With three Pokemon under my belt, I think it's time to start training them properly to prepare for my first gym battle. That's something Pokemon Trainers have to do, right? Battle gym leaders? The gym in this town's closed, so it looks like Pewter is the next stop.
Back on Route 22, I encounter a wild Bayleef. Sweet! I only have one Pokeball, but after weakening it a bit, I manage to poison and heavily injure it.
Gotta catch em all!
However, something strange happens. As I press the small button on my Pokeball to widen it, it instead turns grey. It won't open or enlarge no matter what I do. It's a bit unfortunate, but there'll be other Bayleefs I can catch. Just gotta grab some
working Pokeballs first.
After defeating the Bayleef, my party is at a pretty decent strength. I decide to explore around Route 22 a bit and end up bumping into Kent. Already? Seriously?
: "Hey, buttmunch! Where do you think you're going?"
: "Dude. Let up. I literally JUST battle you a few hours ago."
: "Well, I raised my Pokemon up, like, four levels each. I'm gonna crush your Tentacool like a shrimp!"
Kent's right: his Cubone's a higher level than any of my party. I get one Supersonic in before his new attack, Bone Club, reduces Turing to critical HP.
Unfortunately, Mendel suffers the same fate. His Absorb move is super-effective, but I only have a couple potions, so I can't keep her out for long.
Plato delivers the finishing blow with his new Bubble move, but Kent's Cubone doesn't go down without a fight.
Gary sends a weird fluffy cloud Pokemon out. I heal Turing up using my last potion. It's her final chance.
Turing poisons Swablu in the face of repeated pecks. As they're both on low HP, she manages to confuse Swablu with Supersonic. Oh, man...
Swablu hurts itself in its confusion and succumbs to Turing's poisonous stingers.
Yeah. Yeah, we really did.
: "I'm just gonna have to make my Pokemon EVEN STRONGER!"
: "Whatever, dude."
Back to Viridian, I heal up my Pokemen to full strength. I also head to the Mart and use all the money I've collected so far to nab a few potions, some Pokeballs and an Antidote.
Of course, there's boons just lying around as well.
The western route didn't seem to hold anything else of interest, so north I go!
The first Pokemon I encounter on Route 2 is a Solrock. Excellent. Even after throwing a few Pokeballs, though, it outright refuses to be captured.
I send in Mendel to weaken it with his piddly Pound attack.
Luckily, that proves to be enough.
I heal up my Pokemen once again before heading further north to the Viridian Forest.
It's awfully dark in here. I don't see any bug Pokemon.
Like that thing, for instance. I highly doubt it's a bug.
Turing manages to poison it with her stingers. Hopefully my Pokeballs won't go grey like last time.
Aaaand Duskull is mine!
I heal him up with an antidote and take him out for a quick bout of training with the team. In a short time, he's nearly up to their level. What else could this forest be hiding just behind the corner?