The Vermilion City Gym focuses on Electric-type Pokémon, which have just one weakness: Ground. TM10 Dig from back in Cerulean City is a good move for your Pokémon to know before entering.
Ground-type Pokémon are at a definite advantage here, although Grass-type Pokémon have a built-in resistance to Electric-type moves, so they can also do fairly well. Diglett is a decent Pokémon to use against the Gym, provided you’ve leveled it up a little bit, since it is a pure Ground-type — Rock/Ground-type Pokémon may run into some difficulty with one of the Gym Leader’s Pokémon.
In order to get to the Gym Leader, you’re going to need to activate two switches to deactivate the electric barrier in the back of the Gym.
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The Trainers in the Gym are all technically optional, but you might as well fight them to gain some money and experience.
The first of the switches is to the right of the blue trash can. You can find the second switch directly above the first switch. That will open up the way to Lt. Surge, the Gym Leader.
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All of the Pokémon on his team use the very powerful Thunderbolt — a Special-based Electric-type move with a solid 90 power and a chance of paralyzing you. They all will get STAB from Thunderbolt as well, meaning it will hit extra hard.
His first Pokémon, Voltorb, knows Swift and Light Screen in addition to Thunderbolt. Light Screen will half the damage Lt. Surge’s Pokémon take from Special-based moves for the next five turns, while Swift will hit for a reasonable amount of damage to anything looking to avoid Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt hurts, though, even against Pokémon that resist it.
Magnemite is an Electric/Steel-type, meaning it resists a lot of types, but in this case it’s actually to your advantage since it has a huge weakness to Ground while also being weak to Fire and Fighting. It has just Thunderbolt and Sonic Boom, the latter of which hitting for exactly 20 damage and easily taking down most of your Pokémon in just three hits, which is a definite threat for any Ground-type you were considering using, especially Diglett, which has very low HP. Magnemite also has a lot of Special Attack, so it will hit quite hard with its Thunderbolts, capable of doing nearly half of an evolved Pokémon’s HP, even with 50+ Special Defense. Partner Pikachu with Dig or partner Eevee with Sizzly Slide or Dig should take it down without much issue, though, and both have the defenses to take a Thunderbolt or two.
Lastly is his star Pokémon: Raichu. This thing is very fast, packs Thunderbolt, Quick Attack, and Double Kick. Double Kick means the likes of Geodude aren’t able to completely shut it down, although Geodude’s defenses mean it can take a Double Kick or two.
If you have a Grass-type Pokémon, you can use it to fight fairly well against Raichu. Putting it to sleep with Sleep Powder is a good first step, then follow up with Razor Leaf, Mega Drain, or Leech Seed, depending on which Pokémon you’re using. Ivysaur, Gloom, and Weepinbell also all resist Double Kick, so the most you’ll have to deal with is Raichu’s Thunderbolt, which you resist. An X Sp. Def can be used to assure survivability from everything but a critical hit, too.
If you’re playing Let’s Go, Pikachu, your Pikachu resists Thunderbolt and can use Dig to deal a lot of damage to Raichu. Eevee in Let’s Go, Eevee is also a possibility, but the problem is it doesn’t resist Thunderbolt and is weak to Double Kick, making it a worse option, even if it uses Dig — however, you can burn Raichu with Sizzly Slide to stop it from using Double Kick.
After defeating Lt. Surge, he’ll reward you with the Thunder Badge, a badge that increases the level traded Pokémon will obey you by 10, so up to 40 for your third Gym Badge. He’ll give you his own Autograph, a Key Item without much of an effect. Lastly, he’ll give you TM36 Thunderbolt, a very powerful Electric-type move that you probably got to see first-hand, unless you used Diglett, Geodude, or Onix.
Shake your Joy-Con to see another victory scene with your partner Pokémon.
Vermilion City
Upon leaving the Gym and chopping down the small tree, you’ll see Misty by the Poké Mart. She’ll heal up your Pokémon to full health and will also tell you to check out Diglett’s Cave, teleporting you straight there if you allow her to.
If you haven’t already checked out Route 11, now might be a good time to, otherwise you can head into Diglett’s Cave to return to the earlier routes and also get a helpful — but optional — Secret Technique.
Lastly, after earning your third Gym Badge, new items will be available for you in the Poké Mart.
| Shop Items | ||
|---|---|---|
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Poké Ball |  100 |
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Great Ball | 300 |
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Potion | 200 |
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Super Potion (New!) | 700 |
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Antidote | 200 |
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Burn Heal | 300 |
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Ice Heal | 100 |
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Awakening | 100 |
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Paralyze Heal | 300 |
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Full Heal (New!) | 400 |
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Revive (New!) | 2000 |
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Escape Rope | 300 |
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Repel | 400 |
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Super Repel (New!) | 700 |
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Lure | 400 |
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X Attack | 550 |
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X Defense | 500 |
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X Sp. Atk | 350 |
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X Sp. Def | 350 |
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X Speed | 350 |
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X Accuracy | 950 |
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Dire Hit | 650 |
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Guard Spec. | 700 |
The newest additions are:
- Super Potion, which cost 700 but heal 60HP.
- Full Heal, which heals any status ailment and costs 400.
- Revive, which revives any fainted Pokémon with half its maximum HP, for a pricey 2,000.
- Super Repel, which reduces the spawns of wild Pokémon for even more steps than the normal Repel. It costs 700.
Anyway, buy whatever you want — although nothing is overly necessary at this point — and then head to the Diglett’s Cave to make your way back home.