Okay, here's the update. First of all, I'll be giving some more depth to Takeru's personality, as well as giving certain traits the Pokemon I catch during this challenge.
Takeru's Log:
Entry 1: After defeating Brock at the Pewter Gym, I've decided to rest for a while at the Pokemon Center before Sneasel and I make our way out to Mt. Moon. It's gonna be a long trek, but I know that we can make it through. There are a lot of Trainers on Route 3. Most of them are pretty easy for Sneasel, but seeing how worn out she is, I think I might need to catch a new Pokemon to lighten the load, if even just a little.
Entry 2: Wow, now here's something unusual. This trainer I battled said there were some suspicious characters lurking around. He also stated that he believes that it's Team Rocket, up to no good as usual. As I searched for the exit, I saw a Cubone. Quite an unusual sight for a place like Mt. Moon. It looked so sullen and alone, even for a Cubone. So I decided to try and catch it. Sneasel didn't even have to damage it, just restrain it for me to throw the Pokeball. Sure enough, it was a wild one. It doesn't seem to like me that much. I found a Sun Stone while looking for the exit. Funny. You'd think that a place called Mt. MOON wouldn't have SUN Stones. But I'm not complaining. I'll get some use out of it, I'm sure.
Entry 3: Oh man... This is bad. I went down this path that turned out to be a dead end, with a Rocket Grunt nearby. I tried to sneak away but he found me. I'd had Cubone out, and the minute that Grunt sent out a Pokemon, Cubone started attacking it like there was no tomorrow. His determination seemed pretty unnatural. I called Cubone back, because he wasn't actually doing any sort of damage to the Grunt's Sandshrew, and I sent out Sneasel to take out both of his Pokemon, and then got out of there and hid for a while. I let out Cubone, wondering what was wrong. It looked like he'd been crying while he was trying to defeat that Sandshrew, and I realized something right there. Cubone are usually sullen and misanthropic because of the trauma of losing their parents, and this little guy was no exception. It's pretty obvious to me that his mother must have been killed by Team Rocket. I started telling him about how little I knew my dad, and how he'd left home to become a Gym Leader in some far off region. I then told Cubone that I'd wanted to follow in his footsteps, and that I'd need as much help as I could. I then decided to give Cubone the Rock Tomb TM that I got from Brock, saying that as long as he travelled with me, I'd make sure that he got vengeance against them. I think after that speech, Cubone's started to warm up to me a little.
Entry 4: Now that Cubone's learned Rock Tomb, he's having no trouble beating Team Rocket's Pokemon. After a lot of training, against both Rocket-owned and wild Pokemon alike, Cubone also learned Bone Club, which is sure to help against other Rocket Grunts. After a while of travelling, I finally found the exit. But there was some kind of Super Nerd nearby. I was planning on just walking past him with no difficulty, but he thought I was going to try and take his fossils and sent his Pokemon at me. All Poison-types, so Cubone made short work of them. After telling him that I was only passing through, and had no intention of taking his fossils, he apologized and insisted that I take a fossil as a token of his apology. Since it seemed like he wasn't going to give up on it, I just decided to take the Dome Fossil. He then mentioned something about a Lab on Cinnabar Island, where they were researching on how to bring fossilzed Pokemon back to life. Might be something to look into when I get there. But for now, time to get out of here.
Entry 5: We just recently made it out of Mt. Moon. It was quite a trek, but it was worth it. Cubone in particular seems really happy about beating those Rocket Grunts. I'll bet he's looking forward to defeating a lot more of them, and I'm certain that we'll clash against Team Rocket on more and more occasions in the future. On our way to Cerulean City, I came across a couple of Blackbelts, offering to teach my Cubone either Mega Punch or Mega Kick. While both moves are powerful, Mega Kick isn't as reliable as Mega Punch, so I chose Mega Punch. The Mega Kick Blackbelt seemed disappointed, but I didn't pay him any mind and went on my merry way. Upon arrival in Cerulean, I heard talk going around about some "Nugget Bridge challenge" going on at the Bridge on Route 24, where, if you defeat five trainers, you're given a Nugget by a man running it. It caught my interest as a place to do some possible training, so after healing my Pokemon, I decided to head up that way. But who should I run into other than Gary Mothertrucking Oak? The guy was apparently waiting to jump me after trouncing him at Professor Oak's Lab and on Route 22. Another trouncing occured, this time joined by Cubone, who proved to be a great asset against Gary's Abra and Pidgeotto. After I beat him, he gave me a Fame Checker, calling me a 'chatty gossip'. REALLY? Since when have I talked crap about anybody besides calling him "Gary Mothertrucking Oak?" Anyway, he also rubbed in my face the fact that he's caught more Pokemon than I have, as well as the fact that he'd already beaten the Cerulean Gym. Jerk...
