Editing Red

| voiced by=[[Michele Knotz]] (2008)<br />[[Billy Bob Thompson]] (2018)<br />Brandon Winckler (2019)

'''Red''' is the playable protagonist of the first generation ''[[Portal: Pokémon|Pokémon]]'' games (''[[Pokémon: Red, Green and Blue Versions|Pokémon: Red, Green, Blue]]'', ''[[Pokémon: Yellow Version|Yellow]]'', ''[[Pokémon: FireRed and LeafGreen Versions|FireRed and LeafGreen Versions]]'') and the most well-known of the game's main trainers. In addition to his original playable appearance, he has also made guest appearances in several other generations as an optional opponent. In ''FireRed''/''LeafGreen'', it was optional to choose a female trainer instead, who is officially known as [[Leaf]].

He reappeared in ''[[Pokémon: Black and White Versions 2|Black 2 and White 2]]'' as a potential opponent in the Champions Tournament of the Pokémon World Tournament at [[Unova]]. Red also made an appearance in ''[[Pokémon Sun and Moon|Sun, Moon]]'', ''[[Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon|Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon]]'', where he and Blue were called over to the [[Alola Islands]] to run the Battle Tree. When Alola's champion, [[Elio/Selene]], first approached the battle tree, Red and Blue met with them, and the trainer could challenge one of the two to a battle. Within the Battle Tree itself, Red could be faced as a boss in Single Battles or as part of a team with Blue in Multi Battles.

The ''[[Pokémon: Let's Go!|Let's Go!]]'' remakes featured an alternate storyline in which Red and Blue had gone on their Pokémon journeys prior to events featured in the first generation games. Some of the key differences from this were that Red's confrontations with Team Rocket did not take place, and the trainers had to record information about the Pokémon they caught with a pencil and paper, as the Pokédex had not yet been invented. His journey still had the same ending, as he still defeated the Elite Four and Blue to become a champion and was known as a past champion. In these games, it was [[Chase/Elaine]] who acted in the role of the protagonist and took down Team Rocket while taking on the Pokémon League.

Red himself would appear outside the Pokémon League Headquarters at Indigo Plateau if the player had defeated at least six Master Trainers and had a full party of six Pokémon in their party. Red would then challenge them to a battle, and the player would earn the time of Battle Master if they managed to defeat Red. Red would then reappear for rematches each time the Elite Four was defeated.

In ''[[Pokémon Stadium 2]]'', Red appeared as the last trainer whom players battle in the combined Gym Leader Castle. In ''[[Pokémon Colosseum]]'' and ''[[Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness]]'', Red or Leaf appeared as the player's avatar when playing Battle Mode with a ''FireRed'' or ''LeafGreen'' game connected, depending on the gender chosen by the player. Additionally, one trailer for ''[[Pokémon Battle Revolution]]'' featured a battle between Red (using [[Deoxys]] in Attack Forme and [[Wailord]]) and Leaf (using [[Groudon]] and [[Pikachu]]), although the two were absent from the final game.

Ash Ketchum, the anime counterpart of Red, appeared as the main character of ''[[Pokémon Puzzle League]]''. Professor Oak invited him to the Puzzle Village, and he competed in the tournament there to become a "Puzzle Master". In ''[[Pokémon Go]]'', parts of Red's ''FireRed''/''LeafGreen'' outfit were made available as free Style options to commemorate Pokémon Day 2018.

 

Red was featured as a playable trainer who formed sync pairs with other Pokémon in ''[[Pokémon Masters EX]]''. The first version of Red to be made available was a Sygna Suit variant paired with [[Charizard]] (which could Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard X) that could be recruited at random through the Sync Pair Scout feature during limited time periods starting in August 2020. Three other variations of Red were later made available during limited time periods: one in his normal outfit (from ''FireRed''/''LeafGreen'') paired with a Snorlax (which could [[Dynamax|Gigantamax]]) that was first made available in September 2021, a Thunderbolt Sygna Suit paired with a Pikachu (also capable of Gigantamaxing) that was first available in September 2022 and a Neo Champion variant paired with [[Articuno]] that was first made available in August 2023. In keeping with Red's depiction in the main games, Red was depicted as being silent at most times in this game, aside from laughing and making reaction noises. There were some rare instances of him having some dialogue such as during his Sync Pair Story, when he briefly spoke to [[Flint (Pokemon)|Flint]] just to tell him that words were unnecessary, and Flint was left stunned by hearing Red speak. This game also depicted Leaf as part of a trio with Red and Blue who set out from Pallet Town at the same time with Professor Oak's other starter Pokémon.

