June 22nd: The Red and Blue MacGuffins

- The plan is to grind for levels on Slapkins and Castform. Time to see if the surrounding area is a good place to do that.
- I forgot about the kid hiding behind a cardboard box with a tree drawn on it.
- The kid just had two Koffings and neither of them exploded on me.
- Decided to try Route 120 instead.
- The second trainer I found on the route was actually the TV crew again.
- They asked me for a new phrase after I beat them again. Decided on "Here it is".
- Popped into a house while at Fortree and found a girl that would trade me a Skitty if I got her a Pikachu. I don't even know where to find one in this game yet. Maybe she'll take Pocketchu.
- Gary picked up a Super Potion.
- Found a trainer with only a level 30 Swablu. Seems like a good chance to see how well Slapkins using Surf might do in the gym.
- Took two Surfs to take down the Swablu. With one or two more levels (to 36 or 37) and having Castform set up rain beforehand, this might go alright.
- Found Steven on the bridge, who seems to have some words about the invisible force blocking things.
- He used a Devon Scope and "an invisible Pokemon suddenly became visible".
- A Kecleon appeared right in front of me and a battle started.
- Some careful move choices with Slapkins let me catch the Kecleon.
> Caught: PRISM [M]
- Steven said my battle style was "intriguing" and gave me the Devon Scope.
- He flew away somewhere, presumably to wherever I'd be seeing him next.
- I have the option to get to the gym now, but I'll try exploring more of Route 120 first.
- Second encounter after a Pokemon Center visit, I ran into an Absol. I think these are supposed to be really good? I know they have an amount of popularity.
- Better safe than sorry.
> Caught: CASS [F]
- I usually gloss over the species descriptions, but Absol is apparently a "Disaster Pokemon" that can "foretell the coming of natural disasters." Damn, that goes hard for a Pokemon game.
- I would check what moves she has, but she got sent to the PC and I'm still checking out Route 120. I'll get to it in a bit.
- Gary picked up a Nugget.
- Hey, I'm at a Pokemon Center!
- Cass has Quick Attack, Razor Wind, Bite, and Swords Dance. This feels like a strange set of moves, but not a bad one.
- Also, Absol is Dark type.
- While poking around people's houses in Fortree, I found a TV that was on. It told of the battle I just had about twenty minutes ago. I like this addition to the game.
- Found a trainer with a level 30 Castform. Interesting to see that I'm not the only one around who has a Castform.
- Another trainer had a Milotic. The Milotic had Recover.
- The trainer used a Full Restore when the Milotic's health got too low.
- The fight took absolutely forever. I had Annie doing most of the work. Leech Seed and Mega Drains were keeping her in the battle against the Milotic's Recover. Without Mach Punch, she would have run out of PP on usable attack moves and I would have needed to switch someone else in.
- Castform reached level 30 and learned Weather Ball. Replaced Sunny Day since I'm not using any Fire types and I don't plan to.
- I found a Nugget on the ground.
- Reached a ledge where I wouldn't be able to get back up. Decided to turn around and do the rest of the grinding I needed to do closer to Fortree.
- Got Slapkins to level 36 and he evolved.
> SLAPKINS: Marshtomp -> Swampert
- Gary picked up a Nugget.
- With Slapkins now at a higher level than Winona's Pokemon (I really should be learning these things the hard way, but why do that when I have the Internet?) I feel good about taking on the gym.
- I scoped out the Kecleon that was blocking the gym. Interestingly, this one just fled instead of starting a battle.
- Gary picked up a Revive.
- Castform set up for Slapkins to take out the first Pokemon (Swellow). Wasn't too bad.
- Castform managed to take out Pelipper all by himself.
- Things took a turn for the worse when I got too cocky against the Skarmory and it took down Castform. It used a lot of Sand Attacks so no attacks Castform tried to use could hit. Slapkins was able to finish it off.
- Altaria was last and Slapkins didn't have the rain I was hoping I could get him for this fight. The Altaria used some Dragon Dances and Dragon Breath before using a bunch of Earthquakes. We each used a Hyper Potion to delay the inevitable. Slapkins was able to get its health low, but got knocked out just before he could finish it off. Annie was able to get it with a Mach Punch before it could make another move.
- Got the gym badge and Aerial Ace (TM40), along with the ability to actually Fly places.
- Decided to check if the girl would accept a Plusle in place of a Pikachu. She did not.
- Put Castform back in the box and got Billy out.
- Switched the Exp. Share from Sredsa to Billy.
- Taught Billy how to Fly.
- Went back down Route 120 and hopped down the point of no return since I could now just Fly back to town if need be.
- Oh, I crossed the bridge and went back up to find that there was a way I could have gotten back. That's good to know.
- Talked to a lady who gave me a Mago Berry.
- Found two large berry planting areas in a spot on the corner of Route 120 and 121.
- Spent some time replanting the berries and watering them. I've been mostly replanting but not revisiting in time to see the plants after they've grown.
- I hadn't actually checked the map. Looks like my next stop is Lilycove City.
- Hey, another berry bush!
- Encountered a wild Shuppet. I forgot these existed.
- Saw some Team Aqua grunts and overheard them saying they were going to Mt. Pyre.
- Behind a little tree that needed to be Cut was the Safari Zone. Cool.
- Decided to investigate what Team Aqua was up to.
- Found my way to the entrance of Mt. Pyre.
- It looks like it's used as a graveyard by trainers. What the hell would Team Aqua want with a graveyard?
- Talked to an old lady who gave me a Cleanse Tag. I remember getting one of these in SoulSilver.
- Oh, it helps repel wild Pokemon. Pretty sure this only works if the lead Pokemon is holding it.
- Found Skill Swap (TM48).
- Found many items next to tombstones. Is that technically grave robbing?
- As I worked my way up the mountain, I found Team Aqua.
- Worked my way through the grunts without issue. After seeing that the boss man was at the top, I figured I should probably get healed up before a potential boss battle.
- Flew back to Fortree to use the Pokemon Center.
- Archie stole a Red Orb. The old people at the top, who I presume are caretakers of Mt. Pyre, gave me the Blue Orb and told me to give chase.
- The old man had a tale from long ago to tell. I decided to listen. It was something about Kyogre and Groudon, but told without their names since that hasn't been revealed yet.
- Decided to explore the second floor inside the mountain.
- One girl was grieving her lost Skitty. The next guy was a trainer who decided to fight me. What is wrong with this guy that he thinks a place of ghosts and graves is an okay place to pick fights? Pokemon logic, I guess.
- A young couple was also there because the boyfriend dared the girlfriend and now they're doing a double battle against me. We are in an area that is surrounded by tombstones on three sides. Yeah, Pokemon logic.
- Decided to just leave and go to Slateport since that's where Archie said he'd be.

