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Comments
seen: Sandslash (Camper Spencer's), Dugtrio (Hiker Benjamin's), Nidorina and Nidorino (Pokémaniac Shane's)
Spencer's pokémon have levels revised according to the remakes (and he sends out his Sandslash last despite it being the second of this three pokémon), but his Sandslash, even at level 18, is still underleveled.
Shane, when losing, suggests using a Moon Stone, giving a hint to players who aren't yet aware of Nidorina's/Nidorino's third stages.
Fisher Tully (named Chris in Gold/Silver but renamed in Crystal for some reason) gives out Water Stones according to Bulbapedia, which means now I need to boot someone from my list. Since I've probably close to cleaned out Goldenrod's Rooftop Sale of Great Balls, I think I'll remove Todd, but wait...Camper Todd wants a rematch. Meanwhile Bug Catcher Arnie can't seem to catch Snubbull and says he can't figure out its weakness. (Come to Mt. Mortar and pick up a Machop.) Time to go fight Todd then say bye.
(By the way, Spencer, Shane, and Tully all have their pokémon one level higher than vanilla, in accordance with the remake.)
Todd's Psyduck is still level 14 (despite him saying that he's trained) and still knows no water moves, so Sandshrew takes it out.
Incidentally, I was wondering whether to remove Wade from my contact list, but he just called me telling me he had a berry of some sort. (Spoiler: it's a regular berry.)
Meanwhile, since I'm in Goldenrod, hey friendship rater lady, can you tell me whether I can evolve my Togepi yet? (No, not yet.)
Record #98: Corsola
Why there is a coral pokémon in a river I don't know.
Meanwhile I did just learn that Corsola's Galarian form is ghost-type and apparently a reference to bleached coral.
Also, two screenshots from the previous post:
Spencer's underleveled Sandslash
Shane's calling a thoroughfare where he hangs out with two other people his "secret place":
Youngster Joey - HP up (after fourth rematch)
Bug Catcher Wade - random berries
Picnicker Gina - leaf stones
Schoolboy Alan - fire stones
Bug Catcher Arnie - Yanma swarms
Lass Dana - thunder stones
Picnicker Erin - calcium (after second rematch)
Fisher Tully - water stones
Sailor Huey - protein (after fourth rematch)
Sorry Huey I think I'm just gonna have to leave you hanging. Next up on the chopping the entries for Erin and then Joey, though...
Anyway here's Bird Keeper Theo, with his overleveled (L19) Pidgey and four other Pidgeys. In keeping with this hack's bringing stuff from the remake, his Pidgeys are reordered so they're levels 17, 15, 19, 15, 15 instead of 17, 19, 15, 15, 15.
Magnemite reaches L21 at which point I replace Supersonic (55% accuracy to confuse) with Thunder Wave (
90%100% accuracy (in gens 1 to 6) to paralyze).Let's see who to bring.
Current team comp:
L17 Sandshrew - 48 HP, 33/36/18/21/20 - Scratch, Defense Curl, Sand-Attack, Poison Sting; evolves at L22
L17 Slugma - 44 HP, 23/22/30/20/13 - Smog, Ember, Rock Throw; evolves at L38
L21 Magnemite - 44 HP, 25/37/46/29/27 - Tackle, Thundershock, Thunder Wave, Sonic Boom; evolves at L30
L21 Ivysaur - 64 HP, 34/36/40/40/36 - Tackle, Sleep Powder, Leech Seed, Vine Whip; evolves at L32
Ivysaur's responsible for putting things to sleep for capturing, but it's just stunning how much better its stats are. Turns out nothing in my team had decent special defense except it.
Magnemite's good with dealing with physical threats but its poor special defense means that even its steel typing doesn't help it too much, and while it has an advantage over water-types, water-types have STAB special moves.
Both Sandshrew and Magnemite have robust physical defense, though. Sandshrew is never gonna get a STAB move, but it should be decent enough to hold its own against physical opponents for now.
Slugma's got it worse, and even slower; its only respectable stat is special (which is conveniently STAB for it). Unlike adding Houndour, it doesn't add any strategic value to the game, it seems.
Things I could bring on board:
L18 Machop - 58 HP, 36/26/20/20/21 - Low Kick, Leer, Focus Energy, Karate Chop; evolves at L28
Power powerhouse obviously, but poor defensive stats and surprisingly poor speed too. But at least it has a lot of HP.
