Part 12: Route 8 and Cyllage City
It's been a long while since you last set foot in a gym, and you're no doubt eager to land your second Badge. Equip yourself with some Pokémon that are strong against Rock-types (Water, Grass, Fighting, etc.), then crack your knuckles and get ready to do some climbing.When you enter the gym you'll be at the bottom of a massive climbing wall. You'll have to make your way to the peak to face the gym leader. There are multiple ways to tackle this challenge. Climb the wall to the right of the entrance and you'll run into a trainer. If you want to skip the trainer, run to the right from the bottom of the climbing course and you'll find a wall which leads past him.
Rising Star Didier
- Dwebble, level 21
- Relicanth, level 23
You'll find two more walls to climb past the trainer, one to your left and one to your right. Right is a dead end, so climb the left wall. Past here you'll see some dirt slopes leading to the bottom of the climbing wall. Carefully walk past these. Around the next corner is a small climbing wall leading to a trainer. This path doesn't take you anywhere, but, hey, trainers are fun to fight, right?
Hiker Craig
- Roggenrola, level 24
Continue around the rock face until you find another climbing wall, bigger than the last. The trainer near it will come at you immediately.
Rising Star Manon
- Solrock, level 22
- Lunatone, level 22
Keep climbing. Eventually you'll reach a spinning trainer whom you can skip if you're careful.
Hiker Bernard
Two of these guys are standard fare. Nosepass is the annoying exception, as it will survive a one-hit KO thanks to Sturdy, then likely use Thunder Wave to paralyze your Pokémon. Annoying in the long run, but, ultimately, just annoying.
You've reached the final leg of the climb, so make your way to the top. Grant, the dude with the odd hair who gave you the Strength HM, is waiting for you. Battle!
- Rhyhorn, level 21
- Nosepass, level 21
- Onix, level 21
Two of these guys are standard fare. Nosepass is the annoying exception, as it will survive a one-hit KO thanks to Sturdy, then likely use Thunder Wave to paralyze your Pokémon. Annoying in the long run, but, ultimately, just annoying.
You've reached the final leg of the climb, so make your way to the top. Grant, the dude with the odd hair who gave you the Strength HM, is waiting for you. Battle!
Leader Grant
Remember those Fossil Pokémon you picked up before? Yep, Grant has both of them. They're both fearsome in their own ways.
- Amaura, level 25
- Tyrunt, level 25
Remember those Fossil Pokémon you picked up before? Yep, Grant has both of them. They're both fearsome in their own ways.
- Amaura is the more annoying of the two, as it will almost immediately use Thunder Wave to paralyze your Pokémon, then follow up with more mundane attacks. You can wipe it out quickly with a Fighting-type move to take advantage of its quadruple weakness. (You can also use Steel-type moves to inflict quadruple damage, but you're less likely to have access to one right now.) Otherwise, Grass-, Ground-, and Water-type moves work well.
- Tyrunt is more of a one-hit-wonder, as it likes to use Bite over and over, though it will bring out Rock Tomb if you give it a good target. Fighting is a prime choice for taking it down, though if you have an Ice-type move (unlikely) you can hit it for quadruple damage.
Winning the battle will earn you the Cliff Badge, a lovely decorative item that will allow you to control Pokémon up to level 40. He'll also hand over TM39 Rock Tomb. Nice.
All done. Climb down the wall beside Grant and you'll quickly find your way to the bottom of the gym. On to the next one!
All done. Climb down the wall beside Grant and you'll quickly find your way to the bottom of the gym. On to the next one!