Post by Blivsey on Jun 19, 2009 17:22:18 GMT -5
Well, I guess I get to kickstart this entire subforum with something unorthadox. Go me!
I'm trying something new on the fanfiction front, something that probably hasn't been done before here, and I don't know if it's been tried anywhere: A fictional weblog depicting the life of a trainer. Updated sporadically, this is very much an experiment both for myself and for new forms of fan media in general, so feel free to leave any comments, particularly considering your thoughts on the medium and how it's being handled.
Also, I encourage you to make comments on the journal entries on the site, but try to stay within the "fourth wall" (i.e. maintain Jim's illusion that he lives in the real world.) Any post at the actual blog acknowledging this as fiction will be erased, but it would be nice for him to have commentors. A good example is here.
The journal itself is updated in real-time, however, so feel free to check that as often as you like (no guaranteed update schedule, though, folks.)
Every three weeks (this work's measurement of a "chapter"), this space will be updated with a transcript of the blog for reference here.
Since in-text linkz are failing me at the moment, the blog may be found here: j-m-lee.livejournal.com/
Weeks 1-3
Test: 01 May 2009 @ 04:20 pm
Hello? Is this thing on?
Intro: 01 May 2009 @ 04:46 pm
Location: Home
Alright, here we go.
For those of you who don't already know me personally (very few, knowing who will probably read this), my name's James Michael Lee. I would prefer to be called Jim. I'm from Eterna City in Sinnoh, I'm 17, I'm (admittedly) a nerd, and I have one older sister and both parents.
I'm just finishing up my last year of proper general education, meaning that I'll finally be let out on a Trainer's journey. (For the unaware, my parents insisted that I finish standard schooling before they'd let me out on the Gym Challenge. Understandable, but still annoying.) I intend to take my leave with a friend of mine who's been put in the same situation. Known abound as Steve Schager:
(Image Link)
Usually he has greenish eyes, though. He must have been momentarily possessed or something, or I haven't been paying attention lately. Huh. Obviously, if you want a photo reference, that's me in the User Pic.
Can't leave 'till we're scheduled an appointment with Prof. Rowan, though. Should be late May or early June. Until then, whoever thinks they want to read this can listen to me prattle on about preparations, planning, etc.
Serious Business: 03 May 2009 @ 09:01 pm
Location: Home
Guess it's official now. Steve and I got the confirmation letter back today that we're registered as a Trainers' party now. They sent us our ID cards and everything. I'm an actual, real trainer.
Since I don't think I've explained this to many people, I've kind of wanted to be a Trainer since I was five or something. I mean, come on, who hasn't? I vaguely even remember trying to get Wally, Dad's old Grovyle, to battle for me (three guesses how well that turned out...). But now, it's actually more about me wanting the experience than wanting to be a celebrity trainer. Not that I would mind being famous for it, but I kind of just want to see the world, and being a Trainer is probably the best way to do it. Besides, it's a good way to be pretty self-sustaining for a year. I can live off of a Trainer's allowance, I think.
We're set for a meeting with Prof. Rowan on June 2nd. I think we're lucky that way; since Rowan got old and retired, he's been personally seeing new trainers off again. Now I just have to make it through the last couple of weeks of school. Then we're free to go...
Coursework: 07 May 2009 @ 09:42 pm
Location: Home
Hey, I got a reply. Somebody is reading this! Albeit someone I don't think that I know... (if you think I do, drop a name) And you asked about school.
Actually, that's kinda the reason that I've only posted a couple times this week. I've got a fair bit of studying and projects for the end of the year. If you'll allow me to list:
Physics: Major test coming up, covers all the course material for the whole year. Trust me, Pokémon attacks throw a major wrench in the works. Luckily I remember most of the stuff really well, and I've got all the formulas written down.
Pokémon speech: Really need to brush up on this. Forgot a lot of terminology from first semester.
Psychology: Eight-page paper due next week on whether Pokémon should be given human rights or not. Final grade and all that.
Calculus: Boring as ever, Semester test next week.
Pokémon Societies: Pretty safe here, but there's still the tests.
Battle Mechanics: Getting kinda rusty on the simulator; some attacks and abilities are still throwing me for a loop.
English Lit. and Comp.: Took the final today. Nothing else for that class (phew).
Tech. App.: I've never had a problem with this, shouldn't need to worry about studying too bad.
At least I don't have to deal with History classes anymore. Thank God I'm done next Friday.
Paper: Conquered: 09 May 2009 @ 01:22 pm
Location: Home
Alright, I finished that Psych paper and sent it to the teacher for proofreading. Feeling pretty good about it. Besides that, studies are on track, and I think I'll pass these tests just fine.
Steve and his mom are taking me out to gather our traveling supplies in a bit. His mother used to be a pretty good Trainer, so she knows what we'll want/need for this, down to the exact type of camp chair. Hopefully most of the equipment I have in the garage is usable. They only give us so much money to start out with....
Supply Run: 09 May 2009 @ 10:02 pm
Location: Home
Well, we're pretty much set now. Steve's mom had a lot of old Trainer's gear lying around, so I'm being allowed to borrow whatever was left over after Steve had his pick. Besides that, most of my stuff was fine to use, anyway, so we didn't have to actually buy a lot of stuff, just healing and capture items, mostly. I still had to get my own Pokédex, but at least I found a pretty sleek model on sale. It's the MP-X37 for those of you that care. Full 3-D models of the Pokémon and everything. After that, it was just minimal stuff. Speaking of minimal, she even had a couple of those capsules that work like Pokéballs, but with items instead of Pokémon (I forget what the device is called...)
THANK YOU, MRS. SCHAGER.
Totally set now. Just gotta finish those tests and wait for June to roll around.
Ugh: 14 May 2009 @ 05:46 pm
Location: Home
Somewhat-sorry for the lack of post, but I've kinda been occupied with finals.
Think I did pretty well on the tests, Mr. Clem said he liked my Psychology paper, and all I have left is Societies for tomorrow. Then I'm done with standard schooling for good. ABOUT BLOODY TIME.
I'll get on and rant about something to fill this space tomorrow. Right now my computer-time is seriously cut (my parents are restricting me to one hour a day until finals are done). TTFN.
YESYESYESYESYES: 15 May 2009 @ 03:51 pm
Location: Home
Phew. Finished my last test (actually not difficult) and now I'm out and finished. Not going back to that school again for at least the rest of the summer if I can help it. (might visit in the future). Graduation ceremony proper on Tuesday (5:30 at the Carson Center), but for now, REST.
I know I promised rantage. I'll give it tomorrow. just a little burned out now.
Of Starters: 16 May 2009 @ 10:07 pm
Location: Home
Whoa.
So, at least twelve relatives showed up today to visit for graduation, most of them from outside of Eterna. Needless to say, we're packed, and guests kinda took preference over this, which I hope you all can relate to. They're a lot of fun, though, so it's entirely worth the trouble.
But, I promised you a chat on something, and here it is:
I've had it decided for quite a while what starter Pokémon I want to get from Prof. Rowan. I'm kinda set on a Piplup. The way I see it, it's probably the best strategical option, as Empoleon's partly a Steel-type, and that walls out a lot of attacks, especially ones that would cripple a Torterra or Infernape. Besides that, the Piplup family looks cool in all of its evolutions in my opinion (whereas the Chimchar family looks ugly to me and the Turtwig family is just... eh.) There are a lot of little reasons, too (such as their tendancy to be low-maintenance and self-supporting and Piplup being considered very cute by ladies), but those are the main ones.
Steve says that he's holding out for a Chimchar. Apparently the hot-blooded, head-on attack style appeals to him. I suppose it's got its merits, but it's just not my cup a' tea, you know?
HAHAHA: 19 May 2009 @ 02:30 pm
Location: Home
So i woke up at about nine this morning, went out to Sherman's for breakfast and then made it to graduation practice, and I didn't have to go to school afterwards.
This makes me very happy.
But yeah, the ceremony is tonight, and then Eterna City West High School is no longer my problem. About bloody time.
Huh.: 20 May 2009 @ 09:29 am
Location: Home
Well, lookit that. Somehow I got a diploma since yesterday morning. Guess school isn't my problem anymore.
House's empty now, too. I guess whatever all those weird relative-types were waiting on already came, so they must have left.
Wonder what happened last night....
Weeks 4-6
Outing: 22 May 2009 @ 11:08 am
Location: Home
Steve just called; we're going out to lunch in a bit and we're going to use some of the battle simulators at the school for a while (they're free to use by students at any time, I think we still qualify). I haven't used them in a while, and the machines make all the battles pretty linear, so I doubt I'll do well. Eh. It's good practice, at any rate.
Practice: 22 May 2009 @ 09:16 pm
Location: Home
Well, out of what must have been twenty battles, I think I won... five?
The problem with that is that the simulators work more like a calculator, showing the likely outcomes. They can't really emulate living creatures or do much to incorporate human strategies or intuitive tactics. That might help my case a bit. Doesn't change the fact that I still need to practice more, though.
Drought: 29 May 2009 @ 09:23 am
Location: Home
Sorry about the lack of posting, just... not a lot has been going on lately. Mostly hanging around with friends for the last chance I'll get in quite a while.
Most of the supplies are packed for when we leave on Monday. Umm.... oh, yeah, today's my last day making sandwiches at the Hungry Heracross, so stop by if you want... if anyone's listening.
Last Night in Town: 31 May 2009 @ 12:37 pm
Location: Home
Last day in town for me... tomorrow we leave for Sandgem. We'll probably be back within a month or so, but we've still got to hit all the big local spots one last time today.
And yes, I said "a couple months." I know that most people on their journeys nowadays take the trains or a car from town to town to train. But since it's within our ability, Steve and I decided to to hoof it, the old-fashioned way. Not just for the experience, but because that way you get more time to train and capture wild Pokémon. I think it's better that way.
We're Here: 01 June 2009 @ 09:50 pm
Location: Sandgem Town
We left home this morning by train, and got off in Sandgem about mid-afternoon. Checked into the hotel (can't use the Centers without actually having Pokémon, apparently), saw the (very few) sights besides the Lab, and hit the beach. Great day for it, too.
Well, this is the point of no return. We get our starter Pokémon tomorrow, and after that the journey's on. Is it possible to be giddy-exited and nervous-exited at the same time?
First Pokémon!: 02 June 2009 @ 04:08 pm
Location: Sandgem Town
YEAH!
We hit the lab about ten o'clock this morning, about the same time as another girl about our age, maybe a year younger. Named Shelby Lewis, just moved from Mahogany Town in Johto, very friendly. One of the assistants gave us a tour, and after I got done ogling the equipment (and it's some nice stuff, too), we met with Professor Rowan himself. We got vouchers for 60% off our first Pokédexes (standard issue now, apparently) and he let us pick out our first Pokémon.
Steve went straight for a Chimchar that had been trying to have a staring contest with him for about five minutes. They seem to be cut from the same cloth, and they're already clicking. Steve nicknamed him "Alpha." Apparently Shelby had a Totodile shipped in from Professor Elm that she picked out beforehand.
I played with all the Piplup for a while, but one of them seemed to be really attached to me. She insisted on hugging and nuzzling my leg until I picked her up, at which point she curled up against my chest. It was too adorable. Needless to say, I ended up taking her with me. I ran a bunch of nicknames by her, but she doesn't seem to like them. I guess I'll just be calling her "Piplup" for now.
We asked Shelby if she wanted to join us, but she said she already had pen pals over here that she had arranged to travel with, and they aren't leaving for another couple of days. We'll probably run into them again somewhere, though. Steve managed to get her number, too, the sly dog.
After that, we hit the store in town to get our Dexes. There are some nice models out there now. We could both afford some pretty slick models with very thorough entries. They even show off 3-D animations of the Pokémon and most of their attacks! Very nice. Now that we have our Pokémon, we get Trainers' discounts at shops and we can stay in the Pokémon Centers' quarters overnight (limited space and availability, but low-cost). We're still in the hotel for tonight, though.
Great day so far. Piplup is tugging at my pants leg right now, so I'm going to go play with her some more (I think they let Pokémon out at the beach). I'll put up something about what I want for an overall team later. Leaving north tomorrow, only twenty-four miles to Jubilife. Shouldn't take too long.
Day One: 03 June 2009 @ 09:21 pm
Location: Route 202
Long day. Almost forgot to post something.
