Pokémon Unbound postgame guide: missions, Battle Frontier, and the Black Trainer Card

What unlocks the moment you beat the League

Buy the ADM, then go beat Aklove. Do both before anything else. I tried to skip ahead to the Frontier first and walked right back out.

Becoming Champion opens up most of Borrius at once:

• The final story mission, #001
• Mystery Gift, from the green deliveryman on the second floor of any Pokémon Center
• The Battle Frontier gate north of Seaport City
• The Seaport Battleground
• Cube Corp., between Redwood Forest and Crystal Peak
• The Portal missions
• The post-game crowd at Magnolia Café: Red, Cynthia, the gym leaders and the Elite Four
• Shadow Base daily events, the Bottle Cap Lady and the Incense seller

Level caps go away, and Vanilla players get the Stat Scanner.

The ADM costs ₽250,000 at the Seaport City Shipyard, and you can’t finish the story without it. Aklove kidnaps your mom and takes her to the sunken Ruins of Void, and you follow with the ADM and HM05 Dive. It also makes mining free with a bigger item pool, and it replaces every HM, so you can run any six Pokémon.

Short on cash? Here’s where the money is:

• ₽32,000 per leader in the Battleground Leaders Gauntlet
• ₽20,000 a day from Zeph in Shadow Base B3F
• ₽16,000 a day from Candice in Blizzard City
• The Route 18 Rancher, who pays ₽1,000 times your Hall of Fame entries
• The upgraded Amulet Coin from mission #056

Inside the Ruins, grab TM48 Skill Swap, beat a Dynamax Claydol at the end of the Claydol Maze, then fight Aklove in a Multi Battle with Jax. On Difficult he runs Klefki (Lv.70), Roserade (Lv.72), Togekiss (Lv.71 to 72), Raichu (Lv.73), Primarina (Lv.74) and Mega Gardevoir (Lv.74). On Expert and Insane he brings a whole different team, and every stat starts at +1.

Beat him and you sit through a second credits roll you can’t skip. I didn’t mind, because that fight left my hands shaking. Then you get New Game+, the Mission Log upgrade, and a Primarium Z near his chamber.

The 27 post-game missions and what they pay

Your mission count runs the post-game. The Ranger at Fallshore Mission HQ pays out three times:

• 20 missions: Type: Null
• 45 missions: Latiasite or Latiosite, plus a roaming Latias or Latios
• 65 missions: the Shiny Charm

#027 Guardians of the Lake and #059 Swords of Justice won’t start until you have 20 missions and Type: Null. So the count locks legendaries too, not just prizes.

Here are all 27, grouped by what you get. I kept a sticky note of my count on the monitor the whole post-game.

Legendaries, orbs and keys

#	Mission	Start	Reward
004	A Rift in Space	Dehara City	Lustrous Orb (Palkia)
014	Blazing Emerald	Crystal Peak	Jade Orb (Rayquaza, Lv.70 at the summit)
017	Darwin Was Right	Mission HQ	Mew holding Mewnium Z
025	Gimme a V	Battleground	Victini (clear any Leaders Gauntlet tier)
027	Guardians of the Lake	Mission HQ (20 missions + Type: Null)	Adamant Orb (Dialga Origin Forme)
050	Portal Purge	Professor Log’s lab	Master Ball + the two starter Mega Stones you did not get
059	Swords of Justice	Mission HQ (20 missions + Type: Null)	10 Fast Balls (and access to Keldeo)
066	The Endless Nightmare	Tarmigan Town	Member Card (Darkrai at Tarmigan Inn)
076	Tomb Raider	Tomb of Borrius (auto-starts when the puzzle is solved)	Psychium Z

Mega Stones and Z-Crystals

#	Mission	Start	Reward
038	Major Miner	Crater Town	Diancite (Diancie is Lv.80 in the KBT Expressway)
044	Numbskull	Redwood Forest	Pinsirite
054	Shark Bait	Seaport City	Sharpedonite

Tools and permanent upgrades

#	Mission	Start	Reward
008	And Den There Were None	Cube Corp.	Portable PC
020	Exp. Millionaire	Mission HQ	2 Lucky Eggs (unlocks Lucky Egg upgrades for Big Pearls)
040	More Than a Game	Battle Frontier gatehouse	200 BP (100 wins across Tower, Mine and Circus)
049	Population Control	Mission HQ	Permanent +10% catch rate
056	Statue of Regi	Gurun Town	Upgraded Amulet Coin
065	The Daily Grind	Cube Corp. (needs #027 + Dialga)	Time Turner (shifts the clock 12 hours)

Gift Pokémon

#	Mission	Start	Reward
016	Bye-Bye, Butterfree	Mission HQ	Shiny Gigantamax Butterfree
074	The Trash-Man	Mission HQ	Shiny Gigantamax Garbodor
079	Treasure Hunter	Gurun Town	Larvesta Egg

Consumables

#	Mission	Start	Reward
028	Herd But Not Seen	Magnolia Town	100 Moomoo Milks
047	One Purple Balloon	Crystal Peak	Quick Powder
063	The Capitalist Revolution	Mission HQ	200 Premier Balls
064	The Communist Revolution	Mission HQ	PP Maxes
072	The Strongest There Is	Dehara City, developer’s house	Master Ball
080	Ultimate Pie	Blizzard City	3 Gold Bottle Caps

Do three of these in order:

1. Finish #027 and catch Dialga.
2. Start #065 and clear 23 daily events in one day. You get the Time Turner.
3. Stock up on Beast Balls, then start #050 Portal Purge. A lot of the 25 Portal Pokémon are day-only or night-only, and the Time Turner saves you the wait.