L21 Houndour - 55 HP, 34/26/47/34/40 - Bite, Ember, Roar, Smog; evolves at L24
Generally good stats. While it's got bad physical defense, we've got that covered.
L21 Growlithe - 62 HP, 37/28/42/33/37 - Bite, Roar, Ember, Leer; needs to be raised to L34 or 42
Sorta like a near-copy of Houndour, with slightly better physical and slightly worse special and speed stats.
L21 Snubbull - 59 HP, 44/30/28/28/22 - Tackle, Scary Face, Bite, Charm; evolves at L23
Similar to Sandshrew but with more focus on physical attack.
L21 Gastly - 51 HP, 29/23/56/28/47 - Hypnosis, Night Shade, Curse, Mean Look; evolves at L25
Very useful for capturing things. Extreme focus on special attack (currently unused) and speed; defenses and even HP generally poor.
L22 Psyduck - 64 HP, 36/30/40/34/34 - Scrach, Tail Whip, Disable, Confusion; evolves at L33
Good robust all-rounder, with slight focus on special attack. No STAB though.
L18 Flaaffy - 52 HP, 24/26/36/30/24 - Tackle, Growl, Thundershock, Headbutt; evolves at L30
Will probably be a roughly decent all-rounder but relatively weak on physical and speed. Useful for Headbutt.
L19 Drowzee - 56 HP, 28/26/28/46/24 - Pound, Hypnosis, Disable, Confusion; evolves at L26
Now I see why I could sometimes bite a Drowzee and watch it still survive. It has poor stats in everything BUT special defense which is absurdly high.
L24 Croconaw - 70 HP, 49/47/44/46/43 - Scratch, Bite, Rage, Water Gun; evolves at L30
The starters seem to have a thing where they're just generally good all-rounders. I might replace Water Gun with Surf, but I'm not sure yet.
L13 Ekans - 35 HP, 24/20/18/22/24 - Wrap, Leer, Poison Sting; evolves at L22
Actually a decent all-rounder if I were to level it up, but for now it's not only got a lower level but a very substandard moveset. I'm waiting to bring it up, though, because I want to be able to do something involving Ekans, Koffing, and Meowth together.
L22 Meowth - 58 HP, 28/28/31/31/50 - Scratch, Growl, Bite, Pay Day; evolves at L28
Not great at anything except speed, but it can really press that advantage with Bite's flinch chance. Again I'm waiting to do something with Ekans and Koffing.
L14 Koffing - 36 HP, 26/35/23/19/14 - Poison Gas, Tackle, Smog
Seems similar to Magnemite except that its main stat is physical defense rather than special attack. Obvious dump stats are special defense and especially speed, and its moveset right now is pretty bad.
L22 Geodude - 52 HP, 45/56/25/25/21 - Tackle, Selfdestruct, Rock Throw, Magnitude
Most similar to Sandshrew; good physical stats and bad everything else. I'm quite familiar with its resistances though and make good use of it, particularly with its STAB moves.
L17 Quilava - 48 HP, 30/31/34/29/36 - Cut, Leer, Smokescreen, Ember; evolves at L36
This has the lowest first evolution but a quite high second evolution, compared to other starters. And again, it seems like it's just a generally decent all-rounder. It's also my designated
driverCut user.L15 Krabby - 34 HP, 36/33/12/12/22 - Bubble, Leer, Vicegrip; evolves at L28
Obvious focus on physical, obvious dumping of special.
L14 Marill - 44 HP, 12/22/12/21/19 - Tackle, Defense Curl, Tail Whip, Water Gun; evolves at L18
Marill's dump stats (both attacks) are obvious, but its HP seems to be its standout feature. Its low evolution level makes it a good candidate for me to complete this chain quickly.
L10 Tentacool - 30 HP, 14/13/15/25/20 - Poison Sting, Supersonic; evolves at L30
There's an obvious focus on special defense, and to lesser extents, special attack and speed. Too bad it currently doesn't have a good move right now; if it learned a water move it'd be quite the thing to contend with. Though perhaps I could teach it Surf?
