Chapter 11: Pokémon Tower, the Saffron Takeover and the Marsh Badge
Everything is lined up for Sabrina’s trial: you did her willpower test in the Saffron Gym (Chapter 8), you have the Volcano Badge and you saw Mewtwo break out in the Detrick lab (Chapter 10). If any of those is missing, Sabrina in Pokémon Tower sends you away.
Main quest in this chapter: make Sabrina laugh in Pokémon Tower (the call that ends the scene tells you Team Rocket has taken Saffron City), get into the sealed city through Sabrina’s pocket dimension, fight through Silph Co. to the Rocket Boss, and then battle Sabrina for the Marsh Badge (Fly).
Before you go to the tower, finish these, because the takeover closes them for good: the Route 5 shelter raid, the Cerulean burglary case (if you have not beaten the Route 24 grunt), the Route 11 Swablu, the Route 9 Squirtle Squad (Pikachu starters), the Fuchsia Battle Marathon and its White Flute, Cynthia’s and Steven’s battles in Fuchsia and Goh at the Tropius display. The employee’s Lapras and Grandma’s treats for Shota end later in this chapter.
Walkthrough
Section titled “Walkthrough”Pokémon Tower, Sabrina’s laughing test. Sabrina waits on the tower’s upper floors, with her Alakazam. Accept her willpower training (“Make me laugh”). Her menu starts with only “Tell a joke”; each ghost Pokémon in the tower (a Gastly, a Haunter and a Gengar) gives you one more idea once Sabrina has set the task. Try all four options once each. After the fourth, you say you will not give up and she laughs.
Technical source (script files and flags)
guide/03 q-0065 (script file 17 scripts 23, 26, 28, 29; task flag 1504; options 1505-1508; Volcano Badge check at L1383; var 0x40AF != 0 at L3237 or ‘deep in her training’). Tower Sabrina’s hide flag 1100 is cleared by the Gym scene (830 @927) and set again by the takeover (17 @11987). Ghosts’ hide flag 1570 is cleared in the president’s office (795).
The call: Team Rocket has taken over Saffron City. The moment Sabrina laughs, the Saffron takeover starts. This closes for good everything you have not done yet from this list: the Route 5 shelter raid, the Cerulean burglary case, the Route 11 Swablu, the Squirtle Squad on Route 9, the Fuchsia Battle Marathon and the White Flute, Cynthia’s and Steven’s Fuchsia battles, and Goh at the Tropius display. The Saffron townsfolk and shops are gone until the city is freed, and Koga is away from the Fuchsia Gym.
Technical source (script files and flags)
script file 17 L11987-L12610 (the end of the tower scene): SetFlag 1100/1511 (Saffron townsfolk hidden, landmarks of zone 59), SetFlag 1683 (Goh), 1207 (Cynthia and Steven in Fuchsia), 755 (Koga), 1226; L12442-L12551 closes the Squirtle Squad (flag 1094) and L12563-L12586 cancels the marathon (var 0x40db = 2). Hide-flag matches checked in the zone listings (landmarks): zone 56 Goh 1683, Cynthia and Steven 1207, zone 480 Koga 755. The Route 5 raid, burglary case and Swablu closes are from guide/02 q-0033, q-0035 and guide/03 q-0054, q-0056; the burglary case only closes if the Route 24 grunt is not beaten yet. Re-checked by agent 3 (2026-10-13) against file 17 L11987-L12610: all eight closes hold. q-0033 and q-0054: L12165 tests var 0x40be (16542) = 1; if the raid never ran it clears flags 305/1045 and sets 1043/1037/1038 (Pokemon gone, Swablu return impossible); a finished raid is left alone. q-0035: SetFlag 1033 @12115 hides the Route 24 grunt (zone 28 object 6 is hidden by 1033). q-0056: SetFlag 1094/1098 @12539-@12543 (Route 9 file 190 tests 1094 first). q-0089: SetFlag 1683 @12119; q-0090: SetFlag 1207 @12127 (cleared again only by the Soul Badge scene, file 806 @1981); q-0093/q-0094: var 0x40db (16603) 0 to 2 @12563-@12580 (stays 1 if the marathon was already finished).
Getting into Saffron. An invisible barrier seals all four gates. At the Route 8 gate (the Lavender side) Sabrina, Agatha and your friend explain it and send you to check the other three gates: talk to at least one person (not a Pokémon) at the north, south and west gates. Then go back to Sabrina and say Yes: she sends you through her pocket dimension. Inside, the caretaker in the house in the south-east gives you the Sub. Doll and sends you into the occupied Saffron Gym. Blue joins you there and you fight off the Rockets together; he suggests sneaking into Silph Co.
