Part 4: The Walk North
Update 04: The Walk North
Route 30
It's time to head onwards, past the usual territory and towards a brighter future. Or something. Let's get some more Pokemon I guess.
HP:45 | ATK: 30 | DEF: 35 | SP.ATK: 20 | SP.DEF: 20 | SPD: 45 | TOTAL: 195
#024: Caterpie
There's a few more we can grab on this route since last update I used the opportunity to catch all the night exclusives.
At least with all the time jumping we've been doing, it's pretty easy to farm up berries, though they're not hugely amazing.
HP:40 | ATK: 20 | DEF: 30 | SP.ATK: 40 | SP.DEF: 80 | SPD: 55 | TOTAL: 265
#030: Ledyba
Man, I'm feeling like a right bug catcher.
Oh yeah, I forgot to pick up our first hidden item! Crazy. Anyway, let's head out and see if that battle's finished.
Trainer Challenge #1
"more POKéMON."
: Wait! You look weak! Come on, let's battle!Trainer Battle
Oh boy, our first trainer battle, against the most infamous of guys. According to the myths and legends of the universe, this man has got one of the strongest of its species. We must be careful, but since this may be our only chance to face this impossible being, let's catch it!
NICE. In this circumstance the game acts like it was a wild battle, except for a couple of differences.
Route 30
The Pokemon used by trainers have set movesets with infinite PP, so if you try and catch any of them, they'll have no moves or anything like that, since it's all predetermined and you're not going to see they don't have any moves, ever. But we should find out, is this Rattata in the top percentage?
No of course not, though we will never know for definite, since the game acts like it's a wild Pokemon, so it rerolls the Pokemon and so the DVs are random. But DVs are set depending on the class of trainer, so it would have 0DVs across the board like every other dumb fuck. But wait, I hear you say, Game Freak didn't intend for it to be a meme, so of course Joey's Rattata doesn't have maxed DVs, but in the remakes...
Route 30
Well let's find out. Meet Kotone, she's going to show us how the remakes play out. This is something I wanted to do to show the various differences between the games, but it will be pretty separate to the rest of the LP, so I'm just going with whatever my flatmates decide for nicknames for my party, I won't be completing the Pokedex (legit), I won't be doing more templates for any new Pokemon we encounter and I won't go over any new moves or abilities or anything like that, cause I have enough to work on without adding two generations of improvements into the mix. I also won't show every single little difference, cause there's a million of them and it'd interrupt the main LP too much.
With that out of the way, let's see what Joey's Rattata has for us today.
Trainer Battle
We also have Wol, our Hoothoot. I'll be using a completely different team to our main playthrough, cause I just can't get enough of these Johto Pokemon.
She'll fill the role of our own Poliwag.
Route 30
Hah, you and what Rattata, scrub?
Well it's definitely a normal Rattata. Also introducing our starter, Toto, cause the Grass starter got plenty of spotlight last LP.
But as we can very clearly see, this Rattata has straight 0IVs across the board. Now that could just be a coincidence, but getting straight 0s is about the same as getting straight 31s, good fucking luck. So yeah, this Rattata is like every other lowly trainer's Pokemon, a load of crap. Well that's all for Kotone for now, but we'll see her again later.
Route 30
Anyway, let's move on with our adventure and face some more trainers.
Like with the previous LP, I'll just be skipping over all the old stuff, so look forward to lots of battles being cut!
"Sent some to MOM!"And at the end of every battle, there's goes 25% of our money. It'll be worth it though.
"tough.": I'm going to battle other people to get better.
Alright, onto the next trainer!
"prepare to battle."Ah, okay, uh, thanks.
Gah!
"a trainer!"The grass is too tall and the kid is too short.
Trainer Battle
Fun bug times.
"catching POKéMON."
: I should've bought more...Route 31
And now we're on Route 31. If you decided to not talk to you mom (you monster) then she'll call you here about saving money and stuff.
Ah, here's a cave. I wonder what it's called.
Nnnnneat
We'll pick this up and then there's one more Pokemon I wanna pick up before we move on.
Wild Pokémon Battle
HP:40 | ATK: 35 | DEF: 30 | SP.ATK: 20 | SP.DEF: 20 | SPD: 50 | TOTAL: 195
#027: Weedle
Cool, we've already seen Weedle's entire moveset. String Shot (Ito wo Haku: Spit Thread) is your basic Bug status move with 40PP and 95% accuracy and lowers Speed by one stage. The only thing you should worry about is them poisoning you.
Hoo rah
Dark Cave
But anyway, welcome to Dark Cave. Uh. It's freakin dark. Definitely a unique way to display a cave needing Flash at least.
So there's really nothing we can do here. Mainly because we can see fuck all, but also cause there's not much to this place right now. We do have this item up here, but unless you know where to go, you'll be rubbing your face up against the wall quite a lot. To begin with, head up, then to the left, then up again.
HP: 40 | ATK: 45 | DEF: 35 | SP.ATK: 30 | SP.DEF:40 | SPD: 55 | TOTAL: 245
#037: Zubat
One annoying bat with one not really annoying move. Leech Life (Kyūketsu: Suck Blood) is a bad, baaaad Bug move at 20BP, 15PP and 100% accuracy. But it's one of the few Bug moves you've got, so have fun!
Alright, pretty simple.
Now we head across to the right and then down and to the left, hopping down a ledge.
And here's the item. Now we can just hop down and leave, but there's just one more thing to grab.
HP: 60 | ATK: 80 | DEF: 50 | SP.ATK: 50 | SP.DEF:50 | SPD: 40 | TOTAL: 330
#193: Teddiursa
Siiiiiiigh. So like Phanpy, Teddiursa can only be found in Crystal, rarely in the morning and has a chance to flee. So let's find another one.
