Pokemon Platinum Walkthrough

WARNING!this walkthrough is very long dont try to beat the game in one day.

 

 

The Coal Badge | The Beginning / Twinleaf Town

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

As you gain control after selecting your character, naming him or her, et cetera, you'll find your character in his bedroom. Your friend will dart upstairs to greet you, and then quickly leave you to your own devices. Briefly explore your room; you'll find some interesting stuff (including a Wii!). But you'll ultimately need to head downstairs to continue the story. When you get down there, your mom will approach you and tell you that your friend left already (we named ours "Nolan"). After briefly talking to her, head out of your house in search of Nolan. Oh, and follow her advice closely... stay out of the tall grass until you get your own Pokemon (which is a short time away).

Once outside, explore your little town called Twinleaf Town. The house to the left of your own has a couple of people to talk to. There are also people in the house above yours and scattered throughout the town. Ultimately, you'll want to head to your friend's house, which is located diagonally up and left from your house. Once you approach it, your friend will come out, then run back inside. Pursue him up the stairs in his own house (talking to his mom and further exploring his house if you'd like... he has a Wii, too!) and he'll thereafter run back outside and north out of town. Give chase.

When you do, you'll run into him again. He'll try to convince you to run rightward into the grass without a Pokemon, which is dangerous indeed! And just about when the two are about to run into the grass, Professor Rowan shows up and stops them. He talks to the characters and eventually agrees to give them each a Pokemon of their own (the Professor's assistant, Dawn, will also show up at this time). Choose which Pokemon you want. Your choices will be Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup. We grabbed Turtwig, but any choice is fine. It'll all even out in the end.

After you choose your Pokemon, the Professor and Dawn will take their leave, leaving you and your friend on your own. Your Rival will immediately challenge you to a battle using the Pokemon he chose. He and his Pokemon will go easy on you in this battle (since you theoretically own Pokemon of the same level and strength, this is to ensure you don't lose). Expect an easy victory, and enough experience for your new Pokemon to reach level six (and then some). After this, head back to your house, where your mom will talk to you and send you to Sandgem Town to find the Professor and explain why you stole his Pokemon! But before she sends you on your way, she'll give you the extremely useful Running Shoes, which will allow you, at will, to run around, making your movements that much quicker.

The Coal Badge | Route 201 / Sandgem Town

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Head northward out of town to Route 201. Before heading eastward to Sandgem Town, consider going to the left instead. When you do, you'll find yourself at Verity Lakefront, where your friend will have an epiphany. What if you two try to catch the Legendary Pokemon living at nearby Lake Verity? Head westward and then northward to reach the lake, where you'll find a mysterious man named Cyrus. After a brief scene, he'll leave. But catching the Pokemon here will have to wait, because neither of you have Poke Balls, a necessary component in catching any Pokemon in the wild. The two instead resolve to head eastward to Professor Rowan's laboratory in Sandgem Town. You're now traveling alone. Leave Verity Lake and travel eastward back through Verity Lakefront to Route 201. Then, proceed eastward through the grass, bearing northward and then eastward to reach Sandgem Town. Be sure to talk to all three people you meet en route for helpful tips. Be especially sure to speak to the man at the north end of the big patch of grass, who will hand over a Potion for your inventory at the end of your conversation with him.

When you reach Sandgem Town, the Professor's assistant, Dawn, will intercept you and walk you to the Professor's lab. When you reach the lab, your Rival will run out of the front door and head out on his way. Once inside, your character and Professor Rowan will converse about your new adventure. After your discussion, he'll hand over TM27, at which point you can then head back outside of the lab. Dawn will bring you around town to introduce you to a few essential buildings. When you regain control, be sure to visit both buildings. Familiarize yourself with healing your Pokemon at the Pokemon Center, and buy some Poke Balls (and anything else you feel you might want, but definitely Poke Balls) at the Pokemon Mart. You should also enter all other buildings and speak to everyone in the town both inside and out. Also, if you head to the south end of Sandgem Town, you'll encounter Sandgem Beach (from Route 219), where an Antidote can be found at waters' edge.

At Dawn's bidding, you should now head back to your hometown (Twinleaf Town) and talk to your mother to let her know about your new bidding as a Pokemon master-in-training (find her north of Sandgem Town, on Route 202). Since you'll have to go back along Route 201 in order to do this, you'll have another shot at the wild Bidoofs, Kricketots and Starlys in the area. Completionists will want to make sure to catch each to add their full information to the Pokedex. This will be a general rule throughout this walkthrough that won't always be mentioned. In each new area, be sure to consult the "Pokemon to Find/Acquire" list to see which Pokemon are in the area so you know what you'll need to encounter. Once you get back to your house in Twinleaf Town, talk to your mother. Your friend's mother will come in automatically and hand off the Parcel for you to give to your friend if you encounter him (and naturally you will). You'll also get a Journal from your mom.

Head back along Route 201 to Sandgem Town, and then go northward again to Route 202. Head left at the first opportunity you get and you'll run into the Professor's assistant Dawn yet again. This time, she'll teach you how to catch your own Pokemon; if you've never played a Pokemon game before, be sure to pay attention! The best part of your encounter with Dawn isn't the knowledge she bestows upon you however. Rather, it's that she hands you five Poke Balls. Sweet!

The Coal Badge | Jubilife City

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Head left past where Dawn was, and you'll be well on your way down Route 202. The new enemies here -- Shinx and Kricketot -- can be captured or simply fought (whatever you prefer -- we captured both to fill our fledgling ranks). They'll be joined by old foes in Bidoof and Starly. You'll encounter your first Pokemon Trainer battles en route to your next destination as well. Youngster Tristan will automatically engage you in battle with his level five Starly as you come up a pathway and begin heading rightward. Lass Natalie, another trainer, can be found further to the right (past the blue board with some game tips). She'll throw a level five Bidoof at you. If you head rightward, northward, and then leftward from her location after defeating her, the third and final trainer in the area, Youngster Logan, can be found. This kid will have a level five Burmy -- take it out ruthlessly!

Continue leftward after defeating Youngster Logan. Before heading northward into Jubilife City, be sure to seek out the Potion lying on the far side of a small grassy patch to the left of the entrance. Then, head up into town, where Dawn will intercept you, encouraging you to visit the Trainer's School in the city. A scene completely new to Pokemon Platinum will introduce you again to a man from the "International Police" named Looker. He'll hand over an item called the Vs. Recorder, an item to be used in "Vs. mode" when battling friends.

When you're done speaking with Looker, you should visit the Trainer's School on the south end of town. Within, you can learn some important Pokemon-related information from the students. You'll also find your friend reading a blackboard in the school's main room. Hand off the Parcel to him, and he'll give you a Town Map in return. Talk to everyone within the building and grab the X Attack item when your friend runs off. If you have healed, powerful Pokemon (multiple level 6 Pokemon, at least), talk to the two trainers in the room on the right side of the school. These two characters, School Kid Harrison and School Kid Christine, have varying level six Pokemon they'll come at you with. Harrison will fight with a Starly and Christine with a Bidoof. When both students' Pokemon have been subdued, be sure to talk to Harrison once more before leaving. He'll give you Potion for beating him, but only if you talk to him.

Once outside, attempt heading north. You will automatically be intercepted by a man, the creator of the Poketch. The Poketch is a device that will allow you to tell on-screen time, give you a calculator, et cetera. Don't worry; it'll become more useful later on. To get one, however, you have to do a little bit of legwork (and we do mean little). The creator of the device gives you a vital heads up -- three promotional clowns are roaming the city with coupons. Grab Coupon 1, Coupon 2 and Coupon 3 from these clowns (all Key Items), and you can then talk to the creator once more to get the Poketch (which is short for "Pokemon Watch"). All three clowns are located above the location of the device's creator (one up and to the right, one stationary in front of the large building at the north end of town, and then one wandering around to the left of that). Each will ask a fundamental Pokemon-related question -- answer each question in the affirmative to receive a ticket.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Lass Natalie	Bidoof (LV. 5)	$80	72
Lass Samantha	Budew (LV. 7)	$112	102
Lass Sarah	Shinx (LV. 7)	$112	90
School Kid Christine	Bidoof (LV.6)	$120	72
School Kid Harrison	Starly (LV. 6)	$120	72
Youngster Logan	Burmy (LV. 5)	$80	62
Youngster Tristan	Starly (LV. 5)	$80	60
Youngster Tyler	Magikarp (LV. 8)	$128	33

Take some time now to walk around Jubilife City and speak to everyone you've yet spoken to. Visit houses and stores to find even more people. You won't be able to travel to the southwestern end of the city just yet; not until we get our first Gym Badge. You can still buy items at the town's shop, heal your Pokemon, visit the Poketch headquarters (you can find a Potion in an alleyway to the south of the large building), and more. A Quick Claw can also be garnered from a woman surrounded by a couple of Pokemon on the eastern edge of town. The eastern exit from town and the town's television studio are both blocked off for now, giving you only a few options to continue.

Before continuing on the main quest, head north of the city onto Route 204. Bear rightward and through some grass to find a Parlyz Heal in the corner along the water there. To your left, you can head northward as well, toward a cave where Zubats can be found en masse (so go capture one!) Patiently fight in the cave and you may find a Psyduck as well, which you should also capture if you're so inclined. You can't go anywhere but right around the entrance in the cave yet, but why not add these two creatures to your Pokedex while you can? You can also grab a Potion from the small area of the cave you can currently traverse.

And yes, en route, you will run into three fledgling trainers who will want to fight you. Lass Sarah and Youngster Tyler will challenge you first (they're near the beginning of the route). Sarah will throw a level seven Bidoof at you, while Tyler will have a level eight Magikarp (which is laughably useless in battle, as you will well-know if you've captured one yourself). Across the grass heading north but before the cave entrance, the third trainer, Lass Samantha, will be found. She'll have a level seven Budew. After fighting the trainers, grab whatever Pokemon you may want (the Budew you just fought will be running around the grass near the cave).

The only thing that's left to do before we proceed is to visit the dock area at the northwest end of Jubilife City. Here, you can find an old man sitting in the small waterside home. He'll tell you how great the Old Rod is. Agree with him, and he'll be so happy he'll hand over his Old Rod to you. Now you can do some novice fishing in various watery areas, so feel free to catch a laughably weak Magikarp now if you want. Being patient enough to build up a seemingly-useless Pokemon like Magikarp pays off in the end, for it turns into a Gyrados eventually. And hey, while you're out there fishing for a Magikarp off of the docks, be sure to grab the X Accuracy item sitting at the far end of the dock.

The Coal Badge | Route 203 / Oreburgh Gate

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

When you're ready to proceed, head out of town eastward and onto Route 203. Route 203 heads eastward almost exclusively, so finding your way should be relatively simple. As soon as you get on the route and go to your right, you'll run into your friend and be thrust into a battle with him. As the table above states, he'll throw a Starly at you first, and a random Pokemon that's based on what you didn't take at the beginning of the game. When he's slain, you can proceed to your right. The girl you run into there will explain to you about Pokemon order, et cetera, and the guy above her, Youngster Michael, will have an easy challenge for you to conquer. His Kricketot and Zubat shouldn't give you any trouble whatsoever.

To the right of Michael, you can find a Poke Ball in the grass. Make sure to grab it before rejoining the main path and continuing eastward. Go up a small flight of stairs, engage Youngster Dallas in a battle, then go up another flight of stairs. Lass Kaitlin and Youngster Sebastian can be found near each other beyond the second flight of stairs. Above them is Lass Madeline. Naturally, the cave to your right is your next objective, but before heading in there, explore the grasslands to your left. You'll find a Repel and an X Defend if you search hard enough! Oh, and a note on the Pokemon in the area: you'll only find Pokemon here that you've seen before, with one marked exception -- Abra. However, Abra will almost always use Teleport to leave battle before you're able to damage him adequately to get a Poke Ball to take him successfully. He's rare in the area, as well, so you might want to wait to get one until later. However, that decision is completely up to you.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Camper Curtis	Starly (LV. 7) / Shinx (LV. 7)	$112	174
Friend	Starly (LV. 7) / Random* (LV. 9)	$900	208
Lass Kaitlin	Bidoof (LV. 4) / Starly (LV. 4) / Budew (LV. 4) / Abra (LV. 4)	$64	216
Lass Madeline	Psyduck (LV. 8)	$128	67
Picnicker Diana	Budoof (LV. 9)	$144	111
Youngster Dallas	Shinx (LV. 8)	$110	102
Youngster Michael	Kricketot (LV. 7) / Zubat (LV. 6)	$96	150
Youngster Sebastian	Machop (LV. 8)	$128	127

* - The Pokemon you fight after defeating your friend's Starly depends on which Pokemon you chose in the beginning of the game.

When you feel ready, head into the cave. This is the Oreburgh Gate, a large dungeon that we can't yet explore in its entirety. Ultimately, you'll want to cut rightward and through the cave to the town on the other side, but regrettably it's not quite that easy. As you enter the cave, a man will immediately intercept you. He'll talk with you and give you HM06. This item will come in handy later. Further to the right of him are two trainers. Camper Curtis will throw his Starly and Shinx at you, while Picnicker Diana while have a well-leveled Budoof. Once through the cave and on the other side, you'll find yourself in Oreburgh City.

The Coal Badge | Oreburgh City / Oreburgh Mine

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Oreburgh City, excitingly enough, is the location of the game's very first badge. If you've never played a Pokemon game before, the eight badges in the game will prove your worth to other trainers around the world! They'll also allow you to successfully control higher-level Pokemon. You'll get your first badge soon enough, but first we've got to take care of some other business.

Enter the city and head rightward. A kid will intercept you here and bring you to the gym in town, where the Gym Leader (and your badge) are located. Don't get too excited though! We can't enter the gym yet, though you will run into your friend here. The Gym Leader, Roark, has gone to the nearby mine to the south of town. That's our ultimate destination, but first let's explore the town and find what we can. There are many points of interest!

Head back to the western entrance into the city and take the topmost road eastward. There will be buildings to the north of you. In the first building you encounter, head to the second floor and talk to the child up there. He'll hand over a valuable Dusk Ball. In the next house to your right, there are two people you should seek out. The woman on the first floor will offer to trade you an Abra for a Machop. This is a great offer, because Abras up to this point have no doubt run from battle on you (they can only use Teleport at low levels, after all). Machops can be found on Route 207 at the north end of town. Catch one and give it to the woman; her Abra will be yours in return. Then, you can simply head back to Route 207 and catch another one for your own inventory. Sadly, the Abra comes with a name. We don't know about you guys, but we prefer our Pokemon nameless, thank you!

The second person of interest in that house is on the second floor. A man here will want to see a Geodude. Talk to him with one in your six handy Pokemon, and he'll be very impressed, giving you a Heal Ball in return for inspiring him. At the far east end of town, you will find two more buildings; a museum in the northeast corner and another house right below it. Ignore the museum for now unless you're curious to see it (we can't do anything there yet) and enter the house below it. The boy on the second floor within this building will hand over another valuable item -- a Great Ball. After doing all of this, save your game, heal your Pokemon and go south. You'll be brought directly to the Oreburgh Mine's entrance.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Camper Curtis	Shinx (LV. 7)	$112	90
Gym Leader Roark	Geodude (LV. 12) / Onix (LV. 12) / Cranidos (LV. 14)	$1,680	761
Picnicker Diana	Budew (LV. 5) / Psyduck (LV. 5)	$120	157
Worker Colin	Geodude (LV. 6) / Machop (LV. 8)	$320	220
Worker Mason	Geodude (LV. 9)	$360	138
Youngster Darius	Geodude (LV. 9) / Onix (LV. 9)	$144	346
Youngster Jonathan	Geodude (LV. 11)	$176	171

Before heading into the mine, make sure you've spoken to everyone around town and outside of the mine itself. Also, be sure to explore the area on the left in front of the mine's entrance, since you can find two items sitting close to one another, a Yellow Shard and a Dire Hit. Speak to everyone outside of the mine, as well -- one of them will reward you with a Super Potion. Oh, and did you visit the downstairs portion of the town's Pokemon Center? You didn't have access to the downstairs area in previous Pokemon Centers you encountered, but now you can head on down. When you do, you'll be automatically intercepted by a nice woman who will introduce you further to your surroundings and hand off a Pal Pad.

The mine is made up of two rooms, one on top of the other. Look directly to your right as you enter the mine to find a Poke Ball. You can also talk to a couple of people to your left before going down the stairs ahead of you and into the next room. There will be familiar cave enemies here, like Zubats and Geodudes, but you'll also find Onix in the wild here for the very first time. They are a pain to catch, but weaken them and be persistent and one will no doubt be yours. Head around this rectangular room to your right, then southward, and then westward (you can't go the other way, and you'll need to backtrack when you want to return to the surface). Two trainers will be ready to fight you as you take this short journey. Worker Mason will throw his level nine Geodude at you, while Worker Colin will have two Pokemon -- a Geodude and a Machop. You'll also find a couple of items by further exploring this area, a Potion and an Escape Rope.

The most important development while in the mines, however, is finding the aforementioned gym leader. When you find him, he'll discuss Rock Smash with you, the earlier-found TM06. Then he'll head back to his gym. Follow him, making sure to enter only with a party of Pokemon that can withstand rock-type Pokemon. If you chose Turtwig or Piplup in the beginning of the game, you'll be in especially good shape!

The gym is easy enough to find your way through. The man at the entrance will inform you of the leader's weaknesses, and then you'll be thrown into the fray. Trainer Jonathan is packing a level eleven Geodude, while Youngster Darius is packing two Pokemon of his own -- Geodude and Onix, both at level nine. Finally, you'll come to the crux of the mission; fighting the powerful Roark and getting the Coal Badge. Roark has three high level Pokemon. Geodude and Onix are both at level twelve, while Cranidos is at level fourteen. All are weak to the traditional rock weaknesses -- try grass attacks or water attacks to do the most damage. His first two Pokemon, the Geodude and Onix, can theoretically be killed with one water or grass-type strike if your attacking Pokemon is in the mid-teens as far as level is concerned. If you don't have any Pokemon of the water or grass type, then you'll need to really grind this battle out with some high level Pokemon of your own! But even the weakest water and grass Pokemon will easily survive this battle. Just be aware of his Cranidos, which will likely get the first move and can do devastating damage, throwing a wrench in an otherwise easy battle.

When you've defeated Roark, you'll be rewarded with the Coal Badge, the first of eight badges you'll earn during your travels through Sinnoh. This will allow you to use HM06. You'll also be rewarded with TM76, so be sure to teach it to one of your rock-type Pokemon. Now that we're done in the Oreburgh area, you'll want to backtrack towards Jubilife City. Doing so will allow you to begin the quest for our second badge! But since you have the skill Rock Smash and can now use it with the Coal Badge in your inventory, spend some time in Oreburgh Gate en route to Jubilife City. Head to the north of the first room and smash through the boulders (we taught our Onix the skill, but you can teach any one of your Pokemon the skill as long as it's applicable to them). On the basement floor, which you can access via some stairs beyond the first breakable boulders, items can be found, as well as an all-new Pokemon for you to catch -- Psyduck. You can't explore the entirety of this bottom floor without a Bicycle, which we'll get later... but in the meantime, grab the two items you can get right now, TM70 and a Big Pearl.

The Forest Badge | Route 204 / Floaroma Town

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Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

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To continue, you have to head back to Jubilife City. Upon your arrival, that mysterious man from the International Police will intercept you briefly before going back on his way. Once you regain control, head through the town, heading north out of the city (after healing your Pokemon and otherwise preparing for your journey). When you get to the northern entrance/exit of Jubilife City , you'll find the Professor and Dawn assailed by a couple of punk kids. After words are exchanged, you'll be thrust into battle with them. These two Galactic Grunts will come at you with two Pokemon simultaneously, of course necessitating your own use of two Pokemon (Dawn will therefore join you in battle). They'll come at you with two level eleven Pokemon -- a Stunky and a Glameow. These are easy Pokemon to fell, especially if you survived the earlier battle with Roark, so quickly dispatch these characters' Pokemon and then send them on their way. This was your first (and certainly not last) encounter with Team Galactic. Keep in mind that after winning the battle, a man from the local television station will hand ff a Fashion Case and invite you to the studio before scurrying off.

