12: Castelia City Gym

12: Castelia City Gym

After you exit the building you may as well make a quick trip to the Pokemon Center to heal and save and to restock any kit you have used up, as it is time to win another Gym Badge – which means it is time to experience battling another set of AGL's and a Gym Leader!

Talk to the Greeter to obtain your free Fresh Water, and to learn some important facts like the theme of the Gym – walking through walls – and that the switches on the floor can help.

When you read the statues in the entrance foyer you will see your mate Cheren is listed as a Certified Trainer – and when you enter the next room you will have to push your way through the honey wall to reach the floor switch that opens the next area to the left!

Head right to find the first AGL – Harlequin Jack – who has a Level 20 Sewaddle, and a Level 20 Venipede.  The switch to his right opens the door he is standing at, and when you head in there you will find four more switches.

The switch directly ahead summons Harlequin Terry (the next AGL) who has a Level 20 Sewaddle, and a Level 20 Dwebble.  The switch to the right unlocks the right-side lock of the door ahead, and the switch to the left unlocks the left-side lock, opening the door as well as unlocking the left-side lock of the next door to the left!  The far-left switch unlocks the second lock of the first door in the other area, opening it up as well.

Head back to the right and push through the wall above AGL Terry, and then use the switch inside to unlock the right-side lock of the door to the left.  Head left and down to push through the wall here, then to the switch on the left to summon the next AGL – Harlequin Rick – who has a Level 21 Sewaddle for an easy and brief battle.

Push your way through the door above and trigger the switch inside to unlock the left-side lock of the door to the right.  Backtrack to that door, go inside by pushing through the wall, and you will face the next AGL in the series, Harlequin Louis, who has a Level 20 Venipede, and a Level 20 Sewaddle.

The switch in this room unlocks the left-side and second lock of the final door to the right that leads to the inner sanctum – so go ahead and step on it now, right?  If you have been knocked about, it would be an idea to head back to the Pokemon Center to heal and save.

Battling Gym Leader Burgh

– Gym Leader Burgh -- 

As the battle begins, Burgh calls out his Level 21 Whirlipede, then his Level 23 Leavanny, and finally his Level 21 Dwebble.

I don't know about you but this battle was something of a disappointment as it did not feel like a genuine Gym Leader Battle... 

Burgh awards you with the Insect Badge, which you put into your Badge Case, and then he gifts you with TM76, Stuggle Bug.  Now that you have your third badge you can control Pokemon up to Level 40 – including those you obtained in trades!

As you exit the Gym your Xtranceiver rings – it is Bianca – she tells you that she has been training with Iris and that she wants to have a battle with you, so will you meet her at the gate to Route 4?  Of course we will – we are headed that way anyway!

Before we do that though we should hit the Pokemon Center to heal and save, and restock our kit.

– Battling Bianca --

On the way to battling Bianca we pass through the square where there are a couple of drinks machines, and the zone point to the north road that leads to the gate to Route 4.  On the left side is a building that
we need to visit now!

In the lobby you will find:

– The Name Rater: an old gentleman using his cell phone who happens to be something of an expert in rating the names of Pokemon.  If you have him 'rate' the name of your Pokemon he will give his opinion and, if you like, offer to change the name of the Pokemon he is rating.  Basically he is here so that if you messed up a name, or want to change it, you can!

– The Feeling Reader:  A woman who tells you that you can use the C-Gear for checking feelings.

In addition to this pair, there is a Hiker who will explain why you cannot change the name of any of the Pokemon you received in trades – and of course the ever-present desk clerk, who in this building tips you that doing Feeling Checks can score you Sweet Hearts!

On Floor 11F upstairs is the Scientist who has a Relocator Machine that allows you to move special Pokemon obtained from events into the game to trigger special events in the game – see the previous section for more information.  There is also a clown here named Mr. Lock who tips you that he is a magical clown who can open anything...  Hmm..  Might want to remember he is here later.

Across the street on Floor 47F there is a party going on, and after security pats you down and you take the lift up, you can chat up the Trainers at the party, some of whom speak languages other than English – and from the little girl in the blue dress you can obtain TM45, Attract!

The building next door on the same side of the street has some Trainers in it that will chat about abilities, and one who is so impressed by your Pokedex that he gifts you an Eviolite – a hold item that increases both standard and special defense for the Pokemon you give it to.

