Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Start by following Drayden into his house and he'll mention Kyurem as the third member of the Legendary Dragon trio. and the DNA Splicers.
After which a big flying ship freezes Opelucid and Team Plasma appear looking for the DNA Splicers. We need to slide across the Ice to reach the NE, face al the trainers and then loop around to Zinzolin in front of the Gym. Lucario destroys him and Drayden hands us the DNA Splicers only for the Shadow Triad to take them from us.
Head to Undella Town and take the Blue, Marine Tube that we previously didn't have access to. On the other side you'll gain the Facade.
Despite the importance of Team Plasma, our rival tells us to defeat the Humilau Gym first.
There's a Yellow Shard Tutor here. There's Giga Drain and Heat Wave for Volcarona, but I'm saving up for Drain Punch on Lucario first.
To the NW there's Route 22 and you can gain some nice experience here in preparation for the Gym, which helps Galvantula. Going straight from the 7th Gym to the 8th feels very odd.
Humilau's Gym is all water types, and thankfully no Water/Ground types.
Galvantula with unboosted Thunder is great, but we also have Lucario who can Swords Dance into ThunderPunch.
Marlon, the Gym Leader has a bit of a surprising strategy on Challenge Mode that he won't be able to use in Easy/Normal.
His Wailord lead sets up Rain Dance. The only move it keeps from the other difficulties is Scald (boosted in the Rain) and Amnesia, Rollout, and Bounce are swapped for Rain Dance, Ice Beam, Earthquake.
I was aware of this in advance, so started with Lucario and used Swords Dance followed by Thunderpunch. His Carracosta has Smack Down swapped for Rock Slide, but that Sturdy ability can be annoying. I knew I was unlikely to get a KO even at +2 when combined with Stealth Rocks (if I had Drain Punch I would have), my best bet was to hope for a Force Palm full paralysis, it doesn't arrive, but fortunately no burn from Scald. It does have Shell Smash, but is probably less likely to use it on Challenge Mode because of the Rain.
His new Pokémon is Mantine, designed to take full use of the Rain using Scald and Swift Swim. I swap to Watchog to sacrifice it on the last turn of Rain then back to Lucario to one shot with ThunderPunch. His ace is Jellicent. In Challenge Mode it gains Energy Ball and Shadow Ball over Brine and Ominous Wind. It takes an unboosted ThunderPunch from Lucario and KOs in return, but couldn't take the follow up Thunder from Galvantula.
You get the Wave Badge and Scald TM for winning.
Now we have to head through Route 22 to deal with Team Plasma.
In the centre you'll find Terrakion and Colress will turn up to give you his Colress Machine, which will be useful soon. Terrakion can be the hardest to catch because of his moveset having high power and good type coverage, but I manage him in the first Timer Ball, the same as Virizion.
Head back to Undella Bay and to the cave with the Roggenrolla. Take out the trainer (you might want Stealth Rocks to counter Sturdy) and head through the cave taking out the trainers and treasures on the way.
You'll arrive on Route 21 and the final trainer is a healer, so I take him on and Heal up and Save to end the part.
0:00 - Opelucid City
18:35 - Marine Tube
19:30 - Humilau City
22:20 - Route 22
32:20 - Humilau Gym
42:25 - Humilau Gym Leader Marlon (Wave Badge)
51:35 - Terrakion
Start by following Drayden into his house and he'll mention Kyurem as the third member of the Legendary Dragon trio. and the DNA Splicers.
After which a big flying ship freezes Opelucid and Team Plasma appear looking for the DNA Splicers. We need to slide across the Ice to reach the NE, face al the trainers and then loop around to Zinzolin in front of the Gym. Lucario destroys him and Drayden hands us the DNA Splicers only for the Shadow Triad to take them from us.
Head to Undella Town and take the Blue, Marine Tube that we previously didn't have access to. On the other side you'll gain the Facade.
Despite the importance of Team Plasma, our rival tells us to defeat the Humilau Gym first.
There's a Yellow Shard Tutor here. There's Giga Drain and Heat Wave for Volcarona, but I'm saving up for Drain Punch on Lucario first.
To the NW there's Route 22 and you can gain some nice experience here in preparation for the Gym, which helps Galvantula. Going straight from the 7th Gym to the 8th feels very odd.
Humilau's Gym is all water types, and thankfully no Water/Ground types.
Galvantula with unboosted Thunder is great, but we also have Lucario who can Swords Dance into ThunderPunch.
Marlon, the Gym Leader has a bit of a surprising strategy on Challenge Mode that he won't be able to use in Easy/Normal.
His Wailord lead sets up Rain Dance. The only move it keeps from the other difficulties is Scald (boosted in the Rain) and Amnesia, Rollout, and Bounce are swapped for Rain Dance, Ice Beam, Earthquake.
I was aware of this in advance, so started with Lucario and used Swords Dance followed by Thunderpunch. His Carracosta has Smack Down swapped for Rock Slide, but that Sturdy ability can be annoying. I knew I was unlikely to get a KO even at +2 when combined with Stealth Rocks (if I had Drain Punch I would have), my best bet was to hope for a Force Palm full paralysis, it doesn't arrive, but fortunately no burn from Scald. It does have Shell Smash, but is probably less likely to use it on Challenge Mode because of the Rain.
His new Pokémon is Mantine, designed to take full use of the Rain using Scald and Swift Swim. I swap to Watchog to sacrifice it on the last turn of Rain then back to Lucario to one shot with ThunderPunch. His ace is Jellicent. In Challenge Mode it gains Energy Ball and Shadow Ball over Brine and Ominous Wind. It takes an unboosted ThunderPunch from Lucario and KOs in return, but couldn't take the follow up Thunder from Galvantula.
You get the Wave Badge and Scald TM for winning.
Now we have to head through Route 22 to deal with Team Plasma.
In the centre you'll find Terrakion and Colress will turn up to give you his Colress Machine, which will be useful soon. Terrakion can be the hardest to catch because of his moveset having high power and good type coverage, but I manage him in the first Timer Ball, the same as Virizion.
Head back to Undella Bay and to the cave with the Roggenrolla. Take out the trainer (you might want Stealth Rocks to counter Sturdy) and head through the cave taking out the trainers and treasures on the way.
You'll arrive on Route 21 and the final trainer is a healer, so I take him on and Heal up and Save to end the part.
0:00 - Opelucid City
18:35 - Marine Tube
19:30 - Humilau City
22:20 - Route 22
32:20 - Humilau Gym
42:25 - Humilau Gym Leader Marlon (Wave Badge)
51:35 - Terrakion
