Route 5 is a short route that connects Cerulean City to Saffron City. It has a building which leads to an underground path to Route 6 and a Pokémon Day Care which helps raising weak Pokémon. If you want one, you can catch a Meowth in the Tall Grass behind the Day Care, but then move on.
Leaving town
When you are finally leaving Cerulean from the house where the guard used to be, a Team Rocket Grunt will stop and fight you. When you defeat him he will give you a TM28 Dig.
| FireRed and LeafGreen | |
|---|---|
| Trainer | Pokemon |
 Team Rocket Grunt Reward:  544 |
|
Day Care
Pokémon can be left here to evolve over time, at a cost of 100 per level gained. Every step traveled outside of the building gives the Pokémon 1 experience point. This may be useful to obtain powerful Pokemon whose earlier evolutions may be too weak and troublesome to deal with, such as Magikarp.
Pokémon found
| FireRed | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pokémon | Level | Rate | |
|
Pidgey | 13-16 | 40% |
|
Oddish | 13-16 | 25% |
|
Meowth | 10-16 | 35% |
| LeafGreen | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pokémon | Level | Rate | |
|
|
Pidgey | 13-16 | 40% |
|
|
Meowth | 10-16 | 35% |
|
Bellsprout | 13-16 | 25% |
New Pokémon
Meowth is a special Normal-type. It’s rather weak in-game but makes up for it with some unique qualities.
Meowth’s moves include Pay Day, which generates money when used in battle, in proportion to Meowth's level.
If you pick up a Meowth you will have use of its unique ability Pickup. This special passive ability grants Meowth a 10% chance to create a held item every time a battle is completed with it in the party (regardless of Meowth's participation and status). Meowth cannot create an item if it's holding one, so check Meowth often in the party and take any items that it shows up holding. It's the only way to get certain berries, as well as TM10 Hidden Power. This ability may also generate amazing items, such as the elusive PP Up, as well as Nuggets and Rare Candies.
Meowth evolves into Persian at level 28, which gives it a boost to all its stats, but unfortunately it will lose the Pickup ability upon evolving, so think very hard if you want to take this irreversible step.
Underground Path
The eastern building leads to an underground path that skips Saffron City to reach Route 6. Lookout for hidden items occasionally appearing in the path with the help of the Itemfinder, once you have it.
| Trade | For |
|---|---|
 Nidoran♂
|
 Nidoran♀ or
|
| Nidoran♀
|
Nidoran♂
|
A little girl in the building will trade a Nidoran♂ for a Nidoran♀ in FireRed and a Nidoran♀ for a Nidoran♂ in LeafGreen. The Pokémon received will be at the same level as the Pokémon given. The Nidoran♀ that she trades in FireRed is nicknamed Ms. Nido, while the Nidoran♂ that she trades in LeafGreen is nicknamed Mr. Nido. Nicknames of Pokémon originally from other trainers can't be changed. The traded Pokémon come holding a TinyMushroom item, only potentially useful towards the end of the game to change a Pokémon's moves.
Items
- Antidote (occasionally hidden north, near the stairs)
- Parlyz Heal (occasionally hidden in the northernmost edge of the blue segment)
- Awakening (occasionally hidden in the middle of the blue segment)
- Potion (occasionally hidden near the northern part of the red segment)
- Ice Heal (occasionally hidden in the middle of the area between the red segment and the southern stairs)
- Burn Heal (occasionally hidden near the southern stairs)