Entry 6: Well, the Nugget Bridge was legit enough. Sure enough, after taking down all 5 trainers, I got a Nugget from the guy at the end, but then this weird crap happens. He offers me the opportunity to JOIN Team Rocket and rule the world. As if I'd even THINK about it. Hearing a mention of Team Rocket really lit Cubone's fuse, and we won rather easily. After that victory, I decided to search the grass patch along the side of the bridge, and I found an Oddish. I had Cubone just use a Headbutt against it, and interestingly enough, not only did Oddish not faint, but also used a powerful Absorb attack and managed to endure a SECOND Headbutt from Cubone. After witnessing that, I decided to catch it. I threw the Pokeball and it was an easy catch. Oddish seems to be pretty energetic, enough that I can say that it's definitely jumpy. But with only Absorb and Sweet Scent at it's disposal, I figured that it might be helpful to teach Oddish with the Bullet Seed TM I found in Mt. Moon, and so far, it seems Oddish is quite a crack shot, if I do say so myself. Out of 5 shots, 4 of them hit their mark each time he's used them. Which is sure to come in handy in Cerulean Gym. Taking Gary's advice, I decided to trek over to Bill's Sea Cottage.
Entry 7: Now HERE'S a tale for the Little Treehouse of Horrors. Imagine to yourself the foulest, most unnatural thing you've ever seen in your life. Now imagine a Pokemaniac with Curly brown hair and a british accent fused with a Clefairy, of all things. Yeah. Not as cute as the Clefairy and Bill fangirls would think... Anyway, I helped Bill out of his predicament, and to thank me for helping him, he gave me an SS Ticket to get on the SS Anne in Vermillion City. Seems like something to check out. He also let me check out his Rare Pokemon Collection, which added pages for Eevee, Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon to my Pokedex. A nice gain, to say the least. After checking all of that out, I decided to head back to Cerulean when I heard a commotion break out at a nearby house. A police officer told me that there was a break-in, and that the criminal stole a TM for Digging holes. I decided to try and find the theif, and, to my surprise, he was standing RIGHT IN THEIR BACKYARD. The guy tried to feed me a line of crap about how he was just an innocent bystander, but I'm not falling for it. A quick trouncing ensued, with his Machop and Drowzee being defeated and the Dig TM being recovered. I was going to return it to it's proper owner, but the owner told me to keep it, saying he'd just have his Diglett learn it naturally. A rather unexpected gain, but appreciated nonetheless.
Entry 8: After taking out that Rocket Grunt, I decided it was time to take on the Cerulean Gym. We entered the gym, and I saw Cubone cowering somewhat, which I assumed meant that Cubone had a fear of water, which is natural for a Ground-type. So I decided to try and stick with Oddish and Sneasel for this fight, and managed to make it to Misty with no problem using ONLY Oddish. Misty's Staryu and Starmie gave Oddish a tough fight, but Oddish managed to take down Starmie with a 4-hit Bullet Seed attack for the CascadeBadge. What's even better is that after the battle, Oddish EVOLVED! It was my first time seeing an evolution up close, so I was surprised to see such a drastic change. From Oddish to Gloom. But it doesn't end there. We got to the Pokemon Center, healed up, and afterwards, I started sifting through my bag, looking for the Moon Stone I found and Gloom picked up the Sun Stone I'd set aside while looking for it. As soon as Gloom started glowing, I knew it was an evolution. But it's amazing. Gloom evolved into a species of Pokemon I'd never seen before. According to the Pokedex, it's called Bellossom, and unlike Oddish and Gloom, Bellossom is a Pure Grass-type. Meaning that when I make my next stop at Saffron, Bellossom's less likely to be at risk of serious injury.
Sneasel
Lv. 23
Female
Rash Nature
Met at Pallet Town at Lv. 5
Takeru's Thoughts:
Sneasel is definitely the Alpha Female Battle Girl of the party. Both the strongest Pokemon and the apparent tip of the food chain in my party. She wasn't as involved in the Cerulean Gym Battle as she was Pewter's, mainly due to the additions of Bellossom and Cubone. But even so, Sneasel is still the strongest Pokemon in my party, and I don't doubt that she'll come in especially handy in Saffron next.
Cubone
Lv. 20
Male
Naughty Nature
Met at Mt. Moon at Lv. 7
Takeru's Thoughts:
Cubone wasn't exactly what I had expected him to be when I caught him. He's a fierce-yet-intellectual fighter who knows when to fight and when to swap out. If we can get much stronger, I don't doubt he'd be especially useful in Saffron's Gym.
Bellossom
Lv. 21
Male
Sassy Nature
Met at Route 24 at Lv. 13
Takeru's Thoughts:
Bellossom, despite being originally caught as an Oddish, is definitely a powerful battler. He's the king of Multi-hit attacks, landing 4 out of 5 Bullet Seed shots flawlessly each time. And since he's a pure Grass-type, there's no need to worry about a weakness against Psychic-types, which is likely what we'll be up against next.
So Takeru's Logs and Thoughts will be a frequent thing in my updates, along with important screenshots, such as the capture of new Pokemon, event milestones, such as the Nugget Bridge Completion, Gym Clears, and other such details.
Also, as for why SAFFRON is mentioned next. Well, I'm trying to give this playthrough a bit more of a story to it, so Takeru is currently unaware of the Saffron Roadblock, and of Team Rocket's takeover of Silph Co. He WILL be going to Vermillion City, so don't think I'm planning to skip past all of that.
Screenshots of key events are up on my Majhost Gallery dedicated to this Challenge.
No screenshots of Mt. Moon due to my forgetfulness.
