HERE BE SPOILERS! YE BE WARNED!
Made it to Rustboro City and knew that I was going to have a hard time with the Rock gym, so I decided to continue on to Route 116. The first Pokemon I encountered was a Nincada (Bug/Rock) which would have been perfect, except Socks decided to Critical Hit. Nincada dead and I'm still only three strong.
Honestly at this point I thought about restarting, but I'd already claimed the Shiny Beldum and didn't want to buy Pokemon Bank, so I decided to carry on.
Made it to Rusturf cave hoping for a Geodude or an Onix and came up with a... Whismur (Screamo). Normal type. Caught her unenthusiastically as I knew she wouldn't help at all against the Rock gym. My only option was to grind Beachy to a high level and Water Pulse everything to death. Phoenix evolved into Combusken but I wasn't ready to put him on the line yet. I was afraid that a Rock Tomb would insta-kill Beachy (since Rock beats Flying) but fortunately I got by without incident.
One badge down.
Carried on to Dewford Town and stumbed across an Old Rod. I decided to backtrack since there was a lake in Petalburg Town and see what I could come up with. Before I went there, though, I decided to fish on Route 104 just to see what might show up.
Magikarp? MAGIKARP?? A Gyrados would turn this entire playthrough completely around.
I rushed off to Petalburg. Magikarp was showing on DexNav, so I knew this was going to be an easy ca... Goldeen (Nemo)? Old Rod can fish up more than one type of Pokemon now? What gives?! Nemo won't help me at all (I already have Beachy).
Caught him anyway then rushed back to Dewford town to try again. No Goldeens on the DexNav. Alright, this time I'm going to get a Magik... Tentacool (Spaghetti)??? Damn this game to Hell. Now I have three Water Pokemon. Spaghetti does have Poison type which might come in handy later, but this is not the game changer I was looking for.
At this point my roster was finally at a fully party of 6. Fire/Fighting, Water/Flying, Normal, Normal, Water, Water/Poison. Not looking so great.
Sadly continued on to Route 106. There was no grass here so I could try again for a Magikarp, but there was still the possibility of a Tentacool. I also considered that maybe I'd get something better if I came back later with Surf. But would I really need a fourth Water Pokemon? No.
Let's go for it. Cast my hook and... Magikarp (Malygos)!!! HELL YEAH!! Wait, its only level 10? Well this is going to take awhile (Level 20 for Gyrados). Tossed Nemo in the Bank and marched forward.
Went into Granite Cave and found a Makuhita, which I also accidentally killed (though I don't remember how). This one didn't feel nearly as bad since I already had Combusken and I'd just caught Malygos.
Gym #2 was a Fighting gym, so again my only real contender was Beachy (Flying > Fighting). This one was relatively easy and with two badges I was off to Slateport City.
Got through the story bits and continued on to Route 110 where I encountered an Electrike (Trouble). Now we're talking (this guy has a Mega Evolution). Finally can kick Socks out of the party and into the Bank. I discovered that the wild and trainer Plusle and Minun provided a LOT of experience, so I sat here for a while grinding out some levels in the grass and with Trainer's Eye.
Screamo evolved into Loudred and has been a surprise catch for me. The Echoed Voice move it has gets stronger after consecutive uses, just like Rollout. Unlike Rollout, however, I can stop using it at any time. This makes it infinitely better than Rollout in my opinion. Plus its a Special Attack move, which helps a lot against the bulkier Pokemon.
I leveled Malygos to 19 and Screamo, Phoenix and Beachy were pretty high in level, so I decided to push forward when out of no where comes May.
Oh shit.
These out-of-nowhere fights against May are going to suck. First she threw out a Shroomish which I knew Screamo could take no problem, but she kicked things off with Stun Spore which paralyzed Screamo. Screamo went down to half health before taking down Shroomish. Next up was Slugma, so I swapped out for Beachy and got a 1-hit KO. May then brought out her final Pokemon, a level 20 Marshtomp.
Phoenix would die instantly. Beachy wouldn't be able to do much. Everyone else but Screamo was too low in level.
I decided to throw Screamo back out and use items to heal her up. Cured her paralysis when Marshtomp used Bide. Shit, shit, shit (at the time I thought this was a Fighting move, so I was more worried than necessary). I had a decision to make. I could heal up Screamo to full health and hope she could weather the blow, or I could throw someone else out to take the damage. I decided to heal up Screamo, and Bide continued storing energy. I had one more turn. Whew! But that only meant this move was stronger than I anticipated. I knew I couldn't kill Marshtomp in one hit, so I used Supersonic to try and confuse it.
Marshtomp when first. Goodbye Screamo. Wait, it missed!! Huzzah! (As it turns out, Bide is a Normal move that returns twice the amount of damage received during the energy storing turns). Marshtomp was pretty much done for after that.
Next up... Mauville City and evolving Malygos to Gyrados!
Trainer Name: Daddy
New Friends (since last update):
- Screamo (Whismur)
- Nemo (Goldeen)
- Spaghetti (Tentacool)
- Malygos (Magikarp)
- Trouble (Electrike)
- N/A
Current Party:
- Screamo (Loudred)
- Phoenix (Combusken)
- Beachy (Wingull)
- Malygos (Magikarp)
- Spaghetti (Tentacool)
- Trouble (Electrike)
- #20: Route 110 - Trouble (Electrike)
- #19: Slateport City - None Yet
- #18: Route 109 - None Yet
- #17: Sea Mauville - Currently Inaccessible
- #16: Route 108 - Currently Inaccessible
- #15: Route 107 - None Yet
- #14: Granite Cave - Killed Pokemon (Makuhita)
- #13: Route 106 - Malygos (Magikarp)
- #12: Route 105 - Currently Inaccessible
- #11: Dewford Town - Spaghetti (Tentacool)
- #10: Rusturf Tunnel - Screamo (Whismur)
- #9: Route 116 - Killed Pokemon (Nincada)
- #8: Route 115 - None Yet
- #7: Petalburg Woods - Socks (Skakoth)
- #6: Route 104 - Beachy (Wingull)
- #5: Petalburg City - Nemo (Goldeen)
- #4: Route 103 - Forgot to Catch (Killed Pokemon, Unknown)
- #3: Route 102 - Forgot to Catch (Killed Pokemon, Unknown)
- #2: Route 101 - Rocket (Zigzagoon)
- Level Met / Died: 2 / 8
- #1: Littleroot Town - Phoenix (Torchic)
