Okay, first progress report:
1)Chose Chikorita as my beginning Pokemon.
2)While trying to make my way to Mr. Pokemon's house, was thoroughly thrashed by Weedle and Pidgey encounters. Eventually, I had to constantly run away, trying to make it back to Prof. Elm's healing machine.
3) Repeatedly had to suffer #2 until I simply wound up grinding to level 8 which awarded me Razor Leaf. Tackle decided that it wasn't going to bother with accuracy for the vast majority of the fights, hence the grinding.
4) Finally get to Mr. Pokemon's house and instead of coming to Prof. Elm's aid immediately upon exiting, figured that I had best grind more levels. This was in anticipation of the first gym to *probably* not follow the type pattern that I have experienced so far in my Red game.
5) Chikorita is now level 17, I have answered Prof. Elm's distress signal and am now going to take a break until tomorrow.
EDIT: Got bored, started the game up again.
6) Got to Violet City and decided to explore instead of head straight to the gym. Beat Sprout Tower challenge and ground out a few more levels.
7) Went into gym and was drastically surprised at how much I overestimated the gym leader's strength level. Level 21 Chikorita vs level 9 Pidgeotto? Yeah...that was a bit trivial. Oh well, better safe than sorry, right?
8) Looked up potential extra team members that have 'C' as their beginning name letter. Oh, dear. Not very many so Chikorita is going solo for quite some time to come. (Okay, *this* is really and truly the final edit of the night because it was pointed out to me a few of the differences between generations.) Nevermind, I didn't know about having to wait until morning for Caterpie as I was only encountering Weedle nor was I aware that Golbat had another evolutionary stage added onto it. I am kicking myself for not having researched enough to realize either of these things. Would have *loved* to have battle fodder so I didn't lose a giant chunk of cash or white-out due to my rival. However, at least now I know.
9) After defeating Team Rocket and breaking up their Slowpoke Tail scheme, went to try the western exit from the town. Bad idea. My rival challenged me and Quilava's Ember completely scorched Chikorita even though she was at level 27 and I even used a Super Potion during the fight. I assume this means I failed the challenge for 'whiting out', I believe it's called? However, I still want to continue on and see how well I fare.
Edit: New day, and by gad, this is insane.
10) Managed to get a Caterpie (almost missed the time span it was available, and used up all but two of my pokeballs because I don't have Poisonpowder and I'd one-shot it if I did anything else) and trained it level 11 so I would have an easier time to catch a Zubat.
11) Finally get said Zubat and proceeded to train it and Caterpie up to level 22, each. The resulting Golbat is quite nice to have as backup. When I run into my rival again, I can at least hope to get a few confused cheap shots on his Quilava should Chikorita still be unable to withstand its fire attacks.
12) Have progressed all the way to Ecruteak City with nothing really noteworthy happening. However, challenged Morty and lost quite badly. His team would not hurt themselves in confusion and made quick work of Golbat. Caterpie obviously was quite useless. Chikorita being level 38 and all, I expected Razor Leaf to be pretty good but I was horribly wrong.
It would miss half the time and his Haunter used Curse before I made it faint. Gengar, while only level 25, was very resistant to Razor Leaf and would have required 3 hits. However, Hypnosis + Dream Eater on TOP of the curse made darn sure I didn't get more than one hit in, even with using potions and awakening items.
13) Whited out and proceeded to see if I could explore past the city. Thankfully finding out that indeed I could, I made my way to Olivine City. Was grateful I didn't have to fight my rival again, him simply spewing plot-advancement details.
14) Went up the Lighthouse and battling everyone I could find there. Talked to the gym leader caring for the Pokemon there. *Really* didn't want to have to go catch and train an HM slave for Surf for the time being. Besides, I have Morty to go beat down now.
15) Headed back to Ecruteak City, rested up my team, and proceeded to completely luck out on Morty with critical hits. Thank goodness. However, my relief would not last long due to the following. Please note this because it is a:
**GIANT 16**) Noooooooooo! I had my sound off when I beat Morty and had to put down the game to get the phone. I hadn't realized Chikorita leveled to 42 during that battle (yeah, how I didn't notice, probably mashing the buttons to try and skip unnecessary battle information which I've seen a hundred times already). I came back to the game, it having flipped upside down when I went to grab the phone. When I grabbed onto it and instinctively felt for the buttons it would've canceled out of the evolution screen.
So, me thinking it's back to business, I SAVED THE GAME. I got a very nasty surprise when I came across my next battle.
As such, I will be regretfully withdrawing from this challenge. I cannot do that all over again. That's...I don't even have the proper words for it.