Vermilion City: Lt. Surge, the S.S. Anne and the Mew Truck

An Electric-type Gym Leader, a luxury liner and a truck at the heart of countless rumors. Vermilion City, Kanto's port city, brings together Lt. Surge's Gym, the pier where the S.S. Anne docks, boats to Johto and the Sevii Islands, and several anime episodes.

Contents

• Vermilion City, the Port of Exquisite Sunsets
• Lt. Surge's Gym and the Thunder Badge
• The S.S. Anne, the liner that calls at Vermilion City
• Pokémon Fan Club and construction site: the city's landmarks
• Trades, gifts and Trainers in Vermilion City
• Vermilion City in the anime and manga
• Vermilion City at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Vermilion City, the Port of Exquisite Sunsets

It's from Vermilion City, a port in Kanto, that you reach the entrance to Diglett's Cave; the city also links Route 11, heading east, with Route 6, heading north. It appears in Red and Blue, Yellow, Gold and Silver, Crystal, FireRed and LeafGreen, HeartGold and SoulSilver and Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!, and its population varies from one version to the next, from 25 residents in Red and Blue to 34 in HeartGold and SoulSilver.

The port takes up the southeast of the city and makes it a gateway by sea. Twice a week in each direction, the S.S. Aqua connects it to Olivine City: it sails for Johto on Wednesdays and Sundays, then comes back on Mondays and Fridays. This route, exclusive to Gold, Silver, Crystal and their remakes, makes the city the first stop for players arriving from Johto. FireRed and LeafGreen add a ferry service to the Sevii Islands, each of which can be reached from this pier.

The French name, Carmin sur Mer, starts from a color, the bright red known as carmine, and adds the "sur Mer" ("on Sea") that seaside towns readily take on. Elsewhere, translations mostly play on warm tones: vermilion for the English Vermilion City, orange for the German Orania City as well as the Italian Aranciopoli, and, in Japanese, Kuchiba City evokes the orange hue of fallen leaves. On its sign, the city calls itself the Port of Exquisite Sunsets, a slogan the French version of HeartGold and SoulSilver rewords as "the port of the setting sun"; the Let's Go map, for its part, presents it as a world-renowned port, where cruise ships call.

Lt. Surge's Gym and the Thunder Badge

Lt. Surge runs the city's Gym here, one of Kanto's eight, and has devoted it to the Electric type. Whatever the game, beating him earns the Thunder Badge; FireRed and LeafGreen add TM34.

You still have to get through the door, though. In Red, Blue and Yellow, the Gym entrance requires the move Cut, and you'll have to go get it aboard the liner moored at the port. Yellow also has an extra reward in store for winners: a Squirtle at level 10, given once you have the badge in hand.

The S.S. Anne, the liner that calls at Vermilion City

Once a year, for a single stopover, the southeast pier welcomes a luxury liner: the S.S. Anne, which only appears in Red, Blue, Yellow and their two remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen and then Let's Go. The boarding ticket is called the S.S. Ticket, and it's Bill who gives it to the hero, at his Sea Cottage on Route 25. On the ship's first floor, a cabin lets you patch up your team, a sensible precaution: from the deck to the cabins, Trainers and Sailors kill time during the stopover by challenging the visitor.

If the ship stays docked, it's because its Captain is seasick. The hero who helps him feel better leaves with Cut, or Chop Down in Let's Go: without this move, the adventure can't go on. The rival is waiting on board too, Blue in the first- and third-generation games, Trace in Let's Go. That remake doesn't forget Blue, though: it's on the liner that the player runs into him again, for the second time in the adventure, worried about the schemes of Team Rocket. Also in Let's Go, the Sailor on duty at the gangway trades the S.S. Ticket for a Sailor Set. As soon as the hero steps back onto the pier, the liner sets sail for good.

The pier has also fueled a famous player legend. In the first generation, a truck is parked near the dock, and countless rumors linked it to Mew. To get near it, you had to keep access to the pier, for example by deliberately losing a battle on board after getting Cut, as long as at least one Trainer remained undefeated, or by receiving from another game a Pokémon that already knew Cut; then all that was left was to surf east, with the Soul Badge in hand. Those who made it found nothing but the truck itself. Another Red and Blue curiosity: the menu announced by the liner's head chef changes depending on the game's language, and the French version offers beef ribs, eel pâté and salmon salad.

🚚 The truck on the pier never hid Mew, but our Mew collection puts it front and center.

Pokémon Fan Club and construction site: the city's landmarks

Pokémon enthusiasts, collectors first and foremost, have their club in the west of the city: the Pokémon Fan Club. Its Chairman always has a gift in store: the Bike Voucher, which lets you leave Cerulean City with a Bicycle (in the first generation and in FireRed and LeafGreen); in Gold, Silver and Crystal, as in their remakes, the gift is a Rare Candy instead. Let's Go turns him into a costume supplier: a Pikachu or Eevee outfit depending on the version, then, once your partner reaches maximum friendship, a Raichu outfit or the outfits of the eight Eeveelutions.

