By James Douberley, Kevin Hwang, and Hubert Hwang
Answer: DISGUISED AS VOLTORB

In this round, there are eighteen puzzles, each associated with a Pokémon. It turns out that there are three Pokémon each of six different types, as follows:

Type Pokémon A1 / Answer Pokémon A2 / Answer Pokémon B1 / Answer
Normal Rattata / YARDARM Raticate / MAST Meowth / CEILING
Fire Charmander / WOODSTOCK Charmeleon / PUNK ROCK Ponyta / RED CHINA
Ghost Yamask / RIGHTMOST Cofagrigus / RIM Duskull / PASTOR
Water Squirtle / STUMBLE Wartortle / THUMBHOLES Krabby / REPTILES
Rock Cranidos / GOLDEN STATE Rampardos / BUSH Rockruff / ABSOLUTION
Dragon Dratini / PEARL Dragonair / LENT Bagon / JADE

Step One: Evolution

Two of the three Pokémon of each type form an evolution chain—one evolves into the other. The third is unpaired, but in the games can evolve into another Pokémon. Each of those six Pokémon are represented as the left-side combatants on the puzzle page: Persian, Rapidash, Dusclops, Kingler, Lycanroc, and Shelgon. This suggests that you need to somehow evolve your Meowth / Ponyta / etc.

In order to do so, you need to figure out the hidden evolution mechanic for each type, clued by the A1 / A2 pair of answers. These are:

  • Normal: Rotate A1 by 90 degrees to get A2
  • Fire: To get A2, take the entry two after A1 in We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel
  • Ghost: To get A2, remove all occurrences of the letters G,H,O,S, or T from A1
  • Water: Add the letters HHO to A1 and anagram to get A2
  • Rock: Interpret A1 as an album. A2 is the artist who made A1.
  • Dragon: A1 is the drag name of a competitor from RuPaul's Drag Race. A2 is their birth last name.

This gives the following six evolved answers:

  • Normal (Persian): WALL
  • Fire (Rapidash): SOUTH PACIFIC
  • Ghost (Dusclops): PAR
  • Water (Kingler): LITHOSPHERE
  • Rock (Lycanroc): MUSE
  • Dragon (Shelgon): SOTOMAYOR

Step Two: Fighting

In the right hand column of the puzzle page are six Pokémon owned by your rival. Each is given a name and its type matches up with one of your Pokémon.

In order to successfully fight one of your rival’s Pokémon, you need to take your Pokémon’s answer and the rival Pokémon’s name, and combine them using one of the three sub-meta answers—the “battle mechanics”. Each battle mechanic is used twice.

The battle mechanics used are:

  • TAKE OUT - given two answers, ‘subtract’ one from the other.
  • BLACK MAGIC - the enemy name indicates a Magic: the Gathering set, and the evolved answer names a cycle of cards within that set (a thematically-linked group of cards in all five colors). The result is the black card of that cycle.
  • BE MEAN - take the ‘average’ of the two answers.

The six pairings are as follows:

Your Pokémon Rival Pokémon Fight Mechanic Result
Persian / WALL Snorlax / STRONGHOLD BLACK MAGIC SOULS
Shelgon / SOTOMAYOR Goodra / VINSON BE MEAN BLACKMUN
Lycanroc / MUSE Sudowoodo / LEGIONS BLACK MAGIC GRAVEBORN
Krabby / LITHOSPHERE Golduck / MANTLE TAKE OUT CRUST
Rapidash / SOUTH PACIFIC Flareon / RAISIN BE MEAN HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING
Dusclops / PAR Mismagius / ONE TAKE OUT BIRDIE

Step Three: Extraction

Upon confirming a fight result, you will be given a series of blanks and numbers. The numbers range from 1 to 18.

AnswerPattern
SOULS __ (13) __ (14) (3)
BLACKMUN (18) __ (10) __ __ __ (5) __
GRAVEBORN (4) __ __ (12) __ __ (16) __ __
CRUST __ (17) __ (7) (15)
HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING __ __ __ // __ __ // __ __ __ __ __ __ (9) // (2) __ // __ __ (11) __ __ __ __ __ // __ __ __ __ __ __ __ // __ __ __ __ __ __ // __ __ __ __ __ __
BIRDIE __ (6) __ (1) __ (8)

Writing down the appropriate letters gives the Memory Orb “location”: DISGUISED AS VOLTORB.