Chapter 6: The S.S. Anne

The S.S. Anne leaves Vermilion Harbor on a cruise to Olivine City, and Team Rocket has other plans. You can only board with the Thunder Badge and the S.S. Ticket Bill gave you at the Sea Cottage.

Main quest in this chapter: survive the party, follow the Teddiursa trail, stop the hijack and win the final fight against Archie with the bomb defused. There is no retry once you have fought Archie. If the ship sinks, later NPCs in Johto speak as if passengers died, and the S.S. Anne passenger gift in Celadon never appears.

Beating Archie also opens Rock Tunnel’s north entrance for the next chapter, and Cynthia leaves the Route 10 Pokémon Center.

Hidden items along the way

Optional stops in this chapter’s locations. Some spots may need a return visit; check the location notes for access limitations.

Open a location for item names, directions and available screenshots.

• Vermilion Harbor pier — 1 spot

Browse all hidden items

Walkthrough

Boarding. At Vermilion Harbor the clerk lets you through once you have the Thunder Badge and the S.S. Ticket (the ticket is Bill’s thank-you from Chapter 3). Save first: two orders of events below can leave you stuck on the ship for good.

Technical source (script files and flags)

script file 154 (harbor greeter: L890 CheckBadge 2 else ‘final preparations, come back later’; L946 HasItem 478 S.S. Ticket else ‘You don’t seem to have an S.S. Ticket’); ticket given in file 217 @1249 (Chapter 3).

The old man, then the girl’s Honey. From the moment you board, the party guests stand in the main hall and Blue offers a battle. Do it in this order: beat the old man in the main hall first, do not talk to Blue yet, then help the girl with the Teddiursa in the first north-west cabin. She wants Honey: give her yours, or swap one Shoal Salt with the cook in the B1F kitchen for Honey (a merchant in the hall sells Shoal Salt for $1,500). Her grandfather rewards you with a Water Stone. Giving the Honey before the old man’s battle, or talking to Blue first, soft-locks the story.

Opens up:

• S.S. Anne: Teddiursa's honey and the salt (starts the party)

Technical source (script files and flags)

guide/03-vermilion-to-celadon.md q-0050 (script files 161, 162, 156 scripts 22/23, 157; flags 1423, 1424, 1440). Emulator-tested order per that entry.

The party battles. Win over the six guests in the main hall (Blue, the old boy, the Raticate Gentleman, the Trainer at the north, the Trainer on the west who “had my eye on you” and Sabrina’s Psychic student). The waiter then wants to serve the food, but the Teddiursa has run off: go down to the B1F kitchen, where it is eating honey from the fridge. Back in the hall the Team Rocket hijack begins; you and Green/Red fight three Multi Battles in a row.

Opens up:

• S.S. Anne: the party battles and the missing Teddiursa

Technical source (script files and flags)

guide/03 q-0051 (file 156 scripts 30-32, 34, 40; 162 scripts 5, 6; 158 script 5)

The bomb and Archie. After the hijack, go down to the B1F engine room and beat the “maintenance” man to defuse the bomb. Then climb to the captain’s cabin and fight Archie. You can lose his first battle, but the last one must be won or the ship sinks even with the bomb defused. With the bomb defused and Archie beaten, the Captain sails back to Vermilion and Lt. Surge gives you a Magnet outside.

Opens up:

• S.S. Anne: defuse the bomb or the ship sinks (one chance) Missable

Technical source (script files and flags)

guide/03 q-0052 (file 162 script 9; file 157 script 4: only @2154 sets ‘bomb defused’; a loss on the last Archie fight jumps to the sinking). Aftermath: Archie fight sets Cynthia’s Route 10 hide flag 1102 (157 @1492) and removes the Rock Tunnel guard (see chapter 7).

After the ship. Blue says he is aiming for Kanto’s eight Badges; Green/Red warns you about Team Rocket. The guard in front of Rock Tunnel’s north door is gone, so the tunnel is open, and Cynthia has left the Route 10 Pokémon Center.

Warning: doing this closes these for good. Finish them first.

