Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
After going through that gross & abandoned Cinnabar Mansion, I picked up a Secret Key. This will unlock the door to the Cinnabar Gym, so now you can take it on!
Cinnabar's Gym Leader is Blaine. He specializes in Fire-type Pokémon. It's in your best interest to bring in a Water-Type to douse all of the Trainers here. You can also go for Ground- & Rock-Types, since dirt and stones can also help to put out unwanted flames.
Moreso than this, though, this Gym has its own gimmick to get through it. Each Trainer here is next to a locked door and a machine. The machine will give you a quiz about different things about this game. Get the answer right, and you unlock the door. Get it wrong, and you're forced to fight the Trainer there before the door will unlock.
However, you don't even have to take these quizzes at all. Just talk to the Trainer directly and you will fight them right there to unlock the door. You can still take on the quiz afterwards, but by then... what's the point?
AND BESIDES, why would you WANT to skip fighting these Trainers, anyway?! Don't chicken out on them! Go get that EXP!
----------
Once you've reached Blaine, himself, the old man's fiery roster of Pokémon will include Growlithe, Ponyta, and then their evolved forms, starting with Rapidash, and then climaxing with Arcanine!
Defeat Blaine, and he will reward you with the Volcano Badge. This will slightly raise your Pokémon's Special stat. He will also give you TM38: Fire Blast. This is the most powerful Fire-Type move in the whole game! The tradeoff, however, is its very low PP and unreliable Accuracy. It is to Fire what Blizzard is to Ice (and to a lesser extent, Thunder to Electric).
But... disregarding those drawbacks, I'm not even sure I want to use it. Ironically I've been doing pretty good getting through this game without the need of a Fire-Type Pokémon, though some non-Fire-Types can also learn this.
----------
ALRIGHT! That's 7 Badges! One more and I can take on the Pokémon League at the Indigo Plateau!
The last Pokémon Gym... is actually the first one I tried to take on in this whole game... All the way back in Viridian City!
It was locked out at the time, probably for the best at that time, *but now...*
After going through that gross & abandoned Cinnabar Mansion, I picked up a Secret Key. This will unlock the door to the Cinnabar Gym, so now you can take it on!
Cinnabar's Gym Leader is Blaine. He specializes in Fire-type Pokémon. It's in your best interest to bring in a Water-Type to douse all of the Trainers here. You can also go for Ground- & Rock-Types, since dirt and stones can also help to put out unwanted flames.
Moreso than this, though, this Gym has its own gimmick to get through it. Each Trainer here is next to a locked door and a machine. The machine will give you a quiz about different things about this game. Get the answer right, and you unlock the door. Get it wrong, and you're forced to fight the Trainer there before the door will unlock.
However, you don't even have to take these quizzes at all. Just talk to the Trainer directly and you will fight them right there to unlock the door. You can still take on the quiz afterwards, but by then... what's the point?
AND BESIDES, why would you WANT to skip fighting these Trainers, anyway?! Don't chicken out on them! Go get that EXP!
----------
Once you've reached Blaine, himself, the old man's fiery roster of Pokémon will include Growlithe, Ponyta, and then their evolved forms, starting with Rapidash, and then climaxing with Arcanine!
Defeat Blaine, and he will reward you with the Volcano Badge. This will slightly raise your Pokémon's Special stat. He will also give you TM38: Fire Blast. This is the most powerful Fire-Type move in the whole game! The tradeoff, however, is its very low PP and unreliable Accuracy. It is to Fire what Blizzard is to Ice (and to a lesser extent, Thunder to Electric).
But... disregarding those drawbacks, I'm not even sure I want to use it. Ironically I've been doing pretty good getting through this game without the need of a Fire-Type Pokémon, though some non-Fire-Types can also learn this.
----------
ALRIGHT! That's 7 Badges! One more and I can take on the Pokémon League at the Indigo Plateau!
The last Pokémon Gym... is actually the first one I tried to take on in this whole game... All the way back in Viridian City!
It was locked out at the time, probably for the best at that time, *but now...*
