17: Route 16 and the Lostlorn Forest

17: Route 16 and the Lostlorn Forest

– A Brief Look at Route 16 --

Now head east and enter the gatehouse here – this is the gatehouse to Route 16 – and chat with the bloke in the judo outfit to score the hold item Macho Brace. 

We are actually not going to go very far on this Route because we cannot – still we are going to pick up some convenient XP and a few Pokemon in the process because it is here, and because we can use the boost to get ready for the Gym Battle we will fight shortly...

Policeman Daniel is waiting just outside of the gate entrance, with a Level 24 Herdier.  This will not be a bad battle for you, as you should be well experienced with these by now and know exactly how to deal with them.

Cyclist Krissa is riding on the road ahead, and ready to face you with her Level 22 Ducklett, and her Level 22 Liepard for a quick rumble. 

Backpacker Peter and his Level 23 Scraggy are waiting impatiently for you by the side of the road ahead.

Cyclist Hector is patrolling the road at the corner, and his pair of Level 22 Whirlipede should give you a nice battle even if they are a rather odd-looking pair.

This is as far as we can go on the Route at the moment, as there are a pair of workers blocking the gate entrance to the Marvelous Bridge, which is the continuation of the Route. 

So double back to the entrance of the Route 16 Park (note that this is actually a park off of Route 16 and, despite the proximity is NOT the beginning of Lostlorn Forest) and hit the tall grass here, to capture some new Pokemon!

Backpacker Stephen is just inside the park entrance, and he has a Level 23 Drilbur, and once you beat him into the turf, head over to the tall grass and get started trolling up some awesome Pokemon here!

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Route 16 Area Pokemon Report

Dex No.    Pokemon     Rarity     Season     Capture Note
#016/510   Liepard     (C)        All         Grass
#037/531   Audino      (C)        All         Shaking Grass
#074/568   Trubbbish   (U)        All         Grass 
#078/572   Minccino    (U)        All         Grass 
#079/573   Cinccino    (R)        All         Shaking Grass
#080/574   Gothita     (C)        All         Grass
#093/587   Emolga      (UR)       All         Shaking Grass
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About the Pokemon here...

Minccino is a rather cute Pokemon, and Trubbish can be hard to keep in the regular Poke ball long enough to capture so you may want to use a Great or Ultra Ball for them.  Capturing a Cinccino is a very good idea as normally to have one of them you have to evolve it, and to do that you would need to use a Shiny Stone on a Minccino – so getting one without having to do all of that is a good thing.  The one Pokemon of the bunch that will give you the most trouble is Emolga.

Unless you are really lucky and get it to pop right away, you may spend several hours trolling the tall grass before you see one of these – there is a good reason why it is one of the few Pokemon to receive the UR (Ultra Rare) Rarity tag! 

In a cup-half-full world you can choose to view the pursuit of Emolga as a chance to level your team, right?  That is how we chose to view it, and that made us feel better about the long and drawn-out process.  More than a few times we almost gave up, nearly convincing ourselves that we could come back for it later – but in the end we stuck to it, and when we finally saw this flying mouse of a Pokemon we were glad that we did!

Once you have obtained the new Pokemon – and before we return to town – there are some odds and ends for us to look to here...  First head to the back of the park here and cut the tree down to gain access to the treasure ball with the Rare Candy in it – you should be holding on to all of the Rare Candy that you find in the game, as they will be particularly useful for when we are facing the Elite Four later in the game.

Note that further along the path here is the entrance to Lostlorn Forest – but as we do not want to go here just yet, ignore that for now won't you?

Now it is time to teach one of your Pokemon the HM Strength, and then head back to Route 16 and a little to the east and the opening in the fence that is blocked by that huge boulder.  Using Strength you will push the boulder forward, and it will fall into the large hole here.  Note that unlike in the previous games where you would need to push the boulder out of the way any time you return to the area having changed zones, in Black and White these have a persistent state to them – meaning once you push is into the hole is will always be in that hole.

The Darker Grass Contains Doubles Battles

Walk over the boulder – which is now part of the path – into this other section of the park, and follow the path here north.

Backpacker Lora has a Level 23 Swadloon that you will make short work of.

Further along the path is a treasure ball with TM66, Payback, inside.  Obviously this is worth the extra effort of pushing a boulder out of the way to obtain :)

Along the gray steel fence you all the way to the east is another treasure ball with a hold item – Charcoal – in it.  We already have one of those, but a spare will never hurt, so grab that as well why don't you?

Notice the odd color of the grass here?  This is the dark tall grass and it is in this sort of grass that you will find doubles battles – and I will be shocked if you do not end up in one of those while you are here!  Remember that in a double battle, if there is one of the Pokemon you are facing that you want to capture, you have to KO the other first.

I was surprised that the Dowsing Machine never plipped while we were here... Anyway, now that we have the two treasure balls picked up, and that battle out of the way, return to the first path and all the way to the end, and enter the Lostlorn Forest now!

– The Lostlorn Forest --

Before we step into the Lostlorn Forest I need to ask you – did you attend any of the pre-release events at which the special Fateful Encounter Shiny Entei, Suicune, or Raikou were given away?  Depending upon where in the world you are, this either happened at a GameStop Store or via the WFC Mystery Gift program with Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold or SoulSilver – or any combination of those depending on which you own.

If the answer to this question is yes, then keep reading this part of the section – if the answer is no, then skip to the next subsection header labled 'Into the Forest' now.

