Appendix:FireRed and LeafGreen walkthrough/Section 1

Section 01: The Boulder Badge

A Quest's Beginning...

At the start, you have to listen to Professor Oak give a brief speech about Pokémon; then you get to choose whether you play as a Boy or a Girl, and you get to name your Rival.

After the opening speech you find yourself in your room standing if front of your TV. There’s a PC in the top left corner of your room, go to it and start it up. Choose "Item Storage", then "Withdraw Item" and take out the one (1) Potion that is in there.

Next, go down the stairs that are in the top right corner of your room and talk to your mom. She’ll tell you that Prof. Oak from the house next door was looking for you and that you need to speak with him. Exit your house through the red carpet near the bottom left corner of the room.

Go to the house next door and you meet Daisy, your Rival’s sister, and she tells you that your Rival is at his grandpa, Prof. Oak’s, lab. Leave the house and go to the lab, which can be found directly south of your Rival’s House.

Once in the Lab, go to the very back and talk to your Rival. He tells you that Prof. Oak isn’t around so you have to go looking for him. Exit the Lab and head North toward the Exit for Pallet Town. Prof. Oak will stop you just before you reach the grassy area and tell you that it’s unsafe to travel without a Pokémon to protect you. He’ll then lead you to his Lab where a conversation between your Rival, Prof. Oak and yourself ensues. Now comes the first major decision of the game. Which starter will you choose? Bulbasaur, the Grass-type Pokémon, is in the left-most Poké ball on the table. Squirtle, the Water-type Pokémon, can be found in the middle Poké ball on the table. Charmander, the Fire-type Pokémon, is in the right-most Poké ball on the table. Choose wisely.

Now that you’ve chosen your starter Pokémon, your Rival chooses his starter Pokémon, but beware, for he’ll choose the Pokémon that is good against the Pokémon you chose (i.e. If you choose Grass he takes Fire, if you take Fire he’ll take Water, and if you take Water he’ll take Grass). Now that both of you have chosen your starter Pokémon it’s time to leave the Lab, but before you can, your Rival stops you and challenges you to a Pokémon Battle. Do not worry about your Rival’s Pokémon being a type that is good against yours, for his Pokémon will not have a move of its own type this early in the game. This battle will allow you to get a feel for how the battle system works.

• Note: There are rumors that sometimes your Rival will take the Pokémon that is Weak to your own, though it has never been recorded...
  

Pokémon Trainer Rival would like to battle!
Pokémon Trainer Rival sent out...

While you’re battling your Rival, Prof. Oak will explain some things about battling and the moves that you use while battling. And if you find yourself low on health during this battle, use the Potion that you took from your PC at the beginning of the game. To use an Item during battle go to Bag and it’ll automatically put you in the Items Pocket of your bag, then you choose your Item, in this case Potion (it’ll be the only Item in there), press the A button on it, and then Use. You’ll have to choose the Pokémon to use it on, in this case your Starter (the only one you have), and it will restore you Pokémon’s health. Do the best you can against your Rival and don’t worry about losing this battle, all it is for is so you can get used to the Battle System.

On the Road to Viridian City

Now that the battle is over, exit the Lab and head North toward the exit for Pallet Town again. This time you won’t be stopped and you’ll enter into Route 1. The first person you see on Route 1 is a Poké Mart employee; talk to him and he’ll give you a Potion. The Pokémon that can be found in Route 1 are:

It wouldn’t hurt to battle some of these weaker Pokémon to level your starter up a bit while making your way North toward Viridian City. Make sure, however, that your Pokémon doesn't faint-if your health gets low, you can return to your mom in Pallet Town to heal.

Viridian City, Round 1

Once in Viridian City, you’ll find a building with a red roof. That is a Pokémon Center where you can heal your Pokémon if they are low on health, have a status ailment or even have fainted. From the Pokémon Center, go to your right a bit and then up, you’ll see a building with a blue roof. That is a Pokémon Mart, where you can buy assorted Items to help you in your Quest to be a Pokémon Master. Go into the PokéMart and the clerk will ask you if you came from Pallet Town and if you know Prof. Oak. He’ll then give you a Package for Prof. Oak and ask you to deliver it for him. Go back to Pallet Town and give Oak the package.

Your Rival will show up once you give Oak the Package and wonder what he was called back to the Lab for. Oak will then tell both of you about a request he has. He’ll give both you and your Rival each a Pokédex and ask that you two work on completing it. He’ll also give you 5 Poké Balls each to help you complete his request. Once the conversation ends, exit the Lab and go to your Rival’s house and talk to Daisy for a Town Map. Once again, make your way toward Viridian city.

Now that you have Poké Balls, you can catch wild Pokémon. To catch a wild Pokémon it is best to get its health down into the red and then throw a Poké Ball; your chances of catching it will increase markedly. To use a Poké Ball, go to Bag while in a battle with a wild Pokémon, find the Balls Pocket (sounds funny, I know *snickers*) and press the A button on Poké Ball (the only item you currently have in that Pocket), then Use. You’ll throw the Poké Ball and, depending on how low you got its health, it will either break out of the Ball or stay in. If it breaks out just try again. If you're lucky and it stays in, then congratulations! You've caught a Pokémon.

