Across the Generations!

Sierra the Charmeleon, level 28
Moves: Ember, Metal Claw, Mega Kick, Smokescreen
Sparkle the Pikachu, level 28
Moves: Thundershock, Mega Punch, Thunder Wave, Quick Attack
Samson the Nidorino, Level 26
Moves: Double Kick, Peck, Focus Energy, Horn Attack

#1 I FAIL! XD It's the ORIGINAL Red, Blue, and Yellow that has the Nidos on that route! I'll have to wait until Route 3 to get my Nido if Serebii.net is right.

#2 Just beat my rival and am heading into Varidian Forest after resting and stocking up on items!

#3 Made it through the Forest with a Pikachu in tow! Gonna grind a bit then take on Brock!

Well, I trained a little more, boosting Sierra to level 15 and Sparkle to 12, because I KNEW I'd need it. First Gym Leader of Kanto is Brock, using two Ground/Rock types...And I was taking him on with a Pikachu and a Charmander. |D Sticking to the rules I set for myself, I wasn't allowed to use any items in battle and I wouldn't get a free switch when KOing Geodude, so things where gonna be rough and demand a lot of luck.

I decided to lead with Sierra, thinking that her newly learned Metal Claw would be able to hit for more damage then Sparkle's Quick Attack, plus I had a plan for Sparkle. Metal Claw wound up taking three hits to fell Brock's Geodude. Not really a challenge considering he only used Tackle twice, but it still knocked off 11 HP leaving Sierra with 29 to face Brock's second Pokemon, Onix.

I knew that Onix had Rock Tomb and would be more then willing to use it to bury my Fire type, so I switched to Sparkle, forcing my poor mouse to eat the attack in Sierra's stead and loosing over a third of his HP and lowering Pikachu's Speed. I was a bit worried when Onix moved first the next turn, but I wound up getting lucky twice as it used Bind instead of Rock Tomb AND Static kicked in, Paralyzing the rock snake! Then Sparkle loosed his move, Growl. Sparkle's only move that would do ANY damage to Onix was Quick Attack, and I doubt that would do any noteworthy damage, so I decided to just Growl him out. Sparkle managed to squeeze in 3 Growls between Tackles, Rock Tombs, and the repeating Bind damage before his low defenses finally caused him to cave, leading to a final battle between each of our strongest.

Charmander VS Onix! Luck would have it that Onix was too paralyzed to attack the first turn! Letting Sierra get in a Metal Claw for free and take off a little over a forth of Onix's HP. Onix managed to land a Rock Tomb the next turn, but she was still in the Yellow Zone. Again they traded blows, Metal Claw then Rock Tomb. Sierra had 7 HP left and Onix was Clearly in the Red Zone. One last move would end it, but Metal Claw doesn't have perfect Accuracy, only 95. There was a 5% chance of it whiffing totally...|D But I wouldn't be updating if I lost now would I? This was in fact my forth attempt to battle Brock, each of the previous ones being a loss. But finally I managed a win! Sierra got bumped up to level 16 and I got the badge!

...wait...16? 8D YEEEEEE! OH YAAAAAA! Sierra's evolving! *plays Zelda Fanfare* YOU JUST GOT A CHARMELEON! Nice prize for beating the first gym huh?

Well after collecting my badge and TM, I hurried off to heal my Pokemon before stopping at the PokeMart. I still had 8 Potions, 4 Antidotes, 2 Parlyz Heal, and 5 Poke Balls, the stuff I'd picked up in Varidian and found along the way, so I added to it 2 Escape Ropes (Perfect for when your Pokemon are low on HP and you're in a cave or when you're too lazy to find the exit, so I ALWAYS carry two) and 5 Repels (for speeding through Mount Moon after I get my Pokemon leveled up some).

#1 YAY! FINALLY! NIDORAN! Got a Male one! :D Named him Samson, as I always have a Samson and a Mitzy in every one of my games after two of my dogs (Rest in peace Mitzy and Samson. ;w;). Now I'm gonna use those trainers I skipped to get him up in levels! Grinding skills! BEGIN! >:U

#2 Samson trained up to level 13, my team's ready to take on Mount Moon! A couple of steps in I happened to find a Paras and promptly caught it. Parases can use but Cut and Flash, making them AWESOME HM slaves early on. No HMs needed right now though, so I ran back and deposited him. Now to delve deeper!

#3 Did you know that Nidoran evolve at level 16? Well I didn't until now! |D

#4 I'M LOOOOOOST! ;w; MOOOOOOMMYYYYYYYYYY!

