I taught HM01 (Cut) to Tsutaaja. The strange woman's name is Makomo (マコモ), so I will refer to her as that from now on.
Yume no Atochi (夢の跡地)
With Cut in hand, I'm able to remove the obstructive sapling in this map. Beru follows after me, but does not want to battle. Upon walking past an opening in a wall, I see Munna (ムンナ), and am immediately accosted by 2 members of Team Plasma (プラズマ団). After defeating both of them (first has a level 10 Minezumi; second has a level 10 Choroneko), 3 apparitions of who seems to be their leader, Geechisu (ゲーチス) appear and convince the grunts to leave. Afterwards, Mushaana (ムシャーナ) appears and it and Munna leave the screen. I head over to the left, and I notice that there is a patch of grass that's wiggling. I guess correctly that this is a fixed wild encounter, yielding a wild Tabunne (タブンネ) between levels 8 and 11 each time. Judging by its stats on Serebii, I'm fairly impressed by its bulk this early in the game, but I'm also a little disappointed that its only damaging attack is the rather unreliable Doubleslap. Whatever the case, I immediately teach it TM86 (Cheer Up) and delete Helping Hand. The rest of Yume no Atochi contains some token items, and there is a section to the east that's blocked off with a cone. Naturally, I head back to Sanyou City, but in order to get past the gatekeeper in the west, I have to stop by Makomo's house and get the C-GEAR.
Route 3 (3番道路)
A daycare this early in the game is surprising, to say the least. The daycare still gives EXP to Pokemon - I tested this out by depositing Tsutaaja and then running around outside before withdrawing him at level 7. Now, this obviously doesn't solve all of the problems inherent in not gaining EXP from Pokemon battles, because my Pokemon still won't gain any EVs and can't evolve by level up in the daycare. That said, to prevent possible abuse, I'm going to prohibit use of the daycare altogether. Not a whole lot happens in the first half of the route, aside from my first double battle against 2 Choronekos. Easy fight - Tabunne is 11HKO'd by their Scratch and OHKOs on average with +1 Atk and Doubleslap.
About midway through, Cheren stops me and challenges me to a battle. He leads with a level 14 Pokabu, quickly dispatched by Hiyappu (6HKO'd by Ember, 3HKOs with Water Gun). His second Pokemon is a level 12 Choroneko, which frustratingly kept using Growl to nullify my Atk boost from Cheer Up, but also couldn't really muster any sort of offense, so it was just a matter of time before Tabunne beat it down with Doubleslap. After the battle, a couple of Plasma grunts run past, with Beru and a little girl in pursuit. From what I can tell, they've stolen the girl's Pokemon... and Cheren impulsively gives chase. Meaning that I should follow him. He waits at the entrance of a cave at the west end of the route and will go in upon being spoken to.
Chikasuimyaku no Ana (地下水脈の穴)
Immediately inside is Cheren confronting 2 Plasma grunts. Only one of them challenges me to a battle; he has a level 12 Minezumi. Another pair of Plasma grunts reinforce after the battle; they challenge me to a partner battle with Cheren. Both of them have level 12 Minezumis. I take advantage of Growl's double targeting effect and let Pokabu do most of the work. Prior to exiting the cave, I grab TM46 (Thief) before heading back on my way through Route 3. The entire time that I was in the cave, I did not see a single wild Pokemon, but their levels are a bit too low here for them to be useful, anyway.
Route 3 (3番道路)
Beru and the girl stop me before I can take the southern path, showing their gratitude and giving me a Heal Ball. Cheren stops me (again?) and remarks that sometimes in the dark grass, you'll encounter random double battles against wild Pokemon.
Shippou City (シッポウシティ)
Cheren is there waiting by the gatehouse, and immediately asks me to follow him... then gives me 3 Chesto Berries. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here, so I just exit near the north side.
Yaguruma no Mori (ヤグルマの森)
I was half expecting some battles, but there are none in the first part. I do find a hidden Ether at the end of a path, and I navigate through the south part of this map to find, among other things, a Net Ball and a TinyMushroom. In the grass here I catch a level 15 Otamaro (オタマロ), a level 14 Dakkoraa (ダッコラー), and a level 15 Nageki (ナゲキ). The actual forest area to the west of this map is blocked by a line of Plasma grunts, so I head back to Shippou City.
Shippou City (シッポウシティ)
This time, I head straight for the gym. N bumps into me on his way out... He has a level 13 Mamepato (マメパト), level 13 Otamaro, and a level 13 Dakkoraa. My own Otomaro just powered through all of the with Bubblebeam. Inside the gym, it appears that there's a museum of some sort on the first floor. I meet some guy who shows around the fossils, then I go up the stairs to the actual gym. The gym's scrub trainers were no match for Dakkoraa and Nageki. I would have preferred having Dageki instead for an actual consistent SE attack, but I couldn't be assed to spend the time to find one.
Aloe has a level 18 Haaderia (ハーデリア) and a level 20 Miruhoggu (ミルホッグ). Against Haaderia, Dakkoraa's Low Kick (with -1 Atk) is roughly a 5HKO, while Haaderia's Take Down does 39/46 HP damage. I use Leer on the first turn and stall against Take Down's recoil (or a miss), then use Low Kick whenever I have a free attack. If Haaderia uses Leer to put Dakkoraa in OHKO position, I switch out to other Pokemon to sponge the incoming attack and send out Dakkoraa again. Against Miruhoggu, I first make sure that Dakkoraa is at full HP by switching in a sacrifice. I also gave Dakkoraa and Nageki Chesto Berries beforehand to at least get a free attack each against a faster Hypnosis. For whatever reason, Miruhoggu preferred instead to just attack Dakkoraa (allowing me to get 2 Low Kicks in with a sacrifice) and 1 of his 2 Hypnosis attempts missed against Nageki, allowing me to get in 2 Seismic Tosses for the KO. Aloe had already used both of her Super Potions on Haaderia and did not heal Miruhoggu.
Aloe gives me TM67 (Get Even, かたきうち), a 70 BP, 100 hit, 5 PP Normal type attack that increases in power if your ally was KO'd the previous turn. Upon completing her post battle speech, a bespectacled man runs in with some alert regarding Team Plasma, and Aloe rushes out. Some Plasma grunts steal the dragon skull from the large skeleton in the center of the museum. I just want to make my way to the Pokemon Center and move on... but outside I am stopped once again by Aloe, Aati (the Hiun City gym leader), Beru, and Cheren.
Code:
Pokemon Lv. Nature HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe
Tsutaaja 5 Mild 19 10 9 11 11 11
Hiyappu 10 Quiet 30 16 15 19 14 16
Tabunne 11 Mild 44 21 23 22 24 17
Otamaro 15 Gentle 43 21 18 20 23 28
Dokkoraa 14 Quirky 46 29 20 12 16 15
Nageki 15 Hasty 63 36 28 18 34 20
I'm keeping Tsutaaja around for cool points.
