Before we get started for today, there's one Pokemon on Route 4 that I still need to get. Luckily, it's relatively common.
- Ekans
: A Poison-type Pokemon. Ekans suffers from what I'm going to call Cruz Syndrome—it's inferior to almost every other Poison-type in Kanto, so there's little reason to actually train one. Mine is known as Shelby. She has a Quirky nature (no effects) and the Shed Skin ability. Her available moves are Wrap (a weak Normal-type move that traps the target for several turns and does constant damage), Leer, and Poison Sting.
After clearing that up, I did a bit of grinding to get my main team up to level 17. In doing so, Aria had the chance to learn Follow Me, though I decided against it. Follow Me is an interesting move that forces the opposing team to direct their attacks at the user. This is decidedly more useful in double battles than in single battles.
So, Cerulean City's got a few interesting things in it. There's a bike shop...but they charge $1000000 per bike and my wallet can't even hold that much. There's also a guy who wants a Poliwhirl in exchange for a Jynx, which would be a great deal if I actually had a Poliwhirl to trade. I can also alk to a man who refuses to do anything involving Berry Powder because I don't have any Berries with me.
Of course, there's also the gym, but I'm not quite ready to take it on yet. That'll have to wait for later.
Anyway, the roads leading south and east are both blocked by plot walls. Specifically, there's a tree blocking the path south and a police investigation blocking the way around it. That just leaves north, so that's where I head.
Before I can leave town, Gary shows up from the north. He sees that I'm "struggling" and insists that his own journey is going better. He promptly challenges me to a battle!
Gary leads with Pidgeotto, which is Pidgey's first evolved form. Unfortunately it's Flying-type, so Alessandro makes short work of it. Next up is a Rattata, which is easy prey for Aria and a chance to heal Alessandro. I need it, because Gary follows up with his Squirtle. It's the highest-level member of his team, but it still falls to Alessandro's Thundershock. Lastly, he sends out his Abra, which must be a recent capture since it only knows Teleport. A couple Metal Claws from Furnace take it down easily.
After the fight, Gary bounces back by talking about his meeting with the famed Pokemaniac Bill, who came up with the Pokemon Storage System that I've been using. He then runs off, but not before giving me a device known as the Fame Checker. He claims he's handing it over out of pity, but it's clear that he just doesn't see the use of the thing. The Fame Checker's effect is to let you see information you've gathered about various famous people. Not too useful, but interesting.
After healing up, I head north across the bridge to Route 24. Doing so requires me to take the Nugget Bridge challenge, where I fight five trainers for a fabulous prize! A perfect opportunity to get some valuable experience! For some reason, all the enemy trainers here say the same thing if you talk to them after winning ("I did my best. I have no regrets!") Each one's tougher than the last, but they still go down without too much trouble.
After beating them all, I get my prize from their boss: a Nugget, which sells for $5000! Unfortuntely, the contest turns out to be a recruitment drive for Team Rocket and I have to beat him up. All he's got is an Ekans and a Zubat, so it's no trouble at all. Hey, he did his best so he should have no regrets, right?
After the bridge, there's little else on Route 24 because it immediately empties into Route 25. There is, however, a patch of grass that has some new Pokemon in it.
- Abra: Hey, we just saw one of these on Gary's team! Abra's a Psychic-type Pokemon that only ever learns Teleport, making raising it a difficult feat. Pull it off, though, and it evolves into the mighty Kadabra, which can evolve again into Alakazam if you have someone to trade with (again, I don't so this one's benched). I nicknamed mine Brains. She has a Brave nature, which isn't ideal but at least it doesn't affect anything she does. Her Synchronize ability is potentially quite useful, giving opponents the status ailments that they inflict on her. Her sole move, Teleport, lets her flee from wild Pokemon.
- Oddish: A Grass/Poison-type Pokemon. The Oddish line has two potential final forms, but unfortunately only one is available in Kanto. Unfortunately it suffers from a rather poor movepool in this generation. Mine goes by NATUREMAN! (Yes, the ALLCAPS is necessary.) The mighty NATUREMAN! has a Sassy nature (Special Defense up, Speed down) and the Chlorophyll ability, which doubles his Speed if the battlefield is sunny. His available moves are Absorb (a weak Grass-type move that drains a bit of HP) and Sweet Scent (a Normal-type move with the totally useless effect of lowering the target's evasion). This will be tougher than I'd have liked...
The only other thing of note on Route 24 is TM45 (Attract, which does the same thing as Aria's Cute Charm except it wastes a move slot), so I head to Route 25 right next door. The available Pokemon are the same as on Route 24, but there is a whole mess of trainers to fight. The fighting propels Furnace to level 20, where I turns down the chance to learn the Accuracy-lowering Smokescreen—those sorts of moves are nice to have, but not worth trying to learn when you already have a full movelist. Meanwhile, when Alessandro hits level 20 he tries to learn Slam, a fairly strong Normal-type attack with far too little accuracy to be worth going for.
The route also contains TM43, which is Secret Power. This Normal-type move will have a different secondary effect depending on where it's used, but it isn't especially strong.
Anyway, after fighting my way past all the trainers, I arrive at the northern cape, where Bill lives. He's in a bit of a bind now, though—he's accidentally turned himself into a Clefairy! Luckily, he just needed someone to operate his cell seperator to fix himself up. As thanks, he gives me the S. S. Ticket, which will get me into a fancy party aboard the cruise ship known as the S. S. Anne. That's pretty much all there is to do with Bill, so I head back to Cerulean City.
Now I'm tough enough to take on Cerulean City's gym, which is led by Misty, "The Tomboyish Mermaid". The gym guy informs me that she uses Water-type Pokemon, which are weak to Electric and Grass attacks. Neither of the two gym trainers offer any challenge for Alessandro, so I reach Misty esily.
[quoteblock]"Hi, you're a new face! Only those Trainers who have a policy about their Pokemon can turn pro. What is your approach when you catch and train Pokemon? My policy is an all-out offensive with Water-type Pokemon!"[/quoteblock]
So, time to face Misty. She leads off with a Staryu, which Alessandro has no trouble with. Her next Pokemon is a bit more worrying, though. It's a Starmie, the evolved form of Staryu, and if you'll check its stats against Pikachu's you'll see that Alessandro could be quite outmatched indeed. Sure enough, Starmie takes him down in two turns. I then have to use Aria as a sacrifice to get Alessandro back on his feet to take the beast down.
With my victory, Misty hands over the Cascadebadge, which causes even traded Pokemon to obey me—as long as they're level 30 or lower. It also lets me use Cut outside of battle, which will be very useful indeed. Misty also has TM03 for me. It contains Water Pulse, a fairly strong Water-type attack that can confuse its target. In Red/Blue, she instead hands out TM11, which was BubbleBeam back then. It's similar to Water Pulse, dealing decent damage and a secondary effect (lowering the target's Speed in this case).
Next time we'll head south to Vermilion City. In the meantime, here's the new Pokedex entries.
Ekans: Snake Pokemon
"A very common sight in grassland, etc. It flicks its tongue in and out to sense danger in its surroundings."
Oddish: Weed Pokemon
"Its scientific name is "Oddium Wanderus." At night, it is said to walk nearly 1,000 feet on its two roots."
Abra: Psi Pokemon
"It sleeps for 18 hours a day. It uses a variety of extrasensory powers even while asleep."
