From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
The Vermilion Gym (Japanese: クチバジム Kuchiba Gym) is the official Gym of Vermilion City. It is based on Electric-type Pokémon. The Gym Leader is Lt. Surge. Trainers who defeat him receive the Thunder Badge.
In the games
Vermilion City
Pokémon Gym
Leader: Lt. Surge
The Lightning American!
Vermilion City
Pokémon Gym
Leader: Lt. Surge
The Lightning
American
Vermilion City Pokémon Gym
Leader: Lt. Surge
The Lightning American
Vermilion City Pokémon Gym
Leader: Lt. Surge
The Lightning American
In all games it appears in, either Cut or Surf is required to access the Vermilion Gym.
Vermilion Gym appears in all games set in the Kanto region, appearing much the same in each: the main room is filled with 15 trash cans, and Trainers are scattered about this room. Beyond this room is another, guarded by electric doors in Generation I, and an electric fence in Generation III and Generation IV. The only way to get in the final room, where Lt. Surge is located, is to find two hidden switches underneath the trash cans. If the first switch is found, but the player incorrectly guesses the second one, the traps reset. In Generations III and IV, the second switch is always located next to the first. In Generation II, these traps are not turned on.
A field based on the Gym also appears in Pokémon Stadium's Gym Leader Castle and Stadium 2's Kanto Gym Leader Castle.
Appearance
Trainers
Core series
|
|
Reward: $2376
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reward: $2772
|
|
|
|
|
Trainer
|
Pokémon
|
|
|
Juggler Horton ジョナサン Jonathan Reward: $1320
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Trainers with a telephone symbol by their names will give their Pokégear number to the player, and may call or be called for a rematch with higher-level Pokémon.
|
|
|
Reward: $4600
|
|
|
|
|
Trainer
|
Pokémon
|
|
|
Sailor Dwayne タツヒコ Tatsuhiko Reward: $672
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Trainers with a Vs. Seeker by their names, when alerted for a rematch using the item, may use higher-level Pokémon.
|
|
|
Reward: $2400
|
|
|
|
|
Trainer
|
Pokémon
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Trainers with a telephone symbol by their names will give their Pokégear number to the player, and may call or be called for a rematch with higher-level Pokémon.
|
|
|
Reward: $6360
|
|
|
|
|
Side series
Round 1
|
|
Reward: N/A
|
|
|
|
|
Round 2
|
|
Reward: N/A
|
|
|
|
|
Round 1
|
|
Reward: N/A
|
|
|
|
|
Round 2
|
|
Reward: N/A
|
|
|
|
|
Items
In the anime
In the main series
Vermilion Gym's only anime appearance came in Electric Shock Showdown. Its appearance is similar to a warehouse with lightning bolts painted on it, and the arena inside is a dimly-lit boxing ring. The battles are one on one. One significant difference is that Lt. Surge was shown to have junior Trainers that are both male and female, and wearing military-style uniforms. In the games, his junior Trainers are all male, and none of them wear military-style uniforms.
Ash challenged Lt. Surge to a battle, hoping to acquire his third Badge. However, Surge just laughed when he saw Ash's Pikachu, claiming it could never beat his Raichu. Pikachu decided to prove Surge wrong, and went ahead in battling it. However, its evolved form proved to be much more powerful, and it easily defeated Pikachu.
After doing some training, Ash and Pikachu returned to the Gym. Surge once again felt that the battle was hopeless. What he didn't know was that in between the battles, Ash had taught Pikachu how to use Quick Attack and Agility. This gave Pikachu the advantage, allowing Ash to win the match. Afterwards, Surge gave Ash his Badge, conceding that Ash knew what he was doing.
Pokémon used in Gym
In Pokémon Origins
Vermilion Gym in Pokémon Origins
Red was seen visiting the Vermilion Gym in File 2: Cubone. He had a tough battle against the Gym Leader, Lt. Surge, but was able to pull through and earn the Thunder Badge.
Pokémon used in Gym
In the manga
The Vermilion Gym in Pokémon Zensho
In the Pokémon Zensho manga
The Vermilion Gym appeared in Vermilion City, where Satoshi challenged Lt. Surge. The Gym battle was conducted between Satoshi's Charmeleon and Lt. Surge's Electabuzz. Even though Charmeleon was driven into a corner, it was able to use a piece of the barbed-wire fence surrounding the arena to tie Electabuzz up and then finish it off with a Fire-type attack. After the battle, Satoshi received a Thunder Badge from Lt. Surge and an HM01 (Cut) from the captain of the S.S. Anne, whom he had met earlier and was friends with Lt. Surge.
In the TCG
The Vermilion Gym was featured in the TCG as both a Japan-exclusive Theme Deck and as a card. The following is a list of cards named Vermilion City Gym.
Trivia
- In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, the Gym guide tells the player that the Gym's traps were temporarily out of order, but were recently repaired. This is a cross-generational reference to Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, where this was true.
- In the English versions of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, the Gym guide mistakenly refers to the Flying type as the Bird type. This is likely an oversight derived from his dialogue in the English versions of the Generation I games, where he instead refers to Flying-type Pokémon by describing them as "bird Pokémon"; in the Japanese versions of the Generation I games and FireRed and LeafGreen, he clearly mentions types and correctly identifies the Flying type as ひこうタイプ (the Bird type is とりタイプ in Japanese).
- As indicated by a Trainer's dialog, the second switch was apparently intended to always appear next to the first switch in Generation I as well. However, several bugs cause unintended behavior.
- In Red and Blue:
- Seven of the fifteen cans cannot contain the first switch.
- The top-left can has a chance to contain the second switch, regardless of where the first switch was (a 50% chance if the can with the first switch has two or four neighboring cans, and a 25% chance if it has three).
- If the can with the first switch has two or four neighboring cans, all but one of its neighbors can never contain the second switch.
- Except for the top-left can, no switch that can contain a first switch can contain a second switch, and vice versa.
- The can in the middle of the left row cannot contain any switch.
- In Yellow:
- Seven of the fifteen cans cannot contain the first switch.
- Upon finding the first switch, any of the neighboring cans may contain the second switch (but not necessarily).
- If the first switch was in the middle row, there is a >70% chance that the second switch is in the top-left can, and a ~2% chance that there is no second switch at all.
- If the first switch was not in the middle row, the second switch is either in one of the neighboring cans, or in two neighboring cans at a time.