Head to the Pokemon Center after the battle is over to heal your Pokemon, and then head northward out of the city. This will bring you to Route 204, which you will continue to head northward on. If you're following this walkthrough, you already visited this area once, so the trainers here should have already been fought. Head through their locales towards the Ravaged Path, a small cave you will encounter. You must use Rock Smash to proceed, so bring your Pokemon with that skill with you. In the Ravaged Path, you can head northward and to the left, where TM39 can be found. Otherwise, you'll want to head rightward. The passage back outside will lead you to the other yet-explored stretch of Route 204.

Wrap around the winding pathway until you're headed north, and then go to the east side of the path, towards the grassy patch. Two trainers will be found around here -- Aroma Lady Taylor, with her Budew and Cherubi, and Bug Catcher Brandon, with his Kricketot and Wurmple. You should also find an Awakening in their midst to add to your inventory. Before heading north towards Floaroma Town, be sure to go all the way to your left, through some more grass and into a small isolated patch of land, where TM09 can be acquired. Also, be wary of the twin trainers who will attack you simultaneously, as they'll come at you with a couple of well-leveled Pachirisu.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Aroma Lady Taylor	Budew (LV. 9) / Cherubi (LV. 11)	$352	289
Bug Catcher Brandon	Kricketot (LV. 11) / Wurmple (LV. 10)	$176	241
Galactic Grunt & Galactic Grunt	Stunky (LV. 11) / Glameow (LV. 11)	$880	372
Twins Liv & Liz	2x Pachirisu (LV. 11)	$352	564

Head northward to Floaroma Town. Within this small, flower-filled town, there's little to do. However, exploration is always a great idea. Explore the entire village, but be sure to check out some areas of specific interest. There's a building of special interest, an accessories shop, where Pokemon accessories can be purchased. You may be interested in this "side aspect" of the game, so explore the inside thoroughly. Items can be bought with goods you've yet to discover, called Berries. Coincidentally, there are two small berry bushes planted right at the entrance into the building. Examine both bushes to grab two berries -- a Oran Berry and a Cheri Berry. Keep in mind that the fertile soil left in the bushes' wake make good land to plant new, much more permanent berry plants. You can later visit them after watering them and allowing them time to cultivate to grab some more berries en masse.

Within the store itself (other than being able to buy accessories), you can also grab two more items. One person within will give you a Sprayduck, a key item which allows you to water your planted seeds. That will come from the lady on the left side of the store. The non-merchant character on the right side of the store will hand over a Rawst Berry if you speak to her (she's rather passionate about berries!) After speaking to everyone in town and exploring thoroughly (you'll probably notice a couple of Team Galactic members in the northwest corner of town... don't worry, we'll deal with them really soon), head eastward to Route 205. Oh, and if you didn't explore the house directly in front of the entrance to the town, be sure to do so. A girl within will give you TM88 if you answer her question on Pokemon cuteness in the affirmative.

The Forest Badge | Valley Windworks / Route 205

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Initially, anyway, we'll be on Route 205 for only a short time. Don't worry about any of the new Pokemon you'll find here just yet. Instead, simply head rightward down this beginning area of the route. Make sure to grab the Chesto Berry and the Pecha Berry from the bushes that line the north end of the path as you go. Before long, you'll run into a little girl on the path. Speak with her in order to catalyze upcoming events. It appears her father is missing and has been taken due eastward, to the Valley Windworks. With fully-healed Pokemon, head eastward (not northward over the bridge yet) and into the Valley Windworks.

Once here, again avoid the grasses (just for now, so we can get the storyline stuff out of the way) and approach the east end of this small area. A Potion can be found lining the rightmost barrier in the area. Then, head north toward the building, which a Team Galactic Grunt is guarding. He'll throw a level thirteen Glameow at you, but you shouldn't have much trouble taking him out. Regrettably, he'll lock himself inside the building with his Works Key, leaving you in need of a key of your own. Thankfully, one can be found back in town. Head westward back to Floaroma Town immediately.

Back in town, little has changed, save one very important detail -- the Team Galactic members in the northwest corner of town have moved, giving you access to Floaroma Meadow. However, they aren't too far away, and as you go north, you'll be forced to fight them both. Both are Galactic Grunts, but they throw very different Pokemon your way. The first will throw a level 13 Stunky at you, while the second Galactic Grunt (called "III" in the grid above) will come at you with his level eleven Zubats. When both are defeated, the Honey merchant in the area will thank you by giving you some Honey of your own. As we mentioned earlier in the walkthrough, slathering Honey in certain areas will allow you to lure rare Pokemon to catch, if you're patient! You can buy a veritable unlimited quantity of Honey from the guy you just saved at $100 a clip. Even more importantly, however, you will get the Works Key, which was dropped by the duo of grunts. You know what you must now do. Head back to Valley Windworks posthaste to save the little girl's dad!

Use the Works Key on the door and enter the building there (that the Galactic guy earlier went in). Once inside, you'll have to fight a couple of Galactic Grunts -- both are simple and throw laughable Pokemon your way. Their commander, however, Commander Mars, is a little bit more difficult. She'll come at you with a level fifteen Zubat and a level seventeen Purugly. Be persistent, trade in and out Pokemon as needed, and use healing items. This will be the most difficult fight you've faced thusfar (the Zubat is nothing, but the Purugly is something else entirely). When the commander's Pokemon fall, however, father and daughter will be reunited, and we can move on with our quest!

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Aroma Lady Elizabeth	Roselia (LV. 14)	$448	456
Battle Girl Kelsey	Machop (LV. 15)	$240	240
Camper Jacob	Ponyta (LV. 14)	$224	456
Camper Zackary	Aipom (LV. 14)	$224	282
Commander Mars	Zubat (LV. 15) / Purugly (LV. 17)	$1,360	842
Galactic Grunt (I)	Glameow (LV. 13)	$520	196
Galactic Grunt (II)	Stunky (LV. 13)	$520	219
Galactic Grunt (III)	2x Zubat (LV. 11)	$440	252
Galactic Grunt (IV)	Zubat (LV. 13)	$520	150
Galactic Grunt (V)	Glameow (LV. 11) / Stunky (LV. 11)	$440	352
Hiker Daniel	Geodude (LV. 10) / Geodude (LV. 11) / Geodude (LV. 12)	$384	513
Hiker Nicholas	Onix (LV. 14)	$448	324
Picnicker Karina	Piplup (LV. 14)	$224	198
Picnicker Siena	Bidoof (LV. 12) / Pachirisu (LV. 12)	$192	455

Instead of heading east/west along Route 205 like we have, we can now head over the bridge and go northward along the bulk of the route. Eterna Forest, at the far north end of Route 205, is our next destination. Getting there, however, is not easy. Eight different trainers of varying strengths and weaknesses will meet you en route, and you'll need to deal with each of them in order to continue. This doesn't of course mention the random battles which you'll be expected to partake in as well. Route 205 has a couple of notable Pokemon running about, such as Pachirisu and Buizel, but getting through the trainers should be a bigger worry.

As you head over the bridge, you'll meet you first match in Camper Jacob, who comes at you with a level fourteen Ponyta. After him is Hiker Daniel, who can be accessed by going through the grass to the left of Jacob and then up the stairs. Daniel has three Geodudes at his disposal, all of varying levels. When he's defeated, be absolutely sure to grab the X Sp. Def. item to his right. Take the stairs back to your right thereafter. You'll run into Aroma Lady Elizabeth and her paltry level fourteen Roselia here. Make quick work of them, then slide north through some grass. Picnicker Siena is your next target. Her Bidoof and Pachirisu will put up a fight, but not much! In her vicinity, you'll find three items of interest -- a Heal Ball, a Pecha Berry, and an Oran Berry. Remember, you can replant seeds to make more sustainable bushes for the future!

After Siena is taken care of and the three items are acquired, backtrack to the staircase you took into this grassy area. This time, head north over a bridge (you'll have to deal with Camper Zackary and his Aipom en route). Once over the bridge, Hiker Nicholas and his level fourteen Onix will stand in your way. If you continue north from there, Battle Girl Kelsey will fight you with her Machop. Be sure to grab the Repel to the left of her before proceeding!

As you swing right, the final trainer in this area, Picnicker Karina, will stand in your way. Her bizarre Pokemon, a Piplup, will give you a bit of a challenge, but at level fourteen it's not yet incredibly strong (nor evolved). Beyond her is a building which is an awesome building indeed, for if you talk to the old couple within, they will heal your Pokemon for free! Not a bad deal at all, especially considering we're gonna be in the fray for a little while longer. When all's said and done, head north to Eterna Forest (but be sure to take the stairs south of the house first in order to acquire a Super Potion.)

The Forest Badge | Eterna Forest / Eterna City

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When you enter Eterna Forest, you'll run headlong into a woman named Cheryl. She will automatically join you for your journey through the forest, since she feels she can't get through it by herself. Thankfully, she's equipped with a Chansey, and what's even better is that she and her Chansey will keep the party fully healed. This means after each battle, everyone's status will be at 100%! Not a bad deal at all! After she joins up, talk to the boy to your left, then go through the grass to his left to grab an Antidote before proceeding northward.

Go slightly north, and then to your right, where you'll run into a powerful duo of Pokemon trainers. Bug Catcher Jack and Lass Briana will come at you as a team (because you'll always have the two-Pokemon advantage). Their Wurmple, Pachirisu, Beautifly and Silcoon can give you a hard time, so play a disciplined game, healing and switching Pokemon in and out as necessary. When their Pokemon are felled, be sure to grab the Parlyz Heal beyond them. It's almost impossible to miss. Then, proceed rightward, and swing south when you can't go right anymore. This will run you into a duo of trainers, Psychics Elijah and Lindsay. Both will fight with powerful level seventeen Abras. To their south, you'll find a great item to just come across, a Net Ball. We know this is an arduous place, but keep on going! You're almost in the clear!

To the right of the location of the Net Ball, you'll run into another powerful duo of trainers. Bug Catchers Donald and Phillip will try to put a quick end to your visit to the forest. These guys are packing five combined bug-type Pokemon, so get ready for a prolonged battle, one that can be made all the more long and arduous if you don't have good Pokemon to combat bug types. When both of these foes are set aside, continue to your right, into the southeast corner of the forest. A Potion can be readily found there.

Now keep in mind you can have some fun in Eterna Forest, as well. There are a handful of new Pokemon to catch here, so if you have Poke Balls and some will, you can grab all sorts of new creatures. Keep this in mind as you head north through the last stretch of the forest, and to the safety of Route 205 once more.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Bug Catcher Donald & Bug Catcher Phillip	2x Burmy (LV. 14) / Wurmple (LV. 11) / Cascoon (LV. 13) / Dustox (LV. 15)	$464	945
Bug Catcher Jack & Lass Briana	Wurmple (LV. 11) / Pachirisu (LV. 16) / Beautifly (LV. 15) / Silcoon (LV. 13)	$496	1,253
Fisherman Andrew	Magikarp (LV. 8) / Magikarp (LV. 10) / 2x Magikarp (LV. 12) / Magikarp (LV. 14) / Magikarp (LV. 16)	$512	304
Fisherman Joseph	Goldeen (LV. 17)	$544	402
Fisherman Zachary	2x Magikarp (LV. 14) / Goldeen (LV. 16)	]$448	499
Psychic Kody & Psychic Rachel	Meditite (LV. 17) / Psyduck (LV. 17)	]$1,088	620
Psychic Lindsey & Psychic Elijah	2x Abra (LV. 17)	]$1,088	546

After grabbing the aforementioned Potion, go north and seek out the final two trainers in this area. These two psychic trainers, Kody and Rachel, will come at you with a level seventeen Meditite and a level seventeen Psyduck, respectively. Subdue their creatures and continue north as the path bends to your left. You can find a Green Shard in the grass on the left end of the north-leading passage. Then, you'll reach the end of the forest. Cheryl will bid you adieu and go off on her own. You'll see some saplings blocking your path to an area north of you. We'll take care of that momentarily. In the meantime, go rightward and back onto Route 205.

Things are rather simple from here. Head eastward and to the bridge with some fisherman on it. .Three of the four fisherman will challenge you to a Pokemon battle. Joseph will come at you with a level seventeen Goldeen. Zachary will have a couple of level fourteen Magikarp and a level sixteen Goldeen to throw at you. However, Fisherman Andrew has the best party -- six Magikarp of varying levels, all of which are incapable of attacking (except the level sixteen one). How odd! Once on the other side of the bridge, swing southward and then westward along the thin pathway near the water. This will run you headlong into a Guard Spec. to add to your inventory. On the other side of the water, you'll find four berries on bushes -- two Oran Berries, a Pecha Berry, and a Cheri Berry. After grabbing all of those, head eastward into Eterna City.

RPG fans usually enjoy exploring new towns in their games. Eterna City is just another of these towns we get to explore. As you explore, note the location of key buildings (such as the Pokemon Center and the Poke Mart), visiting them if you must. The gym at the bottom of the town, which we won't yet visit (if you're following this walkthrough, anyway), has a Super Potion behind it if you care to grab it. There's also a three story condominium building behind the gym which you should visit. On the ground floor, you can trade a Buizel for a Chatot with a woman there. This is a good deal, especially considering there are Buizels to recapture for your own collection in the vicinity of town. Definitely take her up on this trade. On the second floor of the condo building, you'll be able to talk to another woman, who will hand over TM67. This is for a skill called Recycle... not exactly necessary, but nice to acquire nonetheless.

If you shoot southward out of town, you won't be able to proceed because you haven't yet gotten a Bicycle. However, you can find the professor's assistant's father, who will give you Exp. Share, perhaps one of the best items in the game. You're supposed to get it a little later, but getting it early can't hurt, right? Also, if you head into the house right next to the Pokemon Center, you can talk to an old man who used to be a skilled spelunker. He and everyone in the house will talk about the underground and give you an Explorer's Kit to explore for yourself. More on that later.

If you've already run along the north end of town, then you would have already gotten HM01 automatically, but if you haven't, go to the north end of town to catalyze the event to get the technical machine. This is an extremely important item that you must have to continue the game, for it can teach a Pokemon the skill "Cut" and allows you to get through those pesky saplings that were blocking our path at several points earlier. This will also grant you access to some side areas, which we will now cover right here in this very walkthrough. (Also, be sure to visit the Herb Shop in town... new items can be found there if you're daring enough to give them a try).

The Forest Badge | Eterna City Gym / The Galactic HQ

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It's time to go to the gym in Eternia City and grab your second badge. But first, we want to direct your attention to the east side of Eternia City, where you can access Route 211. You can't do much here yet, but you can catch some new Pokemon in the grasses and in the nearby cave to the east of the route. Meditites can be caught in the grasses of Route 211, while in the nearby cave, Chinglings are amongst the new Pokemon available. Catch what you want before proceeding. Even though you can't really go anywhere on the route or in the cave yet, catching these Pokemon now simply means you don't have to worry about it later when you come through here as part of the primary story. Speaking of the cave, be sure to duck into what limited area of Mt. Coronet you can currently traverse, since there's even more Pokemon to catch within (such as a Nosepass). An Ice Heal and Stardust can also be procured within.

If you're interested in more detailed descriptions on what's going on throughout Route 211, you'll have to wait 'til later. What you will run into, however, are three trainers. One is slightly obscured in the grasses at the beginning of the route. Ninja Boy Zach will have a trio of equally-leveled Zubats. Hiker Louis is further right, out in the open, an will have two rock Pokemon, a Geodude and Onix. Finally, if you wrap on around the north end, under the bridge, you will fight the third trainer in the area, Birdkeeper Alexandra and her Starly and Hoothoot combo. Beyond her is TM12. Make sure to grab that before vacating the area.

Now, onto Eternia's gym (which is located at the south end of town). The gym leader in the town, Gardenia, uses a Cherubi, a Turtwig, and a Roserade. This means that you should have a team of Pokemon, hovering around levels 16-20, that can stand up to these kinds of foes. Our particular party consisted of the following six Pokemon: Machop, Prinplup, Staravia, Onix and Luxio. With a team like this, you should be just fine going into the gym.

This gym is a little different than the last one we ran into. When you enter, talk to the man at the entrance to be introduced to the area, and then talk to the gym leader in the doorway. Don't worry, you won't have to fight her yet. Instead, in the room beyond (which is an outdoor room, oddly enough), you'll have to find three trainers to fight and defeat before fighting Gardenia herself. They have to be found in order, though. The first one, Lass Caroline, can be found in the northwest part of the gym. She'll come at you with a Cherubi and a Roselia, both level seventeen. Next is Aroma Lady Jenna, who is in the southwest part of the room. She'll come at you with three Budew, ranging from levels fifteen to seventeen. And finally, in the southeast, Aroma Lady Angela will have a lone Pokemon -- a Roselia -- for you to deal with.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Aroma Lady Angela	Roselia (LV. 19)	$608	618
Aroma Lady Jenna	Budew (LV. 15) / Budew (LV. 16) / Budew (LV. 17)	$544	696
Bird Keeper Alexandra	Starly (LV. 17) / Hoothoot (LV. 17)	$544	414
Commander Jupiter	Zubat (LV. 21) / Skuntank (LV. 23)	$1,600	1,270
Galactic Grunt (I)	Zubat (LV. 17) / Stunky (LV. 17)	$680	482
Galactic Grunt (II)	Zubat (LV. 16) / Glameow (LV. 18)	$720	457
Galactic Grunt (III)	Croagunk (LV. 19)	$760	337
Galactic Grunt (IV)	Glameow (LV. 19)	$760	288
Galactic Grunt (V)	Stunky (LV. 16) / Glameow (LV. 16) / Croagunk (LV. 16)	$690	796
Gym Leader Gardenia	Turtwig (LV. 20) / Cherrim (LV. 20) / Roserade (LV. 22)	$2,640	1,620
Hiker Louis	Geodude (LV. 14) / Onix (LV. 18)	$576	634
Lass Caroline	Cherubi (LV. 17) / Roselia (LV. 17)	$272	800
Ninja Boy Zach	3x Zubat (LV. 14)	$112	496
Scientist Travon	Kadabra (LV. 20)	$960	621

When those three are defeated, Gardenia is yours. We recommend leaving to hit the Pokemon Center first, in order to heal your team, before going up to Gardenia and taking her on. She has three Pokemon -- a level twenty Cherubi, a level twenty Turtwig, and a level twenty-two Roserade. Remember to focus on their weaknesses (such as rock and wind) to subdue them quickly. This may prove to be a difficult fight for you, depending on your current team's makeup, but just remember to switch out and heal as necessary. She may do the same (she used a Super Potion on her Turtwig when we fought her), but she shouldn't put up too much of a fight, especially in comparison to what's to come. Nonetheless, when Gardenia's three Pokemon fall, the Forest Badge is yours.

With the Forest Badge, you can now teach a Pokemon the skill "Cut" (with TM01) and actually use it outside of battle, to cut down the small sapling trees. Gardenia will also hand over TM86. What a nice lady! With Gardenia's team of Pokemon defeated and the Forest Badge acquired, the Galactic HQ at the north end of town will be your next destination. The bicycle shop's clerk is within, and he must be freed up in order to continue. Be sure that before you enter the building, however, you go around the right side of it. Using Cut on another sapling there, you can find TM46 beyond it. And once within, expect a brief conversation with Looker, the International Police agent, who will give you a tip on how to navigate the Galactic HQ successfully.

