Part 10: In This Dark, Dark Forest...

Update 09: In This Dark, Dark Forest...

Azalea Town



I think we're about done with this town for now, so off we go, with no distractions.



Rival Challenge

"returned?"

: What? You beat them? Hah! Quite lying! You're not joking? Then let's see how good you are.

Rival Battle



Second battle against the rival. Let's see what his team is.



Well the first member isn't too impressive. Maybe later.



Hmm, nothing too impressive so far, but it's still early days. Bite (Kamisuku) is now a Dark move with 60BP, 25PP and 100% accuracy with a 30% chance to flinch. Due to the type change from Normal, it's now a special move instead of a physical one, which makes it an interesting fit in some Pokemon's movesets and pointless in others.



After a bit of a tussle, it goes down.



And a good level up for Jeremiah. Doubleslap (Ōfuku Binta: Round Trip Slap) is one of them lovely Normal multi-hit moves, with 15BP, 10PP and 85% accuracy that can hit between 2-5 times. Like most of the multi-hit moves, they're pretty eh, not much point using them unless you have no other choice. Like right now.




HP: 65 | ATK: 80 | DEF: 80 | SP.ATK: 59 | SP.DEF: 63 | SPD: 58 | TOTAL: 405
#008: Croconaw

And for completionist sake:


HP: 60 | ATK: 62 | DEF: 80 | SP.ATK: 63 | SP.DEF: 80 | SPD: 60 | TOTAL: 405
#002: Bayleef



Damn confusion. The evolved starter might be a bit of a challenge depending on which one it is. They're all equally dangerous and annoying, especially with my current team composition. So it's up to Jeremiah to save the day with her new move, cause it's the only one that'll actually do some damage to it.



Oh we're gonna be here a while...



A reeeeeeeal long while.



Eventually it gets whittled down.



And finally defeated. Sheesh.



: Listen, you. You only won because my POKéMON were weak.



: POKéMON, trainers. It doesn't matter who are what. I'm going to be strong and wipe out the weak. That goes for TEAM ROCKET too. They act big and tough in a group. But get them alone, and they're weak. I hate them all. You stay out of my way. A weakling like you is only a distraction.



That kid really needs a hug, goddamn.

"Don't get lost."

Quick heal up and let's head into Ilex Forest.

"its protector."

: Stay out of mischief!

Ilex Forest



It's pretty dark in this forest, no matter the time. Though Pokemon do differ depending on the period of day.



Hopefully we'll find some good stuff. But not in this instance.

"steaming..."

: The FARFETCH'D that CUTS trees for charcoal took off on me. I can't go looking for it here in the ILEX FOREST. It's too big, dark and scary for me...



I'd best go be a man and do it for you then.



Oh. That was easy.



Guess we need to chase it then...



Jeremiah... my heart...



There's quite a few Pokemon to catch here, but not too much new, since we did just go through a Bug gym.



So we need to go through the entire forest shepherding the missing Pokemon through specific positioning.



It'll go in the opposite direction to where you are, if it can, so keep that in mind for later.



Please don't be this way...



And both of the cocoons are ours.



That's all I'm interested in in this time period, so let's get spraying.



Nice, nice.



Nearly done. If we talk to it here, then it won't head down the right hand side path and instead go the opposite of where we are.





: My boss's POKéMON won't obey me because I don't have a BADGE.



: Without it, we wouldn't be able to CUT trees for charcoal. Thanks, kid! Now how can I thank you... I know! Here, take this.



: That's the CUT HM. Teach that to a POKéMON to clear small trees. Of course, you have to have the GYM BADGE from AZALEA to use it.

: Do you want to apprentice as a charcoal maker with me? You'll be first-rate in ten years!



Hmm, might take you up on that.



: That takes guts! I like that. Come train with us.



: This is CHARCOAL that I made. Fire-type POKéMON would be happy to hold that.



: The SLOWPOKE came back, and you even found FARFETCH'D. You're the coolest, man!

Aww, well. I try. Anyway, the Charcoal is indeed good for Fire types to hold, boosting their Fire moves by 10%. However, doing so is a terrible idea.



