Gary's Arcanine

Unknown (JN102)
Marc Thompson (JN102-present)

**Gary's Arcanine** (Japanese: **シゲルのウインディ** *Shigeru's Windie*) was a Pokémon obtained by Gary during his journey in the Kanto region.

## History

#### Kanto

Arcanine debuted in *The Battle of the Badge*. Gary sent it out to battle Giovanni's Kingler at the Viridian City Gym. Despite having a type disadvantage, Arcanine came out on top and defeated the Water-type opponent. However, both his Arcanine and Nidoking were then easily defeated by Mewtwo, leaving Gary confused as to both why he lost and what kind of Pokémon he had just battled.

This battle was seen again briefly from Mewtwo's perspective in *Mewtwo Strikes Back* and its remake *Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution*.

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#### Johto

In *Extreme Pokémon!*, Gary used Arcanine to compete in the Extreme Pokémon Race. Ash initially thought Gary was mistreating the Pokémon, but after learning that it wasn't hurt, he competed as well. Ash decided to compete with his Bayleef, which proved to be a good choice. During the competition, Team Rocket tried to catch Arcanine. They failed, however, thanks to Ash's intervention and after defeating the trio with the help of Gary, both decided to continue the competition where Ash ultimately defeated Gary with great effort in his first victory over his great rival.

In *Can't Beat the Heat!*, Gary used Arcanine during the second half of his Silver Conference battle against Ash, where it was pitted against Ash's Snorlax. Although it dodged Snorlax's Body Slam, Arcanine's Take Down and Fire Spin had minimal effect on Snorlax, who then knocked it out with Hyper Beam.

After he decided to become a Pokémon Researcher, Gary left Arcanine, along with most of his other Pokémon, with his grandfather.

### Pokémon Journeys: The Series

In *Battling in the Freezing Raid!*, Gary was revealed to have recalled Arcanine to his team. He used it as his third Pokémon during his Raid Battle against an Articuno, but despite landing some powerful hits, it was eventually defeated by a Sheer Cold.

## Personality and characteristics

 File:Gary and Arcanine.png
 File:Gary Arcanine M22.png
Arcanine is one of the strongest Pokémon on Gary's team. In its first appearance, it was strong enough to beat an opponent with a type advantage in only three blows. Arcanine was fast enough to put Gary in a comfortable position in the Extreme Pokémon Race even with the many unforeseen events that occurred during the race's duration. Gary appears to have enough confidence in Arcanine that he even kissed his Poké Ball before sending it into battle. In addition, in the Japanese version of its debut episode, Gary refers to Arcanine as being "My honey" (ぼくのハニー), strongly suggesting that it was one of his favorite Pokémon.

Arcanine is shown to help its teammates in battle, as seen in *Battling in the Freezing Raid!*, where it took a Sheer Cold attack meant for Horace's Bayleef and saved it from getting knocked out so it would still be helpful in battle.

## Moves used

 A **†** shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.

* Arcanine couldn't legally learn Fire Spin at the time in *The Battle of the Badge*.

## Trivia

 File:Gary Growlithe.png
* Apart from Pokémon Yellow, Gary's core series counterpart, Blue, uses Arcanine in all his core series teams where he does not use a Charizard.
* In the Japanese opening, The Rivals, and its English equivalent, Pokémon World, Gary is shown with a Growlithe. Gary's counterpart in Pokémon Puzzle League also appears to use the same Pokémon, which evolves in the progress of the game, but it is unknown if it is the same case in the anime.
* During its debut episode, Arcanine was seen using Fire Spin. However, Arcanine was unable to learn Fire Spin at the time, only becoming able to learn it from Generation II onward.
* Before Gary’s starter Pokémon was revealed, his Arcanine was commonly depicted as his signature Pokémon in other media such as Pokémon Puzzle League and Pokémon Master Trainer (1999).