Badge #8: Route One & Vanhanen Castle

Welcome to Route One!

Maybe it's just me, but finally stepping out into a numbered route after ten hours was a massive relief. We're finally out of that fucking city! The game starts to get really good from here on out, with the Pokémon choice opening up widely. It's a shame the writing is bad for the next two gyms. And there's the infamous Route 1 puzzle.

Oh yeah, and also there's fucking Fern.

The first thing you might notice is that there's a lot of ledges here stopping your progress. Don't worry about that; go all the way to the left of Route 1 to find the Nature Centre, which acts as a Pokécentre. Inside, you can find TM162 Metronome, as well as a man offering to trade you a Tyrogue for a Dunsparce on the roof (yikes). At the very south of Route 1 is the Grand Gate... which is only open on this side. If you didn't get the Item Finder early in the Slums, you can also get it by talking to a scientist inside the Nature Centre.

If you go all the way down... you're softlocked. Your save is ruined. Thanks for playing Pokémon Reborn! The rest of the game isn't finished yet; come back in a few years.

This is a joke. Here's the gimmick of Route 1; as you would have noticed, there are varying Bouffalant and Tauros battling eachother throughout the route. If you talk to one, and defeat it, the opposite Pokémon will be available for you; you can ride the Tauros whereas the Bouffalant will charge off in the opposite direction and break things. Tauros can hop over ledges but can't go into really tall grass. Defeat a Bouffalant to ride the Tauros up again to where the Nature Centre is; you may need to dismount (with X, on my Pro Controller) to have a Bouffalant move logs for you.

I fucking lied. We're not out of that city yet. We're going back to it to do two things. First, make your way up to North Obsidia Ward and go down the staircase again. On the bottom floor, where you originally found the random Karate Guy who was smashing rocks, instead you will find a Tinkatuff. Smash the rocks behind it to impress it, then talk to it to enter a battle where you can catch it.

Next, you need to buy like fifty honey from the flower shop in Lapis Ward. Once you've done that, you can travel ALL the way back to Route 1 to begin solving this fucking puzzle.

FULL Route 1 Heracross Sticker puzzle solution

At any point, you can reset the Tauros/Bouffalant pairs by stepping in one of those dancing red+white flower pairs.
A lot of this info is taken straight from the Wikia article. Not linking it because fuck Wikia, but thanks to the Wikia contributors for the original guide. No skips here, either, because at least this logically feels like a puzzle.

Start at the left-most entrance to South Aventurine Woods. Defeat the Tauros to have the Bouffalant move the log out of the way, then go to the right to find another pair and ride the Tauros down.

---

Use the Tauros to jump up the ledge below the entrance (not the one in this screenshot) and walk across the tall grass. Walk up to this tree and interact with it to put honey over the bark, attracting a pair of fighting Heracross/Pinsir. Fight the Pinsir to have the Heracross destroy the spiderweb next to you.

---

Next, you need to make your way to the second left-most entry to South Aventurine Woods. Ride a Tauros up the lower ledge and walk all the way to the right through the tall grass to find the tree shown above. Put honey on it and kill the Pinsir to break the spider web next to you.

---

Breaking that spider web lets you come up to this ledge with the Tauros; dismount it here and walk through the tall grass to find another honey tree slightly to the left. Slather it and then defeat the Heracross in order for the Pinsir to break the log immediately to your right.

---

Make your way to the third exit. Directly above you is a Tauros/Bouffalant pair; defeat the Tauros so that the Bouffalant will move the log otherwise blocking you out of the way.

---

Return to the second exit once again whilst riding a Tauros. If you go all the way down to where the ledges are on this photo, you can jump over the lower ledge to find a Link Stone; then jump up over the right ledge and dismount the Tauros. Walk through both patches of Tall Grass here to find another tree; slathering honey over it and defeating the Heracross will have the log destroyed.

---

Take yet another Tauros down through the third exit (where the previously destroyed log was). Travel all the way down and jump up this ledge, which has another honey-containing tree; defeat the Pinsir for Heracross to break the spider web. Return to Route 1 and make your way to the fourth exit to South Aventurine Woods. (You can stay on Tauros during this, so you don't need to remount one to get into the fourth exit.)

---

There's a few honey trees here, but the goal is actually the very lowest one - right next to the exit to Tanzan Mountain. Honeyify the tree, then have the Pinsir destroy the log.

---

Go up north to find the immediate next tree. Slather it, then defeat one of each bug to destroy both the web and the log (for an extra TM). Going down through the new path of tall grass, make the Pinsir destroy the tiny baby log next to you.

(The screeenshot doesn't show the spider web, but it's right below the tree normally.)

Almost done, I promise!

---

Immediately above the fifth exit is another Bouffalant/Tauros pair. Kill the Tauros to have the Bouffalant move the log blocking the fifth exit. Reset the area or find another Tauros to help you up the ledge in the fifth exit and walk through the patch of tall grass to find another honey tree. Have Pinsir destroy the log.

