And now, for the moment I haven't been waiting for (because Whitney's Miltank exists)...
Episode 2 - One Bulu's Enemy is another Bulu's Ally
I'm not going to lie, I never look forward to facing Whitney. She always gives me problems, just like Red's Snorlax. That's gonna be fun, too. But, there's still a bit of time before that. Plenty of time to grind up, get some items, and get elemental punches on Amphy and maybe Ms. Derp, otherwise I'll be waiting for her to evolve into Slowbro. Right now, Ilex Forest is the next area to visit, and since I already did the rival battle, that's one less thing to worry about. The Farfetch'd hunt isn't even that hard, so Ilex Forest is honestly a pretty uneventful area. Moving on.
So I learned the cop near the day care has a Lv. 17 Growlithe...that obliterated most of my team. Ms. Derp really needs to score some levels, but...we can worry about that later. We now have access to Fire and Thunderpunch for Amphy and Ice Punch when Ms. Derp eventually evolves. I'm hoping to work fast so I can reach Ecruteak, get the Eevee from Bill, and evolve it into Umbreon while it's still night in game. For now, I went to National Park and blew up all the trainers, went through the abomination that was the trainers of Goldenrod City gym, and now...it's time for Whitney.
So, I decided to use Curse strats again, and everything was fine and dandy...until Metronome made the Clefairy use Baton Pass and switch the Miltank in early. Luckily, I was setting up Curse, and even with Miltank's infamous Rollout combo of death, it wasn't able to pierce Ms. Derp's cursed buffs and met it's end along with the Clefairy. That Clefairy did manage to put a number on Ms. Derp with five Doubleslap hits, though...
So meanwhile, have this accurate image of how much HP Ms. Derp survived on.
Anyway, with the infamous demon cow defeated, we should be on easy street for a while...in theory. Fact is, I still only have a team of three. Hopefully we can change that soon. Meanwhile, Petal instakilled the Sudowoodo with a crit Razor Leaf. I guess he's jealous that he's not getting nearly as much action as Amphy and Ms. Derp, but...tough luck. Anyway, after a terrible experience with a Hypnosis Drowzee from a Psychic, we've arrived in Ecruteak...and went to go heal and send Bill to Goldenrod, so it's time to backtrack!
A male Eevee, but I wasn't getting my hopes up much for a female one. I mean, at this rate, the gender ratio of my team will be even at the end since Miltank is always female and I'll likely get a male Gyarados. Anyway. I named the Eevee Midnight, and he's luckily close to the rest of my party's levels, so he doesn't even need catching up. For now, it's time to get to work on evolving him. First, back to Ecruteak. I chose to do the rival battle, but his Haunter had other plans by completely throwing my team around like a bunch of bowling balls hitting pins called paralysis. It was not a fun time, but I still won. Anyway, the Kimono Girls gave Midnight some valuable experience, but...Eevee can't learn Dig, so it looks like we're switch training this gym.
Anyway, can I just say how shafted Petal is getting so far? I can't use him in this gym because of Ghost/Poison types. Also, I got wiped by Morty's Gengar because Dream Eater hits like a truck. On the second attempt, after going and buying Awakenings beforehand, the Gengar missed all of it's Hypnosis this time while it landed all of them the first time. Nice RNG there, game. Other than some Night Shade shenanigans, the battle wasn't too terrible, you know, unlike the earlier mentioned Haunter fiasco with Lick and "x mon is fully paralyzed." Well, now that we got that settled, I could go to Lake of Rage now and get the Gyarados, but...I think I'll wait and instead get the Miltank instead. First, I had to stock up on Poke Balls.
After forgetting to buy Poke Balls, killing a Miltank by accident, then going back, buying 10 Great Balls, going back again and encountering another Miltank, I got it on the second ball. Whitney the Miltank...is very far behind the rest of the team right now, and that's a bit bad. She'll (hopefully) catch up in time. All that remains is to go get the red Gyarados...but that won't happen until next time because yes.
And just in case, evidence that I have collected four badges.
Team Zero
Petal (Bayleef) Lv. 22 @ Miracle Seed
Moves: Tackle, Cut, Razor Leaf, Reflect
Amphy (Flaaffy) Lv. 24 @ Nothing
Moves: Tackle, Fire Punch, Thunderpunch, Thunder Wave
Ms. Derp (Slowpoke) Lv. 24 @ Quick Claw
Moves: Curse, Tackle, Confusion, Surf
Midnight (Eevee) Lv. 24 @ Nothing
Moves: Headbutt, Tail Whip, Sand-Attack, Quick Attack
Whitney (Miltank) Lv. 13 @ Nothing
Moves: Tackle, Growl, Defense Curl, Stomp