Technical source (script files and flags)
guide/04 q-0111 (script file 188 script 16, L618-L2723; gate flags 1494-1496 cleared by talking to people: files 179, 184, 186; Warp 405; Blue’s scene in message bank 524 lines 20-44, played in the emulator by the earlier author).
Silph Co. Use the elevator to Rotom’s Room (guarded by four Grunts and Executive Lawrence, who is Lv. 73-74: bring a healthy team). A glowing floor panel in the south-east corner leads to the hostages’ floor. There, after Jessie, James and the Maxie fight, the employee in the hostages’ room offers you a Lv. 70 Lapras: take it before you go up, because the hostages leave when the Rocket Boss battle ends. Outside the Hunyuan Dojo, a Rocket Grunt is bothering Master Ma (optional).
Technical source (script files and flags)
guide/05 q-0119 (script file 835 scripts 2-8, takeover objects hidden by flag 1208), guide/04 q-0109 (755 script 28 L3176; hostages hidden by flag 1208, set at 834 @5066/@5207), guide/05 q-0118 (824 scripts 37, 38). Rotom’s Room is also open before the takeover (flag 1208 hides only the takeover objects); it is placed here because its floor panel is the way onward.
The president’s office. Beat Ariana at the top of Silph Co. to reach the office, where the Rocket Boss presses the president to join Team Rocket. Choose how to act (it changes only a few lines), watch your Sub. Doll take the blow, then battle the Rocket Boss (Nidoqueen, Beedrill, Rhydon, Marowak, Swampert, Sandslash, all Lv. 100). Losing does not white you out and the story goes on either way. You wake up in the Pokémon Center and Lance gives you a Vs. Recorder: Saffron is freed, the hostages are gone and Grandma’s treats errand in Celadon is over.
Technical source (script files and flags)
guide/04 q-0112 (script file 834 script 30 Ariana L1401, choice L3400/L3756, battle L4755, Vs. Recorder L5641, end flags L5948-L6010; liberation sets 0x40cf = 5 @5994, which closes Grandma’s errand, and clears Koga’s hide flag 755 @5968).
The Marsh Badge. With Saffron free again, battle Sabrina in her Gym for the Marsh Badge, which lets your Pokémon use Fly outside battle. She registers her number and tells you to visit the Alto Mare Islands, where Granny Mae has mastered ultimate moves: the Vermilion harbor has reopened, so take your S.S. Ticket there. The Marsh Badge also unlocks two strong optional Trainers: Veteran Dawn on Route 9 now, and Ace Trainer Marisa on Route 11 once a later story scene in Johto has played. Koga is back in Fuchsia for anything left in that town.
Technical source (script files and flags)
script file 826 (script 1: Marsh Badge only once flag 1166 (Saffron freed) is set, GiveBadge 4 @165; script 3 @830-@1013: Sabrina’s number, ‘The harbor in Vermilion City is open again. Take your S.S. Ticket there’, clears the harbor and island flags 1494-1508/2013-2019, sets 0x4097 = 2); guide/03 q-0066 (Route 9 Dawn: CheckBadge 4; Route 11 Marisa: CheckBadge 4 and flag 759).
Quests in this chapter
Section titled “Quests in this chapter”Open the ones you want; tick Done to hide them. Filters at the top apply to this whole page.
Pokémon Tower: make Sabrina laugh (the Marsh Badge trial)
Section titled “Pokémon Tower: make Sabrina laugh (the Marsh Badge trial)”Needs the Volcano Badge, the Saffron Gym test (Chapter 8) and the Detrick lab scene (Chapter 10). Do first: Saffron Gym: Sabrina's willpower test and the pocket dimension (before the takeover), Cinnabar Island: the Detrick lab lockdown (door puzzle) and Mewtwo.
Where: Pokémon Tower, Sabrina with her Alakazam. She appears after the scene in Saffron.
Who gets it / when: she needs the Cinnabar Gym badge (before that: “You’re still far too weak.”) and the Mewtwo scene in the Detrick lab on Cinnabar Island. Until that scene has played she only says she’s “deep in her training”, so go to the lab first.
How it works:
- Accept her willpower training (Yes): “Make me laugh.”