• S.S. Anne: defuse the bomb or the ship sinks (one chance) Missable

Technical source (script files and flags)

script file 157 (@1488-@1496 the Archie fight sets hide flags 1101 (Steven on Route 10), 1102 (Cynthia in the Route 10 Pokémon Center) and 1092 (the ‘archaeologists at work’ guard in front of the Rock Tunnel door); @1961-@2117 Blue/Green lines; Surge’s Magnet only with the bomb defused) Closes q-0052: the bomb can only be defused between the hijack and the last Archie fight (guide/03 q-0052 When line), which has been played by now.

Quests in this chapter

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S.S. Anne: Teddiursa’s honey and the salt (starts the party)

S.S. Anne Main quest

Where: on board the S.S. Anne, after the boarding speech. The girl with the Teddiursa and her grandfather are in the first north-west cabin (1F north-west rooms, the door at the top left of the hall). The cook is in the kitchen on B1F: take the stairs at the top middle of the hall down, and he’s a few steps to the right, next to the fridge. The Captain is in the captain’s cabin (1F, far east door).

Who gets it / when: everyone. You need it to move the story on: the party (and the hijack after it) starts only when you give the girl Honey after you’ve battled the old man in the main hall (the “old boy”, west side of the hall, near Blue). Tested in an emulator.

Order matters: you can get stuck on the ship. From the moment you board, the ship behaves as if the party had already started: the party guests stand in the main hall, the hall shop is open, the Captain only says the party has started, and Blue offers a battle. The party is announced only if you give the girl the Honey after the old man’s battle. Two orders leave the story stuck for good, with no way off the ship (the sailor at the exit doesn’t move, and losing a battle sends you back to the hall):

• giving the girl the Honey before battling the old man;
• talking to Blue in the hall before you’ve given the Honey (talking to him starts a battle, and after it the girl only thanks you for “the honey”).

Save before you board, and follow the steps below in this order.

How it works:

1. Battle the old man in the main hall (“Ha ha, here it comes! A Trainer who dares to challenge this old boy!”). Win or lose, it counts, but a loss whites you out to the top of the hall. Don’t talk to Blue yet.

2. Talk to the girl in the first north-west cabin. Her Teddiursa won’t eat the ship’s food, so she asks you to find Honey. What happens next depends on what you have in your Bag:

   If you have Honey: she offers the choice “Give away the Honey?”. Choose Yes to give it to her. If you decline, she continues waiting for Honey; talk to her again when you’re ready to give it.

   If you don’t have Honey: visit the cook in the B1F kitchen. Once the girl has asked for Honey, he explains that he has Honey but needs salt, and offers an exchange. Before you’ve spoken to her, he only mutters about the missing salt.

   If you already have Shoal Salt: the cook asks to exchange it for Honey. Accept, then return to the girl and give her the Honey. If you decline the exchange, you can return to him later.

   If you don’t have Shoal Salt: buy one from the merchant in the main hall for $1500, or from the merchant in the north-west rooms (lower-right cabin) for $6000 after the cook has asked. You can also bring salt bought before boarding from Vermilion’s old street merchant for $2000. Exchange one Shoal Salt with the cook for Honey, then return to the girl and choose Yes to give it to her.

3. Both Honey branches lead to the same scene: Teddiursa eats, the girl thanks you, and the party is announced. Her grandfather gives you a Water Stone on the way to the hall. This sequence is the same for every starter.

4. Return to the main hall for the party battles and the missing Teddiursa.

After the Honey delivery, the girl thanks you whenever you speak to her. The cook also changes to saying he can make delicious dishes with the Shoal Salt. He says this even if you gave the girl Honey you already carried and never exchanged salt with him: his dialogue follows the completed Honey request. This inconsistency is present in the original Chinese game and doesn’t require another salt delivery.

Reward: Water Stone from the grandfather.

HM01 (Cut) is not given on this voyage. The Captain in his cabin never hands it over in a normal game: he only says the party has already started. Tested in an emulator. You get HM01 later from the new captain of the S.S. Anne: after Sabrina gives you her Badge in Saffron City, board the ship at Vermilion Harbor and talk to him in the captain’s cabin. He gives it to you as his “1000th visitor” if you don’t have it. You don’t need Cut before then: the game’s only Cut trees (Route 10) can be cut with the Cascade Badge even if nobody in your party knows Cut (tested in an emulator).

