Home > Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire Walkthrough > Chapter 1 - Rustboro Gym
Chapter 1 - Rustboro Gym
Introduction
The game begins with a monologue from Professor Birch, who will introduce you to the World of Pokémon, ask for your gender, and ask for a name. This process is very familiar for anyone who's played a Pokémon game before. You'll find yourself in the back of a moving truck on the way to Littleroot town. Exit the truck and you'll be greeted by your mother. Head to your room on the second floor and press A in front of the clock. You'll be prompted to set it. The clock only controls the tides in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, and there's no longer a day and night cycle. After speaking with your mother, head over to the PC on your desk and withdraw a Potion.
Choosing a starter
Head downstairs and your mother will call you over to the television. Here you'll find out that your father is the gym leader of Petalburg City. Exit your house and enter the one directly adjacent. Head upstairs to meet your neighbour and rival, who will change depending on what gender you chose. If you're a boy, it'll be Professor Birch's daughter May. If you're a girl, it'll be Professor Birch's son Brendan. After a quick introduction your rival will leave to help his/her father catch a wild Pokémon. Go outside and exit town to the north. Here, you'll find Professor Birch being chased by a wild Poocheyana. He'll call out for help and you'll need to choose one of three Pokémon. You can choose Treecko the grass starter, Mudkip the water starter, or Torchic the fire starter. It is worth noting that that max evolutions of Mudkip and Torchic are not purely their original type, the final evolution of Mudkip being Water/Ground, and Torchic's final evolution being fire/fighting.
After choosing a Pokémon, you'll engage in your first battle against the wild Poocheyana. It's level 2, so just attack with any damaging move and it'll die quickly. Professor Brich will thank you and take you back to his lab. After a quick conversation he'll give you the Pokémon you chose and invite you to find his child and learn how to be a Pokémon trainer. Do just this by exiting to your north to Route 101.
Route 101 and Oldale Town
Wild Pokémon will appear at random any time you walk in tall grass. You can defeat some to gain experience points if you like, but head north to Oldale Town. Here you'll find a Pokémon Center (it has a red roof) where you can heal your Pokémon to full health at no cost. Talk to the lady directly east of the Pokémon Center and she'll give you a free Potion and introduce the Pokémart (blue roof). Here you can buy items to assist you on your adventure. Most towns in the game will have these two buildings among others.
Route 103 Rival Battle
Head north out of Oldale Town into Route 103 and you'll find your rival (May or Brendan). They'll challenge you to your first Pokémon battle.
No matter what Pokémon you chose, your rival will have a type advantage over you. The fight itself shouldn't be too difficult, and you do have two potions you can use if you're running low on health. After defeating your rival, head back to Professor Birch's lab (you can use cliffs to avoid tall grass) where he'll give you a Pokédex. This device records data of any Pokémon you've caught or encountered. Your rival will also give you 5 Pokéballs you can use to capture wild Pokémon.
Route 102
If you attempt to leave Littleroot to the north your mother will stop you to give you the Running Shoes. Now you can press B to get around faster. Make your back to Oldale town, heal up, and head west. You'll run into your first trainer here. You should be able to defeat his Lv5 Zigzagoon with ease. Continue westward and you'll come across two more trainers. After the second, head towards the strange looking trees and you'll be able to pick 2 Oran berries and 2 Pecha berries. After one more trainer, you'll find a potion on the ground. A few steps west from the final trainer and you'll be in Petalburg City.
Now that you have Pokéballs, feel free to catch any wild Pokémon you might want to add to your party. If you weaken wild Pokémon before throwing a Pokéball your success rate of catching will be much higher. There's a 4% chance of catching Ralts here, who is useful later on. If you want to complete your Pokédex, you'll have to catch one of every wild Pokémon you encounter.
Petalburg City
After healing up at the Pokémon Center and buying any extra Pokéballs and Potions you might want at the Pokémart, head to the Gym (brown roof) to the north. Here you'll find the gym leader, your father, who you'll briefly catch up with before being interrupted by a man who wants to catch a Pokémon, Wally. You'll learn how the masters catch their Pokémon right along with him. After returning to the gym, your father will advise you to reach Rustburo City and challenge the gym leader there. Your father is the fifth gym leader, so you aren't strong enough to face him yet. After you're ready, leave the town by travelling west.
In Route 104, right before the entrance to Petalburg Woods you can pick up two Pecha and Oran berries from the soft soil in the northeast corner. There's also a hidden potion at the northwestern most corner of the sand. Otherwise, route 104 isn't worth exploring for now. Exit north to Petalburg Woods when you're ready.
Petalburg Woods
Head east and pass through the first patch of grass. You'll see a hole in the next patch of grass. Press A next to it to find a Potion. Exit Petalburg Woods to the south and you'll find a Pokéball next to a girl. Enter Petalburg Woods the same way you exited, this time heading west. After defeating the Bug Catcher here, grab the Paralyze Heal to the north. Go back east this time and then north where you'll be stopped by a fancy looking gentlemen. After a cutscene and a battle against a Team Aqua/Magma grunt, make your way towards the exit. You'll face one more bug catcher and come across an Ether before exiting Petalburg Woods.
Route 104
Once you're on Route 104, speak to the first kid you see to receive TM 09- Bullet Seed. Pick up the 2 Oran and Cheri Berries you find here as well. Enter the building to your north and speak to the girl at the back of the building. She'll give you a Wailmer Pail. Speaking to the girl to the farthest east will get you a random berry. Exit the shop and go behind it to get a Potion, a hidden Super Potion and a hidden Pokéball.
Head east past two more trainers, and cross the bridge once you've defeated them. After you've crossed the bridge, talk to the old lady to get a Cheri Berry. You can also pick up two Leppa and Cherri berries from the soft soil next to her. You can speak to the fisherman here to battle him if you like. Before entering Rustboro City, follow the outside of the fence to your right to find an X Defend. Head straight for the gym (it's the building with the brown roof) once you're in Rustboro City.
Rustboro Gym
Gym #1 Rustboro Gym - Leader Roxanne
#1 Geodude
Type: 
Lv: 14
Ability: Sturdy
Hold Item: N/A
Moves:
Tackle 
Defense Curl
Rock Throw
Rock Tomb
#2 Nosepass
Type:
Lv: 15
Ability: Sturdy
Hold Item: N/A
Moves:
Tackle
Harden
Rock Throw
Rock Tomb
Strategy
Rustboro Gym is Rock type, and there's two trainers you'll have to face before the gym leader. If you haven't been training your Pokémon outside of trainer battles, you'll probably need to do that before defeating this gym leader, depending on what type of starter you have. Unless you picked Torchic as your starter, you shouldn't have difficulty defeating Roxanne. Even with a lower level Mudkip or Treecko, your type advantage is very useful. Torchic users will have to either catch another Pokémon or train Torchic to much higher levels to win. If you let Geodude or Nosepass's health get too low, Roxanne may use potions to heal.
Roxanne will give you the Stone Badge and TM39 - Rock Tomb upon admitting defeat. You'll now also be able to use HM01 - Cut outside of battle.
Continue to Dewford Gym
