Brock: The Pewter City Gym Leader Who Won't Evolve His Onix

He's the first name on the list, and he does nothing to make the step an easy one. Brock runs the Gym in Pewter City, the first of the eight in the Kanto League, and has championed the Rock type since the original generation. The games make him a serious Trainer in a town that isn't, a fossil digger, and the only Gym Leader to turn down an evolution that's right there for the taking. He also served as the model for one of the anime's most enduring companions.

Contents

• The First Gym Leader, in a Town Without Rivals
• Onix, and an Evolution Deliberately Set Aside
• After the Badge: A Phone Number, a Trade, Tournaments
• The Gym Leader Turned Traveling Companion
• Brock at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The First Gym Leader, in a Town Without Rivals

Pewter City is no stronghold of Pokémon training: its residents are mostly interested in bugs, and the game's dialogue goes out of its way to point out that Brock is the exception. He runs the first Gym of the Kanto League, the one every beginner pushes through before the other seven.

What he puts forward first isn't his type but his willpower: his Rock-type Pokémon back up that temperament, not the other way around. The character rarely laughs, and a local account notes that once he starts, he can't stop.

Beating him earns you two things: the Boulder Badge, the first of eight keys that open the road to Indigo Plateau, and a TM that changes by version: TM34 Bide in Red, Blue and Yellow, TM39 Rock Tomb in FireRed and LeafGreen. Outside his Gym, he spends his free time at Mt. Moon digging up fossils, so much so that a researcher there mentions him as a regular helper.

Onix, and an Evolution Deliberately Set Aside

His partner of choice is Onix, and it comes with a quirk. In the Johto remakes, HeartGold and SoulSilver, Brock is the only Gym Leader to keep his signature Pokémon in its base stage for the rematch — while his colleagues take theirs up a notch.

The explanation lies in the type chart. By evolving into Steelix, the rock snake trades the Rock type for the Steel type: a Leader who built his Gym on the very first type specialty can't afford to step away from it at the most visible moment.

He isn't alone in this role as a rocky gateway. Three Leagues open their path with the Rock type: his own in Pewter City, that of Roxanne in Rustboro City and that of Roark in Oreburgh City.

🔥 A rock snake has just the right stature for a shelf: browse the section Pokémon figures.

After the Badge: A Phone Number, a Trade, Tournaments

Beating him doesn't end the relationship. In the Johto remakes, you need to run into him in Diglett's Cave, where he goes every day between noon and 3 p.m., to get his phone number; calling him back unlocks a rematch at the Fighting Dojo in Saffron City, once a week, on Saturday night.

He also offers a trade, and he is almost bureaucratically precise about it: a Rhyhorn that knows Thunder Fang, in exchange for a Bonsly. Meet him at the north entrance of the same cave on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, between 5 and 8 p.m.

Later titles are happy to bring him back. Black 2 and White 2 sign him up for the Pokémon World Tournament, where he holds his own both in the tournament reserved for Kanto Gym Leaders and in the one that gathers specialists of a single type. The mobile game included him from launch, with Onix as his default partner, Kabutops as a variant, Tyranitar with his Sygna Suit and Onix once more with his Arc Suit.

The Gym Leader Turned Traveling Companion

The games' character gave rise to one of the pillars of the anime. The adaptation stays faithful until he meets Ash: he runs the Pewter City Gym and champions the Rock type, then the visit of the Trainer from Pallet Town convinces him to leave his post and pursue his goal of becoming a Breeder. Along the way, the series gives him a flaw absent from the games: a tendency to fall for nearly every young woman the group meets.

A short animated story devoted to Red shows him in a different light: he watches the match the boy loses to Blue, teaches him the basics of battling without saying who he is, then slips away. Red only makes the connection when he pushes open the Gym door. The duel that follows pits Red's Pokémon against a Geodude and an Onix and ends with the Boulder Badge, along with TM34 Bide — the very one Brock hands out in Red, Blue and Yellow. TM39 Rock Tomb, mentioned above, only arrives with FireRed and LeafGreen.

The manga cast him as an ally in the background. In the long-running series based on the games, he supports the hero Red without ever battling in his place, protects Pewter City when the Elite Four attacks the town, lends his Graveler to Yellow, then falls to the Steelix of Jasmine during a tournament between Gym Leaders. The more compact Electric Tale of Pikachu dispatches his battle against Ash in a single page and hints, at the end of its first volume, at a relationship with Sabrina.

Brock at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Which Badge does Brock give out, and what else do you earn?
  The Boulder Badge, the first of Kanto's eight official Badges that open the road to Indigo Plateau. He also hands out a TM: TM34 Bide in Red, Blue and Yellow, TM39 Rock Tomb in FireRed and LeafGreen.
• Why does his Onix never evolve into Steelix?
  In the rematch in the Johto remakes, Brock is the only Gym Leader who keeps his favorite Pokémon in its base stage. When it evolves, Onix loses the Rock type in favor of the Steel type, which would take it outside the Gym's specialty.
• Where can you find Brock after beating him?
  In Diglett's Cave, where he goes every day between noon and 3 p.m.: meeting him there gets you his phone number, and calling him back unlocks a weekly rematch at the Fighting Dojo in Saffron City, on Saturday night.
• What's the connection between Brock and the anime companion?
  The games' Gym Leader served as the model for one of the series' main characters. That Brock leaves the Pewter City Gym to follow the Trainer from Pallet Town and become the best Breeder he can be.
• Does Brock appear in the manga?
  Yes. He remains a Gym Leader on the side of the good guys: he helps the hero Red indirectly, protects Pewter City from the Elite Four, lends his Graveler to Yellow, and loses to Jasmine's Steelix in the Gym Leader tournament.

In short

Brock comes down to a few lines and a signature Pokémon, but he holds a place no one can take from him: the first Gym Leader any Pokémon player ever beats. The games later grafted on nighttime rematches, a trade on a fixed schedule and two tournaments; the anime gave him a second life on the road; the manga made him a helpful but discreet elder. A gateway, held without interruption since the first generation.