#5 Finally got out! Though I think I heard someone calling my name in there. owO Spoooookyyyyyyy! Grabbed me the Dome Fossil, taught Mega Punch to Sparkle and Mega Kick to Sierra, and then healed up at the Pokemon Center!

My hunch was right! The jerk lead with a Pidgeotto! But a TOUGH Pidgeotto! I was amazed when Thunder Shock didn't even take it to the Yellow zone! D: And then the Pidgeotto used Sand Attack! D8 I was really lucky that he didn’t spam that, because it took three hits total to take that bird down, and the Pidgeotto’s Tackle and Quick Attack left Sparkle with only 15 HP. Luckily, Sparkle got a level up during that fight! *plays Zelda fanfare*

The next mon up was a Rattata. I wasn’t too worried about this with is ONLY being a Rattata, but it’s Quick Attack did manage to take Sparkle down to 3 HP. owo since I didn’t think Thunder Shock would do enough damage, I took a chance and ordered Sparkle to use his new move, Mega Punch! Piiiiiikaaaaaaa-PAWNCH! :D It did some great damage too! Taking the little purple mouse to the low yellow zone! A Quick Attack was all it took from there for the KO~

Now came out Blue’s Starter, a Squirtle that could have evolved already (why did he NOT evolve it yet?!?). This thing was tough! I tried to get in one parting shot with Pikachu to hopefully take off a chunk of the turtle’s HP, but the Sand Attack finally had some kind of effect and Pikachu’s attack missed! It took only one hit for Squirtle to KO him in his much weakened state. I sent in Sierra and promptly called for a Mega Kick. I can’t remember why now (maybe Paralysis? Tail whip? *shrugs*) but the Squirtle didn’t do any damage and Sierra’s Mega Kick hit home taking out just under half of the Squirtle’s HP. A second Mega Kicked took it down to low Red, but a Water Gun took Sierra down to low Yellow, taking 30 of her 50 HP. I didn’t trust Mega Kick’s Accuracy to work for me again, so I tried a Metal Claw…Not a smart move on my side considering it didn’t almost nothing. *facepalm* The Squirtle was prompt with another Water Gun and KOed Seirra.

My final mon was Samson the Nidrorino, and it only took one hit of a Double Kick to KO Squirtle! And then came out Blue’s most…useless mon. XD His Abra will evolve into something deadly later, but for now is just free EXP for whoever you have out. In my case, it was just enough to give Samson another level! :D Welp! The jerk is beaten…And yet is saying I’M plodding along after HIM?!? Whaaaaa?!?

Healed up after the fight with the jerk and started fighting up Nugget Bridge...Well fighting is the wrong word. I switched Sierra into the lead position as she was my lowest leveled Pokemon right now at 17 (and because I saw that the first trainer was a Bug Catcher), but the "battle" took less time then it took me to write this! His four level 10 bugs where jokes! An Ember a piece and they where gone! Least Sierra got a level and went up to 18.

The second trainer with her three level 12s where no big. Neither was the next guy and his two 14s (though he did give Sierra another level). Number 4 started in with some challenge though, level 16 Nidorans (one male and one female), but a handful of Embers and a Mega Kick later they too where KOed. The final trainer only had one Pokemon, a level 18 Mankey which managed to KO Sierra with a sliver of HP left after a Mega Kick. It ended up just falling to Samson a turn later though, so even it wasn't much trouble.

Yay! I beat all five trainers and got a nugget! :D Thank you strange guy! Huh?...No, I don't wanna join Team Rocket...Yes I'm sure...No, I don't wanna!...I AIN'T JOININ'! RAWR! BATTLE! >:U (good thing I healed up first!)

This guy is actually WEAKER then the last two trainers with a Level 15 Ekans and Zubat, but it was luckily enough to get Sierra up to level 20!

The other trainers all fell into the range of 14-15, so I just switched to a Pokemon to suit the trainer. Sparkle's Electric attacks let's him take care of Flying types fast and Mega Punch and Quick Attack let's him take out anything that doesn't resist it, so he was the go to choice for battling against Youngsters. Samson's Fighting and Flying attacks and Poison typing makes him perfect for dealing with Bug Catchers and Hikers. Sierra's high Attack and Special Attack coupled with Ember and Mega Kick makes her the choice for ending battles early, something that's good against Lasses and Picnickers. As a general tip, you can often guess the types a trainer will use based on their over-world sprites and can plan accordingly.

And now we get to Bill's house to find...A CLIFAIRY! MUST! CATCH!...ZOMAGOODNESS! It talks! Kay so I'm supposed to just run some program on the computer? Kay...Hey look YouTube!