---

Trek up Route 1 to the right-most (not the sixth left exit!) and have Bouffalant remove the log immediately blocking you. Through the tall grass is a honey tree next to both a spiderweb and a log, so use the honey twice to destroy both.

---

This finally opens up the path from the third left-most entrance into a clearing that was otherwise inaccessible due to a combination of ledges and tall grass. Grab a Tauros and enter the third left-most entrance, following the newly opened path.

You can find TM51 Steel Wing here as well as the Vileplumite.

---

When you reach this junction, travel to the left to find the Tech Glasses dropped on the floor (how did they get here?). Continue to the right to make it to the Bug Grove.

In this grove, you'll find TM40 Aerial Ace, as well as two battling Heracross/Pinsir (again). Defeat the opposite one to the one you want; the surviving Pokémon will then join you. If you want to catch the other, you'll need to wait until after you've gotten your 13th badge.

After doing all this, return to the binoclard bastard in the Nature Centre to get the 8th Department Store sticker. I hope it was worth the effort.

After solving the South Aventurine Woods puzzle, we turn our focus to the north of the woods. There's nowhere near as much content here, but nevertheless. These woods will be the death of me.

North Aventurine Woods puzzles

The first and second entrance to North Aventurine Woods just connect to eachother, so we'll skip them. Instead, go to the third entrance from the left; directly below is a Tauros/Bouffalant pair. Defeat the Tauros to have the Bouffalant move the log inside the third entrance upwards.

Hop on a Tauros and travel up the first ledge only; then dismount it and walk through the tall grass to the left. Honey the tree and have the Heracross destroy the spider web; you can then ride a Tauros up both ledges to some more tall grass, whereupon you will find the entrance to Celestine Mountain B2F.

If you proceed along the ice puzzle here, you will find TM22 Smack Down on a ledge further up, as well as an Ice Stone. There's an icy strength boulder preventing you from going anywhere else.

The right-sided tall grass has another honeyable tree available; defeat both Pokemon here to access TM86 Grass Knot on the left side, and TM188 Pollen Puff as well as a Leaf Stone on the right side.

Next, make your way over to the 4th exit from the left. Directly below is a Bouffalant that you can use to remove the log blocking you; this will open up an area to the left that leads to a house. Go inside the house to find... hundreds of Pikachu, as well as an NPC on the upper floor who will heal your Pokemon. You can also find the Pikanium-Z behind said house.

To the right of the entrance is another unhoneyed tree; you can have the Pinsir destroy the log if you want but there's obviously nothing there. Behind the spider web is... another log. The fifth and sixth entrances both connect to eachother, so go to the 7th entrance instead (the very last exit).

Bouffalant, log, etc. The left tall grass will lead you to the honey tree you can use to destroy the log blocking the route from the 4th exit; if you then ride a Tauros up over the ledge you then get access to a small grove with some mints. (This is also a mandatory post-game area, so it's good to have it accessible.)

In the tall grass on the right of the final exit, you can make it to another honey tree. Have the Pinsir destroy the log you moved out of the way to access a small set of (fishable) pools. This is the only place you can find Dewpider or Araquanid until the postgame. If you come back here after you get the 13th badge, you can get the Sharpedonite too.

After solving all of those puzzles, at the very far right of Route One is a fork in the road. The north leads to Agate City, which is currently inaccessible as there is nobody to man the gates. To the south is Vanhanen "Labyrinth", the location of your next gym.

The "maze" here is nothing special; your goal is to the bottom left. You can look at the map overview provided above if you get lost. You can find the Hypnotite just before the exit to the castle as well. Once you get to the castle, you find Luna, the mystery runaway from Spinel Town. Talk to her for a cutscene, whereupon Cain will arrive... and you have another mandatory battle.

After beating him, Radomus (if you held text skip - he's the gym leader) receives a message from El (the guy who abducted Bennett in Spinel Town!) that his annoying weird Gardevoir has been captured (hopefully, killed too!) so I guess it's up to you to go rescue it.

Your next destination is Reborn City (again). You don't have to go the long way around through the railnet; instead, go through Route 1 to the Grand Gate. (I'm not sure exactly why everyone decided this was the best place to go, given that Reborn City isn't accessible through here yet, but nevertheless!) Go into the side room with the broken cogwheel and once the cutscene finishes talk to Radomus to jump down into the cave below.

The tile sprites don't make it obvious, but there are stairs here that you can follow down all the way to a ladder; then follow the path all the way to a cave entry at the right side of the new map. Eventually, you'll make it to a tunnel that's behind the sealed door you saw earlier in chapter 5. Move forwards to make it to the Citae Astrae!!

Once you've finished the cutscenes, you can make it up through the Citae Astrae using your Ruby Ring on the ruby door.

Talk to all of the statues to activate the teleporter. Chimchar is Dark, Monferno is Dark, and Infernape is Light. If you go back into the Amethyst teleporter, you can get an EXP Candy XL. Proceed upwards to talk to Adrienn, saying you won't give away your Ruby Ring. (This is a silly cutscene.) Use the ring again and solve the second riddle: Tyrogue is Light, Hitmonchan is Dark, Hitmonlee is Light, and Hitmontop is Dark. Walk forwards and talk to El for more cutscene; Side with Radomus during this cutscene as it's another part of the route requirements. You'll be drawn into a battle with El and his fake Arceus.

