Glittering Cave consists of a series of long and winding tunnels, illuminated only by the Luminous Moss growing on the walls. Follow the green moss and beware of dark areas! A new threat in Kalos has made themselves known, and your little mission to find the fossil researcher is about to get a lot more dangerous.
Follow the moss[edit]
The outer area of Glittering Cave is presented very differently. You view your surroundings from behind your character, and visibility is extremely poor all around. This area plays a lot like an old-school dungeon crawler, where you have to advance step-by-step and turn to go in different directions. Wild Pokemon manifest themselves as abnormally dark shadows in front of you, and you'll be forced to battle them to get through. The right path through the tunnels is to follow the green moss whenever you come to a branch in the route, but taking the wrong branches often lead you to items.
From the entrance, proceed forward until you come to the first branch. Go forward, ignoring the branching path to the right. After taking a turn to the left, go down the next branching path you come across to reach a Hard Stone. Return to the branch and go down the path with the green moss. After taking two right turns, take the left branch to reach TM65 Shadow Claw. Shadow Claw is a very powerful physical Ghost-type attack with a high critical hit rate, which you can teach to physical attackers to enhance their type coverage. Go back to the branch and follow the green moss once again to finally reach the inner areas of the cave.
Team Flare appears![edit]
Not long after you enter the inner mine, you will be attacked by a thug claiming he's from Team Flare. They are searching for fossils in the area and want to drive you out to keep you from interfering!
- Team Flare Grunt
- Houndour (Lv. 18)
- Zubat (Lv. 18)
720
While wild Pokemon won't randomly appear in this area, they can attack you from above. Watch out for shadows on the ground and dirt dropping from the ceiling. If you happen to walk on to the dark patches, you'll be ambushed by Pokemon from the ceiling! Go right and you will be stopped by a female Team Flare member.
- Team Flare Grunt
- Gulpin (Lv. 18)
- Electrike (Lv. 18)
- 720
Eventually, you'll find your progress blocked by two Team Flare grunts, who decide to take you on 2-on-1. Thankfully, Calum/Serena arrive in the nick of time to help you in your battle. This Multi Battle is similar to the fight with Trevor and Tierno back on Route 7. You give orders to your own Pokemon while your neighbor controls theirs, and both of you must defeat both Team Flare grunts in a double battle. Calum/Serena have caught a few more Pokemon since you last met, now owning an Espurr and Absol as well as their evolved starter.
- Team Flare Grunts
- Scraggy (Lv. 20)
- Croagunk (Lv. 20)
- 1,600
With their whole squad handily defeated, Team Flare retreats out of the cave. Continue into the cave, picking up the Escape Rope along the way. The fossil researcher is at the dead end in the center of the cave. It seems that Team Flare hadn't infiltrated the area for long, as even the scientist didn't know about their presence. He offers a choice between two fossils, a Jaw Fossil and a Sail Fossil. You can only pick one, so choose wisely!
| #696 Tyrunt | #698 Amaura |
|---|---|
Smashing rewards[edit]
Glittering Cave is known for its archaeological artifacts, and you can own a piece of natural history yourself by using Rock Smash on the cracked rocks in the area. The rocks here have a possibility of yielding Hard Stones, Revives and even a rare Old Amber. Old Amber is particularly notable in that it is a fossilized Pokemon as well, and you can revive it at the Fossil Lab to get Aerodactyl. You may also find wild Pokemon in the rocks, so be careful.
That's not all to this cave! Once you've defeated the Kalos Pokemon League, you'll be able to get more rare fossils by rock smashing here. You can find the Skull and Armor Fossils from the Sinnoh region, as well as the Cover and Plume Fossils from the Unova region. In the X version only, you can get Hoenn's Root and Claw Fossils. Meanwhile in the Y version, the rocks may yield Kanto's Helix and Dome Fossils.
Pokemon found[edit]
| X | Y | |
|---|---|---|
| Shadows | ||
| Machop | 30% | 30% |
| Cubone | 20% | 20% |
| Onix | 10% | 10% |
| Rhyhorn | 10% | 10% |
| Lunatone | 10% | 10% |
| Solrock | 10% | 10% |
| Kangaskhan | 5% | 5% |
| Mawile | 5% | 5% |
| Rock Smash | ||
| Dwebble | 65% | 65% |
| Onix | 35% | 35% |
| Ambush | ||
| Woobat | 85% | 85% |
| Ferroseed | 15% | 15% |
| #066 Machop | #95 Onix |
|---|---|
| #104 Cubone | #111 Rhyhorn |
| #115 Kangaskhan | #142 Aerodactyl |
| #303 Mawile | #337 Lunatone |
| #338 Solrock | #527 Woobat |
| #557 Dwebble | #597 Ferroseed |
Items[edit]
- Kanghaskhanite: Take the right path at the first branch from the entrance. Requires an upgraded Mega Ring.
- Hard Stone: Take the left path at the second branch from the entrance.
- TM65 Shadow Claw: Take the left path at the final branch in the tunnels.
- Escape Rope: In a nook on the path to the center of the cave.
- Jaw Fossil: Obtained from researcher.
- Sail Fossil: Obtained from researcher.