L6 Slowpoke - 28 HP, 12/14/10/10/6 - Curse, Tackle, Growl; evolves at L37
L8 Slowpoke - 34 HP, 17/16/13/13/9 - Curse, Tackle, Growl; evolve after L34
Its strong stat is HP, and its obvious dump stat is speed. While its physical stats outclass its special stats, its typing combined with STAB moves could be said to give it decent all-round potential. The high evolution levels make it a good candidate for learning Surf, since it'll be around for a while.
L13 Vulpix - 37 HP, 20/18/21/25/24 - Ember, Tail Whip, Quick Attack, Roar; evolve after L31
Seems like a good all-rounder, actually. I should probably keep it handy for both the next gyms.
L12 Jigglypuff - 51 HP, 18/12/16/11/10 - Sing, Defense Curl, Pound; evolve after L34 or L39 (for Double-Edge)
I didn't expect Jigglypuff to have better physical attack than most of its other stats, but the real standout here is HP. It has a rather crappy moveset in general, though.
L10 Exeggcute - 33 HP, 13/21/17/14/13 - Barrage, Hypnosis, Reflect; evolve after L??
This strange thing forces me to choose between waiting to evolve and getting Confusion/powders/Solarbeam vs. evolving early and getting Stomp and Egg Bomb. Assuming I want the STAB moves, I'd have to wait until after L43 to evolve. Anyhow its stats seem like an all-rounder's for now.
L14 Sunkern - 34 HP, 16/13/14/14/16 - Absorb, Growth, Mega Drain; evolve after L??
Stats seem to be a bit substandard all-around. Its stone evolution changes what it learns, replacing Mega Drain, Synthesis, and Giga Drain with Razor Leaf, Petal Dance, and Solar Beam. This one's already past level 10, where Mega Drain or Razor Leaf is learned, so...yeah. Also, somehow Sunflora learns Pound at level 1? Not sure how that works. Might be only for the Move Reminder.
L13 Goldeen - 36 HP, 26/25/16/20/23 - Peck, Tail Whip, Supersonic; evolves at L33
Seems to be a rough all-rounder but with more emphasis on physical than special. Its main curiosity for now is that it has the non-STAB Peck as its standard attack. While it will learn Waterfall, that's after it evolves, and it has no other naturally-learned STAB moves.
L10 Pineco - 33 HP, 19/24/13/13/9 - Tackle, Protect, Selfdestruct; evolves at L31
This weird explodey thing is clearly (1) built for physical attacks and (2) slow. It never naturally learns any STAB moves.
L13 Pidgey - 36 HP, 21/19/15/15/21 - Tackle, Sand-Attack, Gust; evolves at L18 and L36
L16 Pidgeotto - 49 HP, 27/25/21/21/31 - Tackle, Sand-Attack, Gust, Quick Attack; evolves at L36
Honestly this evolutionary line seems like what a starter would be if it were flying-type. While the special stats are a bit substandard, both of these pokémon seem to have relatively decent stat pools, and the evolutions are roughly at the same time as those of starters. I plan on teaching this Fly, because it'll be around for a while. I'm just not sure whether to keep raising my Pidgey or run with the Pidgeotto instead.
L10 Hoppip - 29 HP, 15/13/13/17/18 - Splash, Synthesis, Tail Whip, Tackle; evolves at L18 and L27
While this seems pretty useless at first, it seems to actually have some pretty decent all-rounder stats. However, it basically never learns any worthwhile attack moves, instead opting to do a bunch of powdering and ending its learnset with merely Mega Drain.
L5 Chikorita - 19 HP, 9/12/10/12/10 - Tackle, Growl; evolves at L16 and L32
I would trust Chikorita to be, like other starters, a pretty above-average all-rounder. Its stats are too low for me to know how to read them.
L6 Paras - 21 HP, 13/11/11/13/9 - Scratch; evolves at L24
I know very little about this pokémon, other than that in gen 1 it's basically the only way to smack Mewtwo with a bug-type move, solely thanks to Spore. However, it's also ingloriously 4x weak to both flying and fire.
L5 Venonat - 22 HP, 12/11/10/11/10 - Tackle, Disable, Foresight; evolves at L31
I know very little about this pokémon, but its movelist is pretty decked out for being at level 5.
L2 Teddiursa - 14 HP, 8/7/7/7/6 - Scratch, Leer; evolves at L31
Again, I know very little about this pokémon.