Technical source (script files and flags)

file 161 (scripts 1, 3, 4; L1235, L1323, L1436, L1845), file 162 (script 4, L1551, L2797), file 156 (script 22, L4502, L4568, L6651; script 23, L4604), file 157 (script 5, @124, L514; script 6, L606). Cook on B1F ≈30,4 (north side, middle; the B1F stairs arrive at ≈24,3). Flag 1440 (“before the party”) is clear at new game and on boarding; only the hijack evacuation sets it (156 @6350, plus the hide flags of its 14 guest objects, @6362–@6430), and both party starts clear it (157 L550, 161 L1901); all script files scanned. With it clear, the Captain (157 script 5) shows 253#62 and gives no HM01, Blue (156 script 22) goes to his party battle L4502, which sets 1423 (“Honey given”) before battling, and the old boy (script 23) to L4604, which sets 1424 (“met the Captain”). The girl’s Honey script (161 L1436) sets 1423 and announces the party (L1535 → L1845: Water Stone, flags cleared, var 0x40A4 = 3, 0x40A5 = 0) only when 1424 is set; otherwise it ends (L1745). Nothing else announces the party, and the hall’s party trigger (156 script 18, var 0x40A5 == 0) and the waiter (hide flag 1085, set on arriving in Vermilion) wait for it. The exit sailor (object 1) blocks the one-tile gangway; party-battle losses warp to the hall (L5022). After the hijack the Captain can’t be reached: the cabin’s Archie trigger covers the door (8–10,10–11) and he is hidden afterwards (157 @1496). New captain: zone 308 object 14, hide flag 1091 (set on arriving in Vermilion, file 774 @1255; cleared by Sabrina’s HM02 scene, file 826 @936), HasItem 420 → L606 HM01. Cut trees: Route 10 objects 3 and 8 (std 10000), the only ones in the game. Emulator (emu_harness.py vqueue --case ssanne_story,new_captain,cut_yes, CN ROM and EN build): from the Vermilion arrival state, real boarding, arrival scene and speech; a watch on flag 1440 saw no write. Old boy first, then Honey: announcement, Water Stone, var 0x40A4 = 3, Archie’s party speech on the hall trigger; the Captain 253#62. Honey first: no announcement; the Captain, the old boy, the girl, the grandfather (Water Stone) and Blue (49) then change nothing, the hall trigger stays silent and the exit is blocked. Blue first: the girl only thanks you, nothing starts. The new captain gives HM01 without one in the Bag; Cut works with a Splash-only party and no HM01 (D-1549).

S.S. Anne: the party battles and the missing Teddiursa

S.S. Anne Main quest

Do first: S.S. Anne: Teddiursa's honey and the salt (starts the party).

When: as soon as the party is announced (see above; the guests already stand in the 1F main hall, west side, from the moment you board).

How it works:

1. The waiter with the “special Pokémon food” (hall, far west) won’t serve until you’ve had all six party battles:

   • Blue (hall, north-west),
   • the “old boy” (hall, west),
   • the Raticate Gentleman (hall, west),
   • the Trainer at the north of the hall. If you already battled this Trainer in the south-east cabins before the party, that battle counts,
   • the Trainer on the west side who “had my eye on you”,
   • the Psychic student of Sabrina’s (hall, north).

   Blue, the old boy and the pre-party cabin battle count whether you win or lose. Losing to Blue or the cabin Trainer costs nothing, but losing to the old boy (or any other party Trainer) still whites you out.

2. Then the waiter offers the food, but the girl runs up: her Teddiursa has run off.

3. Go to the B1F kitchen. Teddiursa is eating honey from the fridge. Talk to it and it goes back to her.

4. Walk back into the hall and the Team Rocket hijack begins (story).

Reward: none beyond the battles (the girl and grandfather only thank you afterwards). The Raticate Gentleman also offers his Raticate for a Butterfree once beaten (an in-game trade).