 

Ash Ketchum was also included in the game as a promtional tie-in with the Masters 8 tournament arc of the ''Pokémon Journeys'' anime series that was airing in Japan at the time. Ash was paired with his Pikachu and was first made available at the end of August 2022. Ash was in the midst of preparing for the tournament when he arrived at Pasio and was depicted using the same team that he had at the time in the anime (Pikachu, [[Gengar]], [[Dragonite]], [[Lucario]], [[Sirfetch'd]] and [[Dracovish]]). His Gengar could Gigantamax, and his Lucario could Mega Evolve. This marked Ash's second appearance in a video game and the first time he was shown co-existing alongside characters from the game canon, including Red.

 

 

Within the PML Arc of game's Main Story, Red and Leaf were both shown to have made it to the finals of [[Pokémon Masters League]] tournament, and Red was mentioned as having been a past opponent of [[Lear]]'s. Being defeated by Red in the past (after Red showed up at Lear's homeland during his travels) was what part of the reason why Lear started the PML, as an avenue in which he could get back at Red. It was ultimately shown that Red, Leaf and Blue made up a team together, and they were the last opponents faced in Chapter 30 of the Main Story, in the final match of the PML tournament. It was shown that prior to the battle, Red spoke up in order to acknowledge Blue's desire to have a battle. Ultimately, Red's team lost the championship battle to [[Scottie/Bettie]]'s team, and Red spoke again to congratulate them.

 

 

Ash Ketchum was originally featured in the "Classic Thunderbolt" event, in which Ash suddenly found himself in Pasio after getting lost while training for the tournament. After meeting with Scottie/Bettie and [[Tina]], he trained with the latter to learn about sync battles. He helped her to deal with problems she was having with her [[Flareon]], which reminded him of issues he had with his Charmander when it evolved into Charmeleon and then Charizard in the anime. He also helped to take on members of [[Team Break]] and challenged [[Lear]] to a battle. Lear made a minor reference to Ash's similarity to Red, as he became irritated with Ash to the point where commented on his dislike for "trainers who wear hats" (which started with Red). Ash was later featured in the "Blazing Battle with Ash" Story Event, in which he took part in  a Single Battle Tournament that was being held for newly-arrived trainers, in which trainers could battle using three of their Pokémon as opposed to the sync pair battles that were the norm on Pasio. The winner would get to go up against [[Scottie/Bettie]], the winner of the Pokémon Masters League Tournament, even though they had not been informed of this beforehand. Ash used all of his Pokémon over the course of the tournament and ultimately won over Scottie/Bettie. Lear then reminded Ash that they were supposed to battle as well, and so he teamed up with Scottie/Bettie and Tina against him as the chapter closed. Red and Leaf also appeared during that event, as they spectated the tournament due to Red's curiosity about the new trainer. Red seemed to be impressed by Ash's performance, and Leaf assured him that they would have the chance to battle someday, which caused Red to give one of his rare spoken lines: "...I'll be waiting".

 

Red was also featured in the "Threads of Strength" Story Event, in which he had donned his Thunderbolt Sygna Suit while preparing to battle [[Cynthia]] for the Pasio Festival. A younger Camper also pretended to be Ash's friend and had a [[Ditto]] pose as Red until Cynthia saw through his lie and made him repent. The Camper was later threatened by members of Team Rocket, who believed his lie and wanted to use him to get Red out of their business. Red and Cynthia teamed up to defeat the grunts, at which point they were overcome by the desire to battle and started their battle early. In the Neo Champion Event "Three Trainers, Three Minds", Professor Oak tasked Red, Leaf and Blue with competing in working with young trainers in a Neo Champion Stadium competition, and the three of them decided to use Kanto's Legendary Birds while undertaking this task. Red appeared to be pushing his charges hard by constantly battling them, to the concern of Leaf and Blue, but it ultimately turned out that it was his way of teaching them to go at any opponent without losing. Red, Leaf and Blue all succeeded at earning the Neo Champion titles from Professor Oak.

In the ''[[Portal: Super Smash Bros.|Super Smash Bros.]]'' series, Red has appeared as a playable fighter and has been referred to solely as "Pokémon Trainer". Rather than being directly playable, the Pokémon Trainer stands in the background of stages and switches between three Pokémon who are actually the playable fighters: [[Ivysaur]], [[Squirtle]] and [[Charizard]]. He was initially featured in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' and was left out of ''[[Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U]]'' (in favor of making Charizard into a solo fighter) before returning as an unlockable fighter in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''. ''Ultimate'' also added a female counterpart who was available through his alternate costumes, whose design was based on Leaf. Additionally, Red's hat has been worn by [[Pikachu]] as one of its alternate costumes in every game of the series from ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'' onwards.

