to awaken and slowly, he begins evolving into his next stage. Charmeleon grows bigger than the Pokémon restraining him, his color changes back to orange, and he grows wings from his back. After a primal roar from Red and Charmeleon, the latter knocks away the Pokémon restraining him and completes his evolution to Charizard.

### As a Charizard

Charizard, along with the rest of Red's team, confronted Giovanni in his office to end the Game Corner scheme. Charizard fought Giovanni's Kangaskhan and the two went back and forth. Even though Kangaskhan used Comet Punch, Charizard retaliated with Mega Punch. Then, Charizard grabbed Kangaskhan from behind and used Seismic Toss to knock the latter out.

## Known Moves

 Growl
 Ember
 Bide
 Mega Punch
 Seismic Toss

## Trivia

* As a Charmander, Charizard was the first Pokémon to win a battle on screen.
* He is the first Pokémon that was shown evolving on screen.