Part 33: Steel and Rock
Update 26: Steel and Rock
Pokemon Gym
Oh yeah, it's Gym time again. Let's see what we're up against.
"steel-type."
: I don't know very much about it.
Why the fuck is that guy even here? Anyway, it's a straight shot to the leader, reflecting both the introvert personality of the leader and maybe even represents her main Pokemon? Yeah I pulled that out my arse, what of it?
"LIGHTHOUSE."
: But this is different. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am JASMINE, a GYM LEADER. I use the steel-type. ...Do you know about the steel-type? It's a type that was only recently discovered. ...Um... May I begin?Gym Leader Battle 
VS Leader Jasmine 
Jasmine: The Steel-Clad Defense Girl
(Jasmine are sweet smelling flowers and can be derived from mineral, or mine.)
Mikan: Iron wall-guarded girl
(Mikan's are a kind of Japanese citrus fruits, derived from mi(tsu), (sweet as) honey and kan, citrus fruit. Her hair accessories look pretty similar to oranges, right?)
Jasmine isn't a particularly interesting fight at the start. Her two Magnemite are identical and despite there being five Steel types introduced in Gen 2, it seems a bit limiting to only have two different ones. At least use a Magneton, sheesh! I suppose since it's a new type and you haven't really encountered them before this, it makes sense to not make it tooooo difficult?
Let's move onto the exciting stuff.
HP: 75 | ATK: 85 | DEF: 200 | SP.ATK: 55 | SP.DEF: 65 | SPD: 30 | TOTAL: 510
#063: Steelix
Now you might be thinking a Water type might be a good match against this steel snake.
But you would be wrong. Sunny Day (Nihon Bare: Clear Sky) is a Fire status move with 5PP that clears the skies and lets the sun shine. This boosts Fire moves by 50% and decreases Water moves by 50%. In addition, Synthesis, Morning Sun and Moonlight will recover twice as much HP as normal, while Solarbeam does not need a turn to charge. Thunder's accuracy is reduced to 50%. As you can see, it makes our Water moves do fuck all, but know that at any time, we could've switched in Kakarott and wrecked house.
Iron Tail (Aian Tēru) is a Steel move with 100BP, 75% accuracy and 15PP that has a 30% chance of lowering the target's Defense by one stage. It's the best Steel move and while it packs a punch, that accuracy is gonna screw you eventually. Still, it's a good choice. as there aren't that many other options.
This Steelix is definitely dangerous if all you have are physical attackers. But it doesn't handle Water and Fire types very well, it'll use a resisted Iron Tail for Water types and a non-STAB Rock Throw for Fire types. I've never seen it use Screech.
While this might be a bit of a losing battle, I'm just waiting for the sun to go.
When that happens, it's a sound 2HKO. Simple as that. And that's the sixth badge obtai-
O-Oh yeah, she has one more Pokemon.
Might as well show off what it can do. Thunder Wave (Denjiha: Electromagnetic Wave) is an Electric status move with 20PP and 100% accuracy that paralyzes the Pokemon, unless it's a Ground type. It can no longer paralyze a Pokemon behind a substitute, a change from Gen 1. Thunderbolt (Jūman Boruto: 100,000 Volts), meanwhile, is an Electric move with 95BP, 15PP and 100% accuracy that has a 10% chance to paralyze the opponent. Free from the quirks of Gen 1, it can paralyze Electric types again.
But yeah, that's about it for this fight. It's pretty cool fighting a new type, but it's not particularly interesting.
: In accordance with LEAGUE rules. I confer upon you this BADGE.Pokemon Gym
"DEFENSE.": ...Um... Please take this too...
"IRON TAIL.": Um... I don't know how to say this, but good luck...
: The steel-type, huh? That was a close encounter of an unknown kind!
Six badges down, that's absolutely crazy. It feels like I only started the LP only a couple weeks ago...
Route 42
That's west Johto done, so now it's time for the final stretch as we head to east Johto and Mahogany Town.
Mt. Mortar
A big part of Route 42 is Mt. Mortar. This place is completely optional, but that's what LPers thrive on!
This place is pretty symmetrical with three entrances. We can't explore the entire place right now, but we can go over a nice chunk.
Let's see what's beyond the Strength boulder. Overall, this place isn't too interesting, but there's quite a few items and a number of trainers around.
Item here and item there. But not that item, we'll get that later.
And that was a pretty simple loop.
Uh...?
Indeed.
: Did you run into a trainer who uses a SEADRA that knows WATERFALL?
Hmm, Waterfall... I forget, is that the useless HM? Anyway, we're done with the Strength area, so let's move on.
Hey, Hu- oh wait, that's not Hugh. ...hey Carl!
HP: 81 | ATK: 92 | DEF: 77 | SP.ATK: 85 | SP.DEF: 75 | SPD: 85 | TOTAL: 495
#100: Nidoking
HP: 90 | ATK: 82 | DEF: 87 | [SP.ATK: 75 | SP.DEF: 85 | SPD: 76 | TOTAL: 495
#097: Nidoqueen
I'm a strong as fuck kid though.
