JOURNAL ENTRY 1
Dear Journal:
And 'lo, I finally arrived at my home in Littleroot Town (I oughta sue the moving company for stuffing me in the back along with all of our stuff, I've a nasty headache now and something smells funny). I proceeded inside and set my new clock (after of course trying to get the attention of the strange creature carrying the T.V. back and forth) then left to meet my new neighbour, May. Her mother sent me upstairs, and I was in the awkward position of her walking in on me in her bedroom. No, really, I didn't take anything, honest. She immediately sat down at her computer and I tiptoed out.
I then went to find the Professor. Would you believe I found him getting attacked by a wild raccoon? I thought this guy was a top-notch Pokémon expert. I am ordered to grab a Pokéball out of the bag a few feet away from me. Without thinking, I grab the one in the center and throw it, and out pops the cutest thing I'd ever seen, a little orange chick. It only took two attacks to dispose of the assailant, after which I learned that it is called a
Torchic.
The next morning, I wanted to play with my new friend, May. I ended up having to go for a long walk at which point I found out she had her own Pokémon, which she told me was a
Mudkip. I had already done some battling, but it seems this was her very first battle, and I ended up squashing her easily. After this, she wanted me to come home and quickly. The good Professor gave me this weird gadget called a Pokédex and sent me off again. My mother had apparently gone out shopping while I was away and gave me a pair of running shoes. They sure felt better than those flip-flops I arrived in.
I traveled back out to find my father at the Petalburg Gym. Would you believe he refused to battle me? He even had the nerve to call me a greenhorn after collecting several new Pokémon! Wally then walks in, and he had this very sad look about him. I ended up tagging along to help him catch a Pokémon with my Dad's
Zigzagoon. Would you believe he was lucky enough to find the first
Ralts on the path in his first attempt? He caught it, and
Zigzagoon was returned to its owner, but I was shipped off west to start looking for badges. I stomped off muttering about the experience.
The travel through the woods was a somewhat eerie experience; I mean, you always get lost in the woods. Some thug was trying to steal some guy's papers, but my
Torchic was able to take care of him. I proceeded along to Rustboro City and visited a lovely home where I met a kid named Kobe. It seems he really wants a
Ralts. I knew what it was from earlier, but evidently they were not local to the area and he could not go out far from the city seeking one. I ended up traveling back to my Dad, who advised me they were in the area east of Petalburg City.
After 15 minutes of searching and running away from anything I saw, I finally got my shining opportunity; a
Ralts approached me. I asked my new
Silcoon, which evolved from
Wurmple on the trip to Rustboro City, to weaken it with a Poison Sting, then Tackle it. Would you believe that
Ralts fainted from the Tackle attack? I thought they were stronger than that.
I finally located and caught a second
Ralts, but while I was there overheard a discussion of a
Marill that could be found to the west of the city. Apparently this
Marill was new to the area and its habitat grew quickly, so it should be easy to find. At this point I knew that the Gym at Rustboro was a rock-themed Gym, and had gone to the Trainer's School to learn that I wanted a water type. My Pokédex told me that
Marill was a water type, so I loitered around for a while to find one and eventually caught it. I healed at the Pokémon Center and returned to where I caught my
Ralts; would you believe there was another
Ralts waiting for me right there? I remembered that Kobe wanted a
Ralts, so I quickly caught it and resumed training.
Tomorrow, I will set out to return to Rustboro City. Will my
Marill be able to handle the Gym? I have no idea, but I do know it will be a long night training. I need to prove Dad wrong.
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Good start? ;)
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JOURNAL ENTRY 2
Dear Journal:
I said my goodbye to Dad in the early morning hours of the second day and said I would come around again by nightfall to harvest berries, and set out along Route 104 en route to Petalburg Woods. I began to trek the by-now-familiar path to the other side of the Route leading to Rustboro City. Along the way, I harvested and planted new Berry plants to harvest later in the evening.
On the way north, I discovered a
Slakoth loafing around in the middle of my path. After a brief tussle, I captured it in a Pokéball and was about to leave, but I decided it would be worthwhile to look for
Wurmple's other evolution, a
Cascoon, before continuing. After an extensive search, I succeeded and carried on walking.
