Nimbasa City

Once you have done all that you can on Join Avenue it is time to head north along the Avenue to the far exit, whereupon you will find yourself in Nimbasa City! Well, that was easy and convenient!

Right off the bat this city has a different energy and edge to it - but as with any city when we arrive we should visit the local Pokemon Center -- which is immediately to the left on the first avenue -- heal up, re-supply as needed, and then chat with the locals in case there is any important information that they have to share.

After you heal your team and check in with Mr. Medal, the bloke in brown bushwear will tell you about the dust clouds in caves and what you can find there, then share with you a Red Shard.

Options in the Big City

After you exit the Pokemon Center begin exploring, starting with the Battle Institute, which is the large building immediately to the left of the Pokemon Center. When you approach its door a girl exits and informs you that only the strongest trainers are allowed to spar there - and that you should only return after you have beaten the Regional Champion. Good to know!

Heading back to the far right towards where we entered town we encounter a group of trainers standing outside of the entrance to the Battle Subway System - you can battle Subway Boss Ingo and Emmett as Rosa's partner -- their Pokemon should be pretty close to the level of your own so it will be an interesting battle.

Following the battle the two bosses head into the Subway Entrance, and Rosa gifts you with a Key Item called the Vs. Recorder, which you can use to record your battles in the Subway System and with your mates.

Northern Part of the City

Heading north from here you will encounter a street with two buildings - the one on the far left has trainers in it you can chat with, two of which will talk about the Wonder Launcher. A girl on the second floor will remark that your Pokemon likes you and then gift you with the held item Soothe Bell.

In the building to the right you will encounter a pair of trainers who reference Shiny Pokemon, while on the second floor a boy will gift you with a Sun Stone, and two other trainers who offer Observations to you.

The North Road

Starting on the far left of the north road above you will find the Small Court where Tennis and Basketball games are held, the Big Stadium, where Baseball, Football, and Soccer games are held, and on the far right, the Musical Theater, where Props, Music, Dance, and Excitement take place!

The Small Court: Stairs on either side inside lead to the observation area, but there is nothing to do there... The teleport pad in the center of the lower area will place you on the field, where you can have some battles!

Hoopster Bobby has a Level 26 Whirlipede and pays you $2600 for the battle lesson you give him. After you beat him he also gifts you with a Potion.

Hoopster Lamarcus has a Level 25 Swadloon and a Level 25 Herdier and pays you $2500 for the battle lesson. After the battle he also gifts you with a Potion.

Hoopster John has a Level 25 Herdier and a Level 25 Roggenrola, and pays you $2500, gifting you with a Potion as well.

Big Stadium: Similar to the Small Court, the Big Stadium has an overlook area above where you can be a spectator that also has a few trainers you can chat up... When you use the teleport pad on the lower level to reach the field you have some more sparing battles to complete!

Linebacker Dan has a Level 25 Darumaka and Level 25 Timburr and pays $2500, gifting you with a Potion as well.

Linebacker Bob has a pair of Level 25 Timburr and pays $2500 along with a Potion.

Linebacker Jonah has a Level 26 Dwebble and pays you $2600 for the lesson, and gifts you with another Potion. Nicely done!

While you can chat with the other players on the field, that wraps up the battles for this stadium, at least for now...

Musical Theater

When you enter you will gain the attention of the owner of the theater, who will ask if you want to join in the fun there, and then gift you with the Key Item called Prop Case (which you will use to store all of the many prop items you can collect).

Next he asks you to select a Pokemon from your party to play dress-up with. Using your wand select the items from your initial prop collection with which to dress up the selected Pokemon and then approve the dress-up costume, at which point he invites you to participate in a dress-up musical.

This is purely optional, purely fun, but if you do decide to do it, when you step up to the counter you can then select the Pokemon from those eligible in your party and then select from the available musicals - I chose Stardom myself - and then you dress up your Pokemon!

The musical plays out with the audience watching the different Pokemon who are participating and rating each by their dress-up costumes and performances. After the show you can take a photo to be displayed, and then each Pokemon is judged with comments, you get thanked, and that is pretty much it!

In the lobby you can speak with the different trainers there to learn how gaining fame in the musicals will gain you fans, who gift you with more props. A girl in the right-hand corner will gift you with TM49 Echoed Voice when you chat her up.

When you are done with that, you can exit back to the north street, at which point you have three choices - you can hit the gates to either side to do a little leveling if you need to still get some of your team to around 38/39 or you can head down and enter the Amusement Park along the right-hand side of the city to head for the Pokemon Gym.

Chances are you will still need to level a bit, so let us cover the gates briefly, starting with the one on the right-hand end of the north road...

East Gate and Route 16

* Obtained in Shaking Grass Only.

Inside the East Gate is a trainer who gifts you with the held item Macho Brace when you chat him up. If you speak to the Gate Guard you will learn that this gate leads to Route 16 and the Marvelous Bridge - our interest is in the Route and not the Bridge for now...