Still here?  Excellent!  We are about to obtain a rather special Pokemon called Zoroark – the Illusion Pokemon.  Note that Zoroark is NOT a Legendary – which means that you CAN breed them, so if you did not obtain the Fateful Encounter Celebi for whatever reason, all is not lost.  Simply move a Ditto into the game after you get the National Dex and breed one up!  But we are getting ahead of ourselves here!

In the grand scheme of things this is not a very powerful Pokemon and you will likely not be adding them as a regular member of your A-Team for that very reason.  But it is one that we need to capture, and this is where we do that, so before you set off for the Forest grab your special Pokemon that you transferred into the game earlier.

Capturing the rare and special Illusion Pokemon

WARNING: You can only do this event ONE TIME.  So do not mess up on this mate!

With one of the Fateful Encounter Pokemon in your party, head into the Forest now, ignoring all of the stuff here and making your way to the north where you will find a caravan parked in the forest. 

We say to ignore all of the other stuff  – the treasure ball and wild encounters to be sure, and do not bother turning on the Dowsing Machine, because right now our focus is simply to obtain this special Pokemon.  Later in the next subsection we will address doing this area proper, so for now just head to the caravan...

As you approach there is no chance to chat with the woman who lives in the caravan – instead she bursts out and attacks you, becoming a Pokemon!

In my battle I used Entei and the Pokemon I initially faced appeared to be Suicune – but as soon as I hurt it, it lost its illusion form, revealing itself to be Zoroark! 

After you capture it, the backpacker approaches and observer: 'So this is Zoroark's home then. 

'Zoroark was using its illusion to trick people and Pokemon.  It wanted to keep people away from its lair.

'I heard this place was suspicious, so I came to have a look, but it looks like I was tricked as well.

'Zoroark reacted strongly to the Pokemon you have with you...  There must be some history there.  A quarrel, or something.  Such a beautiful field, in a place like this...  It's almost as if this lovely scenery is the illusion!' 

With that last observation, the backpacker departs, leaving you to contemplate the fact that you approached a caravan in the woods, and a woman came screaming out and attacked you, turning into one Pokemon before becoming another! 

That wraps up capturing Zoroark, so on with our adventure!

– Into the Forest --

As we enter the Forest and cross the small plank bridge we immediately spot the treasure ball in the hollow stump – heading over we find that it contains a Big Mushroom, which is a large and rare mushroom that is sought after by collectors...

The Dowsing Machine immediately shows a hidden object to the northeast, and when we find that to actually reach it we will need the moves Surf and Waterfall to get up to the area above where the tall grass is, which is where it is located.  We will have to return later for that then, won't we?

For now though we concentrate upon obtaining the Pokemon in this area that we need for our Dex and collection!

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Lostlorn Forest Area Pokemon Report

Dex No.    Pokemon     Rarity     Season     Capture Note
#017/511   Pansage      (R)       All        Shaking Grass
#019/513   Pansear      (R)       All        Shaking Grass
#021/515   Panpour      (R)       All        Shaking Grass
#025/519   Pidove       (U)       All        Grass
#026/520   Tranquill    (U)       All        Grass
#027/521   Unfezant     (UR)      All        Shaking Grass 
#037/531   Audino       (C)       All        Shaking Grass
#047/541   Swadloon     (U)       All        Grass/Tall Grass
#048/542   Leavanny     (UR)      All        Shaking Grass
#049/543   Venipede     (U)       All        Grass/Tall Grass 
#052/546   Cottonee     (U)       All        Grass/Tall Grass 
#053/547   Whimiscott   (UR)      All        Shaking Grass
#056/550   Basculin     (C)       All        Water/Dark Water
#093/587   Emolga       (UR)      All        Shaking Grass
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Obviously with the high number of UR-Rarity Pokemon you are going to be spending significant time here in capturing these, but on the bright side, by the time you leave the Forest your team will be ready to take on the Gym Battle and then some!

The open space to the right of the hollow stump is the perfect runway tract for trolling for Shaking Grass, so we may as well start there, and wrap up the Shaking Grass Pokemon first... Then go for the Grass to grab the rest of them.  Obviously as we do not have Surf or a fishing pole we will not be capturing all of the Pokemon here – just get what you can and then move on!

If you do not have a Fateful Encounter Pokemon on your party when you approach the caravan in the middle of the forest you will find a backpacker standing in front of the caravan who, when you walk up to them and chat them up will talk to you, saying:  'You know, there are people in the world with many different values.  Some people enjoy things you might not think are fun...  Having a lot of different values in the world makes it a richer place.  That's what I think anyway,' they tell you.

They start to walk away, and then come back and say: 'I really enjoy traveling around the world and talking with different people, but the woman who lives here seems to think living quietly by herself is important.'

The backpacker then hikes off, leaving you alone before the caravan.  If you go inside – you can – all that happens is that the woman there says '...' when you try to chat her up.  Nothing more, nothing less – unless of course you have a Fateful Encounter Pokemon, then none of this actually happened!

If you are having trouble trolling up a Unfezant bear in mind that it is the final evolution of Pidove's line, and you can always take your Pidove/Tranquill and simply level it up if you like.  I chose to troll one up and capture it because it was here and because I wanted to have a reason for all the leveling I was doing – I actually took my entire team to 34/35 in the process of obtaining this one.