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Chapter 1: Oreburgh City Gym
Part 1: Oreburgh City Gym
Twinleaf Town
The game begins with Professor Rowan introducing you to the world of Pokémon and the Sinnoh region. You'll be able to choose your appearance and name, as well as the name of your rival (officially known as Barry). After a very brief cutscene, you'll find yourself in your room and able to start your adventure. Now is a good time to configure your settings by pressing 'X' and going into the Options menu if you'd like.
Begin by heading downstairs and speaking with your mom. She tells you that your rival wants to meet you at their house, which is in the northwest corner of town. Head to this house and your rival will greet you with a thud. He will invite you to come to the lake with him, but he forgot something in his room. Follow him to his room, then exit the house.
Head north of town and you'll quickly run into your rival. Follow the path to the left to go to the lake with him. Here you will overhear Professor Rowan and Dawn talking. They leave a briefcase behind in the tall grass, which your rival will take you to. You'll then be ambushed by some wild Starly.
Choosing a Starter
When you are ambushed, you'll get to choose your starter from the briefcase here. Your three starter options are the Grass-type Turtwig, the Fire-type Chimchar, or the Water-type Piplup. All of them are solid choices, but choosing Turtwig or Piplup will make the first gym easier. Whatever you choose, your rival will pick the starter that has a type advantage against yours.
After making your choice, you'll be thrown into your first battle against a Lv. 2 Starly. Your starter will be Lv. 5, so it should be a very easy battle. Afterward, Dawn will come back to find you've used the Pokémon in the briefcase. Once she leaves, head right to meet up with Professor Rowan and Dawn once again. They will invite you to stop by their lab later.
You'll then find yourself back at your home. Your mom will let you know that the Professor's Lab is in Sandgem Town. She will also give you the Running Shoes. There isn't anything else to do in Twinleaf Town for now, so head north onto Route 201.
Route 201
On this route, there is plenty of tall grass that you can encounter wild Pokémon in. However, you won't be able to catch any quite yet. Follow the path of the route to the right. Speak to the woman in an apron in the tall grass and she will give you 10 Potions. Continue to the route to enter Sandgem Town.
Sandgem Town
Once in this new town, Dawn will take you to the nearby Pokémon Research Lab. Here Professor Rowan will tell you that you can keep the starter Pokémon you chose. He will also give you the Pokedex and task you with filling it for him. Afterward, Dawn will show you around the rest of Sandgem Town.
You should heal up at the Pokémon Center while we are here. You can also quickly head south to the beach on Route 219 and pickup the Antidote in the Item Ball here. Afterward, return home to your house in Twinleaf Town by way of Route 201. You can use the ledges here to quickly get back and avoid the tall grass if you'd like.
Enter your house (at the bottom-right) and speak to your mom. She will give her blessing for you to go on your adventure and give you the Guidebook. Your rival's mother will also show up and ask you to deliver a Parcel to him. On your way out, she'll also put on your hat so that you are sporting your proper Sinnoh attire.
Route 202
Head back to Sandgem Town. From here, head north to Route 202 where you will quickly run into Dawn. Here she'll show you how to catch a Pokémon. As with all Pokémon games, you simply need to weaken them and then toss a Poké Ball. Afterward, she will give you 20 Poké Balls.
Continue along the path through the tall grass and you'll quickly run into your first trainer battle. Youngster Tristan has a Lv. 5 Starly. After winning, continue to the right and battle Lass Natalie and her two Lv. 3 Bidoofs.
Further north is Youngster Logan, who has a Lv. 5 Shinx. Go all the way left from here to find a Potion in the tall grass. You can then exit the route to north into Jubilife City.
Jubilife City
Once in the city, you'll meet up with Dawn. She will suggest you check out the Trainer School, where your rival has apparently been. It's located just to the left of the Pokémon Center, so head there. Here you'll find your rival in the back, so go ahead and deliver the Parcel. He will then give you a Town Map that was inside. Exit the school and head north.