The building itself is made up of four stories, with Commander Jupiter on the top floor. Each of the other three floors has trainers and non-combatant members of Team Galactic. Talk to everyone to find out who will fight you and who won't. There will be two Galactic Grunts on the first floor, two more on the second floor, and one more on the third floor, along with Scientist Travon and his powerful level twenty Kadabra. However, Commander Jupiter on the top floor will be your primary target. Fighting her, as well as her high-level Zubat and Skuntank will prove to be a challenge. However, the money and experience you get for the fight is well worth the effort. After Jupiter's defeat, leave the HQ, but not before you're sure you've grabbed all of the items within. While there's a technique to easily find your way around HQ without running into any dead ends (by following the stairs near signs on the wall), going in other routes will often net you items. X Speed, X Special, Blue Shard, Revive, and Up-Grade should represent the totality of your plunder.

Not only will Commander Jupiter's defeat free the imprisoned bike shop's clerk (along with his Pokemon), but if you go and visit his shop after leaving their headquarters, he'll reward you with a Bicycle. This is an item that you'll need in order to continue your quest... and now, we will do just that. Also keep in mind that a character named Cynthia should approach you as you head to the bicycle shop, at which point she'll hand off a Pokemon Egg for you to keep in your inventory. Who knos what it will turn into!?

The Relic Badge | Bicycle Road / Route 206

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With the Bicycle now firmly in your inventory, you can head south from Eternia and onto Route 206 via Bicycle Road. Biking is the only way to traverse this place, and as you speed along, you'll be forced to battle various bikers -- eight cyclist-trainers in all, in fact -- in order to procee easily. The eight cyclists on the road will provide you with very little trouble. Since they are all titled "Cyclist" you can simply look at the chart above and see what Pokemon they'll throw at you. Interestingly, you'll run into two separate cyclist-trainers wielding Pikachus, the enduring icon of the Pokemon franchise. Since this is your first time encountering said Pokemon, you'll be happy to know that it will be added to your Pokedex once the first battle ends.

Once at the south end of the route, you can go into the building you find. Talk to the people there -- one will give you a Flag for your bike to add to your inventory (more on these later). Before continuing southward, however, look to your right. You'll see some saplings blocking a pathway to the area below the route above. In fact, to continue along with our walkthrough, you'll need to have very specific Pokemon with you. Cut, Flash and Rock Smash are all necessary here, so have the Pokemon with you that have those skills (Cut and Flash we have on our Kricketune, while our Onix has Rock Smash). Use Cut to get through the saplings and then work your way northward underneath the road above.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Camper Parker	Buizel (LV. 20) / Shinx (LV. 20)	$316	512
Cyclist Axel	Pikachu (LV. 21)	$672	369
Cyclist James	Ponyta (LV. 21)	$672	684
Cyclist John	Starly (LV. 18) / Staravia (LV. 20)	$640	699
Cyclist Kayla	Pikachu (LV. 21)	$672	369
Cyclist Megan	Staravia (LV. 21)	$672	508
Cyclist Nicole	Starly (LV. 17) / Starly (LV. 18) / Starly (LV. 19)	$608	648
Cyclist Rachel	Ponyta (LV. 20) / Shinx (LV. 18)	$576	882
Cyclist Ryan	Shinx (LV. 21)	$672	270
Hiker Theodore	Onix (LV. 18) / Onix (LV. 20)	$640	877
Picnicker Ana	Hoothoot (LV. 22)	$352	272

There's only one trainer down here, Hiker Theodore, who's packing two powerful Onix. Otherwise, there's items to be found. On your right after cutting through the saplings, there's an obscured item on your right behind another sapling. Cut through the sapling to grab the PP Up that sits there. Then, go forward and left, directly under the overpass, where in a gap you will find a Burn Heal. Further left and north from there, you can find a couple of berry bushes, where two Rawst Berries can be found (in fact, two Razz Berries can also be found to the left of the bike route exit before cutting down the saplings). Due right from there is a Super Repel. And finally, after you defeat Hiker Theodore, go forward and to the left, where the final item in the area, the Poison Barb, can be found.

We're not yet done here. In the northeast corner of this area below the actual route, you may have noticed a cave entrance. This will be our destination before long, but first, we want to direct you to a secret second entrance into the Wayward Cave, where more items can be garnered that you'd otherwise miss entirely. Head to the northeast entrance, but don't go in. Instead, head slightly to the south until you're able to bear westward underneath the bicycle bridge above. On the left side of the overpass, begin pressing northward. While you won't see your character, you'll be able to press into a secret alternate entrance into the cave. For more information on this, The Wayward Cave, see our side quests section of the guide.

The Relic Badge | Mt. Coronet / Route 208

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To reach Mt. Coronet, you must head south of the bike route leading away from Eterna City. This will lead to the northern end of Route 207, a place we already explored. It's easy enough to get through without fighting any of the admittedly-weak Pokemon in the area, since you can head to the route and then swing eastward without running into any tall grass (you will run into Camper Anthony and Picnicker Lauren in tandem, as well as Hiker Justin en route, however, so be ready for a pair of trainer battle). Since the only engagement-inducing geography in the area, grass, is located in an area you should have already explored much earlier in the game (if you're following this guide), you can simply swing right towards Mt. Coronet in the east.

When you arrive at the entrance to Mt. Coronet, you'll automatically run into Dawn, the professor's assistant. She'll ask you to pick a hand, but don't ponder your choice too much, as it really doesn't matter in the end. She'll hand over both the Vs. Seeker and Dowsing Machine for you to use before leaving you with some encouraging words. However, it's not all fun and games on Route 207. While you can dodge the fray completely and duck into Mt. Coronet immediately, there are some trainers that will want to challenge you in the area to the west and south; naturally, you should embrace their offers and take them all out.

Since you already fought the trainers en route to Mt. Coronet's entrance, there will only be three others to fight. First, head rightward from the previous battle (grabbing a Super Potion en route) and fight Hiker Justin. His level sixteen Geodude and level eighteen Bronzor will stand in your way. When he's defeated, don't go into Mt. Coronet yet. Instead, backtrack until you see a bridge heading south over a chasm. Walk around so you can access that bridge. Take on Youngster Austin and his trio of moderate Pokemon as you walk towards the stairs leading up to the bridge. Then, go up the stairs, head left and fight Hiker Kevin (he has three Geodudes and an Onix). Southward over the bridge, you can find Revive. Then, go back over the bridge and head rightward, to fight Battle Girl Helen and her Meditite/Machop combo.

All slain? Items acquired? Excellent! Now, backtrack and head into the cave. This is Mt. Coronet, and it's easy enough to traverse (that much we promise!) Though there are enemies within, the fighting isn't that fierce, and what's more, you'll only be in the mountain briefly. However, you may want to stick around to fight Pokemon you've yet to catch, such as Clefairy and Nosepass. Nonetheless, when you're walking through, expect to run into a blue-headed person who will talk to you at length before you continue. On the other side, you'll find Route 208. (Also, within the cave, if you want to search the static white-shaded rocks within, you'll find items on two of them -- Energy Powder and Stardust.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Aroma Lady Hannah	Combee (LV. 22) / Roselia (LV. 18)	$704	885
Artist William	Mime Jr. (LV. 20) / Bonsly (LV. 20)	$960	623
Battle Girl Helen	Medidite (LV. 21) / Machop (LV. 21)	$336	745
Black Belt Kyle	Machop (LV. 23)	$552	368
Camper Anthony & Picnicker Lauren	Chimchar (LV. 22) / Pachirisu (LV. 22)	$704	866
Hiker Jonathan	Onix (LV. 22)	$704	506
Hiker Justin	Geodude (LV. 20) / Nosepass (LV. 20)	$576	524
Hiker Kevin	2x Geodude (LV. 17), Geodude (LV. 19), Onix (LV. 19)	$608	1,266
Hiker Robert	Nosepass (LV. 22)	$704	508
Youngster Austin	Buizel (18), Luxio (18), Gligar (21)	$336	1,224

This is another area where fighting the local Pokemon (which, mind you, are mostly of the variety you should have already encountered). There are five more trainers in this area that you'll have to fight to continue, but they, like their brethren on Route 207, won't prove to be too difficult for you. Go rightward over the bridge and engage Hiker Robert in battle. His unique Pokemon, Nosepass, shouldn't be too much of an issue for you to combat. Then, head north over another bridge, where Black Belt Kyle and his powerful Machop will take you on. Beyond him (down some stairs to your left), grab an Ether. Then, backtrack to where you battled Hiker Robert.

Proceed over the bridge to the right of Robert, where Hiker Jonathan will be your next foe. He has a level twenty-two Onix, so no fears! Take it to him! Then, go forward and look left. Down some stairs, a Great Ball can be found, but you'll need a Rock Smash-capable Pokemon to access it. After all of that, focus your attention on the right side of the route.

Descend the stairs and go into the grass. This is the only part, albeit brief, where you'll be in mandatory danger of fighting the local Pokemon on either Route 207 or 208. Aroma Lady Hannah, packing a Combee and Roselia, will be on the other end of the grass. Be sure to head south from her location to grab the Odd Keystone from a mysterious character standing there, and then go back north to take care of Artist William and his Mime Jr./Bonsly combo (this is the last trainer in the area).

Naturally, the small house near the east side of the route is a major attraction en route to your next locale. Next to the house, you can grab a plethora of berries -- four Pinap Berries, four Bluk Berries, four Razz Berries, and four Nanab Berries - and they should provide you with a hint as to the importance of the house they grow next to. Inside the building, talk to the little girl and answer her in the affirmative to grab the Berry Searcher. Then, talk to the self-proclaimed Berry Master to receive a random berry (we acquired a Nondew Berry). You can come back and repeat this every couple of game-days. And finally, talk to the woman in the house, who will sell you four different kinds of mulch made of Pokemon poop. Nice!

The Relic Badge | Hearthome City

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Hearthome City is the location of the third gym we will come across in the game. Sadly, we won't be able to do battle with the gym leader yet. Instead, we get to explore, somewhat aimlessly, the town, grabbing items and talking to people before ultimately proceeding with our quest. As you head rightward and enter into the town, a girl named Keira will show up, chasing after her fleeing Buneary. She'll thank you for getting in her Pokemon's way and then head back to the Contest Hall, inviting you to come see her.

Thankfully, doing so isn't that much of a challenge. If you go northward into town at the first chance you get, you can talk to a boy waiting there, who will bring you straight to the Contest Hall. When you get there, you will run into Keira, who will oddly enough be with your mother! After some discussion, you'll get Tuxedo from your mother and Glitter Powder from Keira. You can also speak to the gym leader of the town to your right; after you do, she'll go off to the gym to await your challenge. Pursuing anything else in this place is up to you... we'll discuss it in the basics section of the guide, but contests don't pertain to the main game and hence won't be discussed here in the walkthrough.

As far as exploring the rest of the town, start with the orange-roofed house near the east end of town. You can get a Poffin Case within. The house directly to the right of that house will have another item for you to grab. Head inside and take the elevator to the top floor. Talk to the woman, with her Pokemon, at the table, and she'll hand over a Shell Bell Keep exploring other yet-unexplored houses to be rewarded with an Eevee to add to your arsenal of Pokemon.

Believe it or not, there are two trainers that you can battle within the town itself, which is admittedly quite rare. If you head to the Pokemon Center to heal your Pokemon while visiting Hearthome City (which you should), you'll see a cameraman and a reporter. Speak to both of them and accept their challenges to do battle with each of them individually. Reporter Kinsey will be packing a Shinx and Drifloon, both level twenty-two, while her cameraman, Cameraman Tevin, will be packing a Mime Jr. and Machop, both level twenty. Eliminate them both and heal your Pokemon once more in the center you're currently occupying before proceeding.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Ace Trainer Allen	Gastly (LV. 21) / Gastly (LV. 22) / Haunter (LV. 24)	$1,440	1,522
Ace Trainer Catherine	Haunter (LV. 23) / Misdreavus (LV. 24)	$1,440	1,377
Cameraman Tevin	Mime Jr. (LV. 20) / Machop (LV. 20)	$704	683
Gym Leader Fantina	Duskull (LV. 24) / Haunter (LV. 24) / Mismagius (LV. 26)	$3,120	1,946
Lass Molly	Misdreavus (LV. 23)	$368	724
Reporter Kinsey	Shinx (LV. 22) / Drifloon (LV. 22)	$880	876
School Kid Chance	Gastly (LV. 23)	$420	468
School Kid Mackenzie	2x Drifloon (LV. 21)	$420	1,142
Youngster Donny	Gastly (LV. 20) / Drifloon (LV. 22)	$352	1,002

At the north end of town, there's a patch of land known as Amity Square. This place is only accessible with certain Pokemon being in your party. Out of the Pokemon we've encountered so far, only a few are "cute enough" to participate. We were able to take a walk around the square with our Prinplup, but obviously each player will differ. When you do take a walk, however, you'll find a couple of items. At the south end of the field, TM43 can be found. Due north from there, TM45 can be found. Be sure to grab both before heading back to town, and also be sure to explore the alternate entrance into Amity Square from the northeast end of town, where two more items, an Amulet Coin and a Spooky Plate can be acquired. With those items grabbed, we're now ready to take on Fantina, Hearthome's gym leader extraordinaire.

The gym in this city is unique, as are all of the gyms you encounter around Sinnoh. Since the trainers in this gym use ghost-type Pokemon almost exclusively, the motif makes sense. The motif in question is a dark, mysterious, dreary and confusing gym that requires some minor puzzle-solving to successfully navigate. After pressing through the front door, you'll run into the gym's host. The yellow transporter to your right should be ignored, since it leads to a side of the room where the gym leader is that you can't yet access. Instead, wielding your flashlight, head through the next door into the first dark room, where some trainers will be encountered.

There are six trainers total in two rooms you encounter. To get between the rooms, you need to find the seemingly-ever-roving door that will successfully lead to the room above. If you choose the wrong door, you'll be transported back to the entrance to the gym. If this happens, simply re-traverse already-tread areas and try a different door. You can see the list of trainers on this page that you will list (all of them except the Reporter and Cameraman, who you met at the Pokemon Center). Be prepared to battle Ghost-types, preferably with Dark attacks (our Luxio came in handy here as a result).

Gym Leader Fantina, when you finally get to her, will provide you with a considerable challenge. Her three Ghost-type Pokemon are powerhouses, especially the level twenty-six Mismagius she comes at you with. Chances are, she'll heal this Pokemon twice, first with a Sitrus Berry and then with a Super Potion, so you're going to have to break out some of your own healing items to survive this battle, especially if you only have one Pokemon in your party that can inflict Dark damage. When she's defeated, she'll surrender the Relic Badge and TM65, which you will no doubt find very useful when you subsequently leave Hearthome City.

The Cobble Badge | Route 209 / Solaceon Town

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With the Relic Badge acquired, you can now leave Hearthome City. Just be sure to visit the Pokemon Center to heal your Pokemon! Our goal is to reach the entrance to Route 209, which is at the southeast corner of the city (we still can't traverse Route 212, leading southward from the southwest section of the city). When you reach the entrance to Route 209, you'll run into your friend from your hometown, who will challenge you to a battle. His lineup will vary depending on which Pokemon you chose at the beginning of the game. We chose Piplup, so we fought his Staravia, Buizel, Grotle and Ponyta. Your experience with him might change if you chose a different Pokemon, but you should still have no issue defeating him. If you got through Hearthome City's gym, he's actually less of a challenge, with weaker Pokemon.

Route 209 itself is fairly easy to traverse, and we must do just that if we're to reach the town on the other side, Solaceon Town. Start by heading to your right and shooting north through the grass. In the northeast corner of the grass, a Great Ball can be found. Then, go back to the south end of the grass and continue rightward (you'll run into the first hostile trainer on the route as you do, Pokemon Breeder Albert). Head along the pier you encounter and talk to the boy at the far end in order to get the Good Rod (simply answer the question he asks in the affirmative). You can now catch a more versatile group of water-based Pokemon when you fish; you can start in this area by capturing a Goldeen in the water. Just be prepared to catch a lot of Magikarp with this rod, still!

Once over the first bridge, head north over another bridge, left over yet another bridge, and hit up the bushes of berries you find there (in our game, we found a Leppa Berry and a Chesto Berry). Back at the vertical bridge, continue rightward, do battle with Twins Emma and Lil (they'll come at you with a Bonsly and Mime Jr.), and then talk to the girl at the far end of another pier to do battle with Poke Kid Danielle (she has a lone Pokemon to battle you with -- a well-leveled Pichu).

Continuing rightward, another trainer will be encountered, and she'll want to fight you as well. Pokemon Breeder Jennifer has three varied Pokemon, but it's what's to her right that's truly interesting. You should have an item called the Odd Keystone in your inventory -- examine the rock formation you see here and place it there when prompted to do so. This is a necessary move to ultimately proceed, so make sure to do that now. Then, go northward and examine some more berry bushes -- if you're game is at all like ours, two Razz Berries will be all yours.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Cowgirl Shelley	Ponyta (LV. 23)	$368	746
Poke Kid Danielle	Pichu (LV. 22)	$176	198
Poke Kid Ariel	Pichu (LV. 19) / 2x Pikachu (LV. 19)	$152	837
Pokemon Breeder Albert	Budew (LV. 20) / Bonsly (LV. 20) / Eevee (LV. 20) / Pichu (LV. 20)	$960	1,154
Pokemon Breeder Jennifer	Budew (LV. 20) / Cleffa (LV. 20) / Eevee (LV. 20) / Mime Jr. (LV. 20)	$960	1,174
Twins Emma & Lil	Bonsly (LV. 22) / Mime Jr. (LV. 22)	$704	694
Young Couple Ty & Sue	Buneary (LV. 23) / Buizel (LV. 23)	$2,944	782

Before continuing northward, head leftward and towards a staircase leading into a small dirt pit. You can find a Hyper Potion here. Stay on the west end of the route, continue north, and you'll run into more items, including an Ether and some Calcium, though you'll need you Bicycle to access all of these goods. From here, it's now a straight shot northward towards Solaceon Town. Unfortunately, you'll have to do battle with several trainers en route (but there are also some items to find as well). Cowgirl Shelley, the first trainer you'll encounter when you swing northward, will come at you with a lone Ponyta. Running around north of her will be Young Couple Ty and Sue, who have two powerful Pokemon, a Buizel and a Buneary. If you have a Pokemon in your party that can use Cut, you can grab TM47 on the east side of the route on the north end, nearly the newly-emerged tower. If you don't have a Pokemon who can use Cut right now, no worries; you can return later and take care of business at your leisure.

The Lost Tower, the tower you forced to emerge with your use of the Odd Keystone, is our next goal. But first, we recommend you go to Solaceon Town at the north end of Route 209. This will allow you to visit the town's Pokemon Center, so that you can heal your Pokemon. You should also walk around, explore and speak to everyone you meet. Near the entrance to town, you'll find a Figy Berry, two Nanab Berries and a Persim Berry. You'll also find a man running around the entrance of the town, who, once spoken to, will give you a new Poketch application called Pokemon History.

Solaceon Town's primary draw for visitors is its world-renowned Pokemon Day Care Center, a place where you can leave your Pokemon to be raised by surrogates. This place is located on the west end of the town, and you can leave up to two Pokemon with the couple there at any time. Be sure to take advantage of this service, since it's free and will result in slow-but-steady leveling and strengthening of the Pokemon left in their care. Also, be sure to leave the day care and immediately go back in. You'll find a man within that wasn't there earlier. Speak with him and he'll hand over another Poketch application, this one called Day-Care Checker.

