Oh no!

Badge #3 & Badge #4

The Great Filter is a concept and solution to the Fermi paradox that dictates the reason we don't see any intelligent life out there in the stars is that some event happened between the first steps of life and reaching the ability to go out into the stars. What this step or event is specifically is hotly debated; with some hoping and believing it was in the far past (abiogenesis is just that unlikely, perhaps) and some believing it's in the near future (e.g. wiping ourselves out with nukes or global warming).

Shelly's gym is the Great Filter of Pokémon Reborn. It is an absolutely massive difficulty spike relative to the previous two gyms, especially as she uses a Double Battle format. To make matters worse, the gym puzzle here is so notoriously hard that the devs added an official way to cheat through it.

It says a lot about the game that the devs merely made a cheat for the puzzle.

First, enter the gym through the lower exit. The puzzle here is that you need to use these computers to raise and lower bookshelves so that you can pass through the gym. I'll let you in on a secret: the right computer to interact with always has a green band on it. Notice how the computer on the right is green, whereas the one on the left is brown. Note that the very last computer is on the ledge which you can access by going through Shelly's bedroom.

As I said, his is a really hard fight. If you mess up, press F12 to soft reset and try again. Maybe change your team around, too. Here's some tips:

  • Her team can be understood as dual Water/Bug; she has two strong Bug/Water types and two Rain setters that are designed to wipe out any unsuspecting Fire-type users that challenge her. You can respond in kind with your own water type attacks.
  • You need Fake Out. Purugly has it and is fast and strong, male Meowstic has it and is not that fast or strong (and it's a psychic type), and Liepard has it and is fast with Prankster. Keep your Fake Out attacker healthy and use U-Turn to keep it in play as much as possible and the battle will be dramatically easier.
  • You can rock up to her with like four separate flying types; Unfezant has a strong moveset with Tailwind, Talonflame has Gale Wings, Pidgeotto has Air Slash and Steel Wing, and Fearow has Intimidate and Agility.
  • Speed control is essential here; her Yanmega is really fast and has Speed Boost. Make sure you have speed boosting natures and EVs.
  • Her Anorith gets a turn of invicibility on switch-in; if you attack it, that's a wasted move and you take damage as a bonus. Get your flying types off the field as it has a Rock-type spread move ready to dump on you.
  • Annihilape with Rage Fist is good as an emergency neutral check if you need it.
Bookworm Shelly
Sprite Name Level Ability Held Item Moves EVs
Illumise Illumise 32 Prankster Damp Rock
  • Rain Dance
  • Struggle Bug
  • Dazzling Gleam
  • Moonlight
0/0/0/0/0/0
Masquerain Masquerain 31 Intimidate Silver Powder
  • Signal Beam
  • Icy Wind
  • Bubble Beam
  • Energy Ball
0/0/0/0/0/0
Anorith Anorith 32 Swift Swim Telluric Seed
  • Aqua Jet
  • Rapid Spin
  • Knock Off
  • Rock Slide
0/0/0/0/0/0
Araquanid Araquanid 31 Water Bubble Damp Rock
  • Rain Dance
  • Bubble Beam
  • Icy Wind
  • Bug Bite
0/0/0/0/0/0
Yanmega Yanmega 33 Speed Boost --
  • Struggle Bug
  • Giga Drain
  • Air Cutter
  • Ancient Power
0/0/0/0/0/0
Volbeat Volbeat 35 Illuminate Leftovers
  • Tail Glow
  • Moonlight
  • Struggle Bug
  • Dazzling Gleam
0/0/0/0/0/0

Death To Psychiatry

Least evil psychiatrist.

After you beat Shelly, the Psykkkiatrist turns up at the Gym. He insults the shit out of Cal for losing (who then pushes Shelly down and runs away), and forces you outside. The Sex Pest is here and also wants to battle you. Blast! You can't do anything until you do, so...

Pretty Boy Cain
Sprite Name Level Ability Held Item Moves EVs
Marowak Marowak-Alola 36 Lightning Rod --
  • Flame Wheel
  • Bonemerang
  • Shadow Bone
  • Will-O-Wisp
0/0/0/0/0/0
Primarina Primarina 38 Berserk Zoom Lens
  • Icy Wind
  • Draining Kiss
  • Sparkling Aria
  • Hyper Voice
0/0/0/0/0/0
Grimer Grimer-Alola 36 Poison Touch --
  • Poison Fang
  • Minimize
  • Disable
  • Knock Off
0/0/0/0/0/0
Nidoking Nidoking 36 Rivalry --
  • Thrash
  • Double Kick
  • Poison Tail
  • Chip Away
0/0/0/0/0/0

The Psykkkiatrist then comes out of the gym to find Heather, who he forcibly adopts. Despite the fact that Reborn's entire police force is spent fighting actual terrorists, both you and Cain immediately acquiesce to his threats of arresting you; yet for some reason you decide to raid the orphanage to rescue her anyway. Heal up and then make your way to and enter the orphanage at the bottom of Lapis. You'll enter into a double battle with two orderlies, so beat them and proceed down the doorway directly in front of you to continue.