Once you are back in Viridian City you may need to heal if you haven’t done so before now. From the Pokémon Center go left toward Route 22 and right as the dirt path starts there’s a little space for you to go up, do so and you’ll find a Potion. Go back to the dirt path and continue on to Route 22. There will be a grassy area that you can find wild Pokémon in and I suggest doing some Leveling up here before moving on to the next part. Level 10 should be good enough for what is to come. The Pokémon that can be found on Route 22 are:

• Quick suggestion: If you chose Charmander as your Starter I’d suggest catching a Mankey here to prepare you for later on.
  

Now that you’ve done some leveling up, go past the grassy area, toward Route 23, and you will run into your Rival again. He’ll tell you that it’s useless to go that way without the 8 Pokémon League Gym Badges and then challenge you to a battle. His Pokémon will be stronger than it was last time, and he’s even picked up another, but thanks to your leveling up, you should be fine.

Pokémon Trainer Rival wants to Battle!
Pokémon Trainer Rival sent out...

Then...

After you battle with your Rival go back to Viridian City, as you’ll probably need to heal then go North toward Route 2. A man will stop you and apologize for being rude earlier, (if you had tried to leave Viridian City before delivering the Parcel to Prof. Oak, he would have prevented you from doing so), and then show you how to catch wild Pokémon. After the demonstration, in Fire Red or Leaf Green he gives you the Key Item Teach TV, which can help you along in your many quests exploring the Pokémon world. In the classic games, he gives you nothing, but is an initatior to the Missingno. quest

Viridian Forest

Once the old man is finished with you, keep going North and you’ll reach Route 2 and then Viridian Forest. The Pokémon found in Route 2 are:

The Pokémon found in Viridian Forest are:

• Quick Suggestion: If you chose Squirtle or Charmander as your starter I’d suggest catching a Pikachu to prepare you for later on.
  

As soon as you’re inside, go immediately to the left then up and you’ll find a Poké Ball on the ground. Go to you right as far as you can then down and you’ll be back where you started. This time go all the way to your right and you’ll see a Bug Catcher talking about he ran out of Poké Balls. Behind him is a Potion. Go up from there and soon you’ll be challenged to a battle. It’s a Bug Catcher so if you’ve caught a Pidgey or Spearow by now he should be a piece of cake. Keep going up and you run into another Bug Catcher. This one you have a chance to avoid and not battle if you didn’t go through the grass on the left from the last Bug Catcher. I’d reccommend battling everyone, however, as it’ll give your Pokémon much-needed experience. Keep going up from him and soon you find an Antidote, which cures the Poison status ailment. It will be very useful if Weedle does get a Poison Sting off and poisons your Pokémon before it faints. For every 5 steps you take, the poisoning will take 1 HP off your Pokémon; this will do great damage to low-level Pokémon. Just up a short way north of the Antidote is a split in the path. You could go right away from the grass, but you’d have to battle another Bug Catcher. If you go left through the grass you wouldn’t have to battle him, but you’ll encounter many Wild Pokémon. From here it’s very easy to find the way to the exit of Viridian Forest, so make your way out. You’ll have to battle two other Bug Catchers, but as with the others, they’re rather easy.

Pewter City

Once back on Route 2 follow the path North to Pewter City. Find the Pokémon Center; it's probably a good idea to heal your Pokémon. If you followed my advice earlier when I told you to get a Mankey if you chose Charmander, you might need to level Mankey up a bit if you haven’t already. I’d suggest anywhere between levels 10-13 will do. From the Pokémon Center, go just a few steps to your right then up. You’ll see the Pewter City Gym, but you’ll have to go around it to get to the door. Do so and step in.

The man standing at the front of the Gym tells you what type of Pokémon the Gym Trainers use and offer advice on what to use to defeat them. The Pewter City Gym trains Rock-type Pokémon, so Mankey will do away with them easily using it's fighting-type moves. Squirtle or Bulbasaur will make short work of the Pokémon in this gym using their elemental moves; Charmander will have a harder time.

The first (and only) Trainer in the Gym is very easy. All he has is a Level 10 Geodude and a Level 10 Sandshrew. Sandshrew is only the Ground-type, which might give Mankey trouble (its attacks won't be super-effective), so beware. [After you beat him, save and then challenge Brock, the Leader of the Gym. He’ll give you a little speech about his Pokémon and claim that he’s unbeatable; however, if you have Mankey, Squirtle, or Bulbasaur is at suitable level, he’s really very easy to defeat.

Gym Leader Brock would like to battle!
Gym Leader Brock sent out...

Once you defeat Brock he’ll give you another little speech then give you TM39 Rock Tomb. Exit the Gym and make your way back to the Pokémon Center to heal, and then head east onto Route 3.