Pewter City is where you find your first gym challenge, in which you'll be able to earn your first badge.
| Poké Mart | |
|---|---|
| Poké Ball |  200 |
| Potion | 300 |
| Antidote | 100 |
| Parlyz Heal | 200 |
| Burn Heal | 250 |
| Awakening | 250 |
| Escape Rope | 550 |
| Repel | 350 |
Pewter City Gym
Trainer
| FireRed and LeafGreen | |
|---|---|
| Trainer | Pokemon |
 Camper Liam Reward: 220 |
|
Leader Brock
| FireRed and LeafGreen | |
|---|---|
| Trainer | Pokemon |
 Leader Brock Reward: 1400 |
|
In Pewter City, you will battle Brock, your first Pokémon Gym Leader. You won't be able to advance further into the game until you beat him, so go for the Gym as soon as possible. If necessary, build up the experience of your Pokémon through battles in the wild. Before you do either, visit the Pokémon Center in Pewter City, so if all of your Pokémon faint in battle, you'll resume your journey there instead of far away in Viridian City.
Brock and his Junior Trainer use Rock and Ground type Pokémon, which are weak to Grass and Water. If you picked Squirtle or Bulbasaur to start, you should have an easy time of it, but not quite if you picked Charmander. There are several ways to defeat Brock without Squirtle or Bulbasaur:
- The easiest way to defeat Brock with Charmander as your starter is by using Mankey. It learns the Fighting type move Low Kick at level 6, which will take down Brock's Pokémon in one or two hits since Rock type Pokémon are weak against Fighting type attacks. A Mankey can be caught on Route 22.
- Another way is to level Charmander up so it can win the fight through superior strength. At level 13 it learns the Steel type move Metal Claw, which is super effective against Rock types. Note that Rock type attacks are super effective against Fire type Pokémon so make sure you're stocked up on potions first. Critical hits can happen any time, so heal often!
- Another way to deal with Brock is to catch a Caterpie in Viridian Forest and evolve it to Butterfree so that it learns Confusion, a Psychic type attack. Though it isn't super effective against Rock, it still does high damage since Geodude's and Onix's Special Defense stats are very low. Note however that just like Charmander, Butterfree's Bug/Flying type is weak against Rock attacks. The downside to this plan is that Butterfree isn't going to be very useful later in the game, save for completing your Pokédex.
Once you defeat Brock, he'll give you TM39 which can teach a Pokémon the Rock Tomb attack technique. He'll also give you his Boulder Badge, which grants your Pokémon a small power boost and allows you to use Flash (once you have HM05) outside of battle. Additionally, you will get a TM/HM Case, which allows you to store your TMs and HMs without occupying any more space in your gear bag.
Science Museum
It'll cost you 50 to get into the Museum (the large building in the North part of town). It's inexpensive and its exhibits build up the story in the game, namely regarding Mt. Moon and fossil Pokémon, which is pretty interesting if you try to tie the many dots together. The more practical part of the museum is in its back, although access to it is blocked at this point and you'll have to come back later.
Once you have Cut, you'll get the Old Amber from a scientist who is interested in extracting Pokémon DNA and will ask you to take it to a research institution. In addition, one of the other scientists is a Move Tutor that will teach one of your Pokémon Seismic Toss!
Items Found
- Poké Ball (Hidden in the northwest corner of the city in the light grass)
- TM39 (Rock Tomb) (Given to you by Gym Leader Brock after defeating him)
- Running Shoes (Given to you by one of Professor Oak's aides on the way out of the city after defeating Brock; doesn't get listed as an item in the bag)