• The Mysterious Egg

After defeating Falkner in the Violet City Gym, Prof. Elm will call and ask you to talk to his assistant in the PokéMart. The PokéMart is right next door to the gym, so just head in and talk to the assistant. He'll tell you that they discovered that keeping the egg in your party will help it hatch. He'll ask you if you'd keep it with you. You need to have at maximum 5 Pokemon in your party in order to get it from him, so make sure you leave a space open for it. After leaving, a strange woman will approach you and mention the importance of the egg you've just been given. Once you have the egg, head south to Route 32.

If you've been following the walkthrough, you may have already entered Route 32 in attempt to capture a Mareep. This Route is pretty challenging, as the wild Pokemon are stronger, the trainers are stronger, and there's a lof of them. To make it even worse, there's a dungeon at the end that we'll have to navigate through to finally make it to Azalea Town. It's recommended you at least pick up a few Potions, if not some other helpful status healing items, before tackling this route.

Heading through the route, you'll find a man standing shortway through the route. If you have entered before in an attempt to get through, you'll know he stops you and recommends you try the gym in Violety City. Now that we have the Zephyr Badge, he'll give us a Miracle Seed as a reward for our hard work in Violet City. It raises the power of Grass-Type moves by 50%, so it can make quite a difference.

Head past the man through the grass, where you'll find Youngster Albert. He's avoidable, but considering the way he looks around, it may be a bit difficult. It's not a tough battle, anyway, so you might as well.

From him you can head one of two ways: left or down. Honestly, left has no benefits at all, really. There are a few small items to find, but they're hardly worth going out of your way for. Heading down has one trainer, but she's staring at a wall and will only fight if you talk to her. She's very easily avoidable, but will give you her phone number for rematches in the future, should you win.

Continue heading south and you'll find a staircase. This is where the route really splits, as to the right, you'll have lots of trainer battles, however south will have lots of tall grass, one trainer battle, and a few items. It's a matter of opinion which way you go, most of the battles to the right are very easy and avoidable, while south has the useful TM 09, Bullet Seed. If you choose to head right, the Fisherman looking up towards the end of the bridge will offer you his phone number for rematches if you defeat him.

• Fishing Lessons

Finally, after one last trainer, you'll reach a Pokemon Center. Inside you can talk to a fisherman, who will tell you about fishing. He'll offer you his Old Rod. If you've played any of the past games, you'll know that the Old Rod is pretty much useless compared to the others, as it only catches Magikarp. However, it can catch (very rarely) a few other water types. Also in the Center is a man who will tell you how someone can turn Apricorns into rare PokeBalls. Now you're starting to see their value, aren't ya? He'll give you two free samples, Lure Balls, perfect for use with our newly acquired Old Rod.

Just past the Pokemon Center is another trainer. You can easily avoid him, but you may run into him by mistake. After the battle, you may want to consider healing at the Pokemon Center again. Before entering Union Cave, there's a hidden Great Ball just over the ledge to the left of the Entrance.

Union Cave is the first of recurring dungeons that we will be required to go through to reach the next city. It is fairly simple to introduce you into these types of dungeons. Like many dungeon's we'll reach in the future, it gives you some wiggle room when it comes to exploring, so you may get lost. Feel free to wander around the cave and find out the secrets we don't cover, especially if your Pokémon are in need of training.

While we're not heading this way, once you reach the first intersection, head up and you'll find an X-Attack. You can use this in battle to raise that Pokémon's Attack Stat the entire battle, but just for that battle. Head south now, and you'll find a Hiker. He'll battle with relatively weak Pokémon, so shouldn't be too much of a challenge. Continue down the path and you'll find two rocks with a space in between them. Check the wall where the space is, and you'll discover a Great Ball!

Continue heading down this path, then you'll reach another intersection. Both South and West are suitable. South has a trainer and a Great Ball, but you can avoid the trainer and grab the Great Ball by just heading around. You probably will run into enough Wild Pokemon to make up for the trainer battle, so if you're interested in the Great Ball, you probably should just face the Trainer anyway. Whatever your choice, make it to the lake, and head past the trainer, head East above the other lake, and the exit should be in sight.

This isn't the entire thing, there is much more to explore, so feel free to explore the entire dungeon, especially to train your pokemon. There are plenty of trainers here and items to grab.

Route 33 is a very short route with a few trainers and a patch of grass. There are two apricorn trees here, and you'll soon find a use for them, so I recommend picking them up. The two here are Black and Pink Apricorns, which can be used to make helpful items in Azalea Town.

There's one trainer here on Route 33, and he has a Machop, which you could use to train any Flying Type Pokémon you may have with you. Azalea Gym is bug type, so it may be worth battling him for the Experience. You should probably watch out for his Geodude, though.

Final thing worth noting about the route is that this marks the first time we can find a Spearow. If you don't already have either a Pidgey or a Hoothoot, I would highly recommend a Spearow, as it arguably has the best stats among the three birds we have encountered thus far.

As soon as you enter Azalea Town, you'll notice it's crawling with mysterious men in black uniforms. If you've played any of the other Pokémon games, you'll know these men belong to Team Rocket, a notorious group of criminals seeking to steal Pokémon to get rich. Clearly, we're going to have to intervene.

You can take the time to heal your Pokémon, buy a few items from the Poké Mart, but you should eventually make your way over to the house furthest to the left. Inside is an old man who introduces himself as Kurt, who informs you that Team Rocket has taken over Slowpoke Well and is attempting to sell the tails of the Slowpokes. Infuriated, he runs off to fight Team Rocket for himself. Obviously, he's no match for Team Rocket, so head back to the Well Entrance to make sure he makes it out alive!

