Virbank City

Now that you are up to speed on your new C-Gear and the mini-game options, and you have the Basic Gym Badge, our next destination is Virbank City. To reach it we need to backtrack to Floccesy Town and head beyond.

After you pass through Floccesy Town and past Alder's place, you will run into Bianca again, when she stops you to tell you that she forgot to upgrade your Pokedex. The upgrade is for the Habitat List, a new feature that you can select once you activate the Pokedex that will show you all of the Pokemon you have discovered for a specific Habitat (area / route).

The way that the Habitat add-on works is it shows you which Pokemon from the specified area you have battled or captured - if you only battled it the Pokemon appears on the Habitat listing, but if you have captured it, the system places a Pokeball symbol next to it. Once you have captured all of the Pokemon for that specific Habitat, a check mark will appear next to the Habitat name on the main menu to indicate that you have all of the Pokemon for that area.

You do not actually have to have seen all of the Pokemon on the list for a specific Habitat, you just need to have seen that Pokemon somewhere so that it is added to your Dex. Once that happens, if that Pokemon is part of a new Habitat that you visit, any Pokemon you have already seen elsewhere will automatically appear in the list.

Part of the function of this new addition to your toolkit is to help you to know when you have obtained all of the Pokemon that a specific area offers you. That's a pretty useful upgrade to your Pokedex to be sure!

An introduction to Shaking Grass Pokemon

About Shaking Tall Grass

After Bianca upgrades your Pokedex with the Habitat List she has one more thing for you - she mentions Shaking Tall Grass. Actually she almost brushes over the matter, but as it turns out it is a bit more important than she let on for several reasons.

The first is that there are some types of Pokemon that you can only obtain from Shaking Tall Grass – in the area of Floccesy Ranch for example that would be Audino and Dunsparce – the former being more common than the latter.

The second item of importance with respect to the Shaking Tall Grass is that the Pokemon you encounter in it tend to give a much better amount of XP for the beating of them, which means that when you are in the process of grinding levels, you may very well find that targeting Shaking Grass Pokemon is a far better and more satisfying not to forget faster way of grinding levels.

To activate the Shaking Tall Grass you either have to run through the Tall Grass, or run beside it. Since what you want is to encounter Shaking Tall Grass, you will quickly find that running through the Tall Grass is a less reliable method, since you more frequently obtain regular Tall Grass encounters rather than Shaking Tall Grass encounters. Running beside the Tall Grass is therefore a better approach, as once you trigger a Shaking Tall Grass in that manner, you can calmly walk to the Shaking Grass and into it to engage the Pokemon to be found there.

This is of particular interest for Pokemon White 2 because the odds of obtaining the rarer Pokemon from Shaking Tall Grass encounters are higher for this game than for Black 2. The reason for that comes back to the basic philosophy between the two games, with White 2 being targeted more towards the Pokemon Trainer looking for Pokemon, where Black 2 is targeted more towards the Trainer who is looking to battle.

Now would be an excellent time to make use of this new information and tactic by doing some Shaking Grass hunting!

Route 20 Pokemon

If you check the Habitat List you will see that you have completed the Pokemon for Route 19, as that consists of only Purrloin and Patrat. The Habitat List for Route 20 should presently read Sewaddle, Pidove, Purrloin, Patrat, and Sunkern – and if you have been following the guide, you should already have captured at least one of each of those. The remaining undiscovered Pokemon for Route 20 will be found in the Shaking Tall Grass.

Head to Route 20 and then up to where the Hiker that previously blocked the path and talk to him / move near him to trigger the battle that will, once you win it, cause him to stop bothering and blocking you...

Hiker Jerome has a Level 11 Riolu, and pays you $352 for beating him.

Once you have beaten Hiker Jerome, head past where he was blocking and down the stairs to the Tall Grass Patch below – the reason you want to do that rather than run near the Tall Grass Patch we just came through has to do with the fact that this particular Grass patch is beside water. Basically water has a corresponding Shaking Tall Grass effect - but it takes the form of a small spinning water hole rather than Shaking Grass. Once you have triggered a water hole, you cannot then trigger Shaking Tall Grass without first either going into battle or zoning.