: He just thrashed us silly. He went in deeper saying it was for his training. I wonder how he is?
Last couple of items and that's it for this section of Mt. Mortar.
Route 42
And we're right on the outskirts of Mahogany Town, skipping most of Route 42, so let's backtrack to see what we missed.
"POKéMON I caught!"Oh god are you the six Magikarp guy?
It's even worse... Minimize (Chīsakunaru: Shrink) is a Normal status move with 20PP that raises the user's evasion by one stage and replaces your sprite with a cute little thing. You now take double damage from Stomp after using it though, but the increased evasion still applies, unlike Gen 5 onward.
Thankfully it wasn't much of a hassle.
: That's the best part of fishing! Hey, you're trying to be the ultimate trainer too? Then we're comrades! If I find any more items by the water, I'll give you some. Just give me your number.This is a number I could use, cause he'll give us some Water Stones, which is really useful, as there's four Pokemon that evolve this way.
: You'll be hearing from me if I find something good.
Heading back to the center of the route where we got the Apricorns, we can enter a new area of Mt. Mortar.
...hey what's that?
Uh, okay, sure.
Mt. Mortar
Well we can't head up there. So let's catch some Pokemon!
We can finally catch Marill here. In Crystal, it can be found on the water at at 30% rate. In Gold and Silver? It's a 1% encounter, but can be increased through a swarm. However, it'll be a little while before we meet the guy that calls us about it.
Seaking is our next capture. This saves me having to evolve so many things at least.
Goddammit Jeremiah...
Alright, something new to put into the aquarium.
Now we head into the basement. There's really not much here aside from a boatload of items in a large circle.
More stuff. Can't go further that way. Oh well.
Let's see what's in the bottom left corner...
Did we really need another pool of water here? Well, it was kinda worth it.
And that's about it. A load of sweet items are ours, but it's back to Route 42.
Route 42
Last little bit of the route to go.
: This is my secret place! Get lost, you outsider!
HP: 70 | ATK: 62 | DEF: 67 | SP.ATK: 55 | SP.DEF: 55 | SPD: 56 | TOTAL: 365
#096: Nidorina
HP: 61 | ATK: 72 | DEF: 57 | SP.ATK: 55 | SP.DEF: 55 | SPD: 65 | TOTAL: 365
#099: Nidorino
I'm glad you didn't, or it would've been awkward to have met the fully evolved forms and not all of its evolutions.
: Wow, you must know some pretty rare POKéMON! May I please see it. Please?
"I feel so free!"Yeah man, just let it go.
HP: 35 | ATK: 80 | DEF: 50 | SP.ATK: 50 | SP.DEF: 70 | SPD: 120 | TOTAL: 495
#133: Dugtrio
Yeah... I did that before I set off for sea.
New Pokemon, yeah!
HP: 60 | ATK: 85 | DEF: 69 | SP.ATK: 65 | SP.DEF: 79 | SPD: 80 | TOTAL: 438
#051: Arbok
There's a snake in my box.
And this is the last Pokemon we can pick up. Mankey aren't available in Crystal, but can be found here in Gold.
And since we already have a Primeape lying around, it saves me having to evolve something!
Mahogany Town
And with that, we've finally reached our destination, which we will explore next update. But there's a couple of small things I want to go over before we end things today.
First thing: in between recordings, the Egg hatched!
HP: 20 | ATK: 40 | DEF: 15 | SP.ATK: 35 | SP.DEF: 35 | SPD: 60 | TOTAL: 205
#021: Pichu
Thanks to Dr. Fetus for the nickname way back in the Yellow thread. Yes I plan these things that far in advance, I have a lot of spare time, OKAY?
National Park
While we're on the topic of Pikachu's family, the fact that we also caught a Marill in this update also means we can do something I bet a lot of you didn't know about (and this is also my first time doing this cause I didn't know about it either).
"cute, too."
: Your MARILL is so cute and adorable! You love POKéMON just like I do! Want to trade phone numbers? Let's chat! It'll be so much fun!Of course, fellow Marill fan.
:To be honest, I want a MARILL. But I make do with my cute SNUBBULL.Route 39
Final stop of the update is here.
: We POKé FANS have a policy of not listening to other people brag! Oh, wow! PIKACHU! It's so soft and furry! How cute! Let's be friends! PIKACHU-lovers are never bad people! Let's chat about PIKACHU! Can I get your phone number?Well, we all need a bit of Pikachu in our lives.
: PIKACHU is the one! If anything comes up, I'll give you a jingle.
You can't get those two people's numbers unless you have a Marill or a Pikachu in your party, respectively. Sure, we can't get a Pikachu for a little while, but you could potentially have every Kanto Pokemon by now if you trade from old games, so I'm not too bothered. This is the only time in the entire series where this happens, as you just get their numbers no problem in the remakes. It's an interesting idea, but how would you ever know to go back to them?
But that's it for now. Next time, it's a brand new town!