Recommended Level: 34+
Recommended Pokémon Types: Fighting
More or less the meeting point of east and west - at least as far as Gym Challenges are concerned - the Medali Gym Challenge is meant to be your fifth step on the Victory Road Treasure Hunt if you're playing in order of levels. The challenge is ramping up at this point, so hopefully you have a Fighting-type to tackle the Gym Leader.
Medali is located in the north of Paldea, right in the heart of West Province (Area Three). You'll either arrive here by traveling through the various segments of West Province, or via the Dalizapa Passage in the east. (The western path is a bit faster if you're in a hurry to get to Medali.) Medali is a small town compared to some of the other locations in Paldea, but it's still worth a quick explore before you challenge the gym.
- There are an excessive number of restaurants and food vendors for such a small town. If you're looking for clothes or other items, don't look in Medali. (Though its largest restaurant, the Treasure Eatery, is part of the Gym Challenge. More on that below.)
- Near the southern Pokémon Center is a small amphitheater. Next to it is an alleyway vendor area, and behind the vendors you'll find Leftovers.
- At the rear of the Treasure Eatery, on the north side of Medali, you'll find a Normal Tera Shard.
- In roughly the center of town, across the street from the Treasure Eatery and to the northwest, are three vendor carts selling food. In the alley behind the vendors is TM 074 Reflect.
- If you get up onto the cliffs south of Medali (and if your mount can glide) you can soar down onto the rooftops of the town. There's a Rare Candy on the yellow rooftops closest to the Pokémon Gym, and if you get onto the flat-topped roof next to the Pokémon Gym you'll find TM 132 Baton Pass.
That's enough looking around. Shall we check out the gym?
Gym Challenge
The Gym Challenge in Medali is fitting of the town's obsession with food: You need to order the 'secret' dish at the Treasure Eatery. To do this you need to collect clues from other trainers, spread throughout Medali, and use them to puzzle out how the restaurant's regulars season their dishes. The first part of the puzzle is solved by speaking to the man in the grey suit at the counter of the Treasure Eatery - 'Lemon' - but the rest you'll need to fight to retrieve. The three trainers are listed below.
Gisela the Student
- Ursaring, level 34
Location: To the left of the Pokémon Gym as you exit
Reward: 4,760 P
Hits hard, is susceptible to Fighting-type moves. Get used to it. Gisela's hint is 'a dark spot surrounded by stairs'.
Adara the Student
- Gumshoos, level 34
- Greedent, level 34
Location: Across the street from the Treasure Eatery
Reward: 4,760 P
Two more Normal-type Pokémon. Nothing special, though Greedent can make your life painful with Counter if you use a physical attack that doesn't take it down in one hit. Adara's hint is 'the odd one out at one of the ice cream stands'.
Santiago the Student
- Dunsparce, level 34
Location: Down the street from the southern Pokémon, surrounded by restaurants
Reward: 4,760 P
A Dunsparce? Eesh. Fighting-type will end this quickly. Santiago's clue is 'listen to the blue bird Pokémon'.
Gisela's hint points to the amphitheater's gate at the bottom of the stairs. Inspect it to learn the phrase 'Fire Blast'. Adara's hint refers to one of the ice cream stands across from the Treasure Eatery which sells Grilled Rice Balls. Santiago's hint points to a Squawkabilly on a man's head, just down the street from the trainer, and it will say 'Meedyum' if you sit and watch it long enough.
Head to the Treasure Eatery and speak to the waiter by the door. Order Grilled Rice Balls, Medium, Extra Crispy, Fire Blast Style, with Lemon. This will reveal the Pokémon Gym battle arena in the restaurant. Speak to the waiter at the door again to begin the battle.
Gym Leader Larry
- Komala, level 35
- Dudunsparce, level 35
- Staraptor, level 36
Reward: 6,480 P, TM 025 Facade
Ahh, hiding in plain sight. Ingenious. Larry's team is full of Normal-types, no surprise, and they can all do a fair bit of damage. A Fighting-type will get you through two-thirds of this fight no sweat, but the last might give you a bit of trouble without extra backup.
- Larry's first Pokémon is Komala. It will typically use Yawn to make one of your Pokémon drowsy, then Sucker Punch and Slam to do damage. Use a Fighting-type move to smash it, then switch your Pokémon out for something else before it falls asleep.
- Next is Dudunsparce, which uses the Ground-type Drill Run and Normal-Type Hyper Drill to do damage. It can also use Glare to paralyze your Pokémon. Fighting-type moves are still the order of the day, though be prepred for Dudunsparce's bulk to keep it alive through the first move.
- Last is Staraptor, a Normal- and Flying-type that will Terastallize into a pure Normal-type. It will then do most of its damage with Facade, swapping in Aerial Ace if you throw out something weak to Flying-type moves. Facade will badly punish anything that was paralyzed by Dudunsparce, so swap out for something that can handle Normal- and Flying-type moves. Steel- and Rock-type Pokémon will do nicely.
Thwomping Larry will earn you a TM and your next badge. If this is your fourth gym you'll now be able to handle Pokémon up to level 45, and can catch them more easily to boot. All done! Where's gym number six?