POKEMON GYM BADGES AND STUFF! YAY! (February 2, 2021)

Thirty-first post from the original blog.

"I made several personal achievements in my Pokémon games, as well as Bug Fables.

Pokémon Red - I managed to use Cut to get to Route 9 from the east side of Cerulean City, and I got through Routes 9 and 10 easily. Then there was the Rock Tunnel. I had already taught the HM Flash to my Pikachu, so the navigation wasn't too hard (mainly because I used a map on the Internet to navigate), but the battles in the Rock Tunnel started wearing me down a little bit. I don't think any of my Pokémon fainted, but a couple came pretty close. Anyway, I got through the Rock Tunnel after catching an Onix and a Machop, and then I had to battle a few more Trainers at the end of Route 10. I think one of my Pokémon might have fainted at this point, but I can't remember. Either way, I finally got to Lavender Town and healed up my Pokémon at the local Pokémon Center. At this point, I decided to level up my Abra on Route 8 so it would evolve into Kadabra and learn Confusion, because Psychic-type moves deal super effective damage to Poison-type Pokémon, which will be helpful in getting the Soul Badge from Koga in the Fuchsia Gym later on. Granted, I also read that Ground-type moves also deal super effective damage to Poison-type Pokémon, and Ground-type Pokémon (such as Graveler, which I have) resist Poison-type moves. I guess I could use either Kadabra or Graveler later. I also caught a Growlithe on Route 8, and I went back into the Rock Tunnel 

I managed to get through Route 8, and then the Underground Path (under Saffron City), then Route 7, and then I was in Celadon City. After getting a few items around the city and checking out the Celadon Department Store, I went up to the roof and got some drinks from the vending machines for this girl who said she was thirsty. She gave me TM13 (Ice Beam) for the Fresh Water, TM48 (Rock Slide) for the Soda Pop, and TM49 (Tri Attack) for the Lemonade. I also got four extra Fresh Waters for the guards blocking access to Saffron City, but I only needed one, apparently. After giving one of the Fresh Waters to one of the guards, she said that she would share with the others, so now I have three Fresh Waters that I'm just going to use in place of Potions or something.

I also beat Erika and her other trainers in the Celadon Gym. I used my Kadabra to fight them because most of the Grass-types in there had a secondary Poison type, but Kadabra kept fainting because he was a little bit too underleveled. That, and the fact that most of the Pokémon in the Gym knew several status moves to hinder my Pokémon, such as Sleep Powder, Wrap, and Stun Spore. I was still able to beat everyone in the Gym thanks to my Fearow, who was just a bit over leveled, and had the Flying-type move Peck, which was super effective against everyone's Pokémon. I got the Rainbow Badge, and now I can use the HM Strength outside of battle. Also, every traded Pokémon up to Level 50 will obey me (not that it matters much, since I have no one to trade with).

I plan to get a Thunder Stone from the Celadon Department Store so I can evolve my Pikachu into a Raichu, and then I'm going to teach it TM24 Thunderbolt, which I got from beating Lt. Surge a few months ago.

Pokémon Gold - I got through Ilex Forest and Route 34, and I dropped my Magikarp and my Togepi in the Pokémon Daycare before I went to Goldenrod City. I also caught several Pokémon over the course of a couple days: Spinarak ("Spuder"), Oddish ("Evenish"), Paras ("Bugshroom"), Ditto ("Shapeshift"), Drowzee ("Snooze Boi"), and another Drowzee ("Trade"). I got two Drowzees instead of one because I traded the extra one for a Machop ("Muscle"). That helped me knock out every Pokémon in the Goldenrod Gym, including Whitney's Pokémon. I was actually nervous about losing, because my older brother, Dean, said that he had to replay that battle a bunch of times when he was a kid in order to win. Thankfully, Muscle destroyed her Clefairy before it could do anything, and he defeated Whitney's Miltank before its Rollout got too strong. Plus, apparently Rollout is a Rock-type move, which is weak to Fighting-type Pokémon such as Machop. After I beat Whitney, she started crying, and then I suddenly felt bad. After talking to her a second time, I got the Plain Badge from her, which lets me use Strength outside of battle and boosts the speed of my Pokémon a little bit.

It took me a long time to get an Abra, because even though it shows up 10% of the time on Route 34, it doesn't help that Abra's only move is Teleport. I decided to level up the Gastly I had gotten from Sprout Tower ("Boo Buddy") enough so it would learn Mean Look and make any Abra I found unable to sue Teleport, but I managed to catch an Abra ("Hard Catch") before I leveled up Boo Buddy enough.

Just for the record, I decided to nickname my Pokémon in Pokémon Gold, but not in any other Pokémon game. I have no idea why.

Pokémon Ruby - The goal of playing Pokémon Ruby focused more on beating Trainers than exploring new areas and catching Pokémon, but it was still fun. After leveling up all members of my party to 20 (except for Electrike, which I leveled up to 18, and Grovyle, which I leveled up to 22), I took on my rival May for the second time. The walkthrough on StrategyWiki said that her second battle was one of the hardest rival battles in the whole series, but it was pretty easy for me. Grovyle took out her Wailmer, Wingull knocked out her Combusken, and Taillow destroyed her Shroomish, all without too much damage from the opponent.

I got through Route 110 and got to Mauville City, where I got the Acro Bike from Rydel's Cycles. I originally got the Mach Bike, but it was too fast, so I switched it for the Acro Bike. Then I placed my Magikarp and my Nincada in the Daycare on Route 117 so they would level up. I am worried about Nincada leveling up to 20, because I'm not sure if I'll still get Shedinja in the extra party slot if it evolves into Ninjask at anything over Level 20.

I transferred one of my Pokémon to the Box in the PC with a Geodude I had caught in the Granite Cave. I leveled it up to about 18 or so (which didn't take as long as I thought it would, even though it was originally at Level 6), then I used Geodude's Magnitude to destroy Wattson's Pokémon in the Mauville Gym. I had a close call when Wattson's Magneton used Sonic Boom and chipped off a good 20 HP off of Geodude - 3 times. I had to sue Potions just to keep Geodude from fainting, and I wouldn't have had to do that if Geodude hadn't used Magnitude 4 (the lowest strength Magnitude can have, which only happens 5% of the time), twice in a row. Geodude didn't faint, thankfully, and I got the Dynamo Badge from Wattson. It lets me use the HM Rock Smash out of battle, which I got from a guy in the southeastern house in Mauville City so I could teach it to Linoone, one of my "HM mules."

Pokémon Pearl - I mostly just played this so I could level up my Abra, but I didn't play very much. I got through Route 204 and the Ravaged Path, and I got to Floaroma Town, but that was mostly it. I did want to try and beat Gardenia at the Eterna Gym and get the Forest Badge in Pokémon Diamond, but I never got around to it.

Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling - I managed to get all of the Discoveries, Lore Books, and Crystal Berries in the game, with the exception of Discovery #50 (Giant's Lair) and two Crystal Berries only in Giant's Lair. This was on the first file, after I caught up to my progress on the second file. I deleted the second file because it felt redundant. Then I copied the third file (for Hard Mode) over to where the second file was, and then I deleted the original third file. I plan to use the Menu Code "HARDEST" when I make a new file for the third one to see just how much harder "Hardest Mode" is than Normal or Hard Mode. 

I got to the maximum rank, Rank 27, so now if I have the Medal "Bug Me Not" on, any enemy I touch will be defeated instantly. I also got to Rubber Prison, but I can't figure out how to get inside. I know I got it once before without a walkthrough, but I can't remember any way to get inside.

I ordered Pokémon Black a few days ago. It should come by Thursday or Friday."