Chapter 2: An Icy Rival and a Rockin’ Pokemon
So, I left Mr. Pokemon’s house after a bit of rest and Asteald and I began our way back down Route 30. As soon as I got out the door, though, Elm called me. So, uh, guess I was wrong last time. Someone totally robbed him. Wow, talk about bad luck. He asked, well more like demanded, that I hurry back and I obliged. I just had to see who desperate this thief was for a Pokemon that he had to steal one.
Our run down Route 30 was a quick and quiet one, no Pokemon dared bother us. I’ll just attribute it to Asteald scaring them all away with that Diglett and Swinum trail. We got to Cherrygrove Town and right as we went to leave some guy with the king of all bad attitudes and a haircut to match stopped us. He demanded a battle and threw out a Nidoran Male. Wait… Elm had a Nidoran Male at his lab… Could this guy be the thief?
Well, thief or not, Asteald hit the Nidoran with Psycho Boost and that was it. Mr. Maybethief muttered something about how he was gonna be the world’s greatest trainer and ran off, but he dropped his trainer card. I got a quick look at it before he could pick it up. Ah ha, so his name was Mr. Damon Maybethief. Well… It was Damon, but Maybethief is fun to say.
Well, no matter what his actual last name is, Damon ran off and I took the grassless path back to New Bark Town and went into Elm’s lab. Know what happened as soon as I walked in? I was accused of thievery by a know-nothing cop just because of some “criminal always returns to the scene of the crime” thing that is about as true as those stupid rumors of Mew hiding beneath random trucks in Kanto. If that annoying girl Lyra hadn’t decided to stand for me, that cop likely would have got Psycho Boosted through a wall. Hey, wait, Lyra walked in here and he didn’t accuse her of being the thief… This cop is a sexist!
So anyway the cop calmed down and remained un-Psycho-Boosted-through-a-wall-ish and he asked me the name of the guy I battled back in Cherrygrove. I told him Damon and he rushed off. Didn’t even thank me for doing his job for him. With the cop gone, I handed Elm the egg from Mr. Pokemon. He seemed decidedly unimpressed. What did impress him is that I got the Pokedex. In fact, it impressed him so much he suggested a take the Johto Gym Challenge… Something I already intended on doing because Arceus help you if you think I am sticking around New Bark.
With that handled, I went back to my house to tell mom I was leaving. No sense in her worrying about me while I went on a cross country trip with only a Beldum at my side. Well, I assumed she would worry. She actually seemed okay with it. So okay she insisted to keep some of the cash I earned safe for me. Well… Alright. I mean, not like she’ll spend my money on pointless stuff, right?
Lyra met me outside the town and gave me some Pokeballs in honor of me starting my journey. Alright! Time to get a second member for my team! I ran through the grass a bit and soon my prospective second Pokemon appeared. It was a… Jigglypuff. Yay? I took a quick look at Asteald’s moveset and assumed Shadow Ball and Psycho Boost were too powerful… So I had Asteald Lick it. How a magnetic lump of metal licks is beyond me, but I don’t want to think too hard about it.
One Lick later, Jigglypuff was paralyzed. I think it thought too hard about it. And then one Pokeball later, I caught the Jigglypuff. The Pokedex was nice enough to inform me she was an Electric/Rock type. This might be the most useful Jigglypuff in the history of Jigglypuff. So, Nacien the Jigglypuff joined us.
And one trail of Nincada corpses later, we made it to Cherrygrove and now have access to a Pokemon Center. It is time for Operation: Train Nacien to a Decent Level! So, I healed up at the Pokemon Center and went back out to Route 29 to train. One Triple Kicking Magikarp later, Operation TNtaDL is officially postponed. How does a fish triple kick? Hell If I know.
Went back to the Pokemon center and then decided to train again. Then there was a Metapod with Double Kick. Training Nacien is hereby on hold until I get to a nice fighting-less area. Because evidently here fish and cocoons have gained the ability to kick things multiple times.
