43 – Mahogany Town Souvenir Shop, Hidden Rocket Base

When you enter the store, you will see Lance's Dragonite using Hyperbeam on the person had spoken about Gyrados as the money maker. He will tell you that the strange signal was, in fact coming from this store. He will say that it would be best for the pair of you to split up and investigate the hidden area separately.

Basement level 1:
Heading down the stairs, you will see a number of Persian statues with red glowing eyes. When you walk by the first one, the screen will flash red and a member of Team Rocket will come running to challenge you! He will send out a Drowzee lvl. 17, which will come at you with Disable, and Confusion mostly. After that, he will send out a Zubat lvl. 19. It will likely lead with Supersonic and follow it with Astonish or Wing Attack.

Right after the first, another will come running to challenge you. This one leads with a Zubat lvl. 16. It will likely start with Leech life or Supersonic. It also knows Astonish. After that, the Grunt could send in Grimer lvl. 17 or Rattata lvl. 18. The Grimer may start with Minimize, increasing its evasion and persist at it for a few turns. It may follow it with Mud-Slap or Harden. The Rattata likely will open with Focus Energy and follow it with Bite or Hyper Fang.

After this Grunt, the eyes on the Persian statue will stop glowing and you will be allowed to move on. Now you have a choice, you can turn off the security system or just leave it on to help level up your Pokemon.

Disable the traps:
If you want to disable the security system, from that first, head to the left, then head downwards through the opening in the wall, break to the right, turn downwards again through the opening, head to the left again, then down one last time and right one last time. You will encounter Scientist Greg. He will lead with a Magnemite lvl. 20 It will likely lead with Thunder Wave and follow it with Sonic Boom. After the first, he can send in another two Magnemite lvl. 20. The others act much the same, throwing out Sonic Boom, Thunder Wave or Thundershock. Not too far from Greg is a laptop sitting on a desk. Walk up to it and hit “A” and it will say that there is a suspicious button flashing there. If you want to disable the security, hit it, if not, just leave it alone. Just behind it is an item ball with Guard Spec. inside it.

From where you would disable the security head to the left, up and to the right and up and then to the right. If you have not disabled the security system, you will encounter a Team Rocket Grunt. He will lead with Drowzee lvl. 17. It will attack with Headbutt, Confusion or try to put your Pokemon to sleep with Hypnosis. After that he could send in Zubat lvl. 19. It will likely lead with Supersonic. It also will likely come at you with Astonish or Leech Life. After that another Rocket Grunt will come charging at you. He will lead with a Zubat lvl. 16. It will likely lead with Supersonic and follow it with Bite, Astonish or Leech Life. After that, the Grunt can send in either Grimer lvl. 17 or Rattata lvl. 18. The Grimer will likely lead with Mud-Slap or Harden. It also knows Disable and Minimize. The Rattata will likely start with Hyper Fang or Bite.

From there, head to the right to reach another item ball, this one with a Hyper Potion inside. From there, head downwards. When you reach the end of the corridor, head to the right, grabbing the item ball with a nugget inside and then going down the stairs.

Keeping the Security Active:
 If you do not want to just head to the left. You will see another Persian Statue. Once again, a Team Rocket Grunt will come running to challenge you. The first Grunt will lead with a Drowzee lvl. 17. Much like the others, it will try to Disable moves and put your Pokemon to sleep with Hypnosis or attack Headbutt or Confusion. After that, he will send out either Zubat lvl. 19. It will likely lead with Bite or Astonish. It also knows Supersonic. The second Grunt  will lead with a Zubat lvl. 16. It will likely start with Astonish, attempt to confuse your Pokemon with Supersonic and in general act much like the other Zubat. The Grunt will follow it with either Grimer lvl. 17 or Rattata lvl. 18. The Grimer knows Harden, Mud-Slap, Minimize. The Rattata will likely lead with Hyper Fang, and follow it with Pursuit or Focus Energy.

To the left of this statue you will see one more Grunt in this stretch of hallway. He will lead with a Rattata lvl. 16. Much like the others it knows Pursuit, Hyper Fang, Bite and Focus Energy. He can follow that Rattata with three others just like it. He will warn you about there being “explosives” laid in the floor. If you head down from him, you will find grey and yellow tiled floor. The tiles are Voltorbs lvl. 23. They will largely attack with Spark but they also know Screech, Light Screen. Some have Geodudes (lvl. 21) hidden underneath them. These know Rock Polish, Magnitude, Rock Throw.

On the far side of this field of traps, you will see a teleporter and a Persian Statue. Avoid the teleporter as it will just take you back to the entrance stairway that you started this level at. The Persian statue calls the usual two Grunts with the fist packing a Drowzee lvl. 17 and a Zubat lvl. 19. The second Grunt has Zubat lvl. 16, Grimer lvl. 17 and Rattata lvl. 18. Head to the right to find an item ball with a Nugget inside. Just a bit further to the right takes you to the last Persian statue. The first Grunt leads with the usual Drowzee lvl. 17 and Zubat lvl. 19 and the second Grunt is the same as the last one you encountered (Zubat, Grimer and Rattata).  Just head to the left from here and go down the stairs to each the next level.