Now, let's wrap up our preliminary activities in Solaceon Town. After speaking with everyone on the west end of town and talking to everyone you find, head to the north end of town and bear eastward. As you crawl along the north end of town, you'll be able to head back to the south at multiple locations, which will allow you to explore a series of houses on the hills that are otherwise inaccessible. Be sure to go down the cliffs in different ways so that you can visit all of the houses, and even find a lone item floating around, PP Up. This will require you to circle around to the north end of town multiple times, but it's worth it. Be absolutely certain you find the home with a mother and child, where you can earn a Seal Case and learn about seals, items that can be used on occupied Poke Balls.

The Cobble Badge | The Lost Tower / Solaceon Ruins

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At the north end of Route 209, you'll find the Lost Tower. If you're following our walkthrough, you would have put the Odd Keystone in the appropriate place during the last segment of the walkthrough. This will make this tower appear. Head on into the tower; it provides a surprisingly simplistic climb which you should undertake right away. Enter and go directly to the second floor via the staircase you encounter. On the second floor, you can do battle with a trainer, Youngster Oliver with his three varying-level Pokemon, and grab the Oval Stone above him. On the third floor, Roughneck Kirby and his level twenty-three Cleffa is all that's standing in between you and a Revive for your inventory (Pokefan Leonard will also want to do battle here, but he's not in the way of your item).

The fourth floor is the only floor where things get a little hairy. You'll be thrust into three trainer battles here; two of them will be double battles. Pokefan Rebecca has a level twenty-three Bonsly, but Belle & Pa and Young Couple Mike & Nat should be of true concern. Between the four, you'll battle a pair of Ponytas, a Murkrow and a Misdreavus, all at level nineteen. However, exploration of the floor will also net you another new technical machine in the form of TM27 on the left side of the room.

When you get to the fifth floor of the tower, the highest floor there is, you'll find a pair of elderly women. These women will be in despair about the fog covering the upper reaches of the tower, which you no doubt noticed by now make things difficult to see, but even more important, greatly reduces your accuracy during battles. However, there's nothing you can do for them yet. You'll need an HM, which we will now go get. Remember the ruins we mentioned in the last section of the walkthrough, located at the eastern end of Solaceon Town? That's where we'll be headed now.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Belle Beth & Pa Bob	2x Ponyta (LV. 23)	$2,576	1,492
Pokefan Leonard	2x Pichu (LV. 19) / Pikachu (LV. 22)	$1,408	727
Pokefan Rebekah	Bonsly (LV. 23)	$1,472	334
Roughneck Kirby	Cleffa (LV. 23)	$552	181
Ruin Maniac Karl	Geodude (LV. 19) / Geodude (LV. 21) / Bronzor (LV. 23)	$1,104	879
Young Couple Mike & Nat	Murkrow (LV. 23) / Misdreavus (LV. 23)	$2,944	1,846
Youngster Oliver	Mothim (LV. 20) / Chatot (LV. 21) / Barboach (LV. 19)	$336	1,535

Access the ruins the same way you accessed the houses on the cliffs on the eastern edge of tgown -- go to the north end of town, swing rightward, and voila, you'll find the cave entrance. The cave is somewhat laid out like a maze. It's easier to get out than get in because the upward-leading stairs are a dead giveaway when you're trying to get out. Getting in is a little more complicated, however. You're not in danger of getting lost, but if you follow our directions, you'll save yourself a lot of heartache. Oh, and don't expect to fight a variety of Pokemon here... only one kind exists -- Unown.

On the first floor, head down the stairs in the northeast corner. On the second floor, talk to the man you encounter and then access the third floor via the staircase in the southwest corner. On this floor, you'll encounter the only trainer in the ruins. Ruin Maniac Karl will have two Geodudes (of levels nineteen and twenty-one) as well as a level twenty-one Bronzor. To get to the fourth floor after your battle, use the stairs in the northeast corner. Then, use the northwest corner staircase you encounter to get to the sixth floor. Proceed to another staircase on the southwest end of this room to reach the location you've been searching for. It's here that you will encounter four items -- a Nugget, a Mind Plate, some Odd Incense and, most importantly, HM05. The HM will allow you to use Defog.

With these items in your inventory, you can then backtrack back to town. Now that you have HM05, and thus the power to use Defog, you can travel back to the Lost Tower south of Solaceon Town. Climb the tower like you did earlier (though now, you'll have no trainers to deal with). When you reach the topmost floor, speak to the pair of old women once more, but only after you use Defog on the top floor to lift the foggy veil. Talking to each woman individually once the fog has disappeared will net you a pair of items -- a Cleanse Tag and a Spell Tag. Nice!

The Cobble Badge | Route 210 / Route 215

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Exploring Route 210, which is located to the north of Solaceon Town, is going to be a limited affair for the time being. While Route 210 is one of the most extensive routes in the entire game, we'll only get to explore the extreme southern end of it right now. In case you're unaware of what's blocking your path northward, well... you'll find out soon enough.

Head northward and look to your right. You'll see some berry bushes there -- for our particular game, we acquired two Aspear Berries, a Razz Berry and a Pinap Berry here. Then, direct your attention to the middle part of the path, and to the area to your left. You'll see pathways where the Bicycle must be used to continue. Go into the tall grasses to your left and use your bike there first. This will bring you across Rancher Marco (who has a level twenty-four Ponyta) and Twins Teri & Tia (with a Pikachu and Clefairy, both level twenty-one), but it's what's beyond them that's important. You'll find a Super Repel being guarded by Pokemon Breeder Kahlil and his Elekid-Happiny duo. After grabbing it, backtrack to the bike path in the middle of the route leading north.

After using your Bicycle to get over this primary bike ramp, head to your right on the thin rectangular platform you find yourself on and go down the staircase. This will lead you to a woman who, when you talk to her, will hand over a new technical machine, TM51. After grabbing that, take the staircase on your left and proceed northward. Another combination of Pokemon trainers, Belle & Pa Eva & Matt will intercept you an come at you with their Ponyta and Rapidash, both at level twenty-four.

Beyond their location, there's little else to do. After defeating Pokemon Breeder Amber and her Magpy and Togepi of varying levels, you can try to proceed north through the rest of Route 210. This is where you'll run into some Psyducks who are in the way of your path northward, and can't seem to be moved. Don't worry, this is an in-game obstacle that we will remove later. In the meantime, explore the house to the right of the blocked pathway. It's in here that you can purchase the unique healing item called Moomoo Milk, and you can also do battle with three more fairly powerful trainers here as well. Waitress Kati is toting only one Pokemon, a level twenty-five Clefairy. Collector Edwin and Collector Fernando aren't quite as easy, however. Edwin has a level twenty-five Munchlax, while Fernando has a level twenty-five Heracross. Both of these Pokemon are unique and almost certainly haven't been encountered yet, so be sure to fight both collectors before proceeding.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Ace Trainer Dennis & Ace Trainer Maya	Gligar (LV. 24) / Roselia (LV. 24) / Drifblim (LV. 25) / Ralts (LV. 24) / Buizel (LV. 24) / Lickitung (LV. 25)	$3,000	3,848
Belle Ava and Pa Matt	Ponyta (LV. 24) / Rapidash (LV. 24)	$2,688	1,766
Black Belt Derek	Croagunk (LV. 26)	$624	462
Black Belt Gregory	3x Machop (LV. 23)	$552	1,107
Black Belt Nathaniel	Croagunk (LV. 21) / Machop (LV. 24) / Meditite (LV. 24)	$576	1,226
Collector Edwin	Munchlax (LV. 25)	$1,600	502
Collector Fernando	Heracross (LV. 25)	$1,600	1,071
Pokemon Breeder Amber	Magby (LV. 23) / Togepi (LV. 23)	$1,104	904
Pokemon Breeder Kahlil	Elekid (LV. 23) / Happiny (LV. 23)	$1,104	1,777
Rancher Marco	Ponyta (LV. 24)	$960	781
Ruin Maniac Calvin	Bronzor (LV. 23) / Shieldon (LV. 23)	$1,104	831
Twins Teri & Tia	Pikachu (LV. 23) / Clefairy (LV. 23)	$736	734
Waitress Kati	Clefairy (LV. 25)	$800	363

Route 210 has some interesting Pokemon to catch, including Scythers and Noctowls. So if you're interested in these (or any other) Pokemon on this route, take your time and catch them before proceeding. To proceed, you can swing right at the top of Route 210 (as far as you can go along it for now, anyway), which will lead seamlessly to Route 215. You'll instantly be struck with torrential downpours when you enter the route, but this is all part of the fun in this area. The rain makes water-based attacks stronger, but don't ignore the negative impact of such a downpour either (such as its affect on fire).

Head rightward here, and go up the staircase you encounter. Take the bridge leftward to another staircase that leads back down to the grass below. It's here that you will run into Ruin Maniac Calvin and his Bronzor-Shieldon combo. When he's slain, head beyond him to grab a Super Repel for your inventory, and then proceed with the pathway heading in, generally, a rightward direction. Talk to the next man you encounter (on the mountainous path) and he'll automatically hand over TM66 (be sure to grab the Max Ether the running man is running around en route). Then, go north along the bridge, west along the adjoining bridge, and then down once again to a new grassy area below.

Go under the horizontal bridge you just crossed over and fight Black Belt Derek with his level twenty-five Croagunk and Black Belt Gregory in the tall grasses underneath. His trio of Machop shouldn't prove to be too much of a hassle for you to take out; if you have a Pokemon with the Cut skill in your "current six" Pokemon, you can continue rightward by cutting through a sapling and grabbing the Fist Plate there. Then backtrack under the bridges and proceed further to your right.

Head up the next staircase you encounter. The bridge affixed to the stairs lead southward to a dead end, but a Hyper Potion can be found, and this is an item you'll certainly want to grab before proceeding eastward. Under the bridge to another dead end, you can find two Pecha Berries and two Bluk Berries; otherwise, descend the stairs on the north end of the high platform and proceed to your east (as is the common theme here). Black Belt Nathaniel will be your next enemy -- Cut can again be used to access TM34 in an alcove created by surrounding trees, and a Full Heal can be found tucked in another corner (Cut, however, isn't needed to acquire the latter). Finally, as you approach Veilstone City to the east, your final competition in Ace Trainer Maya and Ace Trainer Dennis are all that stands in the way of you and temporary, town-found safety. Take out their Pokemon (expect this to be a long and difficult fight), and then go east into Veilstone City. Be sure to grab the HP Up, Wiki Berry and Mako Berry en route!

The Cobble Badge | Veilstone City

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If you've been anxiously wondering when you'd acquire your fourth badge (and chances are, you've been wondering just that), well, Veilstone City is the place we're going to do that. After some initial exploration and item gathering, in fact, we'll get on acquiring your Cobble Badge so we can move on. Though the game has been fairly badly paced up to this point, we promise things get more normalized and, for all of those badge hunters out there, more exciting from here on out.

Start by working your way all the way into the southwest corner of town. This is the junction by which the Veilstone City Gym can be found, but we don't want to go there yet. Instead, for now, just talk to the bald man you find near the staircase there to grab TM63. The buildings to the east of the gym are interesting, as well. Pokemon can get massages (and hence increase their like of you) at one building, while in the other, talking to the house's occupants will net you a Coin Case for your inventory.

The Coin Case isn't just an unnecessary item in the greater scheme of things. The two buildings lining the south end of the city, which make up the Game Corner, are where players can play some minigames and trade in coins won (which are held in your Coin Case) for various prizes. Naturally, this isn't a mandatory part of the game, but it is a pleasant distraction. Definitely check it out and waste some time, but don't get too carried away -- coins necessary to play games and win prizes cost money. Nothing is free these days!

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Black Belt Colby	Machoke (LV. 23) / Machoke (LV. 25) / Machoke (LV. 27)	$648	2,343
Black Belt Darren	Machop (LV. 25) / Meditite (LV. 25) / Machoke (LV. 25)	$600	1,465
Black Belt Jeffrey	Heracross (LV. 28)	$672	1,200
Black Belt Rafael	Croagunk (LV. 26) / Machoke (LV. 26)	$624	1,274
Gym Leader Maylene	Meditite (LV. 28) / Machoke (LV. 29) / Lucario (LV. 32)	$3,840	2,850
Interviewers Oxi and Ali	Magnemite (LV. 23) / Ralts (LV. 23)	$3,312	782

There are several other buildings in town (such as a Team Galactic warehouse, as well as another HQ for the evil organization), but none can yet be accessed. Instead, the only other building you should set your sights on (other than the Pokemon Center, where you should heal your Pokemon and battle the duo found there) is the department store near the north end of town. This five story building has, quite literally, everything you need, from your run-of-the-mill healing items and Poke Balls to more exotic, even abstract items. You've probably avoided spending much money on just about anything up to this point (except, perhaps, Poke Balls), but feel free to spend money here. This is exactly the kind of place you've been saving up for the entire game. And if you talk to everyone within, you'll acquire a few items as well, including a Chimchar Mask, a Poketch application called Counter, and a Sticky Barb.

Before we head towards the town's gym, so we can earn our fourth badge, there are a few more items we should find. In the northwest corner of the town, near the Galactic building, you should be able to find a Star Piece. At the northeast corner of the city, near the entrance to the enemy facility, you can find a Rare Candy. And be absolutely sure you find the man giving away a free Porygon in town, since you can add this free Pokemon to your stash of residuals.

When you're ready for a gym battle, and when you're ready to acquire your third badge, head to the gym. The makeup of our party heading into this fight was Machoke, Luxray, Staravia, Onix, Prinplup, and Kricketune -- essentially, a well-balanced team made up of well-known, familiar, early-game Pokemon that we've managed to strengthen. Make up your team and then save your game, as always, before trying your luck at the gym.

Once inside the gym, you'll notice that four henchmen stand in between you and the gym leader. Of course, this is preferred since they will provide more exercises that will gain your Pokemon experience. All are "Black Belts" and all come at you with relatively identical Pokemon -- Machokes, Machops, and Meditites. When they are taken care of, you can then head through the pseudo-maze of obstructions (by heading on the right and left side of the room and pushing the corresponding obstructions in and out of the way so that a path through the middle is ultimately made). It is at the north end of the room that Gym Leader Maylene can be found. Her trio of Pokemon, a level twenty-eight Meditite, a level twenty-nine Machoke, and a level thirty-two Lucario are a significant challenge (especially the later, all-new Pokemon). We recommend sticking with Psychic and Flying attacks (so, for instance, our Staravia used Wing Attack), as this will provide you with your best shot at winning. When Maylene's Pokemon are knocked out, the Cobble Badge is all yours. So too is TM60.

The Fen Badge | Route 214 & Valor Lakefront

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As you exit the gym after defeating the most recent Gym Leader, you'll run headlong into Dawn, the Professor's ever-active assistant. She'll complain about her missing Pokedex, which has fallen into enemy hands. Team Galactic has a small warehouse in the very town you're in (Veilstone City), so you'll want to head to the entrance of said warehouse, which is at the north end of the city (but not the large building in the northwest... we can't go there yet).

When you approach the building, you'll have to fight with a couple of Galactic Grunts. Thankfully, you'll have the help of Dawn's level twenty-five Clefairy in battle (and more Pokemon in her collection if that one happens to fall), but the Galactic Grunts will have four level twenty-five Pokemon of their own. Two Zubats, a Croagunk, and a Stunky will come at your team, but when they are felled, Dawn's Pokedex will be restored to her possession. With the Galactic Grunts cleared, you can thereafter breach the warehouse they were guarding with your friend Looker from the International Police, where on the right side of the only room you can access, HM02 can be found. This is the Hidden Machine known as Fly, and is incredibly useful (and important), since you can visit any previously visited area simply by activating it!

After doing this, you'll be ready to continue onward with your quest. Be sure to heal your party of Pokemon, and also be sure to stock up on items at the department store within the city, and then head southward out of town towards Route 214. Traversing Route 214 is the first of three parts in our journey towards Pastoria City, where the fifth of eight badges can be fought for and earned. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), there's myriad trainers to fight on Route 214, making the going rather difficult.

Begin your southward trek. You'll immediately begin running into various trainers when you do. Psychic Abigail is likely the first trainer you'll run into, and her trio of Chingling, Kirlia and Drifloon will likely provide an immediate challenge for you (though if you managed to get through the gym in Veilstone City, which clearly you did, it won't be that hard for you). Once you work your way through here, you'll run into more trainers, including PI Carlos, Collector Brady, Beauty Devon... the list gos on and on. A lot of these trainers you run into on Route 214 will have fairly rare, yet-unseen Pokemon, to add them to your Pokedex. For instance, Collector Douglas is armed with a trio of Pokemon you've yet to see -- Jolteon, Vaporeon and Flareon -- while the aforementioned Collector Brady will be packing rare Pokemon of his own, like Tropius and Yanma.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Artist Ismael & Beauty Harley	Kricketune (LV. 28) / Psyduck (LV. 26)	$2,800	1,398
Beauty Devon	3x Wormadam (LV. 24)	$1,344	2,451
Cameraman Darryl & Reporter Vallerie	Magnemite (LV. 26) / Kirlia (LV. 26) / Mr. Mime (LV. 26)	$1,872	2,026
Collector Brady	Skorupi (LV. 21) / Tropius (LV. 21) / Tangela (LV. 21) / Carnivine (LV. 21) / Croagunk (LV. 21) / Yanma (LV. 21)	$2,000	3,423
Collector Douglas	Jolteon (LV. 24) / Vaporeon (LV. 24) / Flareon (LV. 24)	$1,536	3,037
Collector Jamal	Porygon (LV. 27) / 2x Zubat (LV. 24) / Croagunk (LV. 26) / Stunky (LV. 26)	$1,728	751
Gentleman Leonardo & Socialite Rebecca	Chatot (LV. 27) / Purugly (LV. 27)	$10,800	1,674
PI Carlos	Goldeen (LV. 30)	$3,600	712
PI Kendrick & Beauty Gabriella	Rhyhorn (LV. 31) / Finneon (LV. 26)	$5,176	1,394
Psychic Abigail	Chingling (LV. 23) / Kirlia (LV. 27) / Drifloon (LV. 25)	$864	1,674
Psychic Mitchell	Duskull (LV. 26) / Kadabra (LV. 26)	$832	1,347
Ruin Maniac	Bronzor (LV. 24) / Cranidos (LV. 26)	$1,248	919
Ruin Maniac Ronald	Shieldon (LV. 27)	$1,296	570
School Kid Esteban & Pokefan Meredith	Quagsire (LV. 26) / Pichu (LV. 26) / Pachirisu (LV. 26)	$2,184	1,662

As you move southward, you won't only run into trainers (though there are plenty of those, indeed). You'll also run into items to grab. In addition to the ripe berry bushes you encounter (which will contain a Cheri Berry, Sitrus Berry, Chesto Berry and Pomeg Berry), you'll find items of more use. Explore the cave on the left side of the route to find a TM28. Below that, back outside, will be a Magmarizer. And farther to the south of the route, you'll find a Max Repel, Big Root, Red Shard and Ultra Ball. Keep in mind that grabbing some of these items will require traveling through tall, Pokemon-infested grass.

Speaking of Pokemon-infested grass, a word about the wild Pokemon on Route 214. There are five varieties of Pokemon available on the Route total, but the ones you'll certainly want to keep an eye out for is Houndour and Rhyhorn. You'll be able to catch both of these Pokemon for the first time on Route 214.

At the southern end of Route 214, you'll encounter Valor Lakefront, a grassy vacation spot for the residents of Sinnoh. You'll initially run into a grown-in segment of forest that will force you to traverse some tall grass. You'll run into some different Pokemon here than you did on Route 214, including a Girafarig, which you may want to consider catching. But it's what's beyond the grass that's important, for it's there that you'll find the vacation settlement, where many trainer battles can occur.