Notes: your Pokémon didn’t eat the food, so you and Green/Red fight Team Rocket in three Multi Battles in a row. Losing one whites you out to the top of the main hall, next to the stairs down to B1F, and you try again.

Ship shop: from the moment you board until the hijack, the merchant in the hall sells Shoal Salt $1500, TM21 Frustration $4000 (the menu calls it TM63; from rc8 the shop refuses you below $4,000, while rc7 and earlier let you buy with $400 or more and took everything you had left; see Known issues), Liechi Berry $800 and Ganlon Berry $800. This is the only time these berries are on sale here. Tested in an emulator: he stands in the hall right after boarding.

Technical source (script files and flags)

file 156 (scripts 30–32, 34, 40; L4502, L4604, L4721, L4887; script 20 shop L4270–L4444), file 162 (script 5, script 6), file 158 (script 5). Blue (flag 1423, @4524), the old boy (1424, @4622) and the pre-party cabin battle (file 158, flag 1517) are set before the battle or without a result check. Hijack loss: L5829 whites out and warps to 1F ≈24,3.

S.S. Anne: defuse the bomb or the ship sinks (one chance)

S.S. Anne Main quest Missable

One chance: the ship sinks if the bomb isn't defused or you lose the last fight with Archie. Do first: S.S. Anne: the party battles and the missing Teddiursa.

Where: B1F engine room, at the far east end of B1F. Before the hijack, a crewman there mutters about “hitting the propeller shaft from the side” and claims to be doing maintenance.

When: only between the hijack and your fight with Archie in the captain’s cabin.

How it works:

1. After the hijack, go down to B1F and talk to the “maintenance” man in the engine room. He admits he planted a bomb and battles you.
2. Beat him and he removes the bomb.
3. Then go up the engine-room ladder and fight Archie. His first battle (Crawdaunt Lv. 40) can be lost: you don’t black out, and Blue and Green/Red arrive either way. The final battle is still you alone against Archie (Walrein Lv. 44, Whiscash Lv. 43, Kingdra Lv. 45); your friends only deal with his other Pokémon in the scene afterwards. The final battle must be won (see below).

Bomb	After Archie is beaten
Defused	Archie flees, the Captain retakes the ship and sails back to Vermilion. Outside, Lt. Surge gives you a Magnet.
Not defused	Archie escapes and the engine blows. The ship sinks; you, Blue and Green/Red survive in life jackets and wake up in the Vermilion Pokémon Center. No Magnet.

Losing the last Archie battle also sinks the ship, even with the bomb defused: there’s no white-out, the game goes straight to the sinking. So: defuse the bomb and win the last battle.

Why it matters: the sinking lasts a long time. Later NPCs in Violet City, Olivine City, Ecruteak City (including the photo-album house) and on Victory Road 3F speak as if passengers died, for example a woman whose boyfriend “can never come back”. There is no retry on the ship once you’ve fought Archie. The only way to undo it is the Celebi trip at the Ilex Forest shrine, after your final Hall of Fame entry. You must already have received both Shaymin and Celebi at the shrine. With Celebi as your first healthy Pokémon, pick “I can’t watch innocents be killed” and beat Archie there. If Celebi or Shaymin was just shown at the shrine, leave Ilex Forest and come back first.

Technical source (script files and flags)

file 162 (script 9, L2090, L2103; only @2154 sets the “bomb defused” flag 1425), file 157 (script 4, L1710, L1834–L2134, L2197–L2852; final Archie battle is trainer 177 at @1542, a loss jumps to the sinking at L2154; the sinking sets flag 1093 at @2852); flag 1093 checked in files 52, 110, 854, 907, 916, 925. Engine-room man ≈55,7 on B1F. Undo: file 52 script 6 (Ilex Forest shrine), after the Hall of Fame (flag 2261), needs flags 2296 and 2297 set and 2298 clear and Celebi as the first non-fainted Pokémon; beating Archie (trainer 177) clears 1093 (@4858). 2298 is set whenever Celebi or Shaymin is shown at the shrine; only re-entering Ilex Forest (file 92) clears it.