L15 Bellsprout - 45 HP, 30/20/30/18/20 - Vine Whip, Growth, Wrap, Sleep Powder; evolves at L21, then evolve after L54?
Victreebel learns nothing, but this thing turns out to have actually decent physical attack as well as special attack, even though the former is hard to see what with Wrap being so pathetically weak. Overall, decen stats.
L15 Poliwag - 42 HP, 22/20/20/20/37 - Bubble, Hypnosis, Water Gun; evolves at L25 then evolve with Water Stone at L??
L12 Poliwag - 35 HP, 21/16/16/16/28 - Bubble, Hypnosis; evolves at L25 then evolve with Moon Stone at L??
The standout speed stats are obvious. As for evolution levels, Poliwhirl learns Body Slam/Belly Drum/Hydro Pump at L35/L43/L51 respectively, while Poliwrath replaces this with Submission/nothing/Mind Reader and Politoed replaces this with Perish Song/nothing/Swagger. I don't feel like making up my mind now.
L14 Oddish - 37 HP, 23/24/30/27/16 - Absorb, Sweet Scent, Poisonpowder; evolves at L21, then evolve with Leaf Stone at L44
L12 Oddish - 34 HP, 18/19/26/23/14 - Absorb, Sweet Scent; evolves at L21, then evolve with Sun Stone at L44
Gloom finishes learning things at L44; Vileplume learns nothing, while Bellossom learns Solar Beam at L55, conveniently not conflicting any earlier. I can imagine learning up through Petal Dance to get Petal Dance, Moonlight, Sleep Powder, Acid; and Bellossom instead gets Solar Beam replacing either Petal Dance or Moonlight.
L10 Abra - 25 HP, 11/8/28/18/23 - Teleport; evolves at L16 then with stone
I already knew that Kadabra's specialty was being super good at special and speed aud leaning into that with STAB moves while having the physical defense of a wet paper bag; this just also tells me that it has the physical attack power of a wet paper bag.
L12 Nidoran (female) - 38 HP, 17/19/16/16/16 - Growl, Tackle, Scratch, Double Kick; evolves at L16 then evolve with Moon Stone at L??
Seems like an all-rounder, albeit with slightly substandard stats. The last evolution makes a choice between Tail Whip (L27), Bite (L36), and Fury Swipes (L46) vs. Body Slam (L23). While Body Slam is a good strong physical attack, I think Double Kick does the same just as two separate hits (albeit a different type), and Bite outclasses Tackle and Scratch, though Fury Swipes is...only slightly better than Scratch on average (43.2 vs. 40 power). So the Moon Stone evolution should be after either L36 or L46.
Incidentally, I recently learned that it was established in gen 1 that Nidorina and up can't breed for whatever reason and thus this weirdness got carried over into the breeding system.
L12 Nidoran (male) - 35 HP, 19/16/14/14/20 - Leer, Tackle, Horn Attack, Double Kick; evolves at L16 then evolve with Moon Stone at L??
This line has a similar movepool, with the choice being between Focus Energy, Fury Attack, and Horn Drill vs. Thrash. It also seems to have slightly better attack and speed, but less HP and defense and both specials, compared to its femal counterpart. But the Moon Stone evolution is still basically a choice between the same levels, with Fury Attack more easily outclassing Tackle.
Yes, I know, I left the game running for several hours while AFKing and/or writing up that massive post.
Also, realizing that my Slowpoke is never gonna naturally learn a better water move than Water Gun, I just went and taught it Surf.
And now I've taken my first steps from Johto into Kanto.
Surfing is risky, because I brought a sorta crappy team of pokémon with me. Highest is L19 Machop. But I have the power of rewind, because I really don't care to have to redo all of this.
Record #99: Tentacruel (underleveled wild, L20)
Looks like I won't be raising that Tentacool after all.
And on my way to the PsnCureBerry tree next to Mr. Pokémon's house...suddenly...unusual battle theme in the grass...
Thankfully, it fled on its first turn. There was no way I was even touching that.
seen: Entei
Wade wants to battle. Good thing I'm nearby.
...good thing he still has those very low-level pokémon! L2 Caterpie, L2 Caterpie, L2 Caterpie, L3 Weedle.