- Her menu starts with only Tell a joke. Each ghost Pokémon in the tower gives you one more idea. Talk to it after Sabrina has set the task:
| Ghost (where) | Unlocks |
|---|---|
| Gastly (about 19 steps west of the staircase in the south-east that a Trainer stands next to) | Pull faces at Sabrina |
| Haunter (12 steps straight north of Gastly) | Tickle Sabrina |
| Gengar (about 8 steps north of that same staircase) | Imitate Sabrina |
- Try all four options once each. Each one fails. After the fourth, you say you won’t give up, and she laughs.
- She says you’re strong enough to battle her right here, but a call comes in: Team Rocket has taken over Saffron City. That starts the Saffron takeover. Next, meet Sabrina again at Saffron’s east gate on Route 8: getting past the barrier.
Notes: the order doesn’t matter. The ghosts only react while Sabrina is here and the task is active. They appear in the tower again after the scene in the Silph Co. president’s office in Saffron (Silph Co. president’s office). The takeover also closes the Route 5 raid, the Cerulean burglary case and the Route 9 Squirtle Squad if you haven’t done them. Tested in an emulator: before the lab scene she only talks about her training; after it she makes her offer.
Technical source (script files and flags)
file 17 (scripts 23, 26, 28, 29; L3144–L9286, L11987; the task sets flag 1504; the four options are flags 1505–1508; badge check is badge 6, see file 15; var 0x40AF must be non-zero, else line 53#210 at L3237; the S.S. Anne hijack ending sets it to 0, file 156 @6600, and the next write in story order is the Cinnabar lab Mewtwo scene, file 852 @2626 (= 1), whose trigger itself needs 0; see the ch05 lab entry for the full scan of the 22 writes), file 830 L927/L1254 (clears Sabrina’s hide flag 1100). Ghosts’ hide flag 1570 is cleared in the Silph Co. president’s office (file 795). Sabrina ≈45,34; Gastly ≈36,58; Haunter ≈36,46; Gengar ≈52,50; the stairs used as the landmark are at ≈55,58. The only script that writes 0 to 0x40AF is 156 @6600 (all 22 writes scanned). Emulator (emu_harness.py guide0107 --case sabrina, badge 6, 1504 clear): 0x40AF = 0 → 53#210, 0x40AF = 5 → 53#149.
Saffron City: the Team Rocket takeover (what it closes)
Section titled “Saffron City: the Team Rocket takeover (what it closes)”Do first: Pokémon Tower: make Sabrina laugh (the Marsh Badge trial).
Starts: when Sabrina laughs in Pokémon Tower (Pokémon Tower: make Sabrina laugh). Ends: after the Rocket Boss scene in the president’s office at the top of Silph Co. (win or lose). Lance then gives you a Vs. Recorder at the Pokémon Center (see the finale entry below).
Closed for good when it starts, if not done:
- the Route 5 shelter raid and the Route 9 Squirtle Squad
- the Cerulean burglary case, if you haven’t beaten the Route 24 grunt yet (Route 24 / Cerulean City: the burglary case)
- the Battle Marathon, and with it the White Flute
- Cynthia’s and Steven’s battles in Fuchsia, if you already have the Soul Badge (their entry)
- Goh at the Tropius display
- the Shota step at Silph Co. (Grandma’s treats); the grandma’s errand is closed at the end of the takeover Paused during it: Koga is hidden from the Fuchsia Gym until Saffron is freed.
Can’t get into Saffron? An invisible barrier seals all four gates. The way in is the next entry.
Technical source (script files and flags)
file 17 (L11987–L12610), file 834 (L5062–L5221, L5641, L5948–L5994).
Saffron City (takeover): getting past the barrier into the city
Section titled “Saffron City (takeover): getting past the barrier into the city”Do first: Pokémon Tower: make Sabrina laugh (the Marsh Badge trial).
Where: the four roads into Saffron City, just outside each gatehouse. Gym Leaders, Elite Four members and friends stand at every one, all stuck behind the same invisible barrier.
Who gets it / when: everyone. This is the main story, right after Sabrina’s call in Pokémon Tower. Players get stuck here because talking to the Leaders seems to do nothing. The step that’s easy to miss is going back to Sabrina at the end.
How it works:
-
East gate (Route 8, the Lavender side): Sabrina waits here with Agatha and Green (boys) or Red (girls). She explains the barrier and asks you to check the other three entrances while she thinks of another way in.
-
Check the other three gates. At each one, talk to at least one of the people (talking to their Pokémon doesn’t count). The order doesn’t matter.