Here the inventor of the Pokétch will greet you and offer to give you one if you find three clowns in the city. If you answer 'Yes' to their questions they will give you coupons. The three clowns can be found behind the Pokémon Center, in front of the Jubilife TV building, and in front of the Pokétch building. The last two buildings are found by passing the Poké Mart and continuing left.
Speak to the inventor once you have all the coupons and he will give you the Pokétch. This device is a watch that has several little helpful apps that can aid your journey or just be fun to play around with. You can see the watch by pressing 'R'. After getting the device, heal up and then head east out of the city.
Route 203
Once you get to Route 203, you'll run into your rival who will immediately battle you. He will have a Lv. 7 Starly and a Lv. 9 starter that has a type advantage against you. If you don't have any other Pokémon yet, you should probably get your starter to Lv. 10 or above before this fight. Otherwise if you are having trouble remember that you do have potions you can use. Heal up after the battle and then you can continue onto the route in earnest.
There are several trainers along this route, some of which you can avoid if you'd like. But it's a good idea to battle them to train for the upcoming gym. If you head north at the beginning of the route you'll find a Poké Ball. Continue up the stairs where you'll need to take the lower path and battle Youngster Dallas.
Head up another set of stairs to the right and battle Lass Kaitlin if you'd like. Continue right from here and battle Youngster Sebastian. If you wrap back around left there's another optional trainer battle against Lass Madeline and you can pick up a Repel down the stairs near the water.
Oreburgh City
Continue to the right and enter the cave. This is Oreburgh Gate. Speak to the hiker near the entrance and he will give you 3 copies of TM98 - Rock Smash. TMs in this game are consumed after one use, unlike some of the newer games. HMs have also been replaced by an app on the Pokétch. He suggests you'll be able to use Rock Smash out of battle after the next gym.
Continue to the right in this cave and you will encounter two trainer battles. Both can be avoided by sneaking behind the trainers if you'd rather. Exit the cave to the right and you'll arrive in Oreburgh City. As soon as you get here a youngster will show you where the gym is, and you'll find your rival guarding it. He says the gym leader left and went to Oreburgh Mine, so that's where we need to head.
Heal up at the Pokémon Center, and then head south from there towards the mine. Before going in you can speak to a worker off to the right in a little tractor maze to get a Super Potion. Then go ahead and head south into Oreburgh Mine.
Oreburgh Mine
It might not look like it, but there are wild Pokémon encounters in this area where you can pick up some Rock-type Pokémon if you'd like. Head down the stairs a little and then pick up the X Defense to the right. Head south down the rest of the stairs into the next room. Continue right and you'll see a worker facing a wall. You can speak to him for a battle if you want. Below him you'll find a Potion on the ground.
Continue along this path and you'll quickly run into the gym leader, Roark. He shows off how Rock Smash works but then runs off back to his gym. If you continue to the left you can battle another worker and pick up an Escape Rope. Afterward, exit the cave and head back towards the gym. Heal up if you need, then enter the gym when you are ready.
Oreburgh City Gym
Oreburgh City Gym and its leader Roark specialize in Rock-type Pokémon, of course. This gym is very straightforward, there is no gym puzzle to solve. There are two Rock-type trainers you can use to train here. Youngster Jonathan has a Lv. 10 Geodude and Youngster Darius has a Lv. 8 Geodude and a Lv. 8 Onix. Now simply speak to the gym leader to start the battle.
Roark has a Lv. 12 Geodude, a Lv. 12 Onix, and a Lv. 14 Cranidos. If you have a Piplup or Turtwig that is Lv. 12 or above, this battle should be pretty easy with your type advantage. If you chose Chimchar, you'll want to teach it Rock Smash and may want the level to be a little higher.
When you are finished, Roark will give you the Coal Badge and five copies of TM76 - Stealth Rock, as well as some stickers. With the Coal Badge, you will now be able to use Rock Smash outside of battle via the Pokétch.
Continue to Eterna City Gym
