Ritchie in Pokemon The Last FireRed: The fights that kept getting in the way

I met Ritchie more than once in Pokemon The Last FireRed, and both times happened at moments when I was forced to stop, even though I did not want to.

The first time was on Route 1, when I had just started the game and was still carrying the mindset of playing the original FireRed. I was pushed straight into a battle, with no choice and no preparation. The fight itself was quick (since both of us only had one Pokemon), but the feeling of being dragged into a confrontation too early, and losing, stayed with me longer than I expected.

The second time was on Route 7, right before entering Celadon City. This time was different. I saw Ritchie standing there, blocking the only path forward. I knew for sure that I would have to fight, and that it could turn into a tense battle. Because of that, I deliberately turned back and went to Lavender Town’s Pokemon Center to heal before coming back. Honestly, I was worried that even missing a small amount of HP could cost me the entire fight.

Battle with Ritchie at Route 7#

Even though this was a trainer 1 vs 1 battle, the game still displayed it as a tag battle. Ritchie opened with Butterfree and Swellow, and afterward, he sent out Pikachu, Aggron, Charizard, with Snorlax as his final Pokemon.

The early part of the battle was not too intense, but Swellow’s Z-move slowed the pace more than I wanted. It was not strong enough to knock out my Cinderace with that move, but it was annoying enough to force me to play more carefully.

Ritchie’s other Pokémon were handled one by one. Charizard, in particular, was taken down fairly quickly with Hydro Vortex (Water Z-move), because I knew Charizard was a strong Pokémon, and using a Z-move to eliminate it felt like the right priority. The fight only became truly difficult once Snorlax was sent out.

By that point, my team had already been worn down quite a bit. Snorlax was the last Pokemon, extremely durable, and it forced me to switch to Cinderace and Lycanroc in an attempt to finish the battle quickly. However, with the health points already reduced, both of them were easily taken out by Snorlax’s Hammer Arm. Even though I knew Snorlax was weak to Fighting-type moves, Breloom being paralyzed made me hesitate to take that risk.

In the end, I had to rely on Greninja, together with Dugtrio, to stall and slowly chip away at Snorlax until it finally went down. I still had one last backup option (a Graveler I caught in Rock Tunnel, holding a Red Card) but fortunately, I did not have to use it.

The player’s team status after defeating Ritchie on Route 7 in Pokemon The Last FireRed

I won this battle, with some difficulty. Still, compared to the battle against the author Romsprid that I had faced earlier, this one did not feel as tense.

After the battle#

This battle stayed with me not because it was extremely hard, but because it happened at a moment when I thought I could simply move forward.

Looking back, the two encounters with Ritchie were very different. The first time, I was forced into a battle when I was not ready. The second time, I saw it coming, had time to prepare, but was still forced to stop and deal with an obstacle I could not avoid.

I feel that The Last FireRed does not only create pressure through gym battles. Even fights that happen in the middle of the road like this can be enough to make me slow down before taking the next step.

Note: It was only during this second encounter that I noticed Ritchie’s Pikachu was named Sparky. I did not pay attention to that at all the first time. Later, I found out that this character exists and that his Pikachu really does have that name.