Pokémon Thread XXIX: Sword, Shield, and Spoilers

[Rater202]

You have to fight him to get to Lavender Town as its blocked off by a cut tree and you have to fight him to get cut.

The remake gives you cut at a different point: You can skip the saint Anne battle entirely but he's still missing his raticate.

People just want to latch onto the idea that red and/or his Pokemon were too brutal and beat poor raticate to death when there's a better explanation.

Maybe he traded the Raticate for his Execute or Gyarados? There's NPCs who make stupid trades like that in the games.