X&Y Santalune City Gym

Santalune City Gym

The Santalune City Gym is full of Bug-type Trainers, as the man at the entrance will tell you. Fire- and Flying-type Pokémon are your best bet, while any Rock-type moves they have will work in a pinch (you're not likely to have any of these at this point unless you started with Chespin).

Climb down the string to descend to the lower area of the Gym, where all of the Trainers lurk.

There are a total of three Trainers down here, though you need to fight only one of them. See the web you're standing on? The bright parts of the web are parts that you can step on, while there are broken parts that you cannot cross. There are several ways to get through here; the longest, safest route is by following the little dewdrops on the web. Follow those and you'll get to the Gym Leader, though you can take some shortcuts if you don't mind fighting some Youngsters.

There are two Youngsters that are optional to fight. The first, Youngster David, uses a rather strong Ledyba L10, which is bulky, takes a bunch of hits, and can confuse you. Beware! The second Youngster, Zachary, uses a Spewpa L10.

Finally, toward the back of the Gym, you'll have to fight against Lass Charlotte, who uses a Kakuna L7 and a Combee L9. The Kakuna is capable of using either Poison Sting or Harden, so watch out. The Combee is not too tough either, but it does pack Gust, so watch out for that.

When you reach the end, you'll have to face off against the Gym Leader, Viola, who is a professional photographer and believes the bond between you and your Pokémon is fantastic!

Viola leads with a Surskit L10, which may present some trouble for any Fire-type Pokémon you're planning on using. It is a Water/Bug-type, meaning Fire-type attacks do neutral damage, plus it is able to set up Water Sport to further weaken Fire-type attacks. Flying-type Pokémon, such as Pidgey, Fletchling, or Farfetch'd, are your best bet against her.

After her Surskit is out of the way, she uses her Vivillon L12, which is a fully evolved Pokémon. Tackle is one of its moves and it doesn't do much damage, but it may have other moves capable of affecting you.

An easy way to beat Viola is to use Quacklin', a Farfetch'd you can trade a Bunnelby for, and just use Aerial Ace. Avoid training Quacklin' up too much, though, as being a traded Pokémon, it may disobey.

After you've beaten Viola, she'll relinquish the Bug Badge and give you TM83 Infestation. Infestation is a new Bug-type move that does a moderate amount of damage, but traps the foe and does residual damage each turn, similar to Fire Spin.

You can leave the Gym by heading through the curtain she opens up in the back. With your shiny new Gym Badge, you should set your destination to Lumiose City and show Professor Sycamore, so head on over to the northern part of Santalune City to start your journey.