Listening to another club member, who tells the story of Copycat, earns you the Lost Item in Gold, Silver and Crystal; their remakes also require the Power Plant to be up and running again. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, this item has a follow-up: until it has been recovered, Latios or Latias, depending on the version, stays out of reach. Once the item is in hand, Steven Stone blocks the hero's path to tell him that the Pokémon is now roaming free.

Version after version, the same construction site takes up the northeast of the city: a Machop lends its muscle to the man behind the project. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, the lot also doubles as a studio, since Cameron photographs the player and their team every Thursday and Sunday. The rocks you can break there with Rock Smash sometimes yield a Shard or a Heart Scale.

Trades, gifts and Trainers in Vermilion City

In Red and Blue as well as FireRed and LeafGreen, Farfetch’d can be obtained nowhere but here: a girl whose house stands next to the Pokémon Center, on the southeast side, agrees to give up hers for a Spearow. It's nicknamed Dux in the first pair of games and Ch'ding in the second, where it also holds a Stick. The Pokémon Center in Let's Go hosts a different kind of swap: a Hiker offers his Alolan Geodude in exchange for a Geodude from Kanto, and is happy to repeat it as many times as you like.

Other Pokémon come as gifts in Let's Go: a Squirtle for anyone who has caught more than sixty Pokémon, as well as a Persian in Let's Go, Pikachu or an Arcanine in Let's Go, Eevee. Gold, Silver and Crystal place a one-of-a-kind wild Snorlax there at level 50, which you have to wake up with the Pokégear's Poké Flute channel. On a more modest note, the Fishing Guru in the northwest gives the player an Old Rod, in Red, Blue and Yellow as well as in FireRed and LeafGreen.

Finally, Let's Go expands the list of opponents. As soon as the S.S. Anne has left, the Trainer Mina shows up with Jigglypuff and Mr. Mime; after the League, she returns to the port for a daily battle, this time with Mr. Mime, Wigglytuff and Alolan Ninetales. The same milestone brings in three Master Trainers, one devoted to Krabby, another to Machamp, and the last to Farfetch’d.

Vermilion City in the anime and manga

It's for the Thunder Badge that Ash Ketchum sets foot in Vermilion City in the first season: his showdown with Lt. Surge takes up "Electric Shock Showdown" (EP014). The group then boards the liner, renamed the St. Anne on screen, in "Battle Aboard the St. Anne" (EP015), where Team Rocket plans to steal the passengers' Pokémon. The next episode, "Pokémon Shipwreck" (EP016), sends the ship to the bottom.

The city keeps a role long after Kanto. In "To Thine Own Pokémon Be True!" (DP124), an episode of season 12, Mr. O, who trains Pokémon to play ping-pong, takes back with him to Vermilion City the Ambipom belonging to Dawn, which has decided to part ways with her. In the Journeys series, this is where Professor Cerise has set up his lab, and Ash and Goh find a place to stay there; the city appears notably in episode JN002.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga, the French edition calls the liner Le St. Anne, except for the Kurokawa edition, which uses the French game name, L'Océane. In chapters 10 and 11, Red sneaks aboard and realizes that Team Rocket is using it to ship off Pokémon taken from the townspeople; spotted, he ends up facing Lt. Surge and the Electabuzz at his side. Yellow boards it in turn in chapters 56 and 57, on the trail of a missing young Trainer, and runs into Team Rocket's Elite Trio, three lieutenants longing for the organization's golden age: by sabotaging the ship to sink it, they hope to pull off a stunt that would put it back in the spotlight.

Vermilion City at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• What type of Pokémon does the Vermilion City Gym use?
  Electric type. Beating its Gym Leader, Lt. Surge, earns you the Thunder Badge.
• How do you board the S.S. Anne?
  You need to show an S.S. Ticket. Bill gives it to you when you visit him at his Sea Cottage on Route 25. Only Red, Blue, Yellow and their remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen and then Let's Go, feature this liner.
• Is Mew hiding under the truck in Vermilion City?
  No. This truck, parked near the pier in the first generation, fueled many rumors about Mew, but the area where it sits holds nothing else.
• How do you get a Farfetch’d in Red and Blue?
  Through a trade: the girl who lives near the Vermilion City Pokémon Center, on the southeast side, gives hers up for a Spearow. There's no other way, in Red and Blue or in FireRed and LeafGreen.
• Where is Professor Cerise's lab?
  In Vermilion City. In the Journeys series, Ash and Goh live there throughout their adventures.

In short

Vermilion City lives to the rhythm of its port: a liner you can never board again once it has sailed, routes to Johto and the Sevii Islands and, near the dock, a truck that became famous. It never hid anything, but the rumor shows just how much the early games fired up players' imaginations.