Two main-game missions also pay BP, so add them to your list. #029 Hero of the Hall at the Route 18 Pokémon Center has you beat the Elite Four with a single-type team, 18 times, for 1,000 BP, 18 Big Nuggets and the HGSS costume. And accept #040 the second you walk into the Frontier. I walked in, got excited, and almost forgot it myself.

Battle Frontier: facilities, formats and what to attempt first

The Frontier is north of Seaport City and opens once you’re Champion. On New Game+ it opens as soon as you reach Seaport. Your Frontier Card tracks BP and prints. There’s no Pokémon Center inside, so you can’t Fly out.

Every facility is a streak. One loss resets you, longer streaks pay more BP, and a Frontier Brain always pays 20 BP. You get no EXP, money or dex entries from Frontier battles.

Facility	Brain	Formats	Notes
Battle Tower	Palmer	Single, Double, Multi	Level 50 or 100 selectable
Battle Mine	Pablo	Streak only	No tier adjustment, no level choice; four rotating formats, Pablo at battles 20 and 50 except in Cordillera
Battle Circus	Paula	Single, Double, Multi	Home of the Ability changer
Battle Sands	Patroz	Single, Double	Wins here do not count toward #040

Multi Battle partners are Jax, Ace or Marlon (Marlon was added in 2.1.1.1), or a Link Cable partner. Beat a Brain once for a silver print and again for gold. Every gold print needs a 50-win streak at that facility, and all four golds are your fifth Black Trainer Card star.

You pick a format per run:

• Standard: Megas and Z-Moves on, Dynamax off, a long legendary ban list, no duplicate species or items.
• No Restrictions: everything goes, Dynamax included.
• Smogon tiers (OU, Ubers, Little Cup, Middle Cup, Monotype): Gen VIII metagame, sleep, evasion and OHKO clauses, no Dynamax.
• GS Cup: two restricted Pokémon per team, Doubles and Multi only.
• Dynamax Standard: Dynamax on, Megas and Z-Moves off.

Start with the Battle Tower in Singles on Standard. It has the fewest surprises and counts toward #040. Your first Palmer win (20 BP) plus #040’s 200 BP pays for the services below. Leave the Mine until your team is settled. My first streak in the Tower died to a lead I didn’t respect, and it stung. You can’t pick the level or the format in the Mine. The game tells you the rules before each battle. Cordillera is the wild one: Ubers rules plus Camomons, where every Pokémon takes the types of its first two moves, no duplicate species, and Pablo never shows up.

Spend your BP here:

Service	Cost
Move Tutors	4 to 64 BP per move
Hidden Power type change	15 BP
Nature change (friendship resets to 0)	50 BP
EV trainer: max a stat / zero a stat	50 BP / 5 BP
Ability change, Battle Circus clown (only way from Hidden back to a normal ability)	100 BP
Shady Scammer makes a Pokémon shiny (midnight to 4:49 AM only)	500 BP
Exchange counter items	2 to 250 BP
TMs	16 to 48 BP

There’s also an Egg Move tutor, a lottery (it counts toward #065’s daily events), and a Battle Connoisseuse who gives out BP every day. For current ban lists, check the Battle Frontier Info sheet on Skeli’s PokéCommunity release thread.

Battleground schedule and the Leaders Gauntlet

The Battleground is a members-only house in Seaport City, post-game only. Up to four gym leaders show up each day, and you can fight each one once a day. Your first solo win against a leader gets you their type’s Z-Crystal. Rematches give the type Gem. The Picnicker who gives you Victini is there every day. Checking who showed up each day became my little morning ritual.

Leader	Days
Mirskle	Tue, Thu, Sun
Véga	Mon, Wed, Fri
Alice (after #033)	Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat
Mel	Mon, Wed, Thu, Sat
Galavan	Tue, Fri, Sat, Sun
Big Mo	Wed, Thu, Sun
Tessy (after #051)	Tue, Fri, Sun
Benjamin	Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat

The Leaders Gauntlet (Classic) is all eight leaders back to back with stronger teams and their gym gimmicks on. You get healed between fights and paid ₽32,000 per leader. Clear the tiers in order, Vanilla, Difficult, Expert, then Insane. Clearing any tier finishes #025 for Victini.

