-Named myself Andrew, and quickly remembered that you can't name your Rival in this game. Damn.
-Arrived at my new house in New Bark Town. I rode in the back of the moving truck, which is only slightly better than riding on the top of it.
-Went inside, set the clock, saw the end of the lame TV show.
-Walked next door and met May.
-I decided to go to Route 101, and I saw the Professor was being chased by a Poochyena. He told me to use one of the Pokeballs in his bag to help him, so I picked the Mankey.
-The Poochyena was only level 2, so it fell to 2 Scratches.
-The Professor invited me back to his lab, and gave me the Mankey to keep. I named him Snargles, and told the Professor I would go visit May on Route 103.
-Before visiting May, I decided to grind a bit on Route 101 until Snargles learned Low Kick (Level 9).
-The road from Oldale to Route 202 was blocked by some guy studying footprints...
-May challenged me to a battle on Route 103. Snargles defeated her Torchic in 2 Scratches. Easy.
-We traveled back to the lab, where the Professor gave us both a Pokedex and told us to find every Pokemon for it. Wow, like that's never been done before.
-Mom met me on my way to Oldale and gave me some Running Shoes. I prefer Converse, but okay.
-The footprint guy wasn't blocking the path for the moment, so we decided to sneak by to Route 102.
-Snargles and I defeated a few trainers with Poochyenas and Wurmples.
-We arrived at Petalburg City, which actually looks more like a small town or village, and headed straight for the Gym.
-Wally was there. My father Norman (the gym leader) gave him a Zigzagoon and asked me to go with him to catch his first Pokemon.
-We went out to Route 102, where Wally caught a leve 5 Ralts. I have no idea how he trained this since it was his only Pokemon, and it knows no attacking moves.
-I went back to the Gym, and my father told me to take on the gym leader challenge. He said the closest gym (and coincidentally the one with the lowest leveled pokemon) was in Rustboro.
-Snargles and I healed up and entered Eterna Forest.
-We fought a few trainers, and ran into some guy being harassed by a Team Magma Grunt.
-Snargles easily beat his Poochyena with one Low Kick and he ran away crying.
-The man who was being harassed turned out to be a Devon employee, and gave me a Great Ball for my effort. I would have liked something better for a solo run, like a nugget, but whatever.
-We fought more trainers and eventually found our way out of the large forest maze that they have in every damn game.
-Snargles and I beat yet a few more trainers and finally stepped into Rustboro City.
-We healed in the Pokecenter and headed straight for the gym.
-The two trainers were easily beaten with Low Kick, as they only had Geodudes.
-It was time to win our first badge. We challenged Roxanne. She started off with a level 14 Geodude.
Snargles used a Low Kick that took Geodude to 2/3 health. Geodude used Rock Tomb and brought Snargles to the yellow. Another Low Kick brought Geodude to the red zone, and Geodude brought Snargles to the red with a Rock Throw. The next few turns Roxanne would use Potions and Snargles kept Low Kicking. Finally after the intense standoff...Geodude got to go first and used Rock Throw.
Sadly Snargles had fainted, so I had to return to the Pokecenter.
-We headed right back to the Gym to try again. Roxanne was waiting. Once again, she started off with Geodude. Snargles' Low Kick took Geodude to 2/3 hp. Geodude used Rock Throw. Snargles' next Low Kick was a critical hit, and finally Geodude fainted!
Roxanne sent out her only other pokemon, a level 15 Nosepass. Snargles was weakened, but not about to give up; he low kicked Nosepass right after it used Defense Curl. Nosepass was brought down just barely lower than 1/2 health, and it used Tackle. Ha, barealy did anything. Snargles used one final Low Kick and fainted the Nosepass.
-Snargles gained enough experience from defeating Nosepass, that he leveled up to 15 and learned Karate Chop. Wish i'd had that sooner...
-Roxanne awarded us with the Stone Badge, and the TM for Rock Tomb.
That's all for this update.