But first, for two more obvious encounters. The first will be on your left as you approach the resort area. You'll see a pair of men blocking your path through the woods heading westward, which will allow you to visit Valor Lake itself. For now, however, we're not going to be able to. Also, as you work your way through the northern end of the resort spot, you won't be able to progress eastward towards Sunyshore City. A man there will intercept you if you attempt to head east and explain what's going on to you. Rest assured, we'll visit that location a little later in our quest.

Much of the resort lies in the realm of Route 213, so for more information on the resort-at-large, and the route that spans westward from it, read the next section of the walkthrough. There is a single building that's within the confines of Valor Lakefront, however, and that building is the Seven Stars Restaurant. This restaurant serves a dual purpose, as it's both an eatery and a place where you can do battle with pairs of powerful trainers. You'll meet five pairs of trainers (or ten trainers total) here, so be sure to walk around, speak to everyone, and fight them all. None of the pairs are especially notable in terms of which Pokemon they bring to battle, but you'll probably have the most trouble with Cameraman Darryl and Reporter Vallerie, who bring to battle with them three level twenty-six Pokemon -- a Magnemite, a Kirlia, and a Mr. Mime.

The Fen Badge | Route 213 & Pastoria City

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Part Two

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If you're confused, don't be. Route 213 and Valor Lakefront run into each other in a sort of confusing way. Route 213's confines actually spread into the resort area that would otherwise appear to be a continuous locale (Valor Lakefront), so we'll first explore the rest of that area before moving on. There are items to find and people to speak to, so let's get going.

First and foremost, explore the western edge of the resort. While you won't be able to continue westward to the primary area of Route 213, you can find a building to explore (though this person won't yet have anything of interest to provide you with). Be sure to explore the area south of this building as well, near the pool, where you can acquire a PP Up. Head back to the east hereafter, and move southward from the Seven Stars Restaurant. As you move southward, you can find two more buildings to explore. Be mindful to head into these, since one of them will have a clown (literally a clown, I'm not insulting the guy) who will hand over TM92. After grabbing that head, back outside and move southward through the resort's main office, being sure to talk to the man behind the counter to heal your Pokemon en route.

Heading through the southern door of the main office will bring you to a small beach area. Here, two weak trainers, Tuber Jared and Tuber Chelsea, can be battled. The experience and money earned from these battles is quite paltry, but don't pass up the opportunity to fight them nonetheless. Before leaving the beach area, be sure to scour the location to the west of the main office to find a Yellow Shard. Then, head westward along the thin, sandy pathway, as this will ultimately open up to a wider area on the other side.

Walk around this more wide-open beach locale. You'll see a solitary home sitting on the sand -- walk on in and speak with the man within to find out how your Pokemon feel about you, simply by examining the footsteps they leave behind. Then, do battle with a pair of hostile trainers on this western segment of the beach -- Fisherman Kenneth and Beauty Cyndy. After fighting those thugs off, be sure to explore the nook on the eastern edge of the beach. Destroy the rock blocking it and grab the TM40 on the other side. Then, move northward to reach the small, grassy area of Route 213 that will lead directly to Pastoria City.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Beauty Cyndy	Glameow (LV. 29)	$1,624	440
Fisherman Erick	Goldeen (LV. 28) / Gyarados (LV. 31) / Seaking (LV. 31)	$992	1,128
Fisherman Kenneth	2x Remoraid (LV. 25) / Gyarados (LV. 28)	$896	2,118
Fisherman Walter	Whiscash (LV. 33)	$1,056	1,016
Gym Leader Wake	Gyarados (LV. 33) / Quagsire (LV. 34) / Floatzel (LV. 37)	$4,440	3,918
Idol Grace	2x Clefairy (LV. 21)	$1,512	612
Sailor Damian	Wingull (LV. 31) / Pelipper (LV. 31)	$992	1,513
Sailor Samson	Wingull (LV. 29) / Shellos (LV. 30) / Golduck (LV. 31)	$992	2,020
Tuber Caitlyn	Azurill (LV. 27) / Marill (LV. 29) / Azumarill (LV. 31)	$124	1,564
Tuber Chelsea	Marill (LV. 28)	$112	348
Tuber Jacky	Bibarel (LV. 32)	$128	795
Tuber Jared	2x Shellos (LV. 25) / Shellos (LV. 26)	$104	1,186

Pastoria City is an extremely small settlement with few people and few buildings. Its main draw is the Great Marsh due north of it, but since that's not a mandatory location to visit, we'll cover that in the Side Quests section of the guide (so check that out when you get a chance). Otherwise, you'll want to run around this town and explore the few structures you'll be able to enter. A person in one home will hand over a Turtwig Mask, while a woman in another house will give you a Babiri Berry, but other than that, there's little else to see or do. It's the gym that beckons you, and it's located on the western edge of town (be sure to grab the free-growing Persim Berries and Nanab Berries you encounter in town, as well).

When you approach the entrance to the gym and attempt to go in, your friend will show up and want to do battle with you. Don't expect him to bring much to the table that will stymie you at this point in the game. He'll come at you with two level thirty-two Pokemon in the form of a Buizel and Ponyta. He'll also have a level thirty-four Staravia and a level thirty-six Grotle. Take out these Pokemon as best you can, and be sure to retreat back to the Pokemon Center in town to heal your six active Pokemon before entering the gym itself, where you'll be able to do battle. In fact, there's a person at the Pokemon Center, a woman named Idol Grace, who will want to fight you with her two weak Clefairies as well, so battle her before proceeding if you so desire.

Pastoria City Gym's Leader is a man named named Wake, and his Pokemon are especially weak against electrical-based moves since his creatures are predominantly water-inspired. However, he's the least of your worries here, since getting to him is an annoying process of button pushing and lower-trainer fighting that will make your head spin if you don't keep your wits about you. The six lower trainers in his gym will guard buttons that will raise and lower the water level in the gym. It's a no-brainer to figure this out on your own; simply take out a trainer, hit the nearby button, and proceed down the path it opens up, usually towards another trainer-button combination. Before long, you'll have access to Wake himself, but be sure to save your game (and maybe even leave and heal at the Pokemon Center) before challenging Wake himself, or you may have to repeat the entire process all over again.

Wake was no competition for one Pokemon in our arsenal in particular -- our Luxray. Luxray's electrical-based attacks killed Wake's Gyarados and Floatzel before they could even respond with an attack of their own, though we had to turn to Normal and Dark attacks to take out Quagsire. Nonetheless, with a similar Pokemon in your own party, you should be fine -- Wake is surprisingly easy considering he's the fifth Gym Leader you face. Be sure to use items as needed and be ready for his use of a Hyper Potion on one of his Pokemon (for us it was on his Floatzel). When his Pokemon are felled, not only do you get the Fen Badge for all of your hard work, but you get TM55 as well. Good work, soldier!

The Mine Badge | Pursuing the Grunt & Route 212

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Part One

Part Two

Part Three

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With Wake's Pokemon slain, you're free to leave the gym in Pastoria. But when you do, your friend will run into you again. Then, Wake will come outside to see what all of the commotion was about. It appears that the suspicious lad sitting near the entrance to the Great Marsh before you took on Wake has detonated a bomb and run off towards the east. Naturally, it's going to be up to you to chase this guy.

Your chase will begin from the Great Marsh's entrance, and you'll run into the tuckered-out Galactic Grunt multiple times. Speak with him each time you run into him, and he'll run further and further away. The general route he takes will be away from the scene of the crime, so expect to follow him to and through the brief Route 213. On the route, you'll run along the beach and then swing northward through the resort town's main office. Northward from there, you'll ultimately scare off the Galactic Grunt as he scurries off to Lake Valor. Regrettably, you won't be able to follow him in. At least, not yet. You will be able to battle him and his level thirty-one Croagunk, however. Doing so will send the Grunt fleeing, but a blond-haired woman will show up after the battle is over. She'll hand over the Secret Potion, which will send the Psyducks we met earlier packing, so you can explore yet-unexplored terrain.

With the all-important Secret Potion in hand, backtrack to Pastoria City. Make sure that your active Pokemon are all healed-up, visiting the Pokemon Center if necessary. Then, work your way out of the southwestern end of Pastoria City, which will allow you to connect with Route 212, a lengthy route we've yet to explore. You won't run into any wild Pokemon of consequence here (though be aware that the rainy atmosphere means that water attacks will do more damage when utilized, both by your Pokemon and trainer/wild Pokemon). You will, however, run into a plethora of trainers on Route 212 -- seventeen in all. You'll also find a load of treasures -- sixteen in all. So, let's get to work!

The westward route from Pastoria City is relatively murky and difficult to navigate around. The marshy land you run into will mire you in muck, so avoid deep water when and where you can. Also, be on the lookout for items. A Pecha Berry and three Pinap Berries will be the first items you encounter, but also keep an eye out for some Zinc, a Hyper Potion, a Revive, and TM06 as you go westward. Keep in mind that the HM Cut, your Bicycle, or a combination of the two will be required to grab some of these items. The wood planks gapping certain areas can only be traversed with your Bicycle.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Collector Dean	Umbreon (LV. 27) / Espeon (LV. 27)	$1,728	2,276
Fisherman Josh	2x Goldeen (LV. 27)	$864	1,284
Fisherman Juan	Gyarados (LV. 29)	$928	1,329
Fisherman Travis	Barboach (LV. 24) / 2x Barboach (LV. 25) / Gyarados (LV. 26)	$800	2,155
Galactic Grunt	Croagunk (LV. 31)	$1,240	550
Gentleman Jeremy	Chatot (LV. 27)	$5,400	618
Parasol Lady Alexa	Goldeen (LV. 27) / Bibarel (LV. 27)	$864	1,312
Parasol Lady Sabrina	Wooper (LV. 26) / Quagsire (LV. 28)	$896	1,111
Pokemon Ranger Allison	Marill (LV. 29) / Leafeon (LV. 29)	$1,740	1,578
Pokemon Ranger Stefano	Monferno (LV. 31)	$1,860	942
Pokemon Ranger Taylor	Carnivine (LV. 28) / Luxio (LV. 30)	$1,800	1,734
Policeman Alex	Hoothoot (LV. 25) / Machop (LV. 25)	$1,000	705
Policeman Bobby	Hoothoot (LV. 24) / Machop (LV. 26)	$1,040	714
Policeman Danny	Hoothoot (LV. 26) / Machop (LV. 28)	$1,120	722
Policeman Dylan	Hoothoot (LV. 26) / Machop (LV. 24)	$960	707
Scientist Shaun	Magnemite (LV. 30) / Kadabra (LV. 26)	$1,800	1,257
Scientist Stefano	Kadabra (LV. 30)	$1,440	930
Socialite Reina	Roselia (LV. 27)	$5,400	878

When you reach the series of bridges to the west of the initial area of Route 212, fight the Fisherman-type trainers you meet. As was the case with the four trainers you met before reaching the bridge, none of these guys will have any Pokemon of consequence. In fact, this is the case for a majority of your trip through the rest of Route 212. The only exception, perhaps, is Collector Dean, whose Umbreon and Espeon represent two Pokemon you certainly haven't encountered yet. Be sure to use your Bicycle to grab TM62 before proceeding!

The elbow of Route 212, where the route ceases moving east-to-west and begins moving north-to-south, has thick grass. This is where you'll most likely have wild Pokemon encounters, but again, this is nothing to concern yourself with. Be sure to navigate through the grass to grab a Full Heal and Blue Shard if you want them (and you should), and then move northward out of the grass, and thus out of the reach wild Pokemon. Expect to run into more trainers as you move northward from here, however. You'll notice that the Policemen you encounter, for instance, all have Hoohoots and Machops at their disposal. Like we said -- nothing to worry about!

You'll no doubt observe a structure on the eastern end of the northern part of Route 212, bordering Hearthome City's southern limit. This is the Pokemon Mansion, a completely optional location that is outlined in its entirety in the Side Quests section of this guide. Be sure to peep that part of the guide if you're interested in visiting this location. There's no reason not to, after all. We're just going to keep it brief and not talk about it here, since it's an unnecessary diversion at this point in the game if all you're looking to do is proceed with the story.

Instead, scour the rest of the route for stray items, like an Elixir and TM11. Once you've reached Hearthome City, head on inside and heal up your party of Pokemon. Then, teleport to Solaceon Town using the ultra-useful HM Fly. This will allow us to effectively proceed with our mission with little trouble.

The Mine Badge | Route 212 / Returning to Jubilife City

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Once you've used Fly and arrived at Solaceon Town, take a brief moment to find the Pokemon Center in town. Heal your Pokemon there, and then swing northward out of town and onto Route 210, continuing in this direction until you run into the four Psyducks that are blocking your path towards the yet-unexplored reaches of the road. Examine them, and you'll be given the option to use the Secret Potion that Cynthia earlier handed over to you. This mysterious potion will cure the Psyducks' headaches, and they'll scurry off. Cynthia will then show up. She'll hand you an Old Charm and ask you to deliver it to her grandmother in Celestic Town, which happens to be our next destination. But first, we must navigate this new section of Route 210.

The initial "new" part of Route 210 will lead you through some thick grass. This grass is full of Pokemon, but nothing that's new and exciting as of yet. Be sure to veer left through the grass to find a Max Repel, and in the very center of the grassy area, on a small sandy patch of land, a Hyper Potion can also be acquired. Once on the other end of the grass, go northward into the next area of Route 210, but be sure to examine the area to your right (surrounded by a less invasive form of grass) to grab a Nest Ball, which is tucked cleverly into a nearby corner. Also, be sure to scour that initial grassy area beyond where the Psyducks were earlier posted, since you'll be able to find three well-hidden trainers when you do.

The next part of Route 210 you encounter becomes somewhat of a nuisance, because it gets really foggy. You can use Defog here to clear the fog and make things easier for you. It's not the visibility being cut down that's the real pain, here, but rather that the fog will make you miss your attacks in battle from time to time, both with wild Pokemon and Pokemon sent out after yours by another trainer. Thankfully, the effect works both ways, hence negating it entirely. But still, use Defog and clear the air before battling any wild Pokemon or trainers, or fights will become longer and clumsier.

For now, you can't head north in this area; you'll simply have to head westward through some grass, where you'll encounter your first trainer battles of the area. You can dodge the grassy area completely if you smash through the sapling using Cut, but you may not have a Cut-capable Pokemon with you, in which case you'll simply have to go through the grass. Prior to the sapling, you should be able to find a couple of trainers that want to do battle (such as Ace Trainer Alyssa and her trio of Pokemon), and you should also be able to find a Red Shard in your vicinity. After those battles, use Cut to head westward from the sapling's location. Veer up some stairs towards a couple of people running in circles. These are trainers. After fighting a double team (a Gyarados and Raichu), you can climb some stairs heading upward and join a series of bridges that will essentially bring you the rest of the way westward towards Celestic Town, our next destination.

Traveling westward is fraught with danger. There are plenty of trainers to challenge you en route, with Ace Trainer Ernest and Veteran Brian packing the biggest punch. However, these trainers shouldn't provide you with a challenge that's overwhelming, even if they have fairly high-leveled Pokemon that are starting to close the gap with the Pokemon in your own active party. Keep in mind that you'll need to use your Bicycle to cross the thin wooden strip heading westward from the first bridge you encounter. You can then take another strip southward to an isolated platform. Use Rock Smash here and grab your prize, TM30.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Ace Trainer Alyssa	Aipom (LV. 32) / Grotle (LV. 33) / Girafarig (LV. 32)	$1,980	2,660
Ace Trainer Ernest	Scyther (LV. 32) / Luxio (LV. 34) / Probopass (LV. 31)	$2,040	2,790
Bird Keeper Brianna	Hoothoot (LV. 31) / Noctowl (LV. 33)	$1,056	1,528
Black Belt Adam	Machoke (LV. 34)	$816	1,063
Clown Lee	Mr. Mime (LV. 33) / Kadabra (LV. 33)	$792	1,981
Double Team Zac & Jen	Gyarados (LV. 36) / Raichu (LV. 36)	$8,640	2,588
Galactic Boss Cyrus	Sneasel (LV. 34) / Golbat (LV. 34) / Murkrow (LV. 36)	$6,480	3,036
Galactic Grunt	Houndour (LV. 32) / Golbat (LV. 30)	$1,200	1,879
Ninja Boy Brennan	Zubat (LV. 30) / Skorupi (LV. 32)	$256	1,127
Ninja Boy Bruce	Stunky (LV. 33)	$264	558
Ninja Boy Davido	Mothim (LV. 33)	$264	1,123
Ninja Boy Fabian	2x Croagunk (LV. 31)	$248	1,100
Ninja Boy Joel	Zubat (LV. 29) / Golbat (LV. 29) / Skorupi (LV. 29) / Stunky (LV. 29)	$232	2,594
Ninja Boy Nathan	Stunky (LV. 31) / Golbat (LV. 31)	$248	1,658
Veteran Brian	Tangela (LV. 32) / Ponyta (LV. 32) / Buizel (LV. 32)	$2,560	2,691

Otherwise, you'll want to rejoin the main bridges heading westward. You'll ultimately need to cross three in total while battling various trainers you encounter. Be sure to veer off of the path when necessary to grab more items, including a Smoke Ball and four berries growing near the entrance to Celestic Town -- a Sitrus Berry, a Chesto Berry, a Wiki Berry and an Aguav Berry. There's plenty more to do here, but you don't have the tools necessary to do those things yet -- primarily the ability to walk on water and climb rocks. So, when we have those abilities, we'll return here. But in the meantime, you'll want to head westward into Celestic Town to continue.

Once in Celestic Town, the wild Pokemon encounters will all but come to an end for the time being, so rest easy. To ultimately proceed with our mission, we'll need to acquire the ability to use Surf, or more simply, walk on water. In the northwest corner of town, you can shop at the Poke Mart, and in the southeast corner of town, you can visit the Pokemon Center to heal your Pokemon and switch up your party if needed (be sure to battle Clown Lee here, and acquire the Great Ball from the man on the left side of the main floor as well). Otherwise, let the exploration begin immediately. Other than visiting the house in the southwest corner of the town to find a house where a piece of your Poketch, the Analog Watch can be found, you'll want to direct your attention towards the center of the town, where the ancient ruins are located.

At the entrance to the ruins, you'll have to do battle with a Galactic Grunt. The Galactic Grunt will come at you with a level thirty Golbat and a level thirty-two Houndour... in other words, nothing too extreme. Take his Pokemon out with ease, and then give the Old Charm to the elderly grandmother when she comes to visit you at the ruins thereafter. When you regain control, be sure to grab the Dragon Fang to your right, by using the staircase to reach it.

All won't be finished, however. The Galactic Grunt and his simplistic Pokemon were one thing, but how will you hold up when you have to deal with Galactic Boss Cyrus and his three powerful Pokemon? He'll engage you in battle as soon as the grunt is dispatched, so be ready to deal with him. He'll come packing three Pokemon -- a level thirty-four Sneasel, a level thirty-four Golbat and a level thirty-six Murkrow -- obviously, the latter is the most dangerous. Deal with his Pokemon, and hostilities will end for the time being.

With the Old Charm now given away and Cyrus sent packing, head inside the ruins and examine the ancient paintings on the north end of the small excavation site. The elderly grandmother who just took the Old Charm from you will come inside after you as you examine the artwork and hand over HM03, the Surf command! This will allow you to go on water, fighting new Pokemon in various areas, and more importantly, giving you access to all-new, unexplored areas.

After getting HM03, use Fly to teleport to Jubilife City. Heal your party and rearrange it if need be, and then swing westward out of town. This will lead directly to Route 218, a location we briefly explored very early in the game. But now that you're equipped with HM03 and can use Surf, you can walk on the water separating the route into two distinct segments. Thus, you can reach Canalave City on the other side in one piece.