Well, we left Sandgem about ten o'clock, which was a poor choice. We made it about eight miles, but we had to stop because it was getting hot out and we were getting to tired to keep going for such a long time. We should probably be more exercised for this, but we still need to leave early in the mornings to avoid the heat of the day. Anyway, we made camp around two. Found a nice little spot just a couple hundred feet off the dirt trail. We went out and trained against some of the wild Pokémon afterwards, so we're off to a decent start. An upstart little Shinx got the better of River, though. Even after a potion, she's still a little sore.
By the way, that's Piplup's new name, is River. I was mentioning the nearby creek to Steve as being a "river," and Piplup said something to the effect of "That's it!" (I don't know for sure, she's young, so her speech patterns aren't fully developed yet, and I'm not always right) So, she's River now. Funny, she picked out a water-themed name, though I can't imagine Piplup or its evolutions living in a river...
Another Day: 04 June 2009 @ 09:53 pm
Location: Route 202
Another nine miles down. Made decent distance today, stopped and camped while it was still cool, then did another round of training. Luckily, we both know how to cook, so the food has turned out really well so far. River and Alpha seem to prefer the Pokémon kibble, though, which is just fine, I suppose.
Oh, yeah, Steve and I had a battle with each other today. We only have the one Pokémon each so far (none of our captures have succeeded before running off yet), so it was kind of one-sided. Alpha went down after two or three Bubble attacks. I would have felt bad about it, but Steve was the one who raised the challenge in the first place, so...
Should reach Jubilife tomorrow.
First Stop: 05 June 2009 @ 08:30 pm
Location: Jubilife City
Steve managed to catch a male Nidoran this morning! It always struck me as odd that male Nidoran are pink and females are blue, rather than the other way around, but whatever. He was really excited about the idea of being trained, too, so we welcomed "Gamma" to the team and hit Jubilife.
And d**n, this place is big.
The last time I went to Jubilife was when I was probably seven, and saw a bit of it from the train, but I forgot just how massive this place is. All of the buildings are at least three stories tall, and most are about five. Lots of businesses headquartered here, I guess.
There's a trading post and a park near the Center, and since we don't really want to trade Pokémon at this point, we just took our Pokémon out to the park to play. They all seemed to enjoy it. Alpha was having fun climbing over everything, Gamma seemed to just like running around, and River was having fun in the pond with the other Pokémon like you wouldn't believe.
This is our first night staying in the Pokémon Centers, too. The rooms are pretty small, with just a bunk bed, a dresser and a sink pretty much, and there's a set of public showers, but that's about it as far as the lodging hall goes. No breakfast (though they have discount cupons for some nearby restaurants), it's kinda crowded, and if you check in after six they start to run out of rooms, but it's a really cheap option for trainers, and it beats sleeping outside at the moment (rain tonight, possibly tomorrow), so I'm perfectly fine with it.
Unfortunately, there's not a Gym or anything else that we're really interested in here, so we'll be heading out again tomorrow.
Past the Gate: 07 June 2009 @ 09:10 pm
Location: Oreburgh City
Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but it was pouring literally all day, so our tents got put up wet and I didn't want to risk taking my laptop out of its storage capsule.
Anyway, we slept in a bit on Sunday, so we didn't leave until nine, and then we didn't cover a lot of distance in the rain, so we only make it six miles before giving up, only halfway to Oreburgh Gate from Jubilife. We spent the rest of the day trying (with marginal success) to stay dry inside the tents. Not a fun day.
Today was better. We hit Oreburgh Gate at about a quarter to eleven, did a little training, and had lunch. I managed to catch a Pineco, too! But I took Pineco out after we visited the center, and he said that he wasn't interested in battling at all, he just wanted to stay in a tree and not be bothered. I sent a mail to Prof. Rowan. Hopefully Rowan can find him a good place at his acreage near the lab.
Anyway, it took a long time to get through Oreburgh Gate. Not just that the cave is almost two miles long itself, but it's net terribly easy to get through. The cavern's spacious enough to walk in comfortably, it's just easy to get off the right track in caves, and we forgot a map, so we ended up taking a couple of wrong turns. I snagged a Geodude, though, and he helped us find the way out. After we made it to Oreburgh (about seven, seven-thirty), he said that he wouldn't mind being trained, so I guess I've got a Geodude for my team! He doesn't want a nickname, so just Geodude it is.
So we're in Oreburgh now. We'll hit the town tomorrow and see about the Gym here.
Coal?: 08 June 2009 @ 06:40 pm
Location: Oreburgh City
So, we looked at most of the town though the web and brochures, and... it's not too terribly interesting. There's a big museum, but it's entirely dedicated to coal. There's a mine to explore, but again, coal. Not to offend anybody that lives here, but I just don't see how coal is that fascinating. Maybe I'm just not one for earth science. Meh.
Anyway, we hit Roark's gym today (looks like an extention of the mine inside, and Roark's obviously a miner). The gym trainers weren't too bad, just some interns with Geodude. Our Pokémon put them aside without too much trouble. I wasn't allowed to watch Steve's match because I was a challenger, too, but from what he says Chimchar didn't do him much good, and only wore Roark's Geodude out a little. Fortunately, Gamma knows Double Kick, so he handled Geodude and Cranidos completely. As for my battle, I started with River, and she took out his Geodude brilliantly with some Bubble attacks, and nearly wiped out his Cranidos the same way, too. Cranidos managed to get a good, strong Headbutt in, and the Piplup line really can't take physical damage well. Geodude went out to fight against Cranidos next, and it basically boiled down to a wrestling match, tackle versus headbutt. Geodude managed to evade one of his moves fast enough to trick him into hitting the wall. After that, Cranidos was a bit too dizzy to fight back properly, and Geodude had no trouble finishing the match. I am now the proud owner of a shiny Coal Badge. (Is there anything in this city not focused on the coal?)
Oh, yeah, and I got a mail back from Rowan, and he'll always take more Pokémon in for study. Beats leaving them in storage. I asked Pineco about whether he wanted to go back to his natural home, but he said he didn't care, and this is more convenient for everyone (Rowan gets his observations, he gets back to a tree faster, etc.), so that's how it is.
Might stick around in Jubilife for a day when we get back. I heard from a trainer at the Center that there's a few places to check out there that we missed.
Retracing Steps: 09 June 2009 @ 08:36 pm
Location: Route 203
Back though Oreburgh Gate this morning. Didn't take quite as long, but we still only made a couple miles on the other side, so a lot of tomorrow will be spent just on travel.
Did a little snooping around the route again, more training and all that. Steve caught a Spinarak, but the little one doesn't know if she wants to battle. Apparently she's too young do have ever been in a proper one. So we're gonna let her out for a bit of training tomorrow and see how it goes.
Y'know, we've moved pretty fast so far. One week and I already have my first badge behind me. Maybe we'll be back in Eterna before we thought we would.
Back in Jubilife: 10 June 2009 @ 08:10 pm
Location: Jubilife City
Spinarak trained for a bit and decided that she'd like to come with Steve and get stronger. So now, Steve has a new team member in Chi the Spinarak. Good for him.
Not much else to report for today. I dug up some info. on the places that trainer in Oreburgh mentioned, and I'll be darned, but we missed them entirely on the first run. Now I feel stupid. From now on I ask around about sightseeing whenever we stop in a town. Don't wanna miss something like a Global Record Hall or anything.
Oh, and to my reader from PokéTech, Steve says that he liked that game, actually. Admittedly not his favorite, but he thinks it's solid. After all, a mute ex-SilphCo. scientist running around after an appocalypse swinging a crowbar at mutated humans and Pokémon can't be that bad, right?
Jubilife Revisited: 11 June 2009 @ 08:57 pm
Location: Jubilife City
So, we checked out the trading post today. I kinda forgot that they replaced it with the "Global Terminal". We spent most of the morning checking out records of old battles and other things like that. After lunch, we took a look at the Hall of Fame, which had a listing of all the League Champions of every league, every tournament year (electronic, of course. BIG list.) as well as Elite Four members, notable Pokémon researchers, and other big names in Pokémon (like Bill Miller and Kurt Franz). It was pretty cool. So HOW did we miss this before? Crazy.
We also hit the TV station. Apparently they have a lot of user-made content that they keep up there, so we contributed a bit to the Photo Gallery and such, gave a quick interview. It'd be cool if we ended up on TV or radio something, but I can do without.
Also, apparently The Pokétch Company offers Pokétch devices at their HQ at a direct-from-factory price, which is really cool. They're apparently a family-operated business, so their policies are really customer-friendly. Steve and I had enough money stocked up to take advantage of it, they've got some really darned cool models there. I've got one with a full-on LCD display, GPS/mapping device and a whole slew of other ones (for about 3000 Yen!). On the other hand, to afford this, lunch is going to have to be instant noodles for a while. Eh, we'll manage just fine.
We ran into Shelby in the park, too. She introduced us to her friends, Amy and Rachel. Shelby wanted to challenge Steve, but after he showed off his Coal Badge and strutted around a bit, she withdrew the offer. Either she knew the badge meant he was a bit too strong for her at the moment, or Steve drove her away with his "victory dance." Ugh.
And... that was our day. Let the Pokémon out to play, unwound for the evening... now bedtime.
Weeks 7-9
Living in a Cave: 12 June 2009 @ 07:48 pm
Location: Route 204/Ravaged Path
We had breakfast with Shelby's company this morning, and then parted. They went west, we went north toward Floaroma.
We just made it to the cave this morning before a real downpour started. We were able to get through Ravaged Path with no problem, but the rain still hasn't let up, so we gave up and we'll be camping out here for the night. Steve got a Zubat, but he says he doesn't know if he wants to battle with it or anything. Guess Rowan's gonna have another one of those flying around.
Flowers flowers turbines flowers: 14 June 2009 @ 07:26 pm
Location: Floaroma Town
So, do you all remember how Oreburgh City is fanatical about coal? Floaroma Town: same problem, but with flowers. Practically half the city is one big flower field (as opposed to half of Oreburgh being a big mining op).
We took some time to rest here a bit, all of us, since we got in really late last night. Not much to do here, though, so we headed out of town. First thing we saw were WIND TURBINES. I can't tell you readers how much I love wind turbines. Naturally-generated energy, wonderfully engineered, and fascinating to watch (in my opinion). So I talked Steve into stopping by the Valley Windworks for the tour. I found it very interesting, but he was bored out of his mind, I could tell. That and we had to give up another day on the road for it, hence why we're still in Floaroma.
He found a couple trainers staying in the city to give him matches, though, so he was content enough. First was a one-on-one with a girl with a Roselia. Obviously, Steve used Alpha (Chimchar) due to type advantage, and got in a strong ember right off the bat. The Roselia was fast, though, and laid down some poison stings on Alpha right after that. Alpha hung in there and won, but Roselia sure put up a good fight.
Later on, he dragged me into a two-on-two match, us against a travelling couple (one guy, one girl). The girl had a Mime Jr. and the guy had a Croagunk, so Steve used Gamma (Nidoran) and I took out Geodude. Between us, we knocked out the Mime Jr. pretty quickly with physical attacks, but it managed to get a few defending moves surrounding Croagunk first. Croagunk's Mud-Slap took out Gamma in only a couple of hits (super-effectiveness and all that), but Geodude pulled off an excellent Magnitude that downed it. Good couple of matches, today.
Oh, and the Zubat decided on joining Steve, but it doesn't want to battle much, if at all. I think that Steve's planning on sending it back at the first opportunity he gets, especially since he hasn't given Zubat a nickname....
'nother Day: 15 June 2009 @ 09:39 pm
Location: Route 205
Left Floaroma this morning, headed toward Valley Windworks, then north past the river and on for quite a while. Steve wouldn't let me oogle the wind turbines again...
Didn't catch anything today, just travel and training against the wild Pokémon and each other for a while. We made almost ten miles, but Route 205 is long and uphill. It'll be another several days before we even reach Eterna Forest, and going through that should take a couple of days in itself. Besides that, we're thinking of stopping by Feugo Ironworks, too, since some wild Fire-types and Steel-types tend to congregate there. So the next city (home) is probably a week away.
Treking North: 16 June 2009 @ 09:44 pm
Location: Route 205
Another ways forward today, putting us maybe within range of the entrance to Eterna Forest for tomorrow. It'll be a long day, though, so depending on wether we feel up to it we'll have to split the hike into two days.
Chi has gotten good enough at battling wild Pokémon, and she managed to trap a couple of Oddish and a Teddiursa with its webs. Steve and I caught an Oddish each (Steve's sending his back to Rowan's, and I'm thinking of using mine at some point for its powder abilities), and Steve took the Teddirusa (named it Xu, so I guess it's part of the regular team rotation now).
I'm going to take a stroll later tonight. I might catch some nocturnal Pokémon that way.
