Gym Leader Level: 14–15
Path to Cortondo
Starting from Mesagoza, you’re going to want to head to the west out from the west gate. This leads you onto South Province (Area Two). The map up above shows a the path from the gate to Cortondo, in the dotted line path. The general area around Cortondo is everything else in the dashed line and may be worth exploring while in the area, although won’t be covered on this page.
It starts out with quite a bit of hilly area, but all you need to do in order to get to Cortondo is just follow the road. There’s a Pokémon Center along the way, as well as some farmlands that have a few items and Pokémon around them.
There’s a lot more you can explore in South Province (Area Two), but that’s all optional.
Cortondo
Cortondo is a nice, relatively quaint town. It has two Pokémon Centers in it, with one right near the entrance. You can find the Gym in the center of town, on the south side.
There’s a Big Root at the base of the big tree in the northern part of town, on the north side of the tree. You can also trade a boy in town your Flabébé for his Snom, which is a nice way to get an icy bug fairly early on. You can also find TM037 Draining Kiss behind the Gym building.
Cortondo Gym
In order to take on the Cortondo Gym, you need to first pass the Gym Test. Go to the Gym in the south-central part of town and accept the challenge, then head to the field to the northwest of town, north of the western Pokémon Center.
Talk to the person near the gate and you’ll be tasked with the Olive Roll. Olive Roll? Olive Roll! You need to roll a giant, bouncy olive all the way to the goal basket at the other end of the arena, but there are fences and other obstacles you’ll need to watch out for. It’s a very bouncy olive, more like a beach ball than a ball of mud or something, so expect that thing to travel pretty far if you hit it!
You can talk to any of the Trainers that have a wall of Smoliv near them and, if you beat them in a battle, they’ll move out of the way, along with their Smoliv, allowing you an easier way to push the giant bouncy olive to the goal. There are two Trainers in total, but they’re all optional. One of the Trainers has a Kricketune Lv. 13 and one has a Venonat Lv. 13. Neither should be much of a problem.
After pushing the olive into the goal basket, you’ll have successfully completed the Gym Test, allowing you the right to fight the Gym Leader. Return to the Gym and talk to the receptionist when you’re ready, after healing your Pokémon up if they need some healing.
Gym Leader Katy
2,700
Double Kick
Struggle Bug
Assurance-
Bug Bite
Fury Swipes-
Fury Cutter
Katy is likely the first Gym Leader you’ll be fighting against, so thankfully she shouldn’t be too tough. However, since she specializes in Bug-type Pokémon, you’ll want to be careful if you started with Sprigatito, as it won’t have a good time against them.
She leads with her Nymble, and it has Struggle Bug and Double Kick for its moves. Struggle Bug lowers your Sp. Atk by one stage after it hits. It shouldn’t be that tough, though.
Her Tarountula comes up next and it has Bug Bite and Assurance. Bug Bite will hit harder if you have any berries held and consume the berry immediately, so don’t have berries equipped. Assurance is a fairly weak Dark-type move that you probably won’t need to worry about.
Lastly is her Teddiursa. Although Teddiursa is normally a Normal-type, she will Terastallize it on the first turn of the battle into a Bug-type, so keep that in mind when trying to figure out what to attack it with. It uses Fury Cutter and Fury Swipes, the former of which increases its power each time it successfully hits, so try to use something resistant to Bug like a Flying-type to prevent her from hitting you with that.
After beating her, she’ll reward you with a Badge as well as TM021 Pounce, a Physical-based Bug-type move that also lowers the target’s Attack.
Where to Go Next
If you’re focusing on the Victory Road storyline, your next Gym is waiting for you over in Artazon to the east. If you’re following the recommended order, good news: you’ll be heading east towards Artazon anyway, so either way, make your way back to Mesagoza and leave out the eastern gate instead.