Chapter 3 - I am your father...

I carried on past a few more trainers on Route 102, disposed of them easily enough. Hit Petalburg City, Healed up and sold a Potion I picked up, then tried to continue onto Route 104 towards Rustboro City, but was stopped by someone who thought it was very important I saw the Gym. Went into the Gym and bumped into none other than… Dad! Had a chat, helped some frail fellow called Wally catch a Ralts. Dad said I had to get stronger before I challenged him. Finally I got onto Route 104. First wild Pokemon… a female Taillow, lv.4. Caught her, named her Swift. Calm nature… just about the least useful nature for a Taillow ever… Ah well, I’ll make do. I started to grind Taillow, including in a battle against Rich Boy Winstone which nearly got Pepper killed. Back to Petalburg to heal, then I took the plunge into Petalburg Woods… High risk of poisoning here, but hopefully a brand new Pokemon too.

Just to make those of you who don't know Pokemon aware, if a Pokemon gets poisoned they lose a small proportion of their remaining health every turn. Worse still, when the battle ends, they lose 1 hit point (HP) every 5 steps you take. If their health bar reaches 0, they faint (in later Generations there's a chance they'll survive the poisoning, but in Generation III games - like Sapphire - they faint every time). Obviously this is A Bad Thing.

First to attack me was… Wurmple, female, lv.5. Oh good. Even better, it promptly poisoned Pepper. Argh. Switched Pepper out… it poisoned Crash too. ARGH. Considered running for a Pokemon Centre but stuck it out to catch the Bug-type. Called her Jabs because of her ability to infect my poor Pokemon. Naughty nature… too right… Naughty’s my favourite nature though, so good stuff.

Made it to the Pokemon Centre by the skin of my teeth, no casualties. Thank God for that. Back to the Woods! Might be spending as little time here as possible… Soon as I see a Wurmple I’m running for the hills! I made my way through the woods, discovering some tool trying to find a Shroomish. And failing. And then getting ambushed by a Team Aqua drone, who proceeds to attack me instead! The injustice of it all… Lv.9 Poochyena goes down quickly to Crash’s Water Gun. A Great Ball is my reward.

I remembered the first Gym is Rock-type, so any time spent levelling Pepper , Swift and especially Jabs at the moment is a waste because Rock Pokemon resist all those Pokemon's attacks, even if Pepper takes about 3XP to gain a level…I made it through the woods. Got a TM for… Bullet Seed! Oo, that might help against Roxane. Oh wait… None of my Pokemon can learn it. Balls. I Came across a trainer with a Lotad. I feared for Crash… then remembered that Mudkip isn’t Ground-type yet, so is only 2x weak to Grass moves (see http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Type for more details about Pokemon types)

Anyway, dead Lotad. Followed up with a Shroomish, which paralysed poor Crash… switched in lv.6 Swift, and hurrah! Absorb only does 1HP damage! I never said I disliked Calm natures…

I made it to Rustboro! Next up, Gym number 1…

-Samwise