An introduction to tall grass double-battles

Just before you reach the Grass Patch below Cheren and Hugh stop you, and Cheren asks you to come with him, and takes you to the Tall Grass Patch – but this is Dark Tall Grass, not the usual Green Tall Grass. Cheren explains that in Dark Tall Grass you can end up battling two Pokemon at the same time in a wild double-battle.

A word about that is in order... If you do trigger a wild double battle, be aware that you cannot capture EITHER of them until one has been defeated, since the game will not allow you to throw capture balls when more than one opponent is present.

Cheren also points out that Pokemon found in Dark Tall Grass tend to be stronger and more challenging than those in regular Green Tall Grass. Cheren then gifts you and Hugh with some Pecca Berries and then takes off. Hugh heads into the Dark Tall Grass to look around.

Before you begin to troll for Shaking Grass you should head into the patch to grab the Treasure Ball which has a Great Ball in it (probably your first), and then head up and have the Trainer Battles above just to get them out of the way...

Preschooler Lin has a Level 10 Lillipup and pays $40.

Preschooler Albert has a Level 10 Psyduck and pays $40.

Nursery Aid Kimya has a Level 11 Dunsparce, and pays $440.

On the second level up you will find a Treasure Ball with a Dire Hit in it, and just above near the gate is your first Doubles Battle!

Twins Lia and Lily have Level 9 Sunkern, and they pay $144 as your reward for beating them.

When you enter the Gate you will be stopped by the Gate Guard at the other end, and gifts you two Great Balls to help you out with capturing more Pokemon. Then simply head through the other end of the gate to discover Virbank City. As you pass through the gate into Virbank City your Xtranceiver rings, and it is a call from your Mom...

She tells you about the Virbank City Pokemon Complex, and rings off. As you approach the Pokemon Center you find the local Gym Leader Roxie, and her father the Ferry Captain having an argument, with him declaring that he is on his way to the Movie Studio where he hopes to become a star – and his daughter is clearly trying to convince him to go back to his true calling, as the Captain of the ferry.

Hit the Pokemon Center to heal your team and resupply Pokeballs if you need to and then backtrack all the way to Floccesy Ranch now.

Capturing a rarer Shaking Grass Dunsparce

Floccesy Ranch

Once you arrive at the Ranch head into the patch area to the left and begin running along to trigger the Shaking Grass spots and capture an Audino and a Dunsparce. Once you have those two when you check the Habitat list for Floccesy Ranch you will note that you have now completed that Habitat.

If you check the Habitat list for Route 20 you will note that Audino and Dunsparce have now been added to it. The reason that it has not been marked as completed is that there are still a few Pokemon outstanding – the ones from the water, which you cannot get just now since you do not have the HM Surf or a Fishing Pole. That will come in time though...

At this point you have largely accomplished most of the outstanding tasks in preparation for the next Gym Battle in Virbank City – most save for leveling your Team up that is. To do that you will want to take advantage of the Dark Grass Patch just outside of Virbank City on Route 20, so head there now and start grinding levels!

The Virbank Level Grind

The objective here is to get your Team to Level 18 but no higher than Level 19. Remember you will have to face Assistant Gym Leaders prior to battling the Gym Leader herself, so you probably do not want to level your team past Level 18 so that they can pick up a level doing the Assistant Gym Leader battles without that impacting your ability to control them in the battle with the Gym Leader herself.

That Dark Grass outside of town on Route 20 is a good location for leveling your Team to around Level 15 or so, but after that you may find that the Pokemon Complex inside the city is a preferable location for the grind to 18. The reason for that will be obvious once you get to that point. But for now, go ahead and level your Team to Level 15 in the Dark Grass, then head into the city.

Explore the town and talk to each of the residents to get Tips, information about the town and its Gym Leader, some free Pokeballs, an Antidote in a trash can. For the moment it seems you cannot enter the Pokestar Studios, but there are some buildings and houses you can enter... In the house to the right of the Poke Center there are two trainers to talk to and a Treasure Ball with a Poke Toy in it. In the Preschool south of the Poke Center a girl will gift you with a Burn Heal, and you will spy a Treasure Ball past the entrance to the Complex Area that has an X Accuracy in it.

To the right and down the stairs is a trainer who will offer to trade you a Great Ball for a regular Pokeball, which is something he will do once a day with you... As you do not have the HM Surf you cannot continue on but remember that area for later when you do...

