Pokémon Red and Blue/Victory Road

Now that you have all eight badges, it’s time to go to the Indigo Plateau and challenge the Elite Four. But first, how do we get there?

Go west from Viridian City onto Route 22. You’ll run into your rival here.

Boss — Rival

1. Level 47 Pidgeot
2. Level 45 Rhyhorn
3. Level 45 Gyarados, Exeggcute, or Growlithe
4. Level 47 Growlithe, Gyarados, or Exeggcute
5. Level 50 Alakazam
6. The trainer’s starter from way back in Pallet Town, fully evolved, at Level 53.

Before you leave, be sure that you have lots of Ultra Balls, because we will encounter a legendary Pokémon during the course of our travels. At the west side of Route 22 you will find a large building. Go through it onto…

Route 23

The final Route in the game! Yay! And what a disappointment. This Route is extremely large and completely empty. The only patches of tall grass in this Route (towards the end) contain only Spearow, Ekans, and Sandshrew and their evolved forms. These are Pokémon we’ve seen a thousand times elsewhere. However, this Route is one of only two places (the other being Seafoam Island) where you can find wild Ditto. Pick one up if you want.

Go north, past each of the security guards. You’ll need to Surf for a bit around the middle of the Route. Despite this area’s general boringness, there are three hidden items to obtain. Somewhere near the small square island in the middle of the water, you will find a Max Ether (although you can only pick it up if you are in the water). Immediately after you reach land again, you will see a patch of tall grass leading to an empty area. If you examine the left tree of this empty area, you will find an Ultra Ball. A Full Restore is hidden near the game’s final patch of grass at the north end of the Route.

But you cannot just walk in to the Pokémon League. Trainers desiring to become the very best must prove themselves by traversing Victory Road. Let’s do so.

Victory Road proper

You thought Seafoam Island was bad? This cave is even bigger, and the Pokémon here are at an even higher level. Also unlike Seafoam Island, you will find enemy Trainers here, on their journeys through the cave. Here is how you get from one door of this “small building” to the other. Be sure you have a Pokémon that knows Strength, because you’ll need to push more boulders around.

Start by going to the left. Follow the path to the end and you will run into your first boulder. This is a kind of “exit only” barricade. If you were to try to push it north, it would get stuck and bar the path permanently. If you are on the other side of this rock, you can push it south for a quick path to the exit (which might be rather important shortly).

The way forward is to climb the stairs onto the rocky platform and go east. Easy, right? Unfortunately, Victory Road features barricades, like the run you’ll run into here. The only way to remove these barricades is by pushing switches, but the switches here are too heavy for you to press by standing on them. You will need to move a boulder onto a switch before you can progress further.

There is such a boulder right at the bottom of the stairs. Push it to the right, being careful not to knock it against a wall such that you can’t push it in the correct direction. When you get to the switch, a rock inconveniently blocks your being able to push the rock there. Instead, push it up, right, then down, and you will remove the barrier.

Follow the path and you will reach a fork. Go to the right and you will find a boulder. Push it forward to find two item balls. The one on the left is a Rare Candy. The one on the top is TM 43. No matter which one you choose, you’ll have to block off the other one with the boulder to get to it. Choose one and double back.

If you go left at the fork, you will run into an enemy Trainer. Follow the path past another enemy Trainer to a ladder. Use it.

The second floor

When you get here, you will see a boulder to the north; this is another “exit only” boulder. Go south instead. Push this boulder onto the switch, which is at the southwest corner set against the wall. Once you do this, you can go up the stairs and follow that path. You’ll pass an enemy Trainer.

Past the second enemy Trainer is the ladder that leads to the exit. Hooray! Except you can’t get to it until you activate another switch. Go down the stairs, then west. You’ll find the switch and, at the end, a Rare Candy. Going east from the stairs leads to a narrow passageway. There is a switch here — but no boulder to go with it. How will you exit the cave? Read on…

Past the narrow passageway is a square room with an enemy Trainer and a Full Heal. There is also a ladder here. Ignore it for now and continue at the northwest; you will find another enemy Trainer and TM 17 at a dead end. Now go up those stairs.

Go north and you’ll see a boulder; ignore it for now. The east path holds an enemy Trainer and a Max Revive. Go to the north wall, then go west at ways. At the end you will find TM 47 and a switch. Ignore the switch and go down — you’ve got a Legendary Pokémon to catch!

This room has an enemy Trainer standing next to a rock, and a Guard Spec past him. This rock contains a free Ultra Ball. Grab it, you’ll need it. Due south of the Guard Spec you will find a Level 50 Moltres. Again, save your game before battling him. If you defeat Moltres by accident, he will disappear and never return, so restart your game without saving to try again. Once you’ve caught him (if you’re interested), backtrack up that ladder.

Backtrack all the way to that lone boulder in the middle of the room. You’ll need to push it north two tiles, then all the way to the left. You will need to guide the boulder through the rocks at the end to depress the switch. Backtrack again to the ladder down to the second floor, then go west and up the stairs on the rocky platform. Defeat an enemy Trainer, then keep going. Were you not to have pushed that rock onto the switch, you would be stymied by a barricade.

Keep following the path and you will see two enemy Trainers. Past them is a room with two an “exit only” boulder you can push for a shortcut back. You will find a boulder and a hole. Put one into the other, then jump after it.

You’re almost home. Push this boulder all the way to the left onto the switch you saw earlier that had no boulder near it. Once the barricade disappears, follow the ladder path straight to the exit. In the very last room, you’ll find a Full Restore hidden in the rock.