In order to take on the final storyline arc, known as The Way Home, you’ll have to complete the Victory Road, Path of Legends, and Starfall Street storyline arcs first. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to talk with Arven and meet up at the Zero Gate southeast of Medali in order to head to your final destination: Area Zero in the Great Crater of Paldea.
This page shows a quick overview of your trek through Area Zero, but you can also find more information on the individual pages, linked below. There are four research stations that you’ll need to visit before reaching your final destination, the Zero Lab, and you can find which page covers which station in the table below. There’s also a secret cave that will be more useful to you after beating the game, which can be found near research station #3.
| Research Station | Section |
|---|---|
| Research Station #1 A short walk from the start | Surface |
| Research Station #2 Further past station #1, down a bit | Surface |
| Research Station #3 On the ground level | Surface |
| Secret Cave Behind boulders west of station #3 | Secret Cave |
| Research Station #4 Near the bottom of the cavern | Cavern |
| Zero Lab At the very bottom of the cavern | Cavern / Final Battle |
You’re not going to be able to ride on Koraidon/Miraidon while you’re down here, at least not until after your job here is over, so keep that in mind. It will be more efficient exploring every nook and cranny afterwards, but there are still a lot of powerful items and TMs you can pick up along the way, and even more if you go off the beaten path.
Additionally, while you’re in Area Zero, you will not be able to see where you are on your map other than in Area Zero. You also cannot have other players join you in Area Zero if you go there, nor can you set up a Picnic while down there. However, you can use your map and fly out of Area Zero at any time, so don’t worry if you get lost—you can also travel back to any research station you have disabled the lock in by using the teleporter pad.
Area Zero (Surface)
The Surface portion of Area Zero consists of everything above the surface. It’s quite large and where you will spend most of your time exploring. There are a total of three research stations you’ll need to visit in order to disarm the locks to the Zero Lab at the very bottom of Area Zero.
You can read more about how to traverse the surface portion of Area Zero in the Area Zero (Surface) page:
Area Zero (Secret Cave)
The Secret Cave is a well-hidden mysterious cave found near Research Station #3 in the surface portion of Area Zero. The entrance to it is hidden behind some boulders and it may be a bit tricky to find, but it also is the only place in Area Zero to contain the elusive Roaring Moon (Scarlet) or Iron Valiant (Violet).
For some help finding the Secret Cave, as well as more information about its contents, head on over to the Area Zero (Secret Cave) page:
Area Zero (Cavern)
Finally, the Cavern portion of Area Zero is the final stretch while exploring the Great Crater of Paldea, and it is entered from the giant hole in the middle of the area—or, more safely (at least until you can ride on Koraidon/Miraidon after beating the game), by entering the giant cavern entrance directly outside of Research Station #3.
You’ll also have to fight against a bunch of ancient or future Pokémon before gaining access to the Zero Lab after disabling all of the locks in the four research stations.
You can read more about the cavern portion of Area Zero by reading the Area Zero (Cavern) page:
Final Battle
After entering the Zero Lab at the bottom of Area Zero, you’ll at long last be greeted by the Professor—Professor Sada in Scarlet or Professor Turo in Violet.
They will then explain the situation and give one final task for you, which will lead you into the Final Battle sequence of the main storyline of the game. Heavy spoilers are contained within, so you might want to wait before reading too much further on, but whenever you’re ready, read whichever of the following pages matches the version you’re playing, as the final battle is entirely different depending on your version: