POKEMON BLACK AND WHITE WALKTHROUGH

Skyla informs you that the next Gym is past Twist Mountain, which is at the end of Route 7, so leave the Gym and head over there. N will jump you as soon as you leave Skyla's Gym to talk to your Pokemon, realizing that you and your Pokemon are close. He'll then spill some more of the plot; Ghetsis is currently in search of the two stones, Light and Dark, that each hold the essence of a Dragon-type Legendary Pokemon within, and N plans to revive and befriend them to show the world his way is right, although he notes that he'll feel bad for separating truly bonded Trainers and Pokemon. He'll leave, so return to Route 7.

Back on Route 7, go north through the first section until you reach the Route's second elevated walkway; there's a rest house where you can heal your team. Otherwise, head east until your Xtransceiver receives a call from your Mom, who just wants to check up on you. Further east you'll find another raised path, on which is a Harlequin who has Emolga and Sigilyph, before descending to find TM81 - X-Scissor, a Physical Bug-type move with decent Power, at a dead end. The tall grass here is the kind that has wild Double Battles, but the Pokemon aren't different from before, so you can ignore it. Resume heading north, taking either the lower path with tall grass or the raised walkway with a second Harlequin who has Tynamo, Ducklett and Tranquill. Both ways lead to the start of Twist Mountain, which has an Ultra Ball hidden just before the stairway.

Cheren and Twist Mountain

As you try to climb the staircase at the start of Twist Mountain, Cheren will approach you to fulfill the apparently new quota of having one Rival battle in between each Gym match.

As usual, the main changes to Cheren's roster since your last fight with him are some evolutions of his Pokemon. Both his monkey and his Tranquill have evolved this time, with the latter becoming Unfezant, and you'll want to use a faster Pokemon here so you won't be subject to Air Slash's flinch rate. It's also holding a Scope Lens to improve its chance for Critical Hits, so take it down fast with Gigalith, Galvantula, Zebstrika or Vanillish. Liepard is as offensively and defensively feeble as ever, so defeat it with your strongest STAB moves. If it uses its Sitrus Berry, it will receive a Speed boost from its Unburden ability. While his Starter has not yet reached its second stage, it is now holding Leftovers to restore some health between turns, and his monkey has a hold item to boost it STAB attacks. Use the same type advantages as always to beat Cheren's Starter and monkey: Grass and Electric-types for Simipour and Dewott; Rock-, Water- or Ground-types for Simisear and Pignite; and Flying-, Bug-, Poison-, Ice or Fire-types for Simisage and Servine.

After his latest loss, Cheren will wonder some more about strength until, right on cue, Alder will appear to give him some more wise words. He'll then give you both HM03 - Surf, which is an incredibly useful move both inside and outside of battle. It lets you ferry across bodies of water and, most importantly, it's probably the best Special Water-type move in the game, so teach it to as many Special-oriented Pokemon as you can. As always, Cheren will resolve to defeat you next time, and then climbs up into Twist Mountain. Follow him up the stairs and, before you can even entire the dungeon proper, you'll fight a Hiker who has Boldore and Gurdurr. Beat him and go inside. Twist Mountain is also the first area of the game that changes significantly depending on the seasons, as snow opens up much of the outside areas during the winter.

Walk up the path a bit to find Cheren chatting with Clay, who notes that all of the Gym Leaders have met to talk about Team Plasma. Before leaving, Clay adds that Team Plasma has gone quiet lately and that you and Cheren shouldn't worry about them, encouraging you to explore the Mountain. Follow Cheren east to emerge back outside, at what looks like an excavation site. The wild Pokemon at Twist Mountain are the same in all areas of the Mountain; the only new one is the Ice-type snowflake/mirror hybrid Cryogonal. It's a strange Pokemon that has a 5% encounter rate during the winter months (April, August, December), with only a 1% encounter rate otherwise, and it has horrible Defense, massive Special Defense, and decent Special Attack and Speed. Unfortunately, the pure Ice-typing is pretty bad, so it's not a particular standout, although it works fine in-game, like most things do.

From where you start outside, head all the way north from the NPC to find a Revive at the dead end. Retrace your steps and continue east from the Worker to find a Full Heal on the ground shortly past the next entrance. Back inside of the cave again, follow the path through to fight a Hiker who has Woobat, Boldore and Gurdurr; hidden within the cave wall behind him is a Hyper Potion. The path immediately next to the Hiker takes you back outside to a dead end that has a female Ace Trainer and her Vanillish, Gothorita and Duosion. Otherwise, take the farther path with the Battle Girl and her Sawk to emerge back outside. An optional Worker with Boldore and Excadrill is just to the south here; otherwise, follow the boarded path into the next cave portion of Twist Mountain.

The next cave portion of Twist Mountain has a few piles of dirt along the way: the first has nothing, the second has a hidden Stardust, and the third has a Worker who uses Swoobat; beyond the Worker is a Moon Stone, the item needed to evolve Munna into Musharna. Take the path south of the Worker to reach a lower floor that has more piles of dirt directly south; another Stardust is hidden in the southeastern clump, and another hidden Worker, this one with three Boldore, is directly west of the Stardust pile. After going through the dirt, resume going west to reach the outside portion of the Mountain again. To your north is a Max Potion on the ground; also, during the winter, you can access a hidden Rare Candy in the snow above. To your far west is the gateway to the next cave portion of the Mountain, with an Ether to the north. Grab that and go back inside.

Back inside once again, take the first northern path to find a Nugget on the ground that you can sell later for money. Hidden within the jagged rock to the left of this Nugget is a Revive, and Elixir is hidden in the southwestern corner of the cave, directly across from the entrance from which you just came. Head up from this corner and go all the way to the northern edge of the room, where you'll be ambushed by another Worker hiding in some dirt. This one has one Excadrill in his party and one PP Up on the ground to his left. Following east will take you back outside, where you'll find a Doctor to the south; defeat his Duosion and Musharna and he'll heal your Pokemon. The lower sections of Twist Mountain near the Doctor are where things start to deviate depending on the current season; follow the section for your current season.

Twist Mountain (Spring, Summer and Autumn)

The path with the Doctor leads to two more ways back into the cave; however, the farther one leads to a dead end, so ignore it. The closer passage is only available during the warmer months, as snow blocks it off during the winter. Inside, you'll find a Hiker who has Woobat and Boldore directly to your north. Head behind him to descend further into a part of the cave that has an Ultra Ball to the west and a Black Belt and his Sawk nearby. The third dirt pile along this path has a hidden Protein for 10 Attack EVs, while the fourth contains another hidden Worker who owns Gurdurr and Boldore. The exit is just to the south, and brings you to the lowest outside area, which is exclusive to the warmer months. There's a house of little interest, a vending machine, and two more entrances out here.

Ignore the entrance directly east of the vending machine for now and head south, past the second bulldozer, to find a lower path. The next screen doesn't have much going on right now, but you can get some of the Fossils from the older games from the NPC here later into the game. Continue further into the cave and you'll find the bottom floor of Twist Mountain, which is home to Unova's answer to the Ice Rock. Later in the game, once you get Eevee, you can level it up here to evolve it into Glaceon. More importantly to us at this moment, however, is the TM91 - Flash Cannon on the ground in the top right corner of the screen. This is one of the better Special Steel-type moves and has a chance to lower the target's Special Defense. Return to the vending machine area, take the eastern entrance and head north to find Cheren with a Team Plasma Grunt.

Twist Mountain (Winter)

During the winter, from where you fought the Doctor, you can run up through a snow bank out here to find a hidden Stardust along the top edge of the screen; otherwise, there should be a passageway in the middle of the screen that leads to a dead end, which is the farther entrance during the warmer months. During the winter only, you can go southeast from the farther entrance to find another small passage, inaccessible during the rest of the year, that has a Metal Coat, a hold item that gives a 20% boost to Steel-type moves and is needed to evolve Onix and Scyther. Additionally, in the northeast corner of the outside area, which is accessible east of the hidden Stardust along the top, there's a walkway that hasn't been covered with snow that has a hidden Iron on it.

If you follow through the path near the hidden Iron, you'll end up in the same room that has the Hiker during the warmer months; the left path here leads to a ledge that you can hop over to reach the dead-end accessible from the outside portion. Continue to the right instead and worm through the path to find a male Ace Trainer, accessible only during winter, who has Krokorok, Palpitoad and Klang. Southwest of the Ace Trainer is TM90 - Substitute, a move in which the user sacrifices 25% of its HP to create a copy that takes hits for it. After getting Substitute, run east to find north-south split in the path. The south exit just brings you back to the northeast corner of the outdoor portion, so you don't have go there; continue north to reach the next floor and to see Cheren with a Team Plasma Grunt.

Regardless of the current season, you'll eventually come across Cheren talking to a Team Plasma Grunt. He points out the thing that probably everyone has been thinking when he tells the Grunt to set his own Pokemon free if he wants to liberate Pokemon so much. One of his teammates will run to announce that Team Plasma has found the stone that they wanted, and then the Grunts announce their allegiance to N and leave. Cheren decides to stay behind for awhile to reflect on Alder's advice, letting you go on without him. Continue through the exit to reach Icirrus City.

Upon entering Icirrus City, Cedric will be waiting to ask if you're familiar with Dragonspiral Tower, mentioning that it's the place where Legendary Dragon Pokemon were born, presumably the same ones that Team Plasma want to use. Cedric leaves north to visit the Tower, leaving you to explore Icirrus, which features puddles from snowy weather that contain wild Pokemon during the warmer months. Two new Pokemon can be found within Icirrus' big puddle: Shelmet and Stunfisk. Stunfisk is a derpy Ground/Electric-type fish who can take a Special hit or two, although its most notable trait is the unique typing. Shelmet is the Pokemon who must be traded with Karrablast to evolve both, at which point it becomes Accelgor, a fast ninja bug with good Special Attack but a less than ideal Special movepool. A Max Revive is hidden at near the top-left corner of the puddle.

Follow Cedric up the stairs to find the Pokemon Center; a woman inside gives you TM31 - Brick Break, a Physical Fighting-type move with decent Power and the ability to remove the opponent's Reflect and Light Screen. You can also buy TM14 - Blizzard, TM25 - Thunder and TM38 - Fire Blast from the Pokemon Center; while inaccurate, these are some of the most powerful Ice-, Electric- and Fire-type moves, respectively, although Fire Blast's 85% accuracy makes it worth considering, as is Thunder if you have a Joltik with Compound Eyes. The older man will pay you well if you bring him valuable items, including the type Gems that you've been finding in Drilbur's dust clouds and a hefty $10000 per Nugget(!).

An NPC outside of the Pokemon Center will you give bit of backstory about Dark Stone in Black or the Light Stone in White - these are the items Team Plasma wants. Directly east of the Pokemon Center is a dead-end that has a hidden Ultra Ball and a hidden Timer Ball right next to each other. Next to the dancing cult left of the Pokemon Center is an item ball that you can access during the warmer months - check here in the winter to get to a hidden Max Potion in the chasm and the Rare Candy on the other side.

The house here is accessible during all seasons and contains the Unova Region's Pokemon Fan Club - inside, the President will give you some items depending on how much your Pokemon has grown under your care. A Pokemon that has grown 25 to 49 levels earns you an Exp. Share, a hold item that gives the user Exp. without entering the battle; 50 to 98 levels earns a Cleanse Tag, a hold item that lowers the wild encounter rate, which is desperately necessary in this game; and 99 levels nets you a King's Rock, the item necessary to get Politoed and Slowking that gives any holder's moves a small chance to cause flinches. Additionally, the woman in here will rate the happiness of your Pokemon.

When you enter the house northeast of the Fan Club, a woman named Wye will call you in to take a "Pep Quiz" from her husband Aha. You can return here every day to take the quiz, but the prizes are pretty lame: an Andidote for a correct answer and a Parlyz Heal for a wrong one. The house between Aha's house and the Pokemon Center doesn't have much going on inside. Finally, at the south end of town, available only during the winter, is another house, but this one features a cameo of a minor older character: the lone Team Rocket Grunt in Kanto during the Johto-based games! He's reformed, gotten married, and had a kid; his wife will give you a Rage Candy Bar for later use. Just southwest of this house are two hidden Tiny Mushrooms and a hidden Big Mushroom in the snow. Finally, Icirrus City Gym is north of the Fan Club, so head over there to fight for the seventh Badge!