Since we can buy it for a large price, we can also sell it for a large price also. I would always recommend you do this, since your MOM does siphon off a fair chunk of cash. Now we shouldn't have money problems for a long while.



Now as night falls, it's time to teach Cut to Kakarott, since it can spare a moveslot. Cut (Iai Giri: Iai Cut) is not a great move to saddle a team member with, since it only has 50BP, 30PP and 95% accuracy. But hey, it's a slight improvement to what we have.



Might as well keep Tackle, cause I don't wanna waste some Cut PP when an enemy's at low health.



At night time, some more creatures come out.




HP: 45 | ATK: 50 | DEF: 55 | SP.ATK: 75 | SP.DEF: 65 | SPD: 30 | TOTAL: 320
#083: Oddish



Ah, cheeky bugger. Absorb (Suitoru) is a weak Grass move with 20BP, 20PP and 100% accuracy that restores 50% of the damage done to the user, rounded up. There's two much better variations of this move, so this is just the first step.



Maybe now it'll stop wandering around so much.



Hello again.



You're mine now.




HP: 50 | ATK: 52 | DEF: 48 | SP.ATK: 65 | SP.DEF: 50 | SPD: 55 | TOTAL: 320
#138: Psyduck



I just enjoy all the different colours the Pokeball becomes when I catch stuff.




HP: 60 | ATK: 55 | DEF: 50 | SP.ATK: 40 | SP.DEF: 55 | SPD: 45 | TOTAL: 305
#108: Venonat



Look, just cause I can spend money on Pokeballs, doesn't mean I want to.



And that's everything in Ilex Forest. For now. Because of course there's more.



Now it's time to actually level up some of our own Pokemon so they evolve. The same rules from last LP still apply for most cases: we need to see the Pokemon and/or our team actually reaches that level. I'll be deciding with most cases and since we've been catching a lot of Pokemon recently I've wanted to cut down on all the analysis I'd have to do. So we'll do a few now.

Evolution time!


HP: 60 | ATK: 45 | DEF: 50 | SP.ATK: 80 | SP.DEF: 80 | SPD: 70 | TOTAL: 385
#026: Butterfree

Anyway, I believe I forgot to call my mother. Let's see what she has to say.



: Oh, so you're in AZALEA TOWN... Isn't there where SLOWPOKE WELL is? Did you go take a look?

And then she asks about saving money, which we'll be doing for the entire game, since we might as well.



Anyway, let's move onwards, to the second half of the forest.



"protector..."

Hmm. Well I'm sure this place has nothing important going on.



: Please watch out for items that may have been dropped.



Signs can be so useful sometimes.



There's also more items scattered around.



As an aside, the instructions on Bulbapedia to find these items are terrible.



: I'm shaking trees using HEADBUTT. It's fun. Here, you try it too!



: Rattle trees with HEADBUTT. Sometimes, sleeping POKéMON fall out.



We'll be going over Headbutt (Zutsuki) a lot more next update. But right now, it's a pretty good Normal move with 70BP, 15PP and 100% accuracy with a 30% chance to flinch. This can be a good move for some Pokemon that could really use a good Normal move in the early game. We'll be making use of this, oh yes..



And for whatever reason, in Crystal and Crystal alone, there's a trainer here.



He's exactly as notable as you'd expect.

"HEADBUTT."

: I ought to use HEADBUTT in other places too.



Bulbapedia doesn't even have this hidden item listed. Makes me wonder how many other items I've missed because of them. But regardless, we've made it out of the forest.



: It must be hard if POKéMON won't appear. Try using this TM.



: It's SWEET SCENT. Use it wherever POKéMON appear. POKéMON will be enticed by it.

That's exactly what it does. In battle, Sweet Scent (Amaikaori) is a Normal status move with 20PP and 100% accuracy that lowers evasion by one stage. Out of battle, it will cause a wild Pokemon to appear, if you're in an area where an encounter can occur. As some fun trivia, originally, this lady would have given you some Honey to attract wild Pokemon to certain trees, as it's still in the text dump. This would become a feature in the Gen 4 games and the Headbutt mechanic, as well as Sweet Scent, may have been extrapolated from it. Here is all the text relating to honey in the Crystal text dump.



But hey, we've made it to Route 34, which we'll explore in the next update.