The Mine Badge | Route 218 / Canalave City

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The area west of the docks on Route 218 holds a total of four trainers if you explore the area in its entirety (you should have fought others during your earlier brief exploration of the area). There are also a couple of items to grab. If you surf westward off of the dry land connecting the two docks in the area, you can find an isolated patch of land with two trainers and some Hyper Potion. After doing this, revisit the dry land and surf off of the northern pier, first heading east to grab the Rare Candy tucked in the dead end corner, and then westward towards more dry land. Continuing westward will quickly bring you into the confines of Canalave City, but first head south to take out the remaining couple of trainers and to also visit the berries growing along the water. We found a Rawst Berry, a Persim Berry, a Figy Berry, and two Pinap Berries, but bear in mind that, as always, your findings might differ entirely.

Once inside Canalave City, we can almost immediately get right down to business. The Poke Mart is on the east side of town in between two residential buildings, and the Pokemon Center is located in the northeast corner of town. Grab any items you may need for the upcoming gym battle and heal your Pokemon, reforming your party into something that can deal with Gym Leader Byron's three Pokemon which all share a Steel characteristic (hence, high defense!) Get a party together that will deal with Steel-types well.

Otherwise, before visiting the gym itself, you'll no doubt run into Dawn's father, who will automatically upgrade your Pokedex. After he does that, enter the town itself and go into the first house you encounter. In here, TM48 will simply be handed over by the woman in the house. The home above the Poke Mart has a man who can make any Pokemon in your current party forget as many moves as you want, but this is highly useless since new moves can eclipse old ones. Still, an interesting novelty to explore if you so desire (especially since HMs can't otherwise be unlearned).

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Ace Trainer Brianna	Bronzor (LV. 35) / Bronzor (LV. 36) / Bronzor (LV. 38)	$2,280	1,680
Ace Trainer Cesar	Scizor (LV. 40)	$2,400	1,712
Black Belt David	Steelix (LV. 35) / Steelix (LV. 37)	$888	3,024
Black Belt Ricky	Steelix (LV. 38)	$912	1,596
Clown Lee	Mr. Mime (LV. 33) / Kadabra (LV. 33)	$792	1,981
Fisherman Luc	2x Remoraid (LV. 29) / Remoraid (LV. 30) / Remoraid (LV. 31) / Gyarados (LV. 31)	$992	3,404
Fisherman Miguel	2x Gyarados (LV. 33)	$1,056	3,024
Galactic Boss Cyrus	Sneasel (LV. 34) / Golbat (LV. 34) / Murkrow (LV. 36)	$6,480	3,036
Galactic Grunt	Houndour (LV. 32) / Golbat (LV. 30)	$1,200	1,879
Guitarist Tony	Kricketune (LV. 33) / Magnemite (LV. 33)	$792	1,751
Gym Leader Byron	Magneton (LV. 37) / Steelix (LV. 38) / Bastiodon (LV. 41)	$4,920	4,619
Sailor Skyler	Mantyke (LV. 32) / Machoke (LV. 34)	$1,088	1,082
Worker Gary	Magnemite (LV. 37)	$1,480	705
Worker Gerardo	2x Magnemite (LV. 35)	$1,400	1,334
Worker Jackson	3x Magnemite (LV. 34)	$1,480	1,844

To the west of the Pokemon Center, you will encounter a bridge crossing a waterway. Here, you will run into your friend and have to do battle with him. Deal with his Pokemon (his roster will, as always, vary depending on which Pokemon you guys chose at the beginning) and then backtrack a short distance to heal your party once more before heading to the gym on the west side of town (as there's really nothing else of interest here). The much-spoken-about Iron Island can be visited now, or whenever, so hit up our Side Quests section for more on that if need be.

Navigating the gym might seem like a challenge, but you'll soon realize it's more linear than it first appears. The series of elevators will lead up and down to various platforms and trainers. Basically, if you run into trainers, you're going in the right direction. Explore everything to feel your way around, locating all the dead ends and figuring out where to go from there. Be sure to fight all of the trainers you fight, as always, to get money and experience. We recommend backtracking out of the gym before fighting Byron himself in order to heal, but that's totally up to you as the gamer. Either way, you'll most certainly want to save before dealing with Byron.

Gym Leader Byron has a trio of powerful Pokemon that are resistant to most attacks because of their inclination towards Steel. This is where Water-based attacks come in handy, as do Fighting, Ground and Dark attacks. Keep in mind that Byron won't only use a Hyper Potion in this battle, but also a Full Restore, meaning at least two of his Pokemon will be on the verge of death before being healed. This will make the battle harder, but not incredibly. Our Empoleon did nice damage here, as did our Machoke. Try similar Pokemon to bring Byron down. When he falls, the Mine Badge is yours. He'll also fork over the TM91 for schooling him. That's six badges! We're three-fourths of the way through the main quest!

The Icicle Badge | Lake Valor / Lake Verity

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The road to the Icicle Badge is relatively long compared to what we had to do to acquire the last two badges. Remember -- all journeys start with one step! The first steps for us will bring us to Lake Valor and Lake Verity. Remember, you have to visit these two areas before continuing! We've been phasing out mentions of side quest-like expeditions at this point in the walkthrough (though you can visit the corresponding section of the guide for more on those!), since things are getting further separated. But visiting these two lakes is a must!

Once you walk out of the gym after acquiring the Mine Badge, you'll run into a friend who will tell you to head north to the library with him. He won't let you in to the library if you didn't visit Iron Island to grab HM04 near the entrance from a woman named Riley, so if you haven't done that yet, do so now and then return to the library thereafter (remember that Iron Island as a whole is an otherwise completely optional endeavor). Follow him and enter the library, where on the top floor you'll find some familiar faces. It's here that you'll be charged with your next quest, which after an unnaturally-occurring earthquake, will bring you to Lakes Valor and Verity.

Lake Valor is our first target. To get there, you'll need to utilize Fly and head to Route 213 via Pastoria City (simply enter the city and exit at the northeast). Once on Route 213, follow through familiar territory, going along the water as you head eastward and then northward. Heal at the resort if necessary as you pass through, and continue north. The entrance to Lake Valor will be on your left in the gathering of trees.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Commander Mars	Golbat (LV. 38) / Bronzor (LV. 38) / Purugly (LV. 40)	$3,200	3,543
Commander Saturn	Golbat (LV. 38) / Bronzor (LV. 38) / Toxicroak (LV. 40)	$3,200	3,478
Galactic Grunt (I)	Glameow (LV. 35) / Murkrow (LV. 35)	$1,400	1,334
Galactic Grunt (II)	Golbat (LV. 37)	$1,480	1,354
Galactic Grunt (III)	Croagunk (LV. 33) / Stunky (LV. 33) / Houndour (LV. 33) / Glameow (LV. 33)	$1,320	2,442
Galactic Grunt & Galactic Grunt (I)	Stunky (LV. 35) / Houndour (LV. 34) / Glameow (LV. 35) / Houndour (LV. 35)	$2,840	2,818
Galactic Grunt & Galactic Grunt (II)	Croagunk (LV. 37) / Glameow (LV. 33) / Golbat (LV. 33) / Murkrow (LV. 36)	$2,920	3,186

The scene at Lake Valor is a sad one. Dead Magikarp litter the ground as Galactic Grunts continually brag about their accomplishments... just look at the empty lake, where water once flowed! As you work your way through the Pokemon carnage, you'll need to do battle with a few Galactic Grunts. They are relatively easy and will throw at you nothing you should worry about. Commander Saturn, however, is another story entirely. He packs a level thirty-eight Golbat, a level thirty-eight Bronzor, and a level forty Toxicroak. Make sure to enter the battle with a fully-healed party, and of course, be ready to run back to the resort to the south to heal before fighting Commander Saturn if your party is hurting pre-battle.

After Commander Saturn is felled, you'll be free to head back up to Route 213. Once there, again utilize the Fly command to head to Twinleaf Town. Once there, go north, and then west, and north once more to reach Lake Verity (remember; this is where we visited extremely early in the game... and Twinleaf Town is your hometown!) Once in the vicinity of Lake Verity, the Professor will approach you and plead for you to help Dawn with the Galactic thugs in the area.

In this area, instead of fighting three Galactic Grunts like we did at Lake Valor, we'll instead fight in a pair of Galactic Grunts in two-Pokemon-per-side battles. The first pair will come at you with four Pokemon (a level thirty-seven, two level thirty-threes and a level thirty-six). Their Glameow and Croagunk, as well as their Murkrow and Golbat will put up a limited struggle. The other pair of Galactic Grunts are a little more difficult to deal with. They also have four Pokemon (a level thirty-four and three level thirty-five) -- Stunky, Glameow, and two Houndours. Deal with them, and then run back to a nearby town like Sandgem Town to use the Pokemon Center and heal your party. Then, return, and help Dawn out with Commander Mars. You'll have to deal with the foe yourself, but the frustrated commander's three Pokemon (a level thirty-eight Golbat, a level thirty-eight Bronzor, and a level forty Purugly) are stronger than the lesser Galactic representatives'.

After his defeat, learn about the much sought-after Pokemon Team Galactic is attempting to capture -- Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit. Then, it's time to continue on with our main quest. Off to Snowpoint City!

The Icicle Badge | Route 211 / Mt. Coronet

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To get to Snowpoint City, we have to take a group of routes we've never encountered before -- Routes 216 and 217. To get there, however, you have to head to Route 211 and back to Mt. Coronet. Getting to Route 211 is simple -- just Fly to Celestic Town, and exit west out of the town, and boom!... you're on Route 211! This part of Route 211 is extremely small, though there are some enemies like Chinglings and Noctowls (at night, anyway) that you may want to deal with. There are also four trainers in the area, so be sure to take them all on (see the grid above for more information on them, as always).

Other than some berries in the area (we found a Pecha Berry, Aspear Berry and Grepa Berry), there are no items to find other than a Carbos in the middle of the grass, so you can simply run westward towards Mt. Coronet (be sure to talk to the woman on the ridge at the north end of the area to get TM77 as well). Also be sure to have Pokemon that can use both Strength and Rock Smash here, as Mt. Coronet will necessitate you use both.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Bird Keeper Katherine	Noctowl (LV. 34)	$1,088	1,179
Black Belt Sean	Croagunk (LV. 31) / Meditite (LV. 31) / Machoke (LV. 31)[	$744	2,113
Ninja Boy Nick	Skorupi (LV. 32) / Croagunk (LV. 30)	$240	1,313
Ruin Maniac Harry	Bronzor (LV. 28) / Bronzor (LV. 30) / Bronzor (LV. 32)	$1,536	1,387

We'll ruin the suspense right away -- the small part of Mt. Coronet you explored earlier in the game is on the west side of the initial room you encounter, and you shouldn't bother trying to go south, as the rock you'll need to push around will hinder your progress. Instead, start by going south to grab the Escape Rope, and then plug onward to the west. Use Strength to push further westward, and then northward, and claim TM 69 in the northwest corner. Then, backtrack towards the entrance we took into Mt. Coronet, and this time, go north.

Again push through with Strength, and then breach the small corridor heading westward with Rock Smash, grabbing the Rare Candy at the end. Then, go north, down some stairs, and head westward. This will bring you deeper into Mt. Coronet. In this area, head to the left, break through with Rock Smash, and grab Ultra Ball. Then, go north to the first staircase on your right. This area is indeed very foggy, which will make both your Pokemon and the enemy Pokemon miss some attacks. This can be remedied with Defog, but you may not have it, in which case you'll simply have to deal!

When you go down the first staircase, you can Surf on the water you find. Surf to the island in the middle of the water, where some Light Clay can be found. Then, Surf northward towards dry land. In the righthand corner, you can find a Max Elixir. Afterwards, run leftward, turn around and go right and up some stairs, and again breach an item's surroundings to grab the Revive. Continue around the far end of this thing corridor along water to grab a Full Restore. Then, backtrack and go leftward, down the stairs, up another set of stairs, and southward, to a staircase in the middle we ignored. Go down those stairs and head northward up the small ridge, where you can find Soft Sand. Then, go north up the prior corridor, and leave Mt. Coronet via the next small area. Be sure to explore the small room adjacent to the exit out of the cave, where an item called NeverMeltIce can be found.

The Icicle Badge | Route 216 / Route 217

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Leaving Mt. Coronet in such a fashion as we just did will bring us directly to Route 216. Route 216 is the first cold weather, snow-covered area in the entire game, and most enemies in the area will thrive in these conditions. On Route 216, all you really have to worry about is some patches of deep snow (that will hinder you from going very fast) and four trainers in the area. Surprisingly, many of these trainers aren't necessarily Ice-based, so don't go into battle with them as you might with wild Pokemon in the area.

You'll no doubt notice that Route 216 is split in between two main areas -- a lower area where four of the trainers are (leading up to a small house where you can sleep in the bed to heal your Pokemon), and an upper area with wooden bridges crossing the large chasm between platforms. Trainers can be found up there as well, but without a special HM we don't yet have, all you can do up there is grab a Full Heal on one side and a Revive on the other.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Ace Trainer Blake	Ambipom (LV. 39) / Porygon2 (LV. 39)	$2,400	3,096
Ace Trainer Dalton	Electrabuzz (LV. 40) / Magmar (LV. 40)	$2,000	2,862
Ace Trainer Garrett	Mr. Mime (LV. 37) / Scyther (LV. 39) / Dusclops (LV. 39)	$2,340	4,656
Ace Trainer Laura	Tropius (LV. 42)	$2,520	1,521
Ace Trainer Maria	Golduck (LV. 38) / Rapidash (LV. 39) / Sudowoodo (LV. 38)	$2,280	4,116
Ace Trainer Olivia	Kirlia (LV. 38) / Buneary (LV. 38) / Seaking (LV. 39)	$2,220	2,551
Black Belt Luke	Croagunk (LV. 37) / Machoke (LV. 37) / Riolu (LV. 37)	$888	2,383
Ninja Boy Ethan	Skorupi (LV. 37) / Golbat (LV. 37)	$296	2,257
Ninja Boy Matthew	Golbat (LV. 39)	$312	1,428
Skier Bjorn	Swinub (LV. 36) / Sneasel (LV. 38)	$1,216	1,675
Skier Edward	Sneasel (LV. 39)	$1,248	1,102
Skier Lexie	Piloswine (LV. 37) / Glaceon (LV. 37)	$1,184	2,821
Skier Shawn	Snover (LV. 35) / Golduck (LV. 36) / Snover (LV. 37)	$1,184	3,029

As you work your way north to Route 217, the weather will drastically change. Hail will bombard any Pokemon in battle (friend or foe) that isn't Ice-based each round of battle, doing little bits of damage. It's certainly off-set by the fact that both sides are equally affected, but still, it's something you're going to want to keep an eye on. Heal as necessary and switch out Pokemon if needed (and of course, you can always backtrack to the aforementioned house to heal). Deep snow is also an annoyance in this area, but it's really the snow and hail blocking your vision that will make your visit to Route 217 a pesky one.

Thankfully, Route 217 does have a couple of draws, amongst them a couple of new Pokemon and some items for your inventory. Snovers, Swinubs and Snorunts can all be captured on Route 217 by traversing through the grass at the north end. You'll also need to deal with trainers as you go (some hidden, so be prepared!) If you head due north, you'll run first into some Iron, then TM07, and finally a small cabin with the all-important HM08 sitting in the snow behind it. The lone man inside the cabin will allude to losing HM08 if you haven't yet found it.

After the cabin, there are no items to find, though you can grab a Spell Tag from the woman inside the second cabin in the area, on the east side near the top of the route. After speaking with her and fending off more trainers, you can follow the winding pathway from left to right, leading northward through some grass, and to the Acuity Lakefront. Be sure you didn't miss other items in the previous area before continuing, since there's a Rare Candy and a Blue Shard lying around as well. We'll spend more time here later -- in the meantime, head east (making sure to grab the Ultra Ball north of the entrance to the nearby town), and enter Snowpoint City, the location of the next gym.

The Icicle Badge | Snowpoint City

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Snowpoint City is a small town with little to do. Other than visiting the Poke Mart and Pokemon Center in town to buy items and heal your Pokemon respectively, there's little to do before visiting the gym and attempting to get your seventh badge. The woman in the house at the northwest corner of town will be interested in trading her Haunter for a Medicham if you're interested (remember -- you can find one in the grass on Route 217 or the briefly-visited Acuity Lakefront), but other than that, you should heal your Pokemon and head straight for the gym (after saving, of course). And if you missed the rather blatantly-sitting item to the right of the entrance into town, be sure to grab it. It's a very valuable Ultra Ball, and you'll want to throw that in your inventory.

Not surprisingly, you're going to want to have some Pokemon handy that will prove to be useful against Ice-based Pokemon. We stuck with a party that relied on Fighting and Flying attacks, which meant our Machoke, Onix and Staraptor played key parts in the battles here. Similar Pokemon will thrive here; just be sure to save your game after each lesser trainer battle and go back to the Pokemon Center before battling Gym Leader Candice herself.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Ace Trainer Alicia	Sneasel (LV. 40) / Sneasel (LV. 43)	$2,580	2,346
Ace Trainer Anton	Glalie (LV. 44)	$2,640	1,507
Ace Trainer Brenna	Sneasel (LV. 40) / Snover (LV. 41) / Snorunt (LV. 40)	$2,460	2,914
Ace Trainer Isaiah	Piloswine (LV. 44)	$2,640	1,507
Ace Trainer Savannah	Snorunt (LV. 39) / Snorunt (LV. 40) / Glalie (LV. 42)	$2,520	2,934
Ace Trainer Sergio	Snover (LV. 41) / Sneasel (LV. 42)	$2,520	2,338
Gym Leader Candice	Sneasel (LV. 40) / Piloswine (LV. 40) / Abomasnow (LV. 42) / Froslass (LV. 44)	$5,280	6,190

Getting to Gym Leader Candice isn't as easy as it may seem, however. Her gym is literally coated in ice, and the only way to get to her is to slip and slide around, fighting the six trainers in the area and plowing through the snowballs in the middle of the area going up the staircase towards her. Only by doing this can you then walk the series of staircases to the gym leader battle. Use the snowballs and snowy patches to move around -- it's far easier to figure it out yourself than to read an explanation, though it may frustrate you at first.

Gym Leader Candice herself has four Pokemon (most gym leaders only have three), so her battle is inherently more difficult than most. She'll also use at least one Hyper Potion and one Full Restore in battle, meaning that you're going to be fighting six Pokemon (two will simply be healed when they're near death). We recommend heading into battle with a Fighting-type like Machoke, resorting to a Flying-type like Staraptor if the going gets tough. Obviously, Fire-types work here really well also, but we had none.

Candice has a level forty Sneasel, a level forty Piloswine, a level forty-two Abomasnow, and a level forty-four Froslass. The latter might give you the most trouble, because his Ghost-lean means that Fighting attacks won't work on him. For him, we switched to our Luxray and unleashed Dark-type attacks on him. The other three Pokemon she comes at you with should be easy enough to kill with our aforementioned skill sets. When you do manage to destroy them, not only will you claim the Icicle Badge for yourself, but you'll receive TM72 from the humbled gym leader as well.

The Beacon Badge | Team Galactic Headquarters

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Our next destination from here is to Lake Acuity, which we previously passed through at the west end of town. Now that you have the Icicle Badge, you can use Rock Climb outside of battle, which will allow you to climb various rockfaces around Sinnoh that show themselves to be climbable. Two such areas of the rockface surrounding the elevated Lake Acuity will be seen when you leave Snowpoint City. As you traverse the surrounding area, working your way through the grass, you'll come to the lake itself after climbing upwards; just be sure to grab the Reaper Cloth sitting conspicuously in the snow en route. You'll run into your friend when you reach the lake itself, who will be speaking with a Galactic Commander. The Commander will jettison the area shortly thereafter, leaving you to follow in pursuit. If you haven't guessed it yet, our next destination is the Galactic Headquarters in Veilstone City.