On Route 16 you will find a few trainer battles to begin with:

Depot Agent Hank has a Level 25 Drilbur and pays $1000 for the quick lesson you give to him.

As you follow the road you find Cyclist Hector who has a Level 25 Tranquill and pays you $800 for the lesson.

Farther down the road are Backers Stu & Art, who have a pair of Level 24 Scraggys, and pay out $1152 for the lesson you teach them in Pokemon Battling!

Cyclist Krissa has a Level 25 Whirlipede and pays you $800 for the lesson.

Past Krissa is the entrance to the gate that leads to the Marvelous Bridge, but as it is currently closed and thus not accessible to us, ignore that for now. You will have noticed that there are two partially fenced off areas to the north in the middle of the Route...

The first path on the Left

Through some tall grass you will encounter a bush you need the HM Cut for, and there is a trainer here! In the tall grass you will encounter Pokemon you have not yet added to your collection, likely including the Trubbish, while you will find Audino, Cinccino, and Emolga in the shaking grass. You should already have previously captured an Audino, Minccino, and Liepard, so Trubbish, Solosis, Cinccino and Emolga are what you are aiming for. Note that of them all, Solosis seems to be the rarer of the bunch so that may take a little effort to find and then capture.

Backpacker Ivan has a Level 25 Watchog and pays you $600.

After you cut down the bush/tree here, you will find a treasure ball containing a Heal Ball at the end of the short path above.

Once you have captured all of the Pokemon types here, looted the treasure ball, and battled the trainer, follow the right-hand branch north to zone through the forest to the next area.

The Lostlorn Forest

This is a rather special area in that it contains a fair Number of Pokemon you are going to want to add to your collection.

Of the bunch here you should already have Audino, Emolga, Leavanny, Petlil, Swadloon, Roserade, Venipede, and Lilligant, but catch any of those you do not have yet, and then you should be shooting for Combee, Panpour, Pansage, Pansear, Pinsir, Roserade, Vespiquen, and Whirlipede, though you will find that you cannot reach the Dark Grass to capture a Whirlipede at this point since you lack two HM's that are required to reach it - Surf and Waterfall. So for now be content with the ones you actually can capture, right?

Here you will find more tall grass as well as a trainer and a treasure ball inside a hollow stump.

Pokemon Breeder Galen has a Level 24 Tranquill and a Level 24 Liepard, and pays you $768 for the lesson.

The treasure ball contains an Ultra Ball, and as you follow the path above you will encounter a hidden Pokemon Ranger who pops up to battle you!

Pokemon Ranger Serenity has a Level 26 Trubbish and pays you $1560, gifting you with a Pecha Berry as is the practice of her kind.

In the clearing above you will find Pokemon Ranger Forrest with a Level 26 Emolga, who pays you $1560 and gifts you with a Cheri Berry.

On the upper right is a treasure ball containing a Net Ball, and at the top left of the area is a Hiker who when you chat them up asks if you know the Pokemon called Zoroark?

If you say no they remark that you are not very aware of your world and could be easily tricked, and then gift you with TM95 Snarl. They then fill you in on Zoroark and start to leave, suddenly turning into Zoroark! Yes, you have been tricked by the trickster Pokemon!

If you say yes, then the Hiker asks if you are armed for an encounter with it, then gifts you with TM95 Snarl, and Begins to walk away, transforms into its true form of Zoroark and runs off!

No worries, this is not where you are supposed to battle or capture it!

The Second Path

The second path is blocked by a large boulder which you will need to use HM Strength to push into the hole north of it, and after you do that you can make your way along the now accessible path to another trainer battle!

Backpacker Blossom has a Level 25 Liepard and pays you $600 for the lesson.

After you battle her and assuming you have captured all of the Route 16 Pokemon you can now head east along the back fence and grab TM66 Payback from the treasure ball there.

That wraps up this Route and its offshoots, so head back to town and then continue west to the west gate, where you will pass through to Route 5!

Route 5

If you speak to the guard in the gate you will learn that there are performers on Route 5 who are, well, performing! More on that in a bit...

You should already have captured all of the Pokemon that you can get here, with the exception of Minccino (which while you may have captured one already, the one here is sort of special)... The Minccino that can be captured in the Hidden Grotto here is special in that it has the very rare Hidden Ability called Skill Link.

As you exit the gate Bianca will appear and gift you with HM02 Fly, and then she will lead you to the Hidden Grotto (this is basically where you get introduced to that feature in the game), and you will have to battle the Minccino. Considering its special Hidden Ability you should try to capture it, right? The only other way to get a Minccino with this HA is to capture one in the Dream World, just saying.

After you have captured the special Minccino, be sure to teach Fly to one of your Pokemon so that you can use it to get around faster...

As you exit the gate there is a trainer above in the grass before you pass through the trees headed for the Hidden Grotto who will sell you the berries that she has collected for reasonable amounts of money in case you want to buy some... You can buy different berries from her once each day for future reference.