Gate Talk to any of North (Route 5, the Cerulean side) Brock, Misty, Bruno, Bill or Blue South (Route 6, the Vermilion side) Lt. Surge, Blaine, Lorelei or Cynthia West (Route 7, the Celadon side) Koga, Erika, Lance or Steven -
Go back to Sabrina on Route 8. She says “So you’ve checked all of Saffron City’s other entrances…” and offers to send you in through her other dimension. Answer Yes. If you answer No, talk to her again and she asks again; nothing is lost. If she still repeats her first speech, a gate is missing.
-
You land in the pocket dimension, the copy of Saffron from Sabrina’s willpower test. Go to the house in the south-east, where Mr. Psychic’s house stands in the real city, and talk to the caretaker at the back. She gives you the Sub. Doll and sends you into the occupied Saffron Gym.
-
In Saffron, Blue turns up (Bill sent him in through the PC storage system) and the two of you fight off the Rockets together. Blue then suggests sneaking into Silph Co., where their boss and the key to the barrier should be.
Next: Silph Co. In Rotom’s Room, a glowing floor panel leads on to the hostages’ floor (Rotom’s Room, the employee’s Lapras). Then go up to Ariana and the president’s office. Optional on the way: help Ma Baoguo outside the Hunyuan Dojo.
Notes: Fly can’t get you over the barrier either: Lance says it covers the sky. Read from the game’s scripts; the Blue scene in step 5 was also played in an emulator.
Technical source (script files and flags)
file 188 (Route 8), script 16 (Sabrina, L618): message 62 while any of flags 1494–1496 is set; message 68 once all three are clear; Yes → L1965 → L2723 Warp 405 52,40. If you said No, L1957 clears flag 1504 and the next talk goes to L1792 (message 74). The gate flags are cleared by talking to the people at the gates: file 179 (Route 5, scripts 9/11/13/15/16), file 186 (Route 7, scripts 8/10/12/14), file 184 (Route 6, scripts 10/12/14/16). They’re set earlier by the Pokémon Tower ghosts’ ideas (file 17 @3333, @5653/@5719, @5852), so they are all set when the takeover starts. Blue’s scene: message bank 524, lines 20–44 (the Saffron Pokémon Center, zone 407, coord script 5 of file 827). Emulator (emu_harness.py guide0107 --case blue_saffron, both ROMs): run from the trigger tile with a Lv100 lead, TrainerBattle 414 and the two MultiBattles with Blue (385+416+613, 385+614+615) won, lines 20–44 shown (32 and 34 are the female-player versions; the script never prints 24), ending with #44 (Silph Co.).
Rotom’s Room (Silph Co.): change Rotom’s form
Section titled “Rotom’s Room (Silph Co.): change Rotom’s form”You need a Rotom in your party. The room is repeatable and free; before the takeover it is a quiet server room.
Where: Rotom’s Room, Silph Co.’s server room, reached by the Silph Co. elevator.
How it works: with a Rotom in your party, examine one of the five appliances (microwave oven, refrigerator, washing machine, electric fan, lawn mower) → Yes. Rotom takes that form and learns its signature move (Overheat, Blizzard, Hydro Pump, Air Slash, Leaf Storm). If it already knows four moves, it replaces one. To change it back, examine the appliance it left behind, or use the menu that appears when your Rotom is already in a form.
Notes: repeatable, free. During the takeover the room is guarded by four Grunts who battle you when you talk to them (Lv. 63–65), plus two Trainers who battle you on sight: Executive Lawrence (Lv. 73–74), right in front of the elevator door, and a Grunt in the south of the room. Lawrence is a real threat, so come prepared. A glowing floor panel in the south-east corner is your way on to the hostages’ floor (the employee’s Lapras).
Technical source (script files and flags)
script file 835 (scripts 2–8, L617, L1352, L2632). Takeover objects (flag 1208): Lawrence trainer 500 at ≈7,4, Grunt trainer 501 at ≈10,11, talk-to Grunts (trainers 626–629, scripts 13–16 → L906/L953/L1000/L1047) at 3,7, 5,6, 9,6, 11,6; floor panel trigger at 13,11.
Silph Co. (Saffron takeover): the employee’s Lapras (missable)
Section titled “Silph Co. (Saffron takeover): the employee’s Lapras (missable)”Take it before the Rocket Boss battle: the hostages leave afterwards. The Lapras is Lv. 70. Do first: Saffron City (takeover): getting past the barrier into the city.
