Part 10: Surging On

I was so busy getting Friday's update ready, that I nearly forgot today's update!



Let's begin by taking out the trash. No point having these Key Items that we can't get rid of take up any Bag space.



Now we'll explore Route 11 before we take on the Gym.



Uh sure, no cheating here, I'm doing everything legit.



You shut up.



New route means new (technically old) Pokemon to catch.



"think I can win!"

Well, we'll see.



Huh... Slash (Kirisaku) is a pretty good move that has a high crit ratio, technically making it the fourth strongest Normal move in the right hands.



Bit rude m8



Let's catch this, uh, totally legit Raticate. Sure.



Don't care, still legit. Fuck that 1% chance.



Alright time to face the next trainer.



...what?



Riiiiiiiight. Okay, so I forgot to deactivate the cheat and, turns out, it makes every encounter that Pokemon. Literally all of them. Whoops! (Shame too, since he had a new Pokemon)

#060: Poliwag



Let's just move on.



Nothing too interesting, alas.

"world of POKEMON!"

Darn.



Uh, you can do this. If you want. Yay.



#033: Nidorino



I know the end battle quote is meant to be nonsense, but it doesn't really apply, unless we just faced a Nidoking.



Good luck moving from that spot.



Oh, okay.



#037: Vulpix



Oh no, grass. Whatever will I do?



Repel is pretty cool, let's you not encounter any Pokemon at a lower level then your lead. The normal Repel does this for 100 steps.



I'm gonna give you a wedgie, nerd.

"POKEMON stronger!"

Hyper Fang (Hissatsumaeba: Certain-kill Fang) is a pretty powerful Normal move that has a small chance to flinch. It's not an OHKO move, despite what the Japanese name has you believe.



Interesting...



Time for you to meet the combo breaker.







Pretty useful battle, actually.



Aww yeah.



: In LAVENDER TOWN, there's a man who rates POKEMON nicknames. He'll even help you rename them too!

While that is very useful, being able to change them whenever in pikasav is better. But I may use him to fix any mistakes, or to put in spaces.



: If you caught 30 kinds of POKEMON, I'm supposed to give you an ITEMFINDER!



Caught? Yes. Legitimately? Fuuuuuck no.

: Great! You have caught 32 kinds of POKEMON! Congratulations! Here you go!



: There are items on the ground that can't be seen. ITEMFINDER will detect an item close to you.

"to look yourself!"

We'll see how useful this is later.



That... is not a good trade. Don't have a Lickitung anyway, whatever that is.



Maybe I could see his tears up close...

"ROCK TUNNEL."

Looks like that's our way forward, since, as we read earlier...





So we can use the Itemfinder immediately.

"an item nearby."

Aaaaand there we go. No indication as to where it is in the slightest. Get looking dumbass!



Don't get my hopes up...



And there we go. Now I could use this item every now and then to find items. Or the internet could just tell me. Guess what I'll do.



Hrmmmm.



Back to Vermilion we go.



#082: Magneton

Bit unexpected, but not too bad at this level.

"some cables!"

Whyyyyyyyyy???





Sure, sure man.



Refreshed and restocked, let's take on the Gym!



: LT.SURGE has a nickname. People refer to him as the Lightning American! He's an expert of electric POKEMON!

: Birds and water POKEMON are at risk! Beware of paralysis too! LT.SURGE is very catious! You'll have to break a code to get to him!



We've seen quite a few Electric types and of course, no one has a Pikachu.



: Here's a hint! When you open the 1st lock, the 2nd lock is right next to it!

Hmm...

"elecricity!"



Not really the best place, but Thunderbolt (Jūman Boruto: 100,000 Volts) is a very, very good Electric move that does more than double the damage of Thundershock. Damn straight we're using this move.





"inside something!"

I got everything I needed from the first guy.

"was my strict CO!"

It's never specified what war Lt. Surge was in, but it's most likely the Vietnam War, which would make him about, what, 50, by the time of this game? I dunno, maybe it was the Cold War.



I'm using Pikachu since it won't get any action in the leader fight (it will lose one on one, no matter what damn cartoon says otherwise).



Alright dammit, I can't put it off any longer.



So this Gym's gimmick is finding switches in bins. It is, no pun intended, complete rubbish and I hate it.



You'll find the first switch easily enough, but then you have to choose one of the four cardinal directions to determine the next one. I swear it can even be in ones you've checked before, so you always find the first before the second. So time to start over.



...wait, what?



: Will you look at this pint-size challenger! Hahaha! You've got big and brassy nerves to take me on with your puny power!

: A POKEMON battle is war! I'll show you, civilian! I'll shock you into surrender!

VS Leader Lt. Surge


Lt. Surge: The Lightning American
(Lieutenant is a junior army rank, just below Captain, which is below Major and Surge refers to electricity. Matis is from Clematis, a type of buttercup. Seeing a pattern in the Japanese names?)



#026: Raichu



Starting off with a useless X item (seriously this thing is faster then anything I have) and let's get ready for pain.



Should've kept Poisonpowder.



Eventually I get it, while it softens me up.



And since this Pokemon is so fast, get used to getting critted. Holy crap that hurt.



Time to whittle it down.



I get lucky here.



VERY lucky.



It doesn't last.



Wasted turn, but it is faster than me again.



Aaaaaand there we go. Mega Kick (Megaton Kikku: Megaton Kick) is a very powerful Normal move that is also really inaccurate. But when it hits... hoo boy.



If only I got one more attack off. Oh well. That's what I get for trying the Leech Seed.



: You're the real deal, kid! Fine then, take the THUNDERBADGE!



Pretend I used the psyduck money emote or something.

"POKEMON's SPEED!"

: It also lets your POKEMON FLY anytime, kid! You're special, kid! Take this!



Ehhhhhhhh.



: A little word of advice, kid! Electricity sure is powerful! But, it's useless against ground-type POKEMON!



Another badge in the bag!



: You must be a good trainer! I just caught a SQUIRTLE that was always getting into mischief.



And now we have all the starters.



And that'll do us for now. But just before we finish up...



Using legitimate ways that totally isn't pikasav, we're going to evolve some Pokemon. Now, I'll have a few conditions for this, firstly, we must have seen the Pokemon, barring a few exceptions, since not every Pokemon can be encountered in-game (I'm evolving my starters since I've gone ahead and used Ivysaur) and it cannot evolve at a higher level then my current team. I won't be using a single Rare Candy on those guys, I do want to make this kinda fair. I also won't evolve every Pokemon we could right now, I'll do it every so often, usually when we get to a new city or whatnot.









#008: Wartortle

That'll do us for now.