Violet City Gym

Violet City Gym

Violet City Gym Battle

Now that you are all healed and your team is trained up for the Gym Battle, go ahead and run over to the Gym and enter, and you will see that the man that greeted you earlier is no longer blocking the lift pad in the center of the room -- now he is standing next to the right statue inside.  Go ahead and talk to him to get a battle tip before you move forward and step onto the lift.

Once you are on the lift it quickly raises you to the upper level of the Gym, where you will see the Gym Leader, Falkner, at the far end of the level, with his two Junior Gym Trainers to the left and right.   As you move forward you will be challenged by Bird Keeper Abe (the first Assistant on the left).

If his name was not clue enough, his Pokemon should be -- a bird!  His Level 9 Spearow should not be much of a challenge for your Rock Type Pokemon, in fact you should be able to one-hit kill it with Rock Throw for an easy victory and come welcome money!

Note: If you are new to the game and unfamiliar with the type strengths and weaknesses it would be a good idea for you to save after each fight, that way if you make a big mistake or get creamed by Falkner you do not have to re-fight the entire Gym Battle sequence!

Follow the path around and you will be challenged by the second Gym Trainer, Bird Keeper Rod, who has a pair of Level 7 Pidgey's.  Rock Throw will one-hit kill them for a very fast victory!

As long as you have not taken too much damage or used more than a few PP in moves, you should be good to go ahead and take on Falkner without having to retreat to the Pokecenter to heal. 

When you challenge him Falkner makes a bold statement about his bird type Pokemon, and then jumps right into the fight with his Level 9 Pidgey -- by now you know that Rock Throw is your move of choice here, as it is very effective against the bird-types here!  Opening the battle with a nice one-hit take-down is a good way to start the show, especially since his next Pokemon is a Level 13 Pidgeotto!

Pidgeotto is the first evolved form of Pidgey, and normally this evolution takes place at Level 18, but as you can see this one is only Level 13.  Hmm, I have always wondered about how that works -- after all Pidgeotto are not born, they are evolved, so how did he get one that is well below the level that is required for evolution?  FYI both Pidgey and Pidgeotto are the first two forms in the Pidgeot Evolution Line -- the Pidgeotto will evolve into a Pidgeot at Level 36.  A Pidgeotto is a Normal/Flying type Pokemon and can have the abilities Keen Eye or Tangled Feet.  It is a bird-type Pokemon of the Raptor variety. 

In the anime Ash catches his Pidgeotto in the Viridian Forest in the episode Ash Catches a Pokemon, and it becomes a member of his main team.  It is his first Flying-type Pokemon, and he used it in battles against Team Rocket, and in his Gym Battles vs. Giovanni for the Earth Badge, vs. Misty for the Cascade Badge, vs. Brock for the Boulder Badge, and vs. Koga for the Soul Badge.   After his Pidgeotto evolved into a Pidgeot it left him to guard and look after other Pidgey's and Pidgeotto in the wild.  

Unlike a Pidgey, the Pidgeotto has very sharp talons and uses fly and dive as its primary attack modes.  If you read the manga you will already know to expect being faced with this challenge, as Falkner owns one in those stories. 

This foe is weak against Rock, Electric, and Ice type Pokemon, and strong vs. both Bug and Grass types.  It is largely unaffected by Ground and Ghost Pokemon, so you will want to avoid using any of those four types against it.  It will take normal damage from all other types.  At Level 13 it can know the moves Tackle, Sand Attack, Gust, and Quick Attack, and is incapable of learning the move Peck.

Falkner's Pidgeotto knows the move Roost, which allows it to restore HP during battles, and you will likely find yourself experiencing that in your fight with him.  A few good hits with Rock Throw are the cure for that little trick, however, and you will quickly find yourself defeating the Violet City Gym Leader, and earning your first Gym Badge, the Zephyr Badge, as well as $1560 in prize money!  As we need to restock Poke Balls this money is certainly a welcome addition to our wallet, even if we are sending part of our winnings home to Mom!

Now that we have the Zephyr Badge, all Pokemon up to Level 20 -- including ones we receive in trades -- will follow our orders, which means you want to be sure that you do not train any of your Pokemon past Level 20 until we pick up the next Gym Badge, right?

In addition to the badge and the money, Falkner also gives us TM51, Roost, which when used restores half of the maximum HP for the Pokemon that uses it.

As you leave the Gym you get a phone call from Professor Elm -- they have discovered something important, and although he does not want to go into detail on the matter, he has dispatched one of his assistants to meet you at the Violet City Poke Mart to give you the egg that you previously obtained for him from Mr. Pokemon.  After you ring off with the Prof you will need to head over to the Pokecenter and open a slot in your party. 

-- Obtaining the Pal Pad --

When you arrive at the Center you will notice that the Underground entrance is no longer blocked!  The girl that was standing in front of the escalator leading down to the lower level is now gone, and this area is accessible as a result of your beating the first Gym Leader and obtaining the first Gym Badge!  Go ahead and hit the escalator had head down now!

When you reach the lower level the woman at the counter on the right will call you over -- her name is Teala, and she is your guide to the Pokemon Wi-Fi Club and how about that?!  The first thing that she does is hand you your Pal Pad -- and important item for several reasons.  Once that is placed into your Key Items Pocket, she goes on to explain that you can register your friends in it -- a necessary step if you plan to battle and trade with them online via your Wi-Fi connection!

After she tells you about registering friends open the Key Items Pocket and select the Pal Pad -- you can register a friend's code if you already know it by manually putting it in, and you can now learn what your code is!  Why not do that now?

-- Obtaining Togepi --

Now before you leave be sure that you access the Pokemon Storage System via the PC and then store one of your party and then meet the assistant at the Mart to get the egg.  If you have not healed yet you should probably do that, and once you have the egg that would be a good time to save the game as well!  Now head over to the Poke Mart and go inside!

To the left by the counter is a uniformed Delivery Guy -- whenever you see one of those always talk to them -- this one has been dispatched from your Mom, and has a package that contains a Super Potion in it that she sent to you!

As you depart the Mart you are stopped by an elegantly dressed woman who seems to have recognized the egg you are carrying.  The implication from what she says suggests that she was who Mr. Pokemon originally received the egg from.  She works out for herself that he gave it to the Prof, the Prof gave it ti his assistant, and the assistant gave it to you, which seems to be okay with her.  She cautions you to take very good care of the egg, and adds that she is counting upon you to do so, so do not disappoint her then, right mate?