In ''Brawl'''s "The Subspace Emissary", the Pokémon Trainer was first seen in the Ruined Zoo, where he helped to protect [[Lucas]] in a battle against the Subspace Army. His Ivysaur and Charizard had gone missing, as the only Pokémon he still had was his Squirtle. The two hunted down the remaining Pokémon, eventually finding Ivysaur in the ruins and recapturing Charizard after defeating it in battle. They also battled [[Wario]] and the [[Galleom]]. Galleom attempted to self-destruct to finish them off, but Lucas saved them both by destroying the Galleom's arm, and [[Meta Knight]] caught them to save them from the fall. They then joined up with the main party for the remainder of the game.

*In the ''Pokémon'' anime, the protagonist named Ash Ketchum was based on the character of Red. His rival Gary was similarly based on Blue, although the battles between Ash and Gary usually resulted in stalemates or Gary's victory, until Ash finally defeated him in the Silver Conference at the end of the series based on the second generation games. Ash also battled Team Rocket constantly, but he never had a final battle with Giovanni or got the organization to disband. Unlike Red, Ash also had traveling companions such as [[Misty]] and [[Brock]], and he was also known for his [[Pikachu]] that did not stay in a Poké Ball, which has been his only companion to remain with him throughout each series. Instead of the Elite Four, Ash competed in a tournament at Indigo Plateau which he lost. In later series, he continued to journey through [[Johto]], [[Hoenn]], [[Sinnoh]], [[Unova]], [[Kalos]] and the [[Alola Islands]], and he usually gained new traveling companions for each region. He won the championship of the Orange Islands, a region created for the anime, and eventually became the champion of Alola. For the ''Pokémon Journeys'' series that started in 2020, Ash traveled between several regions, including [[Galar]], while competing in a worldwide tournament called the World Coronation Series and became the world champion by defeating [[Leon (Pokemon)|Leon]]. This set up the conclusion to Ash's character after he had acted as the main protagonist of the anime for 25 years.

*Ash appeared in the ''Electric Tale of Pikachu'' manga, which was based on the anime series. This featured a different version of Ash's adventures in Kanto and the Orange Islands, and it ended with him traveling with Gary.

*Red was featured in the ''Pokémon Adventures'' manga, being the main character of the original ''Red''/''Blue''/''Green'' arc and playing important roles in later arcs. In this story, he had both a [[Bulbasaur]] as his starter Pokémon and a rebellious Pikachu that he tamed. With the help of Blue and Green, as well as the good gym leaders such as Brock, Misty, [[Erika]] and [[Blaine]], he defeated Team Rocket over the course of the arc. Afterwards, he won the Pokémon League championship by defeating Blue and aided Blaine in capturing the rebellious [[Mewtwo]]. During the ''Yellow'' arc, he was challenged by [[Bruno]] of the Elite Four, but it was a trap that resulted in him being frozen by [[Agatha]], until he was freed by [[Giovanni]]. He showed up to help the other trainers with the final battles against the Elite Four and defeated Bruno. In the ''Gold''/''Silver''/''Crystal'' arc, he recovered from the partial paralysis caused by his freezing at Mt. Silver, and it was shown that he initially won the Viridian City gym leader position, only to turn it down. He went to Johto to battle [[Pryce|the Mask of Ice]] and then was dragged off by Gold to train with him. Misty and Yellow were also established as two potential love interests for him. Red was next featured on an adventure with Blue, Green and company in the ''FireRed''/''LeafGreen'' arc. Though the trainers were all turned into statues at the end of the arc, they were restored by [[Jirachi]]'s wish near the end of the ''Emerald'' arc, leading to all of the ten Pokédex-bearing trainers uniting against [[Archie]] and his artificial [[Kyogre]]. Red's specialty among the Pokédex trainers was shown to be Pokémon battling.

*Red is known for never speaking in any of his appearances in the main games, something which Blue jokingly points out on occasion. His dialogue is only ever shown as sets of ellipses with punctuation marks to show his mood. The closest thing to dialogue he has in any game are the words that Copycat echoes to him in the first generation games. When counting spin-off games, Red did speak on occasion in ''Pokémon Masters EX'', although he was otherwise mostly silent.