.:Two hours later:. X'D Ohhhhhmaaaaan...??? So what was I doing on this computer?...Huh? Cell separation thing...*clicks it* OH GA LIGHTS AND STUFF! I DIDN'T DO IT! (what I break?) Oh hey look a person!...No I didn't come to see your Pokemon...8D Free cruise ticket! Yay! Yauhuhsure. Freeeeeeeee cruuuuiiiissssseeee~

My team is actually a little over-leveled for Misty with Samson at level 20 and Sierra and Sparkle at level 21 each. This should be a rather quick battle compared to most battles against her.

Her level 18 Staryu thankfully fell to a single Thunder Shock. The Staryu is normally a rather string thing on its on due to it's rather high level and powerful Water Pulse. Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Oddish, and Bellsprout all do well at ending it's threat fast...Especially if you're over-leveled like me. XD

Starmie though is fast, strong defensively, has Recover, and packs a PUNCH with it's Water pulse! It did 30 Damage to Sparkle. O__o At least the Thunder Wave took. I switched to Samson and managed to Peck for some damage before he got KOed. Now I went to a different strategy.

I sent in Sierra and used Smokescreen. Starmie used Water Pulse...And it missed! Thus my strategy started! Paralyzed and its accuracy dropping every turn, it was going to get hard for Starmie to attack! As luck would have it, Starmie happened to have Swift though. *headdesk*

Now it was a total luck game. Having to hope Paralysis happened enough to whittle down Starmie. It was a long battle. It was hard. Pikachu had 2 HP left. Misty used a Super Potion. Thunder Shock did a little less then half. I used it again. Paralysis activated! I attacked once more and won! Sparkle got a level up! Completely! Insane!

My Pokemon have grown quiet a few levels and gotten a few chances at new moves, so I thought I'd run over what moves they know, have recently learned, and have forgotten or skipped learning

Sparkle's Attack is actually higher then his Special Attack! That's why I taught him Mega Punch and kept Quick Attack. Thunder Shock is there because of how well it deals with Waters and Flyings. Thunder Wave is there for utility. Guarantied Paralysis is a great parting shot when you know you'll have to switch out or when he's gonna be KOed. He had a chance to learn Slam, which I thought would be good considering his high Attack, but it's got the same power as Mega Punch for ten LESS Accuracy! *skips that move*

Samson's moveset has been SOOOOOO small! The only new move he's tried to learn was Poison Sting, which I skipped over due to it's extremely low power. Double Kick is his main attack, doing base 30 damage twice, and is good against the Rock and Normal types that are frequent early on. Peck gives good coverage, hitting Grass and Fightings for good damage. Focus Energy works very well with Double Kick, giving you boosted Critical Hit ratio for BOTH hits of the attack. Leer is there as a utility, lowering a Pokemon's defence is good considering who my other two Pokemon are.

Finally, my Starter, Sierra. Ember is her only Fire move for now, but it does get the job done agaist early Grass types. Metal Claw is an effective move over all and scores good damage against Rock types. Mega Kick is a real high risk/high reward move, 120 base damage, but only 75% accuracy. It takes a huge chunk out of anything...IF it hits. Previously Sierra had Growl as her utility move, as most early Pokemon only use Physical moves, but the second gym starts signaling the end of that early portion in which it's so powerful. Lucky for me Sierra picked up Smokescreen! That move's useful against all attackers instead of just the physical ones! SWEET!

And now I offer ya'll a combination of a tip and an update! Each method of evolution has an effect on the Moves that a Pokemon can learn. From merely causing them to learn a move later to learning different moves to have new moves added or able to be leaned through the move relearner. The most delicate of these are the stone evolvers such as the Pikachu and Nidorino that I'm using. Most stone evolvers will learn only one move after evolving (though it's usually something that the pre-evolution can't learn), so evolving them means that most of the moves they learn from then on out will be solely through TMs. 

I've had a Moon Stone in my bag since my trip through Mount Moon, but hadn't wanted to use it because Nidoking doesn't learn his move, Mega Horn, until level 43 where as Nidorinos learn several moves between now and then (technically Nidoking also learns Thrash at 22, but it would have required missing Horn Attack and taking on Misty with two water weak Pokemon). Now the flip side of this is that he gains a massive boost to his stats and a ground typing to help with the coming battles. Just to check how much of a stat boost he got, I checked Samson's stats, evolved him, and checked them again. If I evolved him he'd gain 10 points to each stat and an additional 5 to his Special Attack, bringing it up from tied for worst stat (it and his defendes each had 36) to a very useable level. Of course good stats with no moves isn't much use, so I also checked what moves Samson had coming soon. The only move of merit still to be learned was Fury Attack at level 34. Normally I like the multi-hit moves since usually after just three hits they'll out pace most early moves, but to out damage Horn Attack it'd have to hit 5 times. Owo Now I don't mind placing a little trust in luck factors like high critical hit moves on a Pokemon with Sniper or Super Lucky and hoping, but trusting what is probly less then a 25 percent chance is much for me.