Note to self: in an alternate timeline, going to the secret area in the route with the Day-Care is a bad idea when training up pokémon.
Seen: Marowak (Pokémaniac Andrew's)
Note to self: My current pokémon are underleveled compared to the trainers I'm getting myself into. Or maybe I should tackle Olivine Lighthouse first; that place was not as high-level as this stuff. Meanwhile, make mental note to surf everywhere.
Rollout
Body Slam
Rest
Petal Dance
Moonlight
Sleep Powder
Acid
Poison Sting
Bite
Fury Swipes
Double Kick
Curse
Confusion
Water Gun
Surf
Headbutt
Amnesia
Confusion
Surf
Record #100: Granbull
Record #101: Sandslash
Record #102: Kadabra
I saved after getting Kadabra, and used my only Moon Stone so far to evolve it, then leveled it up to 18. It learned Disable, proving that this hack really has kept Alakazam learnset despite making it a stone evolution. Since it worked...
Record #103: Alakazam
At level 15, Marill learns Rollout. I wasn't sure which of Defense Curl or Tail Whip to remove, but I ended up junking Tail Whip. But now that I have Rollout (a rock-type move), I have learned some things.
1. Rollout is autopilot. It makes wild battles go way faster.
2. Rollout goes well with lots of HP.
Record #104: Azumarill
Okay, that's enough for now.
omg what
I did not know this
I am so lucky I kept that
took two non-STAB Bites from a L18 Growlithe (one of which was a crit) to get it down to 2 HP
L19 Drowzee, 59 HP, special defense 48
a non-STAB Bite (that's super effective) from that same L18 Growlithe and now it's at 44 HP. That was 15 damage. from a super effective attack.
I'm appreciating Drowzee's glorious special defense.
Who are you anyway and what is your relationship to the gymleader?
Anyway, this is Lass Connie, and her Marill has (and will use) Rollout. This is the second trainer in the game to do so.
As I'm ascending this lighthouse I'm getting some interesting lore, about how the gymleader, Jasmine, used to specialize in rock-type pokémon, but this changed recently.
Gina has an item for me, but I'm in the lighthouse. I'll go visit after this. Amusingly, my cell phone call doesn't alert Sailor Ernest to the fact that I'm there, despite his radius-3 sight range.
Apparently I went up a certain way in the lighthouse and find myself bathed in Violet/Olivine City music unexpectedly, before I've explored all of the lighthouse. Hold on...*plops down a save*
Well, plot happened, I guess. Or possibly not; I dunno if this actually did anything for event flags. Moving on...
Bird Keeper Denis's lineup follows the remake order, swapping his Fearow to his second pokémon rather than third. Also I found this message amusing:
(He's talking about his bird pokémon and how high we are in the lighthouse.)
Meanwhile I've nearly crashed since I actually have nothing good against flying-types right now and so I'm going to run screaming back to the pokémon center before they faint. I have four (Slugma, Quilava, Ivysaur, and Croconaw) in the red and two (Machop and Drowzee) in the yellow. And this was with rewinding. The other reason to run screaming back to the pokémon center is that I have too many items again and need to put them down before I can pick up this rare candy.
Thanks for the tip about Fly being in Cianwood, Denis.
This is definitely some curious lighthouse construction. There's a series of holes in the floor that you can fall down, for easy downward movement. In fact it's the only way to get to and get down from the top floor. I'm not sure this is compliant with building safety codes, but considering that I only get a fun sound effect when I use them, I guess it's okay.
But anyway, looks like to finish this sidequest and activate the Olivine City Gym, I need to go to Cianwood City across the ocean.
It's time to blast off.
(Ekans, Koffing, and Meowth are obvious choices; the last three are from here: https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/List_of_Pokémon_temporarily_owned_by_the_Team_Rocket_trio . There's also a Growlithe (which I have), a Shellder (which I don't yet have but can catch), Yanmega (evolution of a thing I don't yet have but can get), Magikarp (which I have but don't want to train), Ditto (no evolution), and Pinsir (no evolution).)
(As you may recall, it merely knew Wrap, Leer, and Poison Sting before this.)
Tuesday! Bug-Catching Contest!
I caught myself a hilariously overleveled L17 Metapod. At the last moment I replaced a L14 Pinsir (with 45 HP) with this (which also had 45 HP).
