Well, the first thing I did now was to head out onto Route 203, where I was challenged by non other than Barry! He challenged me to a battle...
The battle was actually remarkably one-sided. Shinx used a combination of Leer and Tackle to take down Starly (Leer cancelling out Growl), with his Intimidate weakening its attack. He then used Leer again on Chimchar, but his Tackle was underpowered, so I switched him out for Turtwig, who took down Chimchar in two hits!
He ran off, as usual, and so I continued on through the route, battling some trainers (Shinx learned Charge here), and collecting items, but rather unusually not encountering any new pokémon...
I continued into Oreburgh Gate, where a friendly Hiker gifted me HM06 Rock Smash, and I battled two more trainers, as well as capturing a Psyduck.
Upon arrival in Oreburgh City, a random trainer called me a n00b, and took me to the gym, where I was Barry again, who said that the leader had gone down the mine. So I healed up and started to explore the city. First, I went to the Pokémon Center and healed, also getting a Pal Pad and a Friend Code. Then I headed north to Route 207, and captured a Geodude, Machop (two, one with Guts, one with No Guard) and a Ponyta before returning to the city.
The residents of Oreburgh were very kind - one girl traded her Abra for my Machop (The one with Guts), and another man gave me a gift just because I had a Geodude! After I was done exploring, I headed down the mine.
In the mine, Turtwig gained a couple of levels, and Shinx got one too, and I caught an Onix. I eventually accomplished my main objective too, and found Roark, who promptly returned to the gym.
As I entered the gym, I noticed Barry's name inscribed in the statue, beside which was a man who offered me advice, telling me Grass-types did well against Rock-types. From then, I knew to use Turtwig. I easily swept through the two trainers' Geodudes and Onix with Turtwig, although Onix proved challenging enough to activate Turtwig's Overgrow, boosting his Absorb to KO it easily whilst recovering most of his Hp.
When I approached Roark, he challenged me to a battle (well, I didn't want to just talk, did I?). His first pokémon was a Geodude, which was easily dispatched with Turtwig's Razor Leaf. Next came an Onix, which required more strategy due to its' defense - I let it weaken Turtwig whilst using Razor Leaf, then when Overgrow activated, I used Absorb. His third pokémon, however, was completely new - a Cranidos! This proved to be just as sturdy and twice as powerful as Onix, so I had to constantly use Absorb. Eventually, though, Turtwig was weakend to Overgrow activation without flinching, and Absorb took down Cranidos, earning my first Gym Badge! I also got given a TM for Stealth Rock.
After healing, I left Oreburgh, bumping into Barry on the way, explored a little of Oreburgh Gate with Rock Smash, and returned to Jubilife City. There, when heading north to Route 204, I encountered Prof. Rowan and Dawn, who enlisted my help to dispatch some Team Galactic Grunts. These were actually tougher than Roark, partially due to it being a Double Battle.
Afterwards, Prof. Rowan thanked me, suggesting I get all the Sinnoh League Badges (my original objective anyway), and they left. A Jubilife T.V. person approached me, and gave me a Fashion Case. Suddenly I remembered that I could access the Global Terminal! I went there, a woman gave me a backdrop, and then I attempted to trade over the GTS. I found a Chimchar being traded for a female Bidoof, but there was an anomaly - If I tried to trade, it said it had been traded away, yet Chimchar always appeared on my searches.
I then explored Jubilife T.V, failing to win the lottery, and got another Pokétch App from the company, before heading back to Route 204. There, I headed through the grass to Ravaged Path, where I found a couple of items, then back out into the northern part of the route, battling a few trainers on my way.
When I arrived at Floaroma Town, I found something to be wrong - Team Galactic were guarding the meadow. I headed out onto Route 205, where a girl asked me to save her dad, and to Valley Windworks. I noticed grass outside, so went to battle the pokémon within, capturing a Shellos and a Buizel. I then approached the Grunt outside, who I battled and defeated with my new Buizel and Shinx, who had learned the powerful Spark attack. He locked himself inside, and told me the other key was at the meadow, so I headed back to Floaroma.
I noticed the Grunts had disappeared from the entrance, so I ventured inside the meadow. There, they were ambushing a Honey salesman, until they noticed me. I brutally defeated them, with Shinx evolving in the process, and they left, leaving the key behind, so I headed back to Valley Windworks.
Inside Valley Windworks, I found the entrance grunt, who ran off to warn his superiors. I battled two more grunts with Buizel and Turtwig, working my way through to meet Commanders Mars and Charon. Charon irritated Mars (and me as well), so she challenged me to a battle. Her Zubat fell easily to Luxio, so I sent out Turtwig to battle Purugly. Despite inflicting massive damaged with Razor Leaf, Turtwig was defeated. I sent out Buizel, who was able to finish it off with a Quick Attack before Mars' Potion reached it. Team Galactic then left, and the little girl turned up to see her father, who told me of a pokémon that appears on Fridays. I was too busy, however, so left.
Overnight I left Honey on a tree, but all I found was a Wurmple. I captured it anyway, and headed a little further north, battling some trainers, with Turtwig also evolving (even though I loved his original form, he was so determined I couldn't bring myself to cancel the evolution, so I now have a big, heavy-yet-still-cute Grotle). Outside Eterna Forest, I rested at a kind woman's house, preparing to tackle whatever horrors lay within.
Team
#018 Luxio
Adamant | Intimidate
Bite / Leer / Charge / Spark
#002 Grotle
Quirky | Overgrow
Curse / Withdraw / Absorb / Razor Leaf
#056 Buizel
Adamant | Swift Swim
Swift / Quick Attack / Water Gun / Pursuit
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