Not There Yet: 17 June 2009 @ 08:03 pm
Location: Route 205
We both accidentally slept in today, so we didn't make it far enough in the morning to reach the entrance to Eterna Forest. We'll reach that tomorrow, then visit the Feugo Ironworks tomorrow. On the other hand, my half of the sleeping in was due to catching a Hoothoot last night.
On the other hand, we did meet another trainer on the road today (called himself Jon) who challenged me to a match, a series of 3 one-on-one battles. First was River against a Grotle, so she didn't stand a lot of chance there. She did try, but that Grotle was packing a strong Razor Leaf, and River was at a disadvantage. Geodude took on his Beautifly, which was pretty one-sided before Beautifly paralyzed him. Geodude still won with a good few Rock Throws, it just took a lot longer. And finally I put the new Hoothoot up against his Psyduck. There was no clear type advantage there, but Hoothoot pulled off an excellent Hypnosis early on, giving her a strong headstart. After that, Psyduck only had time to Water Gun her once before going down.
So I won, but barely. We need to keep up our training.
Made It: 18 June 2009 @ 10:02 pm
Location: Route 205
Hit a HUGE storm this morning about 8:00. We had to find a covered spot under a rock ledge just to keep ourselves dry while we waited it out, and even that didn't work for us. That storm was nasty, and it lasted a good hour and a half. Hail, rain falling sideways, the whole nine yards. It finally slowed down eventually, and we made it to our camp at the Eterna Forest entrance and stopped.
We're definitely going to Feugo Ironworks tomorrow for a tour and a catching spree, but for today, we just collapsed. We tried training for about half an hour, but gave up. Ugh, time for sleep.
Catching Spree: 19 June 2009 @ 09:46 pm
Location: Route 205
Haha, YES.
All in all, we caught a lot of Pokémon today with good potential. I've got a Slugma that I think I'm going to use regularly. He liked the name Gabriel, so that's his name now. I also caught a a Houndour and a Marnemite, which may come in useful later, but Houndour dowsn't seem to want to do battling full-time and Magnemite is pretty indifferent. Magnemite's on the team for now, though.
Steve went overboard capturing Pokémon around Feugo; he caught a Nosepass, a Magmar, an Aron, a Torkoal, a Growlithe and a Skarmory. He only named the Aron (Epsilon) and Magmar (Rho), but he might end up using some of the others, too.
We took the tour of the actual Feugo Ironworks, too. It was pretty cool, actually, and they let us do some ironworking while we were there.
Tomorrow, Eterna Forest.
Turnaround: 20 June 2009 @ 09:44 pm
Location: Eterna Forest
Okay, so we got completely lost today. I'll admit that. We had plenty of shade from the trees to cover us, so we could be out and walking for longer today, but we ended up taking the wrong trail and ended up at Moss Rock instead of heading northeast toward Eterna City. By the time we got back on the right trail, we didn't make it very far through the forest before we had to stop for the day. All of the undergrowth here makes it hard to move quickly, too. We might be stuck in this forest for another couple of days...
More Woods: 21 June 2009 @ 10:06 pm
Location: Eterna Forest
Got about halfway from where we were this morning to the exit. Nobody ever tells you how hard it is to move through some of these forests and mountains and caves, anyway. Even the paths themselves are hard to walk on. On the other hand, there's plenty of good wild Pokémon to train against in here.
Which reminds me, I found a Tropius today that came out and challenged me. I beat her and caught her, and now she really wants to be trained. A Tropius will definitely come in handy down the line!
Not coming across any other trainers here, though. They must have all found alternate paths or something.
Out of the Forest: 22 June 2009 @ 09:15 pm
Location: Eterna Forest
We made it through and out of Eterna Forest, so now we're on a path that we recognize to get to home. We've seen the old, abandoned mansion out here a bunch of times already, but we're going to stop by tonight to see if we can find and catch some ghost Pokémon. After all, it's just a short day's hike from here to Eterna by our speed.
Speaking of our speed, that's kinda bothering me. We haven't been winning our battles with stray travellers by much, if at all, by using our best Pokémon against what for all we know were caught earlier that day, and the only reason why we won at Oreburgh Gym is because we had Pokémon with the type advantage, and I've been hearing that Roark is a "warm-up" gym. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I've heard that most groups take a lot longer to travel around than we do, and use more of the day for training. By comparison, we hike until the early afternoon and only spend a little over an hour total acutally training per day. We might be needing to slow down... but depending on how the battles against Gardenia go, that might not actually be as much as an issue as I'm thinking it is.
Home: 23 June 2009 @ 06:31 pm
Location: Eterna City
We made it back home today, and kinda surprised our parents that way. Apparently I was right in my assumption yesterday. We'll see how that holds up tomorrow, but I do have a bad feeling about tomorrow. For now, we're going back around the city. Three weeks may not seem like a while, but I guess I subconsciously missed this place.
Oh, yeah, and we went around to the old mansion yesterday night. I caught a Shuppet and Steve caught a Duskull. They might be useful from time to time, but for now, we both sent them to Rowan.
Defeat: 24 June 2009 @ 07:09 pm
Location: Eterna City
Yeah... we lost, big time. We didn't even make it to Gardenia.
I used my new Slugma and Tropius in a two-on-two battle against the first Gym trainer here, but even with the type advantage, she put me down HARD. Her Shroomish and Oddish didn't look like much, but they put my Pokémon completely out of commission with their sleeping powders right off the bat. They barely even got a chance to fight back, they could only sit there and get pummeled by physical attacks. I definitely need to go back and train.
Steve didn't do much better. Alpha (Chimchar) fought and lost against a Gym trainer's Lotad because of all of its water attacks. He just can't take a Water Gun head-on. Chi (Spinarak) managed to get him with her Bug Bite, but lost badly to the Exeggcute that he sent out next. Psychic-type attacks don't agree with her very well, so you can imagine how that turned out.
So, we're going to train in the surrounding area for a while, because the way we are now, we're definitely not going to be able to reach Gardenia, let alone beat her.
TRAIN TRAIN: 25 June 2009 @ 08:27 pm
Location: Eterna City
We went our east of town this morning and looked around the area for other trainers to battle. We ended up fighting a lot of people and a lot of the wild Pokémon, as well. We kept this up all day, and we only just got back. Since so many battles went on today, I'm not going to detail each one, but rather general notes:
- River is getting much stronger, but needs experience on how to swim properly, as she hasn't fought directly in water much and was put at a disadvantage by that against a Tentacool today.
- Geodude is physically improving a lot, but hasn't learned many specialized moves, mainly just physical tackles and the like.
- Slugma is very slow and tends to take quite a few hits while getting his own attacks in. Since neither Slugma or Magcargo are naturally able to outspeed anything, defenses needs to be an area of concern.
- Tropius is generally inexperienced, and just needs a lot of straight-up training.
- Hoothoot isn't showing much of a drive for battling. I asked him about it, and he's thinking that he might want to go off on his own. I'll talk to him again tomorrow....
And, in general, they just need to hone their skills some more.
As for Steve, Alpha (Chimchar) is still a powerhouse and Gamma (NidoranM) is on his way, but Steve himself needs to learn how to deal with technical maneuvers (as do I). Chi (Spinarak) is physically frail, so Steve and her are working to get around that. Rho (Magmar) is apparently not listening to him at the moment, so he's going to try and work things out with him over time. Epsilon (Aron) doesn't have a lot of skill yet, so he just needs training.
Hopefully we'll make some good progress tomorrow, too.
Again with the Training: 26 June 2009 @ 07:52 pm
Location: Eterna City
Fight-o!
Everybody's improving fairly nicely, both in general and in the areas that they need improving on.
Hoothoot got let out inside the house for the talk on whether or not he wanted training, and before I could even talk to him, Mom got all over him. She took to him really fast, and he doesn't exactly mind her, either, so... I'm going to be letting him stay here, just like Jessica did with her Shuckle for a while. Problem solved.
Steve and I had a three-on-three practice battle today with the Pokémon that we're using against Gardenia. He started out with Gamma (Nidoran) against my Slugma. It was a pretty even match, but Slugma got a headstart by loosing a few ranged Ember attacks while Gamma was still charging. Once the distance was closed, Gamma followed up with a volley of strong Double Kicks, and since he moves much faster than Slugma, he was attacking much more frequently. I think that Gamma got a nasty burn, though, because his attacks were visibly strained and he seemed to get hurt more easily. Slugma ended up pulling out of that one, but he was really beat, so I recalled him and sent out Tropius. Steve sent out Alpha (Chimchar) next, and he was beating up on Tropius quite a bit with Ember, though Tropius sure was trying. His Gust attacks knocked Alpha back and away a couple of times, but Alpha kept on coming. And then, in the middle of the battle, Alpha evolved! Luckily for me, that meant that he gained a weakness to flying attacks that put Tropius at an advantage, but the evolution will no doubt help him in the future. With some more wind power, Tropius toppled Alpha, though he had taken a hit or two himself. Finally, he called in Rho (Magmar), who took down Tropius no problem with a strong Fire Spin. But when I sent out River (my only other option for a third Pokémon against Gardenia is Geodude, and that's out of the question), Rho just puffed up smoke and walked away. Steve still need to teach him obedience, apparently.
Steve says that he's going to focus on Rho tomorrow and see if he can't get him to play a team role. I myself am going to be training a lot harder specifically with Slugma, Tropius and maybe River to prepare them for Eterna Gym. I think we're going to make another attempt on Sunday. Let's see how that goes....
Again Train: 27 June 2009 @ 09:59 pm
Location: Eterna City
Nothing really to mention for today, it was just a lot of continued general training (strength, dexterity, quick thinking, etc.), but concentrated on the Pokémon that we're using tomorrow.
Rho is, of course, still ignoring Steve as much as possible. Understandable, since Magmar are strong Pokémon, we only have Coalbadges to show for our skill, and fire-type Pokémon in general tend to disobey trainers of low skill. Steve's pride isn't taking it well right now, but he's revised his attack team to be Gamma (Nidoran), Alpha (Monferno) and Chi (Spinarak). I hope it works for him...
Oh, Yeah!: 28 June 2009 @ 09:12 pm
Location: Eterna City
Woo! We both won our challenges!
So, I took Slugma and Tropius up in a double battle against the same opening pair as before today. When they started out with their "powder" moves, I thought quick enough to have Tropius use Gust and send them right back! Admittedly, they resisted their own powders, but it still gave me a good shot at them, enough to hit them with a strong volley of Ember and Gust, which they didn't recover from enough to put up much of a fight after that. After that was a one-on-one trainer who sent out a Paras first (which Slugma had beaten literally with one fire attack, it was ridiculous), followed by a Sunflora, which set up a nice strategy with Sunny Day followed by Solarbeam. It worked, too, and Slugma took a heavy hit, but his training paid off. He bore the attack and hit the Sunflora with a powered-up Ember, burning it and winning the match right there.
Finally, I fought Gardenia. She used a Turtwig first, and I started off with Tropius. I had Tropius blow it away with some Gust attacks, but it hardened its defenses first and managed to get in a couple of good tackles before going down. Unfortunately, it didn't stand much of a chance to begin with. Next was a Cherrim, who used Sunny Day to boost itself, but Tropius' Clorophyll gave ner a speed boost to match. Again, I had Tropius use a volley of Gust attacks, but her wings started to tire out, so she had to slow down near the end. Gardenia's Cherrim didn't seem to have any effective moves from the start, but then surprised me when Tropius started letting up by throwing out a Leech Seed. The battle was starting to get drawn-out from there, and the Leech Seed was really hurting her, so I eventually had to call Tropius back in favor of Slugma. Sunny Day was still active, so his fire-based Ember took it down in a flash. Gardenia's last Pokémon was a Roserade, and I'll say that it moved quick. It hit with a strong Poison Sting right off the bat, which I saw made Slugma nauseous. Slugma countered with Ember and gave it a nasty burn, and continued to drive Roserade back with it, but he nearly collapsed before he could finish Roserade off, and I had to call him back. My last thought was River, so I sent her out. She was smart enough to be very evasive from the start, but still took a hit from a Magical Leaf attack before getting close enough to hit with Peck. That was all it took, though; after that, Roserade gave in and I had won.
River was dancing around after the victory, too. Then... she evolved. She turned into a Prinplup! I was so happy for her. She has noticeably more self-confidence already; she was standing tall today and gave me a full high-five. It's kind of wierd, though, that those aren't things that River would have done as a Piplup. So I guess what they say about evolution having an effect on a Pokémon's personality is true.