Considering that no new moves is a moot point when Nidorino doesn't have anymore moves I want, the major stat boosts, and the handy Ground typing he'll gain, I ended up going ahead and using the Moon Stone! Congratulations to me! I got a Nidoking! Samson is my first and currently only fully evolved Pokemon on my team! And his stats show it as he now has the highest stats in my team, even in speed which him and Sparkle are tied in!

Samson got his hands...well...Hands, claws,  whatever on a new move! Horn Attack! Horn Attack replaced Leer. While Leers IS a good utility move, Horn Attack has higher power then even both hits of Double Kick combined, so it will be his go to move whenever nothing's super effective.

Sparkle got what I would say is his best move at level 26, Thinderbolt! 95 base power boosted to 142.5 after STAB = a whooooole lot of pain! With over double the power of Thunder Shock, it was an easy choice to learn Bolt over Shock.

Wow. I forgot how much of a joke this particular battle is. His Pokemon have only grown two levels a piece, but they are all now evolved to stage 1.

Pidgeotto was his lead, as it was the battle before. The bird fell fast and easy to Pikachu's Thunder Bolt. If you didn't grab a Pika like I did, Geodude from Mount Moon also do well. If you don't have a super effective mon, then anything with some good defense should also serve well. 

As of writing this I noticed something...Am I trying to become more informative? *shrugs* I feel like the stuff's becoming slightly bland, so I'm also going to add in some small LP style tips along the way when my battles themselves are too short to show off the enemy mons, like how this battle is.

Next up was his Raticate...Which was another one shot. XD Critical hit Thunder Bolt. Really, whatever worked on Pidgeotto will work here. If you grabbed a Nido like I did or a Manky from Route 22 or 3 the mouse will go down fast. He's fast and Hyper Fang can hurt, but it ain't that strong at all.

Finally breaking Sparkle's rain of terror was Kadabara. Unlike Abra from the last battle, Kadabara packs a lot of power with Confusion and has some good Special Defense. I switched out to Sierra because Sparkles low defenses and the possibility of being out speed left me worried to risk it with him with the knowledge of who Blue's saving for last. The Kadabara hit with a Confusion, but it didn't do much at all, only taking of 17 of Sierra's HP. Since Kadaraba has paper thin Defense, I decided to go for broke and use Mega Kick...Which was an epic One Shot. XD I probly could have done it with Metal Claw (because his defense stat is just THAT low), but I wanted total overkill. :3

His final mon will be his Starter's first evolution, in my case Wartortle. I switched back to Sparkle, but feared the Wartortle hitting Sparkle with a massive attack and possibly ending the battle (since the rest of my team is water weak). Luckily, he used Withdraw, spending his turn boosting his Defense Stat. The next turn Sparkle loosed a Thunder Bolt that took Wartortle DOWN...TO THE LOW RED! OwO That is one tough tiny turtle! Now Sparkle was wide open, the Wartortle's attack was going to do a lot of damage if it was strong enough to take a STAB Thunder Bolt. His move was...Withdraw?!? XD Yus, my Rival had his Wartortle use a move that wouldn't help him the smallest bit. Sparkle ended the battle the next turn with another Thunder Bolt.

I've been doing this all along (to an extent), but right now, reaching Vermillion and getting Cut, represents the first time in the game that you could rework your party. The ledges on Route 4 are a point of no return at that point in the game, meaning that you can't go back and catch any of the previous Pokemon. Once you reach Vermilion though, you'll have access to the largest number of Routes this far, 6 total, and once you get Cut you then can, through Diglett's Cave, access the 4 previous Routes before Cerulean! Now, with 10 total Routes (1,2,3,4,5,6,11,22,24, and 25) and three "caves" (Mount Moon, Diglett's Cave, and Viridian Forest) you can easily access a wide variety of Pokemon and construct a more balanced team.

The two big things you should consider at this point in the game are a Pokemon to compliment your Starter, and a general power house. Since the Power houses at this point in the game are temporary, they come first.

Most power houses at this point in the game are not so much strong Pokemon so much as certain types of Pokemon. The types of Pokemon really until after the fifth badge are pretty limited, so being able to easily beat these types easily is really helpful. The three main types that are good are Rock, Flying, and Fighting.