Upon reaching Rustboro City, I went straight to the house belonging to Kobe's family and presented him with one of the
Ralts I had caught. He was so happy that he gave me his
Seedot, named Dots. I'm sure the
Seedot was sad to be part of that deal, but Kobe told it before the trade that he wanted it to train with me and become stronger, and it seemed happy with that notion. I didn't bother to point out that
Ralts' only known move at the time was "Growl".
With that deal done, I went to another house and met Walda with her Pokédoll collection. Walda seems to be a sad little girl, and her father was desperate for something to make her smile. I stuttered and basically said something that sounded like "CSnBBVsLsGGGVRh"; would you believe that little girl cracked up laughing? The father thanked me and told me he'd send me a file with something I might like; I went to the Pokémon Center immediately and already found the following in my PC box:
The wallpaper actually looks nice. I might inquire about getting a lighter shade of blue and red.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: You can create your own wallpaper and get your own humorous gibberish. If you need details, ask me. Also, if your Trainer ID happens to be 65325, the above "word" will work for you, but not otherwise.)
I swapped out my party to work on evolving my
Cascoon and am about to resume training on Route 116 in preparation for the upcoming Gym battle. I will be back with more later.
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JOURNAL ENTRY 3
Dear Journal:
What an amazing day today was. Here I was busily training my
Nincada on Route 116 when I was approached by a somewhat different-looking
Nincada. I thought it might be another evolutionary chain or something, so I decided to capture it and ask my Dad if he knew anything about it. More on that later.
The rest of my day was spent training all of my Pokémon. They all are much stronger now than they were when I met them. My
Cascoon has evolved into a
Dustox, accompanying my
Beautifly. My
Slakoth is still lazy; I can't wait for the day it learns to be a more responsible battling partner. I have two Pokémon with Water Gun now that I remember my
Wingull has been using it to drown the poor
Nincadas on Route 116, so Roxanne's Rock Gym should be a piece of cake.
At nightfall, I made the express journey back to Petalburg City. After harvesting my Berries, I went to ask my Dad about the strangely coloured
Nincada I had caught. He took one look and said, "Son, you've caught yourself a Shiny." Of course, I had to then ask, "What's a Shiny?" "There's nothing that different about them habitually," he said, "but they are sought after by Pokémon enthusists everywhere as they have a different coloration from a standard Pokémon. That
Nincada is special and you should take exceptionally good care of it." I promised Dad I would do that and got ready for bed, telling him I might not return for a while after leaving in the morning. He didn't seem to mind.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Once I finish Emerald and the Generation IV games, thus allowing me to import the Pokémon through the generations, I plan to import this specific Nincada to Black. If anyone needs a Shiny Nincada, I may seek assistance cloning it and getting some that I can trade. More on its stats once I go about that, but I do not plan to train it in Emerald and have it stored in the last box of the PC as caught at Level 7. Once clones have been made, it will be the Nincada I train in Black. Anyone know whether the Shedinja from a Shiny Nincada's evolution is itself Shiny? Send me a VM.)
As I go to bed, I am left reflecting on the day. I have a new Shiny Pokémon, I have a great team of partners who are loyal to me and will fight for my honour, and I have a
Seedot who may still have loyalty issues. Despite the possible complications with Dots in the future, I remain hopeful for the road ahead. I spoke with Roxanne earlier today and scheduled my battle with her for tomorrow. I eagerly look forward to the battle but remain nervous as this is my first official challenge. I hope I do well!
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: The journal entry below contains material that was done just for journal purposes and not saved. Obviously I know what I'm getting into here having completed Black - not to mention most of the story on an Emerald ROM - and seeing the guides for the Gyms would not try an official playing so under-leveled.)
JOURNAL ENTRY 4
Dear Journal:
Today was both the highest of highs and the lowest of lows all-together. I approached the Rock Gym of Roxanne with hopes high, and all started out well; I gave my
Torchic a chance to flex itself (though that didn't go smoothly, it still won) and ended up in a double battle affair with two other Trainers where my
Marill and
Ralts easily stole the show. Confidence swelling, I approached Roxanne
(I saved here BTW) and challenged her. Her
Geodudes fell in the same way as those before...then it happened. She sent out
Nosepass. And I was crushed. Not only was it her starter Pokémon, but it was stronger than everything I brought with me.
