Vermilion City & S.S. Anne: Pokémon FRLG Walkthrough Part 6

Quick Guide

1. Grab the Bike Voucher from the Pokémon Fan Club President and the VS Seeker from the purple-haired NPC in the Pokémon Center
2. Board the S.S. Anne using the ticket you received from Bill
3. Make your way to the top of the Ship, battle your Rival, and then talk to the S.S. Anne Captain to receive HM01 Cut
4. Cut down the tree in front of the Gym and defeat Lt. Surge for the Thunder Badge
5. Talk to Oak’s Aide towards the top entrance of Vermilion City, who will tell you to head to Route 2 to find a different Aide

S.S. Anne Walkthrough

If you try to go to the Gym in Vermilion City, you’ll notice that there’s a Tree in your way.

If you remember, defeating Misty in Cerulean actually gives us the ability to use the move Cut to cut down trees like this.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the move Cut yet.

This is where the S.S. Anne comes into play.

We get Cut from the Captain of the S.S. Anne, which means we have to get on the ship and make our way to his quarters.

Head south in Vermilion City and follow the docks until you reach a sailor on the dock. He’ll ask to see the ticket that we got from Bill back on Route 25.

Show him the ticket and enter the ship.

Note: make sure to heal up your Pokémon at the Pokémon Center first, because this will set a checkpoint at the Vermilion City Center before boarding. This way if you lose a battle, you’ll spawn here in Vermilion

S.S. Anne Quick Guide

There are many rooms to explore and many trainers to fight, but if you just want to get through the S.S. Anne so you can progress through the game, here’s a quick guide:

Step 1: As soon as you enter the ship, follow the hallway south, start walking west once you’re behind the sailor.

Step 2: Walk west as far as possible and take the stairs in the corner at the end of the hallway to reach the second floor.

Step 3: On the next floor, walk south until you reach another set of stairs. Do not take these stairs. Instead, walk east of the stairs down the hallway.

Step 4: After you’ve reached the east wall, walk north toward the northeast corner of this floor (going towards the stairs leading up to the Captain’s quarters).

Step 5: Your Rival will stop you and challenge you to a battle before you can actually walk up the stairs.

His team is fairly tough, but at this point it’s really just a matter of grinding – so if you lose to your rival here then try grinding wild Pokémon outside Vermilion to get your team up a few levels.

Step 6: Defeat your rival and then continue up the stairs in the corner.

Step 7: Talk to the Captain of the S.S. Anne and receive HM01 Cut.

Note: once you leave the S.S. Anne (after getting HM01 Cut), you will never be able to enter again. So if you want the goodies, you gotta get them now!

All S.S. Anne Items

Part of the fun of the S.S. Anne is finding the hidden items.

But if you want a little cheat sheet, I’ve got you covered.

Vermilion City Gym Guide

Now that you know Cut, you can head back to the Gym.

Except this time you’ll be able to Cut the tree down.

Lt. Surge is the leader of the Vermilion City Gym and he uses Electric Type Pokémon. Ground-type Pokémon are great against him, so if you have a Geodude or a Diglett (found in Diglett’s Cave just to the east of Vermilion City) they’ll come in handy.

Surge’s Gym has a small puzzle that involves flipping two switches.

The switches are randomly located in trash cans, but the way the game is programmed, both switches will always be right next to each other.

So when you check one trash can & it has a switch, you can try checking any other trash can nearby.

Tip: Once you find one switch in a trash can, save your game. Then if you check a nearby trash can and it’s empty, just turn off your game & start it again from that save point. This way you can quickly check all the surrounding trash cans without resetting where the switches are located.

After you flip the two switches, you can walk up and talk to Surge to start the Gym battle.

Surge only has three Pokémon, but they’re all fairly high level.

As I mentioned above, they’re also all Electric types. So if you have a Ground type Pokémon you’re good to go!

After you defeat him, Lt. Surge will award you with the Thunder Badge, which will let you use the move Fly outside of battle.

He’ll also give you TM34 Shock Wave, which is a pretty good Electric type move if you want to use it.

Exploring Vermilion City

Unlike the previous couple of cities we went to, Vermilion actually has some things for us to do.

After you defeat Surge, go ahead and heal up at the Pokémon Center, and get ready to explore.

Task #1: Oak’s Aide

Towards the top of the city, you should see Oak’s Aide standing around like a creep looking for you.

If you talk to him, he’ll tell you about another Aide looking for you on Route 2. Of course, this is a hint as to where we should go next. Before that, though, there are a few more stops to make in Vermilion.

Task #2: Getting The Old Rod

If you like fishing, then I have some good news and bad news.

The good news is that there’s a fisherman that lives right next to the Pokémon Center, and he’s willing to give you the Old Rod for free.

The bad news is that the Old Rod is the worst fishing rod in the game, since it can only be used to catch Magikarp. Still, you might as well pick it up. It is free after all!

And if you have the patience to level a Magikarp into a Gyarados it can become pretty powerful.

Task #3: Bike Voucher

There’s a Pokémon Fan Club on the west side of town. It has a sign out front and a decoration on the door, so it’s pretty hard to miss.

Walk inside and talk to the old man in the brown suit and hat sitting at the top of the table.

He’ll ask you if you want to hear about his favorite Pokémon. Make sure to answer “Yes”.

After he rambles on a bit, he’ll give you the Bike Voucher, which we can use back in Cerulean City to get a free Bicycle.

Task #4: In-Game Trade for a Farfetch’d

After you get your Bike Voucher, you can head outside and walk in the building next to the Pokémon Fan Club.

There’s a little girl in this building who really wants a Spearow. She’s willing to give you a Farfetch’d if you bring her one.

You can actually find Spearows on Route 11, just east of Vermilion City, so there’s no reason not to make this little girl’s dreams come true.

This is also the only way to get Farfetch’d in FireRed and LeafGreen. So it’s an essential trade if you want to fill out your Pokédex.

Task #5: Getting The VS Seeker

There’s one final item to grab in Vermilion City. It’s not a necessity, but it’s super useful.

Head to the Pokémon Center and talk to the NPC with purple hair.

They’ll tell you how much they love battling and then hand you the VS Seeker. You can use this item around trainers that you’ve already defeated, which will let you battle them again.

This is a great way to grind out cash – and it’s very handy to EV train your Pokémon too, if you’re a more competitive player.

Once you have your mission from Oak’s Aide, plus any of the other goodies mentioned above, you’re ready to move onto Diglett’s Cave.

BACK TO THE MAIN GAME Pokémon FRLG Full Strategy Guide

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  • Vermilion City & S.S. Anne: Pokémon FRLG Walkthrough Part 6

ReOcelot

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A jack of all trades when it comes to gaming. I can sit down for hours in a casual playthrough of Pokémon, or I can spend months trying to hit Diamond in League of Legends. I love and appreciate everything about games, and love sharing that passion with my readers.

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