Rendolf

The girl that gives the Meditite is on top of the left wall of the Academy, through the left door on either of the top floors, though I don't actually know if she is there after Restoration. The girl at top right is the one that gives the Darumaka for a Luvdisc, and I know that she isnt there Post Restoration. If the Meditite girl isn't still there then you can just catch a wild Meditite on Route 2 or a Medicham in Victory Road (that one might pose difficult though).

No they can be mined as well, but you can just go to there if you don't want to keep mining for them.

Well there's no such thing as a Normal Plate since Arceus and Judgment are Normal by default, but there's a Meadow Plate in The Underroot that you can get once you have Luna's Green Crystal Key and an Icicle Plate in Azurine Cave hidden in a rock at the top of the waterfall.

I'd always heard that if you evolve them then they don't work for the quest, and as of E19 apparently there isn't an easy workaround. Also I'm pretty sure you don't need to return the Abra, just Jigglypuff, Makuhita, Loudred, Roggenrola, and Vanillite, unless it's for a quest later that I haven't gotten to yet.

Natures can't actually raise HP, but either Adamant or Jolly would be ideal, with Lonely, Naughty, Hasty, or Naïve being fine too. Brave, Timid, and any of the ones that don't affect Attack or Speed are fine, and -Speed or especially -Attack are not ideal, but in the end these don't change too much and they can be changed later on fairly easily, so the main important thing is that it has Huge Power (which can also be changed anyway).

Or after, if you visit another mirage

Nope, Solar Blade is only a TM in Gen 8 and Reborn goes off of Gen 7 mechanics, so only Lurantis gets it here.

It was an interesting fight at least, but yeah pretty messed up

Yep you can get it in the north part of Beryl and Beryl Cave (highest chance in here). The Underroot too now I think.

For Cofagrigus it kind of depends on how you want to play it. If you want to use Trick Room (which wouldn't be for a while I guess, unless you have something else learn it by level up) then you'd want Quiet, if you want to go defensive then Bold (unless you want to try balancing Special Defense in which case Calm I suppose), and otherwise just go Modest. Something that apparently decimates Shade is Huge Power Diggersby, since it's immune to most of his STAB attacks and gets Nature Power, which turns into Gear Grind once the lights are on which absolutely shreds in Factory Field (also it becomes Discharge on Short Circuit Field anyway so even if they turn off you'll get them back on just by spamming Nature Power).

Should be the Jasper Ward regardless I think, but depending on where you are in the game I can be more specific.

You should be able to get all of those right now except the Life Orb, which is after you get Rock Climb, and Scarf, which I have still yet to find having beaten all the gyms (and if you're in the Magma Gang I think you can only get one between Band and Vest, but you can get the Specs regardless). After you beat Adrienn, if you restore the Railnet (in the Grand Hall) you can get the Assault Vest inside the original western Railnet entrance, and depending on which gang you're in you get either the Choice Band or Choice Specs from the Hiker in the Lower Peridot Ward if you found the house for him earlier on, and the other one you get as a gift for completing the Gang Jobs Sidequest in 7th Street (Magma can only be finished if you fund the South Obsidia Ward project in the Grand Hall). Edit: Scarf is first available around Victory Road

I finally found it! There's a second, smaller Azurine Cave completely separate from the Pyukumuku one if you Surf southeast from the entrance to Apophyll Cave (the one just north of the Academy) in its own separate rock/island. The cave entrance will be on the east side of the rock.

Ah yeah never mind. I'm sure someone can spot you a trade then

How far are you into the game right now? Because if you're still early enough there might be a way for you to get one on your own.

I've heard before that there used to be an early-game Wimpod available because Golisopod was too OP early on. Is that what you're thinking of?

Are you sure she didn't give it to you already and you just didn't notice?

I'd say Drampa has a bit of a beard, and it's 2 types you don't have yet. And I guess Delibird has a sorta-beard since it's supposed to be Santa-esque, but it's also not a very good Pokémon...

You need it to get a certain Pokémon encounter fairly late into the game. I don't want to spoil anything so if you say where you are in the story I can let you know how long it'll be (or I guess I can just say it's after you get your 13th badge and get access to a pretty large area, you'll know what I mean when you get there).

You didn't by any chance pick a Grass-type starter did you? Because if you did then you can apparently get a move tutor for Giga Drain in the Rhodocrine Jungle (haven't done it myself but I read it on the wiki).

Yeah don't worry, you'll be fine. Or at least it hasn't completely taken over my computer, just my free time...

By the way if this continues to be an issue, you can put in the password "unrealtime" and that allows you to change the time manually in your Pokégear in case you ever need to.

Yeah, went into secret part and the only things there were the Audinite and Aloraichium-Z.

Honestly I'm wondering the same thing. On the E19 Guide it says Azurine Cave, but I wasn't able to find it there either.

So did you figure it out then? In case you hadn't, that gate is unrelated to the puzzle