After defeating him, choose not to exit with everyone else and walk back down to the bottom of the tunnel to get a small easter egg that only really makes sense if you've beat the game before. Once you return to the surface, you find that the Grand Gates are now open, finally giving you an easier route between Route 1 and Reborn City. Go to the Coral Ward for another cutscene, and then agree with Cain to teleport back to the Castle.

Psychic Gym

This one is a doozy. The goal is to put the Black King in checkmate by moving all of your pieces. Cute puzzle, but very unintuitive. The room on the left will show you what the fancy Pokémon pieces actually correspond to as it isn't immediately clear. If you don't know anything about chess, the pieces will also explain which each piece does in a game.

Luckily, I know things about chess, so this is a solution to all of the puzzles. If you get stuck, you can leave and re-enter the room to reeset the pposition of all the pieces. The controls here are a bit terrible, so here's a guide:

• All pieces except the Bishop and Pawn are pushed into place by walking up to them in the direction you wish and pressing A.
• The Bishop is pushed by either pressing it from its left/right sides and pressing up/down, or pressing it from its top/bottom sides and pressing left/right. It moves in the combination direction of (side, button).
• Pawns can only move straight upwards.
• If you want to do this the easy way, recreate the board in the Lichess Editor and move the pieces around until the "Continue from Here" button is disabled.

Checkmate #1

Your pieces are a king and a rook.

Solution for the first puzzle

This is a simple checkmate; box the black king in with your king and then place the rook immediately below it.

Checkmate #2

Your pieces are a rook, a knight, and a bishop. The problem is that your pieces can be captured by Black's pieces too, so the King needs to be in check multiple times. Additionally, the bishop is on the black squares so it can't move onto the white ones.

You also need to consider that you can't maneuver your pieces around to the right side of the chessboard properly, which presents an additional challenge.

Solution for the second puzzle

The rook needs to be at the top to place the King in check, but it also needs to not be on a square that can be captured by the queen instantly. The bishop can't be manuevered to the right side, so it needs to protect the square immediately below the king. Finally, the knight can be slotted in next to the black knight to protect the two diagonal squares that the king can move to.

Checkmate #3

There's a LOT of pieces here, but the solution is deceptively simple.

Solution for the third puzzle

If you're even slightly good at chess, you see that King in the corner and immediately recognised this is a smothered mate situation. The problem is you need two knights but you only have one.

If you move the second to right most pawn up to the top of the board, you can promote it into a knight. From there, you can move both of your knights into position to achieve checkmate. Make sure not to accidentally softlock yourself by putting the knights next to a piece so you can't move it. You'll have to reset the room again.

Checkmate #4

The Rule of 3 sadly doesn't apply here. There's a lot of noise in this puzzle that you'll need to tune out to win.

Solution for the fourth puzzle

Like the second puzzle, the difficulty here comes from manuevering your pieces around. You need to get something that can block the top-right most square but you can't get your knights into position.

The bishop's odd movement comes in handy here; the pawn can promote into a bishop on the that can be moved into position covering the top left square and the square in front of the king. Next, one of your knights needs to be manuvered into the gap above the pawn on the E rank to block off all of the squares directly diagonally to the king.

Next, your white bishop needs to go below the black knight on the D rank to actually place the king into check. Finally, you need to block check from the black queen with one of your knights.

The Gym Fight

Now it's time for the actual boss fight, Radomus. In the gym room there are two random vendor NPCs who sell some TMs as well as some battle items.

This is a hard fight with the field effect, but it's not insurmountable. Kingambit and Gardevoir means you can't cheese it with six dark types. Some tips:

• His Reuniclus is very bulky and will set up Trick Room if it you let it, which plays well with his team of slower Pokémon and the focus on HO teams that you're kinda forced into by the game, especially with his Kingambit.
• Sucker Punch is a must. There's lots of Pokémon that have it at this point, but you can try out Skuntank like I did. Just beware of his Metagross.
• Nasty Plot gives a +4 boost in this field, not a +2. Don't let his Noctowl get it up, and if he does rely on priority moves to avoid getting swept.
• Fake Out doesn't work in this field! It still has priority but won't cause a flinch. It can still be useful to break the automatic sash that all pawns have.
• His Gardevoir is neutral to Bug and Dark, and will copy your ability. Make sure to dispatch of it quickly.
• Steel Types are a must here, as they resist Psychic and can easily hit his Gardevoir.

Once you exit the gym, you find that the hypnosis on El didn't really work (the least surprising twist ever...) Use the light shard outside and proceed back through the maze. Walk straight into the Meteor Grunt to the left instead to find out that it's Radomus in disguise. He'll show you to a set of stairs that you can use to walk over the hedges to escape the maze. Your next destination is once again Reborn City!