• Vanilla: 2 Pearl Strings, 3 Bottle Caps
• Difficult: 3 Pearl Strings, 5 Bottle Caps
• Expert: 4 Pearl Strings, 2 Gold Bottle Caps, a Dream Mist
• Insane: 5 Gold Bottle Caps, 2 Dream Mists, an Ability Capsule

The Frontier Leaders Gauntlet is still “planned” and isn’t in 2.1.1.1.

Beat Véga here on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday for his Darkinium Z, then talk to him at the Crater Town Gym. He gives you the Red Orb and the Blue Orb together, so that’s Groudon and Kyogre sorted in one trip.

Antisis Ring Challenge

The Ring Challenge opens in the Antisis Gym after you beat Big Mo. It’s a Level 50, Standard-tier Singles streak. You preview each opponent and pick one of three. Every win pays BP, every tenth battle is a cameo trainer, and Big Mo shows up at battles 20, 50 and 100. Beat him at 100 for BP and a Trainer Card star.

Mega Stones, Z-Crystals, Focus Sash and self-KO moves are all banned here. Build a separate team before you start. Your Sash lead from the Tower won’t make it in. Picking three of six blind opponents is my favorite format in the whole post-game.

Mining in the KBT Expressway

Mine in the KBT Expressway next to Crater Town. The Miner near the Crater Town entrance charges ₽1,000 a session, but once you have the ADM it’s free and the item pool is bigger. Evolution stones drop about 9% of the time. ADM mining also drops Plates, and you need all 17 to show the scientist at the Dream Research Lab in Tarmigan Town for Arceus. If Plates stop dropping, the Plate Maker at the Seaport Shipyard trades shards for them.

Cube Corp. is the other half of this. I lost more hours to mining than to the Frontier. It has:

• The Type: Null researcher, who turns three same-type Plates into a Silvally Memory
• The Mega Stone Maker, who sells Sceptilite, Blazikenite and Swampertite for Gems
• A Master Ball trader (30 same-type Gems)
• A Beast Ball maker (one Iron Ball each)
• An Everstone trader (four Everstones for a Dawn, Dusk, Ice, Moon, Shiny or Sun Stone)
• A Raid Den

The main building’s interior was never finished, so don’t bother looking for a way in. I checked every door anyway, so you don’t have to.

Magnolia Café weekly schedule

After the League, Magnolia Café in Magnolia Town fills up with post-game trainers. Cynthia has a battle slot every day. Red trades shinies Monday 2:00 to 4:59 PM, Saturday 2:00 to 4:59 PM, and Saturday 8:00 to 11:59 PM (that last one with Cynthia). The gym leaders run their own shiny trades.

The Elite Four and one extra trainer hand out Z-Crystals on this schedule:

Trainer	Z-Crystal	When
Elias	Ghostium Z	Monday 5:00 to 7:59 PM
Moleman	Groundium Z	Tuesday 8:00 to 11:59 PM
Arabella	Fairium Z	Wednesday 12:00 to 1:59 PM
Alford	Firium Z	Wednesday 8:00 to 11:59 PM
Penny	Dragonium Z	Friday 2:00 to 4:59 PM

The Kanto starter Mega Stone trainers are here too, and you can get them during the main game:

• Blastoisinite: Monday 2:00 to 4:59 PM
• Charizardite Y: Tuesday 5:00 to 7:59 PM
• Venusaurite: Thursday 2:00 to 4:59 PM

All of this runs on your emulator’s real-time clock. The Time Turner only moves it 12 hours, so miss a weekday slot and you’re waiting a week. I set phone alarms for the Café and still missed Penny once.

Do Title Defense, the Elite Four rematch, at least once. Volcanion only shows up in Cinder Volcano 2F after you re-beat the Elite Four. I don’t have the rematch teams, so expect them above the Lv.74 to 76 teams from your first run.

The Black Trainer Card: what counts as done

Get five stars and your Trainer Card turns black. It’s the most grind on this list, and it’s the one goal I’d tell you to chase slowly. You get the final Stat Scanner upgrade, which lets you edit ability, nature, gender, level, EVs, IVs and Hidden Power, and evolve Pokémon from the menu.

1. Become Champion.
2. Finish all 84 missions. Only #070 The Powerhouse of the Cell can be lost, and only if you release or trade its Zygarde. The rest of the mission traps are in the missables guide.
3. Complete the 809-species National Pokédex. The five code-only mythicals (Mewtwo, Genesect, Marshadow, Poipole, Meltan) need Mystery Gift. Phione needs a Manaphy bred from the Ruins of Void egg, and Arceus needs all 17 Plates. Gen 8 Special Encounters don’t count toward the 809. Locations are in the legendary guide.
4. Hit a 100-win streak in the Antisis Ring Challenge.
5. Win every Gold Print with a 50-win streak at the Battle Tower, Battle Mine, Battle Circus and Battle Sands.

You’ll pick up the Shiny Charm at 65 missions on the way, and the National Dex mission (#069) gives you an Original Color Magearna at Lv.10. Want another long post-game after this? SoulGold’s postgame is the closest match on this site, and the review tells you if a harder second run is worth it.