Red's Nidoking

**Nidoking** was the first wild Pokémon Red caught.

## History

### As a Nidoran Male

Nidoran Male first appeared attacking Red when the latter travelled to the Indigo Plateau on Route 22. Red called Charmander for help, and the two fought. Charmander managed to weaken Nidoran Male enough for Red to capture him. It was successful, and Red went to the Pokémon Center to heal his team. Afterwards, Red trained Nidoran Male against several wild Pokémon, eventually learning Horn Attack.

During Red's second Pokémon Battle with Blue, Nidoran Male was the first Pokémon used and fought the latter's Pidgey. The two fight, but Pidgey blinds Nidoran Male with Sand Attack, lowering his accuracy. Red swaps Nidoran Male for Charmander, but he was brought back to fight Squirtle. He used Horn Attack to defeat Squirtle and secure Red a win.

At the Pewter City Gym, Nidoran Male fought a Jr. Trainer's Diglet and easily beated it. During Red's fight against Brock, Nidoran Male was sent out after Pikachu weakened Geodude's attack with Growl. After trading blows, Red recalled him for Charmander to finish Geodude out. Then, Nidoran Male was used as part of Red's strategy of weakening Onix, using Leer to weaken the latter's defense enough so Charmander could finish the Rock Snake Pokémon.

When Red entered Mt. Moon, Nidoran Male defeated a Zubat after Magikarp proved to be useless due to only knowing Splash. Afterwards, Nidoran Male evolved into Nidorino.

### As a Nidorino

As Red continued to travel through Mt. Moon, he found a Moon Stone which caught Nidorino's notice. Later, Nidorino found another Moon Stone after Red defeated two Team Rocket Grunts. When Red fought an wild Ekans, Nidorino was used to weaken the wild Pokémon in an attempt to capture it. However, Ekans broke out of the Great Ball, and Red decided to run away.

In Red's Gym Battle against Misty, Nidorino was summoned after the former recalled Paras. Nidorino used a powerful Tackle to knock out Staryu, and was later used against Starmie. Despite managing to poison Starmie with Poison Sting, the latter knocked Nidorino out with a Water Gun.

During Red's third battle against Blue, Nidorino was sent out to fight the latter's Rattata. Nidorino easily defeated Rattata with Horn Attack, due to the latter getting weakened by Paras.

When Red and Misty met Bill, the latter offered to record Nidorino and Clefairy's evolutions after the former revealed that he had two Moon Stones. Nidorino received a Moon Stone and broke it in her hands, evolving into Nidoking.

### As a Nidoking

Nidoking was used as Red's fifth Pokémon against Blue's Raticate on board the SS Anne. The two Pokémon fight, but Nidoking proved too much for Raticate. Nidoking managed to poison Raticate with Poison Sting and continues wailing on the latter, but things took a turn for the worse when he threw the Mouse Pokémon overboard and into the sea. The match was cancelled, and the accident became tragic when it turned out Raticate died from drowning.

Nidoking was briefly used to fight a Vermillion Gym Trainer's Pokémon, and was later used to fight Lt. Surge's Pikachu. Due to his Ground typing, Nidoking was unaffected by Pikachu's Electric attacks and grabbed a hold of the Mouse Pokémon before punching it repeatedly. However, that caused Red to imagine Nidoking doing the same to Blue's Raticate and he was unable to go through with it. Red recalled Nidoking, but was forced to bring him back out when Lt. Surge's Raichu knocked out the rest of his team. Raichu's Thunderbolts did not effect Nidoking, and Red had him use Poison Sting to knock out Raichu, winning the Gym Battle.

When Red went back to Pallet Town to clear his mind, he made the hard decision to box Nidoking, realizing he can no longer use his Pokémon properly after what happened on the SS Anne. Despite the struggle of doing so, Nidoking understood his Trainer's tough decision and willingly puts himself in his Poké Ball and into Storage.

## Known Moves

 Leer
 Horn Attack
 Poison Sting

## Trivia

* He is the first of Red's Pokémon that reached his full evolutionary stage, along with Clefable.