To the west is a trailer and standing outside is Baker Jenn who has a Level 24 Sunkern and a Level 24 Combee, and who pays you $960 for the lesson.

Inside the trailer is a Humble Maid who will buy certain cooking ingredients from you like the Mushrooms and such. You don't have to sell them to her but you can if you want to, as she pays a bit more than you can get from the store.

As you continue along the road there are more trainers to battle...

Dancer Brian has a Level 25 Scraggy and pays $800.

Musician Preston has a Level 25 Maractus and pays $800. After you beat him he gifts you with an Electric Guitar, which you will store in your Prop Case.

Backers Ava & Aya have a pair of Level 24 Minccino, and pay $1152 for the lesson in double battles.

The road ahead is actually blocked by the crowd for a reason - you are not meant to go past here until after the Gym Battle in town - but that does not mean we are done. Before you head back to the gate and then north to do the grass area above, head along the guard rail on the bottom until you can go down, then back west to get a Hyper Potion from the treasure ball there.

With that managed now double back to the gate and head north into the grass area, and make your way west for some additional battling and items.

Artist Horton has a Level 25 Sigilyph and pays you $1200.

Just past the first patch of Dark Grass is a treasure ball with a Super Repel you should grab.

Pokemon Ranger Lois has a Level 25 Budew, and a Level 25 Roselia,1500 and gifts you a Cheri Berry as is the custom of her kind.

That nicely wraps up what there is to do here - so check your team and verify that they are ready to take on the next Gym. If they are not, do some leveling and, when they are ready, return to town, hit the Pokemon Center to heal and re-supply as needed, then head to the east side of town and enter the Amusement Park for the next phase of our Adventure!

The Amusement Park

Continue to the right and you find the entrance to the Amusement Park - which has changed quite a bit between this and the first Pokemon White - as when you arrive at what used to be the City Pokemon Gym the sign outside the Roller Coaster indicates that it is now the former gym...

While it is no longer a Pokemon Gym it still offers you some Trainer Battles from which you can gain some valuable XP as well as Rewards. As you make your way along the different tracks using the switches you will encounter trainers to battle, including:

Rich Boy Roland with his Level 24 Blitzle, who pays you $3840 for a lesson in Pokemon battling.

Lady Colette has a Level 24 Flaaffy and also pays $3840 for the lesson you teach her.

When you are finished exploring the old gym head outside and grab the Revive from the trash can outside, then head ot the right to battle a trainer at the door to the next building.

Beauty December has a Level 24 Flaaffy and pays you $1344.

After the battle you ride the Ferris Wheel with her to chat, and you get a rather interesting CS in which her insecurity seems to be transferred to you...

The Gym Battle for your Fourth Badge the Bolt Badge

The Nimbasa City Pokemon Gym Battle

As you head into the Gym Greeter gives you a Fresh Water and then warns you that Electric-type Pokemon will not do very well against Ground-type moves, and then warns you that Ground-type moves will not work against Emolga...

As you step into the hall you face Beauty Nikola, the first Assistant Gym Leader, who has a Level 27 Elekid, and a Level 27 Flaaffy, and pays you $1512.

Next up is Assistant Gym Leader Beauty Fleming, who has a Level 27 Flaafy and a Level 27 Blitzle, and pays out $1512 as well.

The next Assistant Gym Leader is Beauty Ampere, who has a Level 27 Blitzle and a Level 27 Elekid, and pays out $1512.

With that third battle down, it is time to battle the Gym Leader, Elesa, who has a Level 28 Emolga, a Level 30 Zebstrika, and a Level 28 Flaafy. Bearing in mind that the Zebstrika is Electric-type but has Fire-type moves, you want to not use a Pokemon that is weak to either.

After you beat her, Elesa pays you $3600, gives you your Bolt Badge, and gifts you with TM72 Volt Switch. With the Bolt Badge now in your Badge Case, Pokemon up to Level 50, including those acquired in trade, will now obey your commands!

As you leave the Gym Leaders run to catch up with you and escort you along the catwalk, taking you almost to the door to the cheers of your adoring fans.

After the Gym Battle

Now that you have succeeded in beating the fourth Gym Leader and obtained your fourth Gym Badge - and the HM Fly by the way - your world has really expanded! First thing you should do is hit the Pokemon Center and heal up, then check your supplies for Pokeballs as you are going to need them soon!

Speaking of Pokeballs, while the Greatball is really the one you will use more often, I still recommend that you keep a supply of the standard Pokeballs in your inventory anyway so that you can open your capture attempts with those for the first few throws just in case you get lucky, and so use a less expensive ball. I have found that this actually tends to work out in your favor and can indeed save you a bit of money.

As there is really nothing more for us to do here at the moment unless you want to check the Mall to see if there are any visitors you can give recommendations to in order to help it rank up, it is now time to head for the West Gate and continue our journey, as we are now headed for Driftveil City as the bridge should be open now!