Dejected but vowing for a rematch, I headed back to Route 116 from the Pokémon Center, but not before checking on my berries from the night before. They weren't ripe yet, so I will check again later. Back on Route 116, I ended up encountering another
Abra and basically chucked a ball at it thinking it would just run away again; my time must have come, because this one wanted to come with me! Happy to finally get that out of the way, I went on to train. In the midst of training, I encountered the most adorable creature, something my Pokédex referred to as a
Skitty. It seems to be the most normal-type Pokémon one can get, so I doubt it will become a major component of my team, but it does happen to be one of the rarest Pokémon in Hoenn (and one of the cutest) so I had to catch it in one of the Great Balls that my
Zigzagoon stumbled upon in our travels.
I will write more when Roxanne's
Nosepass falls.
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JOURNAL ENTRY 5
Dear Journal:
What a busy day today was, Journal. I managed to defeat Roxanne at the Rustboro Gym, and then came across the researcher from the Woods having something stolen. I had to save the day again, and as a reward for my trouble, I got asked to travel across Hoenn and deliver some package, and also some letter to a guy named Steven. However, I did get a Pokénav for my trouble, so now my Mom can bother me about changing my underwear whenever she wants. Joy. (EDITOR'S NOTE: This is an anime reference.)
I did meet Mr. Brimey, whose Wingull got stolen as part of the thievery. It didn't take long to get it back to him, and when all was done and I was free to do as I wished again, I asked his help to go overseas. Along the way, Dad got wind of my number and called me on the boat. After I arrived, I looked around the sleepy island town of Dewford, where the subject of discussion around town was some sort of babbling nonsense. I muttered something about an Emerald Party, which someone heard, and suddenly the Emerald Party was all the rage. I don't understand these weirdos.
In any case, I read about the Dewford Gym, which I discovered is a Fighting type. According to my Pokédex, Psychic types are strong against Fighting types, but Zigzagoon would have to take a back seat in this battle due to its weakness to Fighting moves. Ralts was ready to go, but I wasn't sure about Dustox. I decided that the Gym would be excellent training for him, however, and started making my way through the blackness.
By the time I got to Brawly, I could tell that Dustox had gained a great amount of experience. I gave it a Potion as a thank you (and to heal its tiredness from battle) and engaged in battle. I swapped Pokémon throughout this battle, but my Ralts - while having a stronger Confusion attack - isn't as strong defensively as Dustox is, so after Ralts fainted I gave Dustox the finishing strike on Makuhita and won the Badge. In one day, within a mere couple of hours, I had won two badges, the Stone Badge and the Knuckle Badge. Since Dewford Town doesn't have a Pokémart, I asked Mr. Brimey to take me back to Petalburg to stock up on Pokéballs; during the trip, I showed my Dad the two badges. He still refuses to battle; he says that his Pokémon are merely two strong for me, but has given me the name of another leader that I should seek out and battle, some chap named Wattson. I asked where Mauville Town is located; he said Surf through on Route 103 and I'll be right there. When I pointed out that I can't Surf, he paused in thought then said to me, "Didn't you get to Dewford Town on a boat?" I guess I'm stalled for right now, but tomorrow will be looking for Steven to deliver this mysterious letter. I just wish I knew where to find him.
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JOURNAL ENTRY 6
Dear Journal:
I met that Steven chap today. Quite a nice fellow. Not sure what he was doing in the Granite Cave, but I assume it was something important.
Instead of hanging around Granite Cave, I have been spending time training on Route 116 in order to make all of my Pokémon stronger; I don't know why, but I don't like having a weak Pokémon on my team and want them to be at their best. I did take a Makuhita and a Geodude back with me, and also caught Zubat, Sableye, and Aron. I have heard that Mawile is found deep in the cave, and I have yet to see a Nosepass like that of Roxanne.
As I write this, my Aron is showing Skitty just what it means to be tough; nothing gets through its skin, and I mean nothing. I must get back to training.