Steve went in twenty minutes after me, so I didn't get to see his matches, but from what I hear, he won handily even without using Rho (Magmar). I did see that Gamma evolved into a Nidorino, though. Good for him, we've had a good couple of evolutions recently. Steve showed his badge to Rho, but he still wasn't impressed. Guess this'll be going on for a while....
Our folks want us to stick around for one more day, but after that, we have to get going, and at a slower pace this time. I don't want to show up at a gym undertrained again...
Slow Day: 29 June 2009 @ 09:09 pm
Location: Eterna City
Nothing much to do today. Steve got dragged into catching up and other varied family activities, or so I hear.
I personally took a day off and let my Pokémon out around the house, except Slugma, for obvious reasons, who I took out to play on a blacktop near what's left of my old elementary school. Old thing got torn down years ago... and Tropius wouldn't fit in the house, so she got to hang out in the back yard. But Geodude and River got out in the house, so that's something. River was still acting like a typical eight-year-old "cool kid," but Geodude was very polite for a Geodude that was wild only a few weeks ago. Hoothoot's already helping Mom out with cooking and the garden and all of that, which it's nice for her to have, I suppose, since Jessica took her Shuckle back when she moved out... we'll have to pay her a visit when we reach Veilstone.
Back on the Trail: 30 June 2009 @ 10:34 pm
Location: Route 206
So, we only went about four and a half miles today, compared to the usual seven that we averaged before Eterna, and spent the rest of the day seriously training. We're forcing ourselves to slow down to avoid repeating our floundering at Eterna Gym. Only time will tell if this will pay off.
Wayward Cave is on this route, so we're going to check it out when we get there.
Eh: 01 July 2009 @ 10:06 pm
Location: Route 206
Another pretty average day today. Little bit of morning hiking, training through the afternoon, and chilling out in camp after dusk. We'll be square close enough to an entrance of Wayward Cave tomorrow (the northernmost entrance caved in a while back, I think), so we'll have to check that out.
Weeks 10-12
Worst Tourist Attraction EVER: 05 July 2009 @ 10:22 pm
Location: Route 206
So, we had a black spot for a while. We got more than a little lost in Wayward Cave, and believe it or not, we were wandering in there for a couple of days. I swear, everything looks exactly the same; you have no sense of direction in there. And, worse yet, there's no way to get contact with the outside, though phones or anything. No way to get maps or directions out. It wasn't until yesterday when we found a pair of Bronzor that knew the general way back to the open. Even then, they weren't precisely sure, either, and it was hard to move around in the cave, so we couldn't get around very fast. We just kind of collapsed when we got out of Wayward Cave about noon, and I only just remembered to let people know that we're alive about half an hour ago.
Hmm: 06 July 2009 @ 10:05 pm
Location: Route 206
Another day, another couple of miles and some more training down. It's good to be out in the open again, I think the Pokémon are enjoying it a lot, too.
We talked with Shelby again, but over the phone this time. She's at the Valley Windworks now; she, Rachel and Amy got their first badges all right and have been keeping up with their training a lot better than we had, it sounds like. Maybe we'll see them again when we have to start running back and forth across Sinnoh for our last three badges. I still don't get why the League arranges it so that the last three badges in order of difficulty are at three different corners of the region and make you cross the entire landscape over again to reach them. But we'll deal with that when the time comes.
For now, on to Hearthome!
Onward: 07 July 2009 @ 09:30 pm
Location: Route 206
Another day traveling south.
We came across a pair of trainers heading in the other direction by the names of Charles and Collin. They took us up in a two-on-two battle, and we gratefully accepted. I used Geodude and Steve used Epsilon (Aron). We... didn't collaborate beforehand. Luckily, Charles had a Kricketune and Collin was using a Kirlia, so we were actually at a bit of an advantage (everyone sent their Pokémon out at the same time, so it was pretty much a blind pot). Geodude and Epsilon focused their Rock Throw and Metal Claw attacks on Kricketune first, which crippled it early on and knocked it out. But we didn't keep a close enough eye on the Kirlia; it came up behind Geodude and hit it with a powerful Psychic attack (I don't know which, I think Collin was communicating with it mentally) and almost put it down right there. Geodude tried to swing around and hit it with a Headbutt, but Kirlia kinda just threw it to the side with its Psychic power and left it there. Epsilon resisted Psychic moves enough to get in close, but Kirlia used Double Team before he could get a hit in. From there, it just kept multiplying with Double Team again and again. Kirlia was picking Aron off little by little with Psychic moves, but Epsilon managed to hit the real Kirlia just when it looked like it was finished.
Again, a close match. We need to train better, especially since I was out of about half of the battle.
...: 08 July 2009 @ 09:26 pm
Location: Route 206
Just another day, really. We're getting close to the point where Route 206 hits Oreburgh and turns east, but we're definitely not stopping in Oreburgh again. Not much to do there and it's a ridiculous climb back up to where we need to be going.
Almost caught a Golbat just a while ago, but it got away. It's screeching left me with a nasty headache. Annoying critters...
Eastward: 09 July 2009 @ 09:18 pm
Location: Route 206
We're camped only a few miles north of the turn to go east. We made it down here pretty fast ignoring the Wayward Cave issue, but all of that was traveling downhill. From here we're going on flat land, so we're going to slow down quite a bit. Mt. Coronet will take some time to get through, too. It'll take us a while to reach Hearthome.
Going...: 11 July 2009 @ 10:04 pm
Location: Route 207
Still traveling east. The usual training is going along just fine, everyone's steadily getting better. The Pokémon are enjoying themselves when we let them out of their Pokéballs so much that we're letting them travel with us all the time. Unfortunately, this means that we've suddenly became a walking mob, but whatever. It works.
River is still isn't acting anything like she did as a Piplup. I think I remember something about personality changes being a part of evolution, but I thought that they were fairly minor...
New Party Member: 12 July 2009 @ 09:32 pm
Location: Route 207
Still a few days out from even reaching Mt. Coronet. There was a heavy rain this morning, so that slowed us down some and we're a bit behind that, even. Oh, well. More training time to get in.
We met another trainer heading the same way as us during training this afternoon by the name of Jenna Corey. Since we're all heading toward Hearthome, anyway, she's joining us at least until we get there, maybe longer.. She's nice enough, but a bit hot-tempered. She and Steve are already clashing, but in a friendly way. I mean constant competition, even over dinner (they had an impromptu contest to see who could sustain a belch the longest, of all things... (Jenna won easily)). Steve wanted a battle with her, too, but she wants to wait until tomorrow for some reason. Huh. We'll see how that turns out tomorrow.
Jenna: 13 July 2009 @ 10:27 pm
Location: Route 207
Fairly average process today. Jenna had a battle with Steve. She sent out an Arbok that she called "Jaffar" against Steve's Epsilon (Aron). At first, I thought that she was pretty much done from the start, since Epsilon is immune to poison. She had him use Glare right off the start to paralyze Epsilon, though, and it just went downhill from there. After just one Fire Fang, Aron was obviously hurting and just about crushed. Jaffar has really powerful jaws, apparently. Epsilon tried to retaliate with Iron Defense and a Metal Claw, but Jaffar kept the pressure on and easily outlasted him. Jenna and Jaffar look ruthlessly strong...
Jenna claims that Jaffar came from her yard, when her mom caught him rooting through a garden, but she took him in and trained him, and used him in place of a starter. In any case, Jaffar is crazy-strong. Jenna's pretty cool, herself, though. She's way into action-adventure movies and comics, as well as a lot of sci-fi stuff, so that gives us plenty of common ground.
Camped: 16 July 2009 @ 10:34 pm
Location: Route 207
We're camped in front of Mt. Coronet. It'll take a couple of days to actually get through to the other side, so we'll be on a forced blackout for a while.
Training is coming along nicely, as always. Slugma's been improving a lot, particularly. Oddly enough, I haven't seen any of Jenna's Pokémon besides Jaffar. Oh, and remind me not to annoy her, particularly before she has her morning coffee. That girl will bite your head off...
Space: 21 July 2009 @ 08:25 pm
Location: Route 209
Jeez.
okay, as a reference to anybody out there: you do not want to be cooped up in a cave with two people for most of a week. if this were a sitcom, it would inevitably cause funny situations. In real life, it's just awkward and leads to mass annoyance. Steve was getting really impatient after about a day and a half, so we let him take the lead. He set a ridiculous pace that Jenna was able to keep up with, but I was struggling. Remember that most caves intended for trainer use aren't of a consistent width; they get to be ten feet wide and eight feet tall in some places, while other spots give you about the same movement range that a broom cupboard does. Doesn't help that Mt. Coronet has a lot of switchbacks and branched paths in it, making the map ridiculously hard to follow, especially only by the fire-light Alpha (Monferno) could give us. Jenna got really frustrated with the navigation, Steve couldn't stand the speed we were going at, and between them I couldn't do anything to calm them down, never mind the fact that neither of these facts could be avoided.
About Sunday, this reached a fever pitch and Steve blew up in my face when I was trying to get him to chill out about it. Jenna yelled something to him about calming down (using a few choice words) and, long story short, they ended up battling in a grudge match. Jaffar against Gamma (Nidorino), and neither of them were yelling anything beyond "get him!" strategy-wise. I... just sat this one out. Best not to get in the way, you know? Eventually they came to their senses about it and stopped the fight, but they were both cranky for the rest of the day.
Everyone's feeling much better since we got out in the opening this morning, though, and we're just camped outside the mountain cave entrance. Not a lot of training went on in there, but we can make up for that later. For now, it feels amazing to just relax in an open area where we can see the sky; you non-trainers probably have no idea.
Now for a game of cards. Here's to hoping that Geodude doesn't try to cheat again.
Peaceful: 22 July 2009 @ 08:20 pm
Location: Route 209
Ha, I was right. A bit of fresh air is just what everyone needed.
We encountered a lot of Pokémon on our way down the mountain toward Hearthome today, and even went fishing in the river under one of the waterfalls. We didn't really catch anything for battling, though. We kinda had a discussion this morning and realized that we couldn't remember what all we had caught. Looking back, I think that we've been catching more than we need. Sure, they help the Professors' studies, but they have enough, already, and I think that we ought to leave Pokémon that we're not really going to battle with in the wild, let them live where they are. Interestingly, we also learned from this conversation that Jenna doesn't really have any trained Pokémon other than Jaffar. We tried to explain that this will set her back later on, but she isn't really concerned with it; she claims that she's only going with us to Pastoria, anyway, though she says she'll get a Badge from Hearthome Gym while we're in the area.
Anyway, Steve remembered reading somewhere that meditating under a waterfall helps train their endurance and focus, among other things, so we had them do that for a while. It worked on most of them, but Geodude, Slugma, Alpha (Monferno) and Epsilon (Aron) all couldn't really take it and had to opt out. They all went lifting and throwing boulers around, instead. While they were out, I saw Geodude accidentally hit Slugma with a boulder. It was, of course, an accident, but Geodude called Slugma out on being a crybaby because of it. I had to call River over and get them both to chill out with a quick spash of water.
Pokémon can be so hard to manage sometimes... In the end, I think it'll be worth it, though. At least I hope so.
HOT: 23 July 2009 @ 10:11 pm
Location: Route 209
Gah. Web says that the temp. here today was 37C (98F for those of you in Hoenn), but it definitely felt more like 43. Ugh. Must be because we spent most of last week stuck in a cave and yesterday was shady. I'm afraid that River got a bit overworked on cooling us down with her water, but I figure that it makes good training, and she didn't seem to mind. Real trooper, that one. I kinda miss her cute, naiive Piplup personality. Eh, it couldn't last, anyway. Oddly enough, Steve's Pokémon didn't really change personality when they evolved...
On a similar note, I think that Geodude is close to evolving. He's getting tired more easily lately, which is supposed to be a sign that they're storing more energy and evolution is coming up. I'm sure it'll come when he's ready, anyway.
Back on the weather subject, though, we had a nice excuse to go play in the river running down the side of the mountain, us and all of the Pokémon that can stand water. It felt really refreshing... then Steve started seeing how far he could get away with spashing water all over everyone. He got about around to Tropius, then she blew him backwards with a Gust most of the way back to shore and he hit his head on a rock. Musta hurt, but he was laughing about it, and it was pretty slapstick-funny. Eventually he got back up and started throwing water in faces. Naturally, he and Jenna turned it into a competition again... eventually, other Pokémon got caught in it, the thing snowballed... and long story short, we had a small-scale water war going on about two-thirds of the way down Mt. Coronet. I know that it's not as exciting or dangerous as a battle, but I think that everybody needed it almost more than training; it was straight-up fun.
Oh, and Jenna looks really nice in a swimsuit. (What? I'm a guy, I noticed.)
I'm trying something new on the fanfiction front, something that probably hasn't been done before here, and I don't know if it's been tried anywhere: A fictional weblog depicting the life of a trainer. Updated sporadically, this is very much an experiment both for myself and for new forms of fan media in general, so feel free to leave any comments, particularly considering your thoughts on the medium and how it's being handled.
Also, I encourage you to make comments on the journal entries on the site, but try to stay within the "fourth wall" (i.e. maintain Jim's illusion that he lives in the real world.) Any post at the actual blog acknowledging this as fiction will be erased, but it would be nice for him to have commentors. A good example is here.
The journal itself is updated in real-time, however, so feel free to check that as often as you like (no guaranteed update schedule, though, folks.)
Every three weeks (this work's measurement of a "chapter"), this space will be updated with a transcript of the blog for reference here.
Since in-text linkz are failing me at the moment, the blog may be found here: j-m-lee.livejournal.com/
Weeks 1-3
Test: 01 May 2009 @ 04:20 pm
Hello? Is this thing on?
Intro: 01 May 2009 @ 04:46 pm
Location: Home
Alright, here we go.
For those of you who don't already know me personally (very few, knowing who will probably read this), my name's James Michael Lee. I would prefer to be called Jim. I'm from Eterna City in Sinnoh, I'm 17, I'm (admittedly) a nerd, and I have one older sister and both parents.
I'm just finishing up my last year of proper general education, meaning that I'll finally be let out on a Trainer's journey. (For the unaware, my parents insisted that I finish standard schooling before they'd let me out on the Gym Challenge. Understandable, but still annoying.) I intend to take my leave with a friend of mine who's been put in the same situation. Known abound as Steve Schager:
(Image Link)
Usually he has greenish eyes, though. He must have been momentarily possessed or something, or I haven't been paying attention lately. Huh. Obviously, if you want a photo reference, that's me in the User Pic.
Can't leave 'till we're scheduled an appointment with Prof. Rowan, though. Should be late May or early June. Until then, whoever thinks they want to read this can listen to me prattle on about preparations, planning, etc.
Serious Business: 03 May 2009 @ 09:01 pm
Location: Home
Guess it's official now. Steve and I got the confirmation letter back today that we're registered as a Trainers' party now. They sent us our ID cards and everything. I'm an actual, real trainer.
Since I don't think I've explained this to many people, I've kind of wanted to be a Trainer since I was five or something. I mean, come on, who hasn't? I vaguely even remember trying to get Wally, Dad's old Grovyle, to battle for me (three guesses how well that turned out...). But now, it's actually more about me wanting the experience than wanting to be a celebrity trainer. Not that I would mind being famous for it, but I kind of just want to see the world, and being a Trainer is probably the best way to do it. Besides, it's a good way to be pretty self-sustaining for a year. I can live off of a Trainer's allowance, I think.
We're set for a meeting with Prof. Rowan on June 2nd. I think we're lucky that way; since Rowan got old and retired, he's been personally seeing new trainers off again. Now I just have to make it through the last couple of weeks of school. Then we're free to go...
Coursework: 07 May 2009 @ 09:42 pm
Location: Home
Hey, I got a reply. Somebody is reading this! Albeit someone I don't think that I know... (if you think I do, drop a name) And you asked about school.
Actually, that's kinda the reason that I've only posted a couple times this week. I've got a fair bit of studying and projects for the end of the year. If you'll allow me to list:
Physics: Major test coming up, covers all the course material for the whole year. Trust me, Pokémon attacks throw a major wrench in the works. Luckily I remember most of the stuff really well, and I've got all the formulas written down.
Pokémon speech: Really need to brush up on this. Forgot a lot of terminology from first semester.
Psychology: Eight-page paper due next week on whether Pokémon should be given human rights or not. Final grade and all that.
Calculus: Boring as ever, Semester test next week.
Pokémon Societies: Pretty safe here, but there's still the tests.
Battle Mechanics: Getting kinda rusty on the simulator; some attacks and abilities are still throwing me for a loop.
English Lit. and Comp.: Took the final today. Nothing else for that class (phew).
Tech. App.: I've never had a problem with this, shouldn't need to worry about studying too bad.
At least I don't have to deal with History classes anymore. Thank God I'm done next Friday.
Paper: Conquered: 09 May 2009 @ 01:22 pm
Location: Home
Alright, I finished that Psych paper and sent it to the teacher for proofreading. Feeling pretty good about it. Besides that, studies are on track, and I think I'll pass these tests just fine.
Steve and his mom are taking me out to gather our traveling supplies in a bit. His mother used to be a pretty good Trainer, so she knows what we'll want/need for this, down to the exact type of camp chair. Hopefully most of the equipment I have in the garage is usable. They only give us so much money to start out with....
Supply Run: 09 May 2009 @ 10:02 pm
Location: Home
Well, we're pretty much set now. Steve's mom had a lot of old Trainer's gear lying around, so I'm being allowed to borrow whatever was left over after Steve had his pick. Besides that, most of my stuff was fine to use, anyway, so we didn't have to actually buy a lot of stuff, just healing and capture items, mostly. I still had to get my own Pokédex, but at least I found a pretty sleek model on sale. It's the MP-X37 for those of you that care. Full 3-D models of the Pokémon and everything. After that, it was just minimal stuff. Speaking of minimal, she even had a couple of those capsules that work like Pokéballs, but with items instead of Pokémon (I forget what the device is called...)
THANK YOU, MRS. SCHAGER.
Totally set now. Just gotta finish those tests and wait for June to roll around.
Ugh: 14 May 2009 @ 05:46 pm
Location: Home
Somewhat-sorry for the lack of post, but I've kinda been occupied with finals.
Think I did pretty well on the tests, Mr. Clem said he liked my Psychology paper, and all I have left is Societies for tomorrow. Then I'm done with standard schooling for good. ABOUT BLOODY TIME.
I'll get on and rant about something to fill this space tomorrow. Right now my computer-time is seriously cut (my parents are restricting me to one hour a day until finals are done). TTFN.
YESYESYESYESYES: 15 May 2009 @ 03:51 pm
Location: Home
Phew. Finished my last test (actually not difficult) and now I'm out and finished. Not going back to that school again for at least the rest of the summer if I can help it. (might visit in the future). Graduation ceremony proper on Tuesday (5:30 at the Carson Center), but for now, REST.
I know I promised rantage. I'll give it tomorrow. just a little burned out now.
Of Starters: 16 May 2009 @ 10:07 pm
Location: Home
Whoa.
So, at least twelve relatives showed up today to visit for graduation, most of them from outside of Eterna. Needless to say, we're packed, and guests kinda took preference over this, which I hope you all can relate to. They're a lot of fun, though, so it's entirely worth the trouble.
But, I promised you a chat on something, and here it is:
I've had it decided for quite a while what starter Pokémon I want to get from Prof. Rowan. I'm kinda set on a Piplup. The way I see it, it's probably the best strategical option, as Empoleon's partly a Steel-type, and that walls out a lot of attacks, especially ones that would cripple a Torterra or Infernape. Besides that, the Piplup family looks cool in all of its evolutions in my opinion (whereas the Chimchar family looks ugly to me and the Turtwig family is just... eh.) There are a lot of little reasons, too (such as their tendancy to be low-maintenance and self-supporting and Piplup being considered very cute by ladies), but those are the main ones.
Steve says that he's holding out for a Chimchar. Apparently the hot-blooded, head-on attack style appeals to him. I suppose it's got its merits, but it's just not my cup a' tea, you know?
HAHAHA: 19 May 2009 @ 02:30 pm
Location: Home
So i woke up at about nine this morning, went out to Sherman's for breakfast and then made it to graduation practice, and I didn't have to go to school afterwards.
This makes me very happy.
But yeah, the ceremony is tonight, and then Eterna City West High School is no longer my problem. About bloody time.
Huh.: 20 May 2009 @ 09:29 am
Location: Home
Well, lookit that. Somehow I got a diploma since yesterday morning. Guess school isn't my problem anymore.
House's empty now, too. I guess whatever all those weird relative-types were waiting on already came, so they must have left.
Wonder what happened last night....
Weeks 4-6
Outing: 22 May 2009 @ 11:08 am
Location: Home
Steve just called; we're going out to lunch in a bit and we're going to use some of the battle simulators at the school for a while (they're free to use by students at any time, I think we still qualify). I haven't used them in a while, and the machines make all the battles pretty linear, so I doubt I'll do well. Eh. It's good practice, at any rate.
Practice: 22 May 2009 @ 09:16 pm
Location: Home
Well, out of what must have been twenty battles, I think I won... five?
The problem with that is that the simulators work more like a calculator, showing the likely outcomes. They can't really emulate living creatures or do much to incorporate human strategies or intuitive tactics. That might help my case a bit. Doesn't change the fact that I still need to practice more, though.
Drought: 29 May 2009 @ 09:23 am
Location: Home
Sorry about the lack of posting, just... not a lot has been going on lately. Mostly hanging around with friends for the last chance I'll get in quite a while.
Most of the supplies are packed for when we leave on Monday. Umm.... oh, yeah, today's my last day making sandwiches at the Hungry Heracross, so stop by if you want... if anyone's listening.
Last Night in Town: 31 May 2009 @ 12:37 pm
Location: Home
Last day in town for me... tomorrow we leave for Sandgem. We'll probably be back within a month or so, but we've still got to hit all the big local spots one last time today.
And yes, I said "a couple months." I know that most people on their journeys nowadays take the trains or a car from town to town to train. But since it's within our ability, Steve and I decided to to hoof it, the old-fashioned way. Not just for the experience, but because that way you get more time to train and capture wild Pokémon. I think it's better that way.
We're Here: 01 June 2009 @ 09:50 pm
Location: Sandgem Town
We left home this morning by train, and got off in Sandgem about mid-afternoon. Checked into the hotel (can't use the Centers without actually having Pokémon, apparently), saw the (very few) sights besides the Lab, and hit the beach. Great day for it, too.
Well, this is the point of no return. We get our starter Pokémon tomorrow, and after that the journey's on. Is it possible to be giddy-exited and nervous-exited at the same time?
First Pokémon!: 02 June 2009 @ 04:08 pm
Location: Sandgem Town
YEAH!
We hit the lab about ten o'clock this morning, about the same time as another girl about our age, maybe a year younger. Named Shelby Lewis, just moved from Mahogany Town in Johto, very friendly. One of the assistants gave us a tour, and after I got done ogling the equipment (and it's some nice stuff, too), we met with Professor Rowan himself. We got vouchers for 60% off our first Pokédexes (standard issue now, apparently) and he let us pick out our first Pokémon.
Steve went straight for a Chimchar that had been trying to have a staring contest with him for about five minutes. They seem to be cut from the same cloth, and they're already clicking. Steve nicknamed him "Alpha." Apparently Shelby had a Totodile shipped in from Professor Elm that she picked out beforehand.
I played with all the Piplup for a while, but one of them seemed to be really attached to me. She insisted on hugging and nuzzling my leg until I picked her up, at which point she curled up against my chest. It was too adorable. Needless to say, I ended up taking her with me. I ran a bunch of nicknames by her, but she doesn't seem to like them. I guess I'll just be calling her "Piplup" for now.
We asked Shelby if she wanted to join us, but she said she already had pen pals over here that she had arranged to travel with, and they aren't leaving for another couple of days. We'll probably run into them again somewhere, though. Steve managed to get her number, too, the sly dog.
After that, we hit the store in town to get our Dexes. There are some nice models out there now. We could both afford some pretty slick models with very thorough entries. They even show off 3-D animations of the Pokémon and most of their attacks! Very nice. Now that we have our Pokémon, we get Trainers' discounts at shops and we can stay in the Pokémon Centers' quarters overnight (limited space and availability, but low-cost). We're still in the hotel for tonight, though.
Great day so far. Piplup is tugging at my pants leg right now, so I'm going to go play with her some more (I think they let Pokémon out at the beach). I'll put up something about what I want for an overall team later. Leaving north tomorrow, only twenty-four miles to Jubilife. Shouldn't take too long.
Day One: 03 June 2009 @ 09:21 pm
Location: Route 202
Long day. Almost forgot to post something.
Well, we left Sandgem about ten o'clock, which was a poor choice. We made it about eight miles, but we had to stop because it was getting hot out and we were getting to tired to keep going for such a long time. We should probably be more exercised for this, but we still need to leave early in the mornings to avoid the heat of the day. Anyway, we made camp around two. Found a nice little spot just a couple hundred feet off the dirt trail. We went out and trained against some of the wild Pokémon afterwards, so we're off to a decent start. An upstart little Shinx got the better of River, though. Even after a potion, she's still a little sore.
By the way, that's Piplup's new name, is River. I was mentioning the nearby creek to Steve as being a "river," and Piplup said something to the effect of "That's it!" (I don't know for sure, she's young, so her speech patterns aren't fully developed yet, and I'm not always right) So, she's River now. Funny, she picked out a water-themed name, though I can't imagine Piplup or its evolutions living in a river...
Another Day: 04 June 2009 @ 09:53 pm
Location: Route 202
Another nine miles down. Made decent distance today, stopped and camped while it was still cool, then did another round of training. Luckily, we both know how to cook, so the food has turned out really well so far. River and Alpha seem to prefer the Pokémon kibble, though, which is just fine, I suppose.
Oh, yeah, Steve and I had a battle with each other today. We only have the one Pokémon each so far (none of our captures have succeeded before running off yet), so it was kind of one-sided. Alpha went down after two or three Bubble attacks. I would have felt bad about it, but Steve was the one who raised the challenge in the first place, so...
Should reach Jubilife tomorrow.
First Stop: 05 June 2009 @ 08:30 pm
Location: Jubilife City
Steve managed to catch a male Nidoran this morning! It always struck me as odd that male Nidoran are pink and females are blue, rather than the other way around, but whatever. He was really excited about the idea of being trained, too, so we welcomed "Gamma" to the team and hit Jubilife.
And d**n, this place is big.
The last time I went to Jubilife was when I was probably seven, and saw a bit of it from the train, but I forgot just how massive this place is. All of the buildings are at least three stories tall, and most are about five. Lots of businesses headquartered here, I guess.
There's a trading post and a park near the Center, and since we don't really want to trade Pokémon at this point, we just took our Pokémon out to the park to play. They all seemed to enjoy it. Alpha was having fun climbing over everything, Gamma seemed to just like running around, and River was having fun in the pond with the other Pokémon like you wouldn't believe.
This is our first night staying in the Pokémon Centers, too. The rooms are pretty small, with just a bunk bed, a dresser and a sink pretty much, and there's a set of public showers, but that's about it as far as the lodging hall goes. No breakfast (though they have discount cupons for some nearby restaurants), it's kinda crowded, and if you check in after six they start to run out of rooms, but it's a really cheap option for trainers, and it beats sleeping outside at the moment (rain tonight, possibly tomorrow), so I'm perfectly fine with it.
Unfortunately, there's not a Gym or anything else that we're really interested in here, so we'll be heading out again tomorrow.
Past the Gate: 07 June 2009 @ 09:10 pm
Location: Oreburgh City
Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but it was pouring literally all day, so our tents got put up wet and I didn't want to risk taking my laptop out of its storage capsule.
Anyway, we slept in a bit on Sunday, so we didn't leave until nine, and then we didn't cover a lot of distance in the rain, so we only make it six miles before giving up, only halfway to Oreburgh Gate from Jubilife. We spent the rest of the day trying (with marginal success) to stay dry inside the tents. Not a fun day.
Today was better. We hit Oreburgh Gate at about a quarter to eleven, did a little training, and had lunch. I managed to catch a Pineco, too! But I took Pineco out after we visited the center, and he said that he wasn't interested in battling at all, he just wanted to stay in a tree and not be bothered. I sent a mail to Prof. Rowan. Hopefully Rowan can find him a good place at his acreage near the lab.
Anyway, it took a long time to get through Oreburgh Gate. Not just that the cave is almost two miles long itself, but it's net terribly easy to get through. The cavern's spacious enough to walk in comfortably, it's just easy to get off the right track in caves, and we forgot a map, so we ended up taking a couple of wrong turns. I snagged a Geodude, though, and he helped us find the way out. After we made it to Oreburgh (about seven, seven-thirty), he said that he wouldn't mind being trained, so I guess I've got a Geodude for my team! He doesn't want a nickname, so just Geodude it is.
So we're in Oreburgh now. We'll hit the town tomorrow and see about the Gym here.
Coal?: 08 June 2009 @ 06:40 pm
Location: Oreburgh City
So, we looked at most of the town though the web and brochures, and... it's not too terribly interesting. There's a big museum, but it's entirely dedicated to coal. There's a mine to explore, but again, coal. Not to offend anybody that lives here, but I just don't see how coal is that fascinating. Maybe I'm just not one for earth science. Meh.
Anyway, we hit Roark's gym today (looks like an extention of the mine inside, and Roark's obviously a miner). The gym trainers weren't too bad, just some interns with Geodude. Our Pokémon put them aside without too much trouble. I wasn't allowed to watch Steve's match because I was a challenger, too, but from what he says Chimchar didn't do him much good, and only wore Roark's Geodude out a little. Fortunately, Gamma knows Double Kick, so he handled Geodude and Cranidos completely. As for my battle, I started with River, and she took out his Geodude brilliantly with some Bubble attacks, and nearly wiped out his Cranidos the same way, too. Cranidos managed to get a good, strong Headbutt in, and the Piplup line really can't take physical damage well. Geodude went out to fight against Cranidos next, and it basically boiled down to a wrestling match, tackle versus headbutt. Geodude managed to evade one of his moves fast enough to trick him into hitting the wall. After that, Cranidos was a bit too dizzy to fight back properly, and Geodude had no trouble finishing the match. I am now the proud owner of a shiny Coal Badge. (Is there anything in this city not focused on the coal?)
Oh, yeah, and I got a mail back from Rowan, and he'll always take more Pokémon in for study. Beats leaving them in storage. I asked Pineco about whether he wanted to go back to his natural home, but he said he didn't care, and this is more convenient for everyone (Rowan gets his observations, he gets back to a tree faster, etc.), so that's how it is.
Might stick around in Jubilife for a day when we get back. I heard from a trainer at the Center that there's a few places to check out there that we missed.
Retracing Steps: 09 June 2009 @ 08:36 pm
Location: Route 203
Back though Oreburgh Gate this morning. Didn't take quite as long, but we still only made a couple miles on the other side, so a lot of tomorrow will be spent just on travel.
Did a little snooping around the route again, more training and all that. Steve caught a Spinarak, but the little one doesn't know if she wants to battle. Apparently she's too young do have ever been in a proper one. So we're gonna let her out for a bit of training tomorrow and see how it goes.
Y'know, we've moved pretty fast so far. One week and I already have my first badge behind me. Maybe we'll be back in Eterna before we thought we would.
Back in Jubilife: 10 June 2009 @ 08:10 pm
Location: Jubilife City
Spinarak trained for a bit and decided that she'd like to come with Steve and get stronger. So now, Steve has a new team member in Chi the Spinarak. Good for him.
Not much else to report for today. I dug up some info. on the places that trainer in Oreburgh mentioned, and I'll be darned, but we missed them entirely on the first run. Now I feel stupid. From now on I ask around about sightseeing whenever we stop in a town. Don't wanna miss something like a Global Record Hall or anything.
Oh, and to my reader from PokéTech, Steve says that he liked that game, actually. Admittedly not his favorite, but he thinks it's solid. After all, a mute ex-SilphCo. scientist running around after an appocalypse swinging a crowbar at mutated humans and Pokémon can't be that bad, right?
Jubilife Revisited: 11 June 2009 @ 08:57 pm
Location: Jubilife City
So, we checked out the trading post today. I kinda forgot that they replaced it with the "Global Terminal". We spent most of the morning checking out records of old battles and other things like that. After lunch, we took a look at the Hall of Fame, which had a listing of all the League Champions of every league, every tournament year (electronic, of course. BIG list.) as well as Elite Four members, notable Pokémon researchers, and other big names in Pokémon (like Bill Miller and Kurt Franz). It was pretty cool. So HOW did we miss this before? Crazy.
We also hit the TV station. Apparently they have a lot of user-made content that they keep up there, so we contributed a bit to the Photo Gallery and such, gave a quick interview. It'd be cool if we ended up on TV or radio something, but I can do without.
Also, apparently The Pokétch Company offers Pokétch devices at their HQ at a direct-from-factory price, which is really cool. They're apparently a family-operated business, so their policies are really customer-friendly. Steve and I had enough money stocked up to take advantage of it, they've got some really darned cool models there. I've got one with a full-on LCD display, GPS/mapping device and a whole slew of other ones (for about 3000 Yen!). On the other hand, to afford this, lunch is going to have to be instant noodles for a while. Eh, we'll manage just fine.
We ran into Shelby in the park, too. She introduced us to her friends, Amy and Rachel. Shelby wanted to challenge Steve, but after he showed off his Coal Badge and strutted around a bit, she withdrew the offer. Either she knew the badge meant he was a bit too strong for her at the moment, or Steve drove her away with his "victory dance." Ugh.
And... that was our day. Let the Pokémon out to play, unwound for the evening... now bedtime.
Weeks 7-9
Living in a Cave: 12 June 2009 @ 07:48 pm
Location: Route 204/Ravaged Path
We had breakfast with Shelby's company this morning, and then parted. They went west, we went north toward Floaroma.
We just made it to the cave this morning before a real downpour started. We were able to get through Ravaged Path with no problem, but the rain still hasn't let up, so we gave up and we'll be camping out here for the night. Steve got a Zubat, but he says he doesn't know if he wants to battle with it or anything. Guess Rowan's gonna have another one of those flying around.
Flowers flowers turbines flowers: 14 June 2009 @ 07:26 pm
Location: Floaroma Town
So, do you all remember how Oreburgh City is fanatical about coal? Floaroma Town: same problem, but with flowers. Practically half the city is one big flower field (as opposed to half of Oreburgh being a big mining op).
We took some time to rest here a bit, all of us, since we got in really late last night. Not much to do here, though, so we headed out of town. First thing we saw were WIND TURBINES. I can't tell you readers how much I love wind turbines. Naturally-generated energy, wonderfully engineered, and fascinating to watch (in my opinion). So I talked Steve into stopping by the Valley Windworks for the tour. I found it very interesting, but he was bored out of his mind, I could tell. That and we had to give up another day on the road for it, hence why we're still in Floaroma.
He found a couple trainers staying in the city to give him matches, though, so he was content enough. First was a one-on-one with a girl with a Roselia. Obviously, Steve used Alpha (Chimchar) due to type advantage, and got in a strong ember right off the bat. The Roselia was fast, though, and laid down some poison stings on Alpha right after that. Alpha hung in there and won, but Roselia sure put up a good fight.
Later on, he dragged me into a two-on-two match, us against a travelling couple (one guy, one girl). The girl had a Mime Jr. and the guy had a Croagunk, so Steve used Gamma (Nidoran) and I took out Geodude. Between us, we knocked out the Mime Jr. pretty quickly with physical attacks, but it managed to get a few defending moves surrounding Croagunk first. Croagunk's Mud-Slap took out Gamma in only a couple of hits (super-effectiveness and all that), but Geodude pulled off an excellent Magnitude that downed it. Good couple of matches, today.
Oh, and the Zubat decided on joining Steve, but it doesn't want to battle much, if at all. I think that Steve's planning on sending it back at the first opportunity he gets, especially since he hasn't given Zubat a nickname....
'nother Day: 15 June 2009 @ 09:39 pm
Location: Route 205
Left Floaroma this morning, headed toward Valley Windworks, then north past the river and on for quite a while. Steve wouldn't let me oogle the wind turbines again...
Didn't catch anything today, just travel and training against the wild Pokémon and each other for a while. We made almost ten miles, but Route 205 is long and uphill. It'll be another several days before we even reach Eterna Forest, and going through that should take a couple of days in itself. Besides that, we're thinking of stopping by Feugo Ironworks, too, since some wild Fire-types and Steel-types tend to congregate there. So the next city (home) is probably a week away.
Treking North: 16 June 2009 @ 09:44 pm
Location: Route 205
Another ways forward today, putting us maybe within range of the entrance to Eterna Forest for tomorrow. It'll be a long day, though, so depending on wether we feel up to it we'll have to split the hike into two days.
Chi has gotten good enough at battling wild Pokémon, and she managed to trap a couple of Oddish and a Teddiursa with its webs. Steve and I caught an Oddish each (Steve's sending his back to Rowan's, and I'm thinking of using mine at some point for its powder abilities), and Steve took the Teddirusa (named it Xu, so I guess it's part of the regular team rotation now).
I'm going to take a stroll later tonight. I might catch some nocturnal Pokémon that way.
Not There Yet: 17 June 2009 @ 08:03 pm
Location: Route 205
We both accidentally slept in today, so we didn't make it far enough in the morning to reach the entrance to Eterna Forest. We'll reach that tomorrow, then visit the Feugo Ironworks tomorrow. On the other hand, my half of the sleeping in was due to catching a Hoothoot last night.
On the other hand, we did meet another trainer on the road today (called himself Jon) who challenged me to a match, a series of 3 one-on-one battles. First was River against a Grotle, so she didn't stand a lot of chance there. She did try, but that Grotle was packing a strong Razor Leaf, and River was at a disadvantage. Geodude took on his Beautifly, which was pretty one-sided before Beautifly paralyzed him. Geodude still won with a good few Rock Throws, it just took a lot longer. And finally I put the new Hoothoot up against his Psyduck. There was no clear type advantage there, but Hoothoot pulled off an excellent Hypnosis early on, giving her a strong headstart. After that, Psyduck only had time to Water Gun her once before going down.
So I won, but barely. We need to keep up our training.
Made It: 18 June 2009 @ 10:02 pm
Location: Route 205
Hit a HUGE storm this morning about 8:00. We had to find a covered spot under a rock ledge just to keep ourselves dry while we waited it out, and even that didn't work for us. That storm was nasty, and it lasted a good hour and a half. Hail, rain falling sideways, the whole nine yards. It finally slowed down eventually, and we made it to our camp at the Eterna Forest entrance and stopped.
We're definitely going to Feugo Ironworks tomorrow for a tour and a catching spree, but for today, we just collapsed. We tried training for about half an hour, but gave up. Ugh, time for sleep.
Catching Spree: 19 June 2009 @ 09:46 pm
Location: Route 205
Haha, YES.
All in all, we caught a lot of Pokémon today with good potential. I've got a Slugma that I think I'm going to use regularly. He liked the name Gabriel, so that's his name now. I also caught a a Houndour and a Marnemite, which may come in useful later, but Houndour dowsn't seem to want to do battling full-time and Magnemite is pretty indifferent. Magnemite's on the team for now, though.
Steve went overboard capturing Pokémon around Feugo; he caught a Nosepass, a Magmar, an Aron, a Torkoal, a Growlithe and a Skarmory. He only named the Aron (Epsilon) and Magmar (Rho), but he might end up using some of the others, too.
We took the tour of the actual Feugo Ironworks, too. It was pretty cool, actually, and they let us do some ironworking while we were there.
Tomorrow, Eterna Forest.
Turnaround: 20 June 2009 @ 09:44 pm
Location: Eterna Forest
Okay, so we got completely lost today. I'll admit that. We had plenty of shade from the trees to cover us, so we could be out and walking for longer today, but we ended up taking the wrong trail and ended up at Moss Rock instead of heading northeast toward Eterna City. By the time we got back on the right trail, we didn't make it very far through the forest before we had to stop for the day. All of the undergrowth here makes it hard to move quickly, too. We might be stuck in this forest for another couple of days...
More Woods: 21 June 2009 @ 10:06 pm
Location: Eterna Forest
Got about halfway from where we were this morning to the exit. Nobody ever tells you how hard it is to move through some of these forests and mountains and caves, anyway. Even the paths themselves are hard to walk on. On the other hand, there's plenty of good wild Pokémon to train against in here.
Which reminds me, I found a Tropius today that came out and challenged me. I beat her and caught her, and now she really wants to be trained. A Tropius will definitely come in handy down the line!
Not coming across any other trainers here, though. They must have all found alternate paths or something.
Out of the Forest: 22 June 2009 @ 09:15 pm
Location: Eterna Forest
We made it through and out of Eterna Forest, so now we're on a path that we recognize to get to home. We've seen the old, abandoned mansion out here a bunch of times already, but we're going to stop by tonight to see if we can find and catch some ghost Pokémon. After all, it's just a short day's hike from here to Eterna by our speed.
Speaking of our speed, that's kinda bothering me. We haven't been winning our battles with stray travellers by much, if at all, by using our best Pokémon against what for all we know were caught earlier that day, and the only reason why we won at Oreburgh Gym is because we had Pokémon with the type advantage, and I've been hearing that Roark is a "warm-up" gym. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I've heard that most groups take a lot longer to travel around than we do, and use more of the day for training. By comparison, we hike until the early afternoon and only spend a little over an hour total acutally training per day. We might be needing to slow down... but depending on how the battles against Gardenia go, that might not actually be as much as an issue as I'm thinking it is.
Home: 23 June 2009 @ 06:31 pm
Location: Eterna City
We made it back home today, and kinda surprised our parents that way. Apparently I was right in my assumption yesterday. We'll see how that holds up tomorrow, but I do have a bad feeling about tomorrow. For now, we're going back around the city. Three weeks may not seem like a while, but I guess I subconsciously missed this place.
Oh, yeah, and we went around to the old mansion yesterday night. I caught a Shuppet and Steve caught a Duskull. They might be useful from time to time, but for now, we both sent them to Rowan.
Defeat: 24 June 2009 @ 07:09 pm
Location: Eterna City
Yeah... we lost, big time. We didn't even make it to Gardenia.
I used my new Slugma and Tropius in a two-on-two battle against the first Gym trainer here, but even with the type advantage, she put me down HARD. Her Shroomish and Oddish didn't look like much, but they put my Pokémon completely out of commission with their sleeping powders right off the bat. They barely even got a chance to fight back, they could only sit there and get pummeled by physical attacks. I definitely need to go back and train.
Steve didn't do much better. Alpha (Chimchar) fought and lost against a Gym trainer's Lotad because of all of its water attacks. He just can't take a Water Gun head-on. Chi (Spinarak) managed to get him with her Bug Bite, but lost badly to the Exeggcute that he sent out next. Psychic-type attacks don't agree with her very well, so you can imagine how that turned out.
So, we're going to train in the surrounding area for a while, because the way we are now, we're definitely not going to be able to reach Gardenia, let alone beat her.
TRAIN TRAIN: 25 June 2009 @ 08:27 pm
Location: Eterna City
We went our east of town this morning and looked around the area for other trainers to battle. We ended up fighting a lot of people and a lot of the wild Pokémon, as well. We kept this up all day, and we only just got back. Since so many battles went on today, I'm not going to detail each one, but rather general notes:
- River is getting much stronger, but needs experience on how to swim properly, as she hasn't fought directly in water much and was put at a disadvantage by that against a Tentacool today.
- Geodude is physically improving a lot, but hasn't learned many specialized moves, mainly just physical tackles and the like.
- Slugma is very slow and tends to take quite a few hits while getting his own attacks in. Since neither Slugma or Magcargo are naturally able to outspeed anything, defenses needs to be an area of concern.
- Tropius is generally inexperienced, and just needs a lot of straight-up training.
- Hoothoot isn't showing much of a drive for battling. I asked him about it, and he's thinking that he might want to go off on his own. I'll talk to him again tomorrow....
And, in general, they just need to hone their skills some more.
As for Steve, Alpha (Chimchar) is still a powerhouse and Gamma (NidoranM) is on his way, but Steve himself needs to learn how to deal with technical maneuvers (as do I). Chi (Spinarak) is physically frail, so Steve and her are working to get around that. Rho (Magmar) is apparently not listening to him at the moment, so he's going to try and work things out with him over time. Epsilon (Aron) doesn't have a lot of skill yet, so he just needs training.
Hopefully we'll make some good progress tomorrow, too.
Again with the Training: 26 June 2009 @ 07:52 pm
Location: Eterna City
Fight-o!
Everybody's improving fairly nicely, both in general and in the areas that they need improving on.
Hoothoot got let out inside the house for the talk on whether or not he wanted training, and before I could even talk to him, Mom got all over him. She took to him really fast, and he doesn't exactly mind her, either, so... I'm going to be letting him stay here, just like Jessica did with her Shuckle for a while. Problem solved.
Steve and I had a three-on-three practice battle today with the Pokémon that we're using against Gardenia. He started out with Gamma (Nidoran) against my Slugma. It was a pretty even match, but Slugma got a headstart by loosing a few ranged Ember attacks while Gamma was still charging. Once the distance was closed, Gamma followed up with a volley of strong Double Kicks, and since he moves much faster than Slugma, he was attacking much more frequently. I think that Gamma got a nasty burn, though, because his attacks were visibly strained and he seemed to get hurt more easily. Slugma ended up pulling out of that one, but he was really beat, so I recalled him and sent out Tropius. Steve sent out Alpha (Chimchar) next, and he was beating up on Tropius quite a bit with Ember, though Tropius sure was trying. His Gust attacks knocked Alpha back and away a couple of times, but Alpha kept on coming. And then, in the middle of the battle, Alpha evolved! Luckily for me, that meant that he gained a weakness to flying attacks that put Tropius at an advantage, but the evolution will no doubt help him in the future. With some more wind power, Tropius toppled Alpha, though he had taken a hit or two himself. Finally, he called in Rho (Magmar), who took down Tropius no problem with a strong Fire Spin. But when I sent out River (my only other option for a third Pokémon against Gardenia is Geodude, and that's out of the question), Rho just puffed up smoke and walked away. Steve still need to teach him obedience, apparently.
Steve says that he's going to focus on Rho tomorrow and see if he can't get him to play a team role. I myself am going to be training a lot harder specifically with Slugma, Tropius and maybe River to prepare them for Eterna Gym. I think we're going to make another attempt on Sunday. Let's see how that goes....
Again Train: 27 June 2009 @ 09:59 pm
Location: Eterna City
Nothing really to mention for today, it was just a lot of continued general training (strength, dexterity, quick thinking, etc.), but concentrated on the Pokémon that we're using tomorrow.
Rho is, of course, still ignoring Steve as much as possible. Understandable, since Magmar are strong Pokémon, we only have Coalbadges to show for our skill, and fire-type Pokémon in general tend to disobey trainers of low skill. Steve's pride isn't taking it well right now, but he's revised his attack team to be Gamma (Nidoran), Alpha (Monferno) and Chi (Spinarak). I hope it works for him...
Oh, Yeah!: 28 June 2009 @ 09:12 pm
Location: Eterna City
Woo! We both won our challenges!
So, I took Slugma and Tropius up in a double battle against the same opening pair as before today. When they started out with their "powder" moves, I thought quick enough to have Tropius use Gust and send them right back! Admittedly, they resisted their own powders, but it still gave me a good shot at them, enough to hit them with a strong volley of Ember and Gust, which they didn't recover from enough to put up much of a fight after that. After that was a one-on-one trainer who sent out a Paras first (which Slugma had beaten literally with one fire attack, it was ridiculous), followed by a Sunflora, which set up a nice strategy with Sunny Day followed by Solarbeam. It worked, too, and Slugma took a heavy hit, but his training paid off. He bore the attack and hit the Sunflora with a powered-up Ember, burning it and winning the match right there.
Finally, I fought Gardenia. She used a Turtwig first, and I started off with Tropius. I had Tropius blow it away with some Gust attacks, but it hardened its defenses first and managed to get in a couple of good tackles before going down. Unfortunately, it didn't stand much of a chance to begin with. Next was a Cherrim, who used Sunny Day to boost itself, but Tropius' Clorophyll gave ner a speed boost to match. Again, I had Tropius use a volley of Gust attacks, but her wings started to tire out, so she had to slow down near the end. Gardenia's Cherrim didn't seem to have any effective moves from the start, but then surprised me when Tropius started letting up by throwing out a Leech Seed. The battle was starting to get drawn-out from there, and the Leech Seed was really hurting her, so I eventually had to call Tropius back in favor of Slugma. Sunny Day was still active, so his fire-based Ember took it down in a flash. Gardenia's last Pokémon was a Roserade, and I'll say that it moved quick. It hit with a strong Poison Sting right off the bat, which I saw made Slugma nauseous. Slugma countered with Ember and gave it a nasty burn, and continued to drive Roserade back with it, but he nearly collapsed before he could finish Roserade off, and I had to call him back. My last thought was River, so I sent her out. She was smart enough to be very evasive from the start, but still took a hit from a Magical Leaf attack before getting close enough to hit with Peck. That was all it took, though; after that, Roserade gave in and I had won.
River was dancing around after the victory, too. Then... she evolved. She turned into a Prinplup! I was so happy for her. She has noticeably more self-confidence already; she was standing tall today and gave me a full high-five. It's kind of wierd, though, that those aren't things that River would have done as a Piplup. So I guess what they say about evolution having an effect on a Pokémon's personality is true.
Steve went in twenty minutes after me, so I didn't get to see his matches, but from what I hear, he won handily even without using Rho (Magmar). I did see that Gamma evolved into a Nidorino, though. Good for him, we've had a good couple of evolutions recently. Steve showed his badge to Rho, but he still wasn't impressed. Guess this'll be going on for a while....
Our folks want us to stick around for one more day, but after that, we have to get going, and at a slower pace this time. I don't want to show up at a gym undertrained again...
Slow Day: 29 June 2009 @ 09:09 pm
Location: Eterna City
Nothing much to do today. Steve got dragged into catching up and other varied family activities, or so I hear.
I personally took a day off and let my Pokémon out around the house, except Slugma, for obvious reasons, who I took out to play on a blacktop near what's left of my old elementary school. Old thing got torn down years ago... and Tropius wouldn't fit in the house, so she got to hang out in the back yard. But Geodude and River got out in the house, so that's something. River was still acting like a typical eight-year-old "cool kid," but Geodude was very polite for a Geodude that was wild only a few weeks ago. Hoothoot's already helping Mom out with cooking and the garden and all of that, which it's nice for her to have, I suppose, since Jessica took her Shuckle back when she moved out... we'll have to pay her a visit when we reach Veilstone.
Back on the Trail: 30 June 2009 @ 10:34 pm
Location: Route 206
So, we only went about four and a half miles today, compared to the usual seven that we averaged before Eterna, and spent the rest of the day seriously training. We're forcing ourselves to slow down to avoid repeating our floundering at Eterna Gym. Only time will tell if this will pay off.
Wayward Cave is on this route, so we're going to check it out when we get there.
Eh: 01 July 2009 @ 10:06 pm
Location: Route 206
Another pretty average day today. Little bit of morning hiking, training through the afternoon, and chilling out in camp after dusk. We'll be square close enough to an entrance of Wayward Cave tomorrow (the northernmost entrance caved in a while back, I think), so we'll have to check that out.
Weeks 10-12
Worst Tourist Attraction EVER: 05 July 2009 @ 10:22 pm
Location: Route 206
So, we had a black spot for a while. We got more than a little lost in Wayward Cave, and believe it or not, we were wandering in there for a couple of days. I swear, everything looks exactly the same; you have no sense of direction in there. And, worse yet, there's no way to get contact with the outside, though phones or anything. No way to get maps or directions out. It wasn't until yesterday when we found a pair of Bronzor that knew the general way back to the open. Even then, they weren't precisely sure, either, and it was hard to move around in the cave, so we couldn't get around very fast. We just kind of collapsed when we got out of Wayward Cave about noon, and I only just remembered to let people know that we're alive about half an hour ago.
Hmm: 06 July 2009 @ 10:05 pm
Location: Route 206
Another day, another couple of miles and some more training down. It's good to be out in the open again, I think the Pokémon are enjoying it a lot, too.
We talked with Shelby again, but over the phone this time. She's at the Valley Windworks now; she, Rachel and Amy got their first badges all right and have been keeping up with their training a lot better than we had, it sounds like. Maybe we'll see them again when we have to start running back and forth across Sinnoh for our last three badges. I still don't get why the League arranges it so that the last three badges in order of difficulty are at three different corners of the region and make you cross the entire landscape over again to reach them. But we'll deal with that when the time comes.
For now, on to Hearthome!
Onward: 07 July 2009 @ 09:30 pm
Location: Route 206
Another day traveling south.
We came across a pair of trainers heading in the other direction by the names of Charles and Collin. They took us up in a two-on-two battle, and we gratefully accepted. I used Geodude and Steve used Epsilon (Aron). We... didn't collaborate beforehand. Luckily, Charles had a Kricketune and Collin was using a Kirlia, so we were actually at a bit of an advantage (everyone sent their Pokémon out at the same time, so it was pretty much a blind pot). Geodude and Epsilon focused their Rock Throw and Metal Claw attacks on Kricketune first, which crippled it early on and knocked it out. But we didn't keep a close enough eye on the Kirlia; it came up behind Geodude and hit it with a powerful Psychic attack (I don't know which, I think Collin was communicating with it mentally) and almost put it down right there. Geodude tried to swing around and hit it with a Headbutt, but Kirlia kinda just threw it to the side with its Psychic power and left it there. Epsilon resisted Psychic moves enough to get in close, but Kirlia used Double Team before he could get a hit in. From there, it just kept multiplying with Double Team again and again. Kirlia was picking Aron off little by little with Psychic moves, but Epsilon managed to hit the real Kirlia just when it looked like it was finished.
Again, a close match. We need to train better, especially since I was out of about half of the battle.
...: 08 July 2009 @ 09:26 pm
Location: Route 206
Just another day, really. We're getting close to the point where Route 206 hits Oreburgh and turns east, but we're definitely not stopping in Oreburgh again. Not much to do there and it's a ridiculous climb back up to where we need to be going.
Almost caught a Golbat just a while ago, but it got away. It's screeching left me with a nasty headache. Annoying critters...
Eastward: 09 July 2009 @ 09:18 pm
Location: Route 206
We're camped only a few miles north of the turn to go east. We made it down here pretty fast ignoring the Wayward Cave issue, but all of that was traveling downhill. From here we're going on flat land, so we're going to slow down quite a bit. Mt. Coronet will take some time to get through, too. It'll take us a while to reach Hearthome.
Going...: 11 July 2009 @ 10:04 pm
Location: Route 207
Still traveling east. The usual training is going along just fine, everyone's steadily getting better. The Pokémon are enjoying themselves when we let them out of their Pokéballs so much that we're letting them travel with us all the time. Unfortunately, this means that we've suddenly became a walking mob, but whatever. It works.
River is still isn't acting anything like she did as a Piplup. I think I remember something about personality changes being a part of evolution, but I thought that they were fairly minor...
New Party Member: 12 July 2009 @ 09:32 pm
Location: Route 207
Still a few days out from even reaching Mt. Coronet. There was a heavy rain this morning, so that slowed us down some and we're a bit behind that, even. Oh, well. More training time to get in.
We met another trainer heading the same way as us during training this afternoon by the name of Jenna Corey. Since we're all heading toward Hearthome, anyway, she's joining us at least until we get there, maybe longer.. She's nice enough, but a bit hot-tempered. She and Steve are already clashing, but in a friendly way. I mean constant competition, even over dinner (they had an impromptu contest to see who could sustain a belch the longest, of all things... (Jenna won easily)). Steve wanted a battle with her, too, but she wants to wait until tomorrow for some reason. Huh. We'll see how that turns out tomorrow.
Jenna: 13 July 2009 @ 10:27 pm
Location: Route 207
Fairly average process today. Jenna had a battle with Steve. She sent out an Arbok that she called "Jaffar" against Steve's Epsilon (Aron). At first, I thought that she was pretty much done from the start, since Epsilon is immune to poison. She had him use Glare right off the start to paralyze Epsilon, though, and it just went downhill from there. After just one Fire Fang, Aron was obviously hurting and just about crushed. Jaffar has really powerful jaws, apparently. Epsilon tried to retaliate with Iron Defense and a Metal Claw, but Jaffar kept the pressure on and easily outlasted him. Jenna and Jaffar look ruthlessly strong...
Jenna claims that Jaffar came from her yard, when her mom caught him rooting through a garden, but she took him in and trained him, and used him in place of a starter. In any case, Jaffar is crazy-strong. Jenna's pretty cool, herself, though. She's way into action-adventure movies and comics, as well as a lot of sci-fi stuff, so that gives us plenty of common ground.
Camped: 16 July 2009 @ 10:34 pm
Location: Route 207
We're camped in front of Mt. Coronet. It'll take a couple of days to actually get through to the other side, so we'll be on a forced blackout for a while.
Training is coming along nicely, as always. Slugma's been improving a lot, particularly. Oddly enough, I haven't seen any of Jenna's Pokémon besides Jaffar. Oh, and remind me not to annoy her, particularly before she has her morning coffee. That girl will bite your head off...
Space: 21 July 2009 @ 08:25 pm
Location: Route 209
Jeez.
okay, as a reference to anybody out there: you do not want to be cooped up in a cave with two people for most of a week. if this were a sitcom, it would inevitably cause funny situations. In real life, it's just awkward and leads to mass annoyance. Steve was getting really impatient after about a day and a half, so we let him take the lead. He set a ridiculous pace that Jenna was able to keep up with, but I was struggling. Remember that most caves intended for trainer use aren't of a consistent width; they get to be ten feet wide and eight feet tall in some places, while other spots give you about the same movement range that a broom cupboard does. Doesn't help that Mt. Coronet has a lot of switchbacks and branched paths in it, making the map ridiculously hard to follow, especially only by the fire-light Alpha (Monferno) could give us. Jenna got really frustrated with the navigation, Steve couldn't stand the speed we were going at, and between them I couldn't do anything to calm them down, never mind the fact that neither of these facts could be avoided.
About Sunday, this reached a fever pitch and Steve blew up in my face when I was trying to get him to chill out about it. Jenna yelled something to him about calming down (using a few choice words) and, long story short, they ended up battling in a grudge match. Jaffar against Gamma (Nidorino), and neither of them were yelling anything beyond "get him!" strategy-wise. I... just sat this one out. Best not to get in the way, you know? Eventually they came to their senses about it and stopped the fight, but they were both cranky for the rest of the day.
Everyone's feeling much better since we got out in the opening this morning, though, and we're just camped outside the mountain cave entrance. Not a lot of training went on in there, but we can make up for that later. For now, it feels amazing to just relax in an open area where we can see the sky; you non-trainers probably have no idea.
Now for a game of cards. Here's to hoping that Geodude doesn't try to cheat again.
Peaceful: 22 July 2009 @ 08:20 pm
Location: Route 209
Ha, I was right. A bit of fresh air is just what everyone needed.
We encountered a lot of Pokémon on our way down the mountain toward Hearthome today, and even went fishing in the river under one of the waterfalls. We didn't really catch anything for battling, though. We kinda had a discussion this morning and realized that we couldn't remember what all we had caught. Looking back, I think that we've been catching more than we need. Sure, they help the Professors' studies, but they have enough, already, and I think that we ought to leave Pokémon that we're not really going to battle with in the wild, let them live where they are. Interestingly, we also learned from this conversation that Jenna doesn't really have any trained Pokémon other than Jaffar. We tried to explain that this will set her back later on, but she isn't really concerned with it; she claims that she's only going with us to Pastoria, anyway, though she says she'll get a Badge from Hearthome Gym while we're in the area.
Anyway, Steve remembered reading somewhere that meditating under a waterfall helps train their endurance and focus, among other things, so we had them do that for a while. It worked on most of them, but Geodude, Slugma, Alpha (Monferno) and Epsilon (Aron) all couldn't really take it and had to opt out. They all went lifting and throwing boulers around, instead. While they were out, I saw Geodude accidentally hit Slugma with a boulder. It was, of course, an accident, but Geodude called Slugma out on being a crybaby because of it. I had to call River over and get them both to chill out with a quick spash of water.
Pokémon can be so hard to manage sometimes... In the end, I think it'll be worth it, though. At least I hope so.
HOT: 23 July 2009 @ 10:11 pm
Location: Route 209
Gah. Web says that the temp. here today was 37C (98F for those of you in Hoenn), but it definitely felt more like 43. Ugh. Must be because we spent most of last week stuck in a cave and yesterday was shady. I'm afraid that River got a bit overworked on cooling us down with her water, but I figure that it makes good training, and she didn't seem to mind. Real trooper, that one. I kinda miss her cute, naiive Piplup personality. Eh, it couldn't last, anyway. Oddly enough, Steve's Pokémon didn't really change personality when they evolved...
On a similar note, I think that Geodude is close to evolving. He's getting tired more easily lately, which is supposed to be a sign that they're storing more energy and evolution is coming up. I'm sure it'll come when he's ready, anyway.
Back on the weather subject, though, we had a nice excuse to go play in the river running down the side of the mountain, us and all of the Pokémon that can stand water. It felt really refreshing... then Steve started seeing how far he could get away with spashing water all over everyone. He got about around to Tropius, then she blew him backwards with a Gust most of the way back to shore and he hit his head on a rock. Musta hurt, but he was laughing about it, and it was pretty slapstick-funny. Eventually he got back up and started throwing water in faces. Naturally, he and Jenna turned it into a competition again... eventually, other Pokémon got caught in it, the thing snowballed... and long story short, we had a small-scale water war going on about two-thirds of the way down Mt. Coronet. I know that it's not as exciting or dangerous as a battle, but I think that everybody needed it almost more than training; it was straight-up fun.
Oh, and Jenna looks really nice in a swimsuit. (What? I'm a guy, I noticed.)