The results:
3rd: Yunica, Metapod, 303 points
2nd: Picnicker Cindy, Metapod 305 points (did she somehow catch a L18 Metapod?)
1st: Cooltrainer Nick, Pinsir 368 points
I've also realized just how limiting my Gastly's moveset is right now. While I replaced Lick with Night Shade because Night Shade does a respectable amount of damage, Lick had the advantage of having 30 PP rather than 15 PP -- much more useful for activities like these where I need to have some sort of attack available to me the entire time. I nearly ran out of Hypnosis (20 PP but only 55% accurate).
Ekans - all-rounder, currently only good attack is Bite
Koffing - decent physical defense, but slow, best attack is Tackle but can poison (Poison Gas and Smog)
Meowth - very fast, near-uniformly weak otherwise; good attack selection
Bellsprout - offense-focused; has Vine Whip and Sleep Powder and soon to get Acid
Growlithe - good all-rounder; best at special atk and worst at phys def, has two specials (Bite and Ember)
Hoppip - near-useless except for stalling with Synthesis and weakening with Tail Whip; has recently learned PoisonPowder to help with this. best attack is just Tackle.
Krabby - powerful physical atk and def, crap special atk/def. Use Vicegrip rather than Bubble.
I opened with my L15 Hoppip. It took a Hyper Fang to the face and got off PoisonPowder on Raticate, which is the source of most of my damage on it. I tried swapping between Koffing and Krabby (my two defensive walls, both at L15), but an unlucky crit left my Krabby KO'd. Then I swapped between Koffing and Ekans. While for whatever reason I decided to go with Wrap instead of Bite on particular turn*, I ended up being able to keep Hoppip, Koffing, and Ekans alive and winning.
(This means I didn't use my other two pokémon, Bellsprout and Meowth. Here, Meowth is my "safety" pokémon since it's level 22.)
To be honest, while his strat is pretty decent now -- basically, be a dominant wall and then use a combination of Tail Whip and Hyper Fang to deal damage and a combination of Scary Face and Quick Attack to keep speed advantage. But he did spend too much time using Tail Whip and Scary Face.
* I was probably thinking that I could keep Ekans in the fight for a while, which never really happened. That said, do note that Wrap's secondary damage is solely dependent on target's max HP, not attacker's power, and always also hits on the same turn that Wrap hit.
Anyway, Koffing and Hoppip both managed to level up on this.
Record #105: Shellder
Tried fishing for another Shellder, since I can just put it to sleep with my Bellsprout (L15), despite its level advantage (L20). Got another Shellder on my first try!...only for it to wake up and crit Bellsprout with an AURORA BEAM.
Bellsprout got knocked out in one hit, of course, but I just realized that this is the first ice-type move I have access to.
Incidentally, Stadium 2's pokédex entry says that Shellder is "surprisingly fast", but my L15 Krabby outsped it.
Attempting to do this again but make it go better, I ended up encountering a Chinchou instead.
Record #106: Chinchou
Checking their stats now:
L20 Shellder - 43 HP, 32/45/28/20/25 - Tackle, Withdraw, Supersonic, Aurora Beam; evolve at L??
Obvious dump stat is obvious, and obvious strong stats are obvious too. Generally poor special (esp. defense) and speed, but okay physical attack and strong physical defense. Its moveset learns things up to L49, where it replaces Aurora Beam (65 power, already quite respectable) with the stronger Ice Beam (95 power). Its stone evolution, on the other hand, replaces the moves learned at 33/41/49 (Leer/Clamp/Ice Beam) with new ones at only at 33/41 (Spikes, Spike Cannon) (and nothing else). I don't know yet which learnset I want.
L20 Chinchou - 64 HP, 23/21/33/33/36 - Thunder Wave, Supersonic, Flail, Water Gun; evolves at L27
That HP stat looks amazing, while physical stats are the obvious dump stats. Otherwise it has respectable special and speed. Amusingly, because I caught this at L20, the movelist has moved past Bubble, scrolling it off the top while putting Water Gun at the bottom. Its only electric move, Spark, comes in at L25, and beyond its evolution point it also learns the powerful Confuse Ray, Take Down, and Hydro Pump. (Thunder Wave, Water Gun, Spark, Confuse Ray, and Hydro Pump are its most useful moves.)
