And so we start part 3.
Xanatos and Warhammer have fainted. Reving is beyond our means by now, and by the time it's possible it won't be worth it to revive these two, so I stuck them into the computer. We need another two spearows for training. However, Meatshield is now so strong that He'll probably be able to one-hit a level 5 spearow, so we'll use the others we have for softening them up.
Sirus was captured without a problem (though the struggle did more damage than I expected).
Bob fainted softening up this spearow, so Jean stepped in for the pokeball to capture Orb.
And so I deposited Bob and started grinding on Kakunas again.
Sirus took down Twelve Kakunas before running completely out of PP.
And so, as Orb took down Kakuna number nine, Meatshield started to evolve.
And I went straight to pewter gym.
Meatshield has two damaging moves, scratch and ember. According to bulbapedia, they both have the same power and accuracy, and both do half damage against rock types. However, ember has a chance of inflicting burn upon the target. For these major battles, I'm going to give a round-by-round account.
Meatshield: Ember
Geodude: Defense curl
Meatshield: ember
Onix:Tackle
Meatshield: ember
Onix:screech (failed)
Meatshield: ember
Onix: screech (failed)
Meatshield: ember
Onix: screech
Meatshield: ember
Onix: faint
And so Brock was defeated. The biggest cost was in PP - Meatshield used one scratch and eight embers.
And now we go shopping, and go onto Route 3.
This Lass is avoidable. She has two pidgeys, so I'll probbaly tackle her after I have a pikachu
This bug catcher is not avoidable.
I used Meatshield to take out his two caterpies and a weedle with three embers, netting about 350 experience.
This youngster has a rattata and an ekans, and some of the funniest dialogue in this game.
Meatshield used two leers and three scratches to take them out and net another 350 experience.
I can choose to face the lass or the bug catcher. I chose the lass, as she has fewer pokemon (a rattata and a nidoran).
Two leers and three scratches later, I was victorious and topped up Meatshield with a couple of potions.
In order to continue, I had to leave the area and come back later. I took the opportunity to sell bide and buy a few more pokeballs.
This bug catcher is not avoidable. He has a caterpie and a metapod.
The caterpie was taken down by an ember and the metapod was taken down by Orb, with experience shared for Meatshield.
And so, we finally get to a patch of grass in route 3. There are level 8 spearows to be found here. They will be softened up with a struggle from Jean, Arthur or Sirus.
During the search, I accidentally struggled with Jean instead of running, which resulted in Jean dying.
I searched for a long time without finding a level eight one, so I decided to make do with a level seven, which was caught after arthur struggled twice.
I then started looking for a second one.
Johuotar was not caught easily - Arthur and Sirius fell, and I needed to use two pokeballs.
I returned to the Pewter city, deposited the fainted pokemon and went to Viridian Forest. However, I needed to catch another pokemon to soften up the pikachu. The ones I had already would either one-hit it (meatshield) or potentially faint from a low-level thundershock (the spearows). I tried to catch a weedle.
But it was one-shotted.
So I returned to route 3, and searched for a jigglypuff.
Since peck wasn't super effective, I could soften it up without eliminating it.
Unfortunately, the only technique that Toady Two knew was sing. This would mean that I would have to catch the Pikachu with full health (sing would help with that). Each use of sing would have a 55% chance of sending a pokemon to sleep, and would make it easier to catch. I stocked up on pokeballs and headed to Viridan Forest.
I found a pikachu and managed to send it to sleep on the second attempt (it used growl twice, so Toady Two was unharmed). I know pikachus are rather fragile, so I didn't want to risk eliminating it by softening it up with one of the others. I started thowing pokeballs. The second one managed to catch it.
Barbarossa was still asleep, so I found a Kakuna and let Barbarossa wake up during that battle.
Orb only had a few pp of peck left, and was able to take down two Kakunas before running out.
Darvi took down fifteen Kakunas and three metapods before running out.
Johuotar took down eighteen Kakunas and has only a couple peck PP, which will be used for helping to capture a new spearow.
And so I'm calling an end to this update.