Since I beat Bugsy I've actually done quite a lot, and met a couple of new team members as well. Immediately upon trying to leave Azalea Town, Richard Branson challenged me to a battle. He wasn't that difficult: indeed, I'm having trouble remembering whether he's a serious rival in this game or just a bit of a joke. The Johto police are definitely pretty piss poor, seeing as he's using the pokémon he stole from Professor Elm to win battles against gym leaders left, right and centre.
Fang the Zubat was the hero of the hour here, taking down his Gastly with two Bites, and then combining with
Sleepy to bring down Quilava. His Zubat wasn't a match for
Fang either, despite having access to Supersonic, a move
Fang still refuses to use.
I had to backtrack to catch a pokémon capable of learning Cut, and met a Rattata who was willing to oblige. After that things were fairly simple going, as the three pokémon on my team fought well together in the woods and on the way to Goldenrod City. In Goldenrod I got a bike and did all the Radio Tower stuff that I have to do before Whitney will stop standing outside her own gym.
Before taking on the gym, which I thought would be nightmarish due to memories of Miltank's Rollout in the original GSC games, I went to try and do some other challenge-related stuff in the Bug-Catching Contest. With only two minutes left, we met a Scyther (having a Pinsir in the bag already), which was caught to win the contest! Second place was a Beedrill and third a Paras, so it was a fairly close competition all in all. Better than the Caterpies and Metapods that the runners up are usually so thrilled with, anyhow. So that was the Sun Stone acquired for Sunkern. Sadly the Scyther turned out to have the Technician ability, so I went off to catch a Ditto and get some breeding done.
As I cycled around with some Scyther eggs, I encountered
Sunshine the
Sunkern who joined the party, and promptly got battered by everything she faced. The only pokémon she's managed to beat by herself is the level 9 Sentret in Whitney's gym, and even that was a close one. After
Wannabe the
Scyther hatched, it got to the point that my level 14
Sunshine was being switched out of battle for the level 8
Wannabe in order to get anything from battles at all.
After a bit of grinding against level 10 bugs in the park, I got fed up, spent all my money and went to take on Whitney, assuming I'd lose the first time but at least get some idea of what my strategy could be later on. It was not to be though... I led with
Sunshine, to try and get it some experience against her Clefairy, and to my great surprise managed to put it to sleep with Grasswhistle after losing most of my HP to Doubleslap. I switched
... in and used Poisonpowder and Reflect before finishing the still sleeping Clefairy with Magical Leaf. Against Miltank, the strategy was largely the same: using Super Potions to ensure that Reflect stayed up as Miltank's hit points were eaten away by poison. Whitney didn't use her Super Potion, as my Magical Leaf took Miltank from just above the range she tends to heal Miltank at, to within poison level of being fainted, and I acquired the Plain Badge! Here's the team that accomplished it, in order of value:
Sunshine the
Sunkern [F]
Level 16, Careful
Solar Power
-Grasswhistle
-Growth
-Mega Drain
-Ingrain
Absolute dross. Seeing as I have to solo five fire types to evolve I might end up carrying her around in this state forever. Mega Drain does about 5% damage to pokémon five levels lower that it hits for neutral damage. LVP
Wannabe the
Scyther [F]
Level 14, Jolly
Swarm
-Vacuum Wave
-Quick Attack
-Focus Energy
-Pursuit
The only reason she's so low is because I've barely used her. I mean, she's levelled all the way up from level 1, but that's only against bugs in National Park. The Scyther I caught, her father, was at level 14 when I caught him, so he didn't know Quick Attack (or Vacuum Wave...) so all in all it's pretty good that I ended up having to breed for her. And check out that nature! She's got a future ahead of her.
Fang the
Zubat [F]
Level 21, Hasty
Inner Focus
-Leech Life
-Supersonic
-Astonish
-Bite
She was excellent against Branson. Not a lot else to say. I gave her a haircut in the underground, so hopefully she'll evolve into Crobat fairly soon after the first evolution. I need the attack power of a final-stage evolution on the team. Doesn't make it to second place in the team because of
...'s heroics against Whitney.
... the
Chikorita [F]
Level 21, Lonely
Overgrow
-Magical Leaf
-Reflect
-Synthesis
-Poisonpowder
She was so good against Whitney! After getting a Reflect up, she is so damn bulky, especially with Synthesis to heal her. I only had to attack once to beat Miltank, spending the rest of the time concentrating on keeping her alive, but maybe if I teach her Light Screen as well she could end up being an unexpected champion of the team. I don't know how good Magical Leaf will be in the long run, but if I get Toxic I'll be pretty happy. And she's already two-fifths of the way to being allowed to evolve.
Switch in and win count 6/15
Defeat with poison only count 0/10
Sleepy the
Hoothoot [F]
Level 21, Bold
Keen Eye
-Confusion
-Peck
-Reflect
-Hypnosis
Still my MVP, having won the first two gym battles. I was expecting to use her against Whitney, but in the end she wasn't necessary. I've barely used her since Bugsy, but there's no way she's losing top spot, as apart from against Whitney,
... hasn't done anything like as much as she has.
Notes:
All my pokémon so far are female. Girl power. I'm enjoying this. I wonder whether I can be bothered to fish specifically for a female Corsola to complete the team? They are 75% female, so there will be a 2.25% chance of hooking one when I get to Olivine, and only a 0.75% of getting a male one. I'll see how patient I'm feeling.