In the grass here you can capture Level 10,11 & 12 Elekid, Magnemite, Patrat, and Pidove, and this grass patch is a great place to level your team to Level 16.

Wild Pokemon

Controlling the Evolution Process

The Virbank Pokemon Complex

As you enter the Complex the manager stops you and asks that you do him a favor and help fire his men up – just along the path is Youngster Masahiro, who has a Level 13 Lillipup, and pays you $208 for the lesson. Lass Daya has a Level 13 Woobat, paying you $208 for the lesson.

Worker Isaac can be found in the bottom right area once you head up on to the platform path above, and he has a Level 12 Magby and a Level 12 Koffing, paying $480 for the lesson. At the bottom of the set of stairs here is a Treasure Ball with TM46 Thief in it, so be sure to collect that!

Further along on the walkway is Worker Mitchell, who has a Level 12 Patrat and a Level 12 Elekid, snd gives you $480 for the lesson... At the end of the walkway you find Youngster Waylon, who has a Level 13 Patrat, and pays you $208.

Below him in the patch is Worker Nathan, who has a Level 12 Riolu and a Level 12 Lillipup, and pays you $480 for the lesson. That was the third worker, so head back to the manager to collect your reward, which is the move TM94 Rock Smash.

There is another trainer in the path on the upper right but you need to go through the middle right and then up to get to him. That trainer is looking at the processing plant and talks to you about it before heading off through the dark grass.

In the light patches here you can also battle Level 10, 11, 12 and 13 Growlithe, Koffing, Elekid, and Magnemite, which makes it very easy to take your crew to Level 17 here.

If you chose to add a Mareep to your party (it will have evolved to a Flaafy by now) you may very well want to swap them out for a Magnemite, since this new Pokemon is a dual-type being Electric and Steel, so replacing Mareep/Flaafy with one will help to diversify the available types in your Team.

In the dark patch you can battle Level 11, 12, Patrat, Koffing, Elekid, and Magnemite, and this is a good place to take your crew to Level 18, which makes them ready for the next Gym Leader battle – and that is now!

For the fastest grind you can bring your Team up to Level 15 and then take them to the Complex and use the outside patch to pull Shaking Grass, as the average pay-out in XP for Audino doing that runs from between 500 XP and 650 XP depending. That allows for a very rapid grind.

The Virbank City Gym Battle for the Second Badge

The Virbank City Gym

The Virbank City Gym is both an underground club and a Gym – when you enter and head down the stairs you meet the Greeter, who fills you in a bit, then gifts you another Fresh Water! Inside you see that Roxie is performing on the stage – neat tune – you cannot talk to Roxie because she cannot hear you, but that is OK because we have to battle the Assistant Gym Leaders first.

The Gym features Poison-type and while you can really use any of your Team here, you will find that Pidove's combination of Air Cutter and Gust works really well here.

Head to the drums and talk to the Assistant there – Roughneck Nicky has a Level 14 Grimer, and a Level 14 Koffing, and pays you $336.

Head back to the Center to heal if needed, then chat up the Guitar Player Assistant Gym Leader, Guitarist Billy Jo, who has a Level 14 Venipede, and a Level 14 Koffing, and pays $448. With the second Assistant Gym Leader managed you will want to heal up and get ready to take down the Gym Leader.

Roxie greets you with P-O-K-E-M-O-N Pokemon! Yeah, great tune... But it is time to be a Gym Leader now, not a rock star, so head up onto the stage and chat her up, and she immediately trots out her Level 16 Koffing and starts the battle!

After that she follows with her Level 18 Whirlipede, and once you beat that she pays out $2160, followed by the Second Pokemon Badge – the Toxic Badge – which means that Pokemon up to Level 30 will follow your commands, including those obtained in trades. The move that she Rewards you with is TM09 Venoshock, which covers the target in poison liquid.

As you depart the stage you are approached by a Producer from Pokestar Studios who tells you that you are something special and invites you back to the studio – that causes Roxie to remember that her dad is not at work and she runs off to collect him.

That wraps up the Virbank City Gym and this phase of the Adventure – so head back to the Pokemon Center, heal up, and get ready for the next stage by hitting up the shop and re-supplying.