Route 3

There's a few trainers here. The main things you'll discover is double battles, which return from previous entries in the series. Basically, you use two Pokemon at once. Nothing special, really. Continue on until you find Cheren ahead, prepared to battle. Beat his Level 14 starter and Level 12 Purrloin. Continue until two grunts rush by, and Bianca will appear with a little girl. It turns out the little girl lost her Pokemon to these grunts, so go into the cave. You and Cheren will both take on grunts.

After defeating yours, who uses a Level 12 Patrat, two more grunts will show on and double battle with their Level 12 Patrats. Cheren's AI may not be smart enough to cease attacks on the Patrats using Bide, so watch out. After the battle is won, go back to the girl to get some Heal Balls.

There's two Pokemon you can find on this route that are new to you: Pidove and Blitzle. Both of them are good Pokemon. Feel free to catch them.

Return to the cave if you'd like. There's two common Pokemon here. There are Roggenrola and Woobat. Roggenrola is a great Pokemon if you can trade to evolve it. Woobat is a Flying-Psychic hybrid, which is a good combination. However, a better Pokemon with the same type combination can be found just a bit farther in the game. There's a TM for Thief here. Pick it up.

There's a great Pokemon in the cave you might want to get: Drilbur. While in the cave, there's a chance that a bit of sand will start whirring up. Run into it and it will be a Drilbur, the fantastic Ground-type mole (I caught one and named it Prince because it is one of the 5th Generation's crowning achievements). To speed up the process, use Repels. You can run around without running into anything else. When the sand appears, running into it will trigger the battle regardless.

Heading south on Route 3 will put you against a kid using a Blitzle. Drilbur's Mud-Slap will annihilate it. There's an Antidote in the grass. Continuing on, you'll see Cheren, who will point out the dark grass. You can occasionally find two Pokemon in it. This means double battles against wild Pokemon. It's mostly a gimmick, so feel free to leave it alone. A trainer here uses a Level 13 Woobat. Bite, Crunch, or Thief will work wonders. Grab the Great Ball south of here.

The girl on the bridge will fight you. Her Level 12 Patrat will fall easily, as will her Purrloin of the same level. An Awakening is across the bridge, but so is a school kid using a Level 12 Pidove and Roggenrola. After winning, continue ahead.

Note: There are two very important patches of grass here. The first is the small one near the daycare. The second is the one just next to the exit to Nacrene. These are some of the best spots in the game to do your Audino grinding (vigorous leveling sessions accomplish by defeating Audino constantly). Just run back in forth just outside the patches and run into rustling grass when it appears. Put in your headphones, play your favorite songs, and get to work!

Go to: Nacrene City