Go up the staircase to battle even more orderlies; these ones lock the gate so that you can't proceed further. Go back downstairs and down the hall that that was previously straight in front of you; there's an area at thee bottom with a Data Chip and a computer that unlocks the gate. Going all the way upstairs again, there's another gate which can't be unlocked by the computer next to it. You can unlock the patient quarters instead and then run all the way back downstairs to help Cain in order to get the ID that you need. Unlock the door to Charlotte and run all the way back up to the top for the third time.

Save the game before going up the last sets of stairs. You all confront the psykkkiatrist in his torture chamber room, rescue Heather, and decide to cheese it to the Underground Railnet. You get blocked off by the psykkkiatrist as soon as everyone but you and Anna leave, so battle him to earn your freedom.

Dr. Sigmund Connal
Sprite Name Level Ability Held Item Moves EVs
Electivire Electivire 38 Motor Drive --
  • Volt Switch
  • Thunder Wave
  • Low Kick
  • Ice Punch
0/0/0/0/0/0
Musharna Musharna 34 Psychic Surge Amplifield Rock
  • Psychic Terrain
  • Moonlight
  • Psybeam
  • Signal Beam
0/0/0/0/0/0
Hypno Hypno 35 Insomnia --
  • Hypnosis
  • Psychic Terrain
  • Psychic
  • Signal Beam
0/0/0/0/0/0
Rotom Rotom 35 Levitate --
  • Volt Switch
  • Ominous Wind
  • Thunder Wave
  • Confuse Ray
0/0/0/0/0/0
Raichu Raichu-Alola 36 Surge Surfer --
  • Volt Switch
  • Psychic
  • Nuzzle
  • Fake Out
0/0/0/0/0/0

Don't take Anna's offer to go to the Underground Railnet just yet; you'll want to walk down to the Grand Staircase instead. Now that you're armed with Rock Smash, you can break the rocks that previously blocked you on the first floor and find a Black Belt; talking to him will give you the Mining Kit.

Press F12 to restart your computer.

Now that you're done with that, you can proceed to the north part of the Opal Ward to re-enter the Underground Railnet.

I definitely didn't forget to take this screenshot til after I beat the gym.

You will find your motley crew of runaway orphans waiting by a gate. They can't get it open because there's no power. On the right side is the door to Obsidia Ward blocked off by another gate; you can open it up using the switch right next to it. To the bottom right is the Dull Key which you should collect to unlock an extra event soon.

Unlike most other badges, we're going beeline straight to the next gym before doing any events - in the Abandoned Power Plant to the west of Beryl Ward. There's no gym puzzle here; just activate all of the computers on both sides, showing you some eerie predictions. Travel upwards to fight Shade. A few tips here:

  1. Corsola will get Stealth Rocks up on you. Knock Off its Eviolite to make it less ridiculously bulky.
  2. Your Klink ( Klang, by now) that you should've caught in Obsidia can learn Discharge, which heavily neuters his whole team. Just be aware that Mimikyu knows Thunderbolt and can screw you over easily with this tactic; but Klang can hit back hard with Gear Grind which should be a one-hit (two, technically) KO.
  3. Fearow is an incredible catch here - just be sure not to evolve it until after Level 22. Fearow learns Assurance at Level 22, which is both reliable Dark STAB and an emergency revenge killer.
  4. Skuntank with Knock Off can deal some decent damage, as can Annihilape with Rage Fist; both can be caught in Reborn City.
  5. His Rotom and Banette will both levitate. Keep that in mind.
  6. His most dangerous Pokémon by far is his Mimikyu; Disguise lets it tank a hit and set up with Swords Dance.
Entity Shade
Sprite Name Level Ability Held Item Moves EVs
Corsola Corsola-Galar 35 Cursed Body Eviolite
  • Nature Power
  • Stealth Rock
  • Strength Sap
  • Toxic
0/0/0/0/0/0
Dhelmise Dhelmise 35 Steelworker Lum Berry
  • Brick Break
  • Giga Drain
  • Anchor Shot
  • Shadow Claw
0/0/0/0/0/0
Rotom Rotom 37 Levitate Leftovers
  • Pain Split
  • Confuse Ray
  • Shadow Ball
  • Discharge
0/0/0/0/0/0
Banette Banette 36 Cursed Body Synthetic Seed
  • Shadow Claw
  • Knock Off
  • Dazzling Gleam
  • Destiny Bond
0/0/0/0/0/0
Doublade Doublade 37 No Guard Synthetic Seed
  • Gyro Ball
  • Shadow Claw
  • Brick Break
  • Swords Dance
0/0/0/0/0/0
Mimikyu Mimikyu 38 Disguise Sitrus Berry
  • Thunderbolt
  • Swords Dance
  • Shadow Claw
  • Play Rough
12/0/0/0/0/0

You'll get a cutscene where your gang of orphans are stolen by Team Meloni; it's your job to save them. Fuck that! With access to Rock Smash there's a bunch of events we missed out first.