27. Relic Passage and Relic Castle

Relic Passage

Field move: Surf, Strength

Items: 
Room 1: Protein, Big Pearl
Room 2: Blue Shard , Max Repel , Green Shard , Yellow Shard , Rocky Helmet, Rare Candy, Ultra Ball, Rock Gem 
Room 3: Escape Rope x2 , Hard Stone, Max Repel

Trainers:

Name	Pokémon	Reward
Room 1
Backpacker	Sandslash lv.32	$768
Room 2
Hiker	Roggenrola, Timburr lv.31	$992
Psychic	Swoobat lv.33	$1056
Backpacker	Watchog lv.32	$768
Psychic	Baltoy, Yamask lv.32	$1024
Room 3
Scientist	Grimer lv.18	$640
Scientist	Venipede, Koffing lv.17	$816
Backpacker	Herdier lv.18	$432

Relic Passage (Interior)
Wild Pokemon		Types	Level(s)	Rarity
	Boldore		Lv. 27 ~ 30	39%
	Woobat	/	Lv. 27 ~ 30	36%
	Gurdurr		Lv. 28, 30	20%
	Onix	/	Lv. 30	5%
Shaking Grass / Swirling Dust			Level(s)	Rarity
	Drilbur		Lv. 27 ~ 30	80%
	Onix	/	Lv. 27	20%

As soon as you enter the Relic Passage, there's a Worker there who will give you the Funfest Mission Treasure Excavation! Nifty. Anyway, just south of him, you'll see a little fork in the road. If you head left, you'll find a Backpacker over there with a Sandslash L32. Sadly, that's all that's over there.

Back at where the fork was, head east and then take the upper path (the southern one is blocked anyway). You'll find yet another fork in the road; there's a path heading up and then one that keeps going east. To the north is a Backpacker with a Raticate L32 running around, as well as a Protein to the east up there. Now head back sound and head east so you can push the boulder into the hole using Strength, as well as face a Hiker. He has a Drilbur L31 and aRoggenrola L31.

Keep going east now and you'll find an entrance into another part of the Relic Passage.

Relic Passage (Driftveil; watery)
Wild Pokemon		Types	Level(s)	Rarity
	Boldore		Lv. 27, 28, 30	34%
	Woobat	/	Lv. 27, 28, 30	31%
	Gurdurr		Lv. 28, 30	20%
	Raticate		Lv. 29	10%
	Onix	/	Lv. 30	5%
Shaking Grass / Swirling Dust			Level(s)	Rarity
	Drilbur		Lv. 27 ~ 30	80%
	Onix	/	Lv. 27	20%

There's a Hiker right near the start of this place, who uses a Roggenrola L31 and a Timburr L31. South of him and then to the west is a hidden Blue Shard in the rock there, while to the east of that instead is a hiddenMax Repel.

Go back to the Hiker and then head east. You'll eventually run into a Psychic to the south, so go fight him and his Swoobat L33. Just south of him is a Green Shard hiding in the rock there. If you have Strength, go back and push the boulder to the east for a shortcut, otherwise head east from the Psychic.

Alright, from where that boulder hole is (filled in or not), there are a few directions you can go. If you're looking for the strong Pokemon, start by heading east, a little south, east again, and then north until you see a Psychic looking around. She uses a Baltoy L32 and a Yamask L32. There's a hidden Red Shard right next to her, plus you can push the boulder there to head into the Relic Castle (B7F, even!).

Otherwise, from where that one boulder hole was, go south instead. There should be three paths heading south you can take; go ahead and take the one on the left. You'll run into a Backpacker using a Watchog L32. There's a Yellow Shard hidden in the rock right next to her. Now keep following the path until you see steps on the right, which you should follow. That'll take you to another room in the cave.

In here, you're actually back in the part of the caves the Castelia Sewers led you to. Follow the path until you see a boulder over to the right and a ledge to the left. Push the boulder into the hole, but don't jump down the ledges over there yet! Run all the way up and then to the left and you'll find another entrance to the cave.

In this little cave, there are three items visible and a hidden one between the second and fourth item. The bottommost item is an Ultra Ball, the hidden item just above that is a Rock Gem, the next item up is a Rare Candy, while the topmost item is another Rocky Helmet. Cool?

Anyway, that's all there is over here, so run back to where that boulder and the ledges were, but head back west instead. If you want, you can hop down the ledge far to the west to reach a Max Repel, but since it's a one-way path, you'll have to fly (or walk!) all the way back to the Pokemon World Tournament, so it may not even be worth it. (You can also use Dig to take you back.)

If you've already checked out the Relic Castle, it may be worth it to just jump down and grab it, then leave, because that's all there is left to explore in the cave. Otherwise, make sure you go back and check out the Relic Castle, because that's where the really cool Pokemon is!

Relic Castle

Relic Castle B6F
Wild Pokemon		Types	Level(s)	Rarity
	Yamask		Lv. 27 ~ 30	40%
	Sandile	/	Lv. 27 ~ 28	30%
	Sandslash		Lv. 28 ~ 29	20%
	Krokorok	/	Lv. 29 ~ 30	10%

From the starting room, head east twice and you'll find yourself just outside of Volcarona's chambers to the north. In this room, there's a hidden Sun Stone where the top door's path meets the side doors path (just use your Dowsing MCHN to find it). Be sure to pick that up.

Relic Castle (Volcarona's Chambers)
Wild Pokemon		Types	Level(s)	Rarity
	Baltoy	/	Lv. 27 ~ 30	100%

You can now head either north into Volcarona's chambers or to the east. Well, what are you waiting for? Head on north and then get ready to take onVolcarona! Make sure you save your game before fighting it, because it can be pretty darn hard to catch.

Relic Castle B6F
	Volcarona  Lv. 35

Thankfully (I guess?), Volcarona is nowhere near the beast it once was in Black and White, due to its low level and lack of good moves right away. It is still tricky to catch and it's still great to have an opportunity to catch one 24 levels before it's even supposed to evolve.

Patience REALLY Pays Off

Let's face it, while Volcarona has some nice stats and all, it doesn't learn any worthwhile moves for a long time. That severely hampers its usefulness! However, if you knock it out now, you'll be able to return to fight it after you've beaten the game at level 65 instead of level 35. At that point, it has much more useful moves, including Quiver Dance and Heat Wave, plus it's only five levels away from learning the awesome Bug Buzz.

Since there are a lot of tough fights for you after beating the game and since training a Volcarona up 30 levels is pretty much a big waste of time when you could do it without any hassle, I strongly recommend you don't catch this Volcarona until after you've beaten the game, then come back for it pretty much immediately afterwards. If you do that, Volcarona will easily receive a 5-star rating thanks to its Quiver Dance, Heat Wave, and access to Bug Buzz.

Now, go back to the room just outside of Volcarona's chambers and then head east. Keep going until you find a huge pile of sand with an Ultra Ball on top. That's all there is to do down here, yup.