Hrm.
Should've done this to begin with...
But there we go, that's all for Dark Cave.
Route 31
: I walked far today looking for POKéMON. My feet hurt and I'm sleepy... If I were a wild POKéMON, I'd be easy to catch... ...Zzzz...
We'll just, uh, take this berry (that cures confusion) and head on our way.
"battle with you!"Trainer first, item later.
And yeah, just a load of bugs we've already seen. Now I'm sure this guy has something to sa-
Uggggggggh.
: Let's get together and battle! I promise things will be different! ROUTE 30's where I'll be. Give me a shout when you come. All right. Later!
Cool. This is quite convenient since we didn't technically battle him. But first...
: If you catch one, it'll go to your BOX automatically. : I look for POKéMON here every day. When I'm in the grass, I find all kinds of BERRIES. If you'd like, I'll share some.
Let's get another number.
So there are 32 numbers (or 73 in the remakes) you can get from assorted trainers. But in these games, you only have 10 slots, with two being taken up by your Mom and Prof. Elm. There are a number of benefits from keeping certain people's numbers and for the most part I'll cycle them in and out depending on how useful they are. I'll talk about this in a while, cause it is quite interesting.
So let's grab this item then head back for a proper rematch.
So since we don't have any badges or have done much in the game, the rematch is just the same battle, but Joey does have 4 more teams we can fight as we continue on through the game and collect badges and such.
It's some nice experience at least, means that unlike Gen 1, we won't really run out of ways to get consistently good experience. Kinda.
"urge to battle!"Might be sooner than you think, ya never know, doggone it.
Wild Pokémon Battle
HP: 50 | ATK: 75 | DEF: 35 | SP.ATK: 70 | SP.DEF:30 | SPD: 40 | TOTAL: 300
#064: Bellsprout
Ah, that barely hurt. Vine Whip (Tsuru no Muchi) is your basic Grass move with 35BP, 10PP and 100% accuracy. Just need to lower its accuracy so it won't annihilate Poliwag.
MOTHERFUCKER, you were at -6!
Hrmm, you won't be around for long.
But hey, we've finally made it to Violet City, huzzah.
"SPROUT TOWER?"Ah, loading gates. And the guards that are forever vigilant.
Violet City
Violet City: The City of Nostalgic Scents
(From the viola plant, as well as the purple, or indeed, violet colour of the Chinese bellflower)
Kikyō City: The city of nostalgic scents
(From kikyō, the Japanese name of the Chinese bellflower)
Firstly, let's heal up our Pokemon after the long journey and deposit the ones we no longer need.
Now let's actually explore, beginning with this lovely house over here.
"BELLSPROUT?": Want to trade it for my ONIX?Hmm, not a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all. Sure.
"ONIX"
Hello there big boy.
"Thanks!"
HP: 35 | ATK: 45 | DEF: 160 | SP.ATK: 30 | SP.DEF:45 | SPD: 70 | TOTAL: 385
#062: Onix
Not a bad pick up, but it won't be on our team, tempted as I am. Oh yeah, we have Screech (Iya na Oto: Unpleasant Tone), a Normal status move with 40PP and 85% accuracy that lowers Defense by two stages. Eh.
Pfft, school, whatever.
Here's the Gym, I don't feel up for taking it on right now, but thankfully we have a nice training locale nearby.
Uh, well, course I did, I'm like so great at these games and shit...
Hmm, I can't really lie to this guy, I feel bad. Truth is I suck huge monkey balls at these games.
: Is that so? Then study shall you! Follow me!
"you study here!"Uh, okay, guess I could get schooled.
: Wonderful are POKéMON, yes! Teach you I will to be a better trainer! What you want to know? 
Hell yeah!
: Good! Teach you, I will! In battle, POKéMON top on list jump out first! Change order in list, make battle easy, maybe!
Hell yeah!
: So, want to know how to raise POKéMON well?Hell yeah!
: If POKéMON come out in batle even briefly, some EXP. Points it gets. At top of list put out weak POKéMON. Switch in battle quick! This way, weak POKéMON strong become!
Cool, so yeah, let's now learn about status. They've changed a little bit since the last generation, so let's go over them.
PSN: Lose 1/8th health per turn. Badly Poisoned Pokemon lose 1/16th initially, which is doubled each turn. No longer interacts with Leech Seed. Inflicts one point of damage every four steps taken outside of battle.
PAR: Has a 25% reduction to Speed (-6 modifier) and has a 25% chance to be fully paralyzed and waste a turn.
SLP: Lasts 1-7 turns, but can act on the same turn they wake up. Can be afflicted by Dream Eater and Nightmare.
BRN: Lose 1/8th health per turn and reduces attack by 50% (-2 modifier).
FRZ: Has a 10% chance to defrost each turn. By using the move Flame Wheel or Sacred Fire, you can defrost and attack on the same turn, or being hit by a Fire move. Cannot attack the same turn it thaws out naturally and cannot be frozen in harsh sunlight.
So yeah, that was a really interesting character and school. Earl Dervish (dervish means "one that possesses abundant and often frenzied energy") is actually named Giovanni in the Japanese version (no not that one) and his Pokemon Academy is called Prof. Giovanni's Pokemon Juku. A Juku is a type of private school open after conventional school hours.
Now let's go SHOPPING
We have our usual assortment of items, as well as X items and mail. Mail can be attached to Pokemon to then be traded for personalized messages, which aren't limited by the easy chat system of later games. There's 10 types of mail to choose from, though only 5 can be bought in game. Eh, there's not much reason to get them.
But otherwise, we're not done with Violet City just yet, there's a couple more places to visit.
Sounds good to me.