Basement level 2:
Once you go down the stairs, you will encounter Lance again. He will heal up your Pokemon after their struggles on the last floor. After that, he heads off again. Follow him to the right. You will see some double-doors. These have a password that you do not know just yet. But there is a Grunt to the right who might know something. Walk toward him to challenge him. He will lead with a Venonat lvl. 18. It will attack your Pokemon with Leech Life, Supersonic, PoisonPowder. He will follow it another Venonat lvl. It will behave much the same as the last one. After the battle, talk with the guard to learn who actually has the password for these doors, apparently the guard who's watching the Boss's door. Head through the opening and go to the right to find the next Grunt. This one leads with a Golbat lvl. 18. It acts much like the Zubats you've been encountering. From here, just head down the stairs because this Grunt does not know the password.

Basement level 3:
Once you arrive on this floor, you will encounter Lance again. He will tell you that you need the voice of a certain person. That is Petrel, a Team Rocket Executive. Unfortunately, he is also behind a password protected door. Head up just to the left of the Rocket Grunt you see from the stairs, going through the opening to reach a room with a Scientist and Grunt. The Scientist is Ross, who leads with a Koffing lvl. 22. It will likely lead with Assurance. It also knows Smog and Smokescreen. After that, he will send in another Koffing lvl. 22. There are no real changes between the two so handle it just the same. Loop around the desk to take on the Grunt who is near the Scientist. She will open with Ekans lvl. 18. It may open with Poison Sting. It also knows Bite, Leer and Wrap. It will run through its attacks  pretty quickly, so keep on guard. After the Ekans, she will send in a Gloom lvl. 18. It will likely start with Sweet Scent, making your Pokemon easier to hit. It also knows Absorb, Sleep Powder. It will try to put your Pokemon to sleep then just drain its life with Absorb. Talk to this Grunt after you beat her to get the first part of the password.

Head out of this room and head to the left, growing through the break in the wall. This room again has a Scientist and a Grunt, but also two item balls. The Scientist Mitch will challenge you with a Ditto lvl. 24. Ditto is a unique Pokemon in that it will become a copy of your Pokemon given the chance. It will have the same ability and moves so be on guard. The Grunt in the room has a Raticate lvl. 19. It will likely start with Sucker Punch. This move will only hit if you chose an attack move on the same turn. If you did not, it will miss. It is a fairly powerful attack but only has a little PP. It also knows Bite, Pursuit and Hyper Fang. He will give you another part of the password for the Boss's Door. The item balls have a Protein and an X Special. Now you have both passwords for the Boss's Door. Take a moment to do a quick circuit around the first room you went into to find two item balls that the next set of stairs. The item balls have TM 49, Snatch, and a Full Heal. After you grab those, head up the stairs in the upper right corner to return to Basement level 2

Basement level 2, second area:
Take a moment and head down the short corridor. Search the grey and orange tower to find an X Sp. Def. Head back up and to the left to encounter the next Grunt. He will start with a Rattata lvl. 17. It has much the same set up as those you encountered earlier. He will send out another Rattata lvl. 17 and a Zubat lvl. 17. Again, no change from those you fought earlier. Head down the stairs to return to Basement level 3.

Basement Floor 3:
Take just one more side trip, going up the set of stairs just below the ones you just came down on. These will lead to a small room with an item ball containing TM 46, Thief. Head back down the stairs and go to the right to reach the doors that will lead you to Executive Petrel. As you approach the door, your Rival will approach you. He will complain how Lance beat him and told him that he did not show enough love to his Pokemon. Head a little more to the right to grab an Ultra Ball. Approach the door and put in the passwords. Save your game and approach the man inside the room.

Executive Petrel:

Zubat lvl. 22 – Bite,

Koffing lvl. 22 – SmokeScreen, Assurance

Raticate lvl. 24 – Scary Face, Sucker Punch, Hyper Fang, Crunch

The Zubat will mostly attack with Bite. The Koffing will likely open with Assurance. It will likely alternate between Assurance and SmokeScreen. The Raticate will likely open with Scary Face, dropping your Pokemon's Speed. Then it will likely come at you with Sucker Punch It has a chancew of using either Hyper Fang or Crunch, both powerful physical attacks.

When you beat Petrel, his Murkrow will run out of the room after him. Stay on the bird's tail. It will open the door to the transmitter room. You are not done yet though, as you will find another battle waiting for you in here, as you approach the transmitter, but this time you will be backed up by Lance!

Aria and Grunt
Ariana's Pokemon
Arbok lvl. 25
Gloom lvl. 25
Murkrow lvl. 27

Grunt's Pokemon
Drowzee lvl. 18, Grimer lvl. 20

Backed up by Lance's Dragonite lvl. 40, this is an easy battle to win. Just be on guard for status conditions from the Drowzee, Grimer, Arbok and Gloom. The rest are fairly straight forward to beat. All the Pokemon the Grunt has you have faced before.

After you and Lance beat Ariana, you will need to disable the machine. With no off-switch, you will need to make all the Eletrodes powering it faint (or catching them). There are three on the left hand side. They are all lvl. 23 knowing Screech, Spark, Light Screen and Rollout. After that, Lance will reward with HM 05 Whirlpool. Now, head on out, and make for the Gym, time to take it on! Head up the stairs, step on the teleporter to quickly reach the stairs out. Head on up those to emerge back into the shop. Head back into town, head down and hit the Gym, after a quick stop by the Pokemon Center to the right of it.


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