Rock only has one good contender right now, Geodude. Being Rock he resist Normal and Bug while scoring super effective hits on Bug and Flying. He looses out being Double Weak to Grass and Water, but proper switching helps to keep him away from those. Now while Geodude is the only real Rock Type, Sandshrew and Diglett can also learn Rock Tomb (Brock's TM), letting them pick up those super effective hits without any double weaknesses (and in Diglett's case, often without getting hit due to it's high speed).

Next comes Flying, of which you can choose between Pidgey, Spearow, or Zubat. Flying both resists and is Super Effective against Bug and Grass types, letting them take out entire teams fairly easily. They're easily walled by Rock Types while also taking super effective hits, but they are few and far between.

The now there's only one Fighting type right now, Mankey, but the Nidos can learn Double Kick letting them function well, if not better, as Fighting types. Much like Diglett VS Geodude, both get the supper effective hits on Normal and Rock types, But Manky does so with more power and speed while the Nidos, with their stats and typing, are more durable.

The other thing to consider getting is a Pokemon to beat what beats your Pokemon. The easy way is to simply choose the type of the third starter, the one neither you nor your rival chose. Charmander finds Grass types like Bellsprout and Oddish to be good partners in clearing out Rock, Ground, and Water types. Squirtle likes to have a Ground (Like Digglet) or Fire type on his side to deal with Electric or Grass types. Bulbasaur would find a Rock (Like Geodude) or Water type helpful for dealing with Fire and Ice types.

Now this is the first gym of the game to have a puzzle to it. After this one, every gym in Kanto (barring one) has some form of puzzle you must complete before you can face the Gym Leader. This gym's puzzle involves checking the garbage cans in the gym for two switches to power down the electrical gates in front of the Leader. These switches have no set location and, if you don't find both switches in succession, will randomly change location. Now there are two hints, given to you by the two trainers in this gym. I'll give you the hints, but I do encourage you to battle them for the EXP.

Sailor Dwayne (Who's Pikachus is 6 levels lower then Sparkle): "When you open the first lock, the second lock is right next to it."

Engineer Baily: "LT. SURGE said he his the switches inside something."

Gentleman Tucker (Who I forgot was in here till now) Doesn't offer and hints.

Now unfortunately, this is all up to luck now. Finding the two cans can take forever and a day, or all of ten seconds. The only thing you know for sure is that they are right next to each other. Good luck!

And now it's time to take on Surge! I'm leading with Sierra first for the reason that I want to be SURE Samson is alive when Surge's main mon comes out. So it's time to! Battle!...I ain't a kid! I'm 20!..."puny pow-" MY POKEMON ARE LIKE 5 LEVELS HIGHER THEN YOUR UNDERLINGS!...I don't care about the war story...FINALLY BATTLE!

Kay first up is his level 21 Voltor- 21 and he was insulting MY POWER?!? Sierra's level 26! UHG WHATEVER! Mega Kick One Shot! Now it didn't use either of them, but this Voltorb has a two rather deadly attacks. SonicBoom does a set 20 Damage. At this level of the game. The other is Screech, which lowers you defense stat by two level (like having Tail Whip used on you twice in one turn).

His next mon up is his Pikachu at level...18?!? That's WEAKER them Misty's Starmie! What's going on here Surge?!? Mega kick owns again. Now this Pika can be a pain as it will spam Double Team and Thunder Wave, but since the worst it can do to Ground types is stall and use Quick Attack, it's not that tough.

His final mon is a Raichu at...24...My Pokemon are all two levels higher then your main...His Raichu is just like his Pikachu, only stronger. Finally Sierra's rain of kicking terror has ended, dealing only a little over half of the Raichu's HP in damage and activating Static both...Which caused the Raichu's Thunder Wave to be wasted...

Switched to Samson as the Raichu used Double Team. Sense I know Evasion is the name of the game with this Raichu, I ordered a Focus Energy, which Samson used after taking a Quick Attack. After taking another Quick Attack, the battle was ended by a Horn Attack! Samson grew a level and the battle was over!

1: An aid of Professor Oak was waiting in Vermillion City to inform me there was a DIFFERENT aid waiting for me in Route 2. Guess I'll explore Diglett's cave now. XD

2: On the way through the tunnel, Sierra tried to learn Scary Face. Didn't have her learn it, as lowering Speed isn't as powerful as lowering Accuracy.

3: PFFFT! 1 Pokemon shy of having caught enough to get the gift from the aid on Route 2! *goes to catch something quick*

4: The prize I got for spending 5 Pokeballs trying to catch a Pidgey. HM05. Flash. XP

5: FINALLY, after a ton of laziness, ON THE WAY TO ROCK TUNNEL!