...come to think of it, I think my mom bought me a Moon Stone. (It's one of her one-time, non-repeating purchases, according to Bulbapedia.)
At level 17, Hoppip is trying to learn Sleep Powder, and after mulling over it for a while, I decided to replace Tail Whip with it. I mean, there are potentially viable reasons for replacing that or Poison Powder, but yeah.
And at L17, Koffing learns Selfdestruct.
And here's a wild Seaking that I've encountered while Surfing...at L22. Goldeen normally evolves into Seaking at L33. This is probably one of the most underleveled mons I've yet seen. But I let this one slide since I plan on training my Goldeen up anyway, because I think it gets Waterfall.
Bug Catcher Wade finally sends out his second set: L9 Metapod, L9 Metapod, L10 Kakuna, L9 Metapod. It slightly surprises me that RNG just made him take so long to actually offer to rematch me.
A little more training and now most of my stuff is L17. Amusingly, I've lately made heavy use of the trio consisting of Ekans, Koffing, and...Krabby. Meanwhile, Erin wants a rematch, and I'm a little concerned because I have to get to her via Dark Cave which means bringing one or two pokémon (for Rock Smash and Flash), and I opted out of Flash so I could keep more stuff on hand, simply by using a map. However, the rematch with Erin's two Ponytas was, somehow, handled well by just that trio. Krabby's really crap special defense gave it trouble with Ember, but switching to Koffing solved that issue, and between it and Ekans I swept the rest of it while she wasted her turns.
Finally turned in some apricorns to Kurt and then checked my Togepi's happiness. Apparently it's still stuck in the 150-199 range...
L18 Skiploom - 53 HP, 29/25/24/31/41
This gives me a better view of where its strengths and weaknesses are. Its physical attack is actually the least crappy of its crappy stats; even crappier are its physical defense and special attack. On the other hand, its special defense is slightly less crap, and its speed is where it really shines, so this kinda makes me think it's useful for laying down status ailments early on.
This means the Violet City Pokémon Center PC is no longer accessible.
I brought Slowpoke with me to Dark Cave so I could Surf and discovered that there's a nook in the middle of the cave that leads to a mysterious other area that's blocked by one-way ledges.
Anyway, following my daily berry picking, I left Kurt some white apricorns, and then
I decided to go explore Union Cave further, and met a nightmarishly strong pokémon that wiped my team. It was a L26 Kang--no, wait, that was a bad dream; I got out of the cave when I realized it might be a bad idea.Finally, a not-underleveled Quagsire!
So I decided to go further into Union Cave, and then I ended up in the Ruins of Alph, where we had a bad dream involving some guy with a L26 Girafarig who wiped our team. Let's leave until we get our mons into the 20s and I have a team that doesn't have like three poison-types.
Well, I can still mess with wild pokémon.
Record #108: Squirtle
Five of six starters now acquired. I'm still missing charmander.
Apparently surfing in Union Cave's second floor (from the main ladder down) can produce Squirtles at levels 6...to 17, at most/least. 16 or 17 would be overleveled.
Bug-Catching Contest! I have a level 23 Koffing now because of this lol. And I worked it to exhaustion, seriously. I'm out of PP on all my attacking moves, except Selfdestruct. And that's including the PP refresh I got by replacing Smog (which was down to like 6/20 PP) with Sludge.
3rd: Yunica, L14 Scyther (46 HP), 347 points
2nd: Cooltrainer Nick, Scyther, 361 points (there he goes again...wait, who beat him?)
1st: Camper Barry, Pinsir, 373 points
Dang. Well, at least I get a gold berry for my efforts.
Fisher Tully wants to battle. He's nearby, and his Qwilfish hasn't gone past level 19 yet; I won with just my Bellsprout.
Moving on up toward the Lake of Rage...Picnicker Tiffany's Clefairy definitely has more interesting moves than Clefairy did in gen 1. It's used Encore and Minimize so far, in addition to the traditional Doubleslap.
Record #109: Farfetch'd
Took me two Great Balls.
Pokémaniac Brent has a Lickitung, but I think I've seen that before. Anyway he says that I'm a Pokémaniac...so I guess that's my title now. =D He wants to get my contact info so he can tell me all about Bill, but my phone list is full...