Use Fly to get to Veilstone City easily. Go to the northeast part of town, where the Galactic HQ is located. You'll find an anonymous Galactic Grunt in front of the building, who will run off after talking to you. After he scampers off, your mysterious friend Looker, from the International Police, will show up. He'll tell you that he's procured the key to get into Team Galactic's headquarters. However, he'll inform you that you'll need to meet him at the Team Galactic warehouse on the west side of town. Work your way to the other side of town, and go to the Galactic Warehouse there. Looker will use the key on the room inside. Grab the Dusk Stone on the other side of the door, and then take the staircase down, into a part of the Galactic Headquarters itself.

This place can get a bit confusing, so following our specific directions here is absolutely necessary if you're going to follow our walkthrough for this area. Begin by heading right through this area (going north to speak with the scientist if you so desire), fighting two Galactic Grunts as you go. You can also find a Zinc tucked in a northern corner before going up some stairs into the next area. Here, simply take another staircase up even further into the headquarters.

Here, you'll be thrust into a couple of more Pokemon battles with Galactic Grunts. You'll also be introduced to the seemingly-complicated (but in reality quite simplistic) warp system that will help you navigate around the gigantic headquarters building. In this first room with warps, take the one on the right to another room to grab TM49, and then take the one on the left to head to yet another room. Take the only other warp in this room, and then take the staircase up in the next room. (Following us so far? Good!)

After fighting the next Galactic Grunt and his Glameow-Murkrow-Croagunk trio, take the warp on the left (ignoring the staircase in the room), and then go down the stairs in the room you end up in. From here, go left, then right, then go down another set of stairs. Here, you'll fight Scientist Fredrick and his Kirlia and Kadabra. After felling the Pokemon foes, go left and grab the Dubious Disc sitting there, then go left once more. There's a staircase leading down to a new room here. Head down here and go leftward, grabbing TM36 and the Galactic Key down here. The Galactic Grunt down here won't fight you, so no worries there. With this in hand, you can essentially leave the part of the headquarters you're in now (via the door on your left, which will bring you towards the entrance). But we implore you to do some more exploring briefly before doing that.

Start by heading back to the right, going back upstairs, and backtracking all the way to the room with the yellow warp in the northwest corner of the room (with a guy in the middle you previously fought, a staircase in the middle of the room leading down, and stairs in the northeast corner leading up). Take the stairs in the northeast corner (we told you to ignore it previously), and then head left, fighting another Galactic Grunt as you go. Circle down the linear pathway thereafter, and then go right to fight another Galactic Grunt. Open the door he was guarding at the end of the hallway to find TM21. Then, backtrack to leave the building completely (by backtracking to the staircase, going down the stairs, going down another flight of stairs, taking the warp, warping again, going down and around the linear pathway, and then heading back to the warehouse entrance... follow all of that?)

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Commander Saturn	Golbat (LV. 42) / Bronzor (LV. 42) / Toxicroak (LV. 44)	$3,520	3,892
Galactic Boss Cyrus	Sneasel (LV. 44) / Crobat (LV. 44) / Honchkrow (LV. 46)	$8,280	5,008
Galactic Grunt (I)	Golbat (LV. 41)	$1,640	1,501
Galactic Grunt (II)	Houndour (LV. 38) / Murkrow (LV. 40)	$1,600	1,843
Galactic Grunt (III)	Glameow (LV. 41)	$1,640	622
Galactic Grunt (IV)	Glameow (LV. 37) / Murkrow (LV. 38) / Croagunk (LV. 39)	$1,560	2,125
Galactic Grunt (V)	Stunky (LV. 41)	$1,640	693
Galactic Grunt (VI)	Murkrow (LV. 39) / Stunky (LV. 39)	$1,560	1,554
Galactic Grunt (VII)	Golbat (LV. 38) / Golbat (LV. 40)	$1,520	2,857
Galactic Grunt (VIII)	Golbat (LV. 39) / Houndour (LV. 39)	$1,360	1,841
Galactic Grunt (IX)	Croagunk (LV. 38) / Stunky (LV. 38) / Glameow (LV. 38)	$1,520	1,894
Galactic Grunt (X)	Stunky (LV. 38) / Croagunk (LV. 40)	$1,600	1,353
Scientist Darrius	Porygon2 (LV. 42)	$2,016	1,620
Scientist Frederick	Kirlia (LV. 40) / Kadabra (LV. 40)	$1,920	2,442

Once back outside in Veilstone City, it'd be a good idea to heal at the Pokemon Center and save your game. Then, go to the northeast corner of town and enter the main Galactic Headquarters entrance. With the Galactic Key, you can breach the door there to explore a whole new section of the headquarters.

Go upstairs after going through the first door. Galactic Grunts and Scientists will want to battle you en masse here, so get ready for some difficult, trying battles. If you find yourself in trouble, use an Escape Rope or backtrack out of the building in order to heal and save back in town. You should also have a good supply of healing items here, just in case.

Go right down the corridor, fighting as you go. Bear northward into a room with a television, where a Scientist can be fought. Then, backtrack to the main corridor and go to your right. You'll end up in a kitchen. There are two warps here. The northern warp leads to a small, isolated room which contains a Green Shard. Grab it, and then head back to the kitchen and take the southernmost warp. This will lead to another room with warps -- take the warp on the right to find a Max Revive, and then backtrack to the room next to the kitchen with the television. This warp leads to a room full of Galactic Grunts watching a speech from their leader, Cyrus. You'll run into Looker here. Watch the mysterious speech. You'll regain control hereafter, as Looker bids you adieu and the Grunts clear the way for you to proceed leftward. There's a warp here. Take that warp to another room with stairs and some beds. Naturally, you should heal by taking a rest in one of the beds before going upstairs. Saving your game couldn't hurt, either. Be sure to search the rightmost bed for a Poke Doll, too!

As you follow the linear pathway, you'll be forced to fight more Galactic Grunts. They'll be nothing compared to what you have to soon deal with, however. After fighting a pair of Galactic Grunts, you'll find three warps at the end of the corridor they were guarding. The warp on the right leads to a small room with a semi-obscured Protein. The middle warp leads to a large dead end room, but there's a Max Elixir there to add to your inventory. And finally, the warp on the left will bring you to a room with a staircase, and after that, a locked door. Through the door is Galactic Boss Cyrus.

Galactic Boss Cyrus has three powerful Pokemon at his disposal. He has a level forty-four Sneasel, a level forty-four Crobat, and a level forty-six Honchkrow. Flying and Fire Pokemon are especially useful in this battle, though others (such as Fighting) will also fair well. As always, a well-balanced party is ultimately your best bet. After taking out his three Pokemon, you will get the Master Ball for your troubles. After fighting him, we implore you to backtrack to the beds to heal, and save your game... and then, continue.

Go to where you fought Galactic Boss Cyrus, and use the warp at the northeast end of the room. Thereafter, walk through the eerie Pokemon research area (very much like the Esper Research Facility in Final Fantasy VI, no?), and go north. You'll run into Commander Saturn here. It's odd that they make you fight Saturn after Cyrus, considering he's much easier to fell than Cyrus. Unlike Cyrus, however, Saturn won't use healing items like Super Potions that will piss you off when you think an enemy Pokemon is on the ropes! Nonetheless, take on Saturn's level forty-two Golbat, level forty-two Bronzor, and level forty-four Toxicroak. When this weakling's Pokemon are no more, he'll allow you to press the button on the nearby machine to free the three enslaved Pokemon, and then you'll be free to backtrack through the headquarters. You'll run into an area that was previously off limits that's now open -- the green warp in this area will bring you back outside of the headquarters. It's time to continue our mission!

The Beacon Badge | Return to Mt. Coronet

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Mt. Coronet is our next destination. You've been there a couple of times before, but now that you have Rock Climb and Surf, you can explore the location in its totality. And you'll have to do just that if you want to stop Cyrus dead in his tracks. The best way to reach Mt. Coronet is to use Fly to rreach Oreburgh City. Then, leave the city heading north, swinging east at the first chance you get. This will lead to a familiar entrance into Mt. Coronet. Approach the water to your right as soon as you enter the mountain and use Surf to cross it. Once back on dry land, climb up the stairs and grab the Protein before continuing. Then, break out the TM Rock Climb and climb up the nearby rockface to access stairs above, into the next area.

Go forward and bear left. Go up the stairs you encounter and grab the Max Repel from the isolated platform. Then, rejoin the main pathway and head southward. Grab the Escape Rope at the extreme southern end, then use the stairs to reach a higher pathway to your left. Go southward down the thin, dead end pathway to find TM80, and then go north, grabbing the Max Revive on your left. If you can breach the southwestern exit out of this portion of the mountain, you'll find yourself back outside. You can find two items here -- a Timer Ball and, further down the mountain, some Iron. With those in hand, climb back up and reenter the mountain. Then, go north towards the next area of the mountain. Here, you'll run into Looker once more. He'll hand over a Black Flute for you to later utilize before you proceed.

In this next small area, go forward and right into yet another area. At this point, head left, forward, and wrap around the linear corridor to another door. You can quickly run down the stairs leading downward on your right. Examining the rock furthest from the staircase here will net you a Star Piece.Then, backtrack up the stairs and take the stairs ahead and leading upward. The corridor beyond will ultimately lead to another door, but you'll need to fight a couple of weak Galactic Grunts en route.

This door will bring you outside, where you'll have to deal with a whole new set of enemies (snow/ice enemies you've already encountered). You'll have lots of options out here -- we recommend exploring, looking at the various rocks in the area to find various items (like a Star Piece, Yellow Shard, and Stardust). Ultimately, however, you'll want to "zig-zag" around the area, left and right, using Rock Climb, and getting back into Mt. Coronet via the entrance/exit on the west side. The entrance into the cave on the right side can (and should) be explored for items, but you can't proceed from there.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Commander Mars & Commander Jupiter	2x Bronxor (LV. 44) / 2x Golbat (LV. 44) / Skuntank (LV. 46) / Purugly (LV. 46)	$7,360	8,440
Galactic Grunt (I)	Stunky (LV. 43)	$1,720	727
Galactic Grunt (II)	Murkrow (LV. 43)	$1,720	985
Galactic Grunt (III)	2x Houndour (LV. 40) / Golbat (LV. 40)	$1,600	3,417
Galactic Grunt (IV)	Stunky (LV. 42) / Golbat (LV. 40)	$1,600	2,176
Galactic Grunt (V)	Houndour (LV. 40) / Glameow (LV. 42)	$1,680	1,615
Galactic Grunt (VI)	Glameow (LV. 41) / Golbat (LV. 41)	$1,640	2,123
Galactic Grunt (VII)	Golbat (LV. 39) / Croagunk (LV. 40) / Murkrow (LV. 41)	$1,640	3,078
Galactic Grunt & Galactic Grunt	Stunky (LV. 41) / Croagunk (LV. 39) / Croagunk (LV. 43) / Glameow (LV. 41)	$3,360	2,646

Once back inside the mountain, go forward and use Rock Climb once more to reach the area above. Do battle with Galactic Grunts as you head to the rightward (and be sure to search the stationary stone behind the destroyable stone to find a Sun Stone). You'll find an exit back outside over here. Once you do, simply head north and climb down some stairs to a thin corridor below. Go to the top of the corridor and use Rock Climb to reach the area to your left. Then, simply work your way to the far west part of this area to again go back inside the mountain. Search all stationary rocks en route! You'll find a Stardust and Moon Stone when you do.

From here, it's relatively smooth sailing. Go from linear pathway to linear pathway, doing battle with Galactic Grunts as you go. Make sure to heal and save often just in case you encounter a battle you can't handle (things are getting fairly difficult here!) Saving is especially important since, at the end of the pathway, you'll be thrust into two more boss battles (first you'll have to fight an especially challenging pair of Galactic Grunts).

The first boss battle is against Commanders Mars and Jupiter, both of which will come at you with three Pokemon each. Thankfully, it's a relatively easy battle to predict with strategies because they both have the same two Pokemon (Golbat and Bronzor), leaving their "trump" Pokemon the only difference between the two. Commander Mars has a level forty-six Purugly, while Commander Jupiter has a level forty-six Skuntank. Also thankful in this battle is that your friend will pair off with you, giving you an edge you'll need here. The best news, though? He'll heal your party completely before the next, even more difficult battle.

With Commanders Mars and Jupiter downed, it appears all you'll have to deal with is Cyrus. But things are different here, as veterans of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl will know. Instead of doing battle with Cyrus and his party of powerful Pokemon here, you'll ultimately be thrust into a place called the Distortion World in pursuit of Cyrus. Your friend Cynthia will show up and agree to go with you. Are you ready to tackle this all-new area of the game?

The Beacon Badge | The Distortion World

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The Distortion World is a bit of a wash. After all, there are no wild Pokemon to fight whatsoever, and there are no items to find either. As a result, getting through this mysterious space-in-between-spaces is all about being patient enough to find your way around. While there are no random encounters, trainers or stuff to add to your inventory, it's still easy to get lost, turned-around and outright frustrated here. Of course, that's where we come in!

Because things are skewed, specific directions aren't really possible. In fact, they're counter-productive, because finding your way around the Distortion World isn't so much difficult as it is frustrating. But with a few key points ever-fresh in your mind as you move forward, you should have little trouble navigating your way through The Distortion World.

The first thing to keep in mind is the plane of travel. You won't only be traveling on a single plane. In other words, while your perspective won't change, where you'll be walking often will, so expect to be walking on walls and ceilings in addition to regular floors. To travel between platforms, seek out grayed-out circles. Not all of them correlate to another platform or area, but many of them do. So, to jump across a chasm to another platform, you can often do so if one of the aforementioned circles are there. And a good general rule of thumb, though it isn't always true in the Distortion World, is that if the platform is moving vertically instead of horizontally, going downward is a good thing and going upward is a bad thing. Since you're trying to reach the center of the Distortion World, going downward towards it is the key.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Galactic Boss Cyrus	Houndoom (LV. 45) / Gyarados (LV. 46) / Weavile (LV. 48) / Crobat (LV. 46) / Honchkrow (LV. 47)	$8,640	10,013

Another thing to mention is that you will run into Cynthia and Cyrus multiple times en route to your ultimate destination. Running into them is a good thing -- it means you're on the right track. And remember -- you'll need to use both Surf and Strength here. Those three pushable rocks you run into should be shoved, once each, through a nearby hole to the area below. Then, when you access the area below, you'll see three legendary Pokemon -- Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie. Push each stone through the hole closest to each Pokemon. If you do this properly, the rocks will get stuck in the hole, but do it improperly, and they'll fly into the ether, forcing you to backtrack and try again.

After each rock is activated (yes; use Surf on that waterfall to reach and push down the third one!), you'll be able to reunite with Cynthia and ultimately take on Cyrus. Be sure to save before fighting him, because he's extremely difficult -- easily stronger than any of the seven Gym Leaders you've battle thusfar. His Pokemon, of which there are five, span levels from forty-five to forty-eight. He'll come at you with a Houndoom, Gyarados, Weavile, Crobat and Honchkrow. So constantly mix it up to give yourself distinct type advantages, heal when necessary, and throw everything you have at Cyrus.

When Cyrus's Pokemon are downed, he'll retreat, leaving you to deal with the ultimate Pokemon, Giratina. Giratina can be confronted by moving forward after regaining control following the fight with Cyrus. When you finally confront Giratina, you'll be thrust into battle with it. This is an it, and not a type. Don't expect to fight another one of these. So, if you want to capture it, do so, but keep in mind that you're going to likely have to waste myriad Poke Balls of all varieties to even have a prayer in catching this sucker. Save before confronting it and try over and over again if necessary.

Once Giratina is either captured or slain, you'll be able to leave the Distortion World. Doing so will bring you and Cynthia back to reality, in a location known as Sendoff Spring. Circle around the spring after climbing up the nearby rockface. This will allow you to rejoin Route 214. From here, you should use Fly to get to Sandgem Town, visit with Professor Rowan to let him know that you're doing okay, and then move on. It's time to finally go after the eighth and final Gym Badge. If you want to capture Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie as well, consult our Side Quests section, because now's the time to do that as well. After all, they've been freed from Cyrus's clutches and from the Distortion World.

The Beacon Badge | Route 222 / Sunyshore City

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Part Four

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Getting to Route 222, our next destination, is a simple endeavor. Use Fly to get to Pastoria City instantly, and go east out of the town to Route 213. Follow the many-time-traveled Route 213 eastward, northward through the resort, and then eastward some more. A pathway that was previously obscured is now open to explore. On the other side of the opened pathway is Route 222.

Route 222 is a small, easily-navigated route. This is great, since on the other side is Sunyshore City (that's right, one N!) and your eighth and final badge before you can finally challenge the Pokemon League itself. Route 222 is split into two main parts, both of which head west to east. The bottom path is along the beach, where a plethora of trainers can be found. Two houses can also be found, though neither are of any real consequence (though the house on the left along the water is full of Pikachu, one of which is actually a trainer in disguise!)

Along the northern path, you can initially pick some berries (we found two Wiki Berries, two Mago Berries, two Aguav Berries, and a Qualot Berry.) Further east, if you stay along the south end of the path, you can find some Full Restore as well, though it will ultimately lead to a dead end. What's great about this route is that you can avoid grassy wild Pokemon-ridden areas completely, and since there are few new Pokemon in the area to capture, this works out rather well indeed! Also, be sure to find the woman along this route that, when spoken to, will cough up a free TM56. Pretty sweet! There's a Quick Ball to find as well, and a PP Up, too. The Quick Ball is found on an isolated grassy patch near the entrance to town, while PP Up is slightly-obscured in between the two beachfront houses.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Ace Trainer Destiny	Electabuzz (LV. 47) / Raichu (LV. 48)	$2,880	2,824
Ace Trainer Zachery	Electabuzz (LV. 47) / Magneton (LV. 47)	$2,880	3,226
Beauty Nicola	Lopunny (LV. 45)	$2,520	1,716
Fisherman Alec	Magikarp (LV. 42) / Gyarados (LV. 45)	$1,440	2,242
Fisherman Brett	Magikarp (LV. 43) / Finneon (LV. 42) / Feebas (LV. 42)	$1,344	1,542
Fisherman Cole	2x Gyarados (LV. 43) / Remoraid (LV. 40)	$1,376	4,607
Fisherman George	Magikarp (LV. 41) / Gyarados (LV. 42) / Remoraid (LV. 41) / Finneon (LV. 41)	$1,344	3,575
Guitarist Jerry	Magnemite (LV. 44) / 2x Luxio (LV. 44)	$1,056	3,042
Guitarist Lonnie	Raichu (LV. 47)	$1,128	1,228
Guitarist Preston	2x Luxio (LV. 45)	$1,080	2,256
Gym Leader Volkner	Jolteon (LV. 46) / Raichu (LV. 46) / Luxray (LV. 48) / Electivire (LV. 50)	$6,000	7,268
Poke Kid Janice	2x Pikachu (LV. 42)	$336	1,476
Poke Kid Meghan	4x Pikachu (LV. 42)	$336	2,942
Rich Boy Trey	Luxio (LV. 45)	$7,200	1,868
Sailor Luther	Wingull (LV. 41) / Gastrodon (LV. 43) / Machoke (LV. 42)	$1,376	3,496
School Kid Forrest	Magneton (LV. 47)	$940	3,042
School Kid Tiera	Pachirisu (LV. 47)	$940	1,207
Tuber Conner & Sailor Marc	Mantyke (LV. 45) / Remoraid (LV. 44)	$1,616	1,774
Tuber Holly	Remoraid (LV. 44)	$176	735

Fend off trainers as you head east. Be sure to grab the Carbos by taking the north part of the route eastward (you'll need Cut to access it), and then simply walk east into Sunyshore City. The city has little to see right now -- you can find a Thunderstone on the east side of town, but otherwise there's very little to see. You'll want to head to the lighthouse, ultimately, at the southeast part of town, where Volkner can be found. Volkner is the Gym Leader of town, though completely disenchanted by his work (as suggested by the Pokemon League fighter you encounter automatically when entering the town). Go talk to him at the lighthouse, and he'll return to the gym so you can fight him.