Icirrus City Gym

As always, you can speak to Clyde for your complimentary Fresh Water and Gym advice. As an Ice-type Gym, Icirrus Gym also has the complimentary annoying Ice-type Gym puzzle in which your character has to slide across a slippery floor to maneuver. Start by walking north from the opening next to Clyde; you'll slide into a curve that steers you to a tile of regular ground, at which point you should slide to the right. The Black Belt has two Cubchoo, a Cryogonal, and a quip about the craziness of the Unova Gyms. Hit the switch here to move the next slope, and then move into it to slip into more dry ground that features a Battle Girl who has a Cryogonal. Head east across some icy hills to reach a Black Belt with a Cubchoo.

After defeating the Black Belt's Cubchoo, you'll be in a new section of the Gym. Slide east from the Black Belt to hit a blockade of stones, at which point you can slide up, right and up again to reach the next patch of dry ground, which holds a Battle Girl and her Cubchoo and Vanillish. After beating her, slide down into the back of the wooden mechanism and then right to the next path of regular ground. Slip left, letting the curve through you to the southeast, and then head up from the landing point to reach the next switch that controls the slopes. From the switch tile, go up and then left, then use the slope to reach the next section of icy hills and a Battle Girl who has two Vanillish.

After the Battle Girl is the third and final section of the Gym. Slide east onto the dry ground, north into the slope, right into the rock wall, north to another piece of dry ground and right into the same slope as before. Now you can follow the path up to the Gym's final underling Trainer, a Black Belt who has Vanillish and Cubchoo, and final switch to move the nearest slope. The final series of short slips to take is right, down into the slope to reach a blue dry patch, left into a rock, down into more dry ground, left back into the previous slope to reach the last rest tile, and then finally north to get off this annoying ice at last. The Icirrus Gym Leader and man of few words, Brycen, is waiting to the north.

Brycen is actually one of the easiest Gym Leaders in the game because his speciality type, Ice, has many weaknesses. Oddly, none of his Pokemon have Hail, despite two of them having abilities that work with it. He starts with Vanillish, which has horribly weak attacks in Frost Breath, Astonish and Mirror Shot; the last one is Steel-type, but it's weak enough that your own Rock-types can probably take it. Acid Armor doubles its Defense, while Crygonal's Reflect boosts the Defense of the entire team. The snowflake also has Rapid Spin to remove your entry hazards, and two weak STAB moves in Aurora Beam and Frost Breath; keep in mind that it has Levitate for Ground-type immunity. Finally, Beartic's Brine is Brycen's only move that provides coverage against some of Ice's weaknesses. It also has Slash and STAB flinch-inducing Icicle Crash for power and Swagger to confuse you.

All three of Brycen's Pokemon are pure Ice-types, so they resist only their own type while being weak to Fire-, Steel-, Fighting- and Rock-type moves. Cryogonal is his only one with some Speed, but just about any Physical move will destroy its base 30 Defense; Beartic is Brycen's most bulky and powerful Pokemon but it's also slow. Naturally, Tepig players will be a huge advantage in this match, since both of Emboar's types are strong here, but do watch out for Beartic's Brine. Brycen's moves can't do much to hurt Samurott, either, but Serperior should be kept off the field for obvious reasons. Throh/Sawk, Conkeldurr, Gigalith, Darmanitan and defensive Water-types are all useful choices for their type advantages, as are fast Pokemon to avoid Brycen's flinch moves. The Brick Break TM you got from Icirrus City is also handy for having a type advantage against Brycen and removing Reflect.

When you defeat Brycen, you'll receive $4680; TM79 - Frost Breath, a weak Special Ice-type move that always lands as a Critical Hit; and the Freeze Badge, which makes all Pokemon up to Level 80 obey you and allows you to use HM05 - Waterfall on the overworld to climb its namesake bodies of water.