Where: Silph Co. cafeteria floor, among the locked-up hostages (next to the hostage who heals your Pokémon), during the Team Rocket occupation of Saffron.
How it works: after Jessie & James and the Maxie fight on this floor, talk to the employee in the hostages’ room: “Would you like to take [Lapras] with you?” → Yes.
Reward: Lapras, Lv. 70 (party must have room; No lets you ask again).
Notes: missable. The hostages leave at the end of the Rocket Boss battle (win or lose), so take it before you go up to face him. The warehouse items on this floor (PP Max, HP Up, Sacred Ash, Rare Candy) can be picked up once the takeover has started.
Technical source (script files and flags)
file 755 (script 28, L3176; scripts 11, 29–31; items need flag 1226, set by the takeover (file 17 @12023); it is also set from the end of the Mt. Moon roadblock story (file 9 @5598) until the Rock Tunnel rescue (file 129 @1141), but Saffron City’s gates are shut before the rescue: Route 5/6 gates files 182/185 block while var 0x409F = 0, Route 7 gate file 187 while 0x40B9 = 0; read only, see the known-issues entry on the early Lavender curse). Hostages hidden by flag 1208, set at file 834 @5066/@5207. Employee ≈33,8 on the cafeteria map.
Saffron City (takeover): help Ma Baoguo fight off Team Rocket
Section titled “Saffron City (takeover): help Ma Baoguo fight off Team Rocket”Do first: Saffron City (takeover): getting past the barrier into the city.
Where: right outside the Hunyuan Dojo door while Team Rocket occupies Saffron. A Rocket Grunt is picking on Ma Baoguo.
How it works: talk to either of them and answer “Help Ma Baoguo fight off Team Rocket?” → Yes. Battle Rocket Grunt (Sandslash 63, Furret 64, Roselia 65). Losing whites you out; you can try again.
Reward: none, just thanks. After the liberation a resident mentions that Ma “stood up to those thugs” (you hear this either way, whether or not you helped). Optional.
Technical source (script files and flags)
script file 824 (scripts 37, 38; L3430, L4262–L4466, L6942; flag 1760). The resident’s line is script 24 (L3237), which only checks that Saffron has been freed (flag 1166). Position ≈1321,205.
Silph Co. president’s office: the Goodshow meeting and the Saffron takeover finale
Section titled “Silph Co. president’s office: the Goodshow meeting and the Saffron takeover finale”The first half (President Goodshow's meeting) is in Chapter 8; this is the takeover finale. Do first: Saffron City (takeover): getting past the barrier into the city.
Where: the president’s office at the top of Silph Co. Two scenes play here:
- Before the takeover: Lance brings you, Blue and Green/Red to meet President Goodshow. He gives you 3 Rare Candies. The two answers to his question only change one line. This meeting makes the Pokémon Tower ghosts appear for Sabrina’s trial (Pokémon Tower: make Sabrina laugh).
- End of the takeover: the only way in is the door behind Ariana on the Silph Co. top floor. Beat her (losing whites you out) and you walk straight into the office, where the Rocket Boss is pressing the president to join Team Rocket. How it works:
- The game asks “Team Rocket’s boss seems to be talking with Silph’s president. Act now?”: Listen a little longer / Attack the barrier Pokémon / Attack the Rocket Boss directly. Listening lets you overhear the president hand over Shota’s Master Ball, then asks again (barrier or boss only). The choice changes only a few lines: every branch ends the same way.
- The boss spots you and his Nidoqueen floors you. Your Sub. Doll (from the Saffron Gym caretaker, Saffron Gym: Sabrina’s willpower test) takes the final blow, and your Pokémon knocks out the Hypno that powers the barrier.
- Battle Rocket Boss (Nidoqueen, Beedrill, Rhydon, Marowak, Swampert, Sandslash, all Lv. 100). Losing doesn’t white out and the story goes on either way. If you win, Ariana reports the barrier is cracking and the Rockets flee by train; if you lose, Blue tells you they retreated once the barrier broke.
- You wake up in the Pokémon Center with your friends. Lance gives you a Vs. Recorder, the Sub. Doll is used up, and Saffron is freed. Reward: Vs. Recorder (plus 3 Rare Candies from the earlier meeting).
Technical source (script files and flags)
script file 834 (script 30 Ariana, L1401, Warp to map 377 then L3302; choice L3400/L3756; battle L4755; Vs. Recorder L5641; end flags L5948–L6010), script file 795 (script 1, coord var 0x40c5).
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