Upon entering Slowpoke Well, you'll find Kurt, who apparently managed to scare off the guard, but fell into the Well and hurt his back. I guess we'll have to show Team Rocket who's boss ourselves!

Enter the next room and you'll find yourself forced into a series of not-so-tough battles with a few Team Rocket members. They shouldn't be hard at all, their Pokémon are very pathetic. Make your way through the cave and you'll eventually find the leader of this group of Rockets, Proton. He explains he is often seen as the scariest member of Team Rocket, so you should watch your back. Let's prove him wrong.

• Executive Proton

Executive Proton

• • • •

480

Zubat Lv. 8

• Leech Life
• Supersonic

Koffing Lv. 12

• Poison Gas
• Tackle
• Smog
• Smoke Screen

After entering the route, your friend will be waiting for you. He/she'll show you how to catch Pokémon on your own. After showing you, he/she'll give you five PokéBalls for free use. Every PokéMart from this point on will sell PokéBalls for you to use, so stock up once you reach Cherrygrove City . On your way, make sure to grab the Green Apricorn, now that we have the Apricorn Box.

Follow the route the same was as if you were going to Mr. Pokémon's house, however, at the first fork in the road, head left. There are two trainers now that you can battle. It's possible to avoid the first one, but the second one is required. If you do battle the first one, you can grab his phone number, where he'll call you up for some training sessions later in the game. Leveling up a bit is recommended at this point, especially your weaker Pokémon, if you've captured any at this point.

At this point, if you didn't talk to her earlier, your mother will call. She'll ask about what she would have if you did talk to her: Do you want to save your money? It's really a personal opinion. If you think you'll be spend happy and want to make sure you can afford late-game expensive items, go for it. Otherwise, there's little benefit.

This route is very small. There's a trainer here who will give you his phone number if you battle him. There are some minor items laying around that may save you some money in town if you're considering buying them anyway, otherwise, they're worthless. This route should be pretty simple, so just walk right through.

You may want to consider capturing a Bellsprout here. A trainer in Violet City will offer to trade one for an Onix, a rock type that is effective against the resident Flying-Type gym. It would be a good idea, but there are other alternatives for an effective Pokémon.

Although a great opportunity is coming up, those of you paired up with Cyndaquil may want to stick around for a training session. With all the bug-types running around, it's an awesome spot to spout off flames.

Dark Cave isn't required to go in, but it's a good training spot, especially for those who picked either Chikorita or Totodile. You can pick up a Geodude here, another Rock Type that's good against flying types. Geodude is better stat wise, but may take a bit more patience to get it to learn its Rock-type move.

If you feel like exploring, you can grab another Potion and a Pokéball by looking around. It's dark in the cave (obviously) so you may not want to, considering these are minor rewards. Navigate around the set of rocks heading upward. Eventually you should reach the topmost wall. Head right until you see the first set of ledges you can jump down from. Do so and head down. You should spot an item ball containing a Potion. Slightly North-East to this is a set of rocks, with one slightly offset from the rest. Check that one and you'll find a PokéBall hiding amonst them.

If you're here trying to catch 'em all, the rare Dunsparce can be found here, but with a very, very low chance. Later in the game you'll be able to find it at a much more frequent rate, so that's likely not your best opportunity.

Violet City is home to the first gym of the game, so you'll want to start preparing for the challenge. The Violet City Gym is Flying-Type, so all three of the starters, especially Chikorita, won't have any advantage against them. There are quite a number of Pokémon you can catch to give you an edge. You can catch a Geodude in the nearby Dark Cave, trade a Bellsprout for an Onix, or in nearby Route 32, you can catch a Mareep during the mornings or the day.

There isn't much to offer around town. There's the Trainer School that may be worth checking out for anyone new to the series, but otherwise, it's just a bunch of regular people to talk to. You can make a trade in the southern-most house if you caught a Bellsprout. He'll offer a Onix, which will learn a move super effective against the resident Flying-Type gym the soonest. Combined with the fact that traded Pokémon earn experience faster, anyone not seeking to keep this Pokémon in their party long should probably pick this option.

Despite your preparations, the gym actually won't be open for us to challenge yet. The Gym Caretaker will recommend you try your luck at Sprout Tower first.

Tackling the Sprout Tower isn't favorable for those of you who chose either Geodude or Onix, as they're both weak to grass. While Mareep isn't in as bad of a position, its electric type attacks aren't very effective against grass either. As the name implies, Sprout Tower is home to monks who train primarily Bellsprout. If you want to get through the tower easily, catching either a Pidgey or a Hoothoot will make this tower a breeze. However, I recommend you train up your Pokémon for the gym challenge.

Climbing the tower is pretty straight-forward. The only major problem the monks should give you is the occasional Stun Spore. Carry some Parlyz Heal if you're worried about it, but it isn't a big deal. There are a few status healing items littered about the tower you may want to consider grabbing, but no major prizes. Once you're at the top, you'll stumble across your rival again. He won't challenge you to a battle, but will mock you. After the Elder critisizes his training methods, he leaves through use of an Escape Rope. Talk to the Elder to engage in battle with him!

• Elder Li

Elder Li

• • •

1200

Bellsprout Lv. 7

• Vine Whip
• Growth

Bellsprout Lv. 7

• Vine Whip
• Growth

Hoothoot Lv. 10

 

• Tackle
• Growl
• Hypnosis
• Peck

He shouldn't be much of a challenge, as he's very similar to all the rest of the monks. He has notably stronger Pokémon than the rest of the monks. If you selected Mareep to use against the Violet City Gym, it should be able to handle Hoothoot quite easily. After beating him, he will reward you with TM 70, Flash. If you didn't earlier, this can be used to explore Dark Cave much easier. There's an escape rope nearby that you can use to quickly exit the tower, or keep for later dungeons.