Navigating the gym is surprisingly easy considering how complicated it looks. There are eight lesser trainers to fight in the area, but the really interesting part of getting through the gym is the utilization of all the mechanisms. You'll need to press switches to make platforms appear and reappear, so you can move from area to area. This sounds and looks complicated, but like so many of the pseudo-puzzles in this game, it's easier for you to figure it out on your own than for us to explain it to you. The latter would likely confuse you!

When you finally get to Volkner, make sure your party is fully healed and you've saved (leaving to heal and save before fighting Volkner but after defeating all eight lesser trainers is probably a smart idea). Volkner has four powerful Pokemon, the most powerful we've encountered in the game so far. He has a level forty-six Raichu, a level forty-six Jolteon, a level forty-eight Luxray, and a level fifty Electivire. Go into battle with Ground-based Pokemon if possible, though a versatile party of many styles and types will survive the battle most easily. Bringing our own Luxray into battle, for instance, allowed us to survive a barrage of electric-based attacks, since each of his Pokemon is strictly Electric-type. Be prepared for his incessant use of healing items on his Pokemon (like many of his predecessors), which will no doubt frustrate you to no end. When he's felled, you'll get the Beacon Badge and TM57. That's all eight badges! Congratulations!

The Endgame | Route 223

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With all eight badges now in your possession, it's time for the endgame. Don't worry, of course -- there is a lot more game after we win the Pokemon championship. But for now, we have to take down the most powerful group of trainers, by far, that we've encountered in the game. You'll need to be ready for this trip to the top, and it all starts with the traversing of Route 223, which can be accessed from the northern shores of Sunyshore City. Thankfully, if you're following our walkthrough, you would have just defeated the gym leader of that very locale, so you'll be in good shape to continue. Heal your Pokemon, with party emphasis on powerful Pokemon who can deal with Water-types (and a Pokemon that can use the TM for Surf), and then surf upon Route 223 from the beach at the north end of town. Be absolutely certain to talk to the girl there and acquire HM07 - you'll need it before long.

Surf northward. If you haven't yet noticed, Route 223 is almost entirely made up of water that must be surfed upon (though there are shallow areas that permit walking here and there). Surf northward and you'll run into the first trainer resistance of the route. Swimmer Miranda and her lone level forty-five Lumineon will likely be your first engagement, but expect to fight Swimmers Aubree and Oscar thereafter. Stay on the left side of the water, working your way through the rocks you come across, in order to grab TM18 from the shallows you encounter. Then, backtrack and continue northward through the primary route.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Sailor Zachariah	Pelipper (LV. 40) / Gastrodon (LV. 44) / Machoke (LV. 42)	$1,408	4,378
Swimmer Aubree	Bibarel (LV. 43) / Azumarill (LV. 43)	$688	2,476
Swimmer Cassandra	Lumineon (LV. 44) / Pelipper (LV. 42)	$672	2,946
Swimmer Colton & Swimmer Paige	Wingull (LV. 40) / Marill (LV. 41) / Golduck (LV. 43) / Octillery (LV. 44) / Wingull (LV. 42) / Pelipper (LV. 44)	$1,392	5,802
Swimmer Crystal	Wingull (LV. 42) / Seaking (LV. 44)	$704	2,178
Swimmer Gabrielle	Golduck (LV. 45)	$720	1,676
Swimmer Miranda	Lumineon (LV. 45)	$720	1,503
Swimmer Oscar	Mantyke (LV. 41) / Remoraid (LV. 42) / Mantine (LV. 43)	$688	2,476
Swimmer Troy	Gyarados (LV. 45)	$720	2,062
Swimmer Wesley	Floatzel (LV. 43) / Tentacruel (LV. 43)	$688	3,527

Not surprisingly, it's straight-shooting from here. You'll only fight three varieties of wild Pokemon (Mantykes, Pelippers and Tentacruel, the latter in high volumes) and will have to deal with trainers that deal in primarily, but not exclusively, Water-type Pokemon. You can also find some items as you go. When you reach some shallows that stretch across the route with a large rock formation in the middle, work your way around on the right side to find an Ultra Ball (you'll need to backtrack around to the left to jump back in the water and continue northward). Then, simply battle more trainers as you head north to a waterfall. Two more items, in the form of a Dive Ball and Rare Candy can be found on your left and right respectively en route. Simply search the shallows to find them easily.

Your path seems blocked... but, remember the girl we met back on shore who handed over HM07? Well, that HM holds the skill "Waterfall" that must be taught to a Pokemon. Then, simply use it to scale the waterfall, reaching your next destination on the other side. Use the Pokemon Center there to heal your Pokemon, making any changes you may feel necessary (as there are lots of Rock-based Pokemon coming up, for instance). Then, save your game and run into the nearby cave.

The Endgame | Victory Road

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Entering the cave will bring you to Victory Road, the final dungeon-like area of the game before you take on the best trainers in the world at the Pokemon League, which is just on the other side of the cave. However, the cave is vast, and depending on the strength of your party, you may be hard-pressed to get through it in one push (with all of the trainers in the area, and all). If you feel like you might be too weak, bring healing items and Escape Ropes with you, that way your party is never in any real danger outside of battle.

As far as Pokemon you should expect to fight in the wild here, they're all of standard fare -- nothing new here, with some exceptions. As we mentioned earlier, there are a couple of Rock-types here (Onix and Graveler), as well as a Dragon-type (Gabite), a Water-type (Floatzel), a Flying-type (Golbat), an Electric/Steel-type (Magneton), and an annoying Steel-type (Steelix), plus more. You should have run into all of these Pokemon at least once in the past (and for all but the Steelix, many times) so you should know what to do with them. There are also a plethora of items on Victory Road, and a load of trainers too!... just look at that list! Well, on with the walkthrough! (Just as a friendly reminder, make sure you have Pokemon with you that, all together, know all of your HMs (minus any optional ones, like Defog, which is useless here).

As you begin, head north over the wooden bridge. On the other side, use Rock Climb to climb downward to the area below. Head to your left once down here to fight the first trainer in the area -- Psychic Bryce and his three Pokemon -- and then go north from him to get TM41, which will teach a Pokemon the skill Torment. Then, use Rock Climb to climb back up to the main area above, and then head eastward along the next bridge.

On this platform, take the stairs downward and circle around to battle another Trainer (Bird Keeper Hana and her Noctowl-Togetic combo). When her Pokemon are felled, cross the bridge to the north to grab the Max Repel sitting there, and then backtrack to the staircase, climb them, and go north over another bridge. Use Rock Climb to climb back down to the area below yet again. Then, carefully traverse the path heading left (making sure to not jump down to areas below that will cut you off from your route and force you to backtrack and do it all over again). When you reach a staircase on the far left end of this room, go up the stairs.

After climbing the stairs, head north to battle another trainer, and then go north all the way to find a Nugget. Then, use the stairs to your left to climb up once more, and go through the door. This will lead you to another part of the cave. Here, you will need to use Rock Smash and Strength, so be ready with both of those. Start by smashing and pushing your way leftward. You'll need to utilize your Bicycle at this point to jump over the obstacles using the ramp given. Then, turn around, head right, and do the same thing. This will eventually lead a path northward and westward to a Max Elixir. After adding that to your inventory, backtrack towards the entrance to this room, and this time, go south. Use Strength to push your way southward, and then circle around to fight Ace Trainer Omar, and his trio of Pokemon.

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Ace Trainer Henry	Rhydon (LV. 47) / Carnivine (LV. 48)	$2,880	2,712
Ace Trainer Mariah	Blissey (LV. 45) / Magnezone (LV. 46) / Glalie (LV. 46)	$2,880	6,469
Ace Trainer Omar	Mamoswine (LV. 45) / Rampardos (LV. 48) / Mothim (LV. 46)	$2,880	5,607
Ace Trainer Sydney	Clefable (LV. 47) / Torterra (LV. 48)	$2,880	2,368
Bird Keeper Hana	Noctowl (LV. 45) / Togetic (LV. 47)	$1,504	2,708
Black Belt Miles	Machamp (LV. 48)	$1,152	1,984
Double Team Al & Kay	Staraptor (LV. 50) / Ambipom (LV. 50)	$12,000	4,834
Double Team Jo & Pat	Lumineon (LV. 50) / Rapidash (LV. 50)	$12,000	3,623
Dragon Tamer Clinton	Gible (LV. 43) / Gabite (LV. 47) / Swablu (LV. 45)	$1,504	2,777
Dragon Tamer Ondrej	Altaria (LV. 45) / Gabite (LV.47)	$1,504	3,260
Psychic Bryce	Haunter (LV. 43) / Gengar (LV. 46) / Gardevoir (LV. 46)	$1,472	3,913
Psychic Valencia	Chimecho (LV. 44) / Absol (LV. 45) / Dusknoir (LV. 46)	$1,472	5,133
Veteran Clayton	Staraptor (LV. 47) / Lickilicky (LV. 47)	$3,760	3,673
Veteran Edgar	Porygon-Z (LV. 46) / Tangrowth (LV. 46) / Empoleon (LV. 46)	$3,680	5,921

After Omar's Pokemon are slain, look at the rocks to your south that you need to use Strength on. Think carefully about how to do this -- if you do it wrong, and the rocks are pushed out of place, you'll need to head to the previous area and back again to reset their positions. What you need to do here is push the rock on the left down once, then circle around to the breakable rock below. Smash it, then push the same rock you just pushed down back up, and work your way through to the left. Push your way through yet again and fight a couple of more trainers. The area where you fight the second trainer (Veteran Clayton), go down the stairs nearby and then come back up. This will reset the rocks below so you can re-push them (just push the middle one down), giving you access to the secret area to your right.

What does the secret area to your right hold? Well, other than some minor treasures, there are also some powerful trainers that will undoubtedly want a piece of you posthaste (they'll fight you simultaneously). If you haven't yet noticed, you'll again need to break your Bicycle out to get through this area with any success. But when you do successfully accomplish the tedious Bicycle-related task, your rewards, you will find, will be well worth it. At the north end of the room, TM71 can be found, while on the left side, you can grab a Full Restore. With both of those in hand, you can then backtrack to the next area via the staircase by the aforementioned Veteran Clayton.

Head eastward across the bridge and use Rock Climb to scale down to the area below. Then, wrap around leftward, northward, and then rightward to another staircase leading further down into this cave (you'll fight Black Belt Miles and his Machamp en route). This dreary part of the cave is full of stagnant water that will necessitate your use of both Surf and Waterfall. No problem there, right? You may find problems, however, with the trainers in the area. For instance, Dragon Trainer Ondrej will come at you with a level forty-five Altaria and a level forty-seven Gabite. In all, there are four trainers to deal with in the area. You'll need to do a fair amount of rudimentary exploration in the room to find them all, but it shouldn't prove to be that difficult. You'll also find TM59 if you search hard enough. A hint -- it's on dry land.

Another feature of the watery room you may have noticed is that there are two ways out, other than where you came in (meaning, in other words, that there are three doors in and out). First take the door on the south end of the room by walking up some stairs and accessing the corridor heading leftward beyond it. Through that door, you will find yourself in a little nook of the initial area of Victory Road. You'll be able to find some all-valuable Rare Candy there. You can grab Calcium en route on the path leading to this door. Then, use the other (third) door out of the previous room to access another part of the primary room of Victory Road, being sure to grab the Ultra Ball on the right side of the room before using the waterfalls to scale upwards to the area above.

From here, it's relatively smooth sailing. There's only a couple of trainers remaining, and more items to grab. Begin by heading leftward down the corridor you find yourself on, taking out Veteran Edgar's three Pokemon en route. Then, swing south to find the Razor Claw once at the end of the leftward-headed pathway. Back near Veteran Edgar's position, head south. Go left and climb up the rockface with Rock Climb, and then head left over the bridge and through another door. This will lead you to another previous area of the cave, where another isolated item in TM79 can be found. Then, backtrack all the way to where you last used Rock Climb, and climb back down to the main area.

Behind Veteran Edgar is a staircase. Take that up and then go right over the bridge that goes over the area below (a place where you can walk). You won't be able to proceed through the door there (the person guarding it simply won't allow it), but you will be able to acquire some Zinc clearly sitting on the ground nearby. Now, we're ready to leave! Head back down and under the bridge, and this time head right. Use Rock Climb to reach the area above, and fight the final trainer of the area -- Dragon Tamer Clinton. After taking him on, you can simply head north and then west out of the cave. Congratulations! You've reached the Pokemon League building! Let's beat the game now!

The Endgame | The Pokemon League

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Ah yes, the Pokemon League! Now this is the final area of the main quest. Are you excited!? Well, if you aren't, you should be. To access the main building in the area, simply head north, use Surf, then use Waterfall, and proceed to the building. Simple, right?

Now, you'll soon find that being successful at the Pokemon League is all about preparation. If you're not prepared, you're simply not going to do well here. In fact, you're going to get the floor wiped with your Pokemon. Start here by going to the right side of the building and buying all of the items you need. Have at least ten of all status-healing items (to get rid of things such as Burn, Freeze, Poison, et cetera). Also, have at least 40 Hyper Potions, lots of Revives, and basically anything you can afford. The going is truly going to get tough here.

So what's the premise of the Pokemon League? What do you do? Well, it's really quite simple. After battling your friend for the last time near the north end of the small room (remembering, of course, that his party will vary depending on which Pokemon you chose at the beginning of the game), you'll have access to the League rooms where the great masters of the land are waiting for you to challenge them. But these trainers, known as the Elite Four (with their leader, a fifth member named Champion Cynthia) are no joke. Not only will you have to battle their Pokemon, all five battles, with the same Pokemon which you cannot switch nor bring to a Pokemon Center to heal, but you'll only have an opportunity to heal your Pokemon with the items you previously bought. Remember -- we told you this part is truly all about preparation!

So what of a party? Well, naturally, you're going to need to have an extremely well-balanced party. Our party consisted of the following six diverse Pokemon -- Staraptor, Kricketune, Empoleon, Machoke, Onix, and Luxray. Try to make a similar party that you will feel comfortable with. There should be no type-mixing -- that is to say, if you have Luxray in your party, filling another slot with another Electric-type Pokemon is not only a waste of space, but will probably cost you the title. Oh, and a word on leveling as well. Your Pokemon should be at least at level 60. If they're not there, you're probably going to have trouble. Many suggest to battle no earlier than level 55, but believe us, level 55 is suicide. Trust us. You'll be able to get through the first couple of trainers, but beating the Pokemon Champion with level 55 Pokemon is essentially impossible.

And so, we battle. You'll have to face each trainer, one after another, healing as you go. Here's a word of advice -- DO NOT SAVE. If you save the game after confidently defeating one or two trainers just to find out the last three can easily stymie your advance, you're going to ruin your save file. You don't want to do that. Instead, go for broke here. Blow through all five trainers at once, and then the game will be saved automatically after the ending for you. Nifty! (One more word of advice: equip each Pokemon with your best HP-healing Berries so you don't waste precious turns with any healing). One thing to keep in mind, also -- all of the trainers will use at least one Full Restore in battle. This is, of course, a major pain… but don't get too frustrated! Just wait until Champion Cynthia uses four or five!

Pokemon Trainers to Fight
Trainer Name	Pokemon (w/ LV.)	Money	EXP
Champion Cynthia	Spiritomb (LV. 58) / Garchomp (LV. 62) / Togekiss (LV. 60) / Milotic (LV. 58) / Lucario (LV. 60) / Roserade (LV. 58)	$12,400	15,593
Elite Four Aaron	Yanmega (LV. 49) / Drapion (LV. 53) / Vespiquen (LV. 50) / Heracross (LV. 51) / Scizor (LV. 49)	$6,360	10,693
Elite Four Bertha	Whiscash (LV. 50) / Golem (LV. 52) / Hippowdon (LV. 52) / Gliscor (LV. 53) / Rhyperior (LV. 55)	$6,600	10,603
Elite Four Flint	Houndoom (LV. 52) / Infernape (LV. 55) / Magmortar (LV. 57) / Flareon (LV. 55) / Rapidash (LV. 53)	$6,840	11,797
Elite Four Lucian	Mr. Mime. (LV. 53) / Bronzong (LV. 54) / Gallade (LV. 59) / Alakazam (LV. 56) / Espeon (LV. 55)	$7,080	10,897

First up is Elite Four Aaron and his five Pokemon mainly of the Bug type. This is where our Staraptor came in, although any Flying Pokemon can really do just as much damage. His Yanmega, Scizor, Vespiquen and Heracross are all going to be in a lot of trouble really fast with your Flying-type Pokemon, so that's the route we suggest you take with him (as far as his Drapion, do what you will with it, although well-placed Flying attacks will take him out in mere rounds as well).

Second up is Elite Four Bertha. Bertha's strange array of Pokemon have a common weakness since they're all Rock or Ground-based. Our Empoleon with its Water-strength draining attacks did a number on her party. Whiscash came out first against our party and gave us a hard time immediately, since Empoleon's water attacks didn't do much to it. Golem and Hippowdon came out afterwards, however, and fell quickly. Gliscor and Rhyperior, which came out last against us, gave us the biggest problem. Be ready to heal here if necessary, and don't let your Water-type die here (if you're even using one), because it will really give you a major edge in this battle.

Coming up third is Elite Four Flint and his pesky group of enemy Pokemon. With Fire-types galore in his party, we went with our Empoleon for this battle, because he knew two uber-powerful Water attacks in Surf and Waterfall. We took all of his Pokemon with those attacks with little trouble. Believe it or not, this is the hardest of the four enemy parties you'll encounter from the Elite Four, even though it's not the last or best-leveled. His five Pokemon are damage dynamos, so be ready to heal.

The fourth and final Elite Four representative we will fight is Elite Four Lucian. Because all five of Lucian's Pokemon are of the highly-invulnerable and awfully-powerful Psychic type, we ran headlong into this battle using a smattering of different Pokemon. However, we relied mostly on the Dark attacks of Luxray, concentrating on keeping him healed when we could. We did the best we can, having to heal often and change Pokemon up randomly in order to salvage the party, but his Pokemon soon fell. The biggest challenge he'll throw at you is his level 54 Bronzong, who is not only a hard hitter but impervious to many attacks. Thankfully for us, however, our confidence was quickly ridden when he was the second of our opponent's five defeats. He didn't want to save the best for last, but in case he decides to do just that with you, be prepared!

And finally, we come to the cream of the crop herself, Champion Cynthia. Unlike her Elite Four cohorts, Cynthia won't come to battle with five Pokemon, giving you the inherent advantage. Instead, she eliminates that advantage by battling ruthlessly with six ultra-powerful Pokemon of her own, with the lowest level being 58 and the highest being a staggering 62. Her party is as well-mixed as yours should be (especially if you got this far), so defeat Cynthia at her own battle of wits. As we mentioned earlier, Cynthia will use Full Restores liberally (she used one four times in battle with us), but don't lose your head. Keep your party as well-healed as you can and try to bring out Pokemon that you think will do well against her set-up as needed. Spiritomb will always come out at you first, but after that, it's a crapshoot. We especially implore you to keep an eye out for the level 62 Garchamp. If you're not careful, he can make your party disappear in no time at all.

When Champion Cynthia is defeated, you become the new Pokemon Champion! And just like that, the main quest is over. After watching and enjoying the ending (making sure the game automatically saves your quest for you at the end before shutting it off), you'll soon find there's much more to do. Don't worry, though! IGN Guides has your back there, too. Check out the Side Quests section in this very guide for more on what you can do after the Pokemon Championship is yours.