Table of contents
THE DIAMOND PUNCH BADGE
Go to the Sheridan Arena and talk to Aelita, it’s time for a battle.
KetaBattle
Ren was right, Keta can be a real pleb stomper if you’re not prepared. Forest Field boosts Gale Strike x1.5 times in power and Cut x2 and all the coverage he has for his weaknesses means he’s nothing to sneeze at, not to mention he’s a double battle which already makes things harder. I like lowering one Pokémon’s stats down so they do less damage and focusing the other side, just don’t lower them too much or the AI might switch them out, which is usually around -3.
Swoobat and Fearow are always highly recommended for this battle, and if you’ve saved them you can use all of those Psychic Gems in your bag. I’m also going to go ahead and recommend Dustox again. Poison types resist most of their moves too because of their natural fighting resistance + the field making a lot of their moves part grass type. Three of his Pokémon are also weak to ground moves as well so it’s possible to take a Diglett, give it a Rare Candy to evolve and then a Reverse candy to get it back to the level cap, or just bring any other ground type and go wild.
Keta might seem difficult, but try looking at what Pokémon can resist his moves, rather than the Pokémon that might hit super effectively with STAB since you might get punished for it. You got this, trainer.
You won’t get the badge just yet. Instead, follow Keta and Aelita behind the waterfall.
Friendship Value Choices
- Yes. (Aelita +1)
- No. (Aelita -1)
CARATOS MOUNTAIN
Aelita is going to be joining you here, so it’s the same with Ren and Melia: free healing, harder time catching Pokémon.
Caratos Mountain
| LAND | % | LAND | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slugma | 32% | Rolycoly | 9% |
| Numel | 45% | Nosepass | 4% |
| Onix | 20% |
Catch a Slugma, we’ll need to evolve it for the painter on Route 2 later.
Head up until you’re stopped by 2 strange eye tentacles. Go to the right and break the rocks with Rock Smash all the way around. There’s a hidden Blast Powder behind the smashable rock below the stairs, and you can grab a Rare Candy. Go back to the fork in the road and grab TM121 - Fire Spin before heading up.
SEC is going to pull you into a battle but you can just catch its shadow Ponyta. Follow CLARA north and enter the facility.
MADELIS’ LABORATORY
Time to team up with Keta! Go left, enter the room, and step on the red tile. Keep going right until you’re forced to go down, then go right to grab a Revival Herb. Step on the red/yellow tile and go down.
Go into the room where you just were and step on the blue/green tile. Exit into the main room and go up through the Madelis statues to the next room.
Head left and enter the library. There’s some interesting books you can read around the room if you’d like some more lore and a hint as to what’s coming next. Step on the yellow tile and exit the library.
Go up and left again. Before stepping on any tiles, keep going left to grab a Hyper Potion. In the machine through the open green gates you can also grab an Up-Grade. Step on the green tile and exit the room.
Go down and to the room on the right. Go down and say hi to Sharon and grab the Dusk Ball. Step on the blue/green tile.
Return to the room where you got the Up-Grade. The machine next to it is now accessible and has a Mime. Jr inside for you. Step on the green tile and return to the main room. Go up and grab the Fresh Water before exiting north.
There’s some butterflies here waiting to heal you, so that means there’s a battle ahead. Get ready.
MadelisBattle
Not only do you have to deal with the beast that is Shadow Mewtwo AND Madelis’ other Pokémon, but you have to do it within ten turns. You have no option but to focus down Mewtwo, but Cufant will try and make your life difficult. If you have a Pokémon with Intimidate it might be useful to send it out first to debuff Cufant so you can focus everything on Mewtwo. Poisoning or burning Mewtwo will also prove useful to get it low. Keta is going to almost exclusively focus on Mewtwo until it’s down, so you just have to help him get there as quickly as possible.
If you didn’t know, shadow types are weak to Fairy, but if you plan on relying on that I’d recommend getting rid of Cufant if you want to use STAB fairy moves. If you’ve got really fast Pokémon, you might be able to take advantage of its worsening defenses after its shield breaks, just remember to keep some of your team healthy for the remainder of the fight.
This fight is not necessary to win, but if you do you get (+1 Karma) and (Madelis +1). You’ll be teleported away afterwards.
Friendship Value Choices
- Thanks Aelita. (Aelita +2)
- I can handle myself. (Aelita -2)
Friendship Value Choices
- He’s trying. (Aelita +1)
- He threw Sheridan away. (Neutral)
- He’s a terrible person. (Aelita -4)
Go down to grab TM43 - Flame Charge then go up and interact with the panel, rejuvenating yourself with the butterflies if you want to. SEC will challenge you to another battle and this time you can’t capture its shadow Quagsire because your Snag Machine is broken! How unfortunate.
Interact with the panel after the battle. You have two options here: enter Madelis’ ID which you technically shouldn’t know and never actually find out and skip the battle entirely, or transfer it to Caratos Mountain which will start a boss fight later. There’s no real benefits or drawbacks to either option, so it just depends on if you want to fight Volcanion or not. The ID number is XE089321.
Personally, I recommend battling it. There’s some cool storytelling that the battle itself uses that should be appreciated and you’d miss out on, and the fight itself isn’t hard.
Go down after making your decision and go up the ladder to the left. Interact with the gate to open it and follow the path back up to the facility. You’ll fight Volcanion here, just make sure to grab the data for Code: Statia.
VolcanionBoss
The poor thing is only going to get weaker as time goes on, so just hold your own during that first shield and then knock it out quickly afterwards. Volcanion is very slow, so you should be fine if you have hard hitting moves. It should also be known that its nature is Lonely, a small detail that you’d never get to see unless you went into the files. Ruthless Pokémon fights have really great potential for storytelling and I implore you to do them when you can.
Keep going up and enter the facility, there’s a pink panel that will take you to the throne room. Watch all the cutscenes, introduce yourself to some villains, and go to the wooden gate in the center of the village when you have control again. Talk to the eldest.
SPRING OF PURIFICATION
Grab the Magical Seed on the way to the Eldest.
Spring of Purification
| LAND | % | LAND | % | OLD ROD | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bellsprout | 43% | Volbeat | 10% | Goldeen | 100% |
| Zigzagoon | 22% | Paras | 10% | ||
| Illumise | 10% | Oddish | 5% |
Karma Value Choices
- Are you okay? (+1 Karma)
- Who’s Vivian? (Neutral)
You can now purify all those shadow Pokémon you’ve been hoarding! To do this just go to your PC, put the shadow Pokémon into the Purify Chamber and any other 4 Pokémon around it. You can try and maximize the flow around the Pokémon, but all it does is change how fast it is. Afterwards, run around until you get a text box signifying the shadow Pokémon has been purified. Shadow Pokémon get moves that otherwise would be impossible for them to know, so it’s good to purify whatever you’ve got to see what they have! Alternatively you can just run around with a shadow Pokémon in your party, but that can waste a slot and they’re not allowed in gym battles.
Take the fast travel to Amethyst Grotto and go up to talk to Keta. He’ll give you TM103 - Stacking Shot and the Diamond Punch Badge. Finally!
Did you expect another battle? You can try your luck fighting Keta’s spirit if you interact with the pink butterfly at the top of the grove, but you’ll be in for a world of hurt if you fight him now. The recommended level to fight him is Lvl. 45 so we’ll come back for him later. Let’s go back to Sheridan and talk to Aelita in her room. Time for bed and time for a new chapter!