[encounters]
Now you’ll have the freedom to actually explore Route 201 and its surrounding areas. While you can head back to Lake Verity, there’s not really any reason to as the encounters there are more or less the same. If you do feel like checking it out, though, it’s still best to go through some of Route 201 first as there’s an item in the Verity Lakefront that can only be accessed from the northern ledge on Route 201.
So, go ahead and walk (or run—in fact, any time this walkthrough says “walk,” you should be able to run there instead) through the tall grass. Keep in mind that you’ll encounter wild Pokémon in the tall grass, but they shouldn’t be too tough for you to take out. You won’t be able to catch them just yet, but you’ll be able to soon enough, don’t worry.
After running through the first patch of tall grass, you can continue to Sandgem Town by continuing east, or you can take a detour. If you choose to continue to Sandgem Town, keep scrolling down to the Route 201 subsection; otherwise, head back to the west, except on the upper part of the ledge. You’ll jump down the ledge if you walk towards it, and this applies for any of those one-way ledges, so be careful not to jump too early.
Verity Lakefront (Detour)
It’s not at all a huge deal, but keep walking to the west until you reach a few flowers in the corner of the ledges. There are two flowers in the bottom-right corner of the upper area—press A between these two flowers, in the northeastern corner of that 2×2 grid (or where the other nearby flowers are lined up with) and you’ll find a hidden Potion.
[info title=”Hidden Items”]All throughout the Pokémon world exist Hidden Items. These items are not observable with the naked eye, like most items are (these items are contained in something resembling a Poké Ball); instead, they are invisible, but can still be picked up if you press the A button while facing them.
Throughout the walkthrough, these will be mentioned as “hidden,” such as “a hidden Potion”—this means that it is not an actual, visible item, but one hidden in that spot.
Later on in the game, you’ll have access to a special feature called the Dowsing Machine that will make finding these hidden items much easier. In the meanwhile, this walkthrough will try to point out most of the hidden items as soon as they are available.[/info]
While you’re over here, you can check out Lake Verity if you’d like, though there’s not really anything exciting there besides the same sorts of encounters you’ve found on Route 201.
Lake Verity (Detour)
[encounters]
Yep, that’s it. Now go back to Route 201, back across that first patch of grass. You might want to go back to Twinleaf Town to talk to your mom first to heal up, but that’s totally optional.
Route 201 (Continued)
Back to the area just past the first patch of grass, you’ll find a sign as well as a girl walking around. The sign and the girl both have some tips, but nothing too much.
Head across the patch of grass to the north and talk to the person on the northern end of it and he’ll tell you that he works at a Poké Mart and will give you a free Potion as a sample. Potions can be used to heal your Pokémon’s HP without having to talk to your mom or go to a Pokémon Center to heal up. They heal 20 HP when used and you can use them either inside or outside of battle, but if you use them (or any other healing/restorative item) inside of battle, it will count as your action for the turn. Potions are a little expensive at this point in the game, so you should try to save them for tougher fights and just run back to the Pokémon Center (or your mom’s house) to heal up. What’s a Pokémon Center? You’ll find out in the next town, don’t worry!
Anyway, keep heading east and you’ll arrive in Sandgem Town!