The Dark Cave

The Dark Cave

Catching a Dunsparce

The Dark Cave Beasties List

-- Dunsparce #052 (Any) Rock Smash
-- Dunsparce #052 (Any) Swarm
-- Geodude #034 (Any) Normal
-- Wobbuffett #108 (Any) Normal
-- Zubat #037 (Any) Normal

You will recall that we obtained the TM Flash from Elder Lee in the Sprout Tower?  It is time to teach that TM to one of our Pokemon now, as we will need it for the next stage of the game.  Now head to the west along Route 36 and you will encounter an odd tree just past the southern junction that leads back to the Ruins.  Run up to it and talk to it -- hey!  That is not a tree, it is a Pokemon!  Right!

Now turn around and talk to the NPC standing in the road behind you and he will gift you HM06, which is Rock Smash!  Good thing too, because we need that right now!  Go ahead and decide what Pokemon you want to teach it to, but be aware that HM's are not like TM's -- you cannot overwrite them easily with another move!  In order to do that, they have to be deleted, which we cannot do right now, so make sure that you teach it to the one you actually want to have it!

Unlike TM's, HM's are not destroyed when you use them, so you can teach them to more than one Pokemon if you like.

After you have taught the TM and HM, head back down Route 36 through town to the blocked path just past the School.  Using Rock Smash, destroy the boulder that is blocking the path to obtain a Blue Shard!  At the end of this narrow path there is a tree that you can use Headbutt on -- if you had it -- you don't though, so just mark that down in your mind for future reference. 

Head over to Route 31 now, and then to the entrance to the Dark Cave and enter.  Inside it will be very dark -- hence the name -- dark that is until you select your Pokemon and then use Flash!  You may be interested to learn that the Dark Cave is not so much a.. umm... well...  Dark Cave... as it is a network of Dark Caves.  What do I mean by that? 

Now that you can see you will notice that there is a winding path, down which is a treasure ball.  On the way to it chances are good that you will have a wild encounter -- you will find Geodude, Onix, Zubat, Sandshrew, and Rattata in the cave at various times of the day and night, and obviously if you encounter one you do not have you should catch it!

There is a Potion in the treasure ball, so grab that and continue along the cave.  Since you are likely to encounter a fair number of Geodude here, this would be a good place and time to level your Water-Type Pokemon...

Ahead of you there are two boulders blocking the path -- walk up to one and use Rock Smash on it and... Surprise!  There was a Pokemon inside, and it is one we do not have!  How cool is that?!  A Dunsparce!  I do not believe that it matters which of the boulders you break, as both have the Dunsparce in them... So if you mess up and kill the first one you have a chance to grab another.

This is as far into the cave as we can go at this point, since we do not have surf or the ability to push the boulders out of our way just now, so head for the exit and back into the wonderful sunlight!  Head back to town and heal-up, then save.  You may want to move any new Pokemon from the Incoming Box to their proper storage box as well, so that the Incoming Box does not get full.