I knew the Flying-type gym was going to be rough for me given my team composition, but I managed to get through it. Hell, I'd say about ninety percent of it went to plan. That's pretty good for having the odds stacked against me. I was not going to make it through that gym on my first attempt if I hadn't looked it up ahead of time. Really, I should have lost at least once to not knowing. Maybe my experience playing SoulSilver taught me that it's not a bad idea to just use the Internet to my advantage.

With this in mind, the next two gyms are going to be a Rock/Psychic dual-type double battle and a Water gym. Annie is going to be good for the Water gym as long as I can get her the levels she needs. Slapkins should do well against the next gym, but he'll need a buddy to help him out. Finger is probably the best fit for this, but Cass could also work if I wanted to commit to the training.

Even though I don't use berries all that often, I like to collect and replant them. I feel bad when I don't go back in time and the berries I planted just disappear. Mostly, I think the environments look nicer with the berry bushes instead of just the planting area. I don't know if leaving the initial bushes alone causes them to just stay permanently or if there's no real avoiding them disappearing.

I guess most immediately for the next session, I'm going to be dealing with Team Aqua. I don't think this is going to be the encounter with Kyogre because I don't have a Master Ball yet. I would imagine that I'm getting close to that point. I'm pretty sure it's level 45, but I don't really plan to battle it. I'm going to hope that I won't want the Master Ball for anything else.