Upstairs there is a bloke who will tell you all about the badges in case you do not know what each one does for you.  They are:

Trio Badge – Pokemon up to Level 20 obey you.

Basic Badge --- Pokemon up to Level 30 obey you.

Insect Badge – Pokemon up to Level 40 obey you.

Bolt Badge – Pokemon up to Level 50 obey you.

Quake Badge – Pokemon up to Level 60 obey you.

Jet Badge – Pokemon up to Level 70 obey you.

Freeze Badge – Pokemon up to Level 80 obey you.

Legend Badge – All Pokemon no matter the Level obey you.

That is all of it, so head down the lift and back into the street then north to the gate, where you will meet up with Bianca after you enter in order to have your battle!

Bianca has a Level 18 Herdier, Level 20 Servine, Level 18 Panpour, and Level 18 Munna.  It was not a bad battle really, but Bianca clearly lacks confidence in her own abilities based on what she says after it is over.  

– Wrapping Castelia City Up --

Now that you are done with the Bianca battle AND before you head on to Route 4 and begin the journey to the next city there are a few things we need to wrap up here.  May seem strange but getting this done is actually a good idea and you should be in a position to get started on it...

So head back to the Pokemon Center to heal and save.  Once you have done that, remember the bloke upstairs in the left-side corner?  He rewards you for trading with other Trainers via Geonet and we need to talk about that now...

How this works is actually very simple – for every X number of Pokemon you trade you get a reward.  The reward table is:

? 05 Trades = Wide Lens 
? 10 Trades = Everstone 
? 20 Trades = Zoom Lens 
? 30 Trades = Choice Scarf 
? 40 Trades = PP Max 
? 50 Trades = Master Ball
Of these items the Master Ball and the Everstone are probably the most useful, as the one allows you to capture ANY Pokemon with zero failure chance, and the other is a held item that you can give to a Pokemon that you never want to evolve, that will prevent that from happening.

You are going to want that Master Ball because the Title Legendary for your game is a tough one to capture, and having the Master Ball will make that oh so much easier!  So let us speak about the strategy you need for making this happen, shall we?

First let us get familiar with the whole trading process – go over to the Global Trade Counter (closest to the Geonet Globe) and enter it selecting Global Trade > GTS > Trade and say Yes to saving the game.  You will then go inside, where you can use the GTS System.

There are two choices available to you: Deposit Pokemon, and Seek Pokemon.

Right now we want to Seek Pokemon so we can get an idea of how it works, right?  Leaving all of the settings to default, select Audino from the list of Pokemon – note that you can ONLY search for Pokemon you actually already have a Dex entry for.  That keeps you from completing your Dex by simply searching for and trading for Pokemon you have never seen!

When you complete the search the spots above will be filled by real Trainers who have deposited an Audino and are looking to trade it for another Pokemon!  To see what the conditions are for these trades, select the individual trainer and hit the action button. 

Hitting the Select button will put you in the review mode, and you can then see what Pokemon it is that they want to trade theirs for.  Make a mental note of the most popular requested Pokemon, then do a few more searches for different Pokemon so you can decide what sort you will want to farm in order to begin trading and building credits towards obtaining that Master Ball!

Whenever you trade with a Trainer that has registered their location in the world, a dot is placed upon the Geonet Globe to show that you have traded with someone in that location.  A lot of Trainers will only trade with Trainers who have registered their location as a result, because they want to collect dots.  You do not have to do that, but it is rather fun in a way, so perhaps you will want to!

If you decide that you want to collect pin dots on the globe, you will want to do targeted searches using OT Location as an element, so you know you will get a list of only those Trainers who have trades up from the area you desire.  Doing that you can quickly span the globe and, in addition to getting the locations you want, collect a bunch of Pokemon from foreign versions of the games that will make obtaining Shiny Pokemon while breeding so much easier – more on that in the Appendix on Shiny Pokemon!

Right, so you now know what you need to know about the last element of Castelia City that we had yet to cover.  With that out of the way, you are free to head on to Route 4 and continue our adventure – or pause for a while and farm up Pokemon to trade with!  It is your call.  Either way, when you are ready to continue the adventure and head on to Route 4 meet me in the next section!