So, we healed again and started up Route 30. Nacien actually managed to gain a level thanks to a nice Silcoon that was weak to Electricity. After defeating the Silcoon, I realized that I had killed my prospective party member for Route 30, a Kakuna, in the name of training. I saw some trainers farther up the way and decided to try and find a few more Silcoon just to be safe.
A small amount of training later, I went back up Route 30 to try my hand at those trainers. The first trainer, a Youngster Joey, sent out a Nidoran Male to face my Asteald. If you paid attention to last time, you know exactly how this one played out. It’s almost as if people think they stand a chance against the little Beldum.
We battled our way up Route 30 and onto Route 31. Okay, Poe, you can catch something this time. Don’t forget it. And the prospective member is… Hoppip. Not the biggest fan of Hoppip really, but y’know what, I’ll take it. The battle was simple, seeing as it kept trying to Thrash Asteald and soon enough Etilia the Hoppip joined my ever growing party.
When we got to Violet City, we healed and went up to this odd tower on the north end. It looked like a great place for training. I was right, there was definitely some decent trainers here that I could train Etilia and Nacien on and I even caught a new party member, Ceille the Skitty. I’m getting surrounded by adorable pink Pokemon very quickly. And in other Sprout Tower related news, someone just left an Armor Fossil lying around. Free stuff is awesome!
Sadly, while I was climbing the tower a wild Larvitar managed to hit Etillia with Eruption before we managed to flee. I was just starting to like the little Hoppip, too. I carried her back outside and to Route 31 before burying her. I owed her that much.
On the second trip up the tower, I ran into a couple more strange things. Namely, a Bonsly with Spacial Rend and a Grimer that summoned Hail. Randomization sure messed with the world big time. But, anyway soon I was fighting the Elder of the tower for whatever reason. Asteald got poisoned early on and Nacien had to finish the fight. Luckily she learned Rock Wrecker mid-battle. Deus Ex Machina maybe, but it was nice. The Elder even gave me to TM for Poisonpowder for beating him. Thanks...?
Well, I ran out and healed. With that training out of the way, it was time for me to take on Violet City’s gym. The sign outside said they used Flying Types. Yeah, and people in Sprout Tower used Bellsprout… Well, I went inside and the first trainer used a Kirlia and the second one used a Nidoran Male and a Surskit. Filthy liars. With his minions out of the way I went on to face Falkner. He used a Nincada which died rather easily and a Nidorino. Falkner, Flying gym leader and king of liars everyone! Luckily Nacien Rock Wreck’d him. Yes, I approve of that pun. And for beating him, Falkner gave me the Zephyr Badge and the TM for Haze.
So, with that out of the way I left the gym and went to the Pokemon Center to rent a room for the night… Or I would have if Elm hadn’t called. Something about meeting his assistant at the Pokemart. So, I met his assistant and he insisted I take that Egg that Mr. Pokemon forced Elm to take. Ah, the circle of regifting. Alright, so, egg in party I went to the Pokemon Center, healed up, and went to bed. This has been a hell of a day. Hope tomorrow will be better.
(So, this chapter was a little longer than expected but a lot of stuff evidently happened. Ah, randomizer hijinks. So, Falkner defeated just what, 17 Gym Leaders, 2 Elite Fours, and one Red left? Yeah, this is gonna get hard fast. So, with that said, time for the end of chapter status update!
In Party: Asteald (Beldum), level 12. Ghost/Normal. Nature: Naïve, Ability: Drought, Moves: Lick, Confuse Ray, Shadow Ball, Psycho Boost.
Nacien (Jigglypuff), level 12, Electric/Rock. Nature: Mild, Ability: Serene Grace, Moves: Detect, Rock Wrecker, Volt Tackle, Thundershock
Ceille (Skitty), level 7. Ekectric. Nature: Serious, Ability: Illuminate, Moves: Shock Wave, Horn Attack, Charge Beam, Spark.
Egg
In PC: None
Dead: Etillia (Hoppip), level 5.
I would do the full bit of info on Etillia but then I’d have to for everything dead and in pc and then that would make it a little spammy. For those of you curious, though, she was a Fighting type. And with all of that said